Uhuru Kenyatta declares war on drugs in Coast

From right, President Uhuru Kenyatta, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and other officials tour the county stand before he officially opened the Mombasa International Agricultural Show on August 27, 2015. PHOTO | KEVIN ODOT | NATION MEDIA GROUP  

   
 President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed an immediate crackdown on drugs, dealers and their dens at the Coast.

Mr Kenyatta on Thursday told local politicians to work with security forces to ensure all drug dens are eliminated in the same manner illicit brews were destroyed in central Kenya and Nairobi.

The illicit brew crackdown, he said, was a success and young people who had been addicted are now sober and working.

“I am happy now that the youth are sober and can work.... The war now should be on drugs,’’ he said when he opened this year’s Mombasa International Agricultural Show in Mkomani, Nyali.

The operation against drugs and drug cartels must be carried out from constituency to constituency, Mr Kenyatta said.

He warned drug barons that their vessels, including ships, would be destroyed alongside drugs.

WARNING

“Those who bring in the drugs should know we shall destroy their ships and the drugs. We shall sink their ships into the ocean,’’ he said.

Two weeks ago, the Kenya Navy destroyed a luxurious yacht that was found carrying 7.5 kilogrammes of heroin worth Sh29 million.

The President told politicians in the region to help identify drug dealers, insisting that they know them.

“I know that you political leaders know the drug dealers. Therefore, you should volunteer the information to police so that they can be brought to book,’’ he said.

He asked Coast Parliamentary Group chairman Gideon Munga’ro to lead his team in the campaign against the drug menace that has reduced many young people into zombies.

According to anti-drug abuse agency Nacada, more than 60,000 people are addicted to hard drugs in Coast.

JOHO PLEA

Mr Kenyatta gave the order after Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho asked him to intervene and issue a directive similar to the one he issued on illicit alcohol in central Kenya.

“We want the government to come out strongly in combating drugs just like what happened (in the) alcohol crackdown. We want the lives of our youths to be saved from drugs,’’ Mr Joho said.

Mr Joho has started a campaign against drugs that involves the county inspectorate, police and the community. 

The governor praised County Commissioner Nelson Marwa for leading the fight against terrorism and insecurity in Mombasa County. collect by...http://www.nation.co.ke

Telegraph cheers success of state schools, but has it fudged the figures?

Hold the front page: it turns out that the best state schools in England are genuinely very good – and even as good as their famous independent peers. This won’t surprise the families of children who for many years have attended state schools and received an excellent education. But it appears to have come as a shock to the editors of the the Daily Telegraph and Spectator – hence the headline “State pupils put private schools in the shade”. Yet the chairman of the Independent Schools Council, Barnaby Lenon, called the comparison “grossly unfair”. While appeals to fairness jar coming from an organisation whose schools charge £12,000 a year per pupil, he has a point. What the Spectator and Telegraph have done is crudely compare the top 500 state sixth forms with almost every private school that offers A-levels. The research involved a few simple clicks on the Department for Education’s performance tables. Admissions to sixth form are selective in the state sector, and for the best schools it is highly competitive. Private schools, on the other hand, admit primarily on the basis of disposable income – and there are a limited number of families who can afford the £15,000 to £30,000 that independent schools charge. The result is a competition between state schools that select on academic ability and private schools that select on parental income. And guess what? Selecting bright kids for free turns out to be a better way of filling your school with kids who get top results. It tells us that there are more bright kids in the state sector – because 93% of the school-going population is so much bigger than the 7% who attend private schools in England. It also tells us that behind the famous names of Eton and Winchester – which doesn’t even show up in the DfE tables – there is a tail of less spectacular fee-paying schools out there. As with any set of statistics, there are many ways of rating each category. Ranking by average A-level grade, for example, tells a different story – then the top of the league table is packed with the big beasts of the independent sector: Magdalen college school, St Paul’s, Eton and so on, until the selective state powerhouse of Henrietta Barnett school in north London appears in 14th. Advertisement The analysis is weakened further by the Telegraph making something of a schoolboy error in its calculations. It did a simple average of the total A-level points-per-pupil to reach the conclusion that state schools were ahead of private schools. But in the DfE’s table, there are two outliers – Colchester royal grammar school and Colyton grammar school in Devon – that enter pupils for more A and AS levels, and skew the average in favour of state schools. Using a median score instead finds that there is no statistically significant gap between the 500 state and independent schools. The Guardian’s calculations show that independent schools have a median score of 848 points and the 500 top state schools have a median of 852 – a wafer-thin difference. Interestingly, comparing the median point score of the top 100 of both groups also shows very little difference, although independent schools have a clear advantage in getting higher average grades. In truth, when talking about which schools are better, it is useful to know what difference they make to their pupils. Do the hothouse top state schools do a better job of improving their performance? Or do the small classes and better facilities of private schools do better? It’s impossible to tell from these figures. What is significant is that two Conservative party house organs are now cheering for the quality of state schools. Lenon – whose organisation represents about 85% of independent schools – says it is well known that there are many good state schools, and that it is counterproductive to set the two groups against each other. He senses other forces at work. “This government has been in power now for five years and they think it’s important that they show their reforms are working,” said Lenon, the former head of Harrow. Lenon’s view is supported by a DfE source, who said: “We think the data is hugely welcomed and we think that it vindicates that our reforms are working.” Never mind that the data is from pupils who started school in 2000. So it will be interesting to see if the government allows selective grammar schools in Kent to expand to different towns, as at least one wants to. Michael Gove turned such applications down and put his faith in non-selective schools. But now that the editor of the Spectator has declared their work to be “miraculous”, will Nicky Morgan be brave enough to do the same? collect by...http://www.theguardian.com

Dip into Colombia's messiest attraction

 Local legend says the site, about 45 minutes outside Cartagena, was once a real, active volcano until a quick-thinking priest intervened. Armed with holy water, the cleric tamed the fiery mount and transformed the molten lava into a soupy concoction of body-benefiting minerals.

Today, a sign at the base of the volcano prominently lists the mud's all-natural ingredients: calcium, magnesium and aluminum, among others. The implication is clear -- this isn't just regular dirt; this stuff is good for you.

As I sized up the crater before me, a man stained slate gray from his volcano attendant duties motioned for me to join him in the murky pool.

I initially thought the mud would be thick and dense. Instead of being sucked into a vat of thick slop, however, I was surprised to find myself floating effortlessly, somehow buoyed by the thin, silk-like sediment.

Once inside the volcano, the attendants slathered the messy stuff on every inch of our bodies. Cautiously leaning back, a guide dipped my head into the mud as if baptizing me into some clay worshipping cult. That was followed with a quick "massage" -- a one-minute or so prodding that was generally relaxing despite its inelegant execution.

As more people entered the pool, the attendants repositioned our floating bodies with ease, arranging us like competing oil tankers waiting to pass through a canal.

At about 15 feet in diameter, however, the volcano soon reached capacity. As I moved to climb the slippery ladder leading out of the pit, a girl let out a massive scream and frantically paddled away from my direction.
The author looks up from the mineral-rich mud. Somewhere, a frog is lurking nearby.
The author looks up from the mineral-rich mud. Somewhere, a frog is lurking nearby.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              "Frog!" she yelled, waving her arms as if dodging a venomous cobra.     The crowd followed her panicked lead, pushing toward the corner farthest from the amphibian.

Outside the volcano, the guide had told us that we would rinse off in the nearby river and, if needed, a group of local women would be there to help.

Walking with two female travelers I met on the morning bus ride, I made my way down the path to the river. At the end of the trail, a trio of women greeted us and guided the group into the water.

After a few minutes of furious scrubbing, the woman paused and looked down at me.

"Take off your shorts," she said to me in practiced English.

"What?" I asked.

"Shorts. Take them off."

Conscious of my newfound neighbors and the few feet of clear water that separated us, I politely refused, shaking my bottom half in the water to somehow convey that I was as clean as could be.

Confident in my physical communication skills, I stood and thanked the woman. As I began to step away though, she grabbed the top of my swim trunks and pulled them out and down.

I stood frozen as the woman smiled coyly and dished water onto my nether regions. Luckily, I was facing toward the riverbank and away from the two bathers I had met just an hour or so earlier.

After seeing for herself that no mud remained, the woman released my shorts, and the elastic band snapped back into place.

Thankfully, I didn't lose anything in the volcano, as the guide had initially warned.

But the river was another story. There, on a sandy beach in northern Colombia, a little bit of my modesty disappeared into the currents of the crystal clear water.

If you go ...

El Totumo is a relatively quick 45-minute bus ride from Cartagena's Old City.

The entrance fee and transportation to/from should run around $20 per person. Beware of overpriced operators looking to charge you anything more than that amount.

Your best bet is to arrange your visit through a local hostel such as El Viajero Hostel. You don't need to be a guest to take advantage of its budget-friendly prices. Expect to tip the locals $1 each for their services while visiting the volcano.


collect by .....http://edition.cnn.com/