OBAMA FINALLY START HIS TRIP TO KENYA

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama left Washington for Kenya on Thursday in a trip that will also include a stop in the Ethiopian capital and a visit to the home of the African Union.

The landmark trip to Mr Obama's ancestral homeland of Kenya, where his father was born, is his first as president and is also the first time a sitting US president will visit Ethiopia and the AU's headquarters in Addis Ababa.

The first African-American president of the United States is expected to address regional security issues and trade, and also touch on matters relating to democracy, poverty and human rights in the region.

Joining him on the trip is National Security Advisor Susan Rice, foreign policy aide Ben Rhodes and White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

Before heading off on the trip — Mr Obama's fourth time to Africa since taking office — he spoke about the promise, and difficulties, on the continent.

"Despite its many challenges — and we have to be clear-eyed about all the challenges that the continent still faces — Africa is a place of incredible dynamism, some of the fastest-growing markets in the world, extraordinary people, extraordinary resilience," Mr Obama said ahead of the trip.

He said Africa "has the potential to be the next centre of global economic growth," speaking at an event for the African Growth Opportunity Act, US trade legislation which aims to help bolster Africa's prosperity.

Mr Obama has travelled to Africa more than any other sitting US president, and talked about the "deep" ties between Africa and the United States before setting off on the trip.

"There have been times where there have been misunderstandings, and there have been times where there have been suspicions. But when you look at every survey, it turns out that the people of Africa love the United States and what it stands for," he said.

ELECTION

Mr Obama has not yet been to Kenya during his White House tenure, with a previous trip delayed by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's indictment for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

Those charges were suspended last year — in part, prosecutors say, because the Kenyan government thwarted the investigation.

His trip has also come under fire by rights groups, and more than 50 African and global human rights organisations have called on him to publicly meet democracy activists on the trip.

They voiced concerns about "grave and worsening" rights challenges in both Kenya and Ethiopia.

The charges against Kenyatta, and the fact Ethiopia's government won 100 per cent of parliamentary seats in a recent disputed election, has raised questions about whether Mr Obama should have made the trip at all.

In Kenya, Mr Obama will attend a Global Entrepreneurship Summit, aimed at promoting businesses that promise to lift many more Africans out of poverty and help insulate societies against radicalisation.

In Addis Ababa, Mr Obama is expected to address leaders of the African Union, remarks that may touch on Africa's democratic deficit.

There are no official visits scheduled for the US President to see his relatives while in Kenya, officials said.

Mr Obama has said he had "never truly known" his father, was born in Kenya's far west, in a village near the equator and the shores of Lake Victoria.

A pipe-smoking economist, he walked out when Mr Obama was just two and died in a car crash in Nairobi in 1982, aged 46.

Mr Obama has previously made personal visits to Kogelo, the home of many of his Kenyan relatives, most recently in 2006.

30,000 jobs for Kenyans in Standard Gauge Railway

China Road and Bridge Corporation will give employment priority to Kenyans when the construction of the Sh327 billion standard gauge railway starts next month.

CRBC, which has been contracted to build the railway, said the number of Chinese expatriates would be capped at about 2,500. A total of 30,000 local workers will be engaged at peak construction of the project.

“About 2,000 to 2,500 Chinese technical and managerial personnel will work on the project,” said Mr Julius Li, who is in charge of corporation and liaison affairs at CRBC.

“This translates to 10 per cent Chinese workers against 90 per cent Kenyan employees contracted for the project.”

LOCAL FIRMS

The agreement was reached by the company and the Transport ministry, which has a supervisory role on the project. Local firms are also set to supply materials to the project valued at Sh1.5 billion, as long as they meet specifications set by the contractor.

“We will ensure transfer of technical knowhow and training programmes for professional development of Kenyan employees engaged,” Mr Li said.

Currently, about 600 Chinese workers have arrived while 3,000 Kenyans have been employed in readiness for the project.

Kenyans overwhelmingly Passes the New constitution As implementation be

Work to start implementing the new constitution started on Thursday with civil service boss Francis Muthura convening a meeting

Nearly 70 per cent of Kenyans, who voted in the August 4 referendum, endorsed the new law, according to provisional results.

Convened in the morning at the Office of the President, the meeting also prepared the ground for the address by President Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka on the steps of the Kenyatta International Conference Centre Thursday afternoon.

The Commonwealth secretariat, which coordinates activities between the United Kingdom and a grouping of former British colonies, has sent experts to Nairobi to assess how the organisation could help. Mr Kamlesh Sharma, a representative of the Club’s secretary-general, met with Attorney General Amos Wako.

President Kibaki said a date when the new constitution will be promulgated, will be announced later. He has 14 days within which to sign the new constitution into law. He said: “I call on all to ensure the successful implementation of the new constitution”. He assured those opposed to sections of the new constitution that their views will be taken into account.

Mr Odinga said: “Change has finally come to our land. It has come because we refused to give up. It has come because finally, we agreed to work together.”

Mr Musyoka said: “This nation is entering the dawn of a fantastic new beginning and renewal.”

As the leaders and the public celebrated victory, the Attorney General’s office, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and the Office of the President were locked in meetings to ensure the smooth transition from the current constitution to the new dispensation.

The meetings focused on the next steps that have to be taken in line with the roadmap to a new constitution, which stipulate the events that have to take place from today until the new constitution becomes fully operational by 2012.

Mr Wako said that his office was scrutinising drafts of various laws that Parliament is meant to pass to pave way for the new constitution to come into force. Immediately after the President promulgates the new Constitution and gazettes it, the AG’s office and Parliament will ensure 49 Bills are passed.

Among the Bills to be passed are those on culture, land, consumer protection, ethics and anti-corruption, election disputes, vetting of judges and magistrates, support for county governments and election of the Speaker of county assemblies. “The Attorney General is very ready. I am very focused on the numerous legislations which are supposed to be enacted to bring into force the new constitution,” he said.

In addition, the AG is also assembling a team of drafters from his office, Parliament and the Kenya Law Reform Commission. This is because some of the laws are complicated and require the experience of drafters who have worked on similar Bills elsewhere.

As soon as counting is finished and the results officially declared, the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) will immediately publish the new constitution in the Kenya Gazette.

The President will be the first to take a new oath of office in line with the new constitution, followed by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, ministers, MPs, Speaker Kenneth Marende and deputy Speaker Farah Maalim.

Mr Odinga, who will take a fresh oath of office as the Lang’ata MP, will not be sworn in as the PM since the office was scrapped under the new constitution. However, he will continue to serve as PM until 2012. All Armed Forces chiefs, Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere, and all judges will also be required to take oaths.

Freshly sworn MPs

The freshly-sworn MPs will be required to pass the 49 Bills, which are necessary to bring into force the new set of laws.

Among the changes are a bicameral Parliament consisting of the National Assembly and Senate, 47 county governments established countrywide to manage local affairs, a Salaries and Remuneration Commission to determine salaries of all public servants and channelling of 15 per cent of all national revenue to counties.

Others include placing the Regular Police and Administration Police under one Inspector-General, appointments of ministers from outside Parliament, dual citizenship, a Supreme Court to hear presidential petitions and review Court of Appeal rulings, guaranteeing women one third of all leadership at national and county levels, and civil service, and an Equalisation Fund to address imbalances in marginalised areas.