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On Location Video: Kenya's most unlikely candidate

March 2, 2013 07:00
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NAIROBI — Elijah Kanyi, 27, has little resources and no political experience. But come Monday he may become the youngest MP elected in Kenya since independence, half a century ago. Even more revolutionary is where he lives: in one of Nairobi’s poorest slums.

After massacre of police, army moves into northern Kenya

November 16, 2012 18:30
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NAIROBI — Hundreds of people in Kenya’s remote north are fleeing their homes as the army hunts down cattle rustlers who ambushed and killed as many as 42 police officers.
News DeskJune 28, 2012 18:41

Olympics on the line: Kenyan runner charged over stabbing

Olympic gold medal winner Ezekiel Kemboi from Kenya was accused of assault, but he says it was a setup.
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Kenya's Ezekiel Kemboi (C) leaps over the jump during the men's 3,000 metres steeplechase final at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Daegu on September 1, 2011. (Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images)
Kenya’s Olympic team has been thrown into turmoil with the arrest of one of its top athletes. World 3,000 meter steeplechase champion, Kenyan Ezekiel Kemboi, has been charged with allegedly stabbing a woman on Wednesday night, according to the BBC.
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Kenya: One killed in grenade attack on Mombasa nightclub

May 16, 2012 08:12
A pool of blood marked the entrance to the Bella Vista club, while spent cartridges and grenade shells were strewn near its gate. 

UK national Jermaine Grant on trial in Kenya over 'bomb plot'

May 10, 2012 12:06
Prosecutors accuse Grant of working with the fugitive widow of a British suicide bomber who struck on the London Underground transport system in July 2005.

Kenyan police hunt 7/7 bomber widow

February 29, 2012 12:54
Kenyan police are hunting a terrorism suspect who may be the widow of one of the suicide bombers that struck London on 7 July 2005, killing 52.

Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto among 4 suspects to stand trial for Kenya post-election violence

News DeskJanuary 23, 2012 11:19
The four men charged allegedly helped organize attacks on groups they perceived as supporting other candidates than theirs in the 2007 presidential election, leading to weeks of violence and more than 1,000 deaths.
News DeskJanuary 12, 2012 22:36

Kenya News: UK citizen charged in bomb plot

Four accused, three Kenyans and a Brit, all deny links to al-Shabaab.
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29-year-old British citizen Jermaine Grant, stands inside the dock at the Momabasa Law court on January 12, 2012 court as he awaits the opening of his trial, on charges of possessing explosive materials and conspiracy to commit a felony following his arrest in December 2011 in the Kenyan coastal resort of Mombasa. (Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images)

Today, four people were charged with handling bomb-making materials in Kenya with the intent to explode a bomb. They all denied it, and denied links to Somalia's Al-Shabaab, which has carried out numerous attacks in Kenya.

More from GlobalPost: Kenya official says, US, France join fight against Al Shabaab

The main accused was Briton Jermaine Grant, who already has a rap sheet: he has already been sentenced to jail time for being in Kenya illegally and giving false information, BBC reported. 

That may not have been his only conviction. According to Capital FM, the Sunday Times paraphrased his half-brother: "Grant had been convicted of rape when he was 14 and sent to Feltham young offenders’ institution for seven years."

But his mother said that prison is what turned him into a radical.

Before that he had no links to Islam; none of our family are Muslims.

ABC noted, "He was reportedly radicalized in the same U.K. prison as convicted 'shoe bomber' Richard Reid."

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December 2, 2011 11:09
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Kenya's jingoistic press

How Kenya's media is covering the country's first-ever war in Somalia.

 An interesting and about-time-too analysis here on how Kenya's media is reporting its country's first-ever war in Somalia.

 

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August 26, 2011 12:02
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Kenya sacks cabinet minister, explores for oil

Is Kenyan government turning over a new leaf? Or is it just more of the same?
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Supporters of Kenyan suspected masterminds in the 2007/08 post-electoral violence, ex-minister William Ruto and Deputy Prime Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta sing and wave their posters on April 11, 2011 at the Uhuru [Freedom] Park in Nairobi where they received a rapturous welcome following their return from the world criminal court in the Netherlands. Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and ex-minister William Ruto -- both eyeing the presidency in 2012 -- were welcomed at Nairobi airport by crowds of supporters. (Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images)

At first glance the sacking of Kenyan cabinet minister William Ruto looks like the government may be cleaning up its act, as Ruto is accused by the International Criminal Court of leading political/ethnic violence.

Is Ruto's firing an indication that the Kenyan government is trying to root out those responsible for the violence?

A closer look indicates that the government may be throwing Ruto out, not for the sake of justice and human rights, but instead because of internal political feuding.

Ruto was sacked this week from his post as the Minister of Higher Education. He is accused by the International Criminal Court of leading the 2007/08 post-election violence. He is one of six top officials accused by the ICC of involvement in the clashes in which an estimated 1,300 people were killed.

Ruto had already been suspended from his cabinet post after being accused of corruption, although he was acquitted in April.

More significantly, Ruto has fallen out with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, with whom he had been allied in the 2007 poll. Ruto is deputy leader of Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement but he has declared his intention to stand in the 2012 presidential elections. Ruto has well organized supporters who show their support for him in street demonstrations.

More from GlobalPost: ICC deals Kenya a double blow

Odinga is also expected to contest the poll so the two would be running against each other. So maybe Ruto was sacked so that he won't be in office at election time next year.

Odinga says he was cheated of victory by President Mwai Kibaki and his supporters in 2007. The election results sparked the nationwide clashes. The violence ended after Kibaki and Odinga agreed to share power.

Some of the worst clashes were seen in the Rift Valley, where Ruto has his constituency. He denies any involvement in the violence.

The coalition Kibaki/Odinga government is widely criticized, both at home and internationally, for being ineffective and corrupt. Few hope that the sacking of Ruto will change that.

And Kenya may soon have more wealth for politicians to fight over.

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