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Thursday, January 31, 2008

Kumekucha HITS 1,000,000

Executive Blood Harvesting Season is Here - Taabu in his element.

Yesterday was a very sad day for Kenya with the assassination of an opposition MP under circumstances that are still very far from being clear.

But something worth celebrating also happened yesterday and I had just began to write this post, when the news of the assassination broke.

Yesterday the Kumekucha counter on our main site registered ONE MILLION HITS.

1 , 0 0 0 0 0 0 !!!

We thank you all wonderful people out there for making this happen. It is a proud moment not only for me but for all those who blog here regularly. It illustrates the victory and sheer power of citizen journalism at a time when our country's media is more opressed and intimidated than it has ever been in the history of Kenya. My joy is that many times it has been our readers and visitors who have broken major stories here.

Congratulations, Kumekucha and Kumekuchans.

P.S. Kindly note that the moderator will prompty delete any comments that attempt to advertise any product or site in the comments section. If you want to advertise anything to the captive ad mainly Kenyan audience here, our rates are dirt cheap and there is no need to behave so crudely. Just send an email to umissedthis at yahoo dot com for details about our rates if you're interested in reaching a million eye balls and counting. We are also willing to listen to your story if you feel that we should allow you to advertise here for FREE.

52 comments:

  1. 1 Million Hits? Get me outta here! That figure must have been rigged by enemies of peace and development. Anyone for fresh round of opinion polls asking Kenyans if all those hits have been doctored? I guess none. CONGRATS CHRIS AND ALL THE BLOGGERS! This site is definately going places. It's surely rocketing to the stratosphere.

    AK, NBI, KEN.

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  2. Congratulation Chris!

    Your readers in Sudan are pleased with this.See how this achievement can bring peace back to Kenya.

    Oromore (Southern Sudan)

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  3. Congrats chris you are truly our online hero!!

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  4. Are any of these hits from Nithi, Tigania East and West, Imenti, Juja or Kiambaa? In these days of rigging its in order to get curious.

    Anyway, just kidding. Congratulations Kumekucha. 2,000,000 is now not far off.

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  5. Good one Chris! Long may Kumekucha live!!

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  6. LOL @ the last paragraph. Congratulations!!!!! Hongera, shangwe na vigelegele. This right here is a blog for all Kenyans. You guys keep keeping on. You're doing so much more than you'll ever know.

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  7. Wanjiku-Msa, good to know all is well on your end. Have been MIA a couple of days.

    Kenyans (ODMers and PANUA) - Get back to your senses and bring this country back from the precipice, NOW!!!!

    What happened to Nchi Nzuri? It was an illusion built on the backs of the disenfranchised. Time now for the elites on both sides to catapult Kenya into the era of good governance. It's not rocket science - you know that drill. Devolve, bring integrity back to the police force by paying them well instead of allowing slush funds and overhaul the Judiciary.

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  8. Very Good Work keep it up, The best blog in Kenya - PERIOD

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  9. Details emerge on how Kenya's election was rigged
    By Shashank Bengali, McClatchy Newspapers Thu Jan 31

    The spark for Kenya's firestorm of ethnic violence was lit inside a cavernous meeting hall in downtown Nairobi , where election officials over four days doctored vote counts, dismissed eye-popping irregularities and thwarted monitoring by independent observers to deliver a razor-thin victory to President Mwai Kibaki .

    Observers who were allowed into the vote-tallying center on Dec. 29-30 , ..
    .... hours before the results were announced, said there was so much systematic fraud by Kenya's government-appointed election commission that it's impossible to know who really won.

    The extent of the commission's deceptions has faded into the background as more than 800 Kenyans have been killed in ethnic clashes and police crackdowns. The events also have deeply unsettled the Bush administration, which has relied on Kenya as an ally in the war on terror and a bulwark of stability in East Africa .

    Official results gave Kibaki an edge of 231,728 votes, or 2 percent, out of about 10 million cast. Initial results of an exit poll by the U.S.-funded International Republican Institute found that rival Raila Odinga had won by an 8 percent margin.

    Election officials allowed five accredited Kenyan observers into the tallying center in Nairobi only in the final phase of vote-counting, and three of them shared their accounts with McClatchy . All said that the gravest cheating occurred in that room, where commissioners— all appointed by Kibaki— compiled returns before announcing them to the public.

    The observers spoke in interviews and quoted from a joint log of their experiences, titled "Countdown to Deception," which Kenyan rights groups are circulating.

    The long-serving chairman of Kenya's election commission played an active role in the deception, the observers said. When a tallying officer presented results showing voter turnout at 115 percent in Maragua, a Kibaki stronghold in the central highlands, commission Chairman Samuel Kivuitu didn't invalidate the result as required by law, but allowed a commissioner to reduce the figure to 85 percent and announced the results an hour later.

    That was the pattern that observers reported: Results were announced even when documents were missing, incomplete, unsigned by officers or party representatives, incorrectly tabulated, photocopied or forged.

    "Both sides stole votes," said Julius Melli , a 31-year-old Kenyan radiographer who witnessed the tallying of Maragua and other locales. "But Kibaki stole more, and they stole it inside the tallying center."

    The Electoral Commission of Kenya , an independent body whose members are appointed by the president, had run national elections in 2002 and 2005 that were praised for their openness and accuracy.

    But except for Kivuitu, who'd served as chairman since 1997, this was a largely different commission. As members faced term limits in the months before the vote, Kibaki— facing the stiffest presidential challenge ever in Kenya — packed the 22-person body with 17 new commissioners. All were considered Kibaki allies, and none had ever run an election.

    "These people were criminals," said Ben Sihanya, a Stanford -educated constitutional law professor who also observed the tallying. "They were committing crimes at the behest of Kibaki's government."

    Election officials were unreachable for comment, but the commission has taken out a two-page, unsigned advertisement in Kenyan newspapers to deny wrongdoing.

    Koki Muli , the co-chair of the Kenya Domestic Observers Forum , suspected problems soon after the polls closed on the evening of Dec. 27 . Her network of observers monitoring the vote-counting in polling stations immediately began sending preliminary results by phone and text messages. But for two days, in the Nairobi convention hall where the election commission had set up shop— surrounded by hundreds of journalists, observers and party agents— Kivuitu announced only some of the returns.

    Observers grew suspicious when results from Kibaki's central Kenya stronghold weren't read. The delays were sparking protests. "It was necessary for us to observe the tallying," Muli said.

    For 48 hours, armed agents barred observers from entering the tallying center, a high-ceilinged room almost the size of a football field. Finally, faced with mounting reports of irregularities, Kivuitu allowed five observers and a handful of political party representatives into the room on the night of Dec. 29 . They were greeted with nervous stares.

    "What I saw in that room alarmed me," Muli said. "It was a very scared staff."

    Commissioners and staff members were seated around a dozen or so long tables, each strewn with folders containing the legal forms required to certify vote counts. In one corner of the room, a bank of computers churned out results and printouts.

    The lanky, bespectacled Sihanya walked up to a table and introduced himself to commissioner Mildred Owour . "Can we sit at your table?" he asked.

    "You are going to slow down the process," she replied.

    At about 10 p.m. , Sihanya, Melli and two other observers sat down with agents of the main political parties and several commissioners and election officials. Their task was to scrutinize irregularities reported by Odinga's camp— and there were many.

    In at least 44 out of 210 constituencies, officials in Nairobi had announced vote totals without any supporting documents from the polling centers. In most places the announced totals were off by hundreds or thousands from what journalists, party agents and foreign observers had witnessed at polling places.

    The team prepared to work through the night. When commission staff members brought a stack of folders, observers asked to check whether vote totals had been added correctly.

    The commission's legal officer, Jemimah Kelli , rebuffed them.

    "She said, 'We can't correct the tallying now. The commission will take care of it,'" Sihanya recalled.

    At another table, Muli was scratching her head over results from Mathira, in central Kenya , where nearly everyone voted for Kibaki. Election officers had failed to sign the tallies from nearly three dozen polling places, and one form had two different totals. Muli took out her cell phone and began adding up the numbers.

    She calculated 77,442 votes for Kibaki, some 2,600 fewer than what was recorded on the final tally sheet and announced to the public. Later she discovered inflated vote totals for Kibaki in several other areas— "3,000 here, 3,000 there, 1,500 here, 2,500 there," she said. "It added up."

    At his table, Melli saw numerous constituencies that lacked tally sheets or official signatures, but whose results had been certified anyway. In one folder, he found two tallies for the same place— one a signed original, the other an unsigned photocopy that had been altered to give Kibaki about 3,000 more votes.

    The photocopied version had been used.

    "It looked very ridiculous," Melli said. But Kenyan election laws didn't authorize observers to do anything more than note inconsistencies.

    The legal officer, Kelli, moaned that officials had gone without sleep for several days, and she harassed Melli for paying too much attention to detail.

    "She told Melli, 'You seem to be very keen. Are you being paid to do this?'" Sihanya said. (They in fact were not paid.)

    When Sihanya questioned inconsistencies in one Kibaki stronghold, a Kibaki party representative, Martha Karua, accused him of being an opposition agent.

    "The whole thing seemed extremely stage-managed," Melli said. "It was not a sincere verification exercise."

    As the night wore on, officials became cagier. Melli asked an official for the file from Nithi, where turnout was a suspiciously high 80 percent and nearly all the votes had gone to Kibaki. The official blanched, pulled the file close to his chest and, for the rest of the night, carried it with him everywhere he went, Melli said.

    The file for Kieni in central Kenya showed 87,500 parliamentary votes— nearly 3,000 more than the number of registered voters. The file for Imenti South district, where Kibaki had 96 percent support, showed 4,315 more presidential votes than parliamentary votes but contained no supporting documents. At 5 a.m. on Dec. 30 , the file for another central district, Molo, finally appeared showing 50,145 votes for Kibaki. The chairman later announced 75,261.

    "They just gave Kibaki 25,000 votes from the air," Muli said.

    Finally, at around 9 a.m. , Karua, the Kibaki aide, said the verification had to be halted so that the commissioners could get "back to work." An Odinga aide said he had concerns about other files, but Karua and three election officials at the table stood up to leave.

    One of the commissioners, Luciano Riunga Raiji, told the observers, "You are done." Shortly afterward, a message blared over the loudspeaker ordering all observers and party agents to leave the room. By then, Melli said, it was clear that the commissioners had no intention of investigating the irregularities.

    "We were waiting for them to announce the final results," he said. "But we knew Kibaki had stolen it."

    Muli, who's helped train commissioners for 14 years, said: "We didn't imagine that the electoral commissioners could in a massive way influence the conduct of the election. We were wrong."

    The next several hours were surreal, the observers said. As word swept through the convention hall that Kibaki would be declared the winner, Odinga called a news conference and accused the commission of rigging the vote in 48 constituencies.

    A few hours later, the opposition trotted out an election staffer, Kipkemoi Kirui, who said that officials were manipulating results at the tallying center. "My conscience could not allow me to see what I was seeing and keep quiet," Kirui told reporters. He's now fled the country, according to media reports.

    An hour after that, the lights went off in the convention hall, and paramilitary police cleared the building. In a sealed room, the election chairman announced Kibaki's victory on state television. Within minutes, rioters were tearing through the streets of Nairobi .

    Kenya's nightmare had begun.

    (Special correspondent Munene Kilongi contributed.)

    [source:http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080131/

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  10. Congrats Chris and Kumekucha,


    You are doing a fine job. Please expose more and liase with others on the ground to give your million readers more hot, factual and unbiased news.

    NB: Ministers recruiting Mungiki (AP)

    http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h2lNbk-FJjzUxnFm030wM15xcU_AD8UH4EIG0

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  11. Kibaki congratulatory statement was a mistake



    GABORONE: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation wishes to state, in response to a news story entitled "Mogae Congratulates Kibaki", which appeared on page 3 of the 25th January 2008 edition of the Botswana Guardian, newspaper, that the Botswana High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya inadvertently transmitted a message that had been withheld pending further instruction from Botswana in the context of ongoing developments.


    "H.E. President Mogae had not, and indeed has not, authorized the release of any such congratulatory message", reads a statement from the Ministry.

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation regrets any inconvenience caused in this regard.

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  12. Congratulations. In my life I don't think I have ever seen a blog with so much emotional debate in it.

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  13. Chris, Do you have all the Form 16 and 16As for all these hits or they are just from computer print outs.

    Great job Chris.

    We love Kumekucha. Keep up the great work

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  14. A commission of enqiry will be set up immediately to find out if the 1million hits are real or fake. Wananchi are kindly asked to be patient while this exercise by emminent persons takes place.

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  15. "We challenge the domo elements to prove where did Kumekucha rig the elections." This shows their desperation and therefore they have resorted to character assasination and lame excuses. Kumekucha won the "hits elections" and the "President" was duly elected. Anyone who has a problem with the "Kumekucha Govt." can go the "Courts."

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  16. Congratulations....1,000,000. HITS is the product of telling the truth and how things should be told especially during these days when HYPOCRACY is rampant...KEEP IT UP...THE TRUTH WILL SET US FREE .

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  17. Chris,

    the counter has not been showing over the last few days.

    Am I the only one not seeing it?

    Congrats.

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  18. Chris thank you for allowing kenyans to post in kumekucha without moderation. But be warned if anyone insults Raila or ODM the you know what I normally unleash. I am reading and watching.

    Gavin Awiti

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  19. KENYANS ARE ALL LOSERS

    In 2002, 60% of the Kenyans voted for Kibaki with Luos leading with close to 100%. Kikuyus rejected Kibaki (Stephen Ndichu asked Kibaki not to be stupid but to support Uhuru).

    Kibaki turned out to be a devil,corrupt,arrogant,tribalist, Mungiki fan and insane. The Kikuyus supported him in neglecting those who voted for him.

    In 2007, the 60% Kenyans voted him out but the Kikuyus used all that they have to rigg him back.

    Kibaki wants to rule with an iron fist and needs a majority in the parliament. ODM MPs have to die. Were, Too are just the beginning. Shabir will follow, then Dr Sally Kosgei. They will be replaced by PNU after rigging the bye-elections. Mungiki will replace the police and will teach Western, Nyanza, RV, Coast, NEP, NBI a real lesson. Door to door excecution in rural and in middle-class estates like Buru-Buru, etc will be the order of the day. Kibaki will then be declared the PRESIDENT FOR LIFE. After his death Uhuru will take over and rule for life using the same Mungiki methods.

    Poor Kenyans you are in for real touble.

    Tanzanian observer

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  20. Chris, how can we know this is true? How can we be sure that tommorow you will not come in and say that we have hit 2million votes?
    Chris, please, let me advise you, the ONLY reason that you have the alleged 1million votes is because MASHADA closed down and we mashadites crossed over the floor to continue here at Kumenkucha. Of course, David had no reason to shut down Mashada, but here we are with you. We will make sure you hit another 1million votes soon. And let the work to continue!

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  21. This is the only place to get the real story!
    The ones who do not read Kumekucha are better off watching KBC

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  22. That is simply fantastic!!! Chris, you are one of a kind. You have earned those hits one at a time without waiting for 60% of your budget to come from the central government. You found a corner in this "Rift Valley" of blogsphere and built yourself a Kumekucha estate. Let nobody bring their nonsensical talk of tribal-ancestral ownership in this brave new world. Unfortunately, for Mama Mboga from Eldoret she lived in the real world and did not know her Kiambaa estate was a sitting duck for some warriors eager to burn it down and earn their tribal colours. She is on the run, enroute to nowhere in her own country.
    Anyway, thanks for allowing us some room in your estate to come and play our ping-pong tribal games clothed in pseudo-nationalistic rheutoric and NGO-speak, all the time hoping that our masters notice that we are earning our keep. Let me leave the remaining thoughts alone, for today is your day Chris!! We salute you!! And for those who are stil waiting for their tribesman to ascend to power and give them some hand-outs, they better emulate you. If they don't, they will wait for ever and finally die educated but frustrated souls.

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  23. Some one tell me where Gitobu is...

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  24. Some one tell me where Gitobu is...

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  25. One of the reasons why this blog is so popular and addictive is because of the different shades of opinion expressed here. I just wanted to ask you Chris whether you thought you would hit the 1Million mark when you started this blog. Also did you ever imagine that this would be the hottest blog around Kenyan political circles? This is for Chris and other bloggers, "Rest if you can, but never give up, keep your eyes on the prize" GOD BLESS KENYA.

    Antonio De Mavarko.
    NBI KENYA.

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  26. I am also asking wher is Gitobu Imanyara.....Phil even walls have ears

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  27. Congrats chris for the informative blog
    question?
    Is it not viable to reach out to the masses without computers access in Kenya via printing/distributing Kumekucha Just wondered.
    As you been quite successful its worth moving to the next level

    Also what happened to that irritant Vikii guy? did he come to his sense at last as it appears.

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  28. CONGRATS CHRIS!!!

    THANK GOD THE ANNOUNCEMENT WAS NOT MADE BY KIVUITU.

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  29. Mr. Chris!

    Keep the Kenyan souls informed man. Thou shall never scare away from their media threats. And let no wicked heart run you down. Never get weary.

    I’m still requesting on somebody to reach out to the military. You think you can do this? They should not get holed up in their camps like Kibaki in State house. They have to be realistic. We need a savior, a redeemer, a conqueror,,,,,, somebody who can take out the powers from Kibaki and give it back to the people.

    What do you say?

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  30. Chris,
    I would like to dispute the popularity of hits this blog has been receving over the past 3 years of its existence-its obvious there is a "Mt.Kumekucha Elite Mafia" of old men who are desperate to cling onto readership by all means necessary. As the "duly elected" blogger i know you take a hardline positions in this matter but i must warn you not to this is the "people's blog". don't try and hide away in "Kumekucha House" to try and avoid answering my questions, and don't pretend either that there's a "citizen journalism" bloggers conference you must attend in Addis Ababa
    I've appointed a "hits peace team" of Taabu, Phil and Ritch to negotiate the terms of this crisis vis-a-vie Sue, Sayra and Karol. In the meantime i urge Kalamari, Vikii , Danlieve, Derek and PKW to refrain from "live blogcasts"-i will remain official spokesman for Kumekucha as there is no crisis at hand

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  31. by the way i don't know who the "duly elected" blogger is, is it chris or taabu or vikii or danlieve or sue or sayra or karol or kalamari or pkw or derek or phil or ritch? please keep signing my cheques "Kivuitu style" though thank you

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  32. @ Anonymouses of 3.40 and 4.46.
    What is the story with Gitobu? YOu seem hell bent on introducing it to unrelated topics. Is there something we should know? Has he been slapped again?
    Or in this era of love triangles - was he involved in one with Martha Karua and Wamugunda?

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  33. I am an avid kumekucha reader, albeit behind the scenes. This is where I come for the latest and hottest news and you have not let me down, not once. Congratulations Chris for having the guts to go where no one else is willing to go..we need more of the likes of you. Phil, you too are irreplacable, you bring as the 'stop press' news just as it is happening.
    To the haters, continue hating, there will always be those like you around. But I know I speak for the masses when I say keep up the good work and let us not give up, we shall continue to fight the good fight.
    To digress, I too would love to know what happened to Vikii. What about PKW?
    Long live Kenya, Long live Kumekucha.

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  34. You who is talking abouyt International republican i dont know what's exit polls, look at the mess they made with the democrats predictions in new hampshire, clinton upset the prediction!!! Polls are mere empirical sampling involving a set of variables and subject to a set of conditions. The very method that trhey could have used may have been flawed. Kenya doesnt have that much data storage so it is important to look at other polls too before mentioning one poll, which is just one sample

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  35. Chris,

    Please get us the reason for the fight in Nyamira district.

    So far 10, people died (Reuters), 20-30 wounded and AFP said the same (8).

    http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/080201143732.4eq6ysng.html

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  36. Chris,

    Please get us the reason for the fight in Nyamira district.

    So far 10, people died (Reuters), 20-30 wounded and AFP said the same (8).

    http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/080201143732.4eq6ysng.html

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  37. Policeman hanged


    http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jqXQLXsg2g6QqxXQB_Yuit-Eosug

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  38. HONGERA KUMEKUCHA!

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  39. I am aghast at the rate at which police are killing demonstraters and rioters.

    The people calling themselves our govt. are the same people who used to rail at Moi for police violence.

    Well, in the past few weeks his record has paled in comparison to PNU's

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  40. the reason the hits were that many is coz MASHADA is down, thus nowhere else for kenyans to xpress their anger, joys, viewpoints
    but good job all together

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  41. Those who want to know that the gvt is behind the killing of the two MP's...

    It is now emerging that after the death of Mugabe Were the US government requested that the FBI be allowed to carry out investigations....the gvt refused.

    Yesterday the US gvt made another offer for the FBI to investigate the death of both MP's...the gvt refused again

    Raila has been pressing for the FBI to be allowed to investigate

    Here is a link:http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iOAwxPpcjDS_kSSvubUZDr_1bfgQ

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  42. UK Minister calls for military deployment in Kenya.


    http://www.imed5.com/dev/usnewsportal/2008/02/01/uk-minister-kenya-army-should-intervene/

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  43. I'm sure you hit it that big after getting rid of one Vikii. He/She was coming in between you and your one million hits.

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  44. ANNON,

    You seriuosly cannot be calling for the FBI to handle these domestic affairs.

    and by the way I do not have muuch faith in the FBI. Weren't they involved in investigating the brutal murder of the KURIA family in Atlanta, and up to now they haven't come up with naything, no arrest, nada!

    We know Raila uses any opportunity to gain political leverage and momentum, he's an opportunist, not a leader.

    Leaders don't urge international donors to freeze aid to his fellow countrymen, only selfish bufoons do!

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  45. It's become pretty obvious that Were's murder was an assassination but the 2nd jamas death was not.
    You or Raila calling it an assassination with absolutely no proof only adds to the murder and mayhem. One police was already killed(by his own so-called tribesmen) because of this. Try to be more responsible in the future.

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  46. Anon 11:31

    You are such a dimwit and a buffoon beyond salvation point that you have forgetten what Kibaki and his ugly tribal pussyfooters like Michuki and Kiraitu used to say and demand from the International Community when Moi was in power, although Moi was one million times better than Kibaki.

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  47. Chris I don't know if you really have 1,000,000 hits.

    Yours truly,

    S. Kivuitu

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  48. Congrats Chris,
    Keep keeping on. Thanx for keeping us posted.

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  49. Nandi Kaburwo said...

    Congrats for telling it ahead of the breaking news. The honest and sharp analysis has won both admirers and foes. The latter come to check if there is any revelation worth rebutting. Keep it up, for the many of us who fight for and cherish the truth.

    Keep it up.

    -Nandi Kaburwo-

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  50. yes, Moi is a true Kenyan nationalist hero - in 1997 he said:
    'I would like to leave a permanent legacy in Kenya's history, a legacy of one strong and united Kenya, you, the people of Kenya will cherish.'pg 198, Moi. The Making of an African Statesman.

    Around the same time Raila said: 'it is in the gift of President to bequeth a peaceful transition in a democratic country. It would be appreciated for generations to come' pg 198

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  51. did you hit the 1,000,000 'fairly'....i hope you did not omit that word!! hehehehe!

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