Africa

Police hold foreigners ‘indefinitely’

Published

9 months ago

March 30, 2019

Police have been holding foreigners who are supposed to be deported, including a minor, in a cell for months after they cleared their jail terms.

The five, a United Kingdom national, three Rwandese and a minor of Somali origin are locked up at the Kasarani police station in Nairobi waiting for the day they will be sent back to their home country.

It remains unclear why they are still locked up in police cells, which is against the Kenyan law that states that a person should be held by the police for only 24 hours.

For the Rwandans, it is also against the East African Community (EAC) policy that one has the right to travel to any country in the region as long as they have an identity card of their country of origin.

When the Sunday Nation this week visited the station, the foreigners revealed that the experience in the cells was worse compared to what they went through at the Kerugoya Prisons in Kirinyaga County.

The Rwandese — Mr Gaspard Ukwizagira, Vincent Mushimimana and Ananias Syzikeye — have stayed in the cells longer than they stayed in prison.

“We have stayed inside the cells for six months compared to prison where we spent three months only and from the look of things we are not leaving this place any time soon,” Mr Syzikeye told the Sunday Nation, adding that for all that time he has never taken a shower.

According to him, for the whole time they have been staying at the station they have been hopeful that one day some saviour will walk in and demand that they be released.

The three were arrested on July 27, 2018 in Baricho, Kirinyaga County, as they were hawking in the busy town. Their mistake? They were engaging in business without permits.

“We agree that we committed an illegality and served time in jail but surely what are we still doing inside a police cell six months later? Is it really fair?” he posed.

They said they had been spending their time either seated or lying on the rough floor of their cell, which has a strong stench emanating from a bucket that serves as a toilet.

Mr Suzikeye said life in prison came with a number of benefits compared to that in the dark cells.

“In prison we have mentorship classes, one can study for a course of one’s choice unlike here where we are wasting our time,” he said, adding that they survived on one plate of food a day.

Mr Syezikeye regrets his decision to join his two other friends in the country after they assured him that he would make a lot of money from hawking.

“We have never even spoken to our relatives and probably they might be thinking that we died a long time ago,” he said.

The Sunday Nation has established that the Rwandan Embassy

was informed about the matter three weeks ago but little has been done to assist the three. Efforts to get a comment from the embassy proved futile as they neither replied to our emails nor answered our calls.

In the same cell and undergoing the same predicament is a 15-year-old minor who was first arrested on September 9, 2018, in Eastleigh and booked at the Pangani police station. His uncle, Mr Abdul Kadir, said that he was later taken to court and sent to the Juvenile prison in Kamiti until March 15 when he was brought to the station.

“It was even hard to trace the boy but we were later directed to the Kasarani police station where we found him,” said Mr Kadir.

He said that he was still shocked that Kenya was planning to repatriate the minor to Somalia, a land he claims he has never set foot in.

He claims that the boy was born in Wajir and came to the city after his parents died. Just like the Rwandese, the family of the minor also hopes that once he is repatriated to Somalia they can catch up with him.

source:Daily Nation

Africa

Digital media key to Africa’s growth story

Published

20 hours ago

December 12, 2019

KSN Reporter

Mainstream media have been pushed to focus more on digital platforms since young people are changing the future of the industry.

Talking at the Kusi Ideas Festival in Kigali, Rwanda, on Monday, Nation Media Group Editorial Director Mutuma Mathiu said the platform had been altered to involve more computer-generated reports.

“The future of journalism is exciting. The use of specific devices to receive news is in its last stages. People will receive news from their fridges and all manner of gadgets,” Mr. Mathiu said.

“Journalism as an organized activity in truth-seeking, fact-checking and storytelling is becoming better because of converged technology.”

He, however, warned of social medial being mauled by a lot of fake news.

“We have seen social media being weaponised to rig elections and spread misinformation. People now prefer to pay for credible news,” Mr. Mathiu said

“Whatever form the media takes in the next 60 years, I hope we will continue to talk about the truth and hold leaders to account.”

The platform has changed focus giving social media a more significant say in democracy issues.

Ipsos Kenya Managing Director Aggrey Oriwo said media is going towards a personalized consumption stage, something that the mainstream media should embrace.

Africa

Nairobi: Best African city to work in

Published

1 day ago

December 12, 2019

KSN Reporter

Expatriates have voted in Nairobi as the best African city to work in. According to Expat City Ranking 2019, the residents are friendly and fair weather.

Nairobi is the 45^th best city to work in, as stated by a survey conducted by InterNations, the largest community for expatriates.

“About 82 percent describe the locals (Nairobi residents) as friendly and 62 percent find it easy to make friends. The local climate and weather has been a top highlight for expat life, with 91 percent of expats rating this factor positively compared to 59 percent globally,” the report said.

South Africa’s Johannesburg ranked 59th globally, Cape Town (65th) and Nigeria’s Lagos (79th).

The respondents also cited that Nairobi is easy to settle in ranking third worldwide behind Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Manama in Bahrain.

InterNations has more than 3.5 million members, surveyed over 20,000 respondents in 82 cities around the globe in the 2019 ranking.

Africa

Plane with 17 passengers on board crashes in DRC

Published

3 weeks ago

November 24, 2019

KSN Reporter

A passenger plane with about 17 passengers on board crashed on Sunday in the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing several people, the provincial governor’s office said.

The plane, operated by the local company Busy Bee, crashed during takeoff for a flight to the city of Beni, North Kivu Governor Carly Nzanzu Kasivita’s office said in a statement.

The number of fatalities was not yet clear.Busy Bee was not available for comment.Air accidents are relatively frequent in Congo because of lax safety standards and poor maintenance. \All Congolese commercial carriers, including Busy Bee, are banned from operating in the European Union.

A cargo plane departing from the same airport crashed an hour after take-off in October, killing all eight passengers.

By Standard