Highridge Girls Secondary School principal Mary Muraku has been interdicted over alleged negligence.

Ms Muraku is accused of failing to take action against a male teacher who allegedly raped a Form One student in the school.

If found guilty, the principal faces dismissal. Her name will also be struck off the teachers register.

Teachers Service Commission rules state that a deregistered teacher cannot teach anywhere in or outside Kenya.

IMMORAL BEHAVIOUR

Correspondence seen by the Nation shows that Ms Muraku failed to report to the authorities, the “immoral behaviour of Hillary Okeyo Moses and the student during prep time”.

“You also failed to take her to hospital in good time for medication,” it reads.

Mr Okeyo is alleged to have grabbed the girl, dragged her into a toilet, gagged and defiled her.

It is not clear why the school took three days to take her to hospital even after learning about it.

Mr Okeyo has denied a charge of defilement and committing an indecent act with a minor.

He also denied touching the child’s breasts and buttocks.

The school management is also accused of waiting for close to a week to report the alleged crime and further stopping the victim from calling her parents.

The parents learnt of the alleged attack from police.

UNREGISTERED TEACHER

Ms Muraku is said to have employed Mr Okeyo even though he was not a registered teacher.

“You also engaged Hillary Okeyo as a board of management teacher to teach biology and agriculture at Highridge Secondary School while he was not a registered teacher,” reads the letter.

The law prohibits unregistered teachers from teaching. Mr Okeyo is currently in custody as the trial proceeds.

The High Court on Monday reversed an order by a magistrate granting Mr Okeyo a Sh500, 000 cash bail pending the hearing of the case.

Lady Justice Ngenya Macharia upheld submissions by prosecutor Duncan Ondimu who said the suspect was likely to interfere with potential witnesses mainly students.

Police recovered two M16 assault rifles and a Ceska pistol in a house suspected to be a torture chamber in Lavington, Nairobi.

The house, seemingly abandoned recently, had walls and curtains splattered with blood.

The origin of the assault rifles serial numbers could not be established and they were taken to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for ballistic examination.

Also taken for examination were the mini Ceska serial number ET 1281807, an empty magazine and 33 rounds of ammunition.

LEASE AGREEMENT

Police officers acting on a tip off raided house C7 at Daykio Heights apartments along Ole Dume Road on Saturday night.

On Wednesday a caretaker at the apartments said that the house had been rented by a man and a woman in their mid-thirties who were later joined by four other men.

“They looked jovial but never interacted with other people much,” he said.

Dagoreti criminal investigation chief Joseph Ondoro on Wednesday said detectives found a lease agreement and forwarded the details to the Registrar of Persons for possible identification of the tenant.

Students below 18 years will not get university loans after Kiharu MP Irung’u Kang’ata said he would not make changes to a Bill that the President refused to assent to.

Mr Kang’ata said he would not pursue a Bill that would have offered the loans to the underage because it will be difficult to raise the two-thirds majority required to override the President.

“I agree with President Uhuru Kenyatta. I have done my best and students should also take up the matter,” the lawmaker said in an interview on Wednesday.

The Bill proposed that two students sit on the Helb board. It also said that all underage students who join universities should get government loans.

Higher Education Loans Board would be required to give reasons for not awarding a new student a loan, if the Bill became law.

FREE TO APPEAL

Students who fail to get a loan would also be free to appeal.

“They should not just be dismissed. These students have serious financial problems and that is why they apply for loans,” he said.

President Kenyatta sent the Higher Education Loans Board Bill back to the House.

He said its sustainability would require massive finance from the National Treasury.

The President also sought the removal of a clause that allowed graduates who fail to secure employment a year after completing studies to notify the board to avoid penalties on defaulters.

Mr Kang’ata said he would introduce an amendment after six months allowing those under 18 to qualify for loans.

“It is unfair to discriminate on the basis of age,” he said.

INCREASED BUDGET

The Treasury has increased Helb’s budget by Sh1.8 billion for the current financial year.

The government set aside Sh7.5 billion for the 2015/16 financial year to sponsor students in universities, up from Sh5.7 billion.

Helb recently said it needed more than Sh10 billion to fund students.

The Bill also proposed to oblige the board to notify applicants upon processing of their loan requests and to allow appeal for additional funds where necessary.

The Nairobi City County has set aside Sh558 million for pedestrians infrastructure in a bid to reduce accidents.

These will include, wheelbarrows, hand-drawn carts, animal transport, bicycles and wheelchair users.

“We want to ensure we have appropriate walkways and bicycle lanes to improve safety,” said chief officer for roads, transport and public works Christine Ogut.

ENCROACHMENT

“The transport system is basically road-based for vehicles,” said Ms Ogut.

She expressed frustration at the encroachment of walkways zones and the poor state of the city county roads.

“The walkways are not properly maintained, those with tarmac have potholes,” said Ms Ogut.

The National Transport Safety Authority says it is encouraging pedestrians to use footbridges.

“Until need to separate motorists and pedestrians to increase road safety,” said Mr Munyao.

The infrastructure improvement is being carried out by the Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations, United Nations Environment Programme, Kenya Urban Roads Authority, cyclists and matatu owners.

A Nairobi-based employee of the United Nations Environmental Program (Unep) has told a court that he is pursuing an out-of-court settlement with his former lover over assault charges.

Alphonse Kambu, a Papua New Guinea citizen, was arraigned in court on Thursday morning to take a plea to charges of assaulting Ruth Gakii.

His lawyer however asked the court to defer the plea because his client is pursuing a resultion of of court.

Mr Kambu is accused of assaulting Ms Gakii at her house along Kamiti Road on October 18.

He reportedly assaulted Ms Gakii after dropping their son home while intoxicated and demanded for food.

The two had separated in 2012 after the birth of their son and an earlier court ruling had awarded the mother of the child custody.

Mr Kambu was arrested by detectives on Wednesday morning while driving within Garden Estate.

The issue of runaway corruption in government has attracted global attention after the respected New York Times published a hard-hitting piece on the matter on Wednesday.

Under the headline An Anticorruption Plea in Kenya: ‘Please, Just Steal a Little’, the piece by Jeffrey Gettleman delves into the blatant looting from public coffers by senior government officials, the ensuing public outcry –an inaction by State anti-corruption agencies.

The phrase “Just Steal a Little” was trending on Twitter on Thursday.

‘DEEPER INTO DEBT’

“Prices of staples are going up. The currency is tanking. Kenya, historically considered one of the most stable and strategically important nations in Africa, is going deeper and deeper into debt,” the story reads in part.

The piece further quotes a security guard Boniface Wanyama Wekesa as saying: “Can you imagine? We pay taxes, I can barely afford flour, and now this? If you’re going to steal, please, just steal a little.”

Kenya’s anti-corruption czar John Githongo is also quoted saying: “This is literally the rape of the country, everything from the poaching of our wildlife to the accumulation of debt at an extraordinary level.”

The New York Times has the ear of US President Barack Obama and other world leaders including British Prime Minister David Cameron, among others.

The New York Times is just the latest influential international media house to carry the story which has also appeared on BBC and African Independent of South Africa.

SEX TOYS

On Wednesday, the BBC was virtually the first media house globally (Kenya included) to publish the embarrassing details of how the ministry of Devolution spent money on sex toys.

Details of the purchase of sex toys are indicated in documents submitted to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday by Devolution Principal Secretary.

The documents show that staff at the ministry bought “male penile vibrations” at a cost of Sh2,400 and “female venial vibrations” at a cost of Sh3, 800.

In South Africa, the African Independent carried two front page stories one headlined: Is Kenya Africa’s Greece? and another Kenya Robbed Blind.

Fifty six year-old John Pombe Magufuli was on Thursday sworn in as the fifth President of Tanzania.

Raised from humble beginnings, he has been quoted as saying that: “Our home was grass thatched and like many boys I was assigned to herd cattle, as well as selling milk and fish to support my family.”

Here are five things you need to know about the new President of the most populous country in East Africa.

1. He is a former teacher – He was a Mathematics and Chemistry teacher who went on to become an industrial chemist – and was awarded a doctorate in Chemistry from Dar es Salaam University in 2009.

2. A devout Catholic – Mr Magufuli is a staunch Catholic who loves singing in the church choir and playing traditional drums.

3. Nicknamed “The Bulldozer” – As works minister in the outgoing government, he was reputed to be a no-nonsense, results-driven politician. He became known as “The Bulldozer” for driving a programme to build roads across the country.

Those close to him say he is keen on details and when he embarks on an assignment he pursues it to completion. However, this very trait has cost him friends.

4. Known for not tolerating corruption – “He was for many years minister for works, supervising execution of mega projects worth trillions of shillings, but was never implicated in any corruption scandal,” Joseph Warioba, a former prime minster and veteran CCM politician, told AFP news agency.

“He could have been the richest politician in the country.”

On the campaign trail, he tried to portray himself as a humble man from a poor background.

“I know what it means to be poor. I will strive to help improve people’s welfare,” he had pledged in campaign rallies.

5. Married and father of five – He is married with five children. His wife Janet Magufuli teaches Standard Five Geography, History and ICT, at Mbuyuni Primary School.

The Magufuli children attended Mbuyuni Primary School. One of their children is in Form One at Oysterbay Ward Secondary School.

“Instead of taking their children to private or famous schools, they send them to local government schools,” said one of the teacher.

“She (Mrs Magufuli) never misses her classes and, if she has an emergency, she always swaps with another teacher.”

Embakasi West Member of Parliament George Theuri recently posted shocking photos and a video of his wife and their two young sons holding a pistol during a family outing.

The photos show the two children dressed in camouflage gear, while their mother wears a knee-length black dress and heeled shoes.

LEFT: The MP’s son holding a pistol. RIGHT: The MP’s wife takes aim and fires a pistol with the help of a trainer.

A scene from the video shows the MP’s youngest son running for cover as his mother shoots at a target. The frightened child is seen blocking his ears from the shattering sound of the fired pistol.

The family took the photos and video during an outing in what appears to be a shooting range.

Embakasi West MP George Theuri with his two sons. PHOTO | COURTESY

The MP posted the shocking pictures and video on his Facebook account last week, but deleted them within hours. Nairobi News has however managed to obtain the photos.

In the photos, the MPs’ sons are seen smiling while holding and pointing a pistol. His wife is also seen taking aim and shooting at a target with the help of a supposed trainer.

“Never mess with Cynthia Gitonga,” the MP captioned the video of his wife towards the end.

The MP’s youngest son holds a pistol during a family outing. PHOTO | COURTESY

The youthful first-time legislator is no stranger to controversy. In September, he was forced to apologize to his constituents for an “offensive” post while responding to a query from a resident of Umoja estate.

The MP also has the dubious reputation of having the highest number of billboards bearing his name for all development projects he has initiated in the constituency

The wife of a Greek diplomat committed suicide on Wednesday by falling from the fifth floor of a building in Mombasa’s Nyali estate.

Police said 64-year-old Frrances Lagoussis died instantly after taking the plunge around 8.45am.

She was wife to Mr Panayis Lagoussis. The bereaved envoy declined to speak to the media.

“What is the media doing here? I can’t talk to you,” Mr Lagoussis shouted before disappearing into the building.

Workers at the building said the woman had twice attempted to commit suicide from the same point but they had  stopped her.

The first attempt was on October 27, before a subsequent attempt the same month.

In both cases, the workers had taken her to the Nyali Police Station where she was cautioned and released.

On Wednesday, Kisauni OCPD Richard Ngatia said: “We are treating this as a case of suicide but we will investigate further by opening an inquest. Initial information indicates that the woman killed herself after her business started going down.”

He said the couple had lived in Malindi for a long time and only moved to Nyali recently.

A witness who declined to be named said: “The woman had attempted to throw herself from the fifth floor in vain twice in October. She told us that her business is doing poorly.”

“She was dropped by here her driver around 8.40 am from their residence… after about five minutes, we saw something flying down and land on the pavement with a thud. We rushed to the scene and found the woman’s body with a cracked skull in a pool of blood.”

A man has sued his son over a multi-million shillings property in Kiambu.

Mr John Karoba Iroha accuses his son, Mr Reuben Wamburu Karoba, of fraud and trickery.

“My son illegally transferred the property to his name after duping me into believing he wanted to secure a loan from a bank,” Mr Iroha swore.

The son on the other hand accuses his father of lying and working in cahoots with his step brothers to disposes him.

He says his father sold him the property for Sh5 million to develop it.

“It is therefore ridiculous, unimaginable and insincere for my father to disown his own actions and words, and to insinuate fraud in a transaction he was aware of and personally participated,” said Mr Karoba.

Court documents show that last year Mr Iroha wanted to dispose off the property to finance his businesses.

Mr Karoba offered to buy and they signed a sale agreement after which he transferred it after payment.

But in August, Mr Karoba’s step-brother, Ronal Mburu, filed a case accusing him of allocating the family property to himself when their father had only instructed him to hold it in trust for other family members.

The father swore an affidavit to support Mr Karoba saying he had sold the property willingly.

Mr Iroha has now recanted the evidence saying he was misled and that he was not in his right senses.

“I had absolutely no knowledge that my son had schemed to con me of my property. He had created a wedge between me and his step-brother and that is why I signed the affidavit to support him,” said Mr Iroha.

Mr Karoba accused his father of lying about his health saying has never suffered mental illness. The case will be heard on January 26 2016.

A single mother in Kayole in Nairobi is searching for their four year old daughter who has been missing for the last one month.

Shantel Zawadi disappeared from their home in Nyando, Kayole, on October 20 under unclear circumstances.

“We were all in the house and at around 7 p.m, she went outside the house. There were other children playing outside,” her mother, Emily Atieno told Nairobi News.

She said in less than ten minutes later, she called her but she did not answer.

“I decided to go outside to go look for her but I could not see her. I went to her friends’ homes to look for her in vain. Eventually, family members joined me in searching for her until 11.30 p.m,” Ms Atieno who is a single mother  said.

She said she did not suspect Zawadi could have lost her way home because she is very familiar with the surrounding estates.

“She has been going to the shops and playing even outside that gate. She is well too familiar with the area because she was born here and I have raised her here all her life,” the distraught Ms Atieno said.

She said that her daughter, who is a pupil at the Totobora Academy, had also been going to school alone and that she knows all her neigbours.

When she did not find her daughter, Ms Atieno reported the incident at the Soweto Police Station under OB number 32/21/10/2015 and 11/23/10/2015.

“I have also visited several police stations including Buruburu, Kayole, Kitengela, Makadara and Kilimani. Apart from that I have also gone to several children’s homes and Administration Police Posts,” she said.

The 26 year-old, who works as a casual laborer at Runda, said she had to excuse herself from work so that she can look for her daughter.

Baby Fidelis Muthoni underwent a successful surgery at a  Canadian hospital on Tuesday to cure a frontal bone defect known as Frontal Encephalocele.

The one and a half year-old toddler resuscitated from the surgery and is reported to be in a stable condition.

A Kenyan nurse based in Canada, who is also hosting the baby and her mother, said that the baby had woken up fine after the surgery.

Through her Facebook account, Irene Njoroge said: “We give glory to God for baby Fidelis! After a very long wait, she has come out of the OR awake and breathing on her own. Doctors say the surgery was a success!”

Baby Fidelis Muthoni with her mother at Toronto Pearson International Airport. PHOTO | COURTESY

Baby Fidelis’ defect, which saw her develop a growth on her forehead, is a rare condition caused by a build-up of cerebral spinal fluid accumulating in the brain.

The ever-smiling toddler hit the headlines mid this year when a relative, who had been entrusted to fund-raise  for her treatment abroad, allegedly pocketed the Sh2.8million that he had collected.

The suspect, Joseph Wanjau Alejandro was reported to have withdrawn the funds without the knowledge of Baby Fidelis’ parents and thereafter went into hiding.

He was later arrested and charged with theft. The case is still ongoing.

Well-wishers, including President Uhuru Kenyatta who donated Sh500,000, came to the family’s aid and in August Baby Fidelis and her mother, Martha Wambui, left the country for Canada.

A survivor of the Westgate terror attack has for the first time unburdened herself with a confession of not hating the Al-Shabaab militants who killed 167 people two years ago.

Margie Brand, an American who was pictured clutching her young child during the attack, has called for a message of love

She posted her feelings on Facebook on Wednesday, describing how she played dead for five hours together with her face to face encounter with one of the militants during the attack

“Two years ago, armed men walked into a shopping mall on a crowded Saturday morning wielding automatic rifles and killing everyone in sight. I held onto my eight month old baby, running, slipping, my heart jumping out of my chest,” she states on her post.

HID AMONG THE DEAD

“I hid among the dead for 5 hours. It felt like a lifetime. Experiencing sounds and images I wish I did not. They walked calmly, up and down, among the aisles. Killing everyone they found. Again and again they walked past us. Not seeing me lying, curled up a ball, among the dying. My baby remained silent. We’ll never know how. Logic told me it was the time of final breaths. I was ready. No hate. Yes, incredible palatable fear, but not hate. Fear that moved past fear. Becoming strangely, peacefully accepting. Curled up on the hard, cold floor. I listened to the sounds of death interwoven with the feeling of silence.”

“There he was. Looking down his barrel, straight at me. Towering. Eyes full of disdain. No one knows why that day of all days, after killing children, pregnant women, and anyone they could find, they told me to stand up. I knew that it would now be my end. They killed the woman lying next to me. They told me to walk. I walked over the dead. I walked out holding my baby. In another part of the mall my friend lay dead. He and sixty seven others never got to leave – many hundreds more still hold the scars from their wounds.”

In her post, she says that she still lives in fear.

TAKE ME BACK

“I still jump at the sound of a loud noise. I get up from a table and walk straight out of a restaurant if the lights flicker as they did just before the attack that day. Sights, sounds, smells – anything can unexpectedly take me back there. Take me back where I no longer want to go.”

“Instead of fear and hate, I invite you to join me. Join me in turning off the news. In most cases we already know what happened. We’ve heard and seen more than we ever need to know. I invite you to close your eyes, to imagine any image that gives you the feeling of love. Your newborn baby, children laughing, someone or something that you love. I invite you to take that feeling of love and imagine slowly breathing it out across the world. Wrapping our planet in it. Connecting with others who are emanating the same love. Breathing that feeling of love in and out.”

LOVE NETWORK

She concludes her post by saying; “As many times a day as you remember to, as many days as you can. Like a network of bright light connecting around the globe. I believe that together we can change the frequency of people’s thoughts and hearts. If we emanate fear and hatred, we connect with others who do the same, and we bring more and more into that field. If we emanate love, we grow our love network, and it envelops all others.”

A 23-year-old woman and her daughter, three, are nursing injuries at Muthale Mission Hospital in Kitui West after they were brutally attacked by a thug the woman alleged had been hired by her Catholic priest boyfriend to kill them.

Ms Veronicah Musali Mutua Wednesday said she was attacked on Monday night when she had gone to visit Father (name withheld) at his home in Muthale.

“He phoned me while I was at Thika and asked to see me together with my daughter (name withheld) but he was nowhere to be found when I arrived at a Kitui Catholic Diocese parish church, where he ministers.

“He later advised me to go to his home but he was not there. His mother chased me away prompting me to seek accommodation from their neighbor’s,” Ms Mutua told journalists amid sobs.

DISGRACE

She said the Father’s mother followed her there and forced the neighbor to evict them saying that she was a disgrace to her son and the family.

“His mother gave out Sh500 for my bus fare and threatened her neighbor that she would suffer dire consequences if she allowed us to spend the night there,” the woman, on her hospital bed, explained.

She said the woman was cowed by the threats and decided to escort them to a nearby market to board a taxi to Kabati shopping center and were attacked just a few meters away.

A man, armed with a blunt object, emerged from nowhere and started chasing them.

The man started hitting her hard on the head while the other woman took off to safety leaving them at the mercy of the assailant, according to Ms Mutua.

BROKE FINGERS

She said: “He also hit my child, who was still on my back, on the head and blood started oozing from her nose. He hit and broke my fingers as I shielded my head from the successive blows.”

“I fell down and feigned unconsciousness when it occurred to me that the attacker was determined to kill us. He was therefore convinced that he had accomplished his task and fled the scene towards the Father’s home,” she added.

The two, having sustained serious injuries following the attack, were discovered sprawling on a path by a boda boda operator, who alerted the villagers and the police, on Tuesday at 3 am.

Officers from Tulia police post immediately rushed the victims to Muthale Mission Hospital where they were given first aid and admitted for further treatment.

It is reported that trouble began when the priest denied fathering the woman’s child, who was born blind, in 2012.

GOT PREGNANT IN SCHOOL

Ms Veronicah Mutua disclosed that the two got into a sexual relationship when the Father was stationed at Nuu in Mwingi, Kitui County, but things turned ugly when she got pregnant for him while she was still a form one student at Mwambiu secondary school.

“I was always concerned that I would conceive but he advised me not to be afraid promising that he would marry me eventually. He hated me when I gave birth to a blind child and declared that he did not sire my daughter,” she recalled painfully.

The child’s paternity dispute persisted until the two resolved to have a DNA test conducted to establish whether the Father was indeed the father. The DNA test report was filed in February this year.

The report, seen by Nairobi News, showed that the said Catholic priest was indeed the girl’s biological father.

DNA REPORT

“Since the DNA report confirmed that he was Lillian’s father, he has been trying to shed us off in order to avoid parental responsibility. He said he wanted to see me so that we can discuss the way forward now that it was black and white that he is the father,” noted Ms Veronicah Musali Mutua.

She called on the government and human rights activists to intervene and ensure that they get justice as well as ensure their personal security.

“I feel that my daughter and I are in danger. We appeal to the government to protect us,” she expressed.

Efforts to contact the Father for comment were futile as phone calls and text messages went unanswered.

Kabati OCPD Juma Londo Thursday said they had commenced investigations into the matter, adding that the woman will fill a P3 form and record a statement with the police once she recovers fully.

However, he said doctors had confirmed that the mother and daughter were stable and out of danger.

“I urge those with relevant information about the attack to cooperate with the police so that those behind the crime can face the law,” he said.

Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has mounted a search for a young woman recently pictured kissing his campaign poster.

The picture has since been widely shared on social media and elicited several reactions.

According to Don Wanyama, a senior official in the government’s ruling party NRM, the young lady remains at large despite an ongoing search.

“If anyone can find this lady, please let her know that the President wants a phot-op with her. Let me know if you know her,” Wanyama said.

The picture highlights the excitement of the election campaigns in the landlocked East African country.

President Museveni will face off against his former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and opposition politician Kiiza Besigye in the presidential election.

Embu Members of County Assembly spent the better part of Wednesday’s afternoon session discussing the recent threat by their female colleagues to hold a nude protest should Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru be forced to resign.

Embu majority leader Andrew Musakwa said he would also mobilise male MCAs to strip in solidarity with the embattled CS if female MCAs make real their threat of staging a nude protest.

Responding to a group of male MCAs who were critical of such a move, Mr Musakwa said a nude protest will be  boldest way of expressing their displeasure with the manner Ms Waiguru’s has been linked to massive corruption in government.

He reiterated his support to female MCAs who have threatened to march to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Harambee House office and later to Parliament Buildings naked should Ms Waiguru be sacked.

GATHER COURAGE

Mr Musakwa challenged the female MCAs to declare if they would truly strip naked in order to give male MCAs time to gather courage to join them.

Mr Musakwa said it would be irresponsible for male MCAs to just watch as their female colleagues marched naked on the streets without the support and protection of their male counterparts.

He was responding to a question by Kagaari South MCA Robert Ireri on whether Embu female MCAs were ready to make real their threat of stripping and parading themselves on the streets of Embu town.

Deputy Speaker Ibrahim Swaleh had allowed county members to ventilate on the matter, saying this was an issue of grave concern that had turned the glare of the media to Embu County.

The Assembly burst into laughter when Muminji MCA Newton Kariuki said that he really wished to see how the female MCAs would look if they stripped and bared their nakedness to the world.

A Kenyan woman is paid Sh62 for every Sh100 paid to a man for doing a similar job, according to a report released Thursday by the World Economic Forum.

The Global Gender Gap Report shows that this a reality for women all over the world.

According to the report, women generally make less money than men for the same jobs.

What women are earning currently is what men were paid in 2006. It is expected that if the trend holds, it will take another 118 years for men and women to earn equal pay for equal work.

WAGE GAP

The wage gap is calculated by dividing women’s average yearly income with that of men.

The report measures the gender gap in 145 countries worldwide based on education, health, political participation and economic opportunities.

Kenya was ranked position 48 this year, falling 11 positions from last year’s listing.

Across the world, political participation remains the worst performing indicator with the report showing an existing gap of 67 per cent.

“Only two countries have reached parity in parliament and only four have reached parity on ministerial roles,” said the report.

In Kenya, women occupy only 21 per cent of all parliamentary seats. The country has tried to address this through Article 81(b) of the Constitution.

It states that: “Not more than two thirds of the members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender.”

If implemented, women will occupy at least 33 per cent of parliamentary seats— a milestone that has been achieved and surpassed by other countries in the East African region.

TWO-THIRDS RULE

However, delays in tabling and debating the appropriate Bill in the National Assembly has stalled the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule who deadline elapsed on August 27, without substantive progress.

Although the report found that no country in the world has achieved gender parity on all the four indicators, 40 countries have closed the gap in the health sector. It has the best performing equality indicator, achieving 96 per cent gender parity.

This means that in most of the world, women receive the same access and quality of healthcare as men.

According to the report, the second best performing sector is education which is rated at 95 per cent.

This is true of tertiary education where women are the majority in almost 100 countries in the world.

The report, however, found that better education opportunities did not translate into more participation of women in the workplace. The study shows women make up the majority of skilled workers in only 68 countries.

A family in Nairobi is desperate to establish the whereabouts of their brother who was abducted by unknown people three weeks ago around Donholm estate.

Thirty-two-year-old Saferio Ogola Lupia, who works as a tout on the Umoja route, was abducted by unidentified people from the Donholm bus stop at around 5 p.m on Thursday October 29 while waiting for his matatu to arrive from the CBD.

Mr Saferio’s family is appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the incident or knows his whereabouts to help them find their kin.

Speaking to Nairobi News, Mr Saferio’s older brother Patrick Okumu Lupia said he received a call on Friday evening from his sister, who lives with his younger brother, asking him if he had seen Mr Saferio because he had not come home the previous day. It was unusual for him to spend the night elsewhere.

ARRESTED AND HAND-CUFFED

At this point, Mr Okumu called some of Mr Saferio’s colleagues to find out if they had seen him. That is when he was told that his brother was arrested by “three police officers” who hand-cuffed him and bundled him into a white Toyota Probox, whose registration had been partially concealed.

“We cannot even inform our mother because she is very sick and undergoing treatment in the US,” said Mr Okumu.

Witnesses, who include vendors and attendants at a nearby petrol station, said only the first three letters of the car registration “KCD” had not been concealed.

MISSING PERSON: Saferio Ogola Lupia

“We have been to more than 10 police stations and a number of police posts around Nairobi but the search for our kin has been futile,” Okumu added.

He continued; “We have also gone to Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenyatta and City mortuaries, Industrial Area Remand and all the places we thought he might have been taken, but his name or body has not been found anywhere.”

The family reported the matter to Buruburu Police Station on November 3, 2015 and were issued with OB No. 44/3/11/2015.

POLICE CONFIRM

Buruburu DCIO Henry Kiambati confirmed that the case had been reported and it was under investigation.

The investigating officer, Bob Odhiambo, told Nairobi News that four witnesses had already recorded statements.

“We are in the process of acquiring the CCTV footage along Jogoo road to see if we can identify the car,” added Mr Odhiambo.

When Nairobi News tried to inquire why the cameras were not working and if they had any backup for all their footage of that fateful day, the attendants said that their cameras did not capture anything on October 29 and 30.

CCTV CAMERAS

Mr Saferio disappeared on October 29. The investigating officer also said that they were told the footage had erased itself  after the CCTV cameras developed a problem on that day.

The family wondered why the Outering Jogoo road petrol station cameras only malfunctioned on that day when the car, which Mr Saferio was thrown into, was packed there.

According to Mr Okumu, his brother had an altercation with an unknown woman at Hamza stage along Jogoo Road earlier on the fateful day.

He added that the 32-year-old, who had worked as a tout for more than 10 years, had never had any serious criminal record. The only time he has ever been arrested was for petty offences of touting.

He noted that his brother always left work early and went to train for football with other youths in Umoja every evening.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Nyeri has handed over an altar that will be used by Pope Francis to preside over Mass at the University of Nairobi on Thursday next week.

Nyeri Archbishop Peter Kairo handed over the 100-year-old altar to Fr Charles Kinyua and Fr Peter Kamomoe, who were sent to pick it up by the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB).

The altar, standing on a red carpet, wrapped in plastic paper and a white cloth, was carried in a lorry owned by former Head of Civil Service Francis Kimemia.

Mr Kimemia, who arrived shortly after the altar was loaded onto the waiting 10-tonne lorry, said the truck was a donation from Nyandarua County Catholics.

“The faithful in Nyandarua County decided to offer transportation services for the altar, and this is their contribution towards Pope Francis’ visit,” said Mr Kimemia, who was accompanied by his two daughters.

ESCORTED BY POLICE

The altar was escorted by plain clothes police officers drawn from the Administration Police officers, who rode in a separate Land Rover.

A special ceremony was held at Mathari Pastoral Centre, where the altar had been stored, with Fr Kinyua reading a letter sent to Archbishop Kairo, requesting him to release the altar.

The letter was written by Fr Daniel Kimutai Rono, who is the general-secretary of KCCB, and copied to the Right Reverend Phillip Anyolo, the chairman of the conference.

“I write to your Grace in regard to the visit by the Holy Father, Pope Francis, to Kenya. As you are aware, the Liturgy committee identified the altar at Mathari Church to be transported to Nairobi for use during the Papal mass at the UoN grounds on November 25, 2015.

“I kindly request you to release the altar to the bearer of this letter in order to facilitate the Liturgy Team with the preparations at the UoN grounds,” reads the letter.

RELEASE ALTAR

Archbishop Kairo responded: “On behalf of the faithful from Nyeri Catholic Archdiocese, it is my honour and privilege to release the altar to KCCB for use by the Pope.

“We as Nyeri faithful feel privileged and excited to see that our Pope will use the same altar that was used during the beatification of the Blessed Sr Irene. As he comes, let us pray for peace of all Kenyans and the world in general.”

Fr Kamomoe, the priest in charge of the Holy Family Basilica, said he and Fr Kinyua were “delegated to collect the altar”.

It will undergo refurbishment before the Thursday Mass.

The altar was used during the beatification of Sr Irene Stefani at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology grounds by Papal Delegate Polycarp Cardinal Pengo of Dar-es-Salaam on May 23.

The altar was constructed in 1918 by Catholic brothers and locals who were trained on carpentry by the missionaries at Mathari.

SR IRENE PORTRAIT

Meanwhile, Archbishop Kairo and Fr Kamomoe said they were still waiting for a confirmation on whether a canvas with a portrait of Sr Irene would be hang at the Papal dais during the Mass.

“The committee working on the issue is yet to confirm whether they will collect the canvas ahead of the Mass,” said Archbishop Kairo.

The portrait was painted by an Italian artist from Anfo, a village in Italy where Sr Stefani was born. The portrait hangs inside Our Lady of Divine Providence in Gikondi, Mukurweini, where the nun lived, served and died.

Nairobi governor Evans Kidero has now sent engineers in every sub-county to coordinate responses to flooding as heavy rains continue pounding the city.

Governor Kidero released the names of engineers on the county’s website and advised city residents to contact them in case of flooding.

“This team will resolve any issues in your area. Do not hesitate to get in touch with them,” Dr Kidero said in a press statement.

In August, county deployed 400 youth in South C to unclog blocked drainage systems.

Unlike during the May/June rains when several parts of the city suffered flooding, lives were lost and property destroyed, this time no major incident has been reported so far.