Chilling video of Cho Seung-hui Virginia Tech killer

This is the Virginia Tech killer, 23 year old Cho Seung-hui.





And the following link is the chilling home video of Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui showing just how deranged he was. Our condolences to the families of the victims of the VA Tech Massacre.

VIDEO

Multiple fatal shooting at Virginia Tech University could have been prevented - lesson for Kenyan Universities

This morning, we woke up to see live pictures on CNN of a multiple fatal shooting incident at Virginia Tech University in the United States. At last count 32 dead, scores injured.

Virginia Tech officials and police have already come under fire for not placing the campus on complete lockdown immediately after the first, early-morning shooting. The second spree, during which the bulk of the victims were killed, took place about two hours later — and many students were unaware of the first incident or of any danger on campus at all.

The university has said it believed the first crime was an isolated, domestic case, may not have been related to the second shooting and was under control — even though police and administrators have admitted they didn't have the gunman in custody.

Though there are limits as to what schools can do to prevent such crimes and heighten security — public universities and colleges in this particular State, for example, aren't allowed to have gated access to campus, because they're public — there are safety measures schools can and do take.

Among them: Controlled access to residence buildings in the form of student ID swiping machines; guards at academic and dormitory buildings; a strong campus police and security presence; active-shooter training for officers and guards; metal detectors and bag searches at athletic and other events that attract crowds; security cameras; trained student guard forces; and education about safety procedures for students, faculty and staff.

All of those policies are in effect at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, a large suburban campus with more than 34,000 students (50,000 total at the school's three main locations), and at UCLA, an urban state school with a total of 37,000 students (more than 10,000 of whom are residents of the university).

What kinds of security measures, if any, do our Kenyan Universities have in place?

It is time its management opened their eyes, ears and minds as to possibilities.

This blog has already given fair warning about the feeble security at the University of Nairobi's main campus. http://ncrwcc.blogspot.com/2007/04/suspicious-night-time-photographer-at.html

Whereas gun laws in this country are stricter, it has been previously said that illegal firearms are easily available in this country, coming in through the porous borders of some of our unstable neighbours like Somalia.

Kenyan Universities should spend more resources on professional security arrangements for its students, lecturers and guests. I do not recall having ever seen even a single CCTV Camera at the University of Nairobi. It should not be heard to say that it does not have sufficient resources because it is a public university. No excuse should stand in the way of protection of precious human lives.

Shame on thieving waiters at the Safari Park Hotel

Yesterday was a joyous occasion when a colleague got married at the Safari Park Hotel.

Everything ran like clockwork at the reception ...the meal was served buffet style...and we all had a soft drink with the meal.

The hall where the reception was held was not entirely full..some guests had not shown up.

Meanwhile, as the entertainment wore on, I figured I could do with a second soft drink, so I strode over to a waiter (my previous attempts to catch the attention of any waiter had not been successful) and requested to have a soda brought to my table.

After a further ten minutes had elapsed without my soda having arrived, I strode again, more determined, to the said waiter and demanded to know why my soda had not arrived.

He managed to tell me in a number of phrases, that the sodas that had remained were to be paid for cash, at Kenya Shillings 200 each.

I thought this was a ridiculously high price, but without saying so, I asked the waiter to bring me the soda quickly, he should not assume I was not good for the money.

In less than a minute, a cold soda was placed before me, opened with gusto, and the waiter then hung about expectantly, waiting for me to give him the Kenya shillings 200 he had previously indicated to me.

Having taken a long gulp of the soda, I turned to the waiter and asked him to bring me the bill, so that I could pay for the soda.

Five, Ten, Fifteen, Twenty and finally Thirty minutes elapsed, before the waiter came to my table with the Manager.

The Manager explained to me that whereas each guest had only been entitled to a single soda, the fact that some guests had not arrived meant that there were still sodas available, all fully paid for, and there was therefore no bill for me to pay.

The manager even asked if I wished to have another soda, but i thanked him, saying I was quenched of thirst.

I was, needless to say, furious at the waiter, who had attempted to steal KES 200 from me, knowing fully well that there were many free sodas still available, and knowing further that a soda at the hotel was only KES 100 bob.

Indeed, I later came to learn from other guests, that they had been made to pay KES 100 each for a second soda, without a receipt having been issued.

The lesson for customers of this hotel is simply never to pay for anything without an appropriate bill having been tendered. Its waiters, as at yesterday, were less than honest.

This was most unexpected of an otherwise highly regarded Safari Park Hotel, and it is hoped that its management will implement suitable mechanisms and procedures to avoid theft of funds from its guests by its waiters.

Suspicious night-time photographer at the University of Nairobi is a security risk

This blog is written with the hope that The Vice Chancellor of the University of Nairobi Prof. George A.O. Magoha, or any officer at the University, will read it and take note.

A couple of nights ago, we received an observation from one of the evening Masters students at the University of Nairobi that a young man of Somali features had been spotted taking photographs of the wall at Willoughby Hall opposite the cafeteria in Gandhi Wing.

Whereas this particular person may have simply been capturing some of the magnificent architecture of the University for posterity, the fact that these photographs were being taken at 8:30pm by a suspicious looking person deserves some attention.

The walls being photographed are directly above Taifa hall, and concerns were raised that this would be a prime target for someone with less than honourable intentions, particularly because evening students will be using Taifa hall soon for examinations.

There do not appear to be any security guards patrolling the University at all times...they seemed to be concentrated at the gates.

Call it a long shot, but Kenya has previously been a terrorism target in years gone by.

Can proper anti-terrorism preventive structures be implemented at the University of Nairobi's main campus at the earliest opportunity?

John Michuki's mistake on Mount Elgon clashes

This morning, the Minister for Internal Security John Michuki, in an interview on local radio station Kameme FM, gave the following statements:

• There were 605 General Service Unit and administration police officers on the ground in the clash torn area (is this figure sufficient?)
  
• 85 dead (and not other exaggerated figures)
• There were no child mercenaries involved in the conflict
• Locals should say whom among them, are the raiders
• He would only go to tour the Mt. Elgon area when he felt like
• He was working on the situation from Nairobi
• He cannot be directed on how to carry out the job ie cannot be told to till an acre of land and then further accept directions on whether he should use a fork, a spade or a jembe.

Does this smack of arrogance? That assessment must be arrived at individually.

Suffice it to say that all over the world, it is highly recommended that leaders tour an area where clashes or a war is going on. US President Bush and other leaders with forces in war torn territories do this. The often go to Iraq.

It means a lot because you would get a feel of the situation first hand (second or third hand information is never good enough), and you would take the opportunity (and political mileage) of comforting and being seen to comfort the affected persons.

Without saying much more, reform in this area is fundamental.

31,200 people have been displaced following land clashes that have hit Mt. Elgon area in the Western part of Kenya since December 2006. The Internally Displaced People (IDPs) have camped in market areas, villages and with relatives. The clashes have also resulted in the deaths of 60 people, while others continue to nurse their injuries in hospital.

Some of the IDPs have moved to neighbouring districts of Bungoma, Trans-Nzoia and partly Busia. Mt. Elgon has four divisions, with Cheptais and Kopsiro as the worst affected by the clashes. The fleeing communities are still moving to neighbouring divisions of Kapsokwony and Kaptama.

Most residents have been left extremely vulnerable as their houses and food stocks have been burned and their livestock and livelihood threatened. The clashes have caused food shortages and thereby increased food prices in the local markets. The normal livelihood of these people has been drastically interfered with. Communities in Mt. Elgon depend mostly on agriculture as their major source of income.

Some schools remained closed after the December 2006 vacations, while those that opened recorded low student turn out or dwindling student numbers. Specifically, 12 schools have been adversely affected. On the other hand, schools in areas where there are no clashes have experienced an unprecedented increase in the number of student enrolments. In Lwandanyi division, for example, a primary school with formerly 800 pupils is now recording over 2,000 pupils.

As if to aggravate the situation, the locals and the displaced victims are competing over fuel, water and grazing land thus raising fears of further conflict. The price of charcoal has also increased tremendously because of the increased demand and is unaffordable to the locals.

As Mt. Elgon area is very cold, some of the IDPs, especially children and pregnant mothers, are now suffering from pneumonia and malaria. The water source is also not accessible to the affected people due to the ongoing clashes and so the IDPs have had to drink or use unclean water from springs and rivers. A number of children are experiencing malnutrition and this may cause further health complications. Most of the affected people are traumatised and need psychological counselling. Dispensaries are said to be attending to over 50 outpatients per day and have many inpatients who are IDPs. These have caused a considerable strain on the meagre resources that are available in the dispensaries.

There is still tension in the area since many people fear for the lives and even too frightened to provide information. Unless the situation is addressed it is expected that the current number of IDPs will increase beyond 31,200 people. The IDPs are now working in shambas, hotels and other recreational areas to raise some income and take care of their families. Some men even go back to their former areas of residence during the day to harvest some food items for their family members settled in the IDPs. In the process some get killed or injured.

The Kenya Red Cross Society’s Mt. Elgon and Bungoma Branches have distributed food and non-food relief supplies to the IDPs. The non-food items distributed comprise 2,100 blankets, 550 tarpaulins, 500 kitchen sets, 2,100 jerricans, 60,000 aqua tabs, 2,100 mosquito nets, 132 packs of tinned fish and unimix worth Ksh 2,934,300. The food items included 43 metric tonnes of maize flour, beans, canned fish, unimix, energy biscuits and cooking oil valued at about Ksh 3.1 million. These items were distributed in Sirisia, Cheptais Chwele, Tuikut, Kimabole, Namwela, Lwandayi and Mayanja areas. Relief distribution is ongoing.

While access to the areas affected is highly restricted due to a security operation by the Government of Kenya, the Kenya Red Cross Society continues to get access to the thousands of IDPs. The Kenya Red Cross Society is planning to provide medical attention to the affected people through building the capacity of the health centres in the area and also through organising mobile clinics to cater for those who have been adversely affected.

British Supermarket TESCO's move to lock out Kenyan fresh produce unfounded

Background

· On our about the 18^th of January 2007, Tesco Supermarket Chain pledged to revolutionalise its business by becoming ‘ a leader in helping to create a low carbon economy’ by adopting new measures to tackle climate change.

· In the most significant step announced, the UK's biggest retailer, which produces 2m tonnes of carbon a year in the UK, said it would put new labels on every one of the 70,000 products it sells so that shoppers can compare carbon costs in the same way they can compare salt content and calorie counts.

· The Company also pledged to cut the emissions produced by its stores and distribution centres by 50% by 2020 and slash by 50% within five years the amount of CO2 used in its distribution network to deliver each case of goods.

· Tesco's move is the latest in a series as the big supermarkets battle to prove their green credentials. The trend was kick-started in 2005 by Lee Scott, president of the Wal-Mart discount chain in the US and the parent company of Asda. Mr Scott made a $500m (£255m) commitment to use 100% renewable energy, create zero waste and cut greenhouse emissions by 2009.

· Last year Tesco unveiled a 10-point plan designed to make it a "good neighbour" which included promises to install wind turbines and solar panels, source more food locally and encourage healthier eating. It has also started offering loyalty card points to shoppers who do not take carrier bags.

· Asda and Sainsbury's have unveiled similar initiatives. Marks & Spencer lhas recently unveiled a £200m environmental plan which included a pledge to become carbon neutral and send no waste to landfill by 2012. M&S boss, Stuart Rose, even pledged to trade in his BMW for a hydrogen-fuelled model.

· The British government has also waded into the issue. In 2006,the British environment secretary, David Miliband, told the bosses of the big four supermarkets to set and meet targets to cut carbon emissions, to use their buying power to demand greener products and to label electrical goods more clearly so that shoppers could more easily buy the most efficient products.

Time lines

· The new carbon labelling programme will not be immediate. Tesco has said that it would first have to develop a "universally accepted and commonly understood" measuring system.

· Implementation of carbon labeling shall be complex and could take several years to implement.

· As an initial step it would put airplane symbols on all goods imported by air as air travel is one of the most carbon intensive forms of transport.

The Problem.

· It shall be easy for British shoppers to misconstrue that a product with an airplane symbol depicts lots of carbon emissions, which is likely to contribute to poor sales for airlifted products, especially those from Africa.

· The carbon-footprint initiative is different from food-miles. Proponents of food-miles claim that the further food travels to market the less sustainable or energy efficient it is, and therefore the closer to its market that food is produced the better it is for the planet.

· The food-miles concept is fundamentally flawed because it does not accurately reflect the total energy used in production and processing, only the energy used for transport. As such it is not a useful or valid tool for assessing environmental impact.

Undermining of social and economic development of African countries through carbon labeling – recent research

Research conducted in late 2006 and released in January 2007 by the International institute for Environment and Develoment (IIED) in the United Kingdom has established that:

· The placement of an airplane symbol on a product, and eventually a carbon label on it, shall present an argument for the customer to purchase goods that have traveled the least distance from the farm to the table.

· This shall discriminate against long haul transportation, especially air freighted goods.

· Food miles is the vanguard of climate change in the United Kingdom.

· Food miles has captured consumer attention and is changing consumer behaviour, although only one third understand the concept.

· High value produce from Africa, especially flowers and horticulture are air-freighted, and are being singled out as the epitome of unsustainable consumption.

· Food miles as a concept is blind to social and economic benefits associated with trade in food, especially from developing countries.

UK consuming fresh produce from Africa

· The United Kingdom is consuming more fresh produce from Africa than never before.

· A wide range of fresh produce is imported to the United Kingdom from Sub-saharan Africa, excluding South Africa.

· This trade is dependent on the UK consumer as well as on air freight.

· 40% of air freighted fresh fruit and vegetables are from sub Saharan Africa

· Poor African countries rely on the UK market to support their domestic industry

Ecological space

· ‘Ecological space’ is the individualised (per capita) right to natural resources for utilization such as energy, food, land and water. The concept of equitable ecological space translates well into “per capita carbon dioxide emissions” and the “per capita right to emit carbon dioxide”.

· Currently, carbon dioxide emissions per person are very unequal and the gap is widening: global, 3.6 tonnes; the UK, 9.2 tonnes; Africa, 1 tonne. Furthermore, African figures are skewed towards oil-rich countries, and only two countries exceed the global average. Hence,Sub Saharan countries have considerable reserves of “ecological space” compared with industrialized countries.

Inequality of impact and adaptive capacities of climate change.

· Many African countries are feeling the force of climate change impacts, the root cause of which was produced in developed countries. Poorer countries have fewer disposable financial resources to commit to adapting to these impacts.

The Kyoto Protocol

· The Kyoto Protocol recognises the need for equity and economic development for developing countries in the transition to a low-carbon future. Current calculations of a sustainable carbon future estimate equitable ecological space per capita as 1.8 tonnes. This represents the estimated absorptive capacity of natural carbon sinks, both land and sea. Yet this per capita space is falling owing to projected warmer climate accelerating the decay of carbon in soils coupled with projected population increases.

Trade offs between global environmental goods and local poverty

· Kenya is a good example of how local economic development follows export horticulture development. Kenya was the first Sub Saharan African to develop systems in which high-value horticulture is exported to the UK. A full 70% of green beans (of exportable quality) produced in Kenya come to the UK.

· This business is perceived as a success, and a number of other countries have followed - 87% of UK green beans imports are from five African countries.

Decisions of policy makers and consumers to be based on good information.

· What is clear is that decisions – of consumers, of policy makers,

and of the food chain businesses – should be based on good

information.

· If environmental harm is to be weighed against

developmental gains, it is essential that

(1) the degree of harm is quantified and put into the context of other food choices,

(2) the degree of harm is put into context of Africa’s current use of ‘ecological space’, and

(3) the degree of development gain is quantified, to demonstrate whether this trade really benefits those living in poverty.

Are food imports from Africa driving climate change

· There is increasing evidence that the UK’s carbon footprint is largely domestically generated. Indeed, to reach targets under Kyoto the UK needs to prioritise addressing domestic road transport and energy use first, then aviation.

· Estimates of doubling of air travel in the next twenty years coupled with high carbon emissions, and the exacerbating effect of “radiative forcing”, make aviation cuts a necessary part of the solution.

· Yet the main share of increased flights appears to passenger traffic; in the UK, passenger flights account for 90% of emissions from air transport, and international freight for 5%. But, air-freight is a significant contributor to total food transport

emissions in the UK.

· Only 1.5% of imported fresh fruits and vegetables arrive in air transportation but that portion produces 50% of all emissions from fruit and vegetable transportation.

· It is clear that for most products that can be grown outside

greenhouses and without heating, air-freighted produce usually scores poorly in terms of emissions compared with locally grown produce. Plus, air-freight is responsible for 200 times more emissions if flown rather than shipped from Kenya, or 12 times more energy.

· There is no firm evidence that UK consumers not eating imported fresh fruits and vegetables, fewer planes would fly today or in future. Indeed, an annual expansion of 6% in air traffic in all sectors (fresh fruits and vegetables imports, passenger volumes, and dedicated freight).

· Air-freight of fresh fruits and vegetables from sub Saharan countries accounts for less than 0.1% of total carbon UK emissions.

· In the big picture, the environmental cost of international food transport is trivial compared with UK domestic food-miles. Plus, air-freight is the only possible mode of transport for some highly perishable produce where no other infrastructure exists.

· Fresh fruits and vegetables imports highlight one of the key reasons for not including aviation emissions under Kyoto Protocol - the difficulty of allocating carbon between trading nations.

· While a 50-50 split appears to be a simple equitable solution, in practice there are measurement difficulties associated with transport hubs, passengers/cargo split, mail service, triangular flight paths and problems assessing the necessity of some cargo (such as medicines and vaccines). Plus, for fresh fruits and vegetables the large majority of imports to the UK are carried opportunistically in the belly-hold of passenger aircraft, and the rest in dedicated freight.

Are food imports from Africa driving African poverty reduction?

· Air-freighted produce from Sub Saharan Africa to the UK bestows considerable direct benefits on poor rural economies.

· Over one million people in rural Africa are supported by the fresh fruits and vegetables exports to the UK.

· An estimated 50-60,000 small-scale producers and 50-60,000 employees on larger farms grow produce that is consumed in the UK.

· When dependents and service providers are factored in, an estimated 1-1.5 million people’s livelihoods depend in part on the supply chain linking production on African soil and consumption in the UK.

· An estimated £200 million is injected into rural economies in Africa through fresh fruits and vegetables trade with the UK alone.

· From a development perspective, airfreight of fresh fruits and vegetables from sub Saharan africa is a relatively efficient “investment” by the UK in allocating its carbon emissions to support livelihoods when compared to the efficiency of the remaining 99.9% that is supporting 60 million UK residents.

Observations and Recommendations

· Economic development for the poorest in a low carbon future will mean expanding emissions for some. For those countries with excess “ecological space”, there exists a potential to use some of this space to reduce poverty, generate low-carbon economic growth and foster development.

· Export horticulture is one of the few genuine opportunities for developing countries that have direct and indirect benefits that reach into poor rural areas. Plus, there is projected future growth in export horticulture from existing and emerging producer countries in Africa, owing to tourism, economic development and more socially conscious procurement patterns in all industries.

· The food miles and carbon labelling concepts needs reform, to include social and economic development aspects. Singular comparisons do not necessarily help us to generate good policy.

· All environmental and social aspects need to be analysed, and trade-offs assessed.

· Over one million livelihoods in Africa are supported by UK consumption of imported fresh fruit and vegetables.

· Not buying fresh produce air-freighted from Africa will reduce UK total emissions by less than 0.1%. It is time to look to the huge impacts of the food system at home, rather than pull up the drawbridge on Africa.

· There must be intense negotiations and agreement between affected Governments as well as orgnisations representing the interested parties.

Risk Management

A couple of weeks ago, I was urgently called in to advise an Asian family whose daughter had been arrested by officers from Banking Fraud.

As you may know, this is a department of the CID (even though it is couched as a deparment of the Central bank of Kenya).

Contrary to expectations that the Banking Fraud Unit would be more diplomatic and professional, the officers who effected the young girl's arrest were no different from the usual police. They were rude, loud talking, coarse and arrogant. I am told that they even shamelessly demanded a bribe.

They agreed to accompany the complainant to the school where the young lady picks her daughter from school, tailed her until she stopped at a junction to buy maize for her daugher, then cut her off and jumped into her car, scaring the daylights out of the young girl and her daughter.

There was no warrant of arrest.

They then agreed, with some dissatisfaction to let the young lady drop her daughter to her house, and then accompany her to the Banking fraud unit in town.

All this took place at 5pm.

Questions:

1. Why could they not obtain a warrant of arrest
2. Why did they effect the arrest as they did, causing a risk of mental trauma to the nursery school child
3. Why could they not wait until morning to conduct this operation
4. Was this done so that they could extort some bribe out of the lady and her family?

Nevertheless, the young lady spent two nights in a cell before charged in Court, and she is now out on a cash bail.

What was impressive was that the young lady's muslim Asian community has in place what they call a Risk Management Committee, both at local and national level.

Overnight, these communities communicated with the owners of teh business that had lodged a complaint to the Banking Fraud unit, in Dubai seeking to find an amicable solution to the problem.

They even have their own arbitration committee. And they have worked hard to ensure that some of them have open lines of communication with the top bosses in police stations, police divisions and so on.

They have a connection everywhere in order to serve and help their community.

It reminded me of another incident where an Asian who had been arrested by the city council and was put in the cells at Spring Valley police station, was quickly released after contact was made with the police bosses. Indeed, a big shot police officer actually came to the police station and supervised the release of the Asian.

Risk management is critical in today's life, especially in Kenya.

What are you doing your community to put in place risk management structures that are organised and efficient?