Kenya president rejects bill restraining corruption watchdog News
Kenya president rejects bill restraining corruption watchdog

[JURIST] Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [official profile] Thursday refused to sign a bill [JURIST report] that would have limited the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) [official website] to only investigating crimes committed after 2003. The amendment, deleting portions of the 2003 Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act [text], would have made it impossible for the commission to continue investigations into some of the country's most notorious corruption cases [JURIST report], including the $1 billion scam known as the Goldenberg Affair [BBC report; Wikipedia backgrounder]. The Financial Times has more.

The Kenyan government has taken a number of anti-corruption initiatives in recent years, especially after Kibaki promised to clean up widespread government graft after being elected to office in 2002. Last year, Kenyan authorities charged [JURIST report] four former senior Kenyan government officials and a top businessman with corruption for their roles in the Goldenberg Affair. The charges came one month after Kibaki's education and energy ministers both resigned [JURIST report] after being implicated, but not charged, in the Goldenberg case for actions they took while serving in the previous regime.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Montgomery started racially-integrated bus service after boycott

On December 21, 1956, buses in Montgomery, Alabama, started racially integrated service following federal court rulings ending on-board segregation. Bus boycott leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were among the first riders under the new scheme. Learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Stalin born

On December 21, 1879, Joseph Stalin was born in Gori, Georgia. In 1922, he became leader of the USSR until his death in 1953. During his time as Soviet dictator, Stalin industrialized his country, which he then led to become one of the world's two superpowers after WWII. Through his infamous purges, show trials and nationwide famines, Stalin also became responsible for millions of deaths.