Tension is high at Thompson Falls Prison in Nyahururu following the death of a 35-year old inmate in allegedly mysterious circumstances. Inmates are demanding the arrest of three warders suspected to have beaten Francis Maina Kiberenge to death on Friday night. Prison authorities have denied the allegations, saying that Kiberenge died after a short illness.

The European Development Fund Committee has deferred the approval of their promised Budget Support Programme, together with the expected disbursement of the first Sh4.7 billion already reflected in Kenya's Budget for 2004/2005. Their decision is a result of the agency's concerns about the prevailing governance situation in Kenya, specifically the Anglo Leasing affair.

The UK High Commissioner to Kenya, Edward Clay, has launched a scathing attack on President Kibaki's government's record on tackling corruption. In a speech cleared by the UK's Foreign Office he said that corrupt ministers were 'eating like gluttons' and 'vomiting on the shoes' of donors. Mr Clay also said that since the President took office in December 2002, corruption had cost Kenya some $188m.

The Kenyan Community Abroad (KCA) says it is "deeply saddened" by the recent spate of excessive force by police on demonstrators in Kenya. KCA has always advocated a zero tolerance stance on police brutality, having previously insisted that no circumstance justifies the shooting of live ammunition. "We, therefore, strongly condemn the shooting to death of two citizens in Kisumu in the past week. We believe that the Kenyan Police authorities have enough resources, manpower and training to control riots without causing unnecessary death, and that the use of live ammunition in Kisumu or any other place in Kenya was totally uncalled for.”

Kenyans are losing patience and hope in Narc's ability to deliver on its election promises, a new opinion poll shows. In the last three months, the government's approval rating has fallen from 50 per cent to 43 per cent, according to the Gallup poll conducted by Steadman and Associates. The government particularly takes a beating over the twin issues of corruption and constitutional review.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Wednesday appealed for US $76 million to fund emergency relief operations to help some 3.3 million people affected by drought, saying crop failure brought on by inadequate rainfall amounted to "a national disaster".

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) will hold a five day ICT policy advocacy workshop in Nairobi from 19th - 23rd July. The workshop intends to galvinise the growing interest there is in ICT policy into a network of policy advocates working in their home countries. It will be the first of two regional ICT policy advocacy workshops, the second being held in Dakar, Senegal later this year. "Through the workshop, we hope to kick start concerted policy actions at the national level," says APC executive director, Anriette Esterhuysen. "There's a lot of interest and concern and a lot of expertise out there but not enough collaborative action. We want to do more than just build capacity."

Kenya is to receive a total of US $60.51 million in grants and loans from the African Development Fund (ADF) for projects aimed at strengthening rural health facilities and improving water-supply and sanitation infrastructure in Rift Valley Province. It is intended to ensure equitable provision of adequate quantity and quality of services to all the user groups at an affordable cost and sustainable basis in Nakuru and in urban, semi-urban and rural communities.

The introduction of free primary education in Kenya has been hailed in the country. However, it appears that disabled children are not benefiting from the programme because government has failed to equip schools to meet their needs. Speaking on the issue, Churchill Omondi, Chairman of the Disabilities Without Borders Resource Centre, said that only 500,000 of approximately three million disabled children in Kenya are currently attending primary school.

The Endorois Community have lived for centuries around the Lake Bogoria region in the South Baringo and Koibatek Administrative Districts of Kenya. In the 1970s, the Government of Kenya, without effectively consulting the Community, gazetted the Community's traditional lands for the purposes of creating a game reserve. The Community were told by the Government to vacate the land and were forced to move. In doing so, not only were the Community's property rights violated, but spiritual, cultural and economic ties to the land were severed.

The UN has sounded an alarm over the number of primary school teachers dying of Aids in Kenya. The country is among those likely to suffer shortages of primary school teachers because of Aids deaths, the United Nations says in a new global report. Other countries listed in the report include Uganda, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. "Without forward planning, there will be great difficulty for these countries meeting their school enrolment targets and an acceptable pupil-to-teacher ratio, says the 2004 report of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS).

The Kenyan Government has finally appointed an information and communications minister following a major cabinet reshuffle. The new ministry will see all ICT matters handled by one department. To date, responsibility has been shared by two departments, the Information and Tourism ministry and the Transport and Communications ministry.

Public universities in Kenya have accomplished their initial mission of fostering an intellectual community in the country. But public universities have also faced difficulties such as enrolment beyond their capacity to plan and finance; fiscal challenges; and a decline in quality. To help solve some of these problems, the Kenyan government has supported the establishment and growth of private universities and colleges. Today, almost one in six college and university students attends a private college or university, and this figure increases annually. What accounts for this growth and is it a good thing for Kenya?

The Liberal Democratic Party has poured scorn on President Kibaki's broad-based government and accused him of replacing the multi-party system with a no-party movement similar to Uganda's. Sixty one MPs, who included the party's four Cabinet Ministers, had earlier held a Parliamentary Group meeting where they bitterly complained about the reshuffle, in which the party's ministers were demoted.

Donors have expressed concern over alleged malpractices in the awarding of government contracts, and warned that Kenya risked losing donor support unless authorities intensified the fight against corruption. "This is a key moment in Kenya's fight against corruption. What is required is intensification of effort and purposeful commitment," said a joint statement issued on Monday by the embassies of Britain, Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

One person was killed and several others were injured on Wednesday when police clashed with demonstrators who took to the streets in the western Kenyan town of Kisumu to demand a quick enactment of the new draft constitution. The confrontation between the demonstrators and police was the first public show of frustration with President Mwai Kibaki's National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) government, which came to power following a landslide electoral victory 18 months ago.

Reporting on the worst corruption scandal of President Mwai Kibaki's Government, a watchdog committee of MPs has demanded that the Kenyan Finance Minister, David Mwiraria, should be held responsible for involving the Government in the Sh2.7 billion passport scandal. In addition, the committee has urged that three former Permanent Secretaries should face fraud and conspiracy charges and that other deals involving the UK firm Anglo Leasing should be investigated.

Canada's Tiomin Resources has signed a controversial deal with the Kenyan government to mine titanium in Kwale, near Mombasa. The project has been vigorously opposed because nearly 5,000 people will have to abandon their homes. Environmentalists have also raised fears over radiation and harm to forests and marine life.

The education sector in Kenya is being threatened by the AIDS pandemic, according to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). Speaking at a local school, the assistant Minister of Education, Peter Odoyo, said the commission was losing many teachers to HIV/AIDS, which was undermining the sector's efforts and jeopardising the survival of the TSC. Odoyo commented that in one district alone, 100 teachers and 450 students died every year from HIV/AIDS.

There has been a mixed reaction to the announcement by Kenya's leader that this week's deadline for having a new constitution would be missed. One MP in the ruling coalition said that Kenya could be headed for chaos. Other MPs praised President Mwai Kibaki's call for consensus. Both camps plan rallies at the weekend. Mr Kibaki had promised to introduce a new constitution within 100 days of coming to power in December 2002 but the deadline then slipped to 30 June.