PRESS RELEASE:KENYAN HRD NJOROGE WAITHERA RECOGNIZED IN DUBLIN.

DATE: 12 February 2010 For Release During Conference -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kenyan HRD Njoroge Waithera Recognized at a Leading International Conference for Human Rights Defenders’ in Dublin 10th-12th February 2010 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More than a hundred Human Rights Defenders from 90 countries worldwide are attending the “5th Dublin Platform for Human Rights Defenders”, in Dublin from 10th - 12th February 2010. The HRDs are joined by key officials from the EU, the United Nations and intergovernmental organisations and are looking at the current risks facing human rights defenders with a view to developing new strategies to assess and minimise those risks. Speaking at the Dublin Platform, HRD Njoroge Waithera from Kenya called on the international community to promote the respect and protection of human rights defenders by national governments by conditioning bilateral co-operation/assistance to governments’ demonstrable commitment to their obligations under the International Human Rights Law. Njoroge further called on the Kenyan government to institute speedy and impartial investigation for extra judicial execution of two HRDs, G.P. Oulu and O. Kamau on 5th March 2009 and demanded meaningful protection for HRDs facing similar death threats on account of their legitimate human rights advocacy. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navanethern Pillay paid tribute to the courage of HRDs who put their lives on the line everyday, to protect the rights of others. Also speaking at the conference, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin T.D. congratulated Front Line, the organiser, for their outstanding work. “Human Rights Defenders put their own lives at risk to break the deafening silence of indifference and complacency. Without human rights defenders, the voices of the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in society would not be heard” said Minister Martin. “Human Rights Defenders are people who make extra-ordinary sacrifices, often putting their own lives at risk. They are usually either on the move or on the run. They are the people who change society,” Front Line Director Mary Lawlor said. HRDs travelled from across the globe to attend: from countries where human rights violations are common place such as: Afganistan, Zimbabwe, Iran, Burma, Colombia and Haiti. HRDs are often abused because of their work on the trafficking of women and children, exploitive working conditions, the discrimination of ethnic minorities or the marginalisation of those from indigenous communities. Other guest speakers included UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Ms. Margaret Sekkagya and Front Line Chairman, Mr. Denis O'Brien. For further Information please contact: Jim Loughran, Head of Communications, Front Line Telephone + 353 1 212 3750 Mobile + 353 (0)87 9377586

ONGERI MUST KNOW THAT ABSURD ISSUANCE OF EDUCATION FUNDS IS CORRUPTION.

Dear Sir/Madam, It seems to me that honorable Ongeri is illiberal or downright condescending or that perhaps he is both. That is why he still finds it difficult to clearly comprehend the enormity of his acts of commission and omission. Speaking during a political rally in Kisii, Ongeri roused the crowd with a high dose of ethnic populism and in the process brazenly admitted that he had engaged in absurd issuance of education funds in his constituency. Interestingly, the jolly old professor is still somewhat puzzled that the public thinks of him as being corrupt! For starters, Ongeri must acquaint himself with the definition of the term corruption. I guess I have to be sufficiently philanthropic as to provide one for his sake. According to the World Bank, corruption is “the abuse of power for personal gain or for the benefit of a group to which one owes allegiance. It is motivated by greed and by the desire to retain or increase one`s power.” From the foregoing, I firmly believe that Ongeri is now in a vantage point to clearly understand the folly of his actions and that he will therefore not continue misread the signs on the wall. I expect him to swallow the last shred of his pride and to honorably tender his resignation with immediate effect. In the event that he elects to continue ignoring the mounting pressure from the public, the president and the Prime Minister must sack him in the best interest of the public. I must also hasten to tell him that by his very own admission, his public ratings have taken a severe hit so much so that even his own constituents will find it difficult to spare him the agony of going down the path of political incineration. It should pain his conscience that he has incessantly lied to the public and to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education. We now know that there is a great mountain between what his heart knows and what his tongue has been saying. What we still do not know is perhaps the avalanche of truth that he is still withholding from the public domain. It is does not cease to amaze the public that there are still some Cabinet Ministers who continue to think that dishonesty serves a higher truth. It irritates the intelligence of many that such impropriety has to come from a man who claims to be pious. It is even worse when the same person is also a holder of the title “professor.” Ongeri must know that the unrelenting brushfire that has so far taken toll on Permanent Secretaries and other top civil servants in the Ministries of Education, Agriculture and Special Programmes has not subsided. He must know that the menacing flames are still soaring high. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA. http://twitter.com/tomefrancis