The events of the past three days compel us to evaluate the state of fundamental freedoms in Kenya, and the verdict is singularly unfavourable. On December 12, 2008, as Kenya marked its 45th Jamhuri Day, the Grand Coalition Government signaled its definitive departure not just from the ideals of independence. It also departs from agreements reached under Agenda Item One of the mediation process, which sought to restore full fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to assembly and peaceful protest.

The Chinese government will fund major infrastructural projects to promote investment, that would see Kenya elevated into a middle level economy, Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said. Speaking during a Commemorative Scholarship Awarding ceremony in Kibera, Mr Odinga said the China African Development Bank (CADB), which runs a multi-trillion shilling investment base, has expressed interest in the construction of the Lamu-Juba standard rail-line project, whose completion would link countries in the horn of Africa to the sea port.

Maurine Kamau* lost her first child immediately after birth but did not discover why the baby had died until she fell pregnant a second time and tested positive for HIV at the Nazareth Mission Hospital, on the outskirts of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. She received counselling at the hospital's prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) unit and her second child tested negative for HIV. Now four months old, the baby is doing well and has regular checkups at the hospital.

The Kenyan government has defended a contentious media bill which critics say is intended to gag the press. The Kenya Communications Amendment Bill, which was passed by parliament, gives the state power to raid media houses and control broadcast content.

The rise of the mobile phone as a bank account substitute in Africa was reinforced as Vodafone announced the launch of a cross-border mobile money transfer service between the UK and Kenya.

An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education demonstrates that African universities face a crisis in hiring and retaining new Ph.D. holders, many of whom choose to go into industry or NGOs. Fewer than half of University-based academics have doctorates in their respective disciplines. As the piece points out, "most institutions have focused on raising student numbers rather than on improving the quality of education and research." (Kegoro Macharia)

The case reveals the shortcoming of Section 24(1) of the Children Act, which relieved fathers from an immediate parental obligation to support their children born out of wedlock. The High Court held that such a law is discriminatory against children born out of wedlock and called for the legislature to consider amending the law. Advocates may utilize the Court’s position to challenge that Section and insist upon the amendment of the law.

Media owners on Thursday urged President Kibaki to withhold his signature from the controversial Kenya Communications (Amendment) Bill, describing it as the “most draconian Bill on the media since Independence” that was passed “out of revenge.”

Since the release of the Waki Report, the political uproar amongst Kenyan parliamentarians over who is on the "secret list" of individuals responsible for crimes against humanity during this years post-election violence, has since sobered up to a new reality. Kenya's once untouchable political elite now stands accused of impunity. Whether recently legislators voted for tax exemptions on their already gluttonous salaries or if they displayed remorse or not over a worsening food crisis, their every action is becoming subject to public scrutiny. Many of the older breed of the Kenyan elite may have begun to feel the pangs of nostalgia for older days when politics was about caring for the patrons and not the clients.

The Green Belt Movement, founded by Nobel prize-winner Wangari Maathai, has a partnership with the Basque government for community-based tree planting and natural resource management initiatives in southern Mt.Kenya.

Faced with spiraling food costs, Bunge la Mwananchi and others are calling for a mass boycott and non-violent actions on 11 and 12 December 2009.

We are concerned that the media community is sitting idly and letting politicians decide our fate. We cannot afford to allow Parliament to pass the Kenya Communications Amendment Act with its provisions that will definitely lead to our emasculation. And nobody should be deceived that this Act will be good for the media and the country. The devil is in the detail, and upon a closer look, one will discover that what the Government has done or condoned in the past against the media – the May, 2005 attack by First Lady Lucy Kibaki on hapless journalists, the March, 2006 raid by Mamlukis at the Standard, and the ban on live broadcasts early this year — will just be but a prick compared to the proposals in the Kenya Communications Amendment Act. We met Members of Parliament serving in the committee that deals with media, led by Eng. James Rege, on September 15, 2008 at their invitation to discuss this Kenya Communications Amendment Act, and gave them a raft of proposals.

A new law that, if passed, will allow the Kenyan government to determine the content, style, manner and schedule of broadcasting, has drawn fierce resistance from the media industry. The Kenya Communications Amendment Bill 2008, which is now in its final stages of the legislative process in Kenya's Parliament, proposes to set up a communications commission appointed by the government to issue licences to broadcasters and a raft of heavy fines and prison sentences for various offences.

Kenya's anti-corruption watchdog is suing seven current and former members of parliament for taking illegal allowances worth $250,000 (£166,000). Information Minister Samuel Poghisio has denied taking 2.8m shillings ($35,000, £23,000) in 2006 and 2007. Similar allegations have been filed against the assistant defence minister and five former members of parliament.

Kenya's parliament has set up a committee to review MPs' generous salaries and allowances. This follows a widespread public outcry over a decision by the country's legislators to drop a proposal to tax their allowances.

We, the undersigned members of the Name and Shame Corruption Networks (NASCON) Campaign, working with Bunge La Mwananchi, the Goro Goro Campaign (Hosted by the Citizens Coalition for Constitutional Culture – 4Cs) and other Civil Society networks throughout Kenya, Concerned that the current crises facing the Kenyan nation have resulted from a leadership crisis and have caused much suffering to the citizens of this country...

The party at a popular restaurant in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, looks ordinary, but the people attending it - all of whom are HIV-positive - are enjoying a rare opportunity to socialise without feeling like an outsider. The young men and women spent the afternoon relaxing and getting to know each other; by the end of the evening new friends had been made, phone numbers exchanged and there were plans to meet again.

Efforts to improve agriculture in Kenya often miss the mark by targeting men instead of women. One woman spent 20 years organizing female farmers to share investments and training. Now men are joining too, and the women's work is paying off.

One after the other the women sat infront of the audience and TV cameras and told of their ordeal. Each story was as heart wrenching as the previous. The women told terrifying tales of how men in uniform broke into their homes, beat them and violated them.

Kenya's cabinet has agreed to implement a controversial report into January's post-poll violence, which recommends prosecuting all those responsible. The meeting to approve the report had been delayed several times. But a statement from the president's office said there was consensus to carry through the recommendations.