Of Religious Dancing and Njonjo's Old School Menatlity

Former Attorney General, Mr Charles Njonjo, and the head of Anglican Church, Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi have clashed over reforms in the Church. The rift stemmed from an assertion by Nzimbi that the Anglican Church was changing its worship style by allowing youth to sing and dance during sermons to encourage them. Njonjo, who presided over a funds drive in aid of the Church disagreed with Nzimbi, saying Anglican worshiping traditions should not be discarded. "If youth want to dance, they can go to other churches where the practice is allowed," said Njonjo. Addressing faithful at St Michael ACK Church in Bondo at the weekend, Nzimbi said, "we have allowed youth to dance and sing in the Church because if we don’t they will run away." "I want to urge them to dance with dignity before the congregation," he added. However, Njonjo vowed to oppose the new ways of worshipping being introduced by a section of the clergy. Njonjo said the Anglican Church should stick to its traditional mode of worship and guard against being swayed by the emerging churches. He also told Nzimbi to be firm and defend the Anglican traditional style of worship from being watered down by an emerging generation. He said it was disturbing to see some of the ACK Church leaders giving in to some form of worship that traditionally are associated with Pentecostal or other emerging churches. Njonjo was accompanied by ODM leaders Mr Joseph Nyagah, Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, Dr Oburu Odinga, Archbishop Stephen Ondiek, Mr Ken Nyagudi, and Mr Sammy Weya. - The Standard.

For Sale: Belgium, A Kindom in 3 Parts

Hidden among the porcelain fox hounds and Burberry tablecloths on sale at eBay.be this week was an unusual item: 'For Sale: Belgium, a Kingdom in three parts ... free premium: the king and his court (costs not included).' The ad - thought to be the first attempt to sell Belgium via eBay - was posted by one disgruntled Belgian in protest at his country's political crisis. This reached its 100-day landmark on Tuesday, with no end in sight to the squabbling between Flemish and Walloon politicians. 'I wanted to attract attention,' said Gerrit Six, the teacher and former journalist who posted the ad. 'You almost have to throw a rock through a window to get attention for Belgium.' Six placed the advertisement on Saturday, offering free delivery, but pointing out that the country was coming secondhand and that potential buyers would have to take on over £153 billion (€220 billion) in national debt. Like many of Belgium's 10 million citizens, Six is exasperated that the power struggle between the country's French-speaking and Dutch-speaking political parties has left Belgium in political limbo since June 10 elections.

Demands for more autonomy from the Dutch-speaking Flemish are resisted by the French-speaking Walloons, making it impossible to form a government coalition and triggering concern the kingdom is on the verge of a breakup. Six decided to vent his frustration through the Internet ad. 'My proposal was to make it clear that Belgium was valuable, it's a masterpiece and we have to keep it,' he told Associated Press Television News. 'It's my country and I'm taking care of it, and with me are millions of Belgians.' Six' idea got a mixed reaction on the streets of Brussels. 'Very funny, typical Belgian humor,' said Anne Graux. 'It's ridiculous,' snapped Nathalie Ginot, a Brussels resident who had her own pragmatic solution to Belgium's woes. 'We think it would be good to split Belgium into the three and make Brussels a tax-haven, a capital exempt from all taxes,' she said hopefully. Six vaunted Belgium's attractions to potential buyers from art nouveau architecture to the headquarters of NATO and the European Union and some great beers. But he also warned of the pitfalls of taking on the cacophonous mix of Flemish nationalists, Walloon Socialists and the mayors of all 19 Brussels' boroughs. EBay was happy to take Six' advertisement. 'It was a really fun listing made by a Belgian,' Peter Burin, PR manager of eBay Belgium. 'This person, in a very funny way, reminded the Belgians what a great country Belgium actually is and it would be a shame to sell it.' However, the company decided to pull the ad Tuesday after receiving a bid of €10 million (£6.9 million) 'We decided to take it down, just to avoid confusion,' he told APTN.

A record number of British citizens are leaving the country, according to official figures published. An unprecedented 196,000 left the country last year, with Australia, Spain, America, New Zealand and France the most popular destinations for those seeking a new life. The exodus is countered by high levels of immigration, with the Office for National Statistics saying that 574,000 people came to live in Britain between June 2005 and 2006. Overall, the population has risen by 349,000 to more than 60 million. The news came as it was revealed that hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers will be granted an 'amnesty' to live in Britain on human rights grounds. Many have been waiting years to have their cases processed, meaning deporting them now would breach their right to a family life.

The ONS figures also showed the numbers arriving from Eastern Europe are still close to the boom levels seen after eight countries including Poland joined the European Union in the spring of 2004. The new figures also suggested that middle-class Britons are beginning to move out of towns in southern England that are home to large numbers of immigrants. This phenomenon - called 'churn' by Whitehall officials and 'middleclass flight' by other commentators - saw 240,000 people move out of London last year. Independent experts said the high emigration figures showed that many Britons are fed up with life here and believe they will do better elsewhere. Liam Clifford, of consultancy firm globalvisas.com, said his company had 50,000 inquiries from would-be emigrants last month alone. "They do not believe that the services and the system can cope with the number of people coming into the UK at the moment," he said. "Even fairly rural areas and villages seem to be coming under the threat of having an increased population and lack of services."

Dean Morgan, of the workpermit.com website, added: "Normally in July and August it is quite quiet but this year we have been inundated. "People are worried about their children and they worry about their jobs and their future here and possibly the economy as well. "Perception of crime is another of the main reasons for people wanting to leave." A study by the Institute for Public Policy Research think-tank earlier this year said there are now 1.3 million British emigrants living in Australia. Another 761,000 live in Spain, and 678,000 in the United States. The ONS yesterday estimated that last year's emigration figures were the highest since 1991, when modern counting methods were adopted. A total of 385,000 people are thought to have left the country, although this figure includes many foreigners who were in Britain temporarily. Current levels are far above those in previous high emigration periods such as the 1970s and early 1980s.

The 574,000 who came into Britain last year included many types of people, some of them successful applicants from highly-skilled migrant programmes. Another 91,000 were Britons who had lived abroad coming home. It also included 74,000 who came from Eastern Europe, the ONS said. This brings the official estimate of migration from the new EU countries since the middle of 2004 to 151,000. However, ministers admit that in reality more than 600,000 have come over here. Sir Andrew Green of Migrationwatch said that the ONS calculated that only 57,000 of the recent Eastern European arrivals had stayed in Britain. But 210,000 signed the Government's register to work in Britain over the period. He added: "This once again highlights that the Government has no real grip of immigration or any meaningful idea of the true number coming to and leaving the UK which makes planning for these large population increases extremely difficult." ONS officials, who continue to base immigration estimates on a largely-discredited survey taken at ports of entry, said compiling the figures was becoming "difficult" and "challenging". The figures include asylum seekers but do not count, and make no estimate of, the levels of illegal immigration.

MIDDLE CLASS QUIT CITIES The middle class are increasingly moving out of towns and cities in southern England in a phenomenon known in Whitehall as 'churn'. The relocation to suburbs and rural areas is similar to the 'white flight' that emptied American cities in the 1960s. However, the exodus here includes successful ethnic minority families anxious to escape the growing tensions of life in big towns. GP records showed that 243,700 people left London in the 12 months to June last year. The capital's population continues to grow because of large numbers of migrants moving in. But for the first time other southern towns are experiencing 'middle class flight'. Since 2001 the populations of Reading and Bournemouth have dropped by one per cent despite the arrival of migrants. The head of the ONS, Karen Dunnell, said: "We have seen a very active housing market and some people are moving out to take advantage of rising prices." However, experts also consider that concerns over schools, poor transport and rising crime are central factors in persuading families to move out of towns.

OUR AGEING POPULATION The fastest-growing segment of the population is the over-85s, the figures showed. A record 1,243,000 have now passed the age of 85 and the group grew by 6 per cent last year. The number of people over retirement age is now 11,344,000 - up 1 per cent in a year. There are concerns that Britain's ageing population will become difficult to sustain because there are fewer taxpayers to pay for older people's pensions and health care costs. The working age population is growing, although more slowly - it was up by 0.8 per cent to 37,710,000. At the same time the number of children under 16 dropped by 0.4 per cent to 11,537,000. Overall numbers went up by 349,000 to 60,587,000, according to the figures. Just over half of the increase was attributed to immigration, the rest to increasing birth rates. These are rising largely because recent immigrants are having more children than the existing population. One in four of the 734,000 babies born last year had a parent who was born abroad. This is up from one in five in 2001. The rising number of children born to migrants compares with much lower birthrates among women whose background is wholly British

Outrage Over UK Immigration High Handedness

Following is a disturbing story of a young Kenyan girl's quest to reunite with her mother in the UK and how she was forcibly returned to Kenya after arriving in UK. This goes a long way to show the other side of the coin regarding matters of human rights and UK being in the forefront in fighting the same. Suppose the Kenyan authorities handled a similar case in the same way for a British minor?

I dare not even visualise the impact of consequences that would follow.

Read for yourself:

Refugee support groups today expressed outrage at the Home Office forcibly returning a seven year old girl to Kenya despite being repeatedly informed by an MP, officers from Strathclyde Police and lawyers, that her mother was living in the UK. Seven year old Lavendah Nyambura arrived in the UK by herself on a flight in April this year. Immigration officials at Heathrow airport detained her as an unaccompanied minor and placed her in the care of Hillingdon Borough Social Services. Lavendah was then put into foster care.

Alerted by an anonymous phone call, Lavendah’s mother, 31 year old, Joan Kinyanjui, who fled Kenya four years ago and is currently living in safety in Glasgow, made repeated attempts to find out from the Home Office where her daughter was so they could be re-united.

Despite many phone calls from Joan, her lawyer, officers from Strathclyde Police and Glasgow North-East MP Michael Martin, to inform the Home Office that Lavendah was her daughter, immigration officials removed Lavendah to Kenya on Wednesday 18th October, almost six months since she had arrived in the UK and only seven days after the Home Office had eventually confirmed that they were holding her.

Joan did not discover Lavendah had been taken out of the country until she phoned the social services holding her daughter two days later.

Solicitors from the Childrens Legal Centre at the University of Essex are now preparing the case for a judicial review of the decision to return Lavendah to Kenya. They have managed to locate where in Kenya Lavendah is currently staying. Campaigners are hoping that Lavendah will be able to come back to the UK and be re-united with her mother.

“The treatment of this young girl and her mother is simply outrageous. We have never heard of anything so inhumane” said Cat Storrie from the Unity Centre in Glasgow. “Despite Joan repeatedly telling Home Office officials that Lavendah was her daughter, they delayed telling her where Lavendah was until it was too late to unite her with her mother. I cannot imagine what this girl has been through – held by immigration officials, put into foster care and then flown back to disappear in Kenya without being reunited with her mother.”

More details below or from:
The UNITY Centre
30 Ibrox Street
Glasgow
Tel: 0141 427 7992

Joan’s story:
Four years ago, Joan was forced to flee Kenya after she helped her sister escape from extreme physical violence and went into hiding for about a month. She had left Lavendah in the care of her father but on returning to the family home found it had been ransacked and her daughter and husband missing. Her sister and Joan escaped to the UK. Joan’s sister has been given asylum but Joan so far has been refused it. Joan currently lives with her disabled sister as her full-time carer.

Timeline:
• From April, Joan’s lawyer repeatedly wrote to the Home Office requesting information about the whereabouts of Lavendah. Asylum Seeker Liaison Officers from Strathclyde Police also contacted the Home Office on her behalf to inform them that Joan was Lavendah’s mother.

• In June, Home Office officials visited Joan in her home in Red Road, Glasgow and asked her a number of questions about her daughter but refused to confirm whether Lavendah was in the UK.

• On Wednesday 11th October the Home Office wrote to Joan’s lawyer confirming that Lavendah was in the care of Hillingdon Borough Social Services. Joan then got in touch with Michael Martin MP who on Friday 13th October contacted the Home Office for Joan.

• Joan eventually managed to speak to someone from Hillingdon Borough Social Services on Thursday 19th October when she was informed that her daughter had been returned to Kenya the day before.

The Mungiki: Is it just a pest or a permanent menace?

The criminal activities that are attributed to the proscribed Mungiki gang have taken a most bizarre and frightening turn. The spate of abductions and beheadings in Murang’a and Kiambu areas indicates the extent to which the criminals are prepared to go to spread fear and terror. It is clear that we have gone way beyond the battle for control of matatu routes and the violence associated with extortion and protection schemes in areas where Mungiki operates. The proscribed movement is out to demonstrate that it in can operate and strike with impunity anywhere and wherever. It is out to show that the police and other government organs are feeble, helpless and unable to protect anyone who defies it. Mungiki has sent a very powerful and frightening message. It is demonstrating that it is untouchable, that the police crackdown amount to nothing and that the arrest of a few leaders and adherents will not stop it going about its criminal activities. It is inconceivable that the Government, with all the forces under its command, can be reduced to such impotence in the face of Mungiki. One suspects that if there was real will, the force the Government is capable of unleashing would end the menace once and for all.

But perhaps the will is not quite there. We have publicly heard Cabinet ministers call for negotiations with the sect leaders rather than a crackdown. From MPs in the affected areas, we have heard very little on the issue of Mungiki activities in their constituencies. We have heard that police officers out in the field have been advised by their superiors to exercise restraint when they confront members of the gang. It is time this whole phenomenon was properly investigated so that it can be neutralised. Our police have been very busy reacting to criminal actions associated with Mungiki, but there seems to be a dearth of proper investigation. It will take concerted work by both the criminal intelligence arm of the police and the National Security to end this menace.

Brazen murders

However, nothing much will be achieved unless there is the will to uncover those political leaders, in both the present and former regimes, who may have associated with the movement. There is evidence in the public domain, after all, that some leaders in this Government, and the previous one consorted with, and provided support for, Mungiki leaders. The movement has also been adept at lending its support to various political causes, as seen in the run-up to the last election when it came out in support of Kanu, and subsequently when it openly changed allegiance to the present Government. During all those periods, it must be assumed that the Mungiki leaders had been in active touch with the political leaders whom they offered support.

The police cannot claim to be seriously investigating Mungiki if they are not calling in for questioning such political leaders. For it is probably in those associations that the gang gets the confidence to operate in such brazen fashion. Ultimately, the Government must take full responsibility for failing to contain what is now clearly a national security issue. It must crush the movement and restore security in the affected areas.

Glaring failures

It is also up to the Government to move in swiftly and decisively in all other areas in the country threatened by banditry, cattle -rustling and ethnic warfare. If the Government is unable or unwilling to deal with Mungiki in central Kenya, the so-called Sabaot Land and Freedom Army in Mt Elgon, and assorted but very deadly acts of banditry and ethnic flare-ups in Tana River, Trans Nzioa, Pokot, Turkana, Samburu, Moyale and Marsabit districts and much of North Eastern Province, then it will have failed in its primary responsibility of guaranteeing security to all. In which case those responsible for such glaring failures at the highest levels -- the political rather than merely operational levels -- must step aside and hand over the responsibility to others.

Examples from elsewhere in the continent should have served as a lesson to those responsible for nurturing and pampering this deadly sect. In Rwanda, the Interahamwe rose with the specific aim of carrying out genocide for political reasons. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. In the Sudan, the Janjaweed was supported and armed by Khartoum. Now they have become a force on their own, and the continuing genocide in Darfur is the result. Who is to say that the same thing cannot happen in Kenya unless this menace is contained? - Daily Nation Editorial.

Underwater Golf

This is the golf tournament where players wear scuba gear rather than plus-fours. This is believed to be the world's first underwater golf competition and it gave contestants a chance to really sink a putt. The event at the Zuohai Aquarium in Fuzhou, China, had players equipped with clubs and scuba gear in a 15m deep tank. Although there were no bunkers or trees, there were plenty of fish and turtles to avoid. Taking a swing also proved tough with players having to swim above the ball to hit it, and currents made the ball trajectory hard to predict. Unlike ordinary golf, however, this is one game that is never going to get called off because of rain!