Boinnet orders crackdown on traffic offenders
Motorists with faulty vehicles would be hounded to courts and fined after Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet ordered the operation that kicked off with multiple roadblocks being laid at various spots.
The operation targeted various traffic offenders as police warned it will be sustained for long to ensure sanity on the roads. Boinnet said no one will be spared in the exercise as he called on motorists to abide by the rules whenever they are driving. “Those found flouting traffic laws will be arrested and promptly charged in court.
The operation will be sustained until sanity on our roads is restored,” he said. This comes in the wake of revelations there is an increase in road fatalities in the country despite the existence of a raft of laws governing the sector.
EACC boss fights off claims as new Sh246m payment emerges
Philip Kinisu was forced to fight off conflict of interest claims after it emerged that a company associated with him and run by his wife had been doing business with the National Youth Service (NYS) at the time Sh791 million was lost by the service. Yesterday, a payment ledger seen by The Standard shows that the family firm, Esaki Ltd, was paid a further Sh246 million by the Devolution ministry between March 2015 and June this year.
The amount was in addition to the Sh35 million the firm was paid for a tender it won in February 2014 to supply materials to dig boreholes in Kapenguria at the height of the scandal at the NYS. The new revelations bring the total amount of the company’s dealings with the Government to Sh281 million. Yesterday, Mr Kinisu, the chairman of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), termed claims that the Sh35 million was part of the Sh791 million lost at NYS “outrageous” and propagated by corruption cartels.
Turkey detains 42 journalists in crackdown
Turkey ordered the detention of 42 journalists on Monday, broadcaster NTV reported, under a crackdown following a failed coup that has targeted more than 60,000 people, drawing fire from the European Union. The arrests or suspensions of soldiers, police, judges and civil servants in response to the July 15-16 putsch have raised concerns among rights groups and Western countries, who fear President Tayyip Erdogan is capitalising on it to tighten his grip on power.
EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker questioned Ankara’s long-standing aspiration to join the EU. “I believe that Turkey, in its current state, is not in a position to become a member any time soon and not even over a longer period,” Juncker said on French television France 2. Juncker also said that if Turkey reintroduces the death penalty – something the government has said it must consider, responding to calls from supporters at public rallies for the coup leaders to be executed – it would stop the EU accession process immediately.
