How Sacred A Cow Is Amos “I am innocent” Kimunya?

It is clear that Amos Kimunya is no ordinary Finance Minister. Analysts are now asking themselves the one million shilling question. Why was it easier to sack (by asking them to resign) the President’s close friend and confidante for years, former Finance minister Daudi Mwiraria? What is so special with this Amos “Safaricom IPO” Kimunya?

Even as you read this post, frantic consultations and meetings have been going on all weekend to map a way forward. But what Kenyans do not know is that Kimunya’s being retained at treasury despite all the pressure is a “smoke screen” to cover what the president and his kitchen cabinet are really concerned about.

What this writer finds really fascinating is the uncanny similarities between this latest Grand Regency saga and the Anglo Leasing affair which unfolded during President Kibaki’s first term and caused former ethics PS John Githongo to flee the country into exile in the United Kingdom.

Those familiar with the goings on then will know that many people went into a lot of trouble to keep some certain prominent names very close to the president (blood relations) out of the scandal. Those efforts largely succeeded.

Once again this time round the same thing has to be done and that has been the number one agenda in the dozens of crisis meetings that have taken place through this weekend. The issue of Amos Kimunya’s resignation has oddly been missing. While it is obvious that Kimunya was the perfect “smoke screen” to use to divert the attention of the increasingly “nosy press” (who appear to have taken a break from their usual furious note taking and dictation duties from politicians to start doing some semblance of journalism work), questions still linger.

Will Amos Kimunya be used as the sacrificial lamb to cool down temperatures countrywide and more so in the August house where legislators have made it clear that they will accept nothing less than the satisfaction of seeing Mr Kimunya seated in the back benches for the first time in his political career? That is a question I cannot even speculate about at this time.

However my research has unearthed the key role in the Grand Regency saga of a person very close to the president (see details in the latest raw notes). This is what has stopped many in State House from sleeping too well over this mostly chilly weekend that is now coming to a close.

But even more deadly and of great concern to State House is the unprecedented resolve that has been witnessed amongst legislators of the 10^th parliament. The battle against Kimunya has been very personal but it is also clear that MPs are taking this opportunity to stamp their authority and indeed put the executive on notice that they are not going to be push overs. The effect of this has been to shift political fault lines of power tremendously with the main beneficiary of it all being the Prime Minister Raila Odinga whom analysts see wielding tremendous powers in the weeks to come. But there is a big “IF” here. And that is if ODM unity holds. Insiders know that this is far from being a foregone conclusion because the former president, his son Gideon and others have been working tirelessly to put a spanner in the works.

What I can conclusively report is that Kenyan politics has changed once again and things are far from being what they seem to be on the surface.

P.S. Poor Tom Alwaka of the Weekly Citizen seems to have run out of stories to publish. What is it with this blatant cutting and pasting of stories from Kumekucha into his newspaper (without giving credit)? We on the ground have urged Kumekucha to take serious action because this is NOT the first time that it has happened.

Surely Tom, umesoma mpaka University my friend and if you like Kumekucha articles so much you can copy them but put a brief note at the end, even if it is in 8 points or smaller saying: courtesy of Kumekucha.blogspot.com. That is the only way to do cutting and pasting LEGALLY.

So you think alone, you can’t do anything to change the politics in Kenya?