10-year-old boy dies after drinking ‘poisoned’ tea

A ten-year-old boy has died after taking tea allegedly poisoned in South Mugirango constituency.

His two sisters and their cousin, who drunk the tea, were fighting for their lives in a hospital Wednesday.

A sombre mood engulfed Makara Village in South Mugirango constituency, Kisii county following the tragedy.

Assistant chief James Mauti said the children shared the breakfast and later started to complain of stomach pain.

When they began to diarrhoea and to vomit, groaning in pain, a neighbour heard them crying and went to find out the cause.

She raised the alarm, attracting more neighbours who took the children to Etago Sub-district Hospital.

The boy identified died on arrival.

His sisters aged six and four and their cousin were transferred to different hospitals in a critical condition. A member of the family said the tea had been prepared for their father by their mother.

The couple had had domestic disagreements and the woman had just recently returned home after being away due to the disputes, the family said.

-nation.co.ke

Read More

KQ diverts Kisumu flight with Raila on board

A late evening Kenya Airways flight to Kisumu with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga on board was Thursday diverted back to Nairobi due to a forecast of landing problems attributed to bad weather.

Mr Odinga was travelling to Nyanza where he was expected to be the chief guest at Karachuonyo MP James Rege’s homecoming in Kendu Bay, Friday.

The flight was midway on the journey to Kisumu city when the crew announced the planned diversion back to the city.

The Nation established that the newly refurbished airport had the main runway flooded, making it difficult for take offs and landings.

Thursday evening, Mr Odinga’s spokesman Dennis Onyango confirmed that Mr Odinga was among the passengers affected by the 5 o’clock flight cancellation.
“We were told the flight was being diverted due to bad weather,” Mr Onyango said.

Mr Onyango confirmed that the diversion was successful and that Mr Odinga and other passengers had safely landed back in Nairobi.

Kenya Airways later tweeted: “The plane is back at JKIA safely. The flight had to be diverted back to Nairobi due to bad weather in Kisumu,”

By the time of filing this report, Mr Odinga and the other passengers were still waiting for the rescheduling of their flight.

“We are planning to cancel the flight all together so that we can have it rescheduled,” said an aide to Mr Odinga Thursday evening.

Mr Rege who is expected to host the Cord leader however said he had opted to travel by road due to a daylong busy diary that could not have accommodated his flight plans.

“I am expecting to host Mr Odinga and several MPs at home tomorrow. And am on my way by road,” Mr Rege said.
Kenya Airways spokesperson Ms Alice Odera said the airline would issue a statement regarding the flight later.

-nation.co.ke

Read More

County rep’s falls in pool but salvages his plate of food

 A member of County Assembly (MCA) from Nandi County recently left ribs

cracking in Kisumu, when he accidentally fell inside a swimming pool, but managed to save food he was carrying on a plate from soaking in water.

The MCA, together with his colleagues, had travelled to the lakeside county for team building and bonding session.

They had been booked into a lavish hotel for a couple of days. During lunchtime on one of the days, they were at the hotel, the enthusiastic MCA began having a light banter with one of his colleague as they queued for sumptuously prepared meals.

 They went on chatting and having light moments as they walked to their respective seats after serving themselves at the buffet table.

 Water bubbles

While walking to his seat, a plate with a mountain of food in one hand, and a bottle of soda in the other, he kept chatting up his colleague animatedly and did not notice that he was walking next to the swimming pool.

He missed a step, tripped and fell into the pool with a thud. But funny enough, his plate — full of food — remained firmly clutched in his hand as he wailed for help.

For a few seconds, his whole body sunk in the water and only hands holding his plate of food and water bubbles could be seen on the water surface.

Laughter

Some of his colleagues could not hold back their laughter at how he managed such a delicate balancing act — ensuring that his food never got soaked in water.

“We were so tickled at how he landed into the water and still managed to keep his food safe from water in such a situation of death and life,” said an onlooker.

Meanwhile, his mesmerised colleagues almost died with laughter with most of them making fun out of the whole incident.

One of his colleagues joked that this particular MCA had lost his attention because he was busy salivating.

And that he had served himself too much food that filled up his plate, so much that he just could not see where he was going.

Fortunately, he had fallen towards the shallow end of the swimming pool. And luckily, a hawk-eyed lifesaver timely dove in the pool and came to his rescue.

The lifesaver aided him out of the water and led him to his room to change his drenched clothes.

The MCA changed his clothes and went back to devour his meal, but became the butt of all sorts of jokes throughout their stay at the hotel.

-standardmedia.co.ke

Read More

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma breaks news of Nelson Mandela’s death

"My Fellow South Africans, our beloved Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the founding President of our democratic nation, has departed. He passed on peacefully in the company of his family around 20h50 on the 5th of December 2013. He is now resting. He is now at peace. Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father.

"Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss. His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world.

"His humility, his compassion, and his humanity earned him their love. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mandela family. To them we owe a debt of gratitude. They have sacrificed much and endured much so that our people could be free.

"Our thoughts are with his wife Mrs Graca Machel, his former wife Ms Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, with his children, his grand-children, his great grand-children and the entire family. Our thoughts are with his friends, comrades and colleagues who fought alongside Madiba over the course of a lifetime of struggle. Our thoughts are with the South African people who today mourn the loss of the one person who, more than any other, came to embody their sense of a common nationhood. Our thoughts are with the millions of people across the world who embraced Madiba as their own, and who saw his cause as their cause.

"This is the moment of our deepest sorrow. Our nation has lost its greatest son. Yet, what made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves. And in him we saw so much of ourselves.

"Fellow South Africans, Nelson Mandela brought us together, and it is together that we will bid him farewell. Our beloved Madiba will be accorded a state funeral. I have ordered that all flags of the Republic of South Africa be lowered to half-mast from tomorrow, 6 December, and to remain at half-mast until after the funeral.

"As we gather to pay our last respects, let us conduct ourselves with the dignity and respect that Madiba personified. Let us be mindful of his wishes and the wishes of his family. As we gather, wherever we are in the country and wherever we are in the world, let us recall the values for which Madiba fought.

"Let us reaffirm his vision of a society in which none is exploited, oppressed or dispossessed by another. Let us commit ourselves to strive together - sparing neither strength nor courage - to build a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. Let us express, each in our own way, the deep gratitude we feel for a life spent in service of the people of this country and in the cause of humanity.

"This is indeed the moment of our deepest sorrow. Yet it must also be the moment of our greatest determination. A determination to live as Madiba has lived, to strive as Madiba has strived and to not rest until we have realized his vision of a truly united South Africa, a peaceful and prosperous Africa, and a better world.

"We will always love you Madiba! May your soul rest in peace. God Bless Africa. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika."

Reuters

Read More

'Let me keep my dead husband's sperm'

A woman has begun a legal bid to prevent her dead husband's frozen sperm from being destroyed.

Beth Warren, 28, has been told by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) that the sperm cannot be stored beyond April 2015.

Her husband, Warren Brewer, a ski instructor, died of a brain tumour at the age of 32 in February 2012.

His sperm was stored before treatment, and he made it clear his wife should be allowed to use it posthumously.

I do not know what will happen in the future and I would like to have the choice left open to be able to have my husband's child as I know he would have wanted.”

The couple, who were together for eight years, married in a hospice six weeks before his death. She subsequently changed her surname to Warren.

"I understand that it's a huge decision to have a child who will never meet their father, " said Mrs Warren, who lives in Birmingham.

"I cannot make that choice now and need more time to build my life back. I may never go ahead with treatment but I want to have the freedom to decide once I am no longer grieving.

"My brother died in a car accident just weeks before my husband's death, so there has been a huge amount to cope with."

Mrs Warren was initially told that her husband's last consent form lapsed in April 2013, but has subsequently been granted two brief extensions amounting to two years. The frozen sperm is stored at the CARE fertility clinic in Northampton.

Her lawyer, James Lawford Davies said the 2009 regulations created injustice.

"Common-sense dictates that she should be allowed time to recover from the loss of her husband and brother and not be forced into making such an important reproductive choice at this point in her life."

Mr Lawford Davies, whose firm is not charging Mrs Warren to represent her, said there were a number of inconsistencies about the regulations.

The sperm has to be used by April 2015, but if it was thawed and used to create embryos, these could be stored for a further seven years.

The time limit also means that Mrs Warren could use the sperm to create one child but not a second.

There is also no restriction on the sperm being exported, which would mean Mrs Warren could be treated abroad in the future, but not in the UK.

The case will be heard next year by a judge from the Family Division of the High Court.

In her legal submission Mrs Warren said: "I am aware that I may decide not to use the stored samples in the event that I meet someone in the future and choose to have a family with him.

"I do not know what will happen in the future, and I would like to have the choice left open to be able to have my husband's child - as I know he would have wanted."

In a statement the fertility regulator said: "The HFEA has every sympathy with Mrs Warren and the tragic circumstance in which she finds herself.

"We have been in discussions with Mrs Warren's solicitors for some time and each time new information has been presented to us, we have reconsidered the legal situation in as responsive a way as possible.

"However, the law on the storage of gametes is clear and the HFEA has no discretion to extend the storage period beyond that to which her husband gave written consent."

The case will renew the debate over the ethics of posthumous conception.

In 1997 Diane Blood won the right to conceive a child using sperm from her dead husband.

The Court of Appeal ruled against the HFEA and said that Mrs Blood should be allowed to seek treatment abroad.

But in that case the sperm had been removed when he was in a coma and without his written consent. Mrs Blood went on to have two sons after treatment in Belgium.

In this case Mr Brewer had his sperm stored prior to radiotherapy treatment in 2005, and in subsequent years signed several forms stating that his wife could use the samples.

-BBC

Read More

Extradition illegal, Barasa tells court

Journalist Walter Barasa has accused the government of trying to hand him over to the International Criminal Court without following the law.

Mr Barasa argued that the Interior Cabinet Secretary, the Attorney-General and the Director of Public Prosecution contravened the law when they called for his arrest on accusations of interfering with the administration of justice before the High Court.

Unconstitutional

Through lawyer Kibe Mungai, Mr Barasa put up a spirited fight before Mr Justice Richard Mwongo to quash the ICC arrest warrant, arguing that the laws relied upon by the minister and the AG were unconstitutional and a violation of his rights to fair trial.

“There must have been some inquiry made to ascertain if there is credible evidence to warrant extraditing him. This was not done and the minister acted as if he was just a conduit for the ICC,” Mr Mungai argued.

The DPP, the lawyer further said, should have investigated the circumstances under which the ICC issued the arrest warrant against Mr Barasa before any action could be taken.

“The DPP should have determined the exceptional circumstances in this case including allegations of oppression and injustice before the ICC. Allowing Mr Barasa to be tried at the Hague will be a direct violation of the Constitution,” he said.

He accused the State of withholding information relating to Mr Barasa’s extradition, claiming that the journalist did not know why he is wanted by the ICC.

In any event, Mr Mungai submitted that the ICC is not a court established under the Constitution and that if Mr Barasa committed any offence, then he should be tried in Kenya.

Support from Omtata

“Article 50 entitles a person to a public trial before a court established under the Constitution. The ICC is only a creation of the Rome Statute and it has no jurisdiction to try a Kenyan citizen unless the Constitution is amended to include it as a Kenyan court,” Mr Mungai said.

Mr Barasa got support from activist Okiya Omtata, who told the court that for Mr Barasa’s extradition request to be legitimate, it must be subject to existing Kenyan laws.

“Our quarrel is not with the ICC, but the attempt to smuggle it into our system,” said Mr Omtata, who was enjoined in the case as an interested party.

Mr Barasa is wanted at the ICC to face charges of interfering with witnesses .

The case will be heard on December 11.

-nation.co.ke

Read More