The News Brief: BBI: Uhuru, Raila step up efforts to win over MCAs

President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga are working on a plot to woo the County Assemblies pass Building Bridges Initiative Bill passed in a record time. The two principals have kicked off a simultaneous consolidation drive of Assemblies in their strongholds to have MCAs approve the Bill in the shortest time to realize a June referendum.

Already the principals are sure of bagging at least 28 out of the 47 Assemblies. Sources told the Star that the two leaders are pushing to have the Bill debated and passed within two weeks at the friendly assemblies. Concerned by the flying time, both the President and the opposition chief are now directly whipping their friendly Counties to pass the document soonest.

A lobby group, Linda Katiba Movement, has launched a campaign to rally Kenyans to reject the Building Bridges Initiative in totality. The Martha Karua-led lobby on Monday unveiled a website which Kenyans could sign up to oppose the constitutional amendment drive. Speaking at a Nairobi hotel, Karua said Kenyans have the numbers to defeat the selfish plans by the political class.

Economist David Ndii said Kenyans must reject the BBI or else they will find themselves in the state they were in before the advent of multi-party democracy in 1992. Activist Jerotich Seii said Kenyans should not sit back and watch as leaders change the law to suit their selfish goals.

From the sheer volume of freshwater, to its deep history enshrined in rock art and Ptolemy's maps, and its diverse communities, Lake Victoria provokes both intrigue and reverence. The earliest mention of Africa’s largest great lake and the source of the Nile River dates back to the maps of ancient explorer Ptolemy in the second century CE.

The lake borders three countries in East Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, and covers a massive 68,800km2. This makes it the largest tropical lake in the world and the world’s second-largest freshwater lake, second only to Lake Superior in North America. Over the last few decades, the population living around the lake has grown at one of the fastest rates in the world. The last estimation was 40 million people, though this is projected to skyrocket to 53 million in 2020.

Powerful, influencer and a fighter. These are some of the words used to describe former powerful Cabinet minister Simeon Nyachae even though most of his enemies described him as arrogant, dictatorial, overbearing and self-righteous. Nyachae, who was a shrewd businessman and entrepreneur, died on February 1 at the Nairobi Hospital after battling an illness for 10 years. Nyachae served under both regimes of the late President Daniel Moi and retired President Mwai Kibaki.

He had also served as a provincial administrator in various parts of the country. Nyachae served as the Chief Secretary, Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet between 1984 and 1987 when he retired from the civil service.

The cases of unrest in schools might be as a result of drug abuse among learners, the National Authority for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse has said. The agency on Monday said their claim was not based on recent evidence but previous surveys in learning institutions unearthed rampant substance abuse in schools.

Nacada board chair Mabel Imbuga said a national survey carried out in June 2018 found that 20.2 per cent — one in five — of primary school pupils have ever used at least one drug or substance in their lifetime. The survey also found that 16.9 per cent of learners were using at least one drug or substance of abuse. It further revealed that 3.2 per cent of primary school pupils were using tobacco, 2.6 per cent on alcohol and 2.3 per cent chewing miraa or muguka.