A helicopter landed at the Karatina stadium – three minutes after taking off – because an MP had left his mobile phone behind. At first, the abrupt return created a scare during a Yes rally on Sunday, only for it to turn out that there was nothing wrong with the aircraft, with assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri and MPs Koigi Wamwere and Macharia Mukiri on board. The legislators had flown into the stadium earlier in the day, sparking excitement among the crowd. But no sooner had they addressed the rally than they excused themselves, saying they were scheduled to address another rally at Wiyumiririe, in Mr Kiunjuri's Laikipia East constituency, after which they would hop to Kamukunji in Nairobi. They had not gone far into the skies when they made a detour to pick up the forgotten phone. A few minutes after they took off again, Juja MP William Kabogo landed in yet another helicopter – a white one. It was a busy weekend for the Nyeri skies as aircraft after another landed and took off, bringing in leaders eager to drum up support for the Banana vote. The first aircraft to land had brought First Lady Lucy Kibaki on Saturday after a test- landing the previous day. The flying machines have enabled politicians to hop from one place to the next addressing rallies in different parts of the country within hours of each other. - Daily Nation.


  Meanwhile  hukus, a giant cargo plane is being chartered to take a single painting from the US to Austria. Daniel In The Lion's Den by Rubens is being loaned next month by the Washington National Gallery to the Albertina museum in Vienna. A Boeing 747 is the only plane with a hold large enough to take the 2.4m by 3.5m work. A spokesman said: 'This is perhaps the first time in Europe that such efforts have been taken to transport a painting.