The Ethics and anti-corruption Commission (EACC) has exposed a land-grabbing scandal in Mombasa County, where public property worth over Sh10 billion has been illegally acquired by private entities. 

On Tuesday, EACC launched a crackdown on the culprits and recovered some of the properties through court orders.

One of the properties is the Shanzu Estate, an eight-acre land with government staff quarters, which was grabbed from the Ministry of Water and its affiliate agencies by Gulf Energy and other defendants.  

The estate, valued at Sh365 million, is adjacent to Shanzu Teachers College and is part of a larger property in the area valued at Sh2 billion, which the EACC is targeting.

The EACC's Chief Executive Officer Twalib Mbarak, accompanied by Mombasa Governor Abdullswamad Nassir and other senior government officials, visited the site today and revealed the details of the case. 

The EACC has obtained orders from the Environment and Land Court in Mombasa to stop any development on the property pending the hearing and determination of the case.

The EACC is also pursuing other cases involving public land and houses belonging to various public institutions, such as Kenya Airports Authority, Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, and the University of Nairobi.

Mombasa is among the counties with serious land-grabbing challenges in Kenya. Currently, the EACC is pursuing over 130 cases in court seeking to recover grabbed public properties worth approximately Sh10 billion within this region. 

The EACC has successfully recovered several properties in Mombasa through litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). 

- Hobley Estate in the Buxton area belonging to the Ministry of Housing, next to the Affordable Housing Project in Mombasa and has a current market value of Sh 500,000,000.

The property is currently housing County Government employees.

- Seven prime properties comprising six government houses belonging to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) and one belonging to the Ministry of Housing all in Nyali/Bamburi Estate cumulatively valued at Sh420 million. 

The EACC's investigations have revealed that the directors and shareholders of Gulf Energy Limited, one of the main grabbers of the Shanzu Estate, are Francis Koome Njogu, Auron Energy Limited (a foreign company), and Paul Kiprotich Limo. Gulf Energy charged the land MN/I/9647 and MN/I/9648 at Barclays Bank of Kenya Limited for the sum of USD. 10,000,000.00 vide charge dated 4th February 2016.

On 14th November 2023, Justice Lucas Naikuni of the Environment and Land Court sitting in Mombasa granted EACC orders prohibiting the defendants from any dealings on the property pending the hearing and determination of the case.

The EACC has vowed to continue its fight against corruption and land-grabbing in the county and urged the public to report any suspicious transactions involving public land. The EACC's report was aired by KTN's Ode Francis, who followed the site visits and interviewed the officials involved. By Winfrey Owino, The Standard

Namanga One Stop Border in the border of Kenya and Tanzania. It is found in the northern part of Tanzania. PHOTO | FILE

Tanzania continues to dilly-dally on the operationalisation of the East African single tourist visa, which would make the region a single tourist destination.

Dodoma is still reluctant to be part of the East African Community (EAC) Single Tourist Visa (STV) on grounds that the bloc is yet to address security and financial implications of the scheme.

Tanzanian officials raised the matter at the EAC Council meeting held in June this year. The major issues are security, revenue sharing, the efficiency of the single visa regime and visitor screening.

Read: Continental free trade off to a sluggish start

Dodoma believes that there is no STV framework worthy of the EAC, and that a 2010 study on the readiness of the member states to implement STV has been overtaken by events and, therefore, a new study is needed to assess the current situation.

But Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, who are implementing the plan, have said they are satisfied with the initiative. And now, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan have expressed willingness to join the STV initiative. 

At a Tourism and Wildlife Management Sectoral Council meeting held on October 19, 2023 in Arusha and chaired by Burundi Minister for Environment Prosper Dodiko, the EAC resolved to seek consensus on STV before implementation next year.

“The EAC Treaty provides for cooperation in the sector whereby partner states undertake to develop a collective and coordinated approach in tourism promotion and management of wildlife resources. I urge you to have fruitful discussions on this matter,” Mr Dodiko said.

The current STV is issued to persons travelling to and within Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda for tourism. The arrangement, which Tanzania argues is a Northern Corridor affair, makes Kenya the first point of entry.

Read: We want political federation, Kenyans tell EAC legal team

Tanzania says it welcomes the STV, but that its concerns must be addressed first.

During the Arusha meeting Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation in Tanzania Stephen Byabato said that visa application should be managed by immigration departments as opposed to the tourism dockets.

He called for a fresh study on the region’s preparedness for a single visa, a move that Uganda opposed, arguing that it would take more time and budget to carry out and East African Cooperation in Tanzania said that visa application should be managed by immigration departments as opposed to the tourism dockets.

Study

He called for a fresh study on the region’s preparedness for a single visa, a move that Uganda opposed, arguing that it would take more time and budget to carry out. According to a report from the meeting seen by The EastAfrican, Ugandan Minister for Tourism Tom Butima proposed a review of the old study.

“The study was well done, and there is therefore no need for another study. Instead, the STV should be escalated to the region whereby the principle of variable geometry can be applied,” he said.

Read: Tourism teams push IDs’ use across borders

Rwanda asked that the matter be sent to the permanent secretaries for technical input.

The Sectoral Council agreed that the EAC Secretariat coordinate the updating of the study by June 2024 and develop a framework for implementation by December 31, 2024.

The idea to establish STV stems from the 11th Council of Ministers directive set in Arusha in November 2006.

The tourism sector is vital to the EAC economy, accounting for 17 percent of total export earnings, 10 percent of GDP, and seven percent of jobs in the region.

The sector is closely linked to transportation, food production, retail, and entertainment.

Its recovery has been on an upward trajectory since the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2022, the EAC recorded 5.8 million international tourist arrivals, which accounts for 13.5 percent of the total international tourist arrivals in Africa.

The EAC projects that by 2024, the region will receive about seven million tourists, compared with 2.25 million recorded in 2020.

Read: Border barriers hurt EAC’s trade ambitions

“There are strong signs of attaining full recovery of the sector in the region following the historical drop occasioned by Covid 19,” said Andrea Aguer Ariik Malueth, EAC deputy secretary-general in charge of infrastructure, productive, social and political sectors.

If the visa application process is simplified, the number of international tourists will increase in the region. That could make EAC more competitive as a tourist destination and drive economic growth.

The EAC offers several investment opportunities in tourism, such as creating resort cities, branding premium parks, constructing internationally branded hotels, developing high-quality Mice (meetings, incentives, conferences an++d exhibitions), and promoting health and sports tourism, which directed among others, the Heads of Tourist Boards and Directors of Tourism to meet and strategize the marketing of the EAC as Single Tourist Destination.

To implement this directive, the 1st Meeting of the Sectoral Council on Tourism and Wildlife Management (SCTWM) met on November 1, 2008, and made decisions as regards single visa in which among others directed the Secretariat to undertake a study to harmonize tourism policies and laws and recommend how a single tourism visa could be introduced.

So the extraordinary council of ministers on Tourism and Wildlife management held on July 15, 2021 directed the secretariat to convene a meeting of Immigration, security and tourism and wildlife management to consider and address the issue of STV. By LUKE ANAMI, The East African

Scotland’s First Minister has called on the Prime Minister to recognise the state of Palestine.

In a letter to Rishi Sunak on Tuesday ahead of a debate on a ceasefire in the region in Holyrood, Humza Yousaf has pushed for the UK Government to recognise Palestine within the borders set out in 1967, claiming it would help to end the “political impasse that has condemned Israelis and the Palestinians to successive cycles of violence”.  

A similar letter was also sent to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, urging him to back the calls.

“It is essential and urgent that the UK makes clear to the Israeli government, and to the world, that in line with support for a two-state solution, only Palestinians can have authority in Gaza,” he wrote to the Prime Minister. 

“Of course, that authority must be exercised in a way that ensures the people of Israel, as well as Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, are able to live in peace and security.

“The UK needs to work with the international community to break, once and for all, the political impasse that has condemned Israelis and the Palestinians to successive cycles of violence. 

“This would be assisted were the UK to recognise the State of Palestine within the 1967 borders, as over 130 members of the United Nations, including nine members of the European Union, have done and as the new Spanish government has pledged.

“Recognition would offer hope to Palestinians that a just and durable political solution is possible.

“It would make it plain to the Israeli government that a military solution is illusory and the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza is unacceptable.

“I urge you to show the international leadership you claim for the UK by calling for an immediate ceasefire by all sides, and by announcing the UK Government’s recognition of the state of Palestine.”

The First Minister also condemned what he described as the “gradual, but deliberate, expulsion of Palestinians from the entire territory” following a warning by the Israeli government for Palestinians to vacate the city of Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip. 

“The humanitarian consequences of this are hard to overstate,” he said.

“Following the forced evacuation of the population from the north of Gaza, it reinforces the impression that what we are witnessing is the gradual, but deliberate, expulsion of Palestinians from the entire territory.

“This, of course, would likely be a breach of international law.

“The international community cannot allow this to happen.”

The UK Government, he added, should also consider referring both Hamas and Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation of any potential war crimes.

The letters come just hours before a debate in the Scottish Parliament on the situation in Gaza.

The Scottish Government has tabled a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire, which is expected to garner cross-party support. 

Scottish Labour – who have said they will support the Government in the vote on Tuesday evening – also tabled an amendment that will call for a referral to the ICC, which is expected to gain enough support to pass. Story by Craig Paton, The Independent

President Klaus Iohannis, accompanied by his wife Carmen, attended the farewell ceremony held at State House in Dar es Salaam on Sunday, marking the conclusion of his official visit to the United Republic of Tanzania. In addition to the official ceremony, Klaus and Carmen Iohannis experienced a unique surprise at the farewell party.

Two video recordings published by spotmedia show a group of locals shouting various wishes around portraits of the couple. Later, the locals jump into the water with the portraits of Klaus and Carmen Iohannis, shouting “Hakuna matata!”—an expression meaning “No worries, everything is fine.”

Iohannis arrived in Tanzania on Friday, where he had one-on-one talks with his counterpart, Samia Suluhu Hassan. On Saturday, the head of state was received by Zanzibar President Hussein Mwinyi. President Klaus Iohannis begins his visit to the Republic of Cape Verde on Monday, the penultimate stage of his African tour, preceded by visits to Kenya, Tanzania, and Zanzibar.

The President’s visits to Africa will conclude in Senegal, according to news.ro. Klaus Iohannis started his African tour on November 14 with a state visit to Kenya, where he was welcomed by his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto. Subsequently, he participated in a meeting at the UN Office in Nairobi with the Executive Director of UNEP – United Nations Environment Program.

On Wednesday, November 15, the head of state met with the Minister for Nature Protection of Kenya, Alfred Nganga Mutua, and the Director-General of the Kenya Wildlife Service, Erustus Kanga, during a visit to Nairobi National Park. On Thursday, he visited Uthiru Girls High School. The head of state will conclude his visits to Africa on November 23.

The final leg of this tour is in the Republic of Senegal, where President Klaus Iohannis will have political consultations with his counterpart Macky Sall. The official program of the visit includes, among other things, the participation of the two heads of state in the inauguration of the United Nations House in Senegal, which will host the 34 UN agencies present in the country. President Iohannis will also have a meeting with former Senegalese students in Romania. By Romania Journal