March 27 - April 2, 2015
Media Monitoring Report for Kenya
Posted on April 6, 2015
1. State Owned Media
Al-Shabaab militants claim responsibility for Garissa University attack (Daily Nation, April 2 2015)
- A spokesman told AFP the group was behind the early morning assault on the university in Garissa and had taken non-Muslims hostage.
- Over 147 people have been confirmed dead, according to government officials (according to most recent death toll)
- He said those seized were Christians and added that "our people are still there, they are fighting and their mission is to kill those who are against the Shabaab."
- Gunfire could still be heard sporadically six hours after the attack began.
- The town of Garissa is around 150 kilometres (90 miles) west of Somalia and has in the past been targeted by militants from the Al-Shabaab.
House told of top security threats (Standard Media, April 2 2015)
- Terrorism, corruption and youth radicalisation top the list of crimes that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration has identified as serious threats to national security.
- In the annual report on the security situation in the country, the President said the alliance between Somalia-based terror group Al-Shabaab and secessionist group Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) is responsible for the deadly attacks on security installations at the Coast.
- To deal with the crimes and its international nature, Kenya has increased security vigilance around key installations such as Parliament, malls and military installations by having armed guards and increased checks on any person or vehicle seeking access to these installations. There is also sustained ground, aerial and maritime surveillance of the Kenya-Somali border.
Kenya court urges change to law that penalises women who pass HIV to baby (The Guardian, April 1 2015)
- Human rights groups have welcomed moves to change Kenya’s 2006 HIV and Aids Prevention Act which at present effectively criminalizes pregnant women who pass HIV to their babies.
- Kenya’s high court ruled this section of the law unconstitutional on 18 March
- Rights groups argue that it discriminates against women, who are often the first members of a family to find out their HIV status as they are usually tested when pregnant. The law also puts women at risk of violence or rejection by their husbands because it allows doctors to disclose the status of patients to their next of kin, it said.
Bandits lay siege on villages in border row (Daily Nation, April 1 2015)
- Armed bandits have laid siege on two disputed villages, triggering fears over the villagers’ security and welfare.
- Two people are reported to have been killed by the bandits, believed to be Pokot militia.
How the high and mighty rob the nation (Daily Nation, March 31 2015)
- Uhuru dossier tabled in Parliament proves what long-suffering Kenyans have always suspected.
- Report lays bare multi-billion-shilling scams, down to petty offences like fuelling private cars with public funds.
- It is not only the President’s fault. Lot of the blame is put on county governments as well
- Cabinet secretaries, principal secretaries, governors, top government officials and heads of parastatals are accused of lining their pockets with billions of shillings as millions of Kenyans struggle to afford a meal a day.