By Neto Agostinho
Tel: 254-722-467-365                                                     
National Convener,
Kenyans for Justice and Development
PRESS STATEMENT: MR. PRESIDENT, STOP THE CORRUPT BEFORE THEY STOP KENYA

Though coming rather late in the day, we applaud President Mwai Kibaki’s decisive action on the scandal plaguing Nairobi City Council. Nevertheless, we are saddened that the President spared Deputy Prime Minister and Local Government Minister Musalia Mudavadi and Nairobi Mayor Geoffrey Magiwa, both who have been adversely mentioned in the same saga. We demand that the President immediately and publicly asks the two to step aside to facilitate independent and credible investigations. Failure to do so will reinforce the emerging trend that the Kibaki administration applies double standards, allowing politicians to be immune to the rule of law. 

 The scandal in local government reveals total rot in society, given that all sectors in the public service were involved. Read against the fact that several permanent secretaries and senior civil servants have been suspended for corruption, and many people who held top jobs have been arraigned in court by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission for corruption, and the media continues to unearth mega scandals almost daily, it cannot be business as usual.

 The alarming state of affairs demands radical action to restore public morality. Without a doubt, President Kibaki’s habit of letting the corrupt go scot-free, despite having been elected on a very popular anticorruption platform in December 2002, has nursed corruption to its current monstrous size. Fortunately, it is not difficult to reverse the trend because Kenyans want to crush those looting public resources. All the President has to do is to immediately crack the Executive whip we have given him on the numerous scandals that have plagued the Republic, especially since he was sworn into office in January 2003.

President Kibaki should pursue those involved in the scandals and, alongside the City Hall scandal, recover the estimated one trillion shillings lost in the following scandals: the Kshs 56.3 billion Anglo Leasing scandal; the 1970s Finance Minister Mwai Kibaki inspired Ken Ren Chemical and Fertilizer Company scandal that was paid billions of shillings in 2007 for a factory that was never built; the FPE funds scandal; the National Cereals and Produce Board gunny bags scandal implicating Agriculture Minister William Ruto; the maize scandal; and the IDPs cash scandal.

Also, the irregular transfer of 10% of Telkom (K) Ltd shares worth tens of millions of shillings in Safaricom to Mobitelea Ventures; the Triton Oil scandal where Kshs 7.6 billion was lost through KPC with the collusion of the Ministry of Energy; the  2001 KPLC scandal relating to the “treated wood poles” at Ministry of Energy; the Kshs 70 billion Goldenberg rip-off under President Daniel Arap Moi; the various scandals in the procurement of military and security equipment; the irregular and fraudulent payment by the Solicitor General, Mr. Wanjuki Muchemi, of Kshs 72 million of public funds to six lawyers (Kshs 12 million each to Dr. Gibson Kamau Kuria, Mr. Waweru Gatonye, Mr. Njoroge Regeru, Ms. Lucy Kambuni, Mr. Kioko Kilukumi and Mr. Fred Ngatia) as legal fees in November 2005 a 5-day court appearance. Shamefully, AG Amos Wako defended these payments in Parliament.

We also demand the official publication and decisive action to be taken on the recommendations of the following reports: the Kiruki Report on the Artur Brothers; the 110-page Kroll Report exposing the theft of Kshs 300 billion by Moi and his cronies (that the Raila-led LDP wing of the NARC Government furiously block the Kibaki administration from pursuing); the Ndung’u Report that recommended the nullification of title deeds for illegally acquired land; the various Price Waterhouse Coopers reports, including on the maize scandal; and the many reports commissioned by the Government in other scandals that have never been made public.  Reports of all commissions of inquiry should be published as a key component of fighting corruption.

Make no mistake, Mr. President. Stop the corrupt before they stop Kenya. The fight against graft is a national duty. To constructing a just, equitable and constitutional country governed by the rule of law you must show the courage and commitment expected of the presidency. There is enough public anger and willingness by the masses to make the crusade against corrupt politicians and civil servants the main national agenda. Kenyans are ready. We will go the extra mile to get our country back.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama pressed Congress Wednesday to hold a final vote in the next few weeks on his historic health care overhaul, with or without support from his Republican foes.
 
“I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform. We have debated this issue thoroughly, not just for the past year, but for decades,” he said. “Let’s get it done.”

Obama, bruised by a year of political warfare over his top domestic goal, bluntly rejected Republican demands to scrap the ambitious plan and start over and endorsed passing the plan with “nothing more than a simple majority.”

“I therefore ask leaders in both houses of Congress to finish their work and schedule the vote in the next few weeks,” the president said in a speech in the White House’s ornate East Room.

Democratic congressional aides have said they hope to pass a final bill before the start of a two-week Easter recess at the end of the day on March 26, enabling lawmakers to focus more on the sour US jobs picture in the months ahead of November mid-term elections to decide control of Congress.

Acknowledging Democratic nerves about the controversial bill’s possible impact on the elections, Obama declared “we can’t just give up because the politics are hard” and said the fight was “about what kind of country we want to be.”

“I do not know how this plays politically, but I know it’s right,” said Obama, who has wagered the fate of his still-young presidency on what would be the most far-reaching overhaul of its kind in some 45 years.

Obama’s remarks came after he hosted an unusual day-long health care “summit” with key Republicans last week, and held out an 11th-hour olive branch to his critics in a letter offering to include four of their main ideas.

“The sales pitch may be new, but the bill isn’t,” Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell responded, while the number two Republican in the House, Representative Eric Cantor, declared: “It isn’t bipartisanship — it?s political cover.”

The blueprint still faces an uphill road, with Republicans united against it, and Democrats struggling to rally fragile majorities amid lingering internal feuds over abortion funding and immigrant access to health care.

Democrats led the Senate and House of Representatives to pass rival versions of the overhaul in 2009, and were on the road to melding them into a compromise bill when the party lost its 60-vote Senate supermajority in a shock January election that boosted Republicans to 41 seats in the 100-member Senate.

With Republicans suddenly empowered to stall the legislation indefinitely, the president’s allies were expected to rely on an infrequently used parliamentary tactic called “reconciliation” that requires a simple majority.

The precise sequence was unclear, but one scenario had the House first passing the bill approved last year by the Senate, which would subsequently use “reconciliation” to approve “fixes” reflecting the derailed compromise plan.

Republicans have loudly complained about that strategy, despite having used it more than Democrats in recent history, notably for health bills and to pass trillion-dollar tax cuts under the previous president, George W. Bush.

The approach has pitfalls: The method is reserved for measures that directly impact government revenues and outlays, and could open the door to a wave of Republican amendments aimed at burying the bill.

But Obama predicted victory, saying: “I ask Congress to finish its work, and I look forward to signing this reform into law.”

Source:  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/100303/health/us_politics_health

By The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - Say goodbye to the big-spending glory days.

After two months “recalibrating” during a controversial parliamentary shutdown, the Conservative government laid out an austerity plan for the country in Wednesday’s throne speech in a bid to chop the record $56-billion deficit.

The government says it will restore the country’s “fiscal balance” by restraining government spending - starting with a proposed symbolic freeze on lofty MP salaries.

There are no plans for major spending cuts, but there’s also none of the big new spending of past budgets.

As expected, the Tories confirmed that the last $19 billion the big-money, recession-fighting stimulus fund will be doled out next fiscal year and then the taps are off for good.

The government is replacing cash-heavy programs with other measures, such as: loosening foreign investment rules, cutting environmental red tape, and increasing the child-support payment for single-parent families.

The foreign investment changes - particularly in the telecommunications and satellite industries - are designed to help recruit foreign talent and enhance Canada’s international competitiveness

Many economists have warned that the government must raise taxes or cut spending to balance the budget. But the government has rejected that, saying it can balance the books by limiting spending as economic growth improves.

“Canadians also realize that a balanced budget is not an end in itself, but the foundation of a strong and resilient economy,” Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean said in the speech from the Senate floor.

“In taking responsible steps to reduce the deficit, our government will not repeat the mistakes of the past.”

The proposed salary freeze is designed to show that the government is leading by example. It will apply to the prime minister, cabinet ministers, MPs and senators. MPs currently earn $158,000, while cabinet ministers make $233,000.

Opposition parties say the document doesn’t justify Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to suspend Parliament, which was to have resumed Jan. 25.

They intend to use the belated return of Parliament to focus on Harper’s supposed character defects: his alleged lust for unrestrained power and his contempt for democratic institutions.

But however heated the rhetoric, an electoral stalemate between the Conservatives and Liberals all but guarantees neither of the main parties will try to trigger an election. A survey conducted Feb. 18-28 by The Canadian Press Harris Decima suggests the two main parties are deadlocked at 31 per cent each.

Entitled “A Strong Canada. A Strong Economy. Now and in the Future,” the speech also outlines plans to promote the jobs and industries of the future.

And it revives the government’s continuing “tough on crime” agenda with plans to bring back several justice bills.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff mocked the government Tuesday for taking so long to finally realize the need for long-term investments in research, innovation and learning.

“Well, hello. After four years, better late than never,” he scoffed.

Despite Parliament’s resumption, both Ignatieff and NDP Leader Jack Layton intend to continue hammering away at Harper for extending the Christmas break by six weeks.

Layton is calling for an emergency debate on the prime minister’s power to prorogue Parliament whenever he sees fit and intends to introduce legislation to restrain that power.

The Liberals intend to introduce their own motion to change procedural rules so that the prime minister would need the consent of the Commons to suspend Parliament in future.

Liberal MP Derek Lee, meanwhile, is planning to challenge the government’s refusal to hand over uncensored documents related to the alleged torture of Afghan detainees. At some point early in the new session, he intends to ask Commons Speaker Peter Milliken to find the government in general - and Defence Minister Peter MacKay and a senior justice department official in particular - in contempt of Parliament.

Source: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100303/national/throne_speech

New York (CNN) — New York’s Commission on Public Integrity is charging Gov. David Paterson with an ethics violation for accepting free tickets to the first game of last year’s World Series, the commission said Wednesday.

Paterson violated the state’s restriction on gifts for public officials in October when he sought free tickets to the game in Yankee Stadium between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies, the commission said. The commission also said Paterson lied under oath about intending to pay for the tickets.

The governor’s office said it was reviewing the commission’s findings.

“Governor Paterson maintains his innocence and intends to challenge the findings of the commission both with respect to the law and the facts,” the office said.

“The governor takes this matter very seriously and intends to fully cooperate with any further inquiries or investigations, but believes the commission has acted unfairly in this matter.”

The governor could face an $80,000 fine for violating the state’s gift ban for public officials and up to $10,000 if he is found to have used his official position to secure unwarranted privileges.

The commission has asked New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the Albany County district attorney to investigate whether Paterson or “anyone else” committed a crime during the governor’s interview with the commission and by causing a check to be back-dated.

Paterson, who announced last week that he would not run for election to a full term, has faced controversy since news reports charged that his aide was involved in a domestic violence incident with a woman and that state police later allegedly pressured her to keep quiet.

The aide, David Johnson, has been suspended without pay.

Paterson has asked Cuomo, a possible contender for the governor’s office, to investigate the matter.

Johnson was among the four guests who attended the October 28 game with Paterson, the Commission on Public Integrity said. He also was involved in obtaining the tickets, which cost $425 a piece, from the Yankees, the commission said in its notice of reasonable cause.

According to the commission, the governor testified that he decided he should attend Game One of the World Series and directed Johnson to get tickets from the Yankees. The governor told his aide that the request should include tickets for his son, Alex, and his son’s friend.

Johnson then told the governor’s scheduler, Matthew Nelson, to contact the Yankees about five or six tickets. Johnson said Paterson would be attending in a “ceremonial capacity.”

Based on Johnson’s representation, the commission said, “the Yankees did not expect payment for any tickets because the tickets were for official business.” They had requested a letter from the governor’s counsel confirming that, and the counsel had sent a letter saying so, the commission said. The Yankees said they require such confirmation or payment when public officials request tickets, the commission said.

However, the commission said, the governor did not participate in opening ceremonies for the game and was not announced to the crowd. He also did not meet with first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, who attended the game, or members of the Yankees organization, the commission said.

In testimony, the governor said he always intended to pay for the tickets for his son and his son’s friend. He said he had taken a check to the game for the tickets, filling out the date and the $850 but leaving the payee section blank.

“While he had no opportunity to pay while at the stadium, the governor testified that he gave the check to Johnson and asked him to send the check to the Yankees,” the commission said.

However, the commission said that it had compared the handwriting on the check with that of the governor’s handwriting on other documents and that the governor did not write the check sent to the Yankees.

“The handwriting on the check that Johnson forwarded to the Yankees as payment for his ticket to Game One reveals that the same person who wrote and signed the governor’s check also wrote and signed Johnson’s check,” the commission said.

The check Paterson said he wrote is dated October 27, the day before Game One, the commission said, although the governor said he had written the check on the day of the game.

In its notice of of reasonable cause, the commission also cited testimony from the governor’s communications director, Peter Kauffmann, whom a New York Post reporter had asked about payment for the tickets.

Kauffmann said that he had discussed the game several times with Paterson and Johnson and that the governor indicated to him that Yankees President Randy Levine, a law school classmate of Paterson’s, had invited Paterson to the game, the commission said.

“During this conversation, the governor said nothing to Kauffmann about his intention to pay for the tickets for his son or his son’s friend, nor did the governor mention anything about having previously written a check for $850 and giving it to Johnson as payment to the Yankees,” the commission said.

The reporter later told Kauffmann that the Yankees disputed Paterson’s account, saying Levine had never invited the governor to the game, the commission said.

Kauffmann confronted the governor, who “then conceded to Kauffmann that Levine had not explicitly invited him to Game One,” the commission said.

The commission also said the governor and his son attended last year’s Opening Day at Yankee Stadium and at Citi Field, where the New York Mets play.

“The governor testified that he did not pay for his ticket or his son’s ticket” for either event, the commission said.
Source:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/03/paterson.ethics/index.html

Washington (CNN) — Elected officials declare emergencies with relative ease. But declaring them over is another matter.

Some 880 emergencies remain “open” on government books — 61 of them more than a decade old — as federal government workers attempt to reconcile money allocated for the disaster with money actually spent.

In some instances, the accounting books remain open because it takes years to rebuild roads, bridges and buildings destroyed by fires, floods and earthquakes.

But in other cases, disasters remain open because of unyielding bureaucratic rules, according to a report by Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner. Auditors found 45 “open” disasters in which the amount of money to be reconciled was less than $10.

“FEMA reconciles all disaster financial activities to the last dollar,” it says. “The reconciliation of disaster activities to the exact amount, particularly when the outstanding amounts are relatively small, is not a cost-effective use of FEMA resources,” the report said.

Blame for needless delays in closing disasters resides with virtually every level of government and with organizations that receive emergency agency grants, the report says. Regional officials said it was “politically unacceptable” to remove programs established in the wake of disasters. Staff shortages at various levels of government contribute to delays, as do new disasters, which get priority attention.

The report looks at a snapshot in time: September 30, 2008. At that time, there were 880 “open” disasters. Of that number, 744 were open because of obligations that had not yet been paid totaling $16 billion. The remaining 136 disasters were delayed for other reasons, such as appeals or because of other priority work.

The inspector general made seven recommendations to improve FEMA’s process for closing disasters, including adopting policies to close disasters that have not been reconciled to the last dollar.

In a letter to the inspector general, a FEMA official endorsed the recommendations and said the agency has established a group to work with regional offices and “give priority to closing out open disasters.”

The report is based on an audit conducted by the accounting firm Foxx & Company.

Source:  http://www.cnn.com/US/

By Steve Keating

 VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Canadians awoke to something new on Monday, a strange feeling they could compete with the big boys and feel good about it.

As the flame went out on the Vancouver Olympics on Sunday, Games chief John Furlong told a cheering crowd: “It was time to look at the Canada that is and not the Canada that was.”

These had been wonderful and weird times for Canadians, 17 super-charged days that shifted the national identity.

They went to bed on Sunday knowing they just won more gold medals (14) in a single Winter Olympics than any country ever and, well, are not quite sure exactly how to react.

After all, celebrating gold on home soil was something quite foreign for Canadians who have twice before staged Olympic Games and played the perfect hosts by not actually taking any gold medals for themselves.

Having watched their bigger, brasher, richer American neighbor to the south wave the flag at every opportunity, Canadians quickly caught on to the idea and hooted and hollered but then asked if they were being too loud or bothering someone.

The burst of pride felt good right down to the soles of their Canadian Sorels and they filled the streets of one of world’s most liveable cities for a two-week party.

They boldly claimed to Own the Podium and then apologized for it.

GALVANISED COUNTRY

But as always, it is on a small sheet of ice where Canada defines itself and the image it wants others to see.

An overtime victory over the United States in the men’s ice hockey final, with Sidney Crosby, known to Canadians as “Sid the Kid,” scoring on Sunday to give the home team the gold coveted more than any other and galvanized a country.

It is, at its heart, just a kid’s game but one which still has the power to pull a country together.

The sport is part of the national identity, a rite of passage between fathers and sons and more recently mothers and daughters as the game evolved beyond its traditional gender boundaries.

A scene of children playing pond hockey can be found on the Canadian $5 bill while a lucky Loonie (Canadian dollar coin) which was secretly buried at center ice at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics where Canada ended a 50-year gold medal drought, is a national treasure housed in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

A contradiction of graceful skill and brutal violence, that seems to run counter to Canada’s modest, polite image it is at the hockey rink that the words “please” and “thank you” are never spoken.

“We like to think this is the image the world has of us as some industrious team like cooperative, strong, resilient, victorious, magnificent and most of all humble victors in hockey,” Roy MacGregor, one of Canada’s most respected hockey writers and author of several defining books on the sport, said.

“It’s the image we have of ourselves and what we wish the world would see when they look upon boring old Canada.

“The only time I have seen Canadians absolutely swagger is when they are winning at hockey.”

Canadians were swaggering on Monday but with pride that they had hosted a brilliant Games and not because they topped the medal table.

The world told Canadians they had done a good job with a friendly slap on the back from visitors and grand speeches from Olympic officials.

Yes, there was an unfamiliar jump in Canada’s step on Monday. “Those Games were beauty, eh.”

(Editing by Jon Bramley)

Source:  http://ca.news.yahoo.com

By Eva Vergara And Michael Warren, The Associated Press
 
CONCEPCION, Chile - Police fired tear gas and imposed an overnight curfew to control looters who sacked virtually every market in this hard-hit city as Chile’s earthquake toll surpassed 700. President Michelle Bachelet promised imminent deliveries of food, water and shelter for thousands living on the streets.

“We are confronting an emergency without parallel in Chile’s history,” Bachelet declared Sunday, a day after the magnitude-8.8 quake - one of the biggest in centuries - killed at least 708 people and destroyed or badly damaged 500,000 homes. Bachelet said “a growing number” of people were recorded as missing.

In Concepcion, 320 miles (515 kilometres) south of Santiago, firefighters pulling survivors from a toppled apartment building had to pause because of tear gas fired at looters who wheeled away everything from microwave ovens to canned milk at a damaged supermarket across the street.

Ingenious looters used long tubes of bamboo and plastic to siphon gasoline from underground tanks at a closed gasoline station.

Eduardo Aundez, a Spanish professor, watched with disgust as a soldier patiently waited for looters to rummage through a downtown store, then lobbed two tear gas canisters into the rubble to get them out.

“I feel abandoned” by authorities, he said. “We believe the government didn’t take the necessary measures in time, and now supplies of food and water are going to be much more complicated.”

Looters even carted off pieces of a copper statue of South American independence fighter Bernardo O’Higgins next to a justice building.

Efforts to determine the full scope of destruction were undermined by an endless string of terrifying aftershocks that turned more buildings into rubble - and forced thousands to set up tents in parks and grassy highway medians.

“If you’re inside your house, the furniture moves,” said Monica Aviles, pulling a shawl around her shoulders to ward off the cold as she sat next to a fire across the street from her apartment building.

As if to punctuate her fear, an aftershock set off shuddering and groaning sounds for blocks around.

“That’s why we’re here,” she said.

In another part of the city, eight Peruvian families shared a four-story building - the bravest living inside the cracked building, the others in tents out front.

“We’ve received help from the neighbours, from passing taxis and from other people who have offered us a coat or something to eat,” said Samantha Fernandez, who offered space to boyfriend Jose Luis Jacinto after he fled his room during after the quake.

Bachelet signed a decree giving the military control over security in the provinces of Concepcion and Maule and announced a 9 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew for all non-emergency workers.

She ordered troops to help deliver food, water and blankets and clear rubble from roads, and she urged power companies to restore service first to hospitals, health clinics and shelters. Field hospitals were planned for hard-hit Concepcion, Talca and Curico.

Bachelet also ordered authorities to quickly identify the dead and return them to their families to ensure “the dignified burials that they deserve.”

Bachelet, who leaves office March 11, said Chile needs field hospitals and temporary bridges, water purification plants and damage assessment experts - as well as rescuers to help relieve exhausted workers.

Defence Minister Francisco Vidal acknowledged the navy made a mistake by not immediately activating a tsunami warning after the quake hit before dawn Saturday. Port captains in several coastal towns did, saving what Vidal called hundreds of lives. Thirty minutes passed between the quake and a wave that inundated coastal towns.

The quake damaged houses, bridges and highways in Santiago, the capital, though a few flights managed to land at the airport and subway service resumed. Concepcion’s airport remained closed to commercial traffic.

Rescuers searched for an estimated 60 people trapped inside a new, 15-story apartment building that toppled onto its side in Concepcion. Firefighters were lowering a rescuer deep into the rubble when tear gas fired at looters across the street forced them to pause their efforts.

Police officer Jorge Guerra took names of the missing from tearful relatives and friends.

“There are people alive. There are several people who are going to be rescued,” he said - though the next people pulled from the wreckage were dead.

The sound of chain saws, power drills and sledgehammers mixed with the whoosh of a water cannon fired at looters and the shouts of crowds that found new ways into a four-story supermarket each time police retreated. Some looters threw rocks at armoured police vehicles outside the Lider market, which is majority-owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Across the Bio Bio River in the city of San Pedro, looters cleared out a shopping mall. A video store was set ablaze, two automatic teller machines were broken open, a bank was robbed and a supermarket emptied, its floor littered with mashed plums, scattered dog food and smashed liquor bottles.

“They looted everything,” said police Sgt. Rene Gutierrez, 46. “Now we’re only here to protect the building - what’s left of the building.”

The quake generated waves that lashed coastal settlements, leaving behind sticks, scraps of metal and masonry houses ripped in two. A beachside carnival in the village of Lloca was swamped in the tsunami. A carousel was twisted on its side and a Ferris wheel rose above the muddy wreckage. Adobe buildings in Talca’s town centre were flattened.

State television showed scenes of devastation in coastal towns and on Robinson Crusoe Island, where it said the tsunami drove almost 2 miles (3 kilometres) into the town of San Juan Bautista. Officials said at least five people were killed there and more were missing.

Bus terminals overflowed with vacationers in Chile’s provinces trying to check on their homes. Chile’s summer vacation period ends Monday.

In Washington, the State Department urged Americans to avoid tourist and other nonessential travel to Chile. U.S. citizens in Chile were asked to contact family and friends in the United States, whether by telephone, Internet or cell-phone text messaging.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton planned to briefly visit Santiago on Tuesday as part of a five-nation Latin America trip.

Associated Press writers Carlos Cisternas and Eduardo Gallardo in Santiago contributed to this report.
Source:  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100301/world/lt_chile_earthquake

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Another person has been added to the list of suspects in the January killing of a Hamas leader in a Dubai hotel, bringing the number of identified suspects to 27, two sources told CNN on Monday.

Twenty-six of the 27 were carrying European and Australian passports, authorities have said. The sources — an official familiar with the investigation and a police source — did not say which nation issued the passport the suspect used.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a founding member of Hamas’ military wing, was found dead January 20 in his Dubai hotel room. Police believe he was slain the night before, allegedly by the secretive Israeli foreign intelligence unit Mossad.

Two of the suspects ultimately entered the United States following al-Mabhouh’s death, sources familiar with the investigation and police told CNN Monday.

A suspect identified as Evan Dennings, carrying an Irish passport, went to Zurich, Switzerland, immediately after the slaying, then entered the United States on January 21, the sources said. Another suspect, identified as Roy Allan Cannon, entered the United States on a British passport on February 14.

Both should have been required to provide fingerprints and a picture upon arrival in America, the sources said.

On Sunday, Dubai’s police chief told CNN he is “100 percent sure” that the secretive Israeli foreign intelligence unit Mossad is behind al-Mabhouh’s death.

“The Mossad needs to be ashamed of its actions,” said Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim. “They sent 26, 27 persons to assassinate one man who was involved in the capturing and killing of two Israeli soldiers.”

Hamas has said al-Mabhouh was behind the 1989 deaths.

Israel has a stated policy on security matters of neither confirming nor denying involvement. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, however, told Israel Army Radio earlier this month, “There is certainly no reason to think that the Mossad and not some other intelligence agency of another country operated there.”

Lieberman has also said only “media reports” link Israel to the slaying.

Asked about the case Saturday by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak repeatedly declined to comment.

Earlier Sunday, police said toxicology results showed that al-Mabhouh was injected with succinylcholine, a drug used to relax muscles during surgery or as an anesthetic, before he was suffocated. Signs indicated that al-Mabhouh resisted as he was being suffocated, police said.

Family members were told earlier that police had found blood on a pillow. Authorities have also said the killers left some of al-Mabhouh’s medication next to him in an apparent effort to make the death appear natural.

But “the medication left next to him in the room has nothing to do with the killing,” Tamim said Sunday.

However, authorities have recovered evidence including DNA, he said. “The DNA evidence is quite important and will help us with the investigation.”

The 27 suspects are believed to have acquired false passports to travel to Dubai for the killing, then scattered to several far-flung locations afterward.

Tamim said Sunday not all the suspects have fraudulent passports — “We know some of the names are real.”

The total of 27 does not include two Palestinians previously arrested in Jordan and returned to Dubai. Tamim said one is not believed to be directly involved in al-Mabhouh’s death, but “he is wanted by one of the Palestinian factions in the Palestinian territories and he is sentenced to death and that’s why we will extradite him.” He declined to discuss anything about the other Palestinian.

Twelve of the suspects used British passports, police said. Six suspects used Irish passports, four used French passports, three used Australian and one used a German passport.

Also Monday, the sources said the UAE central bank is working with other nations to track funding and 14 credit cards — issued mostly by a United States bank — used by the suspects in different places, including the United States.

CNN’s Caroline Faraj and Saad Abedine contributed to this report.
Source:  http://www.cnn.com

Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission chairman Bethuel Kiplagat wipes tears at the NTV newsroom during an interview after he was asked to shed light on the Ouko murder. Photo/COURTESY OF NTV

By PETER LEFTIE

Bethuel Kiplagat was under siege on Thursday after Archbishop Desmond Tutu led nine former heads of truth commissions across the world in calling for his resignation.

Asking him to step down as chair of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC), the former heads and commissioners of past truth commissions cited two commissions of inquiry they said had raised serious questions on Mr Kiplagat’s involvement in injustices.

They referred to the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Illegal and Irregular Allocation of Public Land released in 2004 (popular known as the Ndung’u Report) and that of the Parliamentary Select Committee of Inquiry into the murder of former foreign affairs minister Dr Robert Ouko.

The commissioners noted that the Ndung’u Report had made references to Mr Kiplagat’s alleged acquisition of public land illegally while the parliamentary committee which was chaired by former Kisumu Town East MP Eric Gor Sungu had concluded that the he was untruthful in his submissions.

“We are deeply troubled by serious allegations of bias and misconduct that have been made against Chairperson Kiplagat. The allegations about his role in the former Moi government have generated a widely held perception that he labours under an unavoidable conflict of interest and that he is unable to bring an impartial mind to bear on his important duties as TJRC Chairperson,” they noted.

The commissioners included Bishop Joseph Christian Humper, the former chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Sierra Leone and Salomon Lerner Febres, former chairperson of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Others who endorsed the statement included Alexander Lionel Boraine, the chairperson of the Mauritian Truth and Reconciliation Commission and former commissioners of the South African truth commission among them Dumisa Ntsebeza, Yasmin Sooka, Bongani Blessing Finca, Mary Burton, Richard Lyster and Fazel Randera.

Pressure has been mounting on Mr Kiplagat to resign with lobby groups and former political prisoners questioning his integrity.

The lobby groups, among them the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD), the International Centre for Policy and Conflict (ICPC) and the Release Political Prisoners (RPP), have been urging the government to act on complaints levelled against Mr Kiplagat and remove him from the position.

The groups have also called upon donors not to fund the commission unless Mr Kiplagat quits.

The commission needs at least Sh3 billion to do its work within the next two years, part of which will be donated by development partners. Already, the Kiplagat-led team has been allocated Sh100 million from public coffers to be spent this financial year.

The commission was recently embarrassed when participants stormed out of one of its meetings in Mombasa demanding the resignation of the chairman.

Mr Kiplagat has defended his position, saying he has what it takes to deliver since he had played a major role in brokering peace in Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda and other countries for many years.

Archbishop Tutu’s calls immediately drew support from the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) which noted that his continued stay in office compromised TJRC’s integrity.

“If the TJRC is to be effective, it has to be free of any taint of real or perceived bias and impropriety,” said Suliman Baldo, Director of ICTJ’s Africa Program. “To safeguard the commission’s work, we believe these international justice figures are exactly right in calling for the chairperson’s resignation.”

On their part, the 10 former heads and commissioners noted that “disturbing findings” had been made in the past against Mr Kiplagat on matters expected to come before TJRC.

“While Ambassador Kiplagat has disputed the references to him in these reports, they nonetheless have a direct and serious impact on public perceptions in relation to his fitness to hold high office in the Commission,” they noted.

“All truth commissioners must be seen to be upholding the highest standards of ethics and integrity. They need to be seen to be scrupulously independent and objective. We are constrained to point out that Ambassador Kiplagat does not meet these essential standards,” they added.

They warned that TJRC would fail in its mandate if it was not seen to enjoy the confidence of Kenyans.

“Since objective grounds of a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of Ambassador Kiplagat exist in the minds of the public, he is duty bound to resign for the greater good of the commission and country,” the commissioners observed.

Source:/www.nation.co.ke