No, Coronavirus in Kenya CS said

The student held at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) after returning from China has tested negative for the deadly coronavirus, the Health ministry has said.

The student was quarantined at the hospital in Nairobi after returning from Wuhan, the epicentre of the SARS-like virus.

Outgoing Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki made the announcement Friday, saying the results were of tests carried out in South Africa.

“I can confirm that results on the suspected coronavirus case sent to South Africa for validation are negative,” Ms Kariuki said on social media.

She encouraged anyone who has recently travelled to China, and who has symptoms of respiratory illnesses such as fever, coughing, difficulty breathing and sneezing, to visit the nearest health facility for assessment and prompt management.

The unnamed student, in his early 20s, travelled via Kenya Airways flight KQ886.

He left Wuhan for Zhangjiajie City on January 20, travelled to Nairobi through Guangzhou in China and Bangkok in Thailand on January 27 and landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi on January 28.

He was rushed to hospital by the Ministry of Health at 9.30 am on the day of his arrival.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has determined that the outbreak, which has left 213 dead and nearly 10,000 infected so far, constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.

The WHO reached the resolution at its fourth Emergency Committee meeting on Thursday.
Under the WHO's current regulations to manage such situations, the emphasis is on containing an outbreak at its source.

This requires countries to be transparent with information about the outbreak and be prepared to isolate those infected.

Attack at Baringo -Turkana border

Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya, has confirmed the deployment of security personnel to man the Baringo-Turkana border amid banditry attacks.

Natembeya said 11 uniformed units have been deployed to Kasarani where a recent attack that claimed the lives of three happened.

He said officers from the General Service Unit, Anti-Stock Theft and the Rapid Deployment Unit will conduct patrols and seal off routes used by bandits and cattle rustlers.

Natembeya noted that the relationship between the Turkana and Pokot Community is not as it should be.

He cautioned politicians against being involved or taking sides.

“We have had opportunities to visit the area and meet the warring communities. The reports we are getting are however not promising."

Natembeya went on, "Ideally, it is expected that in places where there are resources like water and pasture people ought to live together and interact but this not the case with the two communities."

He said it is necessary that the communities be educated on the need to value life and live in unity.

Natembeya urged politicians to play a leading role in uniting the two communities.

He said it is unfortunate that in areas of Samburu North and Baringo no illegal firearm has been surrendered.

A Woman given birth to two Children from different wombs

A woman has given birth to two children, each born from one of her two wombs.

Emily Taylor has uterus didelphys, meaning she has two wombs and two cervixes.

And amazingly the 31-year-old had one of her sons growing in each side - Richi from the right and Arlie from the left.

Emily, of Brecon, Wales, said: "I kept having miscarriages and no-one could tell me why.
"So my two boys really are miracles."

Emily, an NHS admin assistant, first tried for a baby ten years ago aged 21 and got pregnant easily.

But at her 12-week scan, the nurses told her the baby had died.

Emily and husband Richard Taylor had three miscarriages in a row between 2013 and 2015, losing each baby at around the six-week mark.

"I had a fourth miscarriage and then I went to see a gynaecologist," Emily said.

"There was no explanation given for my losses. They never found out at any scans.

"I thought something was off. I thought 'Why is this happening?'."

Emily had an internal exam and the doc was shocked by what he saw.
She added: "He was like 'Oh this is different...' I was like 'What's going on?'

"My husband was with me and he asked what was wrong. And he just said 'You've got two cervixes'.

Emily then had a laparoscopy and it was discovered she had two cervix and two wombs - both slightly smaller than usual - but it was not thought the condition would harm her chances of becoming a mum.

Known as uterus didelphys, it occurs during development in the womb, when the fusion of certain ducts fails to occur.

Emily was devastated and was convinced the condition was causing her recurrent miscarriages.

"I didnt think Id be able to have children, even though he said keep trying. I thought 'It's not going to work."

The couple even had a consultation for IVF in the hope that experts could somehow implant the baby in a better position than her own body could naturally.

But in May 2016, Emily and NHS maintenance assistant Richard found out they were expecting again.

A 12-week scan showed the baby was happily growing in Emily's right womb.

Baby Richi - named after his dad - was born on January 11, 2017, weighing 6lbs 9oz. He arrived slightly early at 37 weeks - most likely because he had run out of room to grow.

After he was Richi was born she quickly got pregnant again and discovered baby Arlie was in her left womb at his 12-week scan.

He was born on October 26 last year at 37 weeks weighing 6lbs 3oz. Now she hasn't ruled out more children and says she'd take bets over which womb they'd end up in.

"We're pretty chilled about it now," she said. "But when you think about it, it is amazing really."

Counties have failed to enact the necessary laws

Most counties have failed to enact the necessary laws for devolved functions seven years after the onset of devolution, the Council of Governors (CoG) has said.

The County Policy and Legislation Mapping Report released by CoG notes that only Lamu County has a County Spatial Plan in place, which is one of the requisite legislation for optimal functioning of any county government.

However, it adds that county planning and development is the most legislated, with all counties having County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs), Annual Development Plans (ADPs) and a County Finance and Appropriation Act.

The report details the laws, policies and regulations that have been passed by counties from 2013 to May 2019.

It says most counties do not seem to have a complete suite of basic administrative policies, which pose a challenge to efficiency, transparency and accountability, leading to misuse of executive powers.

“County Assembly scrutiny of statutory instruments is woefully inadequate and urgent measures are required to provide better ways of scrutinising what are essentially departmental, ministerial and gubernatorial edicts,” the report reads.

It adds that counties are over-reliant on the Public Finance Management Act as a basis of developing many regulations, thereby encouraging legislative lethargy by opting for a faster process of regulation without scrutiny.

It further points out that there is a lack of proper oversight on county legislation because the Constitutional Implementation Commission (CIC), which held State agencies accountable on legislation matters, is now defunct.

Although the role was given to the Kenya Law Reform Commission, this was not followed with resources.

The report also found instances where county policies are not linked to national policy frameworks, and an overdependence on CIDPs, which change every five years depending on regime.

Outside of county planning and development, functions with the most requisite legislation include administrative functions, such as development of CIDPs, which exist in 45 counties (96 per cent); trade development regulations exist in 43 counties (91 per cent); control of drugs and pornography exists in 39 counties (83 per cent); and laws around cultural activities, public entertainment and public amenities exist in 38 counties (81 per cent).

The report notes the most unlegislated function is animal control and welfare, with 40 counties (85 per cent) having no legislation on it.

This is followed by control of air and noise pollution, other public nuisances and outdoor advertising, with 33 counties (70 per cent) having no legislation on it. Thirty-two counties (68 per cent) have no legislation on county public works.

The report adds that most counties have legislated on liquor licensing, though only four have laws around public entertainment and public amenities.

Under the health function, only 10 counties have legislated on solid waste management, while under trade development, eight counties have legislation on local tourism and fair trade practices, with most focusing on trade licensing and a few on co-operatives and markets.

On county planning and development, only Busia has developed legislation on housing, electricity and gas reticulation, and energy regulation.
Further, a majority of counties have more expired bills than pending ones and passed legislation.

“This is an inefficient culture of legislating since resources are spent working on and deliberating on bills, only for them to be ‘killed’ after six months or left pending until they legally expire,” the report notes.

The report sought to establish how many policies and laws each county government has in relation to its functions, what is missing from each, and what policy and legislation needs to be developed to fill the gap.

The methodology employed for the assignment was desktop research, where the council received information directly from counties, and relied on information provided by the County Assemblies Forum and the Society of Clerks at the Table on the laws passed and the bills still awaiting debate in the assemblies.

The report notes a lack of policies means there is little incentive and basis for legislative development, with counties legislating in the absence of policies.

“In this second phase of devolution, it is critical that the counties are able to develop policy and legislation for effective and efficient performance of their functions. This will also assist the counties to raise more revenue to facilitate their own operations and ensure service delivery,” it says.

Devolution take a news adged

Governors in Nyanza will hold the first rally to drum up support for the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) in Kisii County on January 10. The meeting is also expected to bring together senators, MPs, members of the county assemblies, and select religious, youth and business leaders.

According to the Convening Committee Chairman James Ongwae (pictured), the leaders will gather to listen to emerging issues from the BBI report and pick new suggestions.

“We want to begin the new year with a journey to listen to more views arising from the BBI report and what the people want to be done,” the Kisii governor told The Press.

“We, the leadership of the greater Nyanza region, do affirm our unwavering support for the BBI report. It is instructive to know that we sail in the same direction.” They defended their stand on BBI, saying the Constitution guarantees citizens the right of public participation on matters affecting the public.

Mr Ongwae said participatory democracy requires leaders to empower citizens to take action by focusing on reaching a consensus through open discussion.

“This is what we want to do now, until we morph into a referendum where the contentious issues will be finally ratified by all Kenyans,” he added.

ODM leader Raila Odinga has indicated that Kenyans have the power to let their voices be heard on how they ought to be governed, and strongly vouched for a referendum to be held this year.

The governors said they have to provide the people with tools to consult and access public information, discuss with elected representatives and monitor implementation.

Homa Bay Governor Cyprian Awiti and his Nyamira counterpart John Nyagarama said if the State aims to engage with citizens, it must integrate public participation to its entire governance strategy.

“It is only then that the citizen engagement becomes a formalised procedure delimited by rules established by the country’s governing laws,” added Mr Awiti.

Ongwae disclosed that a number of other prominent national leaders are expected the rally.

The government ordered closure of a camp where at least 3,000 people

The government has ordered closure of a camp where at least 3,000 people evicted from Mau forest have been living.

According to Ololulunga Deputy County Commissioner Felix Kisalu, the camp in Sagaminian location, Narok South, poses a health risk.

The evictees voluntarily left the Maasai Mau Forest two months ago.

Mr Kisalu, who on Monday toured the camp, issued a three-day ultimatum for the families to leave.

The camp is located on 13 acres that was allegedly bought by a group of Rift Valley MPs.

When contacted yesterday, Kisalu said the families had violated government guidelines.

"They are living in a congested environment. The camp has no proper sanitary facilities. They are endangering their lives and those of neighbouring communities," Kisalu said.

He further averred that the land was small and not appropriate for such a huge number of people to be settled.

The families had previously occupied 17,101 acres of forestland in a settlement called Sierra Leone.

Some of those who were interviewed said it was unfair that the government was deliberately frustrating them.

Erick Bett, who has been living at the camp with his family of six, said the directive was evidence that the State was hell bent on destroying their lives.

Another camp dweller, Samuel Langat, said he has no intention of leaving the camp.

"I have nowhere to go. No one is happy living this kind of a life. The government should reveal what exactly it wants from us. This is very unfair," Mr Langat said.