Raila made to remove shoes, belt on trip to SA
An aide to the former Premier told Capital FM News that Odinga was taken through a full security check, in queue with other passengers to South Africa where he even had to remove his belt and shoes as part of security screening/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 5 – Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga was received in South Africa with the full honours of a VIP, but as he departed Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Tuesday evening, Raila was treated as a common ‘raia’.
An aide to the former Premier told Capital FM News that Odinga was taken through a full security check, in queue with other passengers to South Africa where he even had to remove his belt and shoes as part of security screening.
Philip Etale explained that Odinga endured the security check at the international departures unit after being denied access to the Government VIP Lounge that is reserved for ambassadors and government VIPs.
“The former PM was forced to go through the other entrance reserved for international departures and he had to remove his belt just like any other passenger,” he said.
“And even though he didn’t want to be seen like he was just crying out I believe that as the second and possibly last Prime Minister of this country, he deserves better than that.”
Etale added that protocol officers at the airport denied Odinga access to the VIP lounge forcing him to momentarily leave the airport and wait for his flight at a hotel on Mombasa road.
He explained that the former premier had just come back from Kisumu and was scheduled to travel to South Africa in an hour’s time.
The former PM was forced to go through the other entrance reserved for international departures and he had to remove his belt just like any other passenger – Aide.
“Since he had a flight an hour later and there being no room for him to wait for that connection flight at the VIP lounge, he had to go to Eka hotel. And he waited there until it was time,” he said.
He further disputed assertions by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) that Odinga had access to the VIP Lounge maintaining that it was a PR gimmick.
He added that KAA and Government Spokesman Muthui Kariuki were misleading Kenyans because Odinga did not want his convoy to access the airside.
“That is a lie because Raila has never wanted to use the presidential pavilion because he knows it is reserved for the president. His convoy has never been to the airside. Our drivers always wait outside the VIP lounge,” Etale argued.
Kariuki had on Tuesday sent a terse statement to newsrooms accusing Odinga of dragging the Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia into the matter to ‘whip up public sympathy’.
“If dragging Mr Kimemia’s name into this sordid business is meant to whip up public sympathy then it has failed miserably,” he said.
“Suffice to say that even retired presidents Moi and Kibaki no longer drive in their convoys to the airside, they walk – Period,” he stressed.
Odinga left Kenya for Johannesburg where he will attend the African Presidential Roundtable 2013 discussing the cost of democracy in Africa.
The African Presidential Roundtable is organised by the African Presidential Centre (APC) at Boston University, US
An aide to the former Premier told Capital FM News that Odinga was taken through a full security check, in queue with other passengers to South Africa where he even had to remove his belt and shoes as part of security screening/FILE
An aide to the former Premier told Capital FM News that Odinga was taken through a full security check, in queue with other passengers to South Africa where he even had to remove his belt and shoes as part of security screening.
Philip Etale explained that Odinga endured the security check at the international departures unit after being denied access to the Government VIP Lounge that is reserved for ambassadors and government VIPs.
“The former PM was forced to go through the other entrance reserved for international departures and he had to remove his belt just like any other passenger,” he said.
“And even though he didn’t want to be seen like he was just crying out I believe that as the second and possibly last Prime Minister of this country, he deserves better than that.”
Etale added that protocol officers at the airport denied Odinga access to the VIP lounge forcing him to momentarily leave the airport and wait for his flight at a hotel on Mombasa road.
He explained that the former premier had just come back from Kisumu and was scheduled to travel to South Africa in an hour’s time.
The former PM was forced to go through the other entrance reserved for international departures and he had to remove his belt just like any other passenger – Aide.
“Since he had a flight an hour later and there being no room for him to wait for that connection flight at the VIP lounge, he had to go to Eka hotel. And he waited there until it was time,” he said.
He further disputed assertions by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) that Odinga had access to the VIP Lounge maintaining that it was a PR gimmick.
He added that KAA and Government Spokesman Muthui Kariuki were misleading Kenyans because Odinga did not want his convoy to access the airside.
“That is a lie because Raila has never wanted to use the presidential pavilion because he knows it is reserved for the president. His convoy has never been to the airside. Our drivers always wait outside the VIP lounge,” Etale argued.
Kariuki had on Tuesday sent a terse statement to newsrooms accusing Odinga of dragging the Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia into the matter to ‘whip up public sympathy’.
“If dragging Mr Kimemia’s name into this sordid business is meant to whip up public sympathy then it has failed miserably,” he said.
“Suffice to say that even retired presidents Moi and Kibaki no longer drive in their convoys to the airside, they walk – Period,” he stressed.
Odinga left Kenya for Johannesburg where he will attend the African Presidential Roundtable 2013 discussing the cost of democracy in Africa.
The African Presidential Roundtable is organised by the African Presidential Centre (APC) at Boston University, US
Rewards for Justice - First Reward Offers for Terrorists in West Africa
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
June 3, 2013
For the first time, the U.S. Department of State's Rewards for Justice program is offering rewards for information on key leaders of terrorist organizations in West Africa: al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA);and the groups known as the Signed-in-Blood Battalion and Boko Haram.
The Secretary of State has authorized rewards of up to $5 million each for information leading to the location of AQIM leader Yahya Abu el Hammam and Signed-in-Blood Battalion leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar; rewards of up to $3 million each for information leading to the location of AQIM leader Malik Abou Abdelkarim and MUJWA spokesperson Oumar Ould Hamaha; and a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to the location of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram.
Yahya Abu el Hammam serves as a senior leader of AQIM, planning attacks and kidnappings in North and West Africa. Hammam reportedly was involved in the 2010 murder of an elderly French hostage in Niger.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar, previously a leader of AQIM, is the founder of the Signed-in-Blood Battalion, also known as the al-Mulathamun Battalion. It conducted the deadly January 2013 attack on a gas facility in In-Amenas, Algeria, where at least 37 hostages, including three U.S. citizens, were killed.
Malik Abou Abdelkarim is a senior leader within AQIM. Under his command, AQIM fighters have conducted kidnappings and terrorist attacks in North and West Africa.
Oumar Ould Hamaha, previously a member of AQIM, is now the spokesperson for MUJWA, an AQIM offshoot. As a member of AQIM, Hamaha participated in kidnappings of foreigners for ransom, including the kidnapping of a Canadian diplomat from Niamey, Niger, in December 2008.
Abubakar Shekau is the leader of Nigeria-based, Jama’atu Ahl as-Sunnah il-Da’awati wal-Jihad, more commonly known as Boko Haram. The group is responsible for the August 2011 vehicle-bomb attack on a United Nations facility in Abuja, Nigeria, which killed at least 23 people and injured 80.
More information about these individuals is located on the Rewards for Justice website (www.rewardsforjustice.net) or on Twitter: @Rewards4Justice. We encourage anyone with information on these individuals to contact the Rewards for Justice office via the website, e-mail (RFJ@state.gov), phone (1-800-877-3927), or mail (Rewards for Justice, Washington, D.C., 20522-0303, USA). All information will be kept strictly confidential.
The Rewards for Justice program is administered by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Since its inception in 1984, the program has paid more than $125 million to more than 80 people who provided actionable information that put terrorists behind bars or prevented acts of international terrorism worldwide. Follow us on Twitter athttps://twitter.com/Rewards4Justice.
