BY LUKE KAPCHANGA DN/WEBUYE TREES 14/2/2005
The minister for local government Mr. Musikari Kombo has directed the Webuye based pan African paper mills(PPM), to provide free seedlings to all schools in the constituency.
Mr Kombo said schools in his constituency need to plant a ring of trees around the compounds to act as windbreaks to protect roofs from being blown off regularly.
The minister observed that most of the schools have had the roofs ripped off by heavy winds yet this could bw avoided when they are undercover of trees.
Speaking at Malomonye primary school in Ndivisi, while presenting 200 iron sheets, Mr Kombo stated that the residents within Webuye were going to benefit from the free seedling offer by PPM.
He told the paper factory management to launch a massive sensitisation programme to make people prepared to plant trees when the rain season starts.
The general manager of PPM, Mr D S Nenawati who was present at the function promised to implement the directive immediately by urging the community to be willing to sell back the trees to the factory when they mature.
Mr Nenawati commented that the company supports the initiative of planting trees by the local communities and institutions like schools to protect them from roof ripoffs as they are dangerous to pupils when at school.
The iron sheets valued at shs.100,000 were a donation by the PPM to re -roof a tuition block which was ripped off last October were three pupils got injured.
The company usaully gives a scholar ship to the best KCPE student from Webuye constituency every year.
At the same time Bungoma KNUT branch chairman Mr Joseph Barasa has told the ministry of education not to transffer any teacher from the district as they are understaffed by over 2000 teachers.
Mr Barasa appealed to Mr Kombo to use his position to intervene because they can not be able to offer quality education when they are understaffed yet the ministry in not concerned.
He accused the minister of education Prof. George Saitoti of malice by categorising the district as one of those which are overstaffed saying the statistics based on was flawed.
The chairman complained that the minister got hsi statistics incorrect because the student - teacher ration in Bungoma is 100 :1 and no attempt should be made to remove any teacher.
He claimed that teachers who retire and those who die are never replaced to meet the ever increasing pupil population.
th end.




by luke kapchanga dn/webuye police 14/2/2005
Police in Webuye are extorting money from people through Kangaroo courts by threatening them with dire consenquences.
The police ambush unsuspecting wananchi immediately it reaches 7 pm and start rounding them up and those held as suspects are normally on the way to their homes.
People around Webuye town are now living more in fear of police than gangsters as they complain that the the former are ruthless when demanding for money and the abusive launguage they use.
The tactics employed by members of the police force is very grude and hash that whoever comes in contact with them opts to pay to buy freedom .
On Sunday evening the nation correspondent luke kapchanga was made to pay shs100 to be freed when he fall under the ambush at Nangoto on his way home.
The only crime committed was travelling late at night when police are on patrol.They threatend to confiscate his mobile phone when he tried to contact for assistance.
"You can call police commissioner or minister Kombo if you think that you are important but we shall take you to the cells", one of the two police men said.
The journalist was handcaffed when he asked why they are being harrassed yet it is not late to travell and if they had placed a curfew which members of the public may not be aware of.
The group of 10 people who were under arrest were forced to squart in a row for over 20 minutes and they were called one by one to give out bribes before being freed.
The police who are always droped by the landrover accused local politicians for tarnishing their image by linking them to robbery activities.
They said that the residents will have to pay highly as the councillors have been claiming that they the police were renting guns and uniforms to thugs to commit crimes and share the loot.
Residents are not sure if the police actions of confining them to their houses as early as 7pm is a declaration of a curfew to deprive them of the freedom to move out during evening hours to their neighbours.
The people now fear that being out of their homes when dusk falls is a crime which the bailout is a bribe as the captors do not allow the arrested to reach the cells.
At the sametime police in Lugari at the weeked foiled a robbery mision by 3 thugs and recovered an AK-47 rival and 18 rounds of ammunition.
The OCPD Mrs Peninah Kinyua said her men acting on tipoff raided the gangsters hideout at Matete market aroud 7pm where they found the gun hidden in a toilet.
Mrs Kinyua said the toilet belonged to the pentecostal church and one of the suspects a woman had the keys and was the one who hosted the 3 men.
2 of the suspects fled into the sugar cane plantation but the woman and one man was arrested . The OCPD said she suspects the thugs were intercepted on the mission to commit a robbery because they discovered that they had slaughtered a black hen which cleanses their crimes.