NTV's Larry Madowo bows out of Nation Media Group

NTV journalist Larry Madowo has announced his departure from the media house .
In a tweet, Larry stated: “I leave NTV as I came: humbled & grateful. The job was one of the great honours of my life.”
The journalist went on to convey his gratitude to the Nation Media Group (NMG) and his fans for their contributions to his career.
“Thanks to everyone who watched, and to Nation for the privilege of the opportunity. I’m proud of my amazing colleagues & everything we accomplished. Farewell, my friends. Stay woke,” the tweet conveyed.

NRM’s General Miguna Miguna’s Statement from Dubai International Airport, March 29, 2018

I am at the passenger waiting area at the Dubai International Airport. I have gone through basic tests which have confirmed that I was forcefully placed aboard EK722 Emirates Airline flight from Nairobi to Dubai that arrived this morning.

About 50 heavily armed thugs led by the uniformed Somali policeman who had commanded them on Monday, violently broke into the toilet I had been detained incommunicado in at the Jomo Kenyatta Airport, didn’t identify themselves, wrestled me to the ground, held onto and sat on me as a group of four different thugs injected substances to both my soles, arms, hands, both sides of my ribs and basically all over my body until I passed out.

Today, at around 5:25am, after the Emirates had landed and passengers were disembarking, I regained consciousness and asked a person seated next to me who also appeared like a flying squad officer, “where are we?” He told me that we were in Dubai.

Three burley men dressed in Air Emirates yellow reflector jackets approached me and rudely demanded that I disembark from the plane. The most obnoxious one introduced himself as “Njihia”, he claimed that a bunch of loose papers he held in his hands were my “documents.”

I explained to him that I wouldn’t go anywhere with him; that he didn’t have my valid Kenyan passport and that he is a criminal who had not only abducted, drugged and forcefully removed me from Kenya against my will and in violation of numerous court orders.

I told the Air Emirates crew that flying an unconscious and drugged man like me from Kenya to Dubai without any documents was a criminal act.

Despite their desperate attempts to force me to the police station and/immigration department at Dubai, I refused and demanded to see a medical doctor.

After much wrangling, I was granted access to a doctor who conducted basic medical tests and confirmed my story. Additional toxicology tests would require exiting the airport, which I can only do with my valid Kenyan passport - a document the despots illegality confiscated and destroyed in violation of Justice Kimaru’s order.

I have severe pain on the left side of my chest, my left wrist, my right elbow and my feet. I believe that the despots must have injected me with noxious substances.

Anyway, I have made it crystal clear to the United Arab Emirates immigration authorities that I cannot and will not fly anywhere with them except to Kenya.

I have refused to leave the international section of the airport.

I will and must return to Kenya as a Kenyan citizen by birth as various courts have ordered.

The Honourable Justice Odunga issued an order on March 28th that convicted Matiang’i, Kihalangwa and Boinett among others of criminal contempt and ordered that they appear before that court for sentencing today at 10:00am. Justice Odunga also ordered that I be released unconditionally and to attend court today at 10:00am.

I had planned to give a victim impact statement during Matiang’i’s, Kihalangwa’s and Boinett’s sentencing by Justice Odunga. I hope that I will be given a chance to do so soonest.

I am innocent man. My only crimes are that I swore Raila Odinga in as The People’s President on January 30, 2018; I head the National Revolutionary Movement (NRM) in order to bring electoral justice, end bad governance and accountability in governance and we are determined to remove the despots from their illegitimate positions of power!

As I return to Kenya either today or tomorrow, I strongly encourage all patriotic Kenyans to remain firm, focused and fearless in the face of an outlaw, authoritarian and illegitimate regime of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto.

The despots must fall.

No retreat! No surrender!
Forward ever!

NRM General, Miguna Miguna
Dubai International Airport
March 29, 2018.

KENYA NEWS REPORT GLOBAL BRIEFING

Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Jason Miks. March 27, 2018

The Awkward Truth About That Poke in the Eye for Putin The US decision to join European allies in expelling dozens of Russian diplomats sends a pointed message to Moscow about Western unity. But such expulsions are also an outdated weapon – and one that could end up hurting the United States, suggests Steven Hall for The Cipher Brief. “[W]henever we get into these expulsion battles with the Russians, we pay a significant price because they will in turn reciprocate by expelling American diplomats, and they will try to expel as many intelligence officers as they can identify,” Hall writes. “Expelling diplomats is a good first step, but it is a little bit of fighting the war with very old weapons when the Russians have already moved on to the next generation—and that’s my biggest concern. Russia is defining this new form of warfare with hybrid warfare, attacking Western elections and at least attempting and setting the battlefield to conduct cyberattacks against critical infrastructure in the US—and we’re responding by expelling diplomats, which is a Cold War era tactic. “We need to find better ways to push back against specifically Vladimir Putin, for example keeping them out of the SWIFT international banking system for a specific period of time to show how serious this is. We need to have a conversation about perhaps removing Russia from international organizations where they value their participation greatly because it gives them a sense of being a great power.” Did Kim Take the Family Playbook to the Dragon’s Lair? The White House refused Tuesday to confirm reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un himself was a passenger on a mysterious armored train spotted in China. If he was, that could make things even more complicated for the Trump administration, suggests Charlie Campbell in TIME. After all, the Kims have played this game before. “Owing to pressure from Trump, Beijing has been enforcing the sanctions comparatively strictly, slashing imports of North Korea coal and labor that form the regime’s main cash cow. But Beijing and Washington are only loosely aligned, and over the decades the Kim dynasty has been deft at exploiting the cracks between adversaries to further its goals,” Campbell writes. “It’s too early to say that any meeting means a rapprochement between the historic allies, which have grown estranged over recent decades as China flourished under ‘reform and opening’ while North Korea festered in impoverished isolation. Xi may just be signaling to Trump and Moon that he will not be sidelined in any negotiations to end North Korea’s nuclear program. “But if Kim is ready to make concessions, then the fractures among nearby nations may widen.” No, Repealing the Second Amendment Would Be a Bad Idea The frustration of retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens over the Court’s gun rights decision in the landmark Heller case is understandable. But his call in a New York Times op-ed for the Second Amendment to be repealed is still a mistake, argues Noah Feldman for Bloomberg View. “The First Amendment, like the rest of the Bill of Rights, has been around since 1791 without alteration. That very antiquity strengthens its protections -- all of them. Opening the Pandora’s box of changing our fundamental rights because of a Supreme Court decision we don’t like threatens the very structure of the Bill of Rights itself,” Feldman writes. “James Madison understood this very well. He hoped for the Constitution to ultimately earn ‘veneration.’ Although he recognized that the Constitution had to allow for amendment, he also wanted to avoid the rush to change that would have come with further constitutional conventions, which he hoped to hold off.” “If you believe that the Supreme Court has the legitimate authority to find the constitutional rights to abortion, gay marriage and freedom to burn the flag, then you had better acknowledge that the court also has the legitimacy to expand the Second Amendment -- even if you disagree with that judgment.” Why the Arab World Suddenly Hearts Israel The muted Arab reaction to President Trump’s announcement on recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital was just the latest example of a dramatic shift in the region, write Shai Feldman and Tamara Cofman Wittes for Foreign Policy. Israel is suddenly uncontroversial – and it’s not just a rising Iran that is uniting former foes. “The recent 10-year, $15 billon agreement signed between Israeli and Egyptian companies for the sale of natural gas is a game-changer in Arab-Israeli politics. This agreement will allow Egypt to profit from liquefying and re-exporting the purchased gas to Europe and Africa, boosting its prospects as a regional energy hub and creating economic interdependence between two former enemies,” they write. “No less significant are new opportunities for economic interdependence between Israel and members of the Gulf Cooperation Council rooted in Israel’s technological prowess and innovation economy…Just imagine the potential for civilian tech cooperation as Gulf states move to diversify their economies away from their complete dependence on oil and gas revenues to more service-based, technology-based, and knowledge-based economies. “The growing advantages to Arab states of cooperation with Israel are further boosted by a parallel decline in Arab governments’ interest in the Palestinian issue. While these governments remain formally commitment to the Palestinian cause, they also show growing signs of fatigue regarding all matters Palestinian.” China’s Big Lesson for America In focusing on China’s trade practices – including announcing about $60 billion in tariffs – the Trump administration is missing the biggest lesson of China’s economic rise, suggests Steven Rattner in The New York Times. Beijing is making dramatic strides as it invests in its future – and the United States looks like it’s standing still. “To be sure, China is a long way from overtaking the United States. Its gross domestic product per person is just $9,380, compared with $61,690 in the United States. Less visible than the sleek modern skyscrapers that now dominate China’s cityscapes are the 700 million people — about half of China’s population — who still live on $5.50 per day or less,” Rattner writes. But “China continues to build airports, subway systems, renewable-energy facilities and the like at a torrid pace. Even its longstanding pollution problem is being addressed.” “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that we rewrite our Constitution to emulate China. And I certainly understand the loss of freedom and civil liberties under the Chinese system. But that doesn’t mitigate the need for us to get our government to perform the way it did in passing the New Deal and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society.” Trump’s “Favorite” Middle East Strongman Should Be Worried Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is bound to win the ongoing presidential election. But don’t be fooled, writes Alexia Underwood for Vox. A sluggish economy for young people and growing political repression are storing up trouble that could ultimately explode in revolution. “While overall employment has decreased to about 11 percent, almost 80 percent of people without jobs are young people,” Underwood notes. “A 2016 Brookings Institution report argues that if the Egyptian government does not deal with youth unemployment soon, ‘it will likely face instability — and perhaps another uprising — in the years to come.’” “Sisi’s popularity also took a hit when he made the highly controversial decision to cede two islands in the Red Sea, Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabia. The islands, located between the two countries, are uninhabited and had been controlled by Egypt for the past 60 years. Sisi was accused of ‘selling’ them to the Saudis in exchange for investment money and aid.” “It remains to be seen if this growing discontent with Trump’s favorite Middle Eastern authoritarian leader will build, or fizzle out in the next few years. But if history is any indication, Sisi should be careful.”

Robert Godec the US Ambassodor to Kenya shown the door replaced by Sen Kyle McCarter.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated state Sen. Kyle McCarter of downstate Lebanon to be an ambassador to Kenya, citing the southern Illinois legislator’s long history with a charity with ties to the African nation.

“It is an honor to be asked to represent President Trump and our great nation in a country where I have lived and served for many years,” McCarter said in a statement. “I look forward to bringing about a closer relationship that will benefit both our nations.”

McCarter was first nominated last year by Illinois’ Republican congressional delegation. McCarter, along with his parents, founded Each One Feed One International, which helps orphaned and abandoned children, and also provides medical treatment for those with HIV and malaria.

McCarter began working with the charity in 1984. He and his wife Victoria lived and worked in Kenya for a year beginning in 1987 to help build a medical clinic. They resumed their work with the charity in 2011 and continue to do so.

In the congressional nomination letter, congressmen wrote of McCarter’s “extensive history in Kenya,” with experience negotiating with tribal chiefs and other dignitaries; experience working with USAID and other organizations and “heightened insight into the governmental operations and other political, economic and social realities of both Kenya and the larger region of East Africa.”

The congressmen also noted McCarter had identified ways to support Trump’s “Buy American” strategy in Kenya to help boost the American economy through Kenyan investment.

McCarter and his wife both are conversational in Swahili, the official language of Kenya.

The White House announced the nomination in a news release on Wednesday afternoon, noting McCarter “served as a field auditor, Missionary and International Director of Each One Feed One International, based in Lebanon, Illinois with an office in Mukothima, Kenya.”

According to the release, McCarter would be “Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of American to the Republic of Kenya.”

The post requires Senate confirmation.

McCarter has served as a state senator since 2009, and did not seek re-election this year.

McCarter was not available by phone on Wednesday. According to his Facebook page, his father passed away on Saturday, with services pending in Oklahoma.

“It is bittersweet that I am now preparing for the funeral of my father who leaves a legacy of honoring God, serving others and saving the lives of thousands of children in Kenya,” he said in the statement.