Kenya News
Over 40,000 lives lost annually to FGM in Africa
According to a recent study, the devastating effects of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) claim the lives of more than 40,000 children and young women in Africa every year.
This shocking statistic sees FGM overtaking HIV/Aids, measles, meningitis, malnutrition-related mortality, traumas, and whooping cough as the leading cause of death among girls.
The terrible situation is depicted in the paper Estimating Excess Mortality due to Female Genital Mutilation.
With 44,320 lives lost each year as a result of FGM, it emphasizes that the cost to girls’ lives is unmatched. This incredible number categorically places FGM as the leading cause of death among girls and young women in some African regions.
“This alarming number underscores FGM’s undeniable status as a critical health and social concern, necessitating immediate attention beyond being a violation of human rights,” the report states.
he report underscores that the prevalence of FGM varies significantly within countries. For instance, while Nigeria witnesses FGM occurring in girls younger than five years old around 93 per cent of the time, in neighbouring Benin, it is more prevalent among girls up to nine years old or older.
“This variance across neighbouring countries, particularly between East and West Africa, is common. In many West African nations, FGM is perpetrated by the age of six or seven, often targeting infant girls,” the report highlights.
On March 14, 2024, the murder trial hearing for former Eastleigh police officer Ahmed Rashid will begin.
This comes after the state finished providing the defense side with a partial disclosure of witness statements and documentary evidence on Thursday.
Rashid was accused in April of killing Mohammed Dhair Kheri and Jamal Mohammed, two adolescents, on March 31, 2017, in Amal Plaza in Eastleigh, Nairobi.
After denying the two murder charges in front of Justice Diana Kavedza, he was freed on a Sh200,000 bond.
Prosecution attorney Alla Mulama informed Justice Kavedza at pre-trial on Thursday at the High Court in Kibera that the state will call 25 witnesses to testify during the trial, 12 of whom were prepared to do so.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has denied assertions made by Raila Odinga, head of Azimio La Umoja One Kenya, that anomalies in the recently revealed results are due to the termination of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) tests printing tender to a UK firm.
During his appearance before the Parliamentary Education Committee, Machogu stated that tenders for publishing national tests are sent out every year.
He insisted that Kenya, like any other nation, is capable of producing exam papers domestically.
The Education CS said that his ministry did not violate any laws and that the examinations printing tender was awarded using due process.
However, Machogu recognized that applicants’ difficulties receiving their results were caused by the company’s noncompliance with KNEC guidelines regarding the management of the QR code used for transmitting and accessing the KCPE results.
“As a CS I have learnt lessons because basically you can see as a ministry everything was right. Somebody we can call an outsider was given the contract but did not really conform and do to the required standard. Moving forward when we release the KCSE examinations we will not be able to make use of the same service provider,” he added.
Odinga had on Wednesday alleged that the government illegally revoked the printing tender from a UK based firm to a printer based in Mombasa road and later to India.
”We have established that early this year, the Kenya Kwanza administration suddenly and abruptly stopped this contact because the UK firm refused to give kickbacks. Without following any legal procurement processes, due diligence procedures and attention to examination timelines, the Kenya Kwanza administration awarded the KCPE and KCSE exam printing contract to a politically correct printing company based in Mombasa road,” Odinga said.
A Kenyan man is being charged in the US with murder-for-hire after authorities thwarted his plan to have a woman, with whom he has a long-running legal dispute, assassinated.
The 52-year-old former top banking executive Leonard Thuo Mwithiga was charged in Putnam, Connecticut, after he instructed a friend to find a hitman for him so that he could “finish that woman” or “inject something into her food or water to kill her slowly like cancer.”
In order to avoid being connected to the woman’s death, Mwithiga allegedly intended to have her killed between January 28 and February 3 of the following year while he would be in Kenya. He assured the hitman he would give him $4000 (Sh609,000).
Mwithiga, the prosecutor claims, found a would-be killer, whom he gave $300 (Sh46,000) “in good faith”, not knowing he was dealing with an undercover police officer. He had also given the associate $100 (Sh15,238).
Both the associate, an Uber driver, who turned informant for the police, and the woman who was supposed to be the victim have not been identified.
According to local media sites, the informant informed a state police officer, who then went up to Mwithiga and pretended to be the hitman-for-hire he required.
According to investigation files submitted to the court, the undercover police officer “spoke with Mwithiga for more than an hour on Monday night, finalising the details of” the scheme while wearing audio and video monitoring, according to CT Insider, a Connecticut-based news site.
The Kenyan man was apprehended right away by the officer after they met at a motel in Putnam, the capital of Connecticut.
Ex-cop Rashid’s murder trial to start on March 14
CS Machogu says no exam printing contract was cancelled in reply to Raila
Ex-KCB top manager Leonard Mwithiga arrested in US trying to kill wife
-
Kenya News1 month agoSex toys, guns, drones among items intercepted in KRA checks at JKIA
-
Fashion6 years agoThese ’90s fashion trends are making a comeback in 2017
-
Entertainment6 years ago
The final 6 ‘Game of Thrones’ episodes might feel like a full season
-
Fashion6 years ago
According to Dior Couture, this taboo fashion accessory is back
-
Business6 years ago
Uber and Lyft are finally available in all of New York State
-
Sports6 years ago
Phillies’ Aaron Altherr makes mind-boggling barehanded play
-
Entertainment6 years ago
The old and New Edition cast comes together to perform
-
Sports6 years ago
Steph Curry finally got the contract he deserves from the Warriors
