Kenyans are so fast at pointing fingers even at SAINTS. Now all and sundry are baying for Jomo Junior’s blood for a mistake the PRINCE didn’t make. What is more, Uhuru has equivocally clarified that the SMALL discrepancy of KES 9.2 BILLION was a computer error. What other further proof do Kenyans want from an INDUSTRIOUS and hard working politician.
For the records Uhuru is not naive to burn his fingers by engaging in silly/petty thefts. Son of Ngina was born and destined for bigger things and marauding Kenyans must give him a break. He tops the 2012 presidential wish list and that makes him a magnet of barbs in all shapes and form.
Finance Ministry is not meant for minions and unlike other dockets must be tightly guarded. UK has apologized and we must take him for his word. If anything a billion is just but some nine zeroes and such grandiose errors in 200 columns is human. We must trust Muigai with the hard task of formulating national budget next month.
But PRINCE UK is smart enough to know when to face camera and without blinking declare IT WASN’T ME. Well, Shaggy the singer had no clue when he belted that number. The DPM smells political heat miles away and with Marende breathing fire through parliamentary committee attack dogs UK knows nobody ever constipated from and overdose of humble pie.
Executive ministry But the whole saga leaves national bitter taste. Are all the MPs so busy they blindly pass such a colossal amount of tax payers money without scrutiny? The joke is on us people as Kenya’s gatekeepers re-enforce the grills with every trick available to them.
If only computers could talk then we would know for sure how easily we are fooled as a nation. The truth is you don’t inaugurate yourself at midnight and sleep pretty without going overdrive to accomplish the Grand Mission of auctioning even the unborn Kenyan. We haven’t seen anything yet.
I will never forget that hot sunny day some years back, somewhere in Tharaka Nthi (Meru). I was standing there in the hot sun in one of my warmer suits with tears rather than sweat trickling down my cheeks as I squeezed a Kenya shillings one thousand note into the worn hands of a mother who had cried most of the way from Nairobi.
Mutula "Reforms" Kilonzo: Would you trust a lion to guard your sheep?
A few minutes earlier the tiny coffin that carried the remains of her 9 year old daughter had been lowered from the carriage of our minibus. We were going to bury a friend’s wife and had offered her a free lift in our minibus all the way from Nairobi to Meru.
Her daughter died because of corruption. There was no medicine at Kenyatta National Hospital to save her life because corruption made sure of that and her parents had no money to buy it elsewhere. She told me her daughter’s last words to her which will forever ring in my mind. She had said; “Don’t cry mama, I am going to heaven.”
To many Kenyans corruption is a joke. Something that is not too serious, after all Kenya has more serious problems like road accidents and violent crime. Right? Wrong!! The truth is that it is the ordinary folks (e.g. the Mathareans) who feel the full impact of corruption. While Westgateans enjoy the fruits of it.
A day after being appointed the new Justice Minister, Mutula Kilonzo had the nerve to say that in his many years of practicing the law, he is not aware of any clique out to derail reforms in Kenya. For those who know Mr Kilonzo that statement is hardly surprising. It is easier for a hungry Tana River crocodile to ignore a baby bathing on the banks of the river than it is for Mr Kilonzo to bring reforms.
Many Kenyans are not aware for instance of how rotten the judiciary system in Kenya is. An advocate who recently returned to the country and had to go and file her papers in the high court has been frustrated for the last 2 days because her conscience does not allow her to pay a paltry Kshs 500/- to facilitate the process. Just walk into any legal firm and ask them what "facilitation fees" are.
That is how stinking rotten our dear Kenya is.
Many times when I lose focus in this blog my mind goes back to Tharaka Nthi and to that hot Saturday afternoon and to that young girl who died because of corruption. What would she have been today? A lawyer, a doctor saving lives in some remote hospital? Or maybe some happy Kenyan housewife bringing up the next Barack Obama. Or maybe some cocky blogger posting excellent articles here. We will never know.
My post today is dedicated to her memory and to the memory of all those “insignificant” unknown Kenyans who have been casualties of corruption
You are dead right Mr Kilonzo, there is nobody fighting reforms. Excuse me folks, I need to throw up!!!
One of the arguments that people have against Kenyans going back to the polls ASAP is that there is no need for elections without first implementing minimal reforms.
Well said!! Actually that makes a lot of sense. However I have one simple question to ask. Can our current crop of politicians deliver reforms?
I can bet you my lunch today that Raila Odinga, Martha Karua, George Saitoti, Uhuru Kenyatta and every other pretender to the throne wants to be president with the same powers that Mwai Kibaki has today. So in effect what will happen is that they will make all the right noises, huff and puff but no reforms will happen. And you can take that to the bank.
So in effect the best hope (and I emphasize “hope” because it is no guarantee) to get any reforms is to vote in a new team with the reform agenda at the top of their list. Hopefully they will be under more pressure to deliver what the electorate wants than the current crop of politicians.
Probably the best illustration of how reforms will not happen with the current jokers was the appointment yesterday of Mutula Kilonzo to fill in the docket left by Martha Karua. Kenyans have the shortest memories on earth and so may I remind you folks to ask yourselves how Mutula Kilonzo made his money. I can assure you that he did not make it the same way reputable firms like Kaplan and Stratton or Daly Figgis make theirs.
The man shot to the limelight as retired President Moi’s lawyer. But before that Mutula thrived from making a corrupt judicial system even more corrupt (I don’t think I need to say more). And that is the man who has now been tasked with championing reforms. That is a very, very, very funny joke. Only that I am NOT laughing.
So since we are told elections are impossible right now why don’t we sit and wait for reforms before we go to the polls. I suggest that we push back the elections to beyond 2012. Let us give these good people plenty of time to bring us the reforms.
Will the last man leaving Kenya remember to switch off the lights, please!
We keep getting reassuring statements from all quarters that the coalition will not collapse and that it will run its’ course to the next scheduled general elections in 2012.
We have even had a statement issued by a diplomat in Nairobi ruling out snap general elections as NOT being a viable option for Kenya. Wise words indeed. But wise words don’t always rule.
So on the surface of things it seems that the country will limp on until 2012 in its’ current state of uncertainty and constant squabbling within the coalition. But is this the case? The mood of the country and recent events seem to contradict this view.
Take for instance the incident at UhuruPark on Labour day May 1st where angry wananchi threw stones and walked out on Labour Minister John Munyees as he delivered the president’s speech. There are those who say that the heckling was organized for political reasons by ODM diehards to embarrass the president. This is of course difficult to prove, but even if it is true the truth is that Kenya as a country is now dangerously on the edge and amazingly nobody seems to see where the real danger lies.
About two weeks ago I had the privilege of seeing first hand just how deceiving the state of the country can be to a casual observer depending on where you are. I went to the Sarit centre, the prestigious Westgate and surrounding shopping arcades and could not miss the huge crowds of shoppers with heavy trolleys threatening to spill their contents on the neat pavements next to roads without a single pot hole. I quipped to a friend; “This is where the thieves of Kenya live and play.” I then traveled through a section of Ukambani and it wasstark contrast. Children staring back with hunger visibly in their eyes. Desperate people who asked for my cell phone number and then quickly followed with requests for help—any kind of help. My informants have told me the situation is pretty much the same across most of the country. Most dangerously within slum areas in Nairobi.
To put this danger bluntly; there are far too many Kenyans at the moment who have absolutely nothing to lose. My question is; will all these people wait until 2012?
Kenyans are angry and hungry and that deadly combination means that anything can happen at any time.
Interestingly as I mentioned in an earlier post, both ODM and PNU are busy secretly preparing for a general election. Indeed the recent “campaign” targeted at the Prime Minister is part of PNU’s preparation for those elections. However what both political parties do NOT seem to realize is that Kenyans are long fed up with the old order and whatever kind of preparations both political parties make, they will NOT make an impact in the next polls (whenever that will be).
I love Shakespeare’s political classic Julius Caesar and in one memorable scene of the play Julius Caesar sees the soothsayer who had earlier warned him about the ides of March and reminds him about his prediction. The Soothsayer quietly replies that indeed the ides of March has arrived, but it was far from being over. Before the end of that day Caesar had fallen in bloody mess of stabbings. I made a bold prediction early this year where I doubted if the coalition government would survive beyond May. Well May is here… but it is far from being over.
Of course I have been wrong before…. But I have also been right.
P.S. Increasingly old corruption and crime rings that have been suffocating the country for a long time seem to be under attack even as they seem to continue to thrive. Fascinatingly one of the recent attacks to the old order seems to be coming from a most unlikely source. Technology.
Last week a Kenyan data recovery company launched a cell phone and laptop tracking device that is sure to put a lot of crooked people in Nairobi out of business. These people being put out of business are NOT nice people and the company in question needs to give serious thought to their personal security and that of its’ top executives.
Can’t tell why many times there is the need to cross the river before we get to the bridge … either by miracles (which scientifically don’t just happen) or fly like a bird. Logically it makes no sense(why would you wanna do that? si just walk to the bridge) and structurally we lack the necessary network, skills and the knowledge to do/achieve that … which in many ways is nothing but a blessing to us considering our RAM kind of memory.
The much crap we keep taking from our leaders tells that we not yet at the end of the road. The much crap we take from each other, from our bosses, from our community leaders, from our religious leaders, from our MPs from the Prime Minister and from the President will tell you that we still have the space to take more crap from them. The only way to change is when you have been pushed that you can go no further. You are so pushed that you can take it no more, you are at the end … and you are literally burning inside, to a point where you can kill and comfortably defend yourself. You stop caring for anything and you will do anything to get out of where you find yourself. At these points you can easily mobilize people just so that you can do what you believe needs to be done, and will easily tell off that ‘boss’ who is standing in your way.
As a nation we are not at the end. There is still a lot more crap we can take from those we have entrusted to lead us. We still need the different mafias all over the country to continue selling Kenya part by part till the day we’ll come home from work and see a sign at the gate to our homes that we are trespassing someone’s property … for a piece of land that was legitimately bought 100yrs ago by great great grandfather. We still need the many shrewd business people to continue reaping mad profits by underpaying us till the day I realize that I can’t even pay for my bus fare to work due to inflation … or continue to kiss ass and boot lick the idiotic boss or sleep with him/her to get a promotion or keep jobs or get favors till the day it will dawn on me that its not worth. We still need to put up with the most sic education system till the day we’ll wake up and find out that no one will graduate in medicine, commerce, etc in the public universities since those who apparently qualified through exam leakage could not manage because they just ain’t all that bright … and in any case they just wanted to pass the exams. I will still continue to take all the crap the mainstream media will feed me till the day they say a lie on me. As long as they aren’t lying about me or feeding my kids with ‘dirt’ so to speak I will continue to take on the biased news and religiously watch them at 9.00pm and let other kids watch TV as they wish. The day they will say lies on me … then I will do something to demand that they should be accountable and responsible on what they show and report on the screen.
In short, as much as we need things to be done correctly we have to cross the river when we get to the bridge. The widespread APATHY among the Kenyans has to end for us to have the Kenya we all need. When a national issue that should be addressed is not … we make noise for some days then forget about it, and move on to the next … and on goes the circle. Demanding good governance then shamelessly showing disinterest when presented and given CRAP is the worst form of hypocrisy.
This kind of insincerity will keep us where we are till the day things get too bad that we are at the end. My prayer this Sunday is that day comes quick. I want to see a lot more crap from the two big losers and from the MPs to the point where we all can take it no more. We as Kenyan need to get to the point where we all will join the so called stone throwers without a care … where we will do whatever it takes to just get the country back in the right path.
