The International Criminal Court has been asked to investigate President Mwai Kibaki over extra-judicial killings. Former MP Paul Muite wrote to Moreno Ocampo, the Chief ICC prosecutor to take judicial action against the president. - Muite, who is also a city lawyer, in his letter said he was willing to share vital information with the ICC investigators. According to the Nairobi Star, Muite wants the ICC to invoke an article in the Rome statues which Kenya has domesticated in order to take judicial action against the president. He said Article 28 (b) of the Rome statues provides for the indictment of state superiors over crimes committed by their subordinates. Addressing the press in N…

- By Akinyi Janet Otieno, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi Teachers in Kenya have gone on strike paralyzing learning in public schools countrywide as from yesterday and did not mind the government threat of sacking them. They defied a court order and heeded for strike calls by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) officials to push for better pay. KNUT Secretary General Lawrence Majali said the strike was successful even as Teachers Service Commission vowed to discipline the striking teachers. In Nairobi and other parts of the country, several public schools reported low turn out of pupils yesterday and by midday parents were seen taking their children back home when learning fa…

- By Akinyi Janet Otieno Several women drawn from various Kenyan provinces yesterday thronged Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) to celebrate the launch of new women’s rights campaign dubbed “We Can”. The objective of the campaign is to mobilize more than million Kenyans to reject violence against women. According to Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, 67 percent of women and men say wife beating is a justifiable practice. A nominated Member of Parliament Millie Odhiambo during the launch blamed gender based violence on weak laws adding that a convention would make the laws legally binding to signatories and address gender based violence. She further ar…

Kenya's Agriculture Minister William Samoei Ruto yesterday softened his stands on the Waki Report and said he would support its full implementation. Speaking in Garrissa yesterday, Ruto asked the cabinet to speed up the implementation process so that leaders could shift their focus to development. - He added that the implementation of the report would help identify those behind post-election violence which rocked the country early this year. He promised to resign from cabinet and parliament if he is implicated in a just process. The minister who is also Eldoret North Member of Parliament (MP) had first dismissed the report as “shoddy, incomplete and a collection of rumours.…

Kenyan MPs have forced the government to withdraw a proposal to tax their generous allowances. The MPs unanimously agreed to vote against the finance bill if the clause was not scrapped. The acting Finance Minister John Njorge Michuki has therefore redrawn the finance bill from parliament. - When the proposal to tax MPs hefty packages was made by former Finance Minister Amos Kimunya in June, they defended their untaxed packages unanimously and instead accused the media of blowing the matter out of proportion. Michuki’s therefore withdrew clauses in the Finance Bill which would make legislators and constitutional office holders taxed was reached at after a closed door meeting with MPs. …

- Niger Delta: The Female Face in Crisis The Niger Delta conflict has threatened Nigerian security for a long time especially for the women and children. The government of Nigeria under President Umaru Yar’Adua has not successfully addressed the unrest and instability in this region. A process to resolve the political, economic and security problems in the region has not been well initiated by the federal government. Oil production continues to diminish as a result of militant attacks and women and children continue to be caught up in the process thus bearing the brunt. The Niger Delta is the wealth base of Nigeria as oil contributes about 95% of the country's foreign excha…