Why some Kalenjin politicians are now fleeing UDA. Shocking | Kenya news

Friday, February 01, 2008

Supporting The Peace Agenda: A Citizens Pathway

The Citizen Pathway Group is made up of professional Kenyans from all walks of life. Regular readers of this column may remember them as the 'Cellar Group'.

Ever since the start of the violence in Kenya the CPG have had numerous meetings in a bid to find a middle-ground so that peace and civilized behavior can return to our country. The CPG has also visited many parts of the country affected by violence and provided significant humanitarian assistance to Kenyans who are now being referred to as IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons).

The CPG is now pleased to welcome all Kenyans of goodwill to their next meeting in order to allow any one with any positive idea can put it forward.

The meeting aims to focus on how to arm Kenyans in developing strategy to co-exist within this beautiful country.

CITIZENS PATHWAY GROUP

Venue

Shelter Afrique Center
Saturday, February 2, 2008
9:00 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Agenda

  • Opening/Introductions/Agenda/Time-keeping
  • What is CPG/Mission/Progress so far
  • Personal Impact: recognizing trauma/depression in yourself
  • Scenarios
  • What we expect of you (by end, you will all be equipped with positive messages to drown out the negativity)
  • Understanding our narratives/deconstructing myths
  • Success story: speaking to hardliners
  • Four break-out groups
-Developing content – current myths and counter-messages to different groups (aggressors, politician, media, average Kenyan)
- Disseminating content - how does CPG get its message out?
  • Reporting to larger group on messages and outreach strategy
  • Conclusion: How to have impact as a Luo, Luhya, Kikuyu, Kalenjin moderate
  • Action Plan and Closing

20 comments:

  1. I hope a concerted effort will be made to invite and give space to the opinions of those living in the slums who are most affected, all citizens should be represented across the board if this is to have any meaningfull impact.

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  2. Where is Shelter Afrique Center?

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  3. Shelter Afrique Center
    Longonot Road
    Upper Hill
    Nairobi
    Kenya

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  4. I'm assuming this Shelter Afrique Center is in Nairobi? That makes it a Nairobi thing. What contributions can we make if we live in far off areas?

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  5. I hope one of the MYTHS being bursted is that Kenya was an island of peace and an example to other countries.

    Not the Kenya with clashes in Rift Valley and Coast provinces, North Eastern skirmishes, political assassinations, detentions and riots.

    We need to acknowledge our history of poor governance in order to be in a position to truly change it.

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  6. I hope one of the MYTHS being bursted is that Kenya was an island of peace and an example to other countries.

    Not the Kenya with clashes in Rift Valley and Coast provinces, North Eastern skirmishes, political assassinations, detentions and riots.

    We need to acknowledge our history of poor governance in order to be in a position to truly change it.

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  7. This is a start, at least we can strengthen civil society and it can mobilise grassroots support but at the moment obviously there needs to be calm before they can be able to openly speak their minds

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  8. @Wanjiku said:
    I'm assuming this Shelter Afrique Center is in Nairobi? That makes it a Nairobi thing. What contributions can we make if we live in far off areas?


    You are already contributing, keeping writing. I'm sure Phil will convey your sentiments to the meeting.

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  9. Meanwhile President Mwai Kibaki suggested that political opponents take their grievances over the election to the courts, a move the opposition has rebuffed saying the courts have been packed with Mr Kibaki's allies.

    Mr Kibaki told leaders at the African Union summit in Ethiopia that "the judiciary in Kenya has over the years arbitrated electoral disputes, and the current one should not be an exception."

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  10. Kenya Press accused

    The following being reported by international media. Is the local press excluded from the covering of this reassuring event? Why would the international press beat them at this? Or is the news by BBC etc untrue? One
    wonders



    Kenyan parties agree 'peace plan' by BBC

    Kenya's feuding leaders have agreed a plan to end the political and ethnic violence gripping the country, former UN chief Kofi Annan has said.
    "We have agreed an agenda covering both short-term issues and also long-term issues," Mr Annan said.

    The deal was agreed by representatives of both President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.

    The announcement came after fresh outbreaks of fighting left at least 18 people dead in the west of the country.

    Mr Annan said the rival parties had agreed a four-point plan which should end the violence within the next two weeks.


    They include:


    ending the violence

    humanitarian situation

    resolving the political crisis

    land and historical injustices
    "We believe within 7 to 15 days, we should be able to tackle the first three agenda items," he told reporters.

    "The first is to take immediate action to stop the violence."

    Mr Annan said both sides had already agreed that leaders should end irresponsible statements, gangs would be disbanded and there should be freedom of assembly.

    The BBC's Caroline Karobia reports from Nairobi that the talks are likely to last for a month.

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  11. Meeting for what and ODM and Raila Odinga are encouraging the killing os Kikuyu in Nyanza and Eldoret. The burning oif people in a church does not concern them and children in Nyanza going back to the famed learning institutions is nothing to them. !No Raila No School'. Anyway Phil, there is no other HARDLINER Like you and you are now in the process of finding peace.

    After inciting the poor of Kibera to burn Kikuyu owned houses. Anyway, all the best.

    I read a comment 'That MPs shot dead were paid Sh 10 million'. I read it here. So who has killed them?

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  12. Any initiatives will only gain momentum if the ultra-poor see immediate and lasting change. Otherwise it will be back to the fragility that Kenya was.

    ODM should put the interests of the very poor before anything else - even Nyanza and Western. First, look after the poor, and the rest will fall into place - Are Honorable Annan's people listening?!

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  13. Mugabe Were has been a good conman. Ask a group of kenyan dancers who were taken to Italy by him. They danced without payment, their gifts were personalised by Were and they remained empty handed. He went to the Italian caritas posing as a poor man and got a couple of Euros. He has gone to someone at the Gregorian university to beg presenting some fancy projects,he has been all over Puglia (southern Italy)where his wife comes from. He used to hawk curio in Lecce (Italy) and he later opened a curio shop there.He got married, had four children with his Leccese wife and they separated. He opened a dico hall and it was burnt by the Mafia.People in lecce stil talk of "quel furbo Keniota" (that cunning Kenyan). May he rest in peace.

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  14. Kenyans want peace.

    KIBAKI DOESNT! WE ARE SICK OF THIS SENILITY.

    remember the inappropriate "duly elected President" and the consequencies that were see immediately seen in Nakuru

    Now see this extract from Reuters.com

    KIBAKI IS THE PROBLEM WHO IS HELL BENT WITH PROVACATIVE words.His insistence of use of courts is dishonest. Kenya's judiciary is a sham.He knows it and keeps on singing the same song.Why when the atmosphere for mediation requires more intelligence than he is displaying?

    He is the one unleashing Mungiki and should stop blaming others.The stolen elections was the trigger of violence.Can he face GOD and say otherwise after being swon in in what looked like as a toilet as compared to 2002?


    "Kibaki says he is Kenya's elected leader but international observers said the count was so chaotic it was impossible to tell who won.

    KIBAKI BLAMES RIVALS

    At a meeting of an east African regional grouping, Kibaki made PROVOCATIVE statement accusing his rivals of instigating the bloodshed and telling them again to challenge his disputed re-election in court.

    "Regrettably, although the election results reflected the will of the majority of Kenyans, the leaders in the opposition instigated a campaign of civil unrest," he said.

    Odinga says he would not get a fair hearing in court because the judiciary is biased toward Kibaki, although the opposition has challenged legislative elections in the courts.

    The unrest has taken the lid off decades-old divisions between tribal groupings over land, wealth and power, dating from British colonial rule and stoked by Kenyan politicians during 44 years of independence.

    The United States and European countries have pledged their support for Annan's mediation efforts. Donors have said aid programs to Kenya are under review.

    Fresh protests, in which witnesses said at least two people were killed, broke out on Thursday after a police officer in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret shot dead an opposition legislator.

    He was the second killed in a week. Continued...

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  15. Wanjiku of Mombasa, you asked what can be done if you live far away from the meeting. Perhaps you could suggest to the people at the meeting to use SMS to communicate with you and others who would be interested in participating from afar.

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  16. Kenyans have one enemy.The grabbers.

    The grabbers as reflected below sponsor and incite violence.




    The truth in plain words
    February 1 2008 at 7:44 PM Eli-

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I found this too true so decided to cut and paste .Am sure as you are that the sun will rise tomorrow ,that many of you have come across it , but for obvious reasons -...hutire unginyura ...

    *******************************************************************************
    Most of the power brokers in the Kenyatta regime who formed land-buying companies established huge farms in the Rift Valley either jointly or on their own. They included Njenga Karume, the then Chairman of Gema Holdings, who acquired 20,000 acres in Molo where he is growing tea, coffee, pyrethrum and potatoes and 16,000 acres in Naivasha and sleeping comfortably in his mansion in central province.

    GG Kariuki acquired his 5,000 acres at Rumuruti, Laikipia Division, while former Attoney-General Charles Njonjo bought into the 100,000 acre Solio Ranch. Don't forget, grabbing of settler land in Central by many colonial collaborators, at the expense of the Mau Mau fighters, was part of the scheme. Senior Chief Munyinge from Muiga took 400 acres. Initially, senior chief Munyinge was allocated only 70 acres but with time he managed to acquire 330 more acres.

    Mwai Kibaki acquired 20,000 acres in Nanyuki, Former MP Munene Kairu has 32,000 acres at Rumuruti. Mr Isaiah Mathenge, the former powerful Provincial Commissioner under Kenyatta and an MP under Moi, is arguably the largest land owner in Nyeri municipality.

    He owns Seremwai Estate, which is 10,000 acres. Kibaki's friend, Kim Ngatende, a former government engineer, has 500 acres too. Mathenge also owns "jointly with former Provincial Commissioner Lukas Daudi Galgalo” the 10, 000-acre Manyagalo Ranch in Meru.

    Back in Rift Valley, as Jaramogi and the rest of Kenyans were saying, Not Yet Uhuru, it was land grabbing business as usual. Jaramogi did not spare his hands either and grabbed the Molases plant and the land!

    Land-buying companies were heisting big. There result was big acquisitions, for instance, Munyeki Farm "which stands for Murang'a, Nyeri, Kiambu" (4,000 acres), Wamuini Farm (6,000 acres), Amuka Farm (2,000 acres), Gituaraba Farm and Githatha Farm (1,000 acres each) and GEMA Holdings 12,000 acres. A few of them are being utilized, today with the owners growing various crops ranging from coffee, tea, maize and dairy keeping.

    The other big farms include Chepchomo Farm (18, 000 acres), owned by the former Provincial Commissioner Ishmael Chelang'a. The family of the late Peter Kinyanjui, who was a close friend of President Mwai Kibaki and a former DP Chairman in Trans Nzoia between 1998 and 1999 owns 1,800 acres.The former Assistant Police Com. Erastus Mungai grabbed his share in Murunyu, Rongai and Mombasa.

    In Nakuru, several politically connected individuals have acquired many acres of prime land within the town—they include lawyer Mutula Kilonzo, who owns an 800-acre farm for dairy farming. The immediate former Auditor General, D S Njoroge, owns 500 acres, while Biwott's Canadian son-in-law & co-owner of Safaricom (Mobitelea) a Mr. Charles, boasts a 100-acre piece where he is growing roses. Dr.Sally Kosgei and Prof. George Saitoti are neighbours at the Thika blue post hotel.

    D. S. Njoroge also owns the extensive Kelelwa Ranch in Koibatek, which is less than 10km from Kabarak, where he rears cattle and goats. The 10,000 acre Gitomwa Farm "acronym for Gichuru, Tony and Mwaura” is owned by the family of the former Kenya Power and Lighting Company Limited (KPLC) managing director, Samuel Gichuru. Tony and Mwaura are his sons.

    Another 10,000 acre farm in Mau Narok belongs to the family of the late Mbiyu Koinange, Kenyatta's side-kick and powerful minister of state in the Office of the President. His Muthera Farm (4,000ha) is leased to different people to grow wheat, while a group of squatters is demanding a piece of it. The owners are yet to clear the Sh7 million Settlement Transfer Fund loan.

    Ford-People leader Simeon Nyachae's Kabansora Holdings owns 4,000ha in the area and Thika road Juja, where he grows roses. Former Rongai MP Willy Komen's family owns 10,000 acres 5,000ha adjacent to Moi's Kabarak Farm and another 4,800ha near Ngata in Njoro.

    Coast Province was not spared. Kenyatta family owns almost 15% the prime resort land in the province, besides a huge sisal plantation spanning both Taita and Taveta districts, safely watched by his son-in-law and former MP Marsden Madoka, and another close friend to Uhuru Kenyatta, and current Minister in Kibaki's illegitimate government, Naomi Shaban.


    Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki land holdings

    Kenya's two former First Families and the family of President Mwai Kibaki are among the biggest landowners in the country. The extended Kenyatta family alone owns an estimated 500,000 acres ”approximately the size of Nyanza Province” according to estimates by independent surveyors and Ministry of Lands officials. (This report first appeared in the Standard Newspaper report by Mr. Otsieno Namwaya)

    The Kibaki and Moi families also own large tracts, most held in the names of sons and daughters and other close family members, all concentrated within the 17.2 % of Kenya that is arable or valued. Remember that 80 per cent of all land in Kenya is mostly arid and semi arid land.

    According to the Kenya Land Alliance, more than a 65% of all arable land in Kenya is in the hands of only 20 per cent of the 35 million Kenyans. That has left millions absolutely landless while another 67 per cent on average own less than an acre per person.

    The building land crises in the country, experts say, will be difficult to solve because the most powerful people in the country are also among its biggest landowners.

    The tracts of land under the Kenyatta family are so widely distributed within the numerous members in various parts of the country that it is an almost impossible task to locate all of them and establish their exact sizes.

    During Kenyatta's 15-year tenure in State House, he used the elaborate STFS scheme funded by the World Bank and the British Government, to acquired large pieces of land all over the country. Other tracts, he easily allocated to his family.

    Among the best-known parcels owned by Kenyatta's family, for instance, are the 24, 000 acres in Taveta sub-district adjacent to the 74, 000 acres owned by former MP Basil Criticos.

    Others are 50, 000 acres in Taita that is currently under Mrs Beth Mugo, an Assistant minister of Education and niece of Kenyatta, 29, 000 acres in Kahawa Sukari along the Nairobi Thika highway, the 10, 000 acre Gichea Farm in Gatundu, 5, 000 acres in Thika, 9,000 acres in Kasarani and the 5, 000-acre Muthaita Farm.

    These are beside others such as Brookside Farm, Green Lee Estate, Njagu Farm in Juja, a quarry in Dandora in Nairobi and a 10, 000-acre ranch in Naivasha. There is another 200 acres in Mombasa, and 250 acres in Malindi.

    Other pieces of land owned by the Kenyatta family include the 52,000-acre farm in Nakuru and a 20,000-acre one, also known as Gichea Farm, in Bahati under Kenyatta's daughter, Margaret. Besides, Mama Ngina Kenyatta, widow of the former President, owns another 10, 000 acres in Rumuruti while a close relative of the Kenyatta family, a Mrs Kamau, has 40,000 acres in Endebes in the Rift Valley Province.

    Uhuru owns 5,000 acres in Eldoret, 3,000 acres in Rongai and 12,000 acres in Naivasha, 100 acres in Karen, and 200 acres in Dagoretti. A 1,000-acre farm in Dagoretti is owned by Kenyatta's first wife Wahu.

    It is also understood that part of the land on which Kenyatta and Jomo Kenyatta Universities are constructed initially belonged the Criticos family. The government bought the land from him in 1972 under the Settlement Transfer Fund Scheme and transferred to the Kenyatta family the same day Criticos sold it to the government. Land for the two universities was subsequently sold partly and a portion donated by the family.

    One of President Kibaki's earliest grabs is the 1,200-acre Gingalily Farm along the Nakuru-Solai road. And in the 1970s, Kibaki, who was then the minister for Finance under Kenyatta, via STFS transferred to himself, 10, 000 acres in Bahati from the then Agriculture minister Bruce Mckenzie after grabbing 400 million from the treasury.

    Kibaki also owns another 10, 000 acres at Igwamiti in Laikipia and 10, 000 acres in Rumuruti in Naivasha. These are in addition to the 1,600 acre Ruare Ranch.

    Just next to Kibaki's Bahati land are Moi's 20, 000 acres although his best known piece of land is the 1,600 Kabarak Farm on which he has retired. It is one of the most well utilised farms in the area, with wheat, maize and dairy cattle.

    The former President owns another 20, 000 acres in Olenguruoni in Rift Valley, on which he is growing tea and has also built the Kiptakich Tea Factory (recently torched). He also has some 20, 000 acres in Molo. He also has another 3, 000-acre farm in Bahati on both sides of the Nakuru/Nyahururu road where he grows coffee and some 400 acres in Nakuru on which he was initially growing coffee.

    The former President also owns the controversy ridden 50, 000 acre Ol Pajeta Farm part of which has Ol Pajeta ranch in Rumuruti, Laikipia. Some time in 2004 Moi put out an advert in the press warning the public that some unknown people were sub-dividing and selling it.

    This is clearly a socio-political problem that requires a political solution. It involves digging up the archives, consulting experts, policy makers, local politicians and community elders to find a comprehensive solution once and for all.

    ******************************************************************************

    Elijohn @ Mabton Farm , Yakima Valley
    (by the way i have not grabbed from anyone -its my `jasho ` mates )


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  17. KIBAKI to seek ASYLUM

    Let him seek political asylum in Ethiopia. Maybe he will meet the killer of TJ there.

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  18. To anonymous @ 11:57
    Even Mugabe Were has been a grabber of people`s property. He was a relative of Fred Gumo mzee wa Jeshi la mzee. These are facts you cant deny.

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  19. We are headed towards the end of the fist decade of the 21 st century.Africans are still lagging behind on the world economy.It seems like the African people have become synonymous with negativity since their 'independence',keeping in mind that i am speaking in general here.read more at http://realideas-1individual.blogspot.com/

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  20. The suspect who killed MP in Eldoret is alleged to have gunned down the 40-year-old legislator and his female companion, Constable Eunice Chepkwony, at West Indies estate in Eldoret Town.

    There is nothing wrong with "West Indies estate in Eldoret Town" in Eldoret BUT Kamba traders, Muindi Groceries and Kiambaa Furnitures in Eldoret and Kisumu is a problem. Kiss Me...... sorry excuse me Ida. What have you been cooking to Raila, Ruto,Kosgey, Balala,Mudavadi, Moi, Bowott, Ntimama, Ngilu, Mpende msipende,Gideon please and ngaruiya.
    I beg....it Kenya our country. i beg i beg...

    ReplyDelete

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