Followers

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Is This Part Of The Narc Kenya Political Games?

There are some very worrying figures coming out of the recently concluded voter registration exercise.

How does a constituency with a novice MP who was elected barely a few weeks before the voter registration exercise started, manage to top the list countrywide in terms of influx of voters moving in from other constituencies?

When you hear that seasoned Nairobi politician's Embakasi constituency received 12,933 old voters moving in from elsewhere, then it is hardly surprising. Assistant Minister David Mwenje who is the sitting MP is a survivor who like many experienced politicians will want to do their sums for winning well in advance.

Even presidential hopeful William Ruto would hardly raise eyebrows when his Eldoret North constituency records 13,472 voters shifting there from elsewhere.

But when political novice William Kariuki, who replaced his father in a recent by-election as a result of the Isiolo air disaster, tops the list countrywide with a whopping influx of 20,051 voters moving in from elsewhere and then a further 19,601 joining the roll as new voters, one starts to get very suspicious.

One cannot help but feel that there is somebody somewhere up to something. It does not help matters that the Rift Valley is clearly going to be the political hotbed in the upcoming general elections.

It is interesting that the young Kariuki is a Narc Kenya candidate in a province where the party will be hard pressed to stem off the ODM Kenya challenge.

All this reminds me of the political games that retired President Moi used to play to win the two competitive multi-party elections that he was involved in. I had an opportunity of seeing this first hand in the dagoretti constituency in 1997 where Moi received 6,000 votes in a Nairobi constituency that was rabidly anti-Moi. Where did those votes come from? They could have been stuffed into ballot boxes, but the more probable answer may have been voters imported into the constituency from elsewhere to help achieve a win and the 25 per cent required from at least 5 provinces for a candidate to be duly elected as president.

Could similar arithmetic be going on here? You see these days it is much more difficult to rig elections in Kenya because of various improvements, including the fact that votes are counted at the actual polling station as opposed to the old practice of transporting them to a central location in a constituency. Naturally all sorts of Houdini-like things used to take place between the polling station and the final destination of the ballot boxes. It is said that sometimes whole ballot boxes would be switched on transit. What all this means is that the time to influence things is during the voter registration and relocation exercise.

I still hold onto my position that all these carefully laid out plans will go horribly wrong and come to nothing because other major players still not in the picture now will enter and influence the forthcoming general elections in a major way. Kenyan voters are very angry and smarting from a number of nasty things the people whom they elected pulled off once they were safely in office and will therefore relish the entry of previously unknown elements.
=================
The two tribes in Kenya most responsible for tribalism.

Top Revenue Generating Kenyan website

Adsense Money-making truths that you will never hear anywhere!

The 4 Most Important Provinces For Anybody Who Wants To Win The Presidency Of Kenya

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

The Top Revenue-Generating Kenyan Web Site

Business special: Kenyan web businesses

There is no denying the fact that Kenyans are fairly up to date as far as the web is concerned.

Daily we read of new online businesses being launched by creative Kenyans. The latest is a new website for monitoring trading at the Nairobi Stock Exchange www.eight.co.ke

In fact many Kenyans blogs and web sites have taken full advantage of innovative online revenue generating tools. Top on the list of online revenue generators has to be the amazing Google Adsense pay per click (ppc) programme. The Adsense program pays participating sites to display advertisements on their sites, which when clicked earn revenue for the site owners.

But not many Kenyans are familiar with what has to be the top earning Adsense site in Kenya. I am of course referring to www.Mashada.com.

This is a site that is pure genius in terms of generating revenue with minimal investment and overheads. Let me explain. Web sites make money based on the amount of traffic that they can attract. The higher the traffic the higher the revenue. As you read this, there are web sites on the net that are raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue every month. Now, there is one critical but little known factor that impacts traffic in a big way. Namely the number of pages on your site. The more the pages you have the more pages that will end up being indexed by search engines, which means the higher the chances that any one of them will come up during a search which will mean tons of traffic for you. The major obstacle to the creation of pages is naturally the cost. It will usually cost money to hire staff to fill your pages with relevant content to attract visitors and regular readers.

The pure genius with Kenyan web site Mashada.com is the fact that the content is mostly generated by visitors to the site. The skeleton staff at Mashada.com simply post a controversial article from another site and readers then post their comments, pages and pages of them. Many comments often end up being controversial and they therefore attract huge traffic. The pages naturally display Adsense ads, which means that the site cash register is constantly ringing. And yet there are no huge overheads because most of content is generated by persons only too eager to have their voices heard and are not paid members of staff. And because of their sheer numbers, the growth in volume of pages at this site is colossal.
=================
The two tribes in Kenya most responsible for tribalism.

Adsense Money-making truths that you will never hear anywhere else.

The 4 Most Important Provinces For Anybody Who Wants To Win The Presidency Of Kenya

What Justice Aaron Ringera Has To Do With The Rising Crime Wave In Kenya

KACC's Boss Under siege

"When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the
people are filled with schemes to do wrong.

Eccl 8:11"



Shortly before former ethics boss John Githongo announced to he world that he had fled from Kenya for fear of his life over what came to be known as the Anglo- Leecing scndal (some prefer to call it Anglo- fleecing), he landed at Heathrow and announced to his companion that he was getting off for a brief private visit.

The pair had been flying around Western capitals on official duty at the expense of the Kenyan tax-payer, and that was probably one of the things that had really gotten into Githongo. The fact that he and his companion were involved in an exercise in futility. Appointed to fight corruption by a government that was not interested in fighting the vice. Nay, one that wanted to use the vice to establish itself in power and hopefully remain there for as long as possible.

The name of Githongo's companion on that last flight of his as an employee of the Kenyan government, was Justice Aaron Ringera. Then as now he was heading the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission, a selective anti corruption watch dog that always s carefully selects who to prosecute, usually ending up with minnows while the real fat cats go stock free. It is instructive that one of the people appearing before the commission this morning on suspicion of corruption is the Kenya National Human Rights chairman Maina Kiai.

One thing is very clear about the current administration and that is the fact that it is not in the least interested in fighting corruption. President Kibaki is on record for assuring and reassuring all and sundry that his government was serious about fighting corruption. But what he has said and what his government has continued to do are two very distinct opposites.

For instance what has the KACC done in its' two years of existence? That is apart from being a huge drain on resources and tax payer's money.

This morning ODM Kenya have for once organized a demonstration that is in the interests of the Kenyan people. Their mission is to force Aaron Ringera out of office. Narc-K has dared ODM to carry through their objective of mobilizing crowds to eject Justice Ringera from office, so now its' show time.

But even as we wait to see what happens next, it is important to consider the fact that the government, both this one and especially the previous one, have completely failed to link the prolonged delay in prosecuting corruption cases and the rising crime wave.

Look carefully into the eyes of criminals and accused persons in Kenya these days and you will see something that should alarm every peace-loving Kenyan. The only regret I see in their eyes is regret at getting caught. It is said openly on the streets of Nairobi that the only people in jail are fools and those who did not have enough money to "argue their case." That is to bribe their way out. Mostly the prisons are full of innocent people, it is said. The real criminals are all out there and you read about them in the media all the time.

It is all explained very well in a book I call the manufacturer's handbook, because I believe it was inspired by the manufacturer of the human race Himself. There is a passage in the book of Ecclesiastes that says;

"When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the
people are filled with schemes to do wrong.

Eccl 8:11"



=================
The two tribes in Kenya most responsible for tribalism.

Adsense Money-making truths that you will never hear anywhere else.

The 4 Most Important Provinces For Anybody Who Wants To Win The Presidency Of Kenya

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

The Four Most Important Provinces For Anybody Who Wants To Win The Kenyan Presidency

Why A Ruto-Musyoka Partnership Would Carry The Day For ODM Kenya

Kenyan politics is unique in many ways.

Elsewhere in the world, sensible politicians would sit down together and look at their circumstances and then take the appropriate action. Not in Kenya.

For example, judging from the recently released figures from the Electoral Commission of Kenya, all ODM Kenya would have to do is field William "YK92" Ruto as their presidential candidate with Kalonzo Musyoka as his running mate and they would be assured of victory. Those two gentlemen happen to come from the two most populated provinces in the country, namely Rift Valley and Eastern (with 2.9 million and 2.1 million registered voters respectively). In face if the proposed amendment to the constitution were to be passed, this is a team that would still be almost assured of getting over 50 per cent of the vote. These two provinces represent almost half the total number of registered voters in the country (12.5 million). This means that Messrs Ruto an Kalonzo Musyoka would need just a few votes from a few other provinces to march effortlessly into State house.

In fact the ODM Kenya chief strategist would only need to have a word with Luo Nyanza (which carries most of the 1.7 million votes the constituency enjoys) and the fate of President Kibaki and Narc Kenya would be sealed.

But then alas, it will never be. Because of several reasons. The first is the bitter experience that Raila and LDP suffered in the hands of President Kibaki with their infamous memorandum of understanding which the president tossed into the nearest waste paper basket the minute he was safely inside State House Nairobi.

That means that this time around there will be a lot of mistrust all round. Raila Odinga has calculated carefully and judging by the feelers going out (including a fascinating piece in the Daily press recently penned by Prof Anyang Nyong'o) this time he is going for nothing short of the jugular with no holds barred. Don' forget that he has already spent a fortune on DSTV advertising his presidential ambitions to the continent and positioning himself as a pan-Africanist. Prof Nyong'o argued in his piece in the Daily Nation that there is no such thing as an unelectable politician. He was of course referring to the widely held belief that Raila Odinga is unelectable as President. The professor gave the rather inappropriate example of John F. Kennedy who was the first Irish Roman Catholic to be elected President of the United States.

So far it in fact looks like the most likely line-up in ODM Kenya will be a Raila and Ruto partnership with Raila as the Presidential flag carrier for ODM.

The reason is simple. The biggest fear ODM has is the Kikuyu vote. All Narc Kenya strategists have to do is send feelers to the House of Mumbi that they are under threat and they will vote almost to a man for Kibaki, not because he is the best choice but simply because he is the lesser evil. ODM strategists are well aware of their sums and the arithmetic involved here.

The latest full list of registered voters by province is as follows; Rift Valley 2.9 million, Eastern 2.1 million, Central 1.9 million, Nyanza 1.7 million, Western 1.4 million, Nairobi 1.1 million, Coast 1.0 Million and North Eastern 255,667.

=================
The two tribes in Kenya most responsible for tribalism.

Adsense Money-making truths that you will never hear anywhere else.

ODM Kenya's Biggest Mistake

Some inexperienced political analysts reading this blog have already handed over victory to ODM Kenya. No doubt these are intelligent guys probably even professionals in some field, but I beg to remind them that the most important basic principle in politics is that a week is a very long time in politics. 15 months would therefore be centuries.

In fact currently I would give the edge to Narc Kenya. Simply because ODM Kenya have already shown their strategy clearly. Now all Narc Kenya has to do is come up with a counter strategy. That's how the game is played.

Others would argue that all Narc Kenya needs to do now is wait for the results of the ODM presidential candidate nominations. There is almost certainly going to be some fall out. At least one major candidate will fall out and go it alone. It happened in 2002 when Raila's hastily arranged nomination process at Uhuru Park in full view of the public failed to mention the words "Simeon Nyachae Tosha." It is bound to happen again, whatever ODM tell us.

But in my view, the biggest mistake ODM have made so far is to start their campaign way too early. The other mistake, as the Jomo Kenyatta would put it, is to show the cow the rope you are going to tie it with (am tring to translate directly from Kikuyu).

It is true that the President had already launched his campaign in earnest. But what ODM would have done would have been to hold their horses and let the Narc ship march on for a while. As it is, we are now already into serious electioneering a full 15 months before the scheduled elections. Mark my words, a hell of a lot can happen between now and election day, and it will.

=================
The two tribes in Kenya most responsible for tribalism.

Adsense Money-making truths that you will never hear anywhere else.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Most Kenyans Want Minimum Reforms Before Elections

According to an online poll carried out on the popular Nation media group site, Almost 60 per cent of Kenyans want minimum reforms before the elections rather than a full review of the constitution. It is clear that most Kenyans do not believe that a full review is possible before 2007.

This is hardly surprising. Most voters are itching to teach the current politicians a lesson at the ballot box and are anxious to get there. Full reforms to many seem to be a time-wasting tactic on the side of the government.
Easy Blogger Creator
The call for minimum reforms was launched by non other than Agwambo himself. You have to give it him, the guy knows his sums. Narc Kenya seem to have done their careful arithmetic to get Kibaki a second term in exactly the same way that Moi did it in two multi-party elections (by getting a slim lead and over 25% of the vote in five provinces. In fact Kibaki has the huge advantage of being assured of a large chunk of the Kikuyu vote (or so his handlers think).

This is the main issue in the clamor for minimum reforms by the opposition who now want the constitution to be changed so that a President must be elected by over 51% of the votes cast, meaning that we would almost certainly have a run off in 2007, if this is passed.

ODM Western Kenya Rally: Emotions Are Blinding Us As Usual

Kenyan Political Views Always Charged With Emotion

I remember shortly before the general election in 2002, I met my former Kanu-think-tank operative and I asked him what he thought about a Kibaki presidency. By this time, not only had he fallen out with kanu and Moi, but he was seeking ways to sue them over a certain squabble he had over money with the former president’s aide, Joshua Kulei.

His reply floored me and left a bad taste in my mouth.

I’ll never forget what he said:
Easy Blogger Creator
- The difference between Kibaki and Moi is the same.
- While we kill each other in the streets the two will castigate each other and then go out for a cup of tea together in secret.
- If I was expecting change in Kenya, I was dreaming.

That really hurt. I hated him for it. But I just smiled and told him that we shall just have to wait and see.

Well… We have waited and we have seen. And he was absolutely 1,000% correct.

This is really the big problem with political opinions. They are always so emotionally charged. We are always seeking reasons to support our preference and we call those reasons “facts.”

Just though I should pass this information on to all those die-hard supporters of ODM Kenya who are sure there will be changes if we elect this Kanu-line-up-2002 guys into power in 2007.

You may have a bad taste in your mouth now but by 2009 you may be having your regrets while you're an economic refugee in Spain or some place like that having gotten there in some dhow across the ocean like all those poor West Africans risk their lives daily doing. Or you may have arrived somehwere in Europe as cargo (heard about this latest illegal immigrants technique?)

These old guys don't have the sort of ideas and thinking needed to help get us out of the mess we are in.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

ODM Eldoret Rally: Memories of 2002 And 1997

A colleague of mine has been depressed since yesterday's well-attended ODM rally in Eldoret.

"How could so many people show up? Kenya is finished if they are going to elect those crooks."

I will tell you exactly what I told my anxious colleague.

Hindsight is a good thing because it helps one put things in perspective.

Flashback March 2002; The much-talked-about "marriage" between Raila Odinga's NDP and Kanu had just been consummated. It was clear that this was the party that was going to carry the 2002 general elections. Raila gave a speech about two rivers joining to become one major "unstoppable" river. For all intents and purposes this election was already decided.

But then everybody forgot that the party nominee to be presidential flag bearer had yet to be elected (or rather selected). One day is a long time in politics, let alone a month. At the end of this saga Raila Odinga left Kanu in a huff and joined up with opposition kingpins, Kibaki, Ngilu and the late Kijana Wamalwa to form the National Rainbow Coalition.

Flashback November 1997; Just weeks to the general election presidential candidates presented their papers to the electoral commission. Two presidential hopefuls really impressed in this exercise. NDP's Raila Odinga and SDP's (Social Democratic Party) Charity Kaluki Ngilu. Just looking at the crowds that the two drew, you would be excused for being convinced that one of them would win the elections.

Alas, when the results came in Raila was third and Ngilu a very disappointing fourth. The winner and runner-up both quietly presented their papers wisely leaving their campaign team where they were most useful out there in the constituencies talking to voters, not holding a show for the cameras in the city and spending money on hired hands to impress.

The ODM rally in Eldoret was a huge success but let us bear in mind the following facts;

- It is way too early to start speculating. It is not even a year to the polls yet.

- ODM Kenya and Narc Kenya have clearly shown their strategy, which is similar to the 2002 one. That is using tribal chiefs to popularize the party. There are really no new ideas here. Just the perfect scenario for a third force to come in and strategize knowing full well exactly what to expect. The new third force will have the advantage of surprise and an angry unpredictable electorate.

- Both the ODM and NARC Kenya have started the campaign very early. What will they be telling people in one year's time? By that time they'll be exhausted and the electorate will be sick of hearing the same old things. Again just the perfect scenario for a third force.

I keep on talking about a third force, but what will in fact happen is that the field will be crowded with many other candidates, mostly younger people. By the time the elections arrive, ODM will be in tatters and Narc Kenya will be desperately trying to damage control and keep their sinking boat afloat. Voters will be itching to teach the incumbents a lesson.

If this were a sprint, ODM would have won hands down. If it were a middle distance race Narc Kenya and Kibaki would have won easily. Luckily for Kenya this is a marathon. ODM and Narc have started off at a blistering pace, but there's the long climb ahead and plenty of treacherous terrain ahead. Have no fear this race is still very open

Just remember that this is the first place where you read this prediction, when it comes to pass.

==================
Is The Raila Spell Broken? New Things The Luo Are Saying About Him

Kikwete And Bush Discuss Kenya

Ruto The Young But Most Corrupt Presidential Candidate


Biography Spills Kenyan Secrets.

Silly Tribalism.

The Nation Is Such A Potent Political Weapon. Why?

Pressure Mounts On Kikwete Government As Tanzanian Crisis Worsens

Fire Rages In Tanzania As Kiwkete Busies Himself With Diplomatic Duty For Kenya

The leader of the main opposition party in Tanzania, CUF, Prof Ibrahium Lipumba, has issued stinging unprecedented criticism of President Jakaya Kiwete's government. In a report published in the Nation media group owned Mwananchi newspaper recently, Lipumba asked Kikwete to reduce his foreign trips and stay home more to tackle the major problems facing the nation. He wondered what the president was doing trying to woe investors abroad when the national power grid was slowly grinding to a halt.

Elsewhere investors in the country have demanded that the government addresses the two major problems facing businesses at the moment. Namely the energy crisis and the
Easy Blogger Creator
free falling Tanzanian shilling. They warned that by early next month the two major towns of Arusha and Mwanza will be plunged into total darkness as the national grid in those areas totally grounds to a halt and fails altogether.

As all this is happening in his backyard, President Kikwete has been busy doing diplomatic duty for Kenya discussing alleged "instability" in the country with President George W. Bush. His foreign trips have also been numerous and have included a curious stop in Spain's famous Real Madrid club to receive a Real Madrid jersey with his name printed on the back.

==================
Is The Raila Spell Broken? New Things The Luo Are Saying About Him

Kikwete And Bush Discuss Kenya

Ruto The Young But Most Corrupt Presidential Candidate


Biography Spills Kenyan Secrets.

Silly Tribalism.

The Nation Is Such A Potent Political Weapon. Why?

An MBA Has Always Magically Opened Doors

Message from our sponsors:
An MBA degree changes everything. And now you can easily get iit online.

Get it from a recognized name in online universities, like Capela University.

Founded in 1993, Capella University is an accredited online university that offers graduate degree programs in business, information technology, education, human services, and psychology, and bachelor’s degree programs in business and information technology.

This online university currently serves 16,000 students worldwide from 63 countries.

Caela is committed to providing high-caliber academic excellence and pursuing balanced business growth. Capella University is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Capella Education Company, headquartered in Minneapolis. For more information, please visit www.capella.edu.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Kenya Security: Trouble Brewing With Somalia

I hate myself for some of the things that I write, because I seem to end up being proved correct most of the time, to the detriment of the nation.

A certain regular visitor recently doubted whether Kenya has any enemies and I happen to have mentioned Somalia. Now the radical Islamic courts militia has closed the border with Kenya (the first step you would take before declaring war) and have gone further to say that they will treat any peace-keeping mission entering the country in the same way they would an invading army.

The power of the Islamic Courts Council, which controls most of Mogadishu, seems to be increasing by the day and could pose serious threats to national security interests of Kenya in days to come.

Already most of the illegal weapons that kill and maim in Kenya can be traced back to that troubled nation.

P.S. : For the sake of the uninformed who think Kenya can win a war with Somalia militias in 5 minutes let me inform you that the Shifta war which started in the 60s has never really ended (the all got busier in Magadishu hence the reduced attacks). These guys are masters of guerilla warfare as the Ameicans found out under President Clinton. They'll cross the desert on half a glass of water to kill and maim and then dissapear in the desert. These are guys you certainly don't want to mess with.

==================
Is The Odinga Spell Broken? New Things The Luo Are Saying About Raila

Kikwete And Bush Discuss Kenya

Ruto The Young Corrupt Presidential Candidate


Biography Spills Kenyan military secrets.

Here's why tribalism is so silly.

The Daily Nation Newspaper Is Such A Potent Political Weapon.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

BREAKING NEWS: New Kenyan Ambassador To The United States Appointed

STOP PRESS

A new Kenyan ambassador to the United States (pictured below) whose name this blogger could not get immediately has been appointed in circumstances that are not clear.

The new Kenyan ambassador to the United States


The new ambassador recently had lengthy discussions with President George W. Bush about the alleged instability in Kenya. Kenya is the country next to another one that is having a power rationing regime now approaching almost 24 hours. It is believed that this pitch darkness in neighboring Tanzania is what has caused instability in Kenya.

The new ambassador has also been seen with President Kibaki on one or two occassions in State House. (This is confirmed information).

There are rumours that the new Kenyan ambassador is not actually a Kenyan. As I wrote this post, it was not immediately clear whether the new ambassador had bought citizenship to Kenya from the notoriously corrupt Kenyan immigration department.

There are also reports from other reliable sources that the new ambassador was only recently appointed to a new senior post in a neighboring country where he is yet to show results while other analysts say his performance so far has been seriously wanting. One wonders whether we are about to have another Artur-like saga in the country.

Analysts fear that the new Kenyan ambassador to the US, who is well known for his hatred of Kenyans, may not be well informed enough about the country and it's affairs to represent Kenya in such an important capacity. Others argue that there is nothing that a good briefing cannot do.

The new Kenyan ambassador to the United States pictured with President Kibaki in this recent photo.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Thugs Shoot Dead Saleswoman For Kshs 2,000 ($27)

A Sales assistant at a wines and spirits shop in a Nairobi estate was on Monday afternoon shot dead by a three-man gang moments after she had received a small payment from a customer.

Ms Julia Njoki was shot twice in the chest at a wines and spirits shop in the sprawling Kayole Estate in Nairobi. The incident took place in broad daylight at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

But the most shocking thing about the whole episode was the fact that the gang snatched a paltry Kshs 2,000 from the dead woman.

Divided amongst the three thugs that is Kshs 666 each. Hardly the kind of money to take this sort of risk for. What is coming to Nairobi?

What makes the whole situation even more worrying is the fact that a lot of crimes like these ones usually go unreported.


Other Hot Stories In This Blogs

Bush And Kikwete Discuss Kenya

William Ruto The Young Presidential Candidate


Biography reveals Kenyan military secrets.

Why tribalism is so silly.

Why The Daily Nation Is Such A Potent Political Weapon.

Bush Discusses Instability In Kenya With Kikwete

"These Kenyans are such pests. They have flooded my country seeking refugee status from their financial problems and instability at home and taking the jobs away from Tanzanians. I hear they are also a problem to you Bwana Bush, living in this country illegally…"


A very funny joke this one. I wonder what President Kikwete said. Surely he did not speak his mind otherwise he would have said something like;

"Yep. Those guys are such pests. They have flooded my country seeking refugee status from their financial problems at home and taking the jobs away from Tanzanians. I hear they are also a problem to you Bwana Bush, living in this country illegally.

"What do you think we should do to them? Personally I have issued instructions to all my people to be careful about Kenyans. In fact I barred some tour drivers from entering my country with tourists the other day. Imagine the cheek, when I have my own tour drivers for that…"


On a more serious note consider the following facts;

• At the moment there is much more instability in Tanzania with a crippling 12 hour power rationing regime (on a daily basis). Many businesses have closed down and hyper inflation is setting in. The power rationing going on in that country is unprecedented in East and Central Africa.

• The serious economic crisis developing in Tanzania is a threat to the economic stability of the East African Community.

• In a basket of major foreign currencies traded in Tanzania that includes the dollar, euros, pound sterling, yen etc. the Kenya Shilling is second only to the dollar in terms of daily volumes traded. (Serious Kenyan dealers have no idea what the Tanzanian shilling looks like). Kenya is also the foreign investor that has created the highest number of jobs in Tanzania…

• …And yet there is currently a deliberate (but quiet) policy by President Kikwete’s government to frustrate Kenyan investors and businesspersons operating in the country. Not to mention Tanzania’s stalling tactics at the East African community that is costing tax payers in all 3 East African countries a fortune…

• There is plenty of evidence to suggest that many investors in Tanzania are dumping the rapidly depreciating Tanzanian shilling in favor of the more stable Kenyan shilling. So which country is more stable, Mr Bush?

• Experts estimate that Tanzania is about 20 years behind Kenya in terms of development. Those who have visited the country and seen the lazy-yet-know-it-all attitude of the people put the real figure at closer to half a century-with no hope of catching up (especially with the attitude being displayed currently at the EAC).

President Bush must have gotten his geography and facts a little mixed up. Poor guy, it’s been a very taxing 6 years as President of the most powerful nation in the world, especially with Osama breathing down his neck.

P.S. To add insult to injury Bush has promised to visit Tanzania soon. My advice to the Bush Presidential party. Do not forget two very important items. Namely plenty of generators to generate your own electricity and an interprator who understands Kiswahili, broken English and proper English.
==================
Other Hot Stories In This Blogs

Biography reveals Kenyan military secrets.

Why tribalism is so silly.

Why The Daily Nation Is Such A Potent Political Weapon.

William Ruto The Young Presidential Candidate

Ekdoret North MP William ‘YK92’ Ruto has a point when he says that Kalonzo Musyoka (52) and Raila Odinga (60) both had their time for the presidency used up by Moi and now Kiabki and that it is time for younger leadership.

Ruto goes on to say that at 40, he is the best-suited presidential candidate for ODM Kenya. This last point I disagree with, as many Kenyan voters will surely do.

This man who (with others like Jirongo) has helped make millions of Kenyans much poorer causing hyper inflation by distributing an almost endless supply of 500 shilling notes to win the first multi-party elections for Kanu in 1992, is definitely not the kind of presidential material that Kenya needs at this crucial time.

==================
Other Hot Stories In This Blogs

Biography reveals Kenyan military secrets.

Why tribalism is so silly.

Why The Daily Nation Is Such A Potent Political Weapon.

Joshua Kulei: From Prison Warden To Multi-Billionaire

Since the general elections are just round the corner, the government is making all the "necessary election-time noises."

Cases of corruption involving big names are suddenly in the news again.

Remember Former Treasury PS Wilfred Koinange? He will begin to challenge his prosecution over the 5.8 billion Goldenberg affair in about two weeks.

Remember Joshua Kulei, retired President Moi’s former aide? A case in which he is seeking to stop the anti-corruption agency from compelling him to declare his wealth is to be speeded up.

Kenyans expected that things would move fast after electing the Narc government on a platform of zero tolerance on corruption. Four years down the road and after the Anglo Leasing mega-scandal, nothing has happened except the usual game of musical chairs where everybody goes round in circles but nothing really changes or moves forward.

Is there really any political will to do something about people like Joshua Kulei when Moi has warmed up so much to President Kibaki in recent times?

==================
Other Hot Stories In This Blogs

Kenyan military secrets revealed by ex-soldier.

Tribalism is so silly.

Changes At The Daily Nation And Why It Is Such A Potent Political Weapon.

Time Is Up: The boiling pot That Is Kenya and the gap between the have nothings and the have everything (something will have to give... soon)

The Middle Class vanished And Today Two Very Different Classes (One Affluent, The Other In The Gutter) Live Side By Side. How Long Can The Peace Hold?
This article was written in 2006 but is more relevant just now than it has ever been.

The Day starts in two very different ways for two Kenyans living within barely 100 metres of each other.

For Derrick living in a comfortable Golf course house that his parents own, he must wake up in the wee hours to read for his upcoming O level exams. He prefers to read with soft music playing in the background and that means switching on the CD player. It is cold outside but the solid 3-bedroomed maisonette and the heavy dressing gown that his uncle sent from London keep the 17 year old fairly warm.

Barely 100 metres away over a high wall that divides the Golf course estate and the Kibera slums yet another O level candidate, 18-year old Gloria is far from being warm. And neither does she have the privilege of a warm dressing gown although in the tiny corrugated iron sheet room that she calls home, she definitely needs it a lot more than Derrick does in his parents warm house. The fact that Gloria has gotten this far in her education is a miracle. It is barely 5 am but her mother got up to go to the popular wholesale vegetable market, Marikiti at least an hour earlier, catching the special matatu that carries early morning traders to the market. She fetches vegetables and other groceries to sell at her small kiosk at Golf Course Estate and sometimes door to door when business is bad.

Gloria’s concentration is interrupted by the noisy lovemaking going on right next door. There is really no privacy in the houses separated by a re-cycled corrugated iron sheet that has seen better days. For a moment she wonders whether their neighbor, Ipite ever worries about Aids. The man who works as a shop assistant somewhere on River Road seems to have only one mission in life to bed anything in skirts. Only the previous week he had made a pass at her…

This is the boiling pot that is Kenya, with only two distinct classes. Namely the have-everything’s and the have-nothing’s. represented here by Derrick and Gloria both Form four candidates living two very different lives barely within 100 metres of each other.

It is normal to have poor people in society anywhere in the world, but the sad thing here is that Derrick’s parents are wealthy from corruption. The same corruption that keeps Gloria’s mother poor and quickly suffocates any chances of her getting out of the Kibera slums and living a better life in spite of the fact that she works so hard.

The poverty in Kenya is politically-generated and corruption-generated.

Derrick will probably be making very opinionated comments in this blog in a few years about the future of Kenya, after a solid university education somewhere, if not locally then abroad. Gloria will most likely never get to hear about this blog in her life time. A computer is still something of a mystery (let alone the Internet) to her since her secondary school cannot afford a computer lab like Derricks’s expensive private school. The exam she is about to sit is a do or die situation for her. But then even if she were to do well, the obstacles standing between her and a university education are colossal. Her vegetable-selling single-mother will certainly not be able to afford any university education. Her only chance will be to do well enough to make it into one of the local public universities.

The irony of it all is that if by some strange twist of fate the two Kenyans end up in a situation where they are chasing the same job then Gloria does not stand a chance in hell or anywhere else. Her single mother being a-nobody and corruption not withstanding. And then if it gets any further than that, most employers in Kenya these days do not consider anybody without a university degree. Even cleaners and night guards are graduates these days. The odds are stacked heavily against Gloria ever getting a university education.

Reading through newspaper headlines these days, one gets a feeling that something will have to give soon. There are just too many frustrated people in this country who have never heard half a chance in their lives.

In a recent newspaper there was a news report about running battles between hawkers on the streets f Nairobi and City Council Askaris that left one female askari badly injured. In the same newspaper there were reports about squatters who had defied an order to move even after their house and property were destroyed.

That is the boiling pot that is Kenya. How long will the peace hold if the current government is re-elected and life continues as usual?

Other Interesting Articles In This Blog:

Biography reveals Kenyan military secrets.

Why tribalism is so silly.

Why The Daily Nation Is Such A Potent Political Weapon.

------
What exactly scared Ruto and Raila into talks they hate?

ICC chief prosecutor sneaked into the country... very strange

Uhuru Kenyatta family and Pauline Njoroge's strange holiday

Secret reason Raila insisted on a mediator


Jinxed August arrives in a deadly tense Kenya

Ruto tricks vs Raila tricks, who is winning?

Ruto stirs up the Sudan hornet's nest and the Sudanese respond with the biggest cyber attack on Kenya in history


Raila's secret plan in insisting on a mediator: He knows Ruto too well


Uhuru shocking revealed to editors who ordered police brutality

Uhuru hidden hand in frustrating UDA plan to plant evidence and finish Uhuru people

Things Uhuru said when he locked himself in with media editors




Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Interesting Wedding Ideas

Message From Our Sponsors:

Long gone are the days of predictable sit-down dinners the night before the wedding. Couples are instead learning how to get really creative and as a result are ending up making the day such a roaring success, that will not quickly be forgotten.

Here is just one idea out of many from cheap wedding favors. Will the honeymoon be at some tropical location? Why not give the guests a hint in having a BBQ Bash over burgers and home made food that guests from both sides of the family can bring in? Picnic tables will usually allow everybody to interact casually as they pass the food.

Tables can be decorated with wild flowers to help emphasize the tropical atmosphere.

==============
Leading Stories in Kumekucha Today

Kenyan Youths Are Not Idiots.

Biography reveals Kenyan military secrets.

Why tribalism is so silly.

Why The Daily Nation Is Such A Potent Political Weapon.

Monday, September 18, 2006

What President Kibaki And His Closest Aides Think Of Younger Generation Leaders

My firm conviction is that the younger generation in this nation will confound critics and rise to the occasion, at this, the nation’s hour of need. It does not matter what newspaper surveys say about how ignorant they are.

But my main point in making this post was to leave no doubt on the minds of Kenyans what the leaders in this country think about a younger generation of Kenyan leaders taking over power in 2007.

You will remember at the height of the memorandum of understanding quarrel between the Kibaki camp and the LDP camp, the President used a public meeting to warn a certain young man. Analysts are convince that the President was referring to Raila Odinga, although Raila denied it (probably to dare the president to name names).

Now if President Kibaki considers Raila a young man, then any 45 year old seeking leadership in this country is a “toddler”.

What is important here is for Kenyans to realize where this thinking is coming from. The Kibaki administration has hinted severally that it is an administration that aspires to be closely linked to the Kenyatta administration in the way they do their things. The thinking behind this is for the golden era (when the president was finance minister) should be recreated in Kenya. This is one reason why this administration has run into so many problems tackling the main problems facing the nation, namely unemployment and escalating crime. There can be no solutions from the 70s for these two twin-related challenges. But that is a story for another post.

The point to be made here is that people like the President himself were often teased by older cabinet ministers because of their youthful ages. It is instructive that the youthful ministers in Jomo Kenyatta’s administration were the most brilliant. Two names come to mind immeditaley. Fiannce Minister Mwai Kibaki and Minsiter for Economic Planning Tom Mboya. However advanced age was greatly valued in those days and there is no doubt that there were plenty of derogatory references to “young men.”

That is where the President is coming from and this explains why those surrounding him are of the age where staying awake in the afternoons can be quite challenging at times (cabinet meetings in Kenya are mostly held on Thursday afternoons).

Younger generation candidates, especially for the presidency, should prepare their strategy well with these facts in mind.

This is one of the reasons why I have suggested that the thrust of the compaign should be repackaged to stress new leadership and new ideas (which can only come from younger Kenyans).

==============
Leading Stories in Kumekucha Today

Kenyan Youths Are Not Idiots.

Biography reveals Kenyan military secrets.

Why tribalism is so silly.

Why The Daily Nation Is Such A Potent Political Weapon.

Discount Vacation Packages

Message From Our Sponsors:

What you really need to make a huge difference in your life may be a short break.

With a wide range of cheap holidays available on the World Wide Web, there is absolutely no excuse for not taking that well-deserved break. You can get Discount Vacation Packages from folks like Fairfield Getaways who offer weekend getaways, family vacations, and travel packages that include hotel accommodation and extras to top destinations.

Spend you next vacation on a relaxing beach in Destin, Florida or trying your luck in Las Vegas. Whatever your vacation desires Fairield Getaways are useful people to talk to about what you have in mind for the ideal holiday or short break.
==============
Leading Stories in Kumekucha Today

Kenyan Youths Are Not Idiots.

Biography reveals Kenyan military secrets.

Why tribalism is so silly.

Why The Daily Nation Is Such A Potent Political Weapon.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Kenyan Youth Are Not Idiots

There is a rather interesting research the Nation did to prove a point that somebody is very determined to prove. The results are published in today's edition of the Sunday Nation. The point that somebody somewhere seems determined to prove is that the youth are idiots and have no chance of being issue-oriented if they do not know anything about Kenya's past. One respondent was shocked that Mwai Kibaki was once vice president.

The questions in this so-called survey were clearly designed to discredit younger leaders and even voters well ahead of the general elections.

Guess what all this means? Somebody has started feeling the heat.
==================
Main Features At Kumekucha Today

Big Changes At The Nation Media Group And What They Mean For Kenya.

Kenyan military secrets were revealed in biography.

Tribalism is so silly. Here's why

The Big Daily Nation Mistake Kanu Made in 2002.

Online shopping Special

Message From Our Sponsors:

Online shoppers can now guarantee savings of upto 25% even as they give to their favorite charities. CNN calls using the online shopping portal that gives you this, "A No Brainer."

Actually shopping on the web has never been easier and giving to charity while you are at it is now a breeze. Throw in online coupons and the best deals on the web for good measure.

An easy-to-use online shopping portal that gives consumers cash back whenever they shop online at more than 800 name-brand stores has announced that members can now automatically donate the cash-back they earn directly to their favorite charity while shopping. Ebates (www.ebates.com) has with this announcement made it very easy for online shoppers to save and send money to any charity or non-profit organization fo their choice including those assisting victims of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississipi.

Blogs Perform Better In Google's New Search Tool

Business Special:

Blogs perform much better in Google's new search tool (still in beta). Search engine giant Google has recently begun beta testing their accessible web search for the visually challenged. And some initial tests by USWeb show that results are significantly better on Google Accessible search.

Accessible Search is available on Google’s experimental software site at http://labs.google.com/accessible. You can test out some search terms for yourself and see what you think.

What seems consistent with both the regular search engine and the new experimental Google Accessible search is that clients handled by USWeb, including USWeb themselves tend to always rank very highly in most relevant keyword searches.

Not surprising when you consider that USWeb are industry leaders with a proven track record in search engine optimization, USWeb will naturally optimize your Website to ensure that you achieve and maintain high rankings for your keywords and in the Internet's leading search engines and directories.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Special Message From Our Sponsors: Airsoft

The Airsoft sport really took off in Japan in the early 80s at a time when it was illegal to own firearms in that country, just as it is in Kenya today. During the latter part of the 1980s the sport migrated to neighboring countries such as Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Airsoft started appearing in North America and Europe during the middle of the 1990's.

Airsoft guns are 1:1 scale replicas of actual firearms that fire 6mm, round, plastic pellets commonly called as "BB's" which are propelled out of the guns by compressed air.

A web site founded in 2004 called Zephyrpaintball.com now carries cheap airsoft guns. The site has Airsoft pistols and rifles arriving daily from Firepower, KWA and China Airsoft. One of the main objectives in founding Zephyrpaintball.com was to bring low prices, customer service and fast shipping to the paintball world.

==================
Main Features At Kumekucha Today

Big Changes At The Nation Media Group And What They Mean For Kenya.

Kenyan military secrets were revealed in biography.

Tribalism is so silly. Here's why

The Big Daily Nation Mistake Kanu Made in 2002.

Big Changes At The Nation Group: What They Mean

The Nation media Group had some big news of its own to announce this week. Chief Executive Wilfred Kiboro (62) is retiring and will be replaced at the helm of the largest media company in the region by a Mr Linus Gitahi (39). Mr Gitahi, a Kenyan has been managing director of GlaxoSmithKline for West Africa, based in Lagos, since 2003.

The changes at the helm of the group are very significant news more so because of the timing. The country is rapidly hurtling towards a crucial general elections expected late next year. If there is any medium that can be credited for having done the most to bring the Narc government to power then it has to be the Nation group. Both the Daily Nation and NTV did an excellent job of portraying leading figures in Narc (includiong President Kibaki) in positive light ahead of the 2002 elections.

My prediction is that this time, the Nation group is set to play an even bigger role in helping decide who will be in the next government and more importantly who the fourth president of the republic of Kenya will be. (see my other post).

Mr Kiboro is to stay on as a special advisor to the board to ensure continuity and a smooth transfer. In fact Mr Kiboro’s influence will continue to straddle the Nation group for a long time to come.

In the same statement announcing Kiboro’s retirement, another significant appointment was also announced; that of Dennis Aluanga from group finance director to a newly created post of chief operating officer with direct responsibilities for group finance, newspaper operations and group strategy.

This is a major reorganization of the top echelons of the Nation media group and they speak volumes.

It makes Dennis Aluanga, almost joint chief executive officer in charge of finance and in many ways the de facto boss at the Nation group. Effectively it also means that Mr Kiboro who has single-handedly overseen Mr Aluanga’s meteoric rise to the top, remains a very influential man at the Nation Center, even in his absence. This reorganiozation could also mean a lot more power for experienced editorial director Wangethi Mwangi.

To give credit where it is due, Mr Kiboro will go down in history as the most successful Nation Media group chief executive so far. There is no doubt that he has brought more professionalism into the media house. Without doubt his biggest achievement has been the birth and rapid growth of one of the hottest divisions within the group namely the Nation Courier Services.

This star subsidiary single-handedly gives the Nation an edge in terms of newspaper distribution and makes it very difficult for any new entrant competitor to challenge the newspaper’s top position in newspaper circulation. Newspaper distribution in many African countries is a serious challenge and can easily turn high newspaper sales into a loss making exercise in futility. The main reason has always been the fact that trucks travel deep into the countryside to deliver newspapers where there is no guarantee of 100 per cent sales. They than have to make the return trip with no cargo other than unsold newspapers. The courier service introduced and strengthened during Mr Kiboro’s reign is a good idea at the right time because mobile telephony and the Internet have dramatically increased the demand for courier services all over the world. This Nation service means that the group can deliver newspapers for free while courier clients pay the bills. They can then later charge the hefty expenses between the companies for tax reasons.

Mr Kiboro will not ride to the sunset without regrets and failures to muse over. Top on his list will be two babies that didn’t quite make it. They are the company’s decision to invest in Tanzania without adequate research on the political thinking and culture in that country and the authoritative EastAfrican newspaper. Although both these investments have shown profits in the books, the reality on the ground is that they have performed well below the high group standards. The EastAfrican, an excellent newspaper unmatched in quality has many similarities to Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian, in that it is a prestige project that does not make very much money. It even eats into Daily Nation newspaper sales on Mondays, when daily newspapers are usually thin on hard news.

The Tanzanian fiasco that saw 6 senior members of staff being deported from that country under mysterious circumstances was swiftly followed by the refusal of the Tanzanian immigration department to renew the work permit of the Country manager Mr Waweru over what insiders say was a careless (though factual) comment at a social function about the working habits of Tanzanians.

The situation now is that Tanzanian managers are busy trying to prove themselves under strict supervision from Nairobi, as a rival joint venture between the East African Standard and Tanzanian media magnate Reginald Mengi continues to take off like a rocket. The venture has two newspapers, namely This Day and Kuli Koni, a Swahili title. It is clear that the Standard newspapers approach was the right direction to take in this strange East African member state.

The main cash cow sustaining the group in that country is the Mwananchi newspaper which has gained tremendously from the Nation’s understanding and strength in the distribution of newspapers.

==================
Biography reveals Kenyan military secrets.

Why tribalism is so silly.

Why The Daily Nation Is Such A Potent Political Weapon.

Why The Daily Nation Is Such A Potent Political Weapon And The Big Mistake Kanu Made In 2002

In retrospect we can say that the biggest mistake Kanu made in 2002 was to keep a close eye on the government controlled KBC as well as the popular KTN TV stations while completely ignoring the then very new NTV. What ended up happening is that despite its’ very limited reach then, the brand new TV station was very effective in helping to create perceptions and shape public opinion on certain key candidates in Narc which were then rapidly passed on by word of mouth and the greatly under-rated “word of SMS”.

Kanu also greatly under-rated the effect of the Daily Nation newspaper would have on the electorate and the direction voters would swing in. This is a mistake many continue to make today, it all emerges from the current situation in the media world which is changing too fast these days. So much so that it is easy to make the wrong call.

A brief example here will drive this point home better. In 1997 the first woman presidential candidate in the history of East and central Africa, Charity Kaluki Ngilu got some excellent press in the Daily Nation. Reading this newspaper in the run up to the elections that year, it looked like she was going to carry the day and be credited with having removed President Moi from power where many men before her had failed.

Then Kanu hawk, Mvita MP and cabinet minister, Shariff Nassir made a statement a few days before election day to the effect that Mrs Ngilu was a creation of the media and that she was not known at the grass roots level. Then fire-spitting Kanu general secretary J.J. Kamotho made an even more curious statement. He warned some un-named enemies of Kanu that they were mistaken of they thought they would repeat what they had done in the Philippines, here in Kenya.

Kamotho was referring to the rumors that were then rife in Nairobi then that Ngilu’s well-oiled and well funded presidential campaign had support from the Americans. By mentioning the Philippines, he was referring to the successful people’s revolution in that country that had put Corazon Aquino into power. It was widely believed that that particular “revolution” was heavily funded and “helped along” by CIA operatives in that country.

What Kanotho was saying in brief was that Mrs Ngilu had no chance of winning the presidency.

Both men were proved correct after the elections because Mrs Ngilu surprisingly trailed NDP’s Raila Odinga and DP’s Mwai Kibaki who was runner up in that year to Moi.

Most in the Kanu think tank in 2002 therefore ignored the Daily Nation assuming that a repeat of 1997 would unfold. They even did very little to counter some slick but hard hitting Narc full page advertisements that were carried in that newspaper. That mistake proved to be fatal.

Although over the years the reach of the Daily Nation has shrunk dramatically, its’ influence has increased in leaps and bounds. In simpler language circulation has not kept up with population growth over the years, but it’s influence and power has grown tremendously. Thanks in part to technology and specifically both email and mobile phones which have had a major and yet still unrecognized impact in the way information and news is re-distributed and ultimately on how public opinion is formed.
==================
New book reveals dangerous Kenyan military secrets.

Why tribalism is so ridiculous.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

John Githongo Set To Return to Kenya

Former Ethics PS John Githongo has said in a BBC radio interview last night that he will be returning to Kenya from exile soon.

Although he did not specify when exactly he would be returning, he gave an ominous clue. He said it was a matter of timing and “the next stage of his life.”

This could be exciting news. Would “the next stage of his life” mean a political future? This blogger has a feeling that it does. This could be the best news Kenyans have heard for a long time, more so the new generation of younger Kenyans poised to challenge for leadership in 2007 that has not heard a serious name so far, especially a possible presidential candidate.

Githongo has denied his interest in the presidency several times. However those who hosted him and financed his trips across Europe and the US may have other ideas. More so because many in the West are getting increasingly impatient with the corrupt leadership holding up the potential of the country for selfish gain.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Sumbeiywo Biography: Good Soldier, Dangerous Book

Special Focus On General Lazarus Sumbeiywo's Biography

It is rapidly emerging that the new biography released by General Lazarus Sumbeiywo last week (written by East African Standard journalist Waithaka Waihenya) has many inconsistencies that contradict earlier reports on some very important events in Kenya’s history. Secondly a lot of the information that is accurate in the book is a threat to the country’s national security. More so at a time when the situation in many neighboring countries is so fluid and uncertain.

The account of the coup and the President’s confidence does not tally with other eyewitness reports including this blogger’s (see my other post on this). At a time when the nation is trying to fill in the blanks on some very important and crucial events in her history, accuracy is very important and this is not really the time to do Andrew-Morton-like biographies designed to clean up images of past administrations. (Andrew Morton was Princess Diana’s biographer who also wrote an infamous biography on former president Moi that claimed foreign minister Ouko’s assassination was masterminded by fellow-Luo and powerful PS in the office of the president Hezekiah Oyugi for reasons to do with Luo politics.)

What seemed even stranger to me but could have easily been a coincidence was the Lifestyle feature in the Sunday Nation (this last Sunday) that highlighted the Christian faith in the general. As if to put a final stamp of approval on the total “gospel truth” in his book. Many Kenyans believe that everything they read in the Daily Nation is the truth making it a spin doctor’s and propaganda perpetrator’s dream come true.

Above anything else the book paints a picture of former President Moi that is too glowing and unrealistic. For instance the book does not discuss the former President’s role in the deterioration of standards in the military (which the general corrected. More on that later in this post), through appointments that seemed to favor certain communities while sidelining others. Why for instance was General Opande overlooked for many senior posts in the military that he so richly deserved? Was it because he hails from the DhoLuo tribe and these were the main perpetrators of the failed 1982 coup? Was Major Ikenye eased out by being sent for further training abroad? Ever heard of a valued ADC being sent for further training, never to return to his post?

The rules are that you don’t attempt this kind of biography unless you are going to tell it all as it is. This is a tall order for any high ranking military person.

It is understandable that this is a book that must have gone through numerous revisions that would have necessitated the omission of certain details for security reasons. But even then there is too much that still got through that now leaves the country vulnerable to its’ enemies and would-be enemies.

For example, the general talks at length about the lack of discipline in the military as a result of political patronage. He then goes on to describe his valiant cleaning up exercise. The danger here is that not much has changed in the way the political establishment is run making a repeat of the same situation likely. An enemy of the country with this information will have a much easier job of gauging the situation and then doing the necessary snooping around to find out when history will repeat itself and using this information against the interests of the nation.

But the information I really bulked at was where the general describes the change of strategy in the military which necessitated training by the British on how to approach warfare by focusing in on the weaknesses of the enemy! What? Do we want all and sundry to know our military thinking and strategy?

There are many other examples of dangerous information in the book.

If I were to make the call, this is a biography that was published at least 5 years too early.
================
Tom Mboya Was A Victim Of Security of The State

How Moi's Bodyguard Stopped Him From Exposing Himself To Snipers

Special Focus On General Lazarus Sumbeiywo's Biography

Retired General Lazarus Sumbeiywo’s description of the happenings during the 1982 coup attempt raises a lot of questions and creates confusion due to many inconsistencies with earlier, widely circulated reports.

The General describes in great detail what the military codenamed then Operation maji machafu meaning dirty water and aptly described bringing the President from Nakuru to Nairobi (wading dirty water) in the midst of unaccounted for rebel Air Force soldiers who were on the run and had taken refuge amongst ordinary cibilians shortly after the coup was crashed. The only problem is that the account contradicts even known evidence on the ground at the time.

I personally viewed President Moi’s Televised address to the nation on the evening of August 1st 1982 and what I saw was not a confident President eager to address wananchi as the book tries to convince us. In fact President Moi was clearly very shaken and he looked terrified with tears visibly in his eyes. The events that followed including a total transformation in his leadership style and the purge on mostly imagined enemies of the state does not tally with what is in the General’s biography about a confident president unfazed and keen to meet the public and restore confidence.

The book describes an incident where the president was eager to address a crowd at Kenya Cinema but his ADC Major Ikenye was insistent that he does not open the hatch at the top of the presidential limousine to wave to the people. The book says that the ADC feared that the president would be exposed to snipers. Rather dramatically the account goes on to reveal that the very next day some airforce soldiers were flushed out of hiding in the very same building.
================
Who Killed Tom Mboya? The Secret Is Out!

Was The Title Appropriate?

Special Focus On General Lazarus Sumbeiywo's Biography

The Mediator? Was this a suitable title for a biography on a soldier who achieved many other milestones in the Kenyan military? Sounds more like the sort of biography Henry Kissinger or another Secretary of State mediating Middle East peace would write.

The general’s accomplishment in the Sudan talks will no doubt go down in history as a significant achievement but surely this is not an appropriate title.

Waithaka Waihenya is a thorough journalist with excellent language skills but he should have realized that the title is so important that leading book publishers and even moviemakers these days hire consultants whose only task is to come up with ideas for the title.
================
Why Tom Mboya Had To Die

Mandatally Manji: One Of Kenya’s Greatest Entrepreneurs Passes On

On 9th September 2006 one of the greatest entrepreneurs Kenya has ever produced passed on quietly. Most of the local media missed the news completely.

Who was Mandatally Manji? He founded the House of Manji biscuit empire that for years controlled the regional market for these products. Staring out with a small bakery in Ngara Manji build up a huge bread factory and then moved on to biscuits when he fell out with his business partners.

Manji grew up in Karatina (near Nyeri) and cut his teeth as a hawker in the market during his lunch break from school.

In honour of this great departed Kenyan business icon, I would like to share the entrepreneurial lesson that I took away from his fascinating biography which I had the privilege of reading in its’ raw form long before it was published.

It was during the second World War (early 1940s) and Manji’s bread business was rapidly expanding, then misfortune suddenly struck. As part of the war effort the local British authorities started rationing wheat flour and it had to be mixed with a generous ratio of maize flour. Naturally this ruined the quality of bread that Manji and even his competitors could produce. Sales fell off like a stone and Manji was suddenly in trouble.

He describes in his biography how he cracked his brain for a solution to his business problem for days on end.

Then one day he went home and his wife made some chapattis. She used the same rationed wheat flour containing a generous mix of maize flour. Suddenly it struck Manji how the chapattis still came out in excellent quality. What was his wife’s secret? She mixed the kneaded flour with plenty of oil. Manji rushed back to his factory and did the same thing with his bread. The results were so perfect that his competitors reported him to the authorities suspecting that he was breaking the law by using smuggled blavk market wheat flour. The governor himself turned up at Manji’s factory and watched him demonstrate his trade secret. That began a friendship that so manji name one of his best selling biscuits after the governor whose name was Sir Baring (biscuit was named “Baring.”).

That little tale is a great inspiration to me whenever I run into serious business problems that need to be transformed into opportunities.

Sadly Manji died a frustrated man, his giant House of Manji went through some serious financial problems and at one time declared bankruptcy. Still this did not water down the main achievements of this giant Kenyan industrialist.
================
Why Tom Mboya Had To Die

Monday, September 11, 2006

ODM Kenya Is Registered, Certificate Handed Over To Officials

After all the dancing around, fuss, threats and counter threats, ODM Kenya was registered this morning a few hours ago.

The highly valued certificate was handed over to party officials.

The great relief to ordinary Kenyans is the fact that now we can have some peace and quiet after all the noise about what is basically a non-issue.

Kenyans who sincerely believe that ODM-Kenya will make a difference and bring about change have not learnt anything from 2002. Just look at the line-up. This is exactly the same Kanu line-up shortly before Raila broke off to form the LDP.

The very same MPs who sanctioned a huge increase in their own salaries as the first order of business in parliament shortly after they had been elected by some very expectant Kenyans. These guys who one popular Daily Nation cartoonist always portrays as Hyenas and pigs.

Good luck to all you Kenyans out there madly in love with the ODM. I predict tears shortly after the honeymeoon (if this wedding ever takes place).

P.S. So why did they send VP Moody Awori to say that the government will never register ODM Kenya without a change of name? Was it a trick to get some fire-spitting ODM spoeksperson to make a fool of themselves? Or is this a trap (there is court case coming from the first ODM that was registered that could be decided against ODM Kenya on the eve of the general lections.....hmmm
================
Mboya's assassin revealed

Kenyan Receives Deadly Gift From Lover.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

What Is All This Fuss About The ODM Registration Certificate?

"The Kenyan voter feels used, defiled, taken advantage of, almost like it was rape..."

The ODM Kenya political party is proving to be a strange concoction. I’m not sure if this has to do with the fact that it is made of the strangest of bedfellows. (To give you just one example out of many, William Ruto and Raila Odinga in one political party somehow still does not ring true in my book.)

There is plenty more in ODM Kenya that does not ring true. Like the promise that individual parties will not be dissolved. If they mean that like LDP leading lights had a party to fall back to when the Narc dream died, and so will Kanu die-hards be able to return to their beloved Kanu when something goes wrong with this new alliance (like it always inevitably does) then this is definitely something we do not need a repeat of. Besides when you end up returning to a shell you abandoned at a later date, you have to start rebuilding the party all over again.

Why can’t the parties work separately and then form coalitions when the election results are in, like everybody else does it? The new look coalitions we are inventing in Kenya will never fly, mark my words.

Somebody please explain this to me. How is it possible to belong to two political parties at the same time? What do you represent? What do you stand for other than just wanting power and a high tax-free salary for your own selfish ends? Assuming that you are a liberal from the far-from-Liberal-LDP, what are you when you get into a union with Kanu and other parties to form an Orange Democratic Movement Kenya, party?

It is like a cross breed between a donkey and a zebra mating with a cross breed between a gazelle and a goat. You end up with a big fat, healthy bouncing, zilch. In other words, NOTHING.

Then there is the tribal Narc Kenya that claims they are not tribal. Why then is it that their staunch grassroots support can be traced to certain prominent tribes of Kenya? Why use the name Narc anyway?

Why remind me of the lover who jilted me and let me down so badly? I want to forget him and move on. Oh how he came, tall handsome and powerful, promising to love me and to solve all my problems and make me happy. So ecstatic I was that I drank the filthy water in the Uhuru Park Pond in celebration (remember the man at President Kibaki’s swearing in?) Then no sooner had I accepted and landed in your house as a wife, and no sooner had you emptied yourself into me, then you started behaving strangely. Like you had gotten all that you wanted from me. Like I had served the purpose and was no longer important. Like that was all it was about, sleeping with me. Nay, defiling me, because I now know who you really are.

The Kenyan voter feels used, defiled, taken advantage of, almost like it was rape.

Now why would anybody want to remind me about that idiot I hate so much called Narc?

Then the two jokers take up space in our newspapers squabbling over some registration certificate. Narc Kenya (in other words the ruling party that was never elected into power) falls into the trap of ODM Kenya who want to get some cheap publicity and mileage out of an allegedly delayed registration certificate. Meanwhile some starving jobless Kenyans are wondering when the election campaigns will start so that they can get something to eat.

Why does it take a month to register a political party anyway?

Answer: To gain the necessary approvals and for the security of the President (oops Security of the State) guys to give a report to the President on whether the party’s registration should be approved or not. That’s democracy and competitive politics in Kenya for you. As I’ve always said, things are still being done in much the same way they were done in the 60s by the jokers from that age who are about to hand over a lot of money to the Kenyan public and ask for their vote.

No, actually they are about to pay money to a lover they jilted in 2003 so that they can sleep with them again. All of a sudden you have become desirable once again, oh Kenyan voter. And because this lover called Narc did everything to make sure that you were broke and starving (the only thing they did was send your children to school), chances are that you will accept the money and go meekly into their bedroom.

...oh please!!

I say enough is enough. Wake up! You are not a prostitute! I say take the money (it belongs to you anyway) and stall. Stall for all you are worth. Use the usual tricks. Need some water. A drink to get into the mood. Need to go to the bathroom etc. (you know the drill).

Come D-Day better not vote at all than vote for any of these jokers licking their lips at press conferences expecting a repeat of 2002. Better to put up some dog (any dog will do) for President and let’s take our chances with them. I assure you we will be much better off. Better to be cheated by another this time than by the same person again and again.

================
Mboya's killer's revealed

Kenyan Woman Receives Deadly Gift From Lover.

Ngilu Dances Better Than You Do, Mr Michuki

Who is a better dancer? Hon Michuki or Hon Ngilu? Silly question this, because the answer is obvious. Ngilu comes from a people renowned for their acrobatic dancing, the Akamba.

The chief’s son neither knows the steps of those his father collaborated with in colonial times or his own house of Mumbi jigs. So even if he is offended with what Ngilu said about abandoning the ruling party that was never elected to rule, he should leave the issue of dancing out of it.

Mrs Ngilu is within her democratic rights to choose who she wants to do a jig with come election day 2007. And frankly I don’t blame her for not choosing you sir, who would want to dance with snakes that easily get rattled?

================
Mboya Murder Mystery Solved At Long Last

She Received A Deadly Gift From Her Lover.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Why Women Make Better Leaders: Ngilu To Quit Kibaki Camp

A man’s conscience dies long before that of a woman

There is a certain woman very close to me who is absolutely amazing. Her conscience is hyper-active and she feels guilty about everything. And by everything I mean everything. She worries sick every time she hears that things may not be going particularly well for a neighboring family and there is a possibility that the children may be going hungry.

She may be an extreme case but she portrays one special asset that most African women have in plenty which their male counterparts lack or have in very short supply – a conscience.

Three Kenyans met at a hotel and changed the direction of the elections in 2002. One of those Kenyans is now deceased. The other is sitting smugly in State House busy doing exactly what he was fighting in his predecessor. The third person (thank God) is a woman and she has a conscience. She’s still holding a plum cabinet post as Minister of Health but her conscience has not deserted her. Those three Kenyans that met in October 2002 were the late Michael Kijana Wamalwa, Mwai Kibaki (now president) and Charity Ngilu (now health minister).

Yesterday the only woman who was in the historic group of three said; “We formed Narc because we wanted a good government in place and I do not want to think of Narc Kenya.” She then repeated at least five times for emphasis; “I will never join Narc Kenya.”

Mrs Charity Kaluki Ngilu then went on to say that although she was certain that she will not remain in the Kibaki camp if he ditches Narc and stands for the Presidency on a Narc Kenya ticket, she has not yet declared what she will do (because the time for declarations has not come, she said). She however emphasized that her declaration would “change the ball game.”

She meant the presidential race and it seems that Mrs Ngilu may be in the running for State House in 2007. So far she has rejected asvances to join ODM where her big political nemesis in Ukambani politics, one Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka has already declared his interest in the presidency.

Thank God that there was a woman in that hotel in the run up to the 2002 general elections. It is a fact of life that a man’s conscience dies long before that of a woman. I’m not quite sure why, but this is a fact of life.

Kenyan voters would be well-advised to vote in as many women into parliament as possible.in 2007.
================
Woman Receives Deadly Gift From Lover.

Mboya Murder Mystery Solved

Tanzanian Radio Asks Locals To Help "Weed Out" Foreigners

It appears that the situation in Tanzania for the economy and for Kenyans living there may be even worse than I reported here in an earlier post.

Two new developments took place this morning.

Firstly a local radio station this morning urged Tanzanians to help "weed out" foreigners by naming them to authorities.

This came on the same morning that major newspapers in Dar-es-salaam quoted the Bank of Tanzania (central bank in Tanzania) saying that the Tanzanian shilling crisis was "seasonal" and the currency would soon recover. The bank urged Tanzanians not to panic.

It is most interesting how a record fall in the currency can be described as "seasonal" but even more interesting was the Central Banking authorities' prediction that the economy would record growth despite the fall of the shilling.

The free-falling Tanzanian shilling is not the only problem that the Bank of Tanzania and the government is faced with. Foreign investor confidence is at its' lowest and the country is currently going through a power rationing regime of 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. And this is at a time when the economy is yet to recover from the effects of the drought earlier in the year, in many parts of the country. Talk about extreme optimism.
================
Lover Receives Deadly Gift.

Tom Mboya Murder Solved

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

How The Kenyan Government Controls The Media

Do you sometimes open the newspapers and find that some coverage you expected is either missing or despite its’ importance has been hidden in some obscure inside pages?

Expect more of this as we head towards the general elections.

And no it is not that the Kenyan editors are dumb or insensitive to public opinion. It is simply the reality on the ground where a newspaper has to survive under the regime of the day.

In the old dark days of government bullying control of the media was more subtle and direct. The editor would receive a call from State house with simple instructions not to publish, and that was that. Nobody would dare think of defying the order. In a way this kind of control on the media was better because everybody was aware of it and that is precisely why the BBC radio service became so wildly popular in those days. Kenyans just got their news from the BBC evening news. The more dangerous control is the current one which most Kenyans are not aware of.

By the way newspapers still receive calls from State house and some of those calls have intimidated the media to the extent where they have been forced to publish lies and fabrications (more on that in my earlier post).

Back to the BBC radio era. There was no Internet in those days so word went round to those who missed the BBC radio news via bars, usually in whispers, because you never knew who was around. The government seemed to have ears everywhere. A curious incident comes to mind here. In the early 80s, former parliamentarian (now deceased) George Moseti Anyona was having a quiet drink in the outskirts of Nairobi at a place called Dagoretti corner. His critical remarks of the government of the day got more reckless as he got drunker. One of the people having a drink in a nearby table slipped away for a few minutes and made a call from a call box. A few moments later Anyona and his colleagues at the table had been arrested, the next morning they had officially been detained without trial. I happen to know that man who “sold” Anyona and I have seen guilt eating away at him for years for some of the things he did for the government of President Moi, many of them against fellow Kenyans and close friends who made the mistake of trusting him as a friend. Sadly the reality is that, that is what intelligence work all over the world is all about, betraying the trust of your friends (sometimes, friends who are very close).

But let me give you a few examples of just how much the government controls the media in Kenya today. One big advantage that they have is that it takes only 2 telephone calls to kill a story in Kenya these days. The major TV stations with prime time news watched by most Kenyans are KBC (government owned and controlled). KTN and NTV. KTN is owned by Standard newspapers and NTV is owned by the Nation group who also publish the highest circulating newspaper in the region, the Daily Nation. So all it takes is a call to the Nation group and another to the Standard group and you have dealt with all the main media sources Kenyans rely on.

Here are recent examples of media control by the government;

(i) The government issues several press releases and even calls a press conference to introduce the President’s family. Strange don’t you think? Kenyans did not elect the first family, they elected the president who incidentally used to be seen with another woman at the time of the campaigns. Immediately he won election, another woman called Lucy Kibaki appeared on the scene. This is clear evidence that there are two women in the President’s life. Government bullying in this case has worked. No newspaper in Kenya can dare refer to Kibaki’s second wife as Mrs Kibaki or Wambui wa Munene (as she is widely referred to). Even the President’s profile in a recent Daily Nation report told blatant lies to the people of Kenya by indicating that Kibaki is married to only one wife, Lucy Kibaki. Isn’t the fact that a Presidential candidate is a polygamist a very important issue in a country where most of the voters are Christians wh believe in a man having only one wife. And in a country where the laws still allow a man to marry only one woman officially?

(ii) Coverage of Senator Obama’s visit to Kenya was clearly toned down. The idea seems to have been to downplay the pertinent issues raised by the senator and his popularity amongst ordinary Kenyans whom he seems to understand very well. (see separate poll results on what Kenyans really thought about the Senator’s remarks).

(iii) The coverage of crime by the media does not reflect the reality on the ground. When the true crime situation is portrayed by the media, then the effect is that the government looks weak and the public will realize that the police are losing the war against crime. To achieve this, the media’s access to police reports which was previously open, is now carefully controlled. For instance a file of occurrence reports from all the police stations in the city used to be open to the media. This is no longer the case.

Chances are that you are reading this in disbelief and you probably want to point to the Anglo Leasing expose’ by the Sunday Nation (Daily Nation On Sunday) and the Daily Nation, as an example of how free the Kenyan media is from government control. As I have said in many of my posts in the past, the circumstances under which that scandal was exposed is still a big mystery and the great help of certain external forces cannot be ruled out.

Besides it is a fact that government control of the media has increased tremendously between that time and the present.

If you want to know what is really happening in the country my advice is that you also read other dailies like the Kenya Times and The People and also regularly take in most of the excellent Kenyan blogs we have around.

================
Man's Lover Receives Deadly Gift.

Understanding Assassinations in Kenya