Plans to test a mobile phone emergency siren could bring chaos to the roads with drivers panicking upon hearing the piercing alert, ministers have been warned.
The loud, 10-second blast will be sent to all mobiles on Sunday, April 23 as part of a nationwide test of the system announced last month by Oliver Dowden, the Cabinet Office minister.
However, officials are concerned that the potential consequences have not been fully thought through. Discussions have taken place with the transport sector, domestic violence charities and sporting officials as well as the police, fire and ambulance services about the trial.
Officials have met with the RAC to discuss how any risk to drivers can be reduced to avoid car crashes.
Road safety campaigners have warned that the siren could distract drivers caught unawares.
Edmund King, president of the AA, welcomed the scheme, but questioned how wise it was to test it on a day “Sunday drivers” - often less experienced motorists - take to the roads.
“If they have the phone in the car and an odd sound goes off there could be some form of panic,” he said.
“Even if they have a hands-free system the odd sound could mean they reach for the phone. So, there’s no doubt that there’s a threat of distraction for some drivers.”
Motorway signs will also be used in the run-up to the test to warn drivers not to check or use their phones.
Ministers have also approved a major publicity campaign to advise the public about the siren.
Campaigners representing victims of domestic violence are understood to have “shared concerns” with the Government that women could also be put at risk by the trial.
Some domestic abuse victims have “lifeline” phones, which are devices kept secret from a violent partner, but the siren could uncover these devices if they are not programmed to reject the test.
Following talks with the Football Association, officials have chosen not to send the alert during the televised FA Cup semi-final between Manchester United and Brighton at 4.30pm.
However, fans watching other matches could be affected and will be “informed and supported” to avoid panic in stadiums, a well-placed source said.
The Telegraph understands the Cabinet Office will instruct local authorities to inform residents and ask the BBC to mention it in television and radio bulletins.
The alert will disable users’ phones leaving a "welcome message" on screen until they acknowledge it by clicking on an “OK” message.
It is illegal to hold and use a mobile phone while driving, and those caught doing so can be given six penalty points and a £200 fine.
It is understood ministers believe the “minimal” risk to the public by testing the system is outweighed by the benefits of having a scheme that can warn of emergencies such as floods, wildfires and terror attacks. Similar systems are used in other European countries and the United States.
Emma Pickering, of the Refuge charity which supports women and children experiencing domestic abuse, said it had been in contact with the Government about the test.
“Our concerns are centred on the very real risk to survivors of domestic abuse who may have secret or secondary phones hidden within the home, which they must ensure are not discovered by their perpetrators. These devices can be a lifeline for women who need to access support or flee their abuser.”
Refuge has recorded two videos explaining how women can opt out of the service on their device.
Lucy Hadley, head of policy at Women's Aid, said it was urging ministers to “ensure the safety of domestic abuse survivors is central to the roll-out of the scheme”.
She added: “The Emergency Alerts pose a risk, not only because an abuser could discover a survivors’ second phone, but also because they could use this as a reason to escalate abuse.”
Caroline Abrahams, director at Age UK, welcomed the alert system but wanted “effective communications… so older people know what to expect, and that there’s no need for concern.”
A government spokesman said: "Emergency Alerts transform our ability to warn and inform people who are in immediate danger - making sure an urgent message can be sent to mobile phones in a specific area when there is a risk to life.
"At every stage of the process we have worked with our emergency services, transport, charities, and vulnerable groups, to make sure people are aware of the service, and those who wish to opt out are able to do so."
The Telegraph understands that the UK’s system can only be activated with the permission of Mr Dowden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
The Emergency Alert system is designed to send messages to an area as specific as one council ward.
The Government does not identify users it wishes to alert but tells mobile service providers where it should be sent.
In 2018 in Hawaii, an alert sent accidentally sparked terror because it warned of an inbound missile strike. A second message explaining the error was not sent for a further 38 minutes. By Tony Diver, Telegraph
At least 15 people died when an artisanal gold mine collapsed in northwestern Burundi, an official said on Sunday.
The accident occurred in the Mabayi commune of Cibitoke province on Saturday, according to Nicodemus Ndahabonyimana, the commune’s administrator.
“The victims were operating in underground wells at an illegal mining site. After learning about the incident rescue teams launched the search to rescue the victims in vain,” he told reporters.
Ndahabonyimana attributed the tragedy to the overflowing of the Rugogo River amid torrential rainfall, which flooded the pits.
Mining disasters are often reported in Burundi’s northwest and northeast, where miners work at night to avoid oversight of authorities. - James Tasamba, Anadolu Agency
Former US President Barack Obama is resettling in Kenya for at least a year as Special Envoy for US Diplomacy (SED), a deployment which he said “makes me truly grateful as I pay tribute to the land of my father- and forefathers”.
Nominated by President Joe Biden, who was Obama’s Vice President between 2009 and 2016, the former president, codenamed “Renegade”, was confirmed by The US Senate, which is increasingly exploring the possibility of sending retired Presidents to countries of their ancestry.
Obama is expected to jet into the country on June 13 for what his team calls “a reconnaissance trip”, has indicated his desire to set up an office outside the capital Nairobi when he finally lands.
This, he says, will help him better understand devolution and promote coordination among counties before he can seek an enhanced diplomatic partnership between Kenya and the US.
With speculators saying property prices could triple within no time, mooted counties of his stay initially included Siaya, which is the home to Alego, in which sits Kogelo village, where his grandmother (and extended family) have lived for years.
Others were Kajiado, due to its proximity to Nairobi, Lamu and Mandera, where he was expected to see firsthand the intermittent threat of The Al Shabaab, thus better advising the US on best, and prompt, actions to take.
But it is increasingly appearing that Obama could settle in Nyeri with locals noticing a grand, highly secured, ultramodern block, cryptically labelled "Yad Sloof Lirpa" whose use the county government could not disclose, coming up behind Governor Mutahi Kahiga’s official residence. The term is an old time slogan associated with alma mater, Occidental College, Columbia University.
Obama will, however, spend much of his time in Nairobi, where he is expected to shoot his much anticipated documentary “In The Land of My Father”, enlisting, in part, Morgan Freeman and Sir David Attenborough for the narration.
“It has been my lifetime dream to come back to Kenya and to do what our diplomats do here. This is the start of my new, exciting life as a moviemaking expat,” he said, to delirious laughter, in a dinner organised in his honour by The White House last week yesterday.
It is not clear if Obama will be accompanied by his wife Michelle, but sources close to him can confirm that his daughters Malia and Sasha will be in the country and might, for the first time ever, engage in high-level political meetings
.
Obama’s team has said that he is interested in working with local filmmakers and has started reaching out to interested parties to send samples of their work, alongside other professional details.
The Obama mission is believed to have been his own initiative after his 2015 visit to Kenya as president.
His inner circle says that he was “truly impressed” by the potential Kenya has politically and economically and negotiated with President Biden to have this deployment.
“It would have come earlier during (Donald) Trump’s administration but look, that would have been dramatic,” David Axelrod, Obama’s former strategist, said. “He would have been ridiculed by the 45th.”
It is believed the plans to send Obama to Kenya were solidified during President William Ruto’s US December visit, and the subsequent Dr Jill Biden visit to Kenya earlier this year.
Hawk-eyed papparazzi have already spotted Secret Service agents in some of the city’s most expensive haunts, and two Cadillac Escalades spotted at Villa Rosa Kempinski Sunday afternoon further gave credence to early speculation of a top global leader’s expected presence.
Meanwhile, Kenya may explore the possibility of Obama immediately talking to opposition leader Raila Odinga over the ongoing anti-government protests.
Top leadership believes Obama could prevail over the opposition, with an insider saying: “Obama could stop the sun with his words and could calm the ocean with his hands.” By Peter Theuri, The Standard
Did you know? Good Friday marks the day when Jesus died after being crucified in Calvary. Therefore, it is a day of mourning and penance. The Bible says Jesus was beaten, mocked and tortured. He was ordered to carry the cross meant for his crucifixion, writes Phionah Nassanga.
Good Friday is observed on the Friday before Easter Sunday. On this day Christians commemorate the death of Jesus Christ, by carrying the cross, meditating upon his agony and sharing in his experience. Yet others spend the day in prayer and repentance. Through His painful death and shame, Christians believe Good Friday marked the ultimate sacrifice to human suffering thus bridging the broken relationship between man and God in the Garden of Eden.
Fr Antony Eyuk, director of St Padre Pio Prayer Centre Nyendo-Misaali, Masaka District, explains that Good Friday symbolises a day of tragedy, mourning and shame, yet a turning point for all creation.
“Good Friday is important because as Christians we see darkness but then light prevails which is a ray of hope. When we read the scriptures on that day at the ninth hour, the curtain in the temple tore down meaning whatever was blocking our relationship with God had been removed,” the Rev Fr Eyuk explains.
He points out that every event that took place on that day from the garden of Gethsemane to Golgotha, is the core of our faith and path to Christianity life. It is on that day that we get to see and learn the true meaning of forgiveness, being humble, and what it means to accept the cup of suffering.
Forgiveness
“Forgiveness is one of the key points of Good Friday and a lesson we need to pick as Christians. Commemorating it every year reminds us of forgiveness. For example, we see Jesus being betrayed, denied, put to shame and shouted at by those He called His own, he knew the only way to His father was to forgive them.
“On many occasions this is what we face in our daily lives, people lie about us, they go against us but this day calls for our forgiveness, despite how hard it seems,” Fr Eyuk shares.
Referring to the bible he quotes Luke 23:34: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” He says Jesus looked down from the cross as the Roman soldiers were gambling for His clothing and as the criminals on the crosses to either side of Him were also reviling Him.
The religious leaders were as well mocking Him and the crowd He used to pray was blaspheming Him too. Surrounded by this most unworthy lot, Jesus still prayed for them.
Understanding of Christ
Pastor Nicholas Najuna of Kingdom Faith Tabernacle, Bweyogerere, says this day is meant to help Christians understand Christ and his true divinity. In the olden, days people did not understand Jesus until the day of his crucifixion, when the world got covered in total darkness and the curtain in the temple was torn down. Then, many came to realise that He was the true son of God.
“On this day, I call upon Christians in my ministry to fast and also reach out to different communities preaching the gospel because what happened on that day is fully explained in the scriptures,” he reveals.
Reconciliation and true love
While addressing the Corinthians St Paul writes, He who was absolutely perfect died in the place of sinners, identifying with us in our guilt and becoming liable to our punishment. St Paul tells us Jesus was a substitute.He died to restore peace between God and us who are sinners. That is why as humans we need to every now and then reconcile with one another because we are not perfect.
Betty Kasule, a member of Christian fellowship Namirembe this day helps us recognise where we have spoken or acted in a wrongful manner towards our fellow human beings. Jesus’s death was not just an act of love, but a definition of true love. Let us always be true to ourselves and those around us in all that we do. By taking part in the way of the cross we are thinking of Jesus’s unconditional love. That love that endurance everything without a second thought.
Endurance and moral example
To Fr Eyuk, Jesus endured the beating and the shame of undressing Him. In life, any suffering that you face is not for nothing as long as it is in Christ. A believer who unites with Christ in times of darkness turns out victorious. He says in the suffering of Christ we learn to be charitable, bearing the cross for others. For example, a father should learn to carry the crosses for his family especially for his wife. Children should also do the same for the elderly.
We also learn humility because he abandoned everything to serve us which is a lesson to our leaders in the different institutions. Jesus died a shameful death, but God. He did a sacrifice for you and me hence teaching us to deal with our selfishness, to sever and not to be severed. By Phionah Nassanga, Daily Monitor
Media Stakeholders on Sunday, April 2, revealed an alleged plan by the government to shut down broadcast media and the internet across the country ahead of the Azimio-led protests on Monday, April 3.
Speaking to the press, Kenya Editor’s Guild President Churchill Otieno Issued a 7-day ultimatum to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to issue a statement on the attack on journalists by the police on Thursday, March 30.
Further, he stated that there was an increasing wave of attacks on journalists both online and offline adding that journalists were additionally targeted by police officers since the Azimio mass protests began on March 20.
Churchill warned against the profiling of journalists by Deputy president Rigathi Gachagua, the Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and the Inspector General of Police.
“This would be most ill-advised and a grievous assault on Kenya’s democracy because it denies the Kenyan public their right to information. Taking this route will sink us all as a country.
“We have documented more than 20 cases of attacks and violations against journalists by law enforcement officers including harassment, arbitrary arrests, and physical attacks,” Churchill stated.
Further, the Executive Director of the Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) Patience Nyange called upon Independent Policing Oversight Authority(IPOA) to address the nation on the status of the investigation of police brutality against journalists.
She called on the government to compensate journalists covering the protests including paying for their medical treatment and replacing the destroyed equipment.
“Failure to which media houses will consider blocking out the coverage of government events. Journalists must be provided with proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs),” She noted.
The Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) Secretary General Erick Oduor announced that journalists would hold demonstrations on Wednesday, April 5, if any journalist will be attacked during protests on Monday, April 3.
“We are calling on journalists all over the country to come out in large numbers and protest if tomorrow there will be cases of attacks against journalists.
"We will hold the head of police Japhet Koome individually responsible if there will be any attacks on journalists or if any equipment will be destroyed,” Oduor affirmed.
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