News

For Mithika Linturi, others are always to blame for his misfortunes

Published

2 years ago

August 18, 2021

In Kimeru, one can summarise it as “ari mutine jukuura”, that is, “he is sheltering under a leaking tree”. That might be one way of illustrating the story of Meru Senator Franklin Mithika Linturi and the many problems he has.

Over the past few years, Mr Linturi’s has been a life of seeking anticipatory stoppage of prosecution, attending explosive divorce case proceedings, suing to retain his academic papers, and criminal charges hovering above his head.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i told a Senate committee in May that Mr Linturi had at least 37 criminal charges lined up against him following investigations into various issues, chiefly the obtaining of a loan using suspected falsified documents.

Troubles land on him from various directions, and one might say the senator has problems from here to Akachiu, that unassuming location in Meru County where he got his primary education.

But regardless of the issues that line up, he always has a fightback. He always has a missile to fire in retaliation.

For instance, in the latest case in which he is accused of sexually assaulting someone’s wife at a Nanyuki resort in January — he calls it an extortion plot.

“There are cartels being used to extort and blackmail people and they are now being used by state operatives through KRA (Kenya Revenue Authority) and EACC (Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission) because of my political ambitions,” Mr Linturi told radio host Maina Kageni yesterday.

And when Ms Maryanne Kitany, the former chief of staff at the Office of the Deputy President, told a court during a divorce case hearing that they had been married, Mr Linturi refuted it, saying she had asked to be accommodated temporarily in one of his houses.

Never mind he was later barred from visiting a house in Runda in which he had been living with Ms Kitany.

Sometimes, he gives no excuses; he just refuses to comment. Such was the case in 2018 when Edith Kananu, who used to be a domestic worker in the senator’s home in Maua, Igembe South, fell ill at the home and later died at Maua Methodist Hospital.

Kananu was buried days later without a post-mortem being conducted and when the Nation contacted Mr Linturi for a comment when the woman’s relatives raised questions, his answer was: “No comment.”

The latest controversy has, however, drawn many comments from the senator. His accusers say that at 3am on January 29, he entered a room at the resort where the woman was sleeping and joined her in bed. She assumed it was her husband who had returned until someone knocked at the door and when she opened it, found her husband standing there. They realised that the man in the bed was a stranger whom they would later identify as Mr Linturi.In Mr Linturi’s view, it was a kidnap.

“Characters not known to me abducted me and asked for money, which I didn’t have. They asked for Sh1 million. They stripped me and took nude photos of me,” he told the radio host in a phone interview.

“I went to the police station and got a P3 and reported under an OB number,” he said. “I am always the first complainant and they turn me into a suspect because they bring politics into it.”

Mr Linturi has already applied to a court to stop his prosecution over that controversial turn of events and the total is a muddied picture of what might and might not have happened.

The other explanation he has given to the latest controversy is that his political detractors are targeting him because of his political affiliation — that is his support for Deputy President William Ruto.

Franklin D Roosevelt, his namesake who was the US president from 1933 to 1945, famously said that there are no accidents in politics. The lawmaker will probably want to hang on to that, but some might accuse him of not being too far from causing accidents himself.

Ms Kitany, for instance, once filed a complaint with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) alleging that he had brought goons and police officers to eject her from their Runda home.

Mr Linturi’s penchant for anticipatory bail applications might also point to a man who doesn’t like accidents or surprises — in politics or elsewhere. Through lawyers, he has tried many times to obtain anticipatory bail. In March, for instance, he was at the High Court seeking a stoppage of his imminent arrest in connection with Sh530 million borrowed using property belonging to Ms Kitany as collateral.

But Justice Weldon Korir did not immediately issue the order as pleaded, which left Mr Linturi exposed. A month later, during debate on the Building Bridges Initiative Bill in the Senate, he told some colleagues that he was being arrested due to his political views on the document. Senate proceedings were halted following the news.

False information

That is when Dr Matiang’i later told MPs, after being summoned, that Mr Linturi faced up to 37 charges that included giving false information to a person employed in the public service, conspiracy to defraud, forgery, impersonation, obtaining credit by false pretence, fraudulently procuring the registration of a charge document and intent to defraud.

“The 37 counts are all criminal charges investigated and approved for prosecution,” Dr Matiang’i said, noting that this stemmed from a complaint made on November 1, 2018 that some people had forged minutes of a company’s board of directors meeting and replaced some officials. The new officials would later take a loan.

Matters of the heart, politics and finances are the rain falling ferociously on Mr Linturi. And the politician, with his explanations that are like a leaking tree, is often left exposed.

That he follows his heart to extreme heights is not new. In 2014, when he was supposed to table a Motion to impeach then-Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru over corruption allegations, he was instead in Naivasha, as claimed by Ms Kitany in court. And that impeachment Motion died on a technicality.

“When the impeachment motion was first tabled in Parliament, Linturi and I were at Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge, having a good time,” Ms Kitany said in court.

Now there is a sexual assault scandal brewing, and Mr Linturi admitted on the radio yesterday that he was not very sober that night.

“I had taken a drink; quite an amount. And I am being honest because I don’t believe in telling a lie,” he told Maina Kageni.

It seems that problems may soon cease raining and start pouring on the senator.

By nationmedia.com

Related Topics:Edith Kananu mithika linturi Ms Maryanne Kitany News Weldon Korir

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Entertainment

Eric Omondi denies Jacque Maribe’s son in new pregnancy reveal

Published

3 hours ago

June 8, 2023

KSN Reporter

By Wanja Waweru

Eric Omondi, an award-winning comedian and creator of digital entertainment, and Lynne, a social media influencer and commercial model, have revealed they are expecting a child.

The pair enthusiastically announced the news in a combined Instagram post. Lynne can be seen donning a yellow two-piece costume in the images that have been released, proudly displaying her growing baby belly.

Eric, who was completely covered in black, stands protectively behind her and gently strokes the lump.

In her third trimester, Lynne undoubtedly looks pregnant. Eric expressed his excitement at having his own flesh and blood in the caption of the photo, which is odd given that he shares a child with Jackie Maribe, a former media celebrity.

Eric continued by equating himself with Sarah from the Bible, who’d It has taken me 41 years but finally God has blessed me with my own,” started the entertainer excitedly.

He went on to add, “The Fruit of my loins! I feel like Sarah of Abraham of the Bible, she waited all her life for a child of her own.

Thank you baby for making me a father❤❤🙏🙏🥰🥰. And to God thank you for returning our baby to us,” the last of his post read.

It has taken me 41 years but finally God has blessed me with my own,” started the entertainer excitedly.

Seven months ago, Lynne tragically miscarried at barely eight weeks of pregnancy, and Eric and his girlfriend announced they had lost their first child.

The medical professionals there did everything they could to save the little angel, but it was in vain, as Eric refers to the night as the longest night of his life.

Lifestyle

Mwalimu Rachel: Managing Sailors Gang my biggest regret!

Published

6 hours ago

June 8, 2023

KSN Reporter

By Wanja Waweru

The long-running feud between oppular radio host Rachel Muthoni Njeru, often known as Mwalimu and the gengetone boy band Sailors Gang has been being brought up again, with Rachel stating that managing the group is one of her greatest regrets.

The social media influencer shared this in an interesting conversation she had on her official YouTube channel with a friend named Monicah Wairimu Mwariri.

“What is your biggest regret? Like the one thing you say if I could have done differently I would have gotten different/ better results as Mwalimu Rachel?”

Monicah who was acting as the moderator of that specific episode posed the question to Rachel.

“Managing… managing Sailors Gang!” replied the NRG radio presenter without a second thought.

She continued by saying that interacting with the group had been such a challenge that it had put her in some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable.

“Wueh! Wewe ushawahi lala cell (have you ever spent a night in jail)?” Rachel asked the host to which she replied she’d never and doesn’t even ever wish to encounter such a moment.

Mwalimu Rachel said that while she was in charge of the gengetone male group, she had spent a night in a police cell.

Mimi nililala cell, like wueh…” Rachel revealed.

Sharing a snippet of the interview with her over 403k Instagram followers Rachel wrote, “Cell nayo nililala ni ukweli… wueh! That was a DAAARK time for me. It’s okay though… Time for EVERYONE to hear my story from ME.”

She stated in another post that the reason she was finally speaking about it was so that the suffering she had endured would not be in vain.

“Hopefully my experience will educate other managers as well as caution artists against some things,” Mwalimu Rachel’s post read.

Diaspora

US announces changes to student visa application process

Published

9 hours ago

June 8, 2023

KSN Reporter

US State Department has revealed changes in policy that will impact foreign students entering the US.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced during the National Association of other Student Advisers (NAFSA) in Washington that they had streamlined the visa application process for students from other nations, including Kenya, who want to pursue higher education overseas.

According to him, applicants won’t need to participate in an interview to complete their application.

This adjustment is a significant deviation from the standard procedures, which at first required an interview.

The Department also extended the window in which a Visa application may be submitted, bringing it from 120 days to a full year.

Blinken stressed the significance of forging alliances with other nations when discussing visa reforms in order to provide students with additional opportunities options to study abroad.

He applauded organizations like NAFSA for helping students seize opportunities and for organizing student exchanges.

“At the State Department, we are working to expand international education. After the acute phase of the pandemic ended, more and more international students began applying to study in the US again. We took steps to streamline our visa process and make it easier for students to apply,” he said.

M Square Media’s CEO, Raghwa Gopal, applauded the US government for taking action to expand international study programs. Gopal asserted that by giving students the skills they would need for future international engagements, the short-term educational courses would be advantageous to the students.

Foreign students can enter a recognized college, university, high school, or other educational program in the US under the academic student program.

Foreign students must be admitted by a school that has received formal US government recognition, and the program must result in a certification, certificate, or degree.

After a popular outcry, the deadline for the hike in worldwide visa fees was postponed from the originally announced date of May 30 to June 17; some applicants will now have to pay up to Sh42,000 to obtain the travel document.

Business and tourist visas (category B1/B2S), student visas (F), and exchange visitor visas (J) are the categories that would see a rise, going from Sh21,800 ($160) to Sh25,206 ($185) visas for temporary workers (H, L, O, P, Q, and R categories) will cost Sh27,941 ($205) from Sh25,897 ($190).

The US Embassy in Nairobi stated that they acknowledge the critical role that international travel plays in the US economy and pointed out that President Joe Biden’s foreign policy places a high priority on granting visas, particularly for work and tourism. They insisted that the fees are only intended to cover the costs of providing the consular services.

The cost of non-immigrant visas hasn’t gone up since 2014, so this is a big deal.

Following the suspension of the process in 2020 as part of the safety measures established at the height of the Covid-19 outbreak, the embassy has been dealing with a massive backlog of visa interviews.

The Embassy shortened the wait time for visa interviews for Kenyan visitors last month and permitted renewal of some categories without going through an interview physical appointments.