The Murang'a County Assembly was on Wednesday closed for two weeks following a spike in coronavirus cases in the region.

Confirming the development, the assembly's clerk Kuria Thuita that all members of the assembly and staff will work from home for 14 days 

"Officers offering essential services will be on duty on a structured reporting schedule,” Mr. Thuita said.

The County Health Executive Joseph Mbai has said the county government will enforce stringent containment measures to curb the virus.

As of Wednesday, Kenya had confirmed 224,400 cases after 1,506 new people tested positive for the disease. 

A section of Muranga MCAs broke into celebrations outside the county assembly on Tuesday after passing the BBI Bill unanimously, calling for Muranga Senator Irungu Kang'ata to resign because of his inaccurate prediction of the vote outcome. 

The Senator's controversial letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta, which stated that the BBI Bill was unpopular in Mt Kenya, was leaked to the media. 

In the letter, Kang'ata said that he had conducted a research in Muranga County and concluded that only 2 out of 10 people support the proposals to change the constitution through a referendum.

The lawmaker was dewhipped from Senate leadership after refusing to denounce the letter when Jubilee Mandarins asked him to. He had served in the position for less than seven months.

Since all the 53 MCAs voted to endorse the BBI Bill, Kangata’s letter is deemed inaccurate. 

However, according to a section of netizens, Kang'ata should be given credit for the support the BBI has garnered in the region as the President acted on his advise.

Also, Kenyans are aware that MCAs across the country have voted in favour of the BBI report after Uhuru promised them car grants.

Kang'ata's critics continued to wonder where he got his research from.

Family members mourned Judy as a friendly and God-fearing lady, urging the police to arrest the matatu crew who allegedly committed the heinous act.

The deceased, who was declared dead on Sunday morning, was a 25-year-old banker. 

She succumbed to the internal injuries she sustained the previous night when she was assaulted and kicked out of a moving matatu.

Reportedly, before the incident, Judy had a disagreement with the crew of the matatu she had boarded to Mwea at around 6.30pm.

The crew threw her out of the moving matatu in Juja after the heated argument. 

Police are still searching for the driver and his tout who were involved in the incident.

 Last week, they impounded the vehicle involved in the incident. Currently, it is  at Wanguru Police station in Mwea with other vehicles belonging to the Memba Sacco that the National Transport and Safety Authority has revoked its licenses.

 

Simon Karanja Waweru says he decided to make his own grave, so as to reduce expenses and inconveniences to the relatives when he dies. 

Mzee Karanja also prohibits anyone from crying or praising him once he dies, as is a norm with the African culture of praising the dead. 

Karanja spends most of his time with a bare chest - no shirt, as he goes along with his daily chores, with no respect to change of weather. 

His wife has been against this idea all along.

“What we are opposed to is minors being given free access to contraceptives and abortion services since that is tantamount to giving them a free licence to promiscuity,” Health CEC Joseph Mbai told a local daily. 

He added that the boy child must be included in the education. 

According to Mr Mbai, western values on sexuality contradict Africanism, so the country must remain vigilant. 

He affirmed, “We as a county are committed to ensuring that we only embrace those reproductive health packages that conform  to our Constitution as well as our cultural values.”

Last week, Education Chief Administrative Secretary Zack Kinuthia spoke against launched reproductive health drives that are deemed “morally corrupt.”

“The government of Kenya by the direct order of President Uhuru Kenyatta remains totally opposed to doctrines of same gender partnering for sex, abortion and contraceptives for minors,” Kinuthia stated. 

He added that the Education ministry remains vigilant on such issues and it will not hesitate to push for discontinuation of morally corrupt health drives. 

Kinuthia noted, “Africans have their unique way of setting their moral standards in relation to sexual partnering, pregnancy sanctity and the place of children in sexual unions,” he said. Any programme either marshalled by locals or donors that sets about the path of confronting that Africanism values will be discontinued.”

He cited opposition to the expanded Executive, the involvement of provincial administration and campaigns by former MPs as some of the issues working against the initiative.

The Senator said the role of chiefs and county administrators - another forms of hard tactics - in BBI mobilisation is a challenge in the region.

“Let us emphasize on the soft power and art of persuasion. In my humble view, the provincial administration in BBI process should be invisible,” he tells Kenyatta.

Kang’ata, who took over from Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika as Senate Majority Chief Whip, said the involvement of national government officers could pass as “use of state’s hard power to force its citizens to endorse BBI.”

The Senate Majority Whip said the BBI risks suffering "spectacular defeat" if the President does not take immediate steps for a charm offensive.

He wants Kenyatta to take charge of marketing BBI in Mt Kenya region, saying the current campaign is uncoordinated.

Kanga’ta wants Kenyatta to take advantage of the recently enacted Tea Bill and the efforts to resuscitate coffee farming to position the BBI.

The lawmaker cautioned that “the political consequences of a No vote in the region cannot be overemphasized."

“I pray we make urgent remedial efforts to avoid such an outcome,” the Senator says in the six-page letter.

He further argues that Jubilee’s performance in the Nairobi governor race will also greatly impact the BBI.

“A possible loss by our party’s candidate will have not-so-good political consequences that will permeate into BBI and possibly torpedo it,” he said.

He wants the President to personally intervene, as a matter of urgency, and bend backwards as the Jubilee implosion has had an effect on BBI.

“Efforts need to be made to rally regionally all MPs irrespective of their political factions behind this cause.”

Kang’ata has recommended the use of multiple-choice referendum to insure against possible total rejection of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment), Bill 2020.

However, he rejects the proposal by Deputy President William Ruto and his lieutenants that the referendum be held alongside the 2022 polls.

The former Kiharu MP argues that the parallel vote would delay the reforms – most of which are tied to the next General Election.

Kang’ata notes that Kieleweke MPs who have stood with the President through thick and thin have been sidelined in the process.

For instance, he says Kangema MP Muturi Kigano - the chairman of the National Assembly’s JLAC - has been edged out of the BBI programmes in favour of his opponent.

“In the Senate, by virtue of age, personal resources and political experience of most elected Senators, this is not a major issue. I have personally made efforts to intervene on their behalf to relevant authorities to no avail,” he wrote.

President Kenyatta is banking on the BBI process to seal his legacy of unity, a process which depends on a referendum by universal suffrage.

In his New Year's speech, he made a case for the BBI saying it will cure the winner-takes-all politics, cited as the cause of election chaos in the country.

“The proposed first amendment to our Constitution in 2021, I believe, is a bold path that seeks to lay the foundation for a more just, more inclusive, more equitable and more prosperous Kenya.”

“It also seeks to make right our politics by eliminating “Winner Takes All” and replacing it with “We All Win”,” President Kenyatta said.

But the BBI wave appears to be tossed in the wind in the face of the onslaught by DP Ruto’s side to discredit the document.

The lot says it is insensitive for the handshake duo to push for the vote amidst the woes of the Covid-19 pandemic.

They want prioritised revival of the economy and addressing job losses occasioned by coronavirus.

Ruto and his troops want the referendum held alongside the 2022 General Election.

Kang’ata says that these arguments are apparently gaining root in the President’s backyard.

He adds that there is a general feeling of economic deprivation at household levels in the region, a situation he says the anti-BBI forces have capitalized on.

“They (anti-BBI forces) are selling the narrative using the ‘common man’ language. In comparison, the government’s narrative in the region including BBI is being sold by civil servants with limited political skills.”

“This is having a negative knock-on effect on BBI. It appears household incomes have either stagnated or plummeted. Many have blamed the stagnating of tea, coffee and milk prices on the government and thus argue BBI is less of their concern,” he writes.

Kang’ata adds that the internal problems in the Jubilee Party may have been weaponised and are being used to deflect people’s views on the benefits of BBI.

A case in point, he says, is the narrative on the expanded government, say Parliament, to meet the two-thirds gender requirement.

“The drafters should have been more imaginative in trying to weigh the goals of a trimmed government and accommodating women.

“On a personal level, I understand what led to this proposal. It was the need to accommodate women's lobby concerns, which had judicial endorsement.”

Kang’ata wants created a parallel BBI supporting structure to be headed by a quasi-politician to manage MPs.

“Maybe a well-resourced office of the secretary general can suffice. This office should be doing the selling of government agenda in the region including BBI.”

African Independent Pentecostal Churches of Africa (AIPCA) Bishop, Rev. Stephen Ng’ang’a, who hosted Deputy President William Ruto on Sunday, October 4 in Kenol, Murang’a County, has died.

Ng’ang’a died of pneumonia on November 5, Kenol’s AIPCA Secretary-General, Simon Kimaru Maina, told K24 Digital on Saturday, November 14.

The clergyman was buried on Friday, November 13 at his Gacharage Village home in Kigumo Sub-County, Murang’a County, said Maina.

According to the secretary-general, Ng’ang’a’s condition worsened after he was exposed to teargas fumes in early October ahead of DP Ruto’s visit to Kenol.

Kiharu Member of Parliament Ndindi Nyoro has vowed that he won't surrender to the police over the chaos that left two people dead and scores injured in Kenol, Murang'a county.

Speaking to a local television station, Nyoro distanced himself from the chaos maintaining he won't present himself to any police station despite the Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai ordering that he be arrested alongside his Kandara counterpart Alice Wahome over the violence.

" I am not surrendering to police and I will not be used to cleanse the mess...they know my whereabouts, " he said.

On Monday, the two legislators implicated in the violence accused the  IG of being used to settle political scores claiming that their political rivals were behind the chaos.

NTSA Director-General, General Njao, has summoned the bus officials to appear before the NTSA to answer to allegations that their buses were hired to transport the youths who caused chaos in Kenol. 

According to Mr. Njao, the summon follows the 2014 PSV Regulations and the directive by the Inspector General of Police, Hilary Mutyambai. 

Mr. Mutyambai directed NTSA to follow the issue immediately and closely as two people died in the  chaos. 

On Monday, the DCI, through Twitter, also summoned Kandara MP, Alice Wahome and Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro to appear at the Regional Criminal Investigations offices in Nyeri to shed light on their involvement in the chaos.

Chaos erupted in Kenol, Murang’a county ahead of Deputy President William Ruto’s visit on Sunday.

This comes as the DP is set to attend a church fundraiser at the AIPCA  Church, where he will be hosted by Kandara MP Alice Wahome.

Youths barricaded the Kenol-Murang'a road  burning tires.

Report indicates that one person died during the clash after sustaining serious injuries.

The clash is said to be between pro-Uhuru and pro-Ruto supporters.

More to follow...