Arsenal agree deal with Granit Xhaka

Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20160523/arsenal-agree-deal-with-granit-xhaka#fgwYhIFB4423H52r.99 Arsenal have reached an agreement with Granit Xhaka to join the club on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee. The 23-year-old Swiss midfielder arrives from Borussia Monchengladbach, who he captained to fourth place in the Bundesliga last season and Champions League qualification in the past two seasons. I’m very proud to be joining Arsenal. I cannot wait to move to London, represent this special club and play in the Premier League. I will give everything to help Arsenal win trophies and make the fans happy Granit Xhaka Xhaka, who has made 41 international appearances for Switzerland, joined Borussia Monchengladbach in 2012 from his hometown club FC Basel where he spent 10 years, progressing through the youth ranks. During his time with Basel, Xhaka won two Swiss League titles and the Swiss Cup in a Double-winning season in 2011/12. Arsène Wenger said: “Granit Xhaka is an exciting young player, already with good Champions League and Bundesliga experience. "We have been watching him for a long time now and he is a player who will add quality to our squad. We wish Granit a good Euro 2016 with Switzerland and look forward to welcoming him to Arsenal ahead of next season.” source arsenal.com

Wenger wishes departing duo well

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that his side will miss the impact that Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky had in the squad but wished them well in their lives. The duo will part ways with the club this summer, with Rosicky bringing an end to a 10-year stay at the Emirates and Arteta having been with the Gunners since 2011. All the best The latter was given a final outing during Arsenal's 4-0 win over Aston Villa over the weekend, leaving the field in tears after the final whistle, and Wenger paid tribute to both of the departing midfielders. -I think Tomas Rosicky is an incredible football player and highly respected in our dressing room. It was a very sad day for me not to pick him in my squad because it was something at stake. We lose him, we lose Arteta, two leaders in the dressing room and I am convinced that in the bad periods they had a positive influence in the squad and we will miss them next season. I would like to thank them for what they have done for us and wish them well, Wenger told reporters. Rosicky made 246 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions, while Sunday’s match was Arteta's 150th for the club. source futaa.com

Gor, AFC likely to share third sponsor

The greatest clubs in Kenyan football history Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards will soon make another coincidental sponsorship announcement if talks materialize after securing Sportpesa as their official shirt sponsors in February. With Legea and Crown Lager being the second sponsors for Ingwe and K’Ogalo respectively, an energy drink company in Power Gold is on the verge of sealing deals which will see the clubs benefit from additional Kshs 15 million apiece every year. AFC Leopards’ chairman Dan Mule had confirmed the talking development to futaa.com before the company’s Managing Director-Kenya Hussein Terry confirmed the same talks with Gor Mahia. Confirmed Terry has asserted that part of the introductory junk of the millions will provide the clubs with travel modern busses as the sponsorship continues. -We (Power Gold energy drink) have initiated talks with AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia to help the clubs in their day-to-day activities as far sponsorship is concerned. The first Kshs 12 million for each club will be used to provide them a modern bus apiece while the remaining Kshs 3 million will be used for kiting. We will then get to our normal Kshs 15 million package for each team thereafter, Terry told futaa.com. The two clubs signed five-year deals with Sportpesa. Source -Futaa

Eugine Wamalwa grateful on nomination

Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary nominee Eugene Wamalwa has expressed willingness to “slow down on politics” and dedicate his efforts in service delivery if his appointment is confirmed. In an interview with The Standard On Sunday, the New Ford Kenya party leader promised to “hit the ground running.” “As a lawyer, I understand and appreciate the constitutional dictates. If confirmed in my new position, I will concentrate on serving Kenyans and play politics later,” he said, adding: “My primary task will be to make water available for all.” While thanking the President and his deputy William Ruto for having faith in him, Wamalwa criticised other Western region leaders for exhibiting negative energy. “This whole talk about me being assigned a junior ministry is hogwash. There is a lot of excitement on the ground already,” he said. Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale earlier dismissed Wamalwa’s nomination as a ploy by the President to woo residents of Western Kenya “through small jobs handed to friendly individuals.” Khalwale accused the President of dishing out “small jobs” to local politicians with a view of wooing them to the Jubilee coalition. Describing the Water and Irrigation docket as “kazi ya karani (clerical job)”, Khalwale said Wamalwa’s job will not benefit locals. Right from the 2013 pre-election period, President Kenyatta made efforts to get a foothold in Western Kenya region, home to the populous Luhya community, who are only second to Kikuyu community. source:http://www.standardmedia.co.ke

Bungoma,the Land with great potential

Fertile lands, rivers with falls that can generate electricity, tourist sites and hard-working people give Bungoma the potential to stand as a commercially independent county. Underpinning its strength is agriculture: sugarcane, tobacco, coffee, onions, vegetables and dairy cattle. Maize in Tongaren and Naitiri make the county a vital part of the country’s bread basket. Two main roads, the Webuye-Bungoma-Malaba highway and the Webuye-Kitale thoroughfare give the county a lifeline with long distance trucks ferrying produce to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Mombasa to Uganda highway cuts through the county, as does the Uganda railway. Roads are paved from Webuye to Kitale, Kamukuywa to Kimilili and Chwele, and Kimilili to Kapsokwony near Mt Elgon. Bungoma’s strategic position in western Kenya makes it ideally placed for cross-border trade with Uganda through Malaba in Busia (43 kilometres from Bungoma), Lwakhakha and Chepkube along the common border. Bungoma people — the Bukusu, Tachoni, Sabaots and others — are anxious to take their new county to the promised land. In Bungoma, historical sites, scenic hills and rivers dotted with whispering waterfalls, all make superb destinations for tourists. A visit to Chetambe Fort, the Golan Heights of Bungoma, from where the Bukusu and Tachoni watched the advancing colonialists is a must in the tourism map. The fort was built on the hill by Chetambe Ifile, a Tachoni warrior, from where he mobilised his troops to resist colonial rule, leading to the 1895 massacre in which more than 450 people were killed by the British. Mr Nelson Kakai, 60, a great-grandson of Ifile, has preserved the fort, built behind a protective 12-foot defensive ditch. From the hill, one has a beautiful view of Webuye Town and a carpet of sugarcane that stretches to the horizon. Just a kilometre away, is the Nabuyole Falls on the River Nzoia, where tourists troop to watch the water cascade a full seven metre height to the rocks below. Awaiting the tourists eyes are three trees of historical significance, planted by founding President Jomo Kenyatta, Uganda’s first President Milton Obote and Elijah Masinde, a revered Bukusu leader of Dini Ya Msambwa. Twenty kilometres south two landmarks – the Mwibale wa Mwanja and Sang’alo hills. From the summit of Mwanja, there is a superb view of Mumias in neighbouring Kakamega County, Bungoma and Webuye, plus an endless vista of sugarcane. Sang’alo’s twin peaks are like the gap in a person’s front teeth, with one peak appearing to clutch a huge rock that looks as if it is about to fall. Webuye Town, planned as heart of the county’s industrial might, is home to Pan African Paper Mill, once the biggest paper manufacturer in East and Central Africa but which collapsed. The government is struggling to revive it but its future remains uncertain. Opposite stands Pan African Chemicals, makers of acids supplied all over the world. Bungoma, 28 kilometres further along the Mombasa-Uganda highway, is the county capital. Both towns lie on the Uganda railway, once an indispensable way to carry goods to Uganda and Central Africa. Other key towns in the new county include Chwele, Malakisi, Kimilili and Lugulu. Maeni, about 10 kilometres from Kimilili, is home of the Dini Ya Msambwa (Church of Spirits) of Elijah Masinde. A mausoleum has been built at his home where politicians and tourists go to take pictures of Masinde, whose life was spent in and out of prison before and after Independence. His sect was opposed to white rule and after Independence remained critical of the government. But it is the secret bunker in which he hid from British soldiers for three years that is most worth visiting. Near Sulwe village at the foot of Mt Elgon, it is tended by Juda Israel, a splinter group of Masinde’s sect whose members are keen to keep it hidden. Mt Elgon forms a ring around the county to the north and part of the east. Apart from sightseeing, it forms part of the Kenya-Uganda border with caves that open in Kenya onto Uganda. There is another beautiful waterfall on River Kuywa at Teremi, one with great potential for a hydro-electricity power plant. Already, some local investors have formed the Teremi Falls Small Hydro Power Plant company and are at an advanced stage of building the plant. Mr Joseph Simiyu Mukhamule, an engineer and one of the investors who conceived the project, said when completed it will produce four megawatts a day. Such powerful supply, if not added to the national grid, could light up the whole of the county and meet its industrial needs. Mr Mukhamule said: “We will supply the power to the national grid and we will ensure that Bungoma gets first preference in cases of power rationing.” To a traveller, Bungoma County, which is 375 kilometres west of Nairobi, is a feast to the eye across a seemingly endless panorama of sugarcane – a dependable cash crop spread all over the county. Tobacco fields are another eyecatcher in Malakisi, 25 kilometres north of Bungoma Town. They are like a huge field of spinach. Malakisi, a dilapidated town that is crying out for a facelift, is home to the giant tobacco companies BAT and Mastermind, and it is where they get the bulk of their raw material. It is a cash crop local people hold dear as it offers returns after only six months. “I would rather grow tobacco than sugarcane which will take two years,” commented farmer Samuel Obetele. It is at the foot of Mt Elgon that the county becomes difficult to cross without four-wheel drive vehicles as the roads are quite rough. The Sabaot who inhabit this area have had long standing disputes over land which led to the formation of the Sabaot Land Defence Force, an illegal outfit that pretends to fight for their rights. The Chebyuk Settlement Scheme is in the area and the government has allotted 2.5-acre plots for each settler. The new county government will also have to address the grievances of its sugarcane farmers. They have been pressing for substantial shares in Nzoia Sugar before it is privatised and floated in the Nairobi Stock Exchange. Mr Joash Wamangoli, chairman of the Nzoia Outgrowers, which represents the farmers, says the county will have to address the issues squarely. “Things will no longer be imposed on us from Nairobi; we will have to do it our way and not theirs,” he says. The farmers want to own 70 per cent of the shares in the factory and the machines to be overhauled to cope with the cane, which outstrips its capacity to crush. By EMMAN OMARI, Daily Nation

Huko kwetu

Jokes: By Stan wasike

On a flight from London to Nairobi the passengers were just settling in for the flight when the pilot announced that there was a crisis and that the plane was going down.
Three ladies, sitting next to each other started their preparations for the impending crash.
The first lady, quite attractive, started applying makeup and when asked by the other two why, she replied that rescuers always look for pretty victims to rescue first.
The second lady, very wealthy, started putting all her gold and diamond jewellery on and when asked why she replied that rescuers always look for the richest victims to rescue first.
The third lady, a kenyan, calmly lifted her dress and removed her panties. When asked why she replied that the other two were wrong in their assumptions and that rescuers always look for the "black box" first.