Since taking over the country in 2002 Kibaki has managed to increase his litany of rich friends all the while throwing caution to the wind and associating with fabulously wealthy individuals, some of them with dubious reputations.
Among those in the list of the super rich Kenyans that Kibaki has seen it wise to befriend is non other than the billionaire Juja MP William Kabogo who's brother has been accused on running a controversial import-export company that has been linked to drug trafficking and even murder.
The company is owned by Kabogo who is known for his lavish lifestyle including going out for lunch in Masai country with his personal helicopter and boasting that he is so wealthy that he cannot loose his parliamentary seat due to the development that he has accomplished in his constituency.
During the referendum last year in November, Kabogo came out very strongly in support of the Kibaki camp that was vouching for the new constitution and managed to ensure that the majority of Juja constituents voted for the constitution which was not surprising as majority of the constituents consists of the Kikuyu community, the presidents’ tribes mates.
Kabogo has also supported government motions in parliament all along and has not hidden the fact that he is a good friend and supporter of the Kibaki government in spite of belonging to the obscure Sisi Kwa Sisi party which has only two MPs in parliament, the other being Kangundo legislator Moffat Maitha.
It is interesting to note that the two legislators opted for the obscure party after they lost in the NARC nominations with both claiming that they were rigged out hence their defection to the brief case party who's officials are not even known by Kenyans.
It is common knowledge that Kabogo has no choice but to support the government as his business interests stand to suffer immensely if he does not co-operate with those in power. His company has been linked with drug trafficking at the port of Mombasa amongst numerous other shady deals.
His brother was arraigned in court last year for the murder of a senior police officer who was investigating the disappearance of containers At the Mombasa port and drug trafficking syndicates in Mombasa. The case is yet to be concluded.
Kabogo has also been held and interrogated by police on some occasions but has been released unconditionally mainly due to lack of evidence to support prosecution and it is also known that he is a close friend and associate of Joseph Kiragu, the man linked to the shs 6 billion cocaine impounded in Nairobi last year.
Kiragu is still holed up in the Nertherlands where he fled and the government is trying to have him extradited back to Kenya to face trafficking charges but that is another story altogether.
Kabogo is a brother in-law to John Harun Mwau another controversial figure also linked to drug trafficking with the latter having made a fruitless attempts to venture into politics in 2002 loosing the Kilome parliamentary seat.
The Juja MP is among the fabulously rich individuals who will most likely contribute generously to the Kibaki re-election campaign in a bid to ensure that his business does not suffer in the event of Kibaki loosing the presidency.
However, the million-dollar question is whether Kibaki is aware of the nature of business his so called business friends do and again if he approves of the sack loads of money that will come his way in form of campaign funds without asking too many questions, like where it came from.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Countdown General Elections in Kenya 2007: Why An Early Election Will Favor Narc Kenya
The influential Sunday Nation newspaper of Kenya seems convinced that we are headed for an early general elections 2007. Using the sort of sensational headline that would have been better suited to one of the many gutter press titles that litter the Kenyan streets these days, leading writers at Kenya's most popular Sunday newspaper yesterday gave 7 main reasons why they think the elections will be held either as early as August or in November at the very latest.
The Headline read; 7 signs of an early election.
The signs include the creation of 7 brand new districts by the president last week and the controversial appointment of new electoral commissioners.
Amid all the uncertainties over when exactly the much-awaited elections will be held, one thing is rather obvious. Whatever the opposition say about their being ready for the elections, an early election will favor Narc Kenya in a big way. By virtue of simply having government on its' side Narc Kenya already has campaign tentacles on the ground reaching into every tiny corner of the republic via the notorious provincial administration. And as was seen during the constitutional referendum in November 2005, the guys are really not shy about using this unfair advantage.
In sharp contrast, ODM Kenya and other political parties will have to set up their election campaign network painstakingly from scratch.
The election weapon of the incumbent keeping everybody guessing as to when the election date really is, has been used by many British Prime Ministers to win elections that they would have otherwise lost. It is power given to the president of Kenya in the current constitution, which the British premier has also enjoyed for years. Some people consider it to be an unfair advantage to the incumbent that gives them a huge edge because in politics timing is everything.
The Headline read; 7 signs of an early election.
The signs include the creation of 7 brand new districts by the president last week and the controversial appointment of new electoral commissioners.
Amid all the uncertainties over when exactly the much-awaited elections will be held, one thing is rather obvious. Whatever the opposition say about their being ready for the elections, an early election will favor Narc Kenya in a big way. By virtue of simply having government on its' side Narc Kenya already has campaign tentacles on the ground reaching into every tiny corner of the republic via the notorious provincial administration. And as was seen during the constitutional referendum in November 2005, the guys are really not shy about using this unfair advantage.
In sharp contrast, ODM Kenya and other political parties will have to set up their election campaign network painstakingly from scratch.
The election weapon of the incumbent keeping everybody guessing as to when the election date really is, has been used by many British Prime Ministers to win elections that they would have otherwise lost. It is power given to the president of Kenya in the current constitution, which the British premier has also enjoyed for years. Some people consider it to be an unfair advantage to the incumbent that gives them a huge edge because in politics timing is everything.
Tribalism At The Daily Nation: How Will It Affect The General Elections In Kenya 2007?
Insiders are only too aware of the fierce tribal office politics that has dogged Kenya's leading media house, the Nation Media group for years now. But what is of serious concern is how it will influence the coverage of the general elections expected later this year.
The public is bound to have a very short memory and therefore many have forgotten about the controversy that emerged during the November 2005 referendum that put the Nation newspapers on the spotlight with accusations of unfair or slanted coverage mainly coming from the Orange side. It took a number of closed door meetings at the Nation House with party representatives to sort that one out. But now the general elections loom large in the horizon where the stakes are much higher than they were in November 2005.
A recent incident at the Daily newspaper only serves to confirm analysts worst fears. It is said that an employee of the daily newspaper was sacked by a top editor at the newspaper who happens to belong to the Luo tribe, only to be re-instated by another senior editor who happens to belong to the house of Mumbi.
The incident sent shockwaves through the entire media fraternity and served to highlight the tribal politics that has always played out below the surface at Kenya's most popular daily and influenced many key decisions.
Insiders know that the best journalists in the profession happen to hail from the Luo community (there is a historical reason but that is a story for another day) and yet at the Nation there has always been a deliberate effort to frustrate and ensure that the influence of journalists who hail from that community is kept to a bare minimum. The chief architects of that campaign (and this may be a mere coincidence) have always hailed from—you guessed it—the house of Mumbi.
Nobody who does little research will find that talented journalists have been overlooked for promotion and other hounded to the door and the list of these injustices is rather long.
This is exactly the kind of post that convinces some casual readers of this site that the person who writes this blog is from the Luo community and that it is a Raila blog. Both allegations are false and my aim is only to expose the truth to Kenyans and I have no affiliations to any tribe ad neither do I have the slightest preferences. If I was a tribalist then Kalonzo Musyoka's bid for the presidency would have received plenty of good, positive coverage from this blog. As it is, the sort of mood that I have been forced into these days, will not allow me to spare even my own deceased mother if any whiff of corruption or past sins linked to her, emerged today. I kid you not, I would not hesitate to expose her.
The problem at the Nation has persisted for years and it is amazing how the effects it has had on the running of the newspaper have been so minimal. However as we head towards an election where the two largest tribes in Kenya are likely to face off, (just like they did in the referendum) those in the know have reason to worry. More so because of the Nation newspaper's influence on public opinion, which is powerful enough to decide the forthcoming elections.
The public is bound to have a very short memory and therefore many have forgotten about the controversy that emerged during the November 2005 referendum that put the Nation newspapers on the spotlight with accusations of unfair or slanted coverage mainly coming from the Orange side. It took a number of closed door meetings at the Nation House with party representatives to sort that one out. But now the general elections loom large in the horizon where the stakes are much higher than they were in November 2005.
A recent incident at the Daily newspaper only serves to confirm analysts worst fears. It is said that an employee of the daily newspaper was sacked by a top editor at the newspaper who happens to belong to the Luo tribe, only to be re-instated by another senior editor who happens to belong to the house of Mumbi.
The incident sent shockwaves through the entire media fraternity and served to highlight the tribal politics that has always played out below the surface at Kenya's most popular daily and influenced many key decisions.
Insiders know that the best journalists in the profession happen to hail from the Luo community (there is a historical reason but that is a story for another day) and yet at the Nation there has always been a deliberate effort to frustrate and ensure that the influence of journalists who hail from that community is kept to a bare minimum. The chief architects of that campaign (and this may be a mere coincidence) have always hailed from—you guessed it—the house of Mumbi.
Nobody who does little research will find that talented journalists have been overlooked for promotion and other hounded to the door and the list of these injustices is rather long.
This is exactly the kind of post that convinces some casual readers of this site that the person who writes this blog is from the Luo community and that it is a Raila blog. Both allegations are false and my aim is only to expose the truth to Kenyans and I have no affiliations to any tribe ad neither do I have the slightest preferences. If I was a tribalist then Kalonzo Musyoka's bid for the presidency would have received plenty of good, positive coverage from this blog. As it is, the sort of mood that I have been forced into these days, will not allow me to spare even my own deceased mother if any whiff of corruption or past sins linked to her, emerged today. I kid you not, I would not hesitate to expose her.
The problem at the Nation has persisted for years and it is amazing how the effects it has had on the running of the newspaper have been so minimal. However as we head towards an election where the two largest tribes in Kenya are likely to face off, (just like they did in the referendum) those in the know have reason to worry. More so because of the Nation newspaper's influence on public opinion, which is powerful enough to decide the forthcoming elections.
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