American Embassy Nairobi and Green Card Lottery

By Guest Author | Tue, 05/01/2012 01:09AM -0400


The USA is a nation that prides herself in democracy, the rule of law and the application of the law equally to all. Should one of the laws that govern any specific arm of the government change or is amended, every effort is made to let everyone know about the change thereof. When a service is rendered it is rendered within the law and if there be any refusal, of any kind, it also is within the law. This is also true of all her embassies and consulates around the world. They all work within laws that have been put in place.

However, I'm afraid to say, that has not been so in this particular case that I am writing about. Sometimes the same laws that govern the conduct of government business can be flouted by the very people who should be upholding them as is the case in one green card case scenario at the American Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.

A Kenyan citizen entered the green card lottery also known as the Diversity Visa Program or DV in 2010. In July of last year she was notified that she had been selected as one of those who can pursue their application further. She had to fill some forms with very specific details of herself after which she was to send in the forms together with passport size photos of herself to Kentucky Consular Center. She complied with all the requirements and sent the forms at the end of last year. After a few weeks she received a notification from Kentucky telling her that they were finished processing her case and will be sending her details to the American Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya where they booked her a visa interview appointment.

Before going for the interview, she was required to take a medical examination, get a good conduct certificate from the police and have all her Original documents like school certificates and birth certificate with her when she goes for the interview. She did the medical examination and meticulously got all the documents ready before the interview date. On the day of the interview she was early as it is required and went through the process. She had her documents verified, her fingerprints were taken and so she was very hopeful. To her disappointment the visa was denied and the reason given was that she did not meet the educational requirement. She had a D plain in her exam and the required minimum grade is a C plain as per what the interviewing officer told her. She was told that the requirement had changed and so they would not issue her the visa. This meant kshs 66,000(for that is what it had costed her to the interview point) went up in smoke.

When I got wind of what had happened, I wrote the Kentucky Consular Center requesting a clarification of what the laws says concerning educational requirement.
They replied as follows: The law creating the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program states: To qualify for a diversity visa you must have either a high school education or its equivalent, or two years of work experience. A high school education means successful completion of a formal course of elementary and secondary education comparable to completion of a twelve-year course in the United States.

Having read what the law states about educational requirement, I wrote to The Us Embassy Nairobi, Kenya asking them to explain the apparent contradiction of what the law above states and the C plain minimum grade requirement at the US embassy in Kenya. I also asked them to let me know when the law changed and how it could have changed in Nairobi without the knowledge of Kentucky Consular Center. I also wanted to know whether they had notified the Kenyan public so that those who did not meet this requirement should not even bother pursuing the process.

The US embassy Nairobi replied to only two of my emails and in both of those emails they avoided these questions like a plague. They only repeated the same thing twice. She did not meet the requirement and the visa was denied. I wrote the Kentucky consular Center with the same questions and they referred me to the US embassy Nairobi but no one answered any of my questions. This seemed suspicious to me as it would to anyone. They should have been able to give me a clear explanation and answers if there was any change whatsoever. The fact that they took me round in circles while avoiding my questions did not seem right at all and it did not feel very convincing to me.

After my round of emails with the Kentucky Consular Center and the US embassy Nairobi, I have decided to send this email to media houses so that the people out there, who have applied or are in the process, may know that the minimum grade requirement at the US embassy Nairobi, is now a C plain. Don’t waste your time and resources if you have anything lower than a C plain. You might end up spending as much as this Kenyan did and it all went down the drain.

At the same time these questions still remain and I hope that someone reading this will be in a position to answer:

Can you please explain the apparent contradiction between the Laws on educational requirement as it appears on the official website and the C plain requirement at the US embassy, Nairobi?
Where does the law requiring a C plain appear in writing on the laws creating the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program?
When did the Educational requirement at The US embassy, Nairobi change and was the public notified of the change?
Does every American embassy around the world have its own laws and requirements on the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program?
Does Kentucky Consular Center books an appointment at an American embassy or consulate for people who don't meet the requirements? Would they even process the case to begin with?

I do sincerely hope that this will be an eye opener to anyone out there oblivious to what is going on at the US embassy Nairobi Kenya.

By Gabriel Nganga (hereistand77@gmail.com)

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this op-ed/blog are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of NESHCOURT MEDIA , or any other individual, organization, or institution. The content on this op-ed/blog is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. The author himself is responsible for the content of the posts on this op-ed/blog, not any other organization or institution which he might be seen to represent. The author is not responsible, nor will he be held liable, for any statements made by others on this op-ed/blog in the op-ed blog comments, nor the laws which they may break in this country or their own, through their comments’ content, implication, and intent. The author reserves the right to delete comments if and when necessary. The author is not responsible for the content or activities of any sites linked from this op-ed/blog. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations and other content on here are original works of the op-ed/blog author and the copyrights for those works belong to the author.
Original Author:
Gabriel Nganga
SOURCE
http://www.mwakilishi.com/content/bl...d-lottery.html

BIGGEST CORRUPTION SCANDALS IN KENYA EXPOSED

Just so we do not forget, here is a list of some of the the corruption scandals plaguing Kenya, while on one hand its citizens pay taxes into the same corrupt coffers, and on the other, some die from the direct effects of these scandals. Since they are too many to list here, do have a look at the almost complete list at wikipedia
1. The longest-running is the Goldenberg scandal, where the Kenyan government subsidized exports of gold, paying exporters in Kenyan Shillings (Sh) 35% over their foreign currency earnings. In this case, the gold was smuggled from Congo. The Goldenberg scandal cost Kenya the equivalent of more than 10% of the country’s annual GDP.
2. A Sh360 million helicopter servicing contract in South Africa. Military officers had argued that the contract was too extravagant and servicing the helicopters could be done locally. Kenya Air Force (KAF) went ahead to spend Sh108 million as a down payment for servicing the Puma helicopters, whose tail number is logged as 418 at Denel Aviation, a South African firm.
3. A Sh4.1 billion Navy ship deal. A Navy project was given to Euromarine, a company associated with Anura Pereira, the tender awarded in a process that has been criticised as irregular. The tender was worth Sh4.1 billion. Military analysts say a similar vessel could have been built for Sh1.8 billion.
4. Kamsons Motors tendered for the supply of Mahindra Jeeps to the Police Department in the mid 1990s for close to Sh1 million (US$13,000) each, at a time when showrooms would have charged customers a sixth of the price. Moreover, the vehicles were being bought for a government department and were therefore imported duty free. Few of the more than 1,000 units that were imported over several years are in service today.
5. The Prisons department lost $3 million after contracting Hallmark International, a company associated with Mr Deepak Kamani of Kamsons Motors, for the supply of 30 boilers. Only half of the boilers were delivered – from India and not the United States as had been agreed.
6. The construction of Nexus, a secret military communication centre in Karen, Nairobi. The Government, through the Ministry of Transport, spent Sh2.6 billion (US$36.9 million) to construct the complex. Three years later, military personnel have not moved into the centre. A phantom company, Nedermar BV Technologies, which is said to have its headquarters in Holland, implemented the secret project. The tendering process for the Nexus project was circumvented.
7. Between January 2003 and September 2004, the National Rainbow Coalition government spent about $12-million on cars that were mostly for the personal use of senior government officials. The vehicles included 57 Mercedes-Benz, as well as Land Cruisers, Mitsubishi Pajeros, Range Rovers, Nissan Terranos and Nissan Patrols. The $12-million substantially exceeded what the government spent over the 2003/04 financial year on controlling malaria — “the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Kenya”.
8. In 2005 plans to buy a sophisticated £20 million passport equipment system from France. Here government wanted to replace its passport printing system. The transaction was originally quoted at 6 million euros from François Charles Oberthur of Paris – the world’s leading supplier of Visa and MasterCards, but was awarded to a British firm, the Anglo-Leasing and Finance Company Limited, at 30 million euros, who would have sub-contracted the same French firm to do the work.
9. On 31 August 2007, The Guardian newspaper featured on its front page a story about more than GBP 1 billion transferred out of Kenya by the family and associates of former Kenyan leader Daniel arap Moi. The Guardian sourced the information from the Wikileaks article The looting of Kenya under President Moi and its analysis of a leaked investigative document (“the Kroll report”) prepared for the Kibaki government in 2004 in order to try to recover money stolen during Moi’s rule.
10. In June 2008, the Grand Regency Scandal broke, wherein the Central Bank of Kenya is alleged to have secretly sold a luxury hotel in Nairobi to an unidentified group of Libyan investors for more than 4 billion Kenyan Shillings (approx US $60 million) below the appraised market value. Finance Minister Amos Kimunya negotiated the sale, and was censured in a near-unanimous motion by the Kenyan Parliament, though he vehemently denied the charges.
11. More than 80,000 bags of maize valued at Sh150 million were allocated to briefcase millers and a defunct company in Nakuru at a time when the country is facing a serious shortage of maize. Some of the maize, which was meant to cushion Kenyans against rising maize flour prices and a looming famine, was sold in Southern Sudan for US$80 (Sh6,000) for a 90 kg bag. The allocation operation was running parallel to government efforts to avert a looming famine facing some 10 million Kenyans, as reported by Nation on the maize scandal.
12. More than $1 million is missing from the country’s free primary education program.
*Do not forget the above*
Nor should you forget that there are still IDPs in camps, and many bodies riddled by police bullets, some yet to be claimed.
The problem with Kenyans is that we are not tenacious, or we have the languor/ apathy that come over time due to year after year of unsolved issues. Recapping the last 10 years, not one year goes by without a scandal of such a magnitude that rocks the nation. However, less that 1% of them are solved, including the prosecutions that started rolling on the Goldenberg scandal (my favourite example) with the protagonist off and looking forward to vying for elections come next elections.
What has become of us Kenyans? What has become of every docket and office in the country? What happened to the judiciary? Every time there is a new appointment into the judiciary especially, our hopes go sky rocketing high believing that our problems will be solved.
This is for us the common mwanachi.The best thing would not be to sit on the side and watch all these unfold, have it as the topical conversations as we have our beers or teas, but to come together in a non-violent coup of civil society, taking to the streets as we did during the referendum. The hope should not be lost, and we have to demand this over and over without tiring. It is for example disappointing to see a growing middle class ensconced in their own protected worlds, with high walls and barbed wire, their little comfort zones that shield them from the rest of the country’s troubles. The middle calss have an education and a voice that can be hailed and make quite some addition in the discourse.
How about other organisations? There are legal brains and NGOs in our midst who can take up cases to the courts and keep up the pressure. We have the media which will keep all the past scandals and progress of them high o-n the national and international agenda. We have other individuals and organisations that can take up other non-legal issues. These, especially the NGOs are too fragmented in their agendas, wanting above all funds and recognition at the behest of their managers who are more interested in being competitive in raising funds for their little empires. Does anyone out there have any though for those of us who are dying from hunger from the maize scandal, or who cannot get good education for our children? There should be unity in action, and this needs to come now.
As for the leadership and politicians, there needs to be an overhaul of these corrupt tribal minions trying to make a quick buck and a big name before their term of office expires. Using these scandals (who knows to what extent they have engineered them and are using them to achieve their political motives), they go on a dog-fight to achieve their political ambitions. What to do about them? is a question that is currently in everyones mind.
Remember how when the current parliament held session for the first time after elections, the first thing they did was to raise their pay packages (converted into Euro, is more than what an MP earns in Germany), and push not to pay taxes? How worse can it get? We as the common mwananchi have the power to oust them. Let us not elect tribal leaders but well versed individuals, who understand Kenya and its problems, who want to change it for the best. We elected them and we should be careful not to make the same mistake repeatedly. Our vote holds tomorrow’s change.

UNIVERSITY GIRLS TAKES PROSTITUTION TO FACEBOOK

Campus Divas For Rich Men is a Facebook page that has elicited lots of interest especially after receiving special airtime during Kiss 100's rush hour with Kalekye and Shaffie and this morning from Caroline Mutoko. The page is dedicated to hooking up University girls under 26 with rich men of any age.

In a period of less than 2 months, the page has accumulated close to 10,000 likes, with 7000 of those gained less than 24 hours after Kiss 100 highlighted their plight.

The administrator of the page constantly posts pictures and descriptions of University 'divas' and what they would want in a man. In all those posts, rich is usually the bottom line. There is a very clear policy in the page that sufferers and ugly chicks are not welcome, and this is a point the admin keeps putting across. This is how he / she does it.

wow! divas and rich men who are invading our inbox that's very cool, we will reply your texts in time...As for the sufferers continue yapping

If you are a sufferer, a struggler you cannot find help here, you need divine help. Call on the lord to come 4 ur rescue. Here we only help rich men we do not tolerate hustlers here

This is PLACE FOR DIVAS!! UGLY apes go jump on trees this is not a place for you

Sufferers keep off the page. go wank elsewhere

It had been thought that the pictures posted by the administrator are random internet images, but Kiss 100 callers yesterday confirmed that they indeed recognize some of those girls. Some said they were their friends who refused to heed to their advise and not only joined the page but also sent the admin their details.
Despite the numerous negative comments the page receives, the divas rarely take notice. The admin always put on a brave face. He or she even organizes parties where they take the online hook ups offline. 

Here are some party notices:

SEX PARTY!! SEX PARTY!! on 7th September, where RICH men will have all the content of their gen*** milked out!

For the venue of the sex party where 300 pus**** will battle 100 di*** in a life or death struggle, hit our inbox.

YOU ! YOU! YOU! CAMPUS DIVAS WANTS TO INVITE YOU TO A SEX PARTY THIS WEEKEND. 

Below are are some of the attacks directed at the admin and the 'divas'

u nt divas find th appropriate name....ass *#*s 

campus gals u must be the devil herself dont u have some respect for urselfs and ur parents who spent a lot for u yet u go and engage in prostitution, u need some delivery and strong prayers

ROTTEN LADIES .......

delilah's are everywhere.go to hell ladies.a foolish man will spend money on you guys

ati divas? Do u knw what that means mko down tu sana

Crazy campus girls... hell is yo place!!!

If campus chick can go to the extend of showing and selling off their bodies for money,then kenyan men indeed we are that of value.keep looking for rich men...N get used like a toilet paper coz thats all you are....as the kenyan men...continue keeping your wallets and ATM's safe from these bitches

WHAT THE FUCK? Y DONT YOU JUST CALL YOURSELVES CAMPUS GOLDIGGERS

Since when did prostitutes become Divas?? Y'all are just a bunch of prostitutes forget the fake glamour.. Y'all seriously are pathetic.

I cant imagine myself as a rich man wt class associating myself wt such cheapy lousy bitches,i go 4 my type,this beats logic!

 

I FORESEE ALL THE SYMPTOMS OF A GENOCIDE IN KENYA………….UNLESS…

I  FORESEE ALL THE SYMPTOMS OF A GENOCIDE IN KENYA………….UNLESS…

I have a feeling that this will not go down well with some citizens who have no guts to stomach the truth.Unfortunately, I am not a sooth-sayer neither do I have the time to please anybody.

March this year, we held students elections in my campus (Narok University college,) an affiliate of Moi university and students, nay, graduates, ganged up according to the tribes from which they come from so as to elect ‘ their’ leaders. I thought that was the worst scenario,  little did I know that I had not seen anything.The campus being in Maasailand,the Maa students felt that it was there right to have the university chairman and all the other leaders come from their community. One of them who was a prominent student leader from the Maa even wrote on the social media site asking  fellow students to stay out of the campus politics as his elders had donated the land to build the university, mind you it was a national public institution for higher learning.

 I stood strongly against that statement which came from a graduate who was supposed to be a torch bearer for his community. I blogged a long lecture  to him on why things were not expected to go like that especially from him. At  the end of the day, my article had been printed, taken to the Maa elders to be analyzed  ,taken to the lawyers to sue me, taken to the dean of students to take a disciplinary action against me, taken to the principal of the university college to analyze it and find a reason to chase me out of campus, but at the end of the day, the dean of students called me and shook his head sadly saying, “My son, I fear what you have written is the truth and there is no way we can punish you for condemning tribalism ,unfortunately, I am  very much afraid for your life, please  be careful for there is nothing much we can do, these people  we are also used to them and it is even very difficult to discipline a worker from the community since the university is “theirs”. Just continue writing but don’t write things that will make them mad “in other words he was encouraging me to write lies to please them. The test of objectivity in journalism arose. Unfortunately,im so bad in flattering and so I continued writing the truth that hurts and collided with many false leaders and endured many a threats. At last, to cut the long story short, What I was warning about all along came to pass.The student leader who got elected  was clobbered almost to death  just because he was from the “wrong community” Armed   Maa students  entered the campus and terrorized fellow students  and I remember calling a few friends in the media while in hiding as the armed goons took over the school. The security personnel  being a majority from Maa even spoke with them in their  native language as they run havoc in the university. For  those asking where media was, let me answer you. I pity today’s  journalism and the media in general. I  don’t know if to blame the kiosks media schools or the corrupt journalists who lack even the most basic ethics. There came one correspondent from the Star newspaper in Narok  who could have either been paid or has never attended a single journalism class who wrote the story and the clobbered chairman was the villain and those who clobbered him became heroes of the campus..No other media house featured  the story. Not that they never heard about it, they  choose to close one eye and looked at it just like another small incidence..My point is this, That is a University scenario, lets look at the ordinary folks now, some or rather a good number are completely  illiterate, broke, idle, bitter and have all the time in the world  and tell me why Kenya will not burn down come March 2013.

As I write this, I’m  holed up in the house down at Mombasa  because I can’t venture out due to fear of the raging mob and looters in town. A radical Islamic preacher  who was shot dead probably by fellow masters of  terrorism for double crossing a deal has given all the Mombasa looters, idlers and other criminals  a reason to run the streets like we are in a lawless state. I don’t  support extra-judicial killing, I loathe terrorism even more. The man Sheikh Rogo was on the United Nations and USAs  watch list for international terrorists. Its open knowledge that he publicly declared that the number of  Christians killed in the Mandela church attack was too small a number,17 people lost their lives. He was later arrested with several weapons including 170 detonators which the police claimed he wanted to use on innocent citizens at Kenya ferry crossing and others at the Nyali bridge.I have seen the  way the ruling by the high court that made the Kenyan coast secessionist group MRC  a time bomb as far as Kenyan national security is concerned. Politicians being the hyenas and scavengers they are all now toying with the group as they try to woo them of coastal votes even as they claim coast is not in Kenya and claim that the people at coast should not vote in the oncoming general elections .They are behaving like the proverbial mouse that plays with the cat to the extent of entering inside the cats mouth  to clean the pieces of meat stuck in the teeth!

I get worried when churches are petrol  bombed and I shiver at the thoughts of what would happen if some radical Al shabaab extend their propaganda war to the extent of bombing a mosque so as to make it appear like Christians have hit back. What will stop us from going the Nigerian way? Religious orgy of massacre? We have got so much used to the grenades such that these days we would rather fight the police with grenades while rioting than using stones(I hear in some first world countries they use eggs and tomatoes!)well   maybe Americans and Japanese are very poor and also lack the technology to make hand grenades!!mark you, we are so advanced in technology that we are still importing nail cutters and match sticks!!

Then enters Miguna.His theatrics aside, who has the right to take his rights of assembly ,expression and association away? I wonder what new constitution we are enjoying and marvel at our democracy that does not allow constructive critics of those in positions of authority? All the signs of disrespect of the rule of the law are there.

The other day, as the Kayole suburb of Nairobi touts were demonstrating, they  had the guts to scream that Kayole is a Mungiki  stronghold and nothing can be done about it…If the MRC is for coast, Mungiki  Nairobi and Chingololo Western what happens to the rest of the country?

The leaders are all silent in pretence that all is well. All is not well my brothers. They were busy enjoying some birthday in the name of a constitution when all hell broke loose in Tana river, perhaps it was gods who wanted to tell them to stop pretending that all is well. Tana river crashes seemed like nothing and the government of course gave a strong warning to the perpetrators. warnings are official  part of national governing policies now.

The formation of GEMA,GEMA2 and KAMATSA  should have sent the right signals to all concerned Kenyans for it was a strong reminder to Kenyans that they belong to different tribes but not Kenya.I wonder what will happen if all the 43 tribes decided to elect their own president. People? don’t you smell the fire? don’t  you see the signs?

The media barons have either been paid to keep quiet, or to bury their heads to the sands. There should be so much advocacy coming from the media but all we get is politicians, politics, dramas, chaos, crime and opinion polls!!i wonder whether politics appears anywhere in our vision 2030 or is it 3020?

Unless you change and try to change your neighbor,all is not going to be well dear Kenyans,I see a  repeat of things worse than the 2007/08 violence, what are you going to do as an individual to avert the oncoming crises?