Meru youth beats odds to become a star dancer

Elvis Kubania watches his friends dance for three minutes.

Like the group, he slowly starts snapping his fingers and nodding to the beat.

He counts one, two, three in his head.

He shifts his weight to one leg and raises the other.

And, as the rest of Alpha Dancers Crew, he breaks into freestyle dance—throwing his hands in the air and shaking his torso and bottom in perfect synchrony.

For over 20 minutes of the musical action, nothing makes Elvis different from the rest of the dancers practising new dance moves at Nteere Park in Meru Town.

It is during break that we realize the 19-year-old from Muringombugi Village in Meru is talented differently: He can neither hear nor understand the sound of music but he is a very good dancer.

VICTIM OF BEDBUGS

First Lady urges miraa farmers to diversify to other crops to sustain their income

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has urged miraa farmers in Meru to diversify their farming to other crops so as to sustain their income.

Mrs Kenyatta further asked the farmers to put the crop’s proceeds to good use in order to uplift their livelihoods.

Speaking Wednesday at the Meru Technical Training Institute where she took her Beyond Zero campaign and donated the 28th mobile clinic, the First Lady said she was happy that the Meru people were hardworking.

“I urge the miraa farmers to put the proceeds of their business to good use for the benefit of the society and the county at large.

Improved healthcare major successes of devolution

Improved healthcare is one of the major successes of devolution, Council of Governors Chairman Peter Munya has said.

Mr Munya said service delivery in a majority of hospitals, especially in Meru County, is now efficient and beneficial to citizens because of devolution.

Speaking at the Meru Technical Training Institute Wednesday when First Lady Margaret Kenyatta took her Beyond Zero campaign and donated the 28th mobile clinic, the governor said counties have made tremendous achievements in the health sector in the last two years.

“For instance in Meru, we have prioritised provision of healthcare and committed the necessary resources.

“About 40 per cent of our annual budget goes to healthcare. It is for you to judge if health has done better under devolution compared proportionately to the last 50 years under the National Government,” Mr Munya said.

Police ambushed in Garissa

Al Shabaab militia on Monday night ambushed police officers and burnt their four vehicles in Yumbis. It is not known whether there we any deaths but officers in Garissa told the Star no deaths occurred. Police had gone to rescue four cops who were hit by a landmine.

The officers were on their way to Yumbis area of Fafi sub-county when the incident occurred.

Deadly Love Triangle

DEADLY LOVE TRIANGLE

A Kenya Police Service officer on Sunday evening shot and killed his colleague and a General Service Unit officer before killing himself at a bar in Kinisa Market in Igembe North, Meru County.

The GSU officer, who is a chief inspector, and the female officer were drinking at the bar when the enraged officer shot at them, killing them instantly before turning the gun on himself.

The killer officer, who was based at Laare Police Station, is said to have been angry at the woman, with whom he claimed he had a relationship before she left him.

Detectives were Monday morning trying to piece together the events that led to the 11pm incident.

Sister Irene Stefani Nyaatha's Beatification Photos

New Chief in Charge of Devolution

Today governors voted in unanimous Peter Munya as the new Chairman of Council of Governance.

 He is deputised by Kwale governor, and is entitled to run the devolution on the right way and to increase pace as said by outgoing Chairman Hon Isaac Ruto governor of Bomet County.

Match Day Live. Manchester United Vs Arsenal

Barclays Premier League

Old Trafford 17th May 2015 - Kick off 16:00

    Man Utd 0

         Vs 

     Arsenal 0

 

 

 

English premier league

English Barclays Premier League | FIXTURES

All times CAT (SA, GMT+2)

Sunday 17 May 2015

Swansea City	v	Manchester City	Liberty Stadium	14:30
Manchester United	v	Arsenal	Old Trafford	17:00

Monday 18 May 2015

West Bromwich Albion

v

Chelsea

The Hawthorns

21:00

Arsenal

v

Sunderland

Emirates Stadium

20:45

From Gospel singer to dreadlock stylist.

Eric Njau Omondi always had a dream of becoming a beauty consultant and to achieve it, he had to start small.

He engaged in casual jobs like babysitting, harvesting maize on people’s farm and even road construction work.

Right from a tender age, Omondi, who is now aged 32, used to visit peoples’ home looking for willing clients who would let him plait their hair.

Today Mr Omondi is an influential dreadlocks hairdresser in Meru Town.

Most salons doing dreadlocks in the town were formed by him.

Chief abducted in Mandera

Chief abducted in Mandera

A chief in Mandera County was yesterday killed by Al-Shabaab terrorists, hours after they pulled him out of a bus and took him to Somalia.

 The chief and other passengers were travelling from Elwak to Mandera Town when heavily armed gunmen stopped the bus at 7am.

 They ordered everybody out of the bus and checked identification documents.

The gunmen also robbed the passengers of money, mobile phones and other valuables. After they were done, they took the chief hostage and allowed everybody else to continue with the journey.

Laare Town: Police arrested a suspected seller of Canabis sativa.

Laare Town: Police arrested a suspected seller of Canabis sativa.

Police assisted by the people in Laare Market has arrest a suspected seller of Bhang, illicit brew and other illegal goods.

The suspect has been in custody at Laare police post and will taken to Maua law Court where He will answer the alleged accusations.

No final resting place for teen cancer victim

Father of 13-year-old boy who succumbed to cancer says he won’t bury him

Kevin Muriungi, who succumbed to cancer last week. His father has refused to provide a place for his burial, claiming he had sold all his land. But family members say the man has a small piece of land on which he leaves.

The burial of Kevin Muriungi, who succumbed to cancer last week, has been hit by controversy after his father refused to provide land for his interment.

The 13-year-old cancer patient’s story of suffering had been featured by http://www.merubusinessdaily.blogspot.com/ attracting well-wishers who sought to assist him before he died.

Jaguar’s 26 minute performance leaves Atlanta fans disappointed

 Musician Jaguar performing in Atlanta on Saturday morning April 18, 2015. Most of his fans were disappointed by his failure to keep time. He arrived five hours late and performed for only 26 minutes.

Kenyan musician Charles Njagua Kanyi – popularly known by his stage name ‘Jaguar’ – was scheduled to perform in Atlanta on Friday but did not show up until the wee hours of Saturday morning, leaving most of his fans disappointed.

The artiste, whose show was supposed to start at 10pm, took to the stage at 2.36am just as most of the revellers were preparing to leave the AR Lounge hall on Franklin Road, in Marietta, Georgia.

Meru bets on livestock to boost earnings

 Livestock at market

The Meru County government is seeking investors to establish leather tannery factories in the county to boost the earnings of farmers in the region.

The county is set to host an international investment conference in June to spur development.

Speaking to the Times, the County Director for Livestock Development David Kimenchu said the area has the capacity to host two tanneries.

He said Meru has a population of 250,000 beef cattle valued at Sh7.5 billion with more than 10,000 hides and skins produced every month.

Obama says ‘no greater threat to planet than climate change’

Obama says ‘no greater threat to planet than climate change’

WASHINGTON, April 18- US President Barack Obama said Saturday that climate change poses the world’s biggest single threat.

“Today, there’s no greater threat to our planet than climate change,” Obama said in his weekly address, which had an environmental theme to mark Earth Day on April 22.

“Climate change can no longer be denied, or ignored,” he added, noting that 2014 was the hottest year on record.

The United States is the second largest greenhouse gas emitter after China, and Obama has pledged to reduce US climate pollution by 26-28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025.

Tracking technology fails to shield livestock farmers from cattle raiders 

Rumen boluses that contain radio frequency identification (RFID) microchips which are inserted in a cow’s reticulum for identification and traceability. Livestock farmers in pastoralist areas are still losing animals to raiders as the technology has not been properly implemented.

A digital tracking technology for tracking stolen animals has failed to tame cattle rustlers.

Mr Jacob M’Mwitari, a livestock farmer from Athanja Village in Tigania East, Meru County lost 47 cattle to raiders a year ago, never to recover them.

In one of his tracking missions with police in Wamba, Samburu, Mr M’Mwitari says he identified some of his lost cattle from hot iron brand marks but he could not take them.

For a farmer like M’Mwitari who has waited patiently to make money from his stock, cattle rustling is a big blow, yet justice is always elusive.

“I have recovered six cows only. It hurts so much because livestock is our livelihood.

"What will befall us if the government continues to neglect us like this?” Mr M’Mwitari poses in desperation.

He says 10 among the stolen animals had been installed with digital tracing devices by veterinary officers to help in identification in case of theft.

Cattle rustling has claimed hundreds of lives besides leading to loss of thousands of livestock in the recent past among pastoral communities.

Seven people have been killed and more than 400 cattle and goats stolen in cattle rustling incidents along the Meru-Isiolo border in the last one month.

Chiefs under fire over cattle rustling

Chiefs under fire over cattle rustling

You’ll lose your jobs if you don’t stop cattle theft, chiefs in Meru and Isiolo told

 

An inter-county peace meeting at Gambela attended by security chiefs, administrators, elders, herders and peace groups from Meru and Isiolo counties on April 14, 2015. Chiefs in areas affected by cattle rustling were put to task for sleeping on their job. 

Chiefs from parts of Meru and Isiolo counties hit by cattle rustling risk losing their jobs for abetting the vice.

Speaking during an inter-county peace meeting comprising herders, elders, security chiefs and peace groups at Gambela, Isiolo County Commissioner Wanyama Musiambo and his Meru counterpart Wilfred Nyagwanga vowed to bring perpetrators to book.

This follows rising incidents of cattle rustling that have left seven people dead and hundreds of cattle stolen in the last two weeks.

Some of the chiefs were put to task to explain why the crimes have continued unabated.

Man killed by sons in quarrel over sale of family land

A 65-year-old man was Tuesday killed by his sons in what was said to be a quarrel over land.

Josphat Kanunkiri was reportedly killed at Kabachi Location in Meru County after the two sons learnt that he had sold their family land without informing them.

The piece of land was a different one from that which the family members had built houses on and the old man had not sub-divided it to the two.

Shocked neighbours gather at the home of Josphat Kanunkiri at Kabachi Location in Meru County on April 14, 2015 following news that his two sons had killed him for selling family land without their consent.

Man killed by sons in quarrel over sale of family land

Assistant chief Tabitha Muthenya said that the two picked a quarrel with their father and started hurling stones at him.

The Great Wall Of Kenya

The Great Wall Of Kenya

Kenya has started to build a wall that separates Kenya and Somalia. This wall will be built over 1000km , i.e from Mandera to Lamu.