Breaking constitutions is often easier than making them. Kenya’s first two presidents, Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi, took a hatchet to the one negotiated at independence from Britain in 1963.
By the time the butchery ended, Kenya was a one-party state run by untouchable kleptocrats. Fixing the damage took decades. Under international and domestic pressure, Moi repealed the provision banning all parties but his own in 1991. But it took 19 more years of bitter struggle before Kenya again had a constitution worthy of the name.
In recent years the hatchets have been out again. Kenya’s politicians finally accepted a new dispensation after post-election bloodshed claimed more than 1,000 lives in 2007-08. But the chastening effect of the violence did not last long.
After another election controversy, in 2017, Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s president (and Jomo’s son) joined forces with Raila Odinga, his rival-turned-sidekick, to push for yet another constitutional overhaul under the sweetly named Building Bridges Initiative (bbi). On August 20th Kenya’s Court of Appeal thwarted the initiative and granted the constitution from 2010 a reprieve. The Economist
The president of South Sudan on Thursday voiced support for Ethiopia in its conflict with ethnic Tigray rebels and what he called foreign interference in the Horn of Africa country.
Concluding a half-day visit to his country's eastern neighbor after a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Salva Kiir condemned an attack by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) that he said sparked a months-long conflict with the government, according to Ahmed's press secretary, Billene Seyoum.
"The focus of the visit was to discuss key bilateral and regional issues of mutual concern," Seyoum said in a press briefing.
"Of particular interest was strengthening economic ties and joint infrastructure development," she said on the visit by Kiir and a delegation including Foreign Minister Beatrice Wani-Noah.
The visit came on the same day that the UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on Ethiopia on the situation in the northern Tigray region where the TPLF has been making advances, including into the adjacent Afar region.
Kiir also congratulated Ethiopia on the successful conduct of parliamentary elections in June and its progress in constructing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the on Blue Nile river.
Egypt has been opposed to the construction of GERD saying it would significantly reduce its “traditional share” of the Nile waters while Sudan has been expressing concerns related to the safety of its own dams downstream.
Ethiopia, for its part, says that no significant harm would befall the downstream countries and it “direly needs” electricity for national development.
Heavy battles are being fought in Ethiopia on numerous fronts, despite a June 29 unilateral cease-fire declared by the government and the ensuing withdrawal of its troops from the northernmost region of Tigray.
The TPLF ruled Ethiopia for 27 years until 2018. Last November, its forces raided federal army bases stationed in Tigray, including in the capital Mekelle, killing soldiers and looting sizable military hardware. Consequently, the Ethiopian government launched a sweeping operation to quell the insurgency.
Over the past two months alone, more than 500,000 people have been displaced from the Amhara and Afar regional states due to TPLF's incursions, Billene noted. - Addis Getachew, Anadolu Agency
Practicing journalism and free expression is a right provided for in the country’s constitution but it should not impede the rights of others, members of the media heard on Wednesday.
Addressing journalists attending the training on ‘Freedom of Expression and Media Offences’, city lawyer Valery Gakunzi reminded practitioners that although Article 38 of the constitution states that freedoms of expression and access to information are rights, they should be practiced within the set laws.
“The constitution guarantees rights to both freedom of expression and access to information but is also clear that these rights should not impede public order, good morals, protection of the young and the right of every citizen to honour and dignity and protection of personal and family privacy,” he reminded.
The training was organised by the Legal Aid Forum.
He added that besides few inherent freedoms like the right not to be tortured under any circumstance, most others have legal limitations.
He reminded the journalists that the stories that they are covering should look out for the legality, proportionality and necessity parameters.
Challenge institutions
Gakunzi challenged the journalists to take any public institution that denies them information to court.
“The judiciary is the custodian of the Constitution. It is their job to protect the rights and civil liberties of the citizens as guaranteed by the constitution. It is not enough to complain. Anyone who feels frustrated for being denied their rights should take the institution responsible to court,” he said.
The Executive Secretary of the Rwanda Media Commission (RMC) Emmanuel Mugisha agreed.
He said that the blame-game between institutions and journalists has been ongoing for a while and invited the latter to take up what they consider the infringement of their rights to the courts of law.
“When we sit here, the complaints are the same all the time. If speaking out has not been enough, perhaps taking these matters to court is the better option,” he said.
Commendable steps
The Head of Development Cooperation at the European Union Rwanda office, Lluis Navarro commended the efforts the government has put into improving the legal framework around freedom of expression and access to information.
“Access to information is guaranteed in the Constitution. This right is also reflected in the 2013 Access to Information Law, which has been recognised as solid and progressive legislation,” he said.
However, he pointed out that there is still work that needs to be done to improve awareness among the public, as well as with authorities in order to implement and enforce the legislation.
“Despite the improvement in the legal framework, we note some persistent reports on instances of self-censorship and curtailed freedom of expression. Such issues can ultimately limit accountability, which is key to sustainable development,” he said.
The open discussion training is organised by the Legal Aid Forum (LAF) and is bringing together journalists, judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators to explore different topics on media freedom, its limitations as well as how to deal with media related offences. - Nasra Bishumba, The New Times
A building in Kilimani area in Nairobi TWITTER /Photo Courtesy
At least nine people on Thursday afternoon, August 26, died after a lifting machine at a construction site in Kilimani area, Nairobi crumbled.
Confirming the incident, Kilimani police boss Andrew Muturi noted that the accident occurred at a construction site undertaken by a Chinese contractor - opposite the Department of Defence Headquarters.
An unconfirmed number of people were injured with varying injuries and are currently being rushed to hospital.
Police confirmed the incident as evacuation efforts were carried out by first responders.
Kilimani accident site opposite D.O.D where 8 perished on August 26, 2021
TWITTER
Videos seen by Kenyans.co.ke showed ambulances leaving the scene of the accident possibly carrying victims.
Security was also beefed up in the area as crowds gathered outside the construction site. Traffic was also disrupted along the Argwings Kodhek road.
Muturi updated journalists stating that the number of fatalities was likely to increase.
The OCPD stated that the nine include seven Kenyans and two Chinese nationals.
“We have lost 9 people... they include two Chinese and seven Kenyans," the Kilimani Police boss stated.
He also confirmed that joint efforts to find more bodies, if any, was underway as bodies were yet to be taken away from the scene.
The 14-storey building is a student's hostel managed by Qwetu that is being constructed near Daystar University.
Police officers appear to move a dead body outside the French embassy. Photo Sky News
A gunman has killed four people during a shooting rampage in the diplomatic quarter of Tanzania largest city, Dar es Salaam.
Three police officers and a private security guard were fatally shot in the attack on Wednesday.
The assailant was later shot dead while holed up in a guardhouse at the French embassy's gate.
Inspector-General of Police Simon Sirro said the motive is not yet known but suggested the attack could be related to Tanzania's role in fighting Islamists in Mozambique.
Tanzanian troops were sent to the neighbouring country earlier this month to combat the insurgency as part of a regional security force.
Mr Sirro said in an interview aired on local television: "There are problems, our soldiers are there."
He also said police are working to identify the Dar es Salaam attacker.
Videos of the shooting have been shared online with footage showing the gunman inside the guardhouse - apparently filmed by onlookers from buildings across the street from the French embassy.
He exchanged fire at very close range with police and men who appeared to be embassy guards.
Police said the attacker had first shot two police officers with a pistol at an intersection in the district, which houses a number of diplomatic missions.
He took rifles from the fallen police officers, and headed on foot to the French embassy a few hundred metres away, firing randomly and occupying the guardhouse.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on Twitter that the attacker had been "neutralised" and "calm has returned".
"I send my condolences to the police service and the families of three policemen, and one officer of the SGA security company, who lost their lives after an armed person attacked them in the Salenda area of Dar es Salaam," Ms Hassan said.
Six people were injured in addition to the four who were killed, police commissioner of operations and training, Liberatus Sabas, said in a tweet shared by the account of the Tanzanian police force.
Mr Sabas told reporters it was too early to say whether the gunman was a Tanzanian national, or whether he had links to terrorism.
Tanzanian television aired footage showing police officers in bulletproof vests who appeared to be wrapping a dead body outside the embassy in white material to remove it from the scene.
SGA Security, which describes itself as a major security services provider in East Africa, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Earlier this year, Sky News was the first international broadcaster to reach the centre of the Mozambican town of Palma since it was ransacked by ISIS Mozambique, also known locally as al Shabaab. - Rebecca Speare-Cole, Sky News
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