Politicians named in the Waki list will have to quit their Cabinet posts and those found guilty of election violence offences barred from ever running for public office if proposals tabled before the Cabinet are approved. Sources who have seen the proposals prepared by a team headed by Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Martha Karua, on Thursday said this was the only way to end impunity and stop politicians from using their communities to cause violence every election year.

At the conclusion of its 41st session in Geneva, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has issued a comprehensive set of recommendations to the Government of Kenya with a view to promoting the enjoyment of these rights among the Kenyan population. Many of these recommendations are also crucial for reducing levels of violence in Kenya and for healing the wounds left after the post-election unrest that swept the country in early 2008.

Two more Members of Parliament of Kenya have succumbed to pay tax barely four days after another MP voluntarily offered to have his salary and allowances taxed. They are Jeremiah Kioni of Ndaragwa and Francis Nyamu of Tetu constituencies. The MPs earlier this month objected moves to tax them.

Justice Philip Waki, a veteran appeal court judge, headed a team tasked with analysing the violence that followed Kenya’s dubious presidential election on 27 December last year. More than 1300 people were killed and at least 300,000 forced from their homes after President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner. Waki’s mandate derived directly from the peace accord brokered by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, which saw Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga agree to share power.

Puzzled by a section of prostitutes in Majengo slums who had managed to resist HIV infection even after being exposed to it, a group of scientists decided in 1987 to understand why this was the case. This amazing finding made them follow these women keenly for over five years to find out what made them tick.

In major nightclubs in Nairobi, a new phenomenon is taking shape: the number of male sex workers is on the rise as more men turn to the act as away of eking a living. While many people have associated Mombasa with men who sell anal sex, it is emerging that Nairobi is now a hot-spot for this business. Men who engage in this act for commercial reasons are easy to come by than was the case in the past, says Dr Joshua Kimani, whose research work has enabled him to come into contact with some of them.

A damning report containing evidence of a high-level policy to murder suspected criminals and troublemakers in Kenya threatens to undermine the reputation of the government of President Mwai Kibaki.

The 2nd World Congress on Agroforestry will assess opportunities to leverage scientific agroforestry in promoting sustainable land use worldwide. The Congress will serve as a forum for agroforestry researchers, educators, practitioners and policy makers from around the world. We encourage you to submit your abstracts and participate in the conference that will be held in Nairobi (Kenya), from the 23rd to the 28th of August 2009. Deadline for abstracts is 30 November 2008.

On November 21st 2008, a new campaign aimed at identifying and recognizing those who played a positive role during and immediately after the post elections chaos in Kenya will be launched. Who were the people that were prepared to risk their own lives to save others?

Never before has the question of peace and security been more pertinent on the African continent. The increasing militarization of Africa through external and internal forces as well as the rise of unstable democratic arrangements that have disallowed opportunities for expression of dissent and the exercise of freedoms is an indicator of the increasing need for this discourse.

Do you work with indigenous peoples? Are you concerned about their land rights? Would you like to learn new HRBD strategies and tools to enrich your work? Then this workshop is for you! As a side-event to the ESCR-Net General Assembly, Equalinrights will be organizing a workshop on Land and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights.

The Dandora municipal waste site east of Nairobi continues to pose environmental and health risks even after a study recommended its closure, said specialists. “The dumpsite is a big, big health problem and it has had a very bad impact on the environment,” Njoroge Kimani, a biochemist, said, adding that the unrestricted dumping of domestic, industrial, hospital and agricultural waste at the city’s main dumping site was cause for concern.

Under normal circumstances, 14-year-old Paul Katana would be in school, but not today. Katana is instead flagging down vehicles along the Mombasa-Malindi highway, hoping to sell sacks of charcoal he is hawking. About 2km down the road, a young boy watches over his mother's goats, while another is hawking brooms.

Nearly 20% of patients in an HIV treatment programme in Kenya have suffered major interactions between their HIV drugs and other prescribed medicines, a study has found. In half of these cases the result of the interaction was to significantly lower the levels of antiretrovirals in the blood. The retrospective survey of patient case-notes in the AMPATH (Academic Model for the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS) found that altogether 30% of patients had suffered major or minor consequences from drug interactions.

The KHRC has been a moving force in advocating for Kenyan prison reform and prisoner’s rights. However, even though relations between human rights organizations and the Prison Department have improved over the last few years, prison conditions are still inhumane and in stark violation of human rights laws.

Activists Wangui Mbatia and Ken Ochieng Onguka have just been arrested by the Kenya Police at Jeevanjee Gardens and have been taken to the Central Police Station where they are now being detained. Wangui Mbatia and Ken Ochieng Onguka were arrested for distributing t- shirts on the controversial taxes for Members of Parliament , and DVD's advocating for the full implementation of the Waki Commission Report. The activity is part of the ongoing activities by the Partnership for Change. STOP PRESS: News received shortly before going to press indicates that these activists have now been released.

“The Government of Kenya is failing to take the necessary steps to stamp out torture in our country.” This is the central message of the reports prepared by a group of Kenyan NGOs, together with the World Organisation Against Torture, to inform the United Nations Committee Against Torture as it begins its examination of Kenya’s record on the prevention and eradication of torture, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Thousands of widows and orphans will have to wait a little longer for the Government to finalise mechanisms on how to reclaim financial assets left behind by their husbands or fathers. A taskforce set up in March 2008 to come up with recommendations on how Sh38 billion in unclaimed financial assets should be handled is yet to submit its report, the House heard.

The Coalition for Peace in Africa and Responding to Conflict are offering a new course for practitioners to deepen their understanding of the processes of social change and conflict transformation, to explore the strengths, limitations, and challenges of their work, and new ways for implementation in the future.

Members of Parliament have done it again. For the third time last night, they arm-twisted acting Finance minister John Michuki into dropping the proposal to tax their hefty allowances. Michuki told Parliament that he would withdraw the proposal to tax members’ allowances alongside those of constitutional office holders such as judges.