Press Review; The day’s top stories
Today is Thursday, January 19, 2023.
You can read the Daily Nation e-paper here; https://epaper.nation.africa/
Here is what is making headlines.
‘Sham polls’: IEBC ‘whistle-blower’ makes rigging revelations
An anonymous whistleblower from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has come forward with evidence of fraud and manipulation in the 2022 presidential election.
The Azimio la Umoja Coalition has unveiled new evidence that Raila Odinga won the August 9 presidential election, but was rigged out, four months after President William Ruto was sworn into office.
According to the whistleblower, the IEBC, under the direction of Chairman Wafula Chebukati, Commissioners Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu, and CEO Marjan Hussein, provided fabricated information to the Kenyans.
Jeremiah Kioni, Secretary General of the Jubilee Party, claims to have seen documents from the whistleblower, which indicate that Raila Odinga, the leader of the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition, won the August 2022 election with more than 8 million votes, or 58% of the vote.
“We’ve seen that 59% of the constituencies cannot be verified with absolute certainty. What can be verified is, Raila Odinga won the elections with 8,170,355 votes representing 57.53% of the votes cast. Ruto got 5,915,973 votes, representing 41.66%,” said Kioni.
The whistleblower alleges that illegal entities were set up at the IEBC data transmission center’s “back office” to convert Form 34B from its original JPEG format to PDF, in violation of electoral procedures.
Furthermore, the whistleblower alleges that forms 34A of Books 2 were primarily used whenever forms 34A of Book 1 were exhausted at the polls, and that the original forms were converted to PNG in order to change the background watermarks, in an effort to skew the results in one candidate’s favor over the other.
The IEBC has yet to make a statement or offer a comment in response to these allegations.
Nearly half of HR professionals operating without licence
According to data from the Institute of Human Resource Management (IHRM), the regulator of the profession, nearly half of the human resource practitioners are operating without a licence which puts the institutions they represent at a disadvantage in legal disputes.
Only 17,000 of the over 30,000 HR professionals operating in the country are certified to practice the trade.
“In Kenya, we have about 30,000 HR practitioners, but only 17,000 are registered with the institute,” said Queresha Abdullahi, the executive director of IHRM.
She explains that decisions made by uncertified HR practitioners may not hold in the event a matter concerning the firms they represent escalates to court.
“If the practitioner is not licensed to operate, it puts the organization at a disadvantage because an argument –based on the decisions they made– will not stand in court,” she said.
Recently, changes in law have compelled all human resource professionals to apply for a practising certificate after going back to school to attain the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience.
The law set up the Human Resource Management Professionals Examinations Board (HRMPEB) as the examination board for developing professional qualifications dubbed the Certified Human Resource Professional achieved in three levels.
Senate to hold special sitting today
The Speaker of the Senate, Amason Kingi, announced yesterday that there will be a special sitting of the Senate today, January 19, 2023.
The sittings, which will take place at the Senate Chamber in the Main Parliament Buildings, was requested by the Senate Majority Leader and have the support of the requisite number of Senators.
During the special sittings, the Senate will swear-in William Kipkemoi Kisang as the Senator-elect for Elgeyo Marakwet County.
They will also consider the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2022 (National Assembly Bills No. 49 of 2022).
148 killed or disappeared by the police, lobby group
148 people were killed or disappeared by the police in 2022, according to data from Missing Voices, a coalition of human rights entities monitoring police operations.
The figures show 128 deaths and 15 enforced disappearances, with one person later found alive. Police have denied the allegations and dismissed the figures as inaccurate.
In 2021, the coalition recorded 219 incidents of killings and disappearances in which police were the alleged perpetrators.
This is a sharp decline from 2021 when 187 deaths and 32 enforced disappearances were recorded.
President William Ruto has declared ending extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances among his top priorities and has asked police oversight body Ipoa to come up with plans to combat the issue.
Man and woman die after car plunges into a dam in Juja
Two people from Murera Ward in Juja, Kiambu County died after their car plunged into a dam on Tuesday night.
Rescuers recovered the bodies of both victims and the bodies were taken to City Mortuary in Nairobi.
The Murera Ward MCA stated that the Ward has five dams, some of which have been dangerous to locals and should now be fenced to protect lives.
He also stated that he would introduce a bill in parliament to have all the dams fenced.
The identities of the victims have not yet been released, and the cause of the accident is currently under investigation.
Cytonn’s role in ensnaring investors in large real estate losses
Cytonn Real Estate Project Notes LLP (CPN) raised KES 4.1 billion from 886 investors by suggesting that the risk of default was low and that the parent firm (CIMP) could absorb losses on their behalf.
However, in early 2020, Cytonn went into comprehensive default and blamed the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was later revealed that the founders had structured the business to shield the real estate assets from investors and that the investors were only holding loan notes that had no claims on the projects.
A judge appointed an administrator to manage CHYS and CPN and ordered the properties held through special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to be preserved until investors were compensated.
Sports
Olympians urge youth to dare dream
Commonwealth and Africa 100m champion, Ferdinand Omanyala, and two-time Olympic 5,000m silver medallist, Hellen Obiri, have urged Kenya’s budding sportsmen and women to dare dream.
Speaking during the closing ceremony of the Elite Youth Camp at Merishaw School in Isinya, Kajiado County, Omanyala and Obiri shared their own personal dreams and experiences to inspire the 250 juniors in attendance.
“You also need to set your goals and work towards achieving them,” said Omanyala, who now targets victory at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Obiri, who has yet to win gold at the Olympics, urged the youth to “pursue it at a bigger stage in a marathon.”
Palace hold Man United to a draw
Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise scored a stunning last-minute free-kick to deny Manchester United a victory that would have taken them second in the Premier League.
United were on course for their 10th successive win after Bruno Fernandes scored just before half-time, but Olise struck in dramatic style with a brilliant curling free-kick to ensure a point apiece.
The draw does take United above Newcastle into third but keeps them behind rivals Manchester City.
For Palace, it ends a run of three successive defeats in all competitions and Patrick Vieira’s side will feel they got a deserved point.
“It feels like a win because we are happy with not losing the game,” said Vieira.
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