Raila's Trip: PNU Intelligence Caught Napping
After intentionally delaying this morning's mediation talks for about 5 hours, the government/PNU side were this morning thrown into disarray when news reached them that Raila Odinga had abruptly left the country. Was he in prison?
This incident shows Kenyans just how organised ODM is. Firstly, unlike the duly elected President Kibaki who made several secret trips out of Kenya and to Mombasa immediately after the elections, ODM, through its deputy captain Musalia Mudavadi was open and clear: Yes, the captain is abroad for a day, but he is definitely available at all times for consultation while out there. Which means, (much to PNU's disappointment) mediation talks will not be delayed because Raila is out of reach.
Secondly, ODM supporters are not left with any anxiety as a results of their leader's absence. PNU have continuously been playing delaying tactics with Annan for three weeks now, and they have been desperate for an excuse to lay blame on ODM for any reason that would delay the talks or show lack of seriousness.
Hopes that a deal would be announced today appear to be premature. It is emerging that the protagonist are still deeply divided over the powers of the prime minister. The PNU side do not want to agree to a PM with executive powers, while the ODM side insist that the state and government must be divided with the PM only answerable to parliament and leading the government while the president leads the state. PNU have even tried to suggest the PM's role be crafted along the lines of some chief minister with some functions attached, but the ODM side would hear none of it.
In order to show their seriousness, this afternoon, a second ODM PG meeting in as many days issued an ultimatum reconfirming its earlier threat that there would be countrywide mass protest within a week that is; as from Wednesday 27th February, if the PNU side failed to agree to their demands. ODM spokesperson Ababu Namwamba said that the huge amount of concessions their party had made in the search for peace was far much more than what the PNU side had made, if any at all. ODM accused the PNU of buying time so as to consolidate its illegitimacy.
ODM's statement also appeared to emphasize the right to self-determination, and it will be interesting to see how players react to this. ODM had earlier requested that parliament be recalled to address issues of insecurity in the country, but it seems the man in whose hands the power to re-call parliament rests (PNU's Mwai Kibaki) is in no hurry.
Insiders in ODM are insisting that Kibaki must be made to sign a peace agreement that shares executive power, and that the agreement must be legalised by way of constitutional amendment. Only then will ODM take up its duties. After all they ask; which pledge/promise has Kibaki ever fulfilled in his 40 years stint as a public figure/ MP / president? None.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
We Need A New Constitution and Jobs
Turning the spotlight briefly away from the brokering of power-sharing deals taking place in the plush confines of Serena Hotel, (with many of you already naively hailing the tentative agreement to create a prime minster's post with executive powers as the breakthrough needed to unlock the current stalemate) i have been asking myself the question what is the ultimate national price we must pay to honour the memory of 1000 kenyan lives needlessly sacrificed in the past 10 weeks? The answers i come up with are the enactment of a new constitution and the creation of jobs
Chris threw down the gauntlet earlier on this week when suggesting that as Kenyans the time has come for us to focus by force on crafting the future we want for our children and i am taking up the challenge seriously to think out of the box about the kind of ideas we need our dishonourables to get focussed on the moment they reluctantly return from the paid holiday we have been sponsoring them on the past 2 months and reluctantly roll up their well-paid sleeves to lethargically get down to work
I consider the enactment of a new constitution even more urgent and important than the re-introduction of a prime m(ini)onster post-enough is enough do we really need another 12 months to re-debate replacing the current constitution? It has since transformed us into collective pawns for our respective tribal elites and that document should not be allowed to exist one minute longer-we all already know a new constitution is the only viable solution to firmly establishing a stable foundation that will avoid potential turbulent political times ahead in future why are we going to waste time re-inventing the wheel by wasting further time either debating the merits/demerits of a new constitution or God forbid amending the current old one? When parliament resumes next month the first task should be to pass the new constitution within the month
Kabla kazi iendelee na maisha iwe bora lazima kazi ianze for many of the millions of jobless youth now roaming the major highways interlinking different parts of the country, manning makeshift roadblocks and wearing the latest in machete fashion-looks to die for. Unemployment still currently stands high even in the face of recovering economic growth that has now taken a beating (i used to admire this growth even outside my window) and even between 2002-2005 it did not manage to create the more than 500,000 jobs we were promised 6 years ago to cater for an excess young unemployed population. It was once said that this is not a fish market-that being the case we need it to become one so that we can get jobs as fishermen, fishmongers, fish sellers, fish chefs, fish supervisors and fish managers-for you tribalists out there replace the word fish with your favourite ethnic staple and leave me in peace
We know there are no free lunch that is not what we want but as much as the driving force of a career comes from the individual, there are many jobs needing no creation but simply awaiting the ablebodies and this grand-coaliton government must direct jobless youth to kilometres of roads needing tarmacking, irrigation schemes in semi-arid areas, empowering to a greater extent the hawkers market-this should start taking place immediately parliament resumes next month no wasting time
I know PNU and ODM read this blog-feel free to copyright my ideas as your own no charge from me but for your sakes i dare you to go further than me in thinking outside the box and giving us the country we deserve and not the country you want
Chris threw down the gauntlet earlier on this week when suggesting that as Kenyans the time has come for us to focus by force on crafting the future we want for our children and i am taking up the challenge seriously to think out of the box about the kind of ideas we need our dishonourables to get focussed on the moment they reluctantly return from the paid holiday we have been sponsoring them on the past 2 months and reluctantly roll up their well-paid sleeves to lethargically get down to work
I consider the enactment of a new constitution even more urgent and important than the re-introduction of a prime m(ini)onster post-enough is enough do we really need another 12 months to re-debate replacing the current constitution? It has since transformed us into collective pawns for our respective tribal elites and that document should not be allowed to exist one minute longer-we all already know a new constitution is the only viable solution to firmly establishing a stable foundation that will avoid potential turbulent political times ahead in future why are we going to waste time re-inventing the wheel by wasting further time either debating the merits/demerits of a new constitution or God forbid amending the current old one? When parliament resumes next month the first task should be to pass the new constitution within the month
Kabla kazi iendelee na maisha iwe bora lazima kazi ianze for many of the millions of jobless youth now roaming the major highways interlinking different parts of the country, manning makeshift roadblocks and wearing the latest in machete fashion-looks to die for. Unemployment still currently stands high even in the face of recovering economic growth that has now taken a beating (i used to admire this growth even outside my window) and even between 2002-2005 it did not manage to create the more than 500,000 jobs we were promised 6 years ago to cater for an excess young unemployed population. It was once said that this is not a fish market-that being the case we need it to become one so that we can get jobs as fishermen, fishmongers, fish sellers, fish chefs, fish supervisors and fish managers-for you tribalists out there replace the word fish with your favourite ethnic staple and leave me in peace
We know there are no free lunch that is not what we want but as much as the driving force of a career comes from the individual, there are many jobs needing no creation but simply awaiting the ablebodies and this grand-coaliton government must direct jobless youth to kilometres of roads needing tarmacking, irrigation schemes in semi-arid areas, empowering to a greater extent the hawkers market-this should start taking place immediately parliament resumes next month no wasting time
I know PNU and ODM read this blog-feel free to copyright my ideas as your own no charge from me but for your sakes i dare you to go further than me in thinking outside the box and giving us the country we deserve and not the country you want
Another Round of Anxiety and Waiting
So we have to wait for some more hours to know our fate as a country? Well, with fingers crossed it will be another long night. Hands on our hearts, hope as our singular asset and against all odds we hope to wake up to good news tomorrow from Annan.
But that ends the hopeful side of things in Kenya. The pragmatic and realistic aspect demands caution laced in a heavy dose of pessimism if our past is any guide. We must take the unexpected speedy climb down from the hitherto hardliners with a sumptuous dose of salt lest we end up naming the unborn who may come out STILL.
It is not pessimistic to factor in other dimensions that could have prompted PNU to create impressions they may not mean and will never respect. The international pressure is immense and the warning from crisis group is grim. Trust our scoundrels to revert to what they master best – buying time with the principal intention of maintaining status quo.
The stakes have never been higher. One minute Kibaki in utter contempt to all parties concerned declares with all bravado that there is no constitutional vacuum. And we are expected to breathe a sigh of relief the same evening praying that some unspecified deal has been hammered. Well, tough luck folks.
You CANNOT succeed in executing civilian coup by STEALING an election using tricks learnt in 1960s. This is the 21st Century and even General Mursharaf couldn't do it with all the military might at his disposal.
Time is of essence and the daggers are drawn. Will tomorrow see the shining blades being housed back in their sheaths or randomly opening skulls and extinguishing Kenyan lines? Your guess is as good as mine. Few hours to go and counting tick tock tick tock….
But that ends the hopeful side of things in Kenya. The pragmatic and realistic aspect demands caution laced in a heavy dose of pessimism if our past is any guide. We must take the unexpected speedy climb down from the hitherto hardliners with a sumptuous dose of salt lest we end up naming the unborn who may come out STILL.
It is not pessimistic to factor in other dimensions that could have prompted PNU to create impressions they may not mean and will never respect. The international pressure is immense and the warning from crisis group is grim. Trust our scoundrels to revert to what they master best – buying time with the principal intention of maintaining status quo.
The stakes have never been higher. One minute Kibaki in utter contempt to all parties concerned declares with all bravado that there is no constitutional vacuum. And we are expected to breathe a sigh of relief the same evening praying that some unspecified deal has been hammered. Well, tough luck folks.
You CANNOT succeed in executing civilian coup by STEALING an election using tricks learnt in 1960s. This is the 21st Century and even General Mursharaf couldn't do it with all the military might at his disposal.
Time is of essence and the daggers are drawn. Will tomorrow see the shining blades being housed back in their sheaths or randomly opening skulls and extinguishing Kenyan lines? Your guess is as good as mine. Few hours to go and counting tick tock tick tock….
PNU Accept Creation of PM Post As Visa Bans Are Withdrawn
ODM and PNU negotiators under the chairmanship of Mr Kofi Annan (centre) pray at the beginning of Wednesday's session at Serena Hotel, Nairobi. Photo/PETERSON GITHAIGA (NMG)Surprise, surprise as the season of climbing down reaches Kenya at long last
After last night’s ‘burning midnight oil’, Kenya Government aka PNU have this morning in principle agreed to the formation of the position of the prime minister’s post, according to sources close to the mediation team. Reuters have also published the news here.
While going for a break last evening, most of the negotiators declined to talk to the press who have for the last one and a half months set up permanent camps outside the Serena Hotel where Kofi Annan resides and where the mediations talks are being held. William Ruto, however, could not help it, but flash a wide grin! Last evening session which went on to this morning was primarily to discuss the contentious PM's post.
Mediation teams ‘held by the balls’ – literally
The detail are still sketchy but it is not lost on observers that US President George Bush has spoken about the Kenyan Crisis at nearly every press conference he has addressed ever since he arrived in Africa on February 15th. More importantly, Secretary of State Condi Rice visited Nairobi on orders from her boss and held meetings with both Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga. Rice is said to have privately reprimanded Kibaki and issued an ultimatum that the US President wants to see an agreement reached before he departs the African continent. Bush is due to depart Africa today 21st February 2008 after visiting Liberia, his last stop of the African tour. Will a deal be reached today?? Probably. Listen to this: “We all want a peaceful Kenya, so let us all agree on a common agenda for our country. This is the reason I want us to work with even those we competed with in the last general elections,” said President Kibaki.
Interestingly, in a classic case of ‘you scratch my back and I scratch yours’, diplomatic sources in Nairobi reveal that following Secretary Rice’s visit to Nairobi, the dreaded visa bans imposed on Martha Karua and William Ruto have now been withdrawn from the list that included who-is-who is Kenya's lucrative political and business circles. Whether this was a precondition of reaching an agreement as demanded by the international community remains unclear. The visa ban threat had affected power brokers within government so much so that two teenage children of a powerful cabinet minister were reportedly ‘deported’ back to Kenya from their US universities last week.
Back to the creation of the Prime Minister’s post, it will be interesting to find out if PNU has bowed to pressure and accepted ODM’s demands for a PM’s post with executive powers.
If this is the case, Kenya's next parliament session will be interesting to watch because, for instance, Kalonzo Musyoka (and his ODM-K brigade) will cease to occupy the leader of government business seat and give it up for the in-coming Prime Minister.
More updates on this later.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Just How Broke Is The Kenyan Government?
When this crisis was just beginning and long before Kenyans and the international community knew who Mwai Kibaki really was, we tried to predict the outcome of this mess with a friend and we both agreed that the deadlock would not be broken by war or anything else.
It would all hinge on money.
If the Kibaki administration managed to keep the money flowing in and the bills paid, then it was going to be a long, long fight.
What we did not agree on with my friend (who is a financial expert and understands Kenya well) was just how vulnerable the Kenyan economy was. In his view it was going to take a lot to bring the folks at the Treasury down to their knees. He emphasized to me that the Kenyan economy was NOT the Zimbabwean economy. If truth be told, he has mostly been right. However a number of extraordinary factors have quickly combined to completely change the scenario.
Despite Finance Minister Amos Kimunya’s brave face and cocky statements to the effect that the economy would hardly be scathed even after the devastating post-election violence that has swept across the country, the reality is different.
We are not all financial experts so let’s keep this simple.
Imagine that Kenya is an individual who receives money but has numerous bills to pay. Survival hinges on receiving enough money to be able to pay their bills on time. Before we start looking at where the money is coming from it is important to note that this chap called Kenya hardly saves any money and in recent times has been a huge spender. That combination can be deadly.
Read more
It would all hinge on money.
If the Kibaki administration managed to keep the money flowing in and the bills paid, then it was going to be a long, long fight.
What we did not agree on with my friend (who is a financial expert and understands Kenya well) was just how vulnerable the Kenyan economy was. In his view it was going to take a lot to bring the folks at the Treasury down to their knees. He emphasized to me that the Kenyan economy was NOT the Zimbabwean economy. If truth be told, he has mostly been right. However a number of extraordinary factors have quickly combined to completely change the scenario.
Despite Finance Minister Amos Kimunya’s brave face and cocky statements to the effect that the economy would hardly be scathed even after the devastating post-election violence that has swept across the country, the reality is different.
We are not all financial experts so let’s keep this simple.
Imagine that Kenya is an individual who receives money but has numerous bills to pay. Survival hinges on receiving enough money to be able to pay their bills on time. Before we start looking at where the money is coming from it is important to note that this chap called Kenya hardly saves any money and in recent times has been a huge spender. That combination can be deadly.
Read more
Reaping Fruits of Political Dishonesty
The genesis of all head and no light at the PNU-ODM mediation talks can be squared traced to our past that is replete with political dishonesty. No deal will be binding unless it is felt watertight, structured and documented in front of the whole world.
Our Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai saw it coming long time ago. Politicians all over the world make deals to survive. But trashing all your agreements once in power is the height of costly expediency. Now we are all roped in this ugly journey to political abyss.
Proclaiming sanctity to Kenya’s tattered constitution is to continue the destructive bumpy ride along the deceptive path. You cannot partially acknowledge a crisis and premise your pledge to resolve it on the same empty edifice you abused to cause the crisis in the first place. There are no half measures here and time is of essence too. Human patience is no elastic and Kenyans are threatening to snap soon.
You can't rule unwilling people
You cannot fool a country and the world all the time. Kibaki’s buying of time will be very costly to all Kenyans in the long run. In the minds of his handlers he has succeeded in weathering the global pressure and can now revert to old and time tested Kenyan gimmicks of grandstanding and brinkmanship.
Tomorrow AU boss Jean Ping is coming to town. You see, the world is not giving up on Kenya. Not just yet. Collaterally we must not abuse nor betray their efforts by trivializing their concern as patronage. Our immediate neighbours have left us to stew in our own oil thanks to our cheap brand of capitalism doled in primitive material accumulation.
You CANNOT rule an unwilling population. Not not in the 21st Century, never. Kibaki must move in haste to politically resolve the present crisis. Failing which even him he will not be spared the resulting devastation. Time is running out and Kenyans’ patience is no rubber band. We cannot lose our beautiful country to a bunch of old tribalists. The inhent class war is only secondary.
The embers are menacing glancing at the Kenyan fabric. The inferno is eminent and it is not a matter of IF but WHEN to implode. We want our country back NOW. And that is no just a wish. It is a right for which more than 1000 Kenyans have already lost their lives for. Enough is enough. No more red herrings and splitting of hairs please.
Our Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai saw it coming long time ago. Politicians all over the world make deals to survive. But trashing all your agreements once in power is the height of costly expediency. Now we are all roped in this ugly journey to political abyss.
Proclaiming sanctity to Kenya’s tattered constitution is to continue the destructive bumpy ride along the deceptive path. You cannot partially acknowledge a crisis and premise your pledge to resolve it on the same empty edifice you abused to cause the crisis in the first place. There are no half measures here and time is of essence too. Human patience is no elastic and Kenyans are threatening to snap soon.
You can't rule unwilling people
You cannot fool a country and the world all the time. Kibaki’s buying of time will be very costly to all Kenyans in the long run. In the minds of his handlers he has succeeded in weathering the global pressure and can now revert to old and time tested Kenyan gimmicks of grandstanding and brinkmanship.
Tomorrow AU boss Jean Ping is coming to town. You see, the world is not giving up on Kenya. Not just yet. Collaterally we must not abuse nor betray their efforts by trivializing their concern as patronage. Our immediate neighbours have left us to stew in our own oil thanks to our cheap brand of capitalism doled in primitive material accumulation.
You CANNOT rule an unwilling population. Not not in the 21st Century, never. Kibaki must move in haste to politically resolve the present crisis. Failing which even him he will not be spared the resulting devastation. Time is running out and Kenyans’ patience is no rubber band. We cannot lose our beautiful country to a bunch of old tribalists. The inhent class war is only secondary.
The embers are menacing glancing at the Kenyan fabric. The inferno is eminent and it is not a matter of IF but WHEN to implode. We want our country back NOW. And that is no just a wish. It is a right for which more than 1000 Kenyans have already lost their lives for. Enough is enough. No more red herrings and splitting of hairs please.
Annan Mediation Failure: Beginning of Self Determination Struggle?
Anxiety and political tension grip Kenya
The ODM is reportedly threatening to relaunch mass protests if the Annan talks do not break the political deadlock. This is what they are saying. What are they (strategically) planning?
Both the PNU and ODM have announced their official positions on power sharing but the difference is a stark as day and night. While the ODM supports a grand coalition power sharing plans that will create the post of a Prime Minister with Executive powers as Head of Government and Kibaki as Head of State, the PNU is hiding behind the current colonial treaty constitution (which PNU ironically agrees is long overdue for comprehensive reform) by saying Kibaki is "willing to work together and share responsibilities in government" with ODM, and that any deal "must be in tandem with the current Kenyan constitution". Can someone tell me what it means to share responsibilities in state governance?
The country is getting anxious and tension is building as signs of failure are beginning to dawn on citizens. Sensing ‘victory’ over the mighty USA and EU, PNU MPs are telling-off anyone who dares to offer advise of the way forward. One only needs to listen to FM call-in programs to gauge the mood of the nation and what the people want.
Even as their party threatens mass action, ODM MPs are said to be seriously looking at pursuing a secession agenda. Some MPs have been overheard saying that ODM can ‘comfortably’ reduce Central Province to an (isolated) country like Lesotho.
Lesotho is wholly surrounded by South Africa and economically integrated with it as well. Its geographical position makes it extremely vulnerable to political and economic developments in South Africa. Would central province be prosperous in similar circumstances if a New Kenya was to secede?
President Bush recent utterances leave little doubt that Kenya will be allowed to degenerate into another African failed state. News from the countryside indicates militia are re-arming. But then like Wetangula says: “Putting a gun on PNU’s head and saying 'either or' will be a making a big mistake”.
All I can say is: We shall see.
Related posts:
The Unanimous Declaration of the SIX United Provinces of Kenya
The ODM is reportedly threatening to relaunch mass protests if the Annan talks do not break the political deadlock. This is what they are saying. What are they (strategically) planning?
Both the PNU and ODM have announced their official positions on power sharing but the difference is a stark as day and night. While the ODM supports a grand coalition power sharing plans that will create the post of a Prime Minister with Executive powers as Head of Government and Kibaki as Head of State, the PNU is hiding behind the current colonial treaty constitution (which PNU ironically agrees is long overdue for comprehensive reform) by saying Kibaki is "willing to work together and share responsibilities in government" with ODM, and that any deal "must be in tandem with the current Kenyan constitution". Can someone tell me what it means to share responsibilities in state governance?
The country is getting anxious and tension is building as signs of failure are beginning to dawn on citizens. Sensing ‘victory’ over the mighty USA and EU, PNU MPs are telling-off anyone who dares to offer advise of the way forward. One only needs to listen to FM call-in programs to gauge the mood of the nation and what the people want.
Even as their party threatens mass action, ODM MPs are said to be seriously looking at pursuing a secession agenda. Some MPs have been overheard saying that ODM can ‘comfortably’ reduce Central Province to an (isolated) country like Lesotho.
Lesotho is wholly surrounded by South Africa and economically integrated with it as well. Its geographical position makes it extremely vulnerable to political and economic developments in South Africa. Would central province be prosperous in similar circumstances if a New Kenya was to secede?
President Bush recent utterances leave little doubt that Kenya will be allowed to degenerate into another African failed state. News from the countryside indicates militia are re-arming. But then like Wetangula says: “Putting a gun on PNU’s head and saying 'either or' will be a making a big mistake”.
All I can say is: We shall see.
Related posts:
The Unanimous Declaration of the SIX United Provinces of Kenya
Wangari Maaathai Receives Mungiki Death Threats
As Maina Kiai Goes Underground
Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai has today revealed that she has received death threats for reasons she thinks are linked to her condemnation of the results of the December 2007 general elections and strong support for the Annan peace mission.
Maathai, a world renowned environmentalist and a veteran of the Kenya civil society movement, said she reported the matter to police after getting three text messages on her telephone on Tuesday (yesterday).
One of the texts read: "Because of your opposing the government at all times ... we have decided to look for your head very soon," said one of the messages she read to reporters. She appealed to the government to restore bodyguards whom she says it recently recalled.
Wangari Maathai was interviewed on Citizen FM Radio this morning and was widely critical of the PNU regime. She attributed current problems in Kenya to the failed NARC (MOU) dream and the failure to pass the Bomas Draft Constitution.
Meanwhile, KNHC Chairman Maina Kiai has gone underground after highly successful trip to United Kingdom and USA where he and former nominated MP Njoki Ndungu made presentations to the United States Congressional Hearing on the Kenyan Crisis held in Washington D.C on Feb 6, 2008. Kiai and Ndungu are deemed to have upstaged the VP Kalonzo Musyoka who undertook a similar itinerary and also embarrassed the PNU government. Because of their ethnic origin, supporters aligned to PNU are considering the two as enemies.
The latest African Intelligence Newsletter reports in an article titled "Maina Kiai under the eye of the NSIS" that The National Security Intelligence Service is taking a close interest in the international trip of the head of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).
According to information obtained in Nairobi from various sources, the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS) has begun to investigate the activity of Maina Kiai, the head of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), during his travels to the United Kingdom and the United States. The NSIS is trying to list all the people he has met and find out whether he wants to request political asylum. The NSIS began to take an interest following the meeting last week between Maina Kiai and Mark Malloch-Brown, the British Minister of State with responsibility for Africa. During this meeting, Maina handed Malloch-Brown a report on the recent events in Kenya. Their discussion is also believed to have concerned identifying the Kenyan personalities who incited to violence or participated in election fraud.
The NSIS consequently wants to know who prepared the meeting between Kiai and Lord Malloch-Brown. It also wants to know whether Kiai is likely to become a new John Githongo, the former Kenyan anti-corruption czar who became highly unpopular among the supporters of President Mwai Kibaki when he denounced corruption within the Kenyan government team from his exile in the United Kingdom. Some members of the Kenyan government were also perturbed by the fact that Malloch-Brown’s meeting with Kiai took place just before his meeting with Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka. Among the Kenyan executive circles, Kiai is seen as having sold out and a traitor to his Kikuyu community, the same as Kibaki’s.
Matters got worse after Kiai’s speech to the Sub Committee on Africa & Global Health of the United States House of Representatives on February 6th, and his subsequent call this week in which he asked the US to suspend military aid to Kenya. This added even more to the impression held among Kibaki’s partisans that Kiai in fact supports the ODM (opposition). The NSIS then began to investigate his international contacts in order to evaluate the real impact of his stance in the US and the UK.(end)
If the aforegoing is anything to go by it means Mungiki have powerful members within the PNU and that the recent arrest of 37 adherents administering oath was no fluke.
It will be recalled that in early January, members of the civil society made reports to the Kilimani Police Crimes office alleging that they had received reliable information that the personal safety and security of its members, including Maina Kiai, was at serious risk and that a special unit had been officially formed to consider “methods of neutralisation” of the these civil right activists.
More recently an anonymous pamphlet has found its way in parts of Central Province and Nairobi where, it was instructively noted that the death threats have been issued against civil rights activists who are considered “traitors” to their ethnicity (Kikuyu), because they have spoken out about what they believe to have been irregularities in the election result, or about human rights abuses committed by the police and armed gangs, including gangs of Kikuyu people, throughout the country. The pamphlet includes Maina Kiai as part of a list of more 25 people of Kikuyu origin, who it calls “traitors (who) live among us in peace”, and included a veiled threat that they should be killed.
Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai has today revealed that she has received death threats for reasons she thinks are linked to her condemnation of the results of the December 2007 general elections and strong support for the Annan peace mission.
Maathai, a world renowned environmentalist and a veteran of the Kenya civil society movement, said she reported the matter to police after getting three text messages on her telephone on Tuesday (yesterday).
One of the texts read: "Because of your opposing the government at all times ... we have decided to look for your head very soon," said one of the messages she read to reporters. She appealed to the government to restore bodyguards whom she says it recently recalled.
Wangari Maathai was interviewed on Citizen FM Radio this morning and was widely critical of the PNU regime. She attributed current problems in Kenya to the failed NARC (MOU) dream and the failure to pass the Bomas Draft Constitution.
Meanwhile, KNHC Chairman Maina Kiai has gone underground after highly successful trip to United Kingdom and USA where he and former nominated MP Njoki Ndungu made presentations to the United States Congressional Hearing on the Kenyan Crisis held in Washington D.C on Feb 6, 2008. Kiai and Ndungu are deemed to have upstaged the VP Kalonzo Musyoka who undertook a similar itinerary and also embarrassed the PNU government. Because of their ethnic origin, supporters aligned to PNU are considering the two as enemies.
The latest African Intelligence Newsletter reports in an article titled "Maina Kiai under the eye of the NSIS" that The National Security Intelligence Service is taking a close interest in the international trip of the head of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).
According to information obtained in Nairobi from various sources, the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS) has begun to investigate the activity of Maina Kiai, the head of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), during his travels to the United Kingdom and the United States. The NSIS is trying to list all the people he has met and find out whether he wants to request political asylum. The NSIS began to take an interest following the meeting last week between Maina Kiai and Mark Malloch-Brown, the British Minister of State with responsibility for Africa. During this meeting, Maina handed Malloch-Brown a report on the recent events in Kenya. Their discussion is also believed to have concerned identifying the Kenyan personalities who incited to violence or participated in election fraud.
The NSIS consequently wants to know who prepared the meeting between Kiai and Lord Malloch-Brown. It also wants to know whether Kiai is likely to become a new John Githongo, the former Kenyan anti-corruption czar who became highly unpopular among the supporters of President Mwai Kibaki when he denounced corruption within the Kenyan government team from his exile in the United Kingdom. Some members of the Kenyan government were also perturbed by the fact that Malloch-Brown’s meeting with Kiai took place just before his meeting with Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka. Among the Kenyan executive circles, Kiai is seen as having sold out and a traitor to his Kikuyu community, the same as Kibaki’s.
Matters got worse after Kiai’s speech to the Sub Committee on Africa & Global Health of the United States House of Representatives on February 6th, and his subsequent call this week in which he asked the US to suspend military aid to Kenya. This added even more to the impression held among Kibaki’s partisans that Kiai in fact supports the ODM (opposition). The NSIS then began to investigate his international contacts in order to evaluate the real impact of his stance in the US and the UK.(end)
If the aforegoing is anything to go by it means Mungiki have powerful members within the PNU and that the recent arrest of 37 adherents administering oath was no fluke.
It will be recalled that in early January, members of the civil society made reports to the Kilimani Police Crimes office alleging that they had received reliable information that the personal safety and security of its members, including Maina Kiai, was at serious risk and that a special unit had been officially formed to consider “methods of neutralisation” of the these civil right activists.
More recently an anonymous pamphlet has found its way in parts of Central Province and Nairobi where, it was instructively noted that the death threats have been issued against civil rights activists who are considered “traitors” to their ethnicity (Kikuyu), because they have spoken out about what they believe to have been irregularities in the election result, or about human rights abuses committed by the police and armed gangs, including gangs of Kikuyu people, throughout the country. The pamphlet includes Maina Kiai as part of a list of more 25 people of Kikuyu origin, who it calls “traitors (who) live among us in peace”, and included a veiled threat that they should be killed.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The Big News Everybody Missed
Kumekucha Exclusive: Why Has ODM's Salim Lone Fled Kenya?
Some very strange events took place yesterday in Nairobi.
Kofi Anan went into a meeting with Mwai Kibaki at the president’s office at Harambee house. When they emerged from the meeting it was announced that President Kibaki had completely rejected the power sharing idea floated by the International community to end the political crisis in Kenya.
Everybody seems to have missed that very significant development. Except the razor sharp alert KTN and Standard group folks. Daily Nation which has been carrying some disturbingly bizarre headlines, packaged the news differently and the headline is about Kibaki’s proposals to end the polls crisis. More on why the Nation are behaving the way they are, later in this post.
The significance of this news is that Mwai Kibaki has trashed what the entire International community is saying. The Americans are rich guys but one wonders what was the point of Condi Rice, burning jet fuel all the way to Nairobi to deliver a message that has been totally rejected.
But even stranger was the reaction of ODM. The silence of the party was deafening. In fact over the last few days ODM has said very little. Why?
One theory is that the party...
Read more
Some very strange events took place yesterday in Nairobi.
Kofi Anan went into a meeting with Mwai Kibaki at the president’s office at Harambee house. When they emerged from the meeting it was announced that President Kibaki had completely rejected the power sharing idea floated by the International community to end the political crisis in Kenya.
Everybody seems to have missed that very significant development. Except the razor sharp alert KTN and Standard group folks. Daily Nation which has been carrying some disturbingly bizarre headlines, packaged the news differently and the headline is about Kibaki’s proposals to end the polls crisis. More on why the Nation are behaving the way they are, later in this post.
The significance of this news is that Mwai Kibaki has trashed what the entire International community is saying. The Americans are rich guys but one wonders what was the point of Condi Rice, burning jet fuel all the way to Nairobi to deliver a message that has been totally rejected.
But even stranger was the reaction of ODM. The silence of the party was deafening. In fact over the last few days ODM has said very little. Why?
One theory is that the party...
Read more
What Kenyans Need To Do Now
Waiting for peace can be a terribly frustrating and agonizing thing, as Kenyans have now seen for themselves.
My suggestion is that Kenyans must now focus on the future.
Imagine for a moment that you were some nice lady about to give birth. The birth pangs will already be going through your body. I am not a woman but I can imagine that searing pain is almost unbearable because I have been to a labour ward.
The business of bringing a new life to this world is not fun. There is the blood. Actually too much blood. Then in most cases the mother passes feces just as the baby starts to come and there are many other gory details that cannot be discussed in this blog with a family readership.
The thing to do then is to focus on the future. To imagine oneself at the end of the process holding the cute bouncing baby boy or baby girl in your arms and crying tears of joy.
That is exactly where Kenya is now; the terrible birth pangs have started and we have no idea how long they will last.
We need to start focusing on the future when all this mess is over.
What kind of constitution do we want? For starters we will need to use legislation to ensure that what has happened, never happens again.
I am informed that at one point during one of the Milton Obote regimes, the Ugandan parliament was about to pass a law to ensure that no MP would be allowed to represent his own tribe. That meant that to stand for a parliamentary seat, you would have to come from a different province from the one where the constituency was based.
I believe that such an idea can work beautifully for Kenya, with a little fine tuning here and there to ensure that people do not import voters en masse from their own community to where they are standing for a parliamentary seat.
These are the kind of ideas (we need to think out of the box) that I look forward to discussing with you, my dear readers over the next few weeks.
But above all, we must start by using this opportunity to kick out all the current political dinosaurs. For the next election, anybody who has ever held public office should be automatically disqualified from running. And that includes the presidency. For better or for worse, we need a brand new fresh start.
My suggestion is that Kenyans must now focus on the future.
Imagine for a moment that you were some nice lady about to give birth. The birth pangs will already be going through your body. I am not a woman but I can imagine that searing pain is almost unbearable because I have been to a labour ward.
The business of bringing a new life to this world is not fun. There is the blood. Actually too much blood. Then in most cases the mother passes feces just as the baby starts to come and there are many other gory details that cannot be discussed in this blog with a family readership.
The thing to do then is to focus on the future. To imagine oneself at the end of the process holding the cute bouncing baby boy or baby girl in your arms and crying tears of joy.
That is exactly where Kenya is now; the terrible birth pangs have started and we have no idea how long they will last.
We need to start focusing on the future when all this mess is over.
What kind of constitution do we want? For starters we will need to use legislation to ensure that what has happened, never happens again.
I am informed that at one point during one of the Milton Obote regimes, the Ugandan parliament was about to pass a law to ensure that no MP would be allowed to represent his own tribe. That meant that to stand for a parliamentary seat, you would have to come from a different province from the one where the constituency was based.
I believe that such an idea can work beautifully for Kenya, with a little fine tuning here and there to ensure that people do not import voters en masse from their own community to where they are standing for a parliamentary seat.
These are the kind of ideas (we need to think out of the box) that I look forward to discussing with you, my dear readers over the next few weeks.
But above all, we must start by using this opportunity to kick out all the current political dinosaurs. For the next election, anybody who has ever held public office should be automatically disqualified from running. And that includes the presidency. For better or for worse, we need a brand new fresh start.
Kumekucha on Red Alert
Events of the last few weeks have proved to me that Kumekucha has some very powerful enemies out there. These unseen characters who are all pro-PNU are pulling all sorts of stunts and playing all kinds of dirty games to mess up things.
Apart from posting long irrelevant comments to dull the effect of discussions here. These characters have also been very busy ensuring that Sam Okello and Marianne Brinner remain bitter enemies.
Both these two parties know too much about Kenya.
I have established that neither parties are in any way responsible for the mischief that has been going on here. But already Kumekucha enemies have made sure that the damage is already done. Sample these two email messages I received on the same day from both articles;
Dear Chris,
since I have stopped reading any comments in Kumekucha since some time now, I did not realize that there was a new campaign against me going on - orchestrated obviously by the Okellos.
I wish to state that I never sent any comments nor under my name nor under any other name or as anon - this is just a big campaign by these people using even Jeff Koinange for having asked them to 'help' him.
I also did not publish anything about the book Her Excellency nor any chapters of it - it is done by these people themselves. Don't let them cheat you.
Maybe you can publish this so this whole thing is clarified once and for all.
I think that Kenya has other urgent things to attend to than to have to read the rubbish these people have in their heads (empty air).
Marianne.
----------------------
Dear Chris,
Marianne Briner is at it again. She is trying to put contents of my book and advertising my book on the comments section on your blog.
I request that you delete comments regarding advertising this book. These are from Marianne Briner. She continues to fight me.
warmly,
Sam Okello
President & CEO
Sahel Books Inc.
This is just one example of what the enemy is up to.
I take this opportunity to warn Kumekucha readers to be extremely careful and alert.
I have taken every precaution myself and for example we have our main writers scattered all over the world so that we are sure whatever happens the blog will be active with people making posts.
Then we also have our brand new chat site where in case of anything readers can go and ask around. I intend to hold a special discussion session at the chat forum very soon where I will invite a sympathetic insider to tell us what is really going on in the corridors of power.
Apart from posting long irrelevant comments to dull the effect of discussions here. These characters have also been very busy ensuring that Sam Okello and Marianne Brinner remain bitter enemies.
Both these two parties know too much about Kenya.
I have established that neither parties are in any way responsible for the mischief that has been going on here. But already Kumekucha enemies have made sure that the damage is already done. Sample these two email messages I received on the same day from both articles;
Dear Chris,
since I have stopped reading any comments in Kumekucha since some time now, I did not realize that there was a new campaign against me going on - orchestrated obviously by the Okellos.
I wish to state that I never sent any comments nor under my name nor under any other name or as anon - this is just a big campaign by these people using even Jeff Koinange for having asked them to 'help' him.
I also did not publish anything about the book Her Excellency nor any chapters of it - it is done by these people themselves. Don't let them cheat you.
Maybe you can publish this so this whole thing is clarified once and for all.
I think that Kenya has other urgent things to attend to than to have to read the rubbish these people have in their heads (empty air).
Marianne.
----------------------
Dear Chris,
Marianne Briner is at it again. She is trying to put contents of my book and advertising my book on the comments section on your blog.
I request that you delete comments regarding advertising this book. These are from Marianne Briner. She continues to fight me.
warmly,
Sam Okello
President & CEO
Sahel Books Inc.
This is just one example of what the enemy is up to.
I take this opportunity to warn Kumekucha readers to be extremely careful and alert.
I have taken every precaution myself and for example we have our main writers scattered all over the world so that we are sure whatever happens the blog will be active with people making posts.
Then we also have our brand new chat site where in case of anything readers can go and ask around. I intend to hold a special discussion session at the chat forum very soon where I will invite a sympathetic insider to tell us what is really going on in the corridors of power.
Samuel Kivuitu: The Most Dangerous Kenyan? Asked if Kibaki Won, His Response; That is a very difficult question
Samuel Kivuitu: The sad story of how he looked before and after. Malipo ni hapa hapa duniani
Guest post by Wanjiku of Msa
Kenyans have often been accused of having short political memories. As we and the rest of the world anxiously await the magic word from Kofi Anan, one man that seems to be slowly slipping from our collective memories is Samuel Kivuitu – arguably the chief architect of this whole fiasco. He was on Television recently and he had close to an hour to display his characteristic careless speak and sick humour.
As far as Kivuitu is concerned, Kenyans are spending too much time complaining and yet it was only the presidential tallying that went wrong. His question was, ‘what fraction is presidential tallying compared to the whole electioneering process’? Somebody please answer that. Was Kivuitu implying that Kenyans should applaud the commission for giving them Councilors and MPs? Without a clear president?
He went on to say that he was just as shocked as anyone else when the police stormed KICC and whisked him away from the room. He completely did not see that coming. His best explanation was that there were people so close to his table shouting and haggling and maybe the police feared that something bad would happen to him. We can all guess who those people were. He did not know either that there was only one media house when he was announcing the results. He saw lots of microphones and since he did not carry out a roll call of the media houses, he had no way of knowing that there was only the state broadcaster present. After all all microphones look alike. For all he knew the whole world was watching.
Asked about the commissioners who later emerged to cast doubt on the election results, he replied that they had all agreed to go and announce the results and that one of them actually oversaw the tallying. He invited those calling for the disbandment of the commission to go ahead and do so and replace the commissioners with Bishops and Archbishops since they can do a better job at ECK than him who has no role in the church. Why would anyone want to disband the ECK? They only announced results. They did not kill anyone! He did however feel some personal responsibility for the initial flare up of chaos but when they started taking a more organized shape, he freed himself of any blame.
In conclusion he insisted that the one who was announced as president is the one who won but there could be mistakes, the results were 100% right but they could be wrong and that he will not resign from ECK because of the flawed election. He will only resign after better systems are installed to ensure proper management of future elections. Systems like computerization of the voting process and improved communication of results among others.
NTV: Bottom line; Did Kibaki win the elections?
Kivuitu: That is a very difficult question.
As far as Kivuitu is concerned, Kenyans are spending too much time complaining and yet it was only the presidential tallying that went wrong. His question was, ‘what fraction is presidential tallying compared to the whole electioneering process’? Somebody please answer that. Was Kivuitu implying that Kenyans should applaud the commission for giving them Councilors and MPs? Without a clear president?
He went on to say that he was just as shocked as anyone else when the police stormed KICC and whisked him away from the room. He completely did not see that coming. His best explanation was that there were people so close to his table shouting and haggling and maybe the police feared that something bad would happen to him. We can all guess who those people were. He did not know either that there was only one media house when he was announcing the results. He saw lots of microphones and since he did not carry out a roll call of the media houses, he had no way of knowing that there was only the state broadcaster present. After all all microphones look alike. For all he knew the whole world was watching.
Asked about the commissioners who later emerged to cast doubt on the election results, he replied that they had all agreed to go and announce the results and that one of them actually oversaw the tallying. He invited those calling for the disbandment of the commission to go ahead and do so and replace the commissioners with Bishops and Archbishops since they can do a better job at ECK than him who has no role in the church. Why would anyone want to disband the ECK? They only announced results. They did not kill anyone! He did however feel some personal responsibility for the initial flare up of chaos but when they started taking a more organized shape, he freed himself of any blame.
In conclusion he insisted that the one who was announced as president is the one who won but there could be mistakes, the results were 100% right but they could be wrong and that he will not resign from ECK because of the flawed election. He will only resign after better systems are installed to ensure proper management of future elections. Systems like computerization of the voting process and improved communication of results among others.
NTV: Bottom line; Did Kibaki win the elections?
Kivuitu: That is a very difficult question.
See ALSO;
----
Kenya In The Cauldron Of Evil
"There is evil in the world and evil must be confronted". Those were the words of George W. Bush...…after visiting one of the numerous Rwandan museums that loudly testify what black Africans can do to each other in a relatively short period of time. I say 'loudly' because here, you will not find pictures, videos or curators explaining what really happened; No! In these museums, you will actually view the lime treated incomplete structures of bones and skulls from previous Rwandan human life forms. I have been there.. so I know …so I saw.
So what is the relevance of such verbiage in Kenya today? Well, one might wonder why the 'duly' elected president of Kenya has not mouthed any tense suggestive or equal to the blood that has found its escape via the blocked trenches that crisscross Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, Naivasha and other Kenyan cities and towns. While it's true that the spillage of bright red human blood has been confined to areas where the majority does not show any affection for the purported presidency, it is also true that in denying the existence of the Kenyan socio-political crisis, the very presidency chooses to ignore the plight of those whose lives have been directly affected by the imposition of a clearly illegitimate governing apparatus that craves identity as the absolute Kenyan governance authority. Karua's excerpts of Kenya being sovereign does not apply. Wetangula's puppetry assertions that coalition governance is not in play does not apply. Mutula's insistence on following the 'constitution' of course does not apply. I say this because evil has manifested itself in the pronouncements of anything PNU. This at a time when folks are sitting quietly in the hope that they will see the daylight of tomorrow. I'm not kidding, a thousand or so souls have come out yelling for democratic peace and never saw the next day.
In circles of great denial, the above paragraph may be construed as biased and to the most extreme, unfounded. With that, I want to vehemently accept the existence of views supportive of the current 'government'. While I will not go as far as intimate that those views are anywhere close to reality, I appreciate that there in fact exists a different point of view. The point of view that Kibaki won fairly and squarely. The point of view that all qualms must be resolved in Kenyan 'courts'. The point of view that suggests that anything agreeable towards a coalition government must be available within the current constitution.
This is the point where President Bush's utterances become relevant. At what point is a lie an evil that must be confronted? If Kibaki won, may he be blessed with the opulence reserved for the prince of light; if he clearly stole, may he diminish to the status of a ravenous rat. If Kibaki truly believes that Kenya will see great strides and success under the current constitution that he so much supports (even though he was at the forefront of discarding it a few years ago) then may the heavens open and shower him with trinkets of love and peace; if not, may he be unable to tell the difference between fire and brimstone.
To say that evil has engulfed the minds and beings of Kenyans today is an understatement. In 2002, I could match into heaven equipped with the knowledge that every Kenyan desires change…and with that I would sit not so far from the lord himself. Today, were I to meet angel Gabriel with the same claims, I would be forsaken to the throws of hell. Those like me who have been repeatedly and I must add, involuntarily, confined within Central Police Station cells could tell you how desperately the judicial arm needs change, today some of my prior inmates would gladly go to jail. In fact those who cried when Matiba lost, are today singing loudest that the same demons that denied their man have descended on another one.
Kenyans, let us all confront the evil.
So what is the relevance of such verbiage in Kenya today? Well, one might wonder why the 'duly' elected president of Kenya has not mouthed any tense suggestive or equal to the blood that has found its escape via the blocked trenches that crisscross Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, Naivasha and other Kenyan cities and towns. While it's true that the spillage of bright red human blood has been confined to areas where the majority does not show any affection for the purported presidency, it is also true that in denying the existence of the Kenyan socio-political crisis, the very presidency chooses to ignore the plight of those whose lives have been directly affected by the imposition of a clearly illegitimate governing apparatus that craves identity as the absolute Kenyan governance authority. Karua's excerpts of Kenya being sovereign does not apply. Wetangula's puppetry assertions that coalition governance is not in play does not apply. Mutula's insistence on following the 'constitution' of course does not apply. I say this because evil has manifested itself in the pronouncements of anything PNU. This at a time when folks are sitting quietly in the hope that they will see the daylight of tomorrow. I'm not kidding, a thousand or so souls have come out yelling for democratic peace and never saw the next day.
In circles of great denial, the above paragraph may be construed as biased and to the most extreme, unfounded. With that, I want to vehemently accept the existence of views supportive of the current 'government'. While I will not go as far as intimate that those views are anywhere close to reality, I appreciate that there in fact exists a different point of view. The point of view that Kibaki won fairly and squarely. The point of view that all qualms must be resolved in Kenyan 'courts'. The point of view that suggests that anything agreeable towards a coalition government must be available within the current constitution.
This is the point where President Bush's utterances become relevant. At what point is a lie an evil that must be confronted? If Kibaki won, may he be blessed with the opulence reserved for the prince of light; if he clearly stole, may he diminish to the status of a ravenous rat. If Kibaki truly believes that Kenya will see great strides and success under the current constitution that he so much supports (even though he was at the forefront of discarding it a few years ago) then may the heavens open and shower him with trinkets of love and peace; if not, may he be unable to tell the difference between fire and brimstone.
To say that evil has engulfed the minds and beings of Kenyans today is an understatement. In 2002, I could match into heaven equipped with the knowledge that every Kenyan desires change…and with that I would sit not so far from the lord himself. Today, were I to meet angel Gabriel with the same claims, I would be forsaken to the throws of hell. Those like me who have been repeatedly and I must add, involuntarily, confined within Central Police Station cells could tell you how desperately the judicial arm needs change, today some of my prior inmates would gladly go to jail. In fact those who cried when Matiba lost, are today singing loudest that the same demons that denied their man have descended on another one.
Kenyans, let us all confront the evil.
Why Power-Sharing Won’t Come Soon
As Kenya dithers and totters in the brink of collapse, it is important to put the much sort GRAND COALITION into its true perspective. The bitter truth is that this coalition pill won’t be dispensed soon. While both internal and external pressures are rightly directed at Kibaki, the loud contradiction is that Mwai Kibaki doesn’t own his leadership.
Kibaki subleted his presidency to his cronies who are holding him (and Kenyans too) hostage in return. Until these members of Kibaki's tribal court are certain their future is secured, they won't entertain any ideas that may not serve their collective personal interests.
Sharing power is fraught with its own unique dynamics. Things can be so unpredictable once the interim administration acquires a life of its own. Imagining such a development must be scaring the octogenarians who detest anything seen to upset their glittering status quo. They are home with life as defined in their secluded comfort far away from the average Kenyans.
Kenya remains a bleeding hostage to tribal elite whose only common ideology is nationalized BIGOTRY. In the eyes of these owners of Kenya any attempt to empower the hollo polloi would be akin to sharpening the very knife whose blades they will be forced to kiss. In the eye of their twisted minds they must keep any trace and smell of blood from the sharks’ path.
The present haemorrhage is singularly traceable to absentee president. Kibaki is not his won man and what he mouths has no correlation to his deeds nor past. Kibaki is merely a robot and handle to his buddies to advance their selfish interests.
Mischeif in chief
Only true LEADERHIP (not rulership) will see Kenya out of her present crisis. Ours is a country crying out for selfless and true focussed leadership since independence. Kibaki was weaned and nurtured on cheap capitalism that starts and end in shameless material accumulation. Nyerere won’t have been more right with his reference to Kenya as man-eat-man society. While Jomo unwittingly derided him, Tanzanians must be having the last and longest sweet laugh the monster gobbles us whole.
We are simply paying the ultimate price of deception. But trust ingenious Kenyans to gloss over vices and transform them into national virtues. Kibaki’s old cronies ridding the Kenyan wheel are the unrivalled masters of that game. And they reason best by contrast. The ruling masters will do anything to have us remain downtrodden so that they continue raping us to the last drop of blood.
However long it takes, Kenya as presently ruled cannot stand. None of our institutions is sustainable. The ELECTION THEIVES may postpone Kenya’s collapse but it will surely come down with a deafening thud unless we use the present crisis as a launching pad to shape the Kenya we want. No amount of selective application of logic will wash.
Multipartism was ILLIGAL until section 2A was repealed. Hiding under the present tattered constitution is to engage in reverse logic of denial and MISCHIEF IN CHIEF. Acknowleging a weakness is strength and truth never mutates. But that must be old music to scoundrels and serial liars. Not for long, Kenyans will see this dream come true.
Kibaki subleted his presidency to his cronies who are holding him (and Kenyans too) hostage in return. Until these members of Kibaki's tribal court are certain their future is secured, they won't entertain any ideas that may not serve their collective personal interests.
Sharing power is fraught with its own unique dynamics. Things can be so unpredictable once the interim administration acquires a life of its own. Imagining such a development must be scaring the octogenarians who detest anything seen to upset their glittering status quo. They are home with life as defined in their secluded comfort far away from the average Kenyans.
Kenya remains a bleeding hostage to tribal elite whose only common ideology is nationalized BIGOTRY. In the eyes of these owners of Kenya any attempt to empower the hollo polloi would be akin to sharpening the very knife whose blades they will be forced to kiss. In the eye of their twisted minds they must keep any trace and smell of blood from the sharks’ path.
The present haemorrhage is singularly traceable to absentee president. Kibaki is not his won man and what he mouths has no correlation to his deeds nor past. Kibaki is merely a robot and handle to his buddies to advance their selfish interests.
Mischeif in chief
Only true LEADERHIP (not rulership) will see Kenya out of her present crisis. Ours is a country crying out for selfless and true focussed leadership since independence. Kibaki was weaned and nurtured on cheap capitalism that starts and end in shameless material accumulation. Nyerere won’t have been more right with his reference to Kenya as man-eat-man society. While Jomo unwittingly derided him, Tanzanians must be having the last and longest sweet laugh the monster gobbles us whole.
We are simply paying the ultimate price of deception. But trust ingenious Kenyans to gloss over vices and transform them into national virtues. Kibaki’s old cronies ridding the Kenyan wheel are the unrivalled masters of that game. And they reason best by contrast. The ruling masters will do anything to have us remain downtrodden so that they continue raping us to the last drop of blood.
However long it takes, Kenya as presently ruled cannot stand. None of our institutions is sustainable. The ELECTION THEIVES may postpone Kenya’s collapse but it will surely come down with a deafening thud unless we use the present crisis as a launching pad to shape the Kenya we want. No amount of selective application of logic will wash.
Multipartism was ILLIGAL until section 2A was repealed. Hiding under the present tattered constitution is to engage in reverse logic of denial and MISCHIEF IN CHIEF. Acknowleging a weakness is strength and truth never mutates. But that must be old music to scoundrels and serial liars. Not for long, Kenyans will see this dream come true.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Am A Fence Sitter, Who Will Join Me?
With almost everyone having all their hopes on the Annan team am certain many dreams will go down the drain when Annan will leave the country without an agreement, and if there is one, one that will only exists on paper.
Having not voted for Kibaki (even in 2002 he never had my vote) and Raila (I just don’t like him) too, I have been fence sitting and I have no plans of taking a position. It’s bad enough that some few matha fuckers from central decided that they have to stay in power … and worse still, still insist that they should hold on to power. The most logical thing for them to do is to have an agreement to ‘equally’ share the power … but common sense tells us that can never happen … especially to two people who are power hungry. Who are there for their own personal satisfaction, and more so to serve their own interest and not those of all Kenyans.
At one point, I was glad that Raila was going to be the president … for the sake of having a change, not that I thought he would change how Kenyans are governed for the better. But from the happenings of the last five weeks, specifically in Rift Valley … am certain had Raila been president, by the end of his five year term we would not be having a Kenya, coz of the massaca that is still going on. More so, now, if Kibaki does not play ‘smart’ there will be no Kenya left … the little that is remaining that is hanging by a thread.
One thing I know, there is no way Kibaki will agree to share his powers with Raila. Even will all the pressure and all that we will be screaming to him. As far as he is concerned, he is there to stay till 2012 and there is no way no one will change that. Assuming that an agreement is signed, just like the famous MOU, it will exist on paper and something different will done. What we all seem to forget is that once Annan & his team have left the country … it’s us who will be left to sort out our issues … they will not stand by Kibaki to make sure that what was signed will be implemented. But let also look the other side and assume that Kibaki will somehow agree to share power. When Annan leaves, do you believe that the two will agree to work ‘together’ for the sake of a better Kenya? Very unlikely … just like in the 2005 referendum we will be in for another show of MIGHT.
So, am asking you all, in which ever side of the divide you are to join me on the fence … I know its strong enough to accommodate us all … so that we can look at the issue that we are having on a higher ground. First of all, Kenyans do not deserve any of the two leaders; we are all better than that. But since ‘that’ is what we have, we currently have to work with them … not by taking sides but by really looking to what is best for all Kenyans.
I believe that the way forward is for Raila to accept that the sit was stolen from him … we all bitterly accept that and we start working to making sure that never happens again … ever. (I know many of you want to swallow me, but I can handle it since am online). Then after that we have to make sure that we have a new constitution. A constitutional change is what will solve all our issues … not any MOU or agreements made in hotels by the government and the opposition. And by a constitutional change I mean a constitution that will take care of all Kenyans interests … not some matha fuckers trying to show one another who is ‘stronger’. The constitutional change should not be spearheaded by any of the political leaders … but by groups with no political interests (or by honest fence sitters).
We then should for just one minute stop listening to the politicians and do our own thinking. We have made the political leaders feel like gods to us and treated them like people we can’t leave without. At times I think that were it not for the political leaders we would very far in terms development socially & economically. Let us stop politizing everything that comes our way … only then will we stop looking the politicians as our gods. We have the real God the only one who deserves to be treated like one. And for leadership we have some of the business people, our parents, elder brothers and/or sisters, some of the church leaders, some of our teachers, some of our lawyers, some of our political analyst, etc that we can look up to when we need guidance … but please not them political leaders!
With these I believe that from then on, things will start to fall in place and will be a smiling people again.
Any fence sitters?
Kumekucha Exclusive: Why Has Salim Lone Fled Kenya?
Famous Veteran Kenyan Journalist, ODM Communications Chief And Former United Nations Media Director Tells Friends That He Feared For His Life…
In the course of today (Monday Feb 18th 2008) some top ODM officials will get a little surprised when the party communications chief Salim Lone fails to return from what was supposed to be a brief trip to New York hurriedly taken last week.
The truth is that Salim Lone has been telling close friends abroad that he fled for his life from Kenya after threats from PNU. However a few things do not add up. Why keep everything secret from the ODM top brass? And if it is true that he was threatened, why has he still not gone public with the story that he has told many close friends?
Salime Lone: What scared him?
Actually Lone’s action has caused lots of anxiety amongst close analysts and observers of the Kenyan situation but before I tell you why, a brief introduction of Lone to those who may not know him is in order.
Salim Lone is a Kenyan by nationality, a veteran journalist, and former Director of the News and Media Division, Department of Public Information, of the United Nations. He has also been a rather prolific columnist for the Daily Nation and also writes regularly for The Guardian in the UK.
Salim Lone was director of the news and media division (1998-2003) during his twenty one year career at United Nations headquarters. His last assignment was as spokesman for the UN mission in Iraq immediately after the US-led 2003 war and occupation.
Lone was the founding editor of the pioneer woman’s monthly in Kenya, Viva in the 70s and was in fact forced to flee the country during the early Moi years fearing arrest for some of his political pieces in Viva a magazine. That was what led to his arrival in New York and a 21 year career at the UN. Still he is no stranger to harassment from Kenyan security agents in those terrible years of limited press freedom where numerous activists disappeared and brave writers disappeared without trace.
So the truth is that Lone does not scare easily. That is why analysts are ev en more worried and are wondering what exactly caused the ODM communications director to suddenly hop onto a plane and flee.
Admittedly, it seems clear that Lone no longer felt safe in Kenya. But what is this threat which ODM and Raila Odinga could NOT adequately protect him from? And why keep his intentions secret by telling ODM colleagues that he was away briefly and would be back by Monday (today)?
Clearly Lone knows something that many of us do not know yet. One theory is that he was made aware that...
Read more
In the course of today (Monday Feb 18th 2008) some top ODM officials will get a little surprised when the party communications chief Salim Lone fails to return from what was supposed to be a brief trip to New York hurriedly taken last week.
The truth is that Salim Lone has been telling close friends abroad that he fled for his life from Kenya after threats from PNU. However a few things do not add up. Why keep everything secret from the ODM top brass? And if it is true that he was threatened, why has he still not gone public with the story that he has told many close friends?
Salime Lone: What scared him?
Actually Lone’s action has caused lots of anxiety amongst close analysts and observers of the Kenyan situation but before I tell you why, a brief introduction of Lone to those who may not know him is in order.
Salim Lone is a Kenyan by nationality, a veteran journalist, and former Director of the News and Media Division, Department of Public Information, of the United Nations. He has also been a rather prolific columnist for the Daily Nation and also writes regularly for The Guardian in the UK.
Salim Lone was director of the news and media division (1998-2003) during his twenty one year career at United Nations headquarters. His last assignment was as spokesman for the UN mission in Iraq immediately after the US-led 2003 war and occupation.
Lone was the founding editor of the pioneer woman’s monthly in Kenya, Viva in the 70s and was in fact forced to flee the country during the early Moi years fearing arrest for some of his political pieces in Viva a magazine. That was what led to his arrival in New York and a 21 year career at the UN. Still he is no stranger to harassment from Kenyan security agents in those terrible years of limited press freedom where numerous activists disappeared and brave writers disappeared without trace.
So the truth is that Lone does not scare easily. That is why analysts are ev en more worried and are wondering what exactly caused the ODM communications director to suddenly hop onto a plane and flee.
Admittedly, it seems clear that Lone no longer felt safe in Kenya. But what is this threat which ODM and Raila Odinga could NOT adequately protect him from? And why keep his intentions secret by telling ODM colleagues that he was away briefly and would be back by Monday (today)?
Clearly Lone knows something that many of us do not know yet. One theory is that he was made aware that...
Read more
Sunday, February 17, 2008
The Week of Reckoning Finally Here
It is make or break. Time of reckoning is nigh and all eyes are on Kibaki. Will he measure up to the heat and challenge or chose to patronize his predictable insensitive path? Well, in less than 24 hours it will be either of two extremes, jubilation of profound gloom.
History is replete with success cases of coalition governments pulling near-failed states of political meltdown. It has worked before elsewhere and only incorrigible Kibaki apologists would sneak in its inadmissibility in Kenya’s constitution.
Kenya’s constitution doesn’t permit any form of election fraud. Consequently only a shameless application of the same constitution can be used to justify maintaining status quo. The present problem may have been triggered by politics but it has acquired a large life of its own that can only be comprehensively tackled within a broader and inclusive political leadership.
Perils of selective logic
An honest diagnosis of Kenya’s present haemorrhage reveals three ailments: CONSTITUTION, CONSTITUTION AND CONSTITUTION. No amount of deception will gloss over this reality. We must seize this selfishly self-inflicted malady to reshape Kenya for what we want and not what the few want it to be. Such opportunities don’t knock at any door twice, never.
Kibaku MUST accept coalition government to midwife this process. The stakes are high but a time comes when the wider good prevails in overriding all else. Wetangula’s warning for the world to keep off Kenya’s affairs must be treated with deserved contempt as a beneficiary of old order afraid of losing out.
This crisis can only be turned on its head by seizing it to define true Kenya for all Kenyans and not just a few. We owe it to ourselves and the future generation. That would be the only fitting tribute to the more than 1000 Kenyans who lost their lives. Any form of business as usual antics is an INEXCUSABLE BETRAYAL that will expensively haunt us forever.
The world behind Kenya
Kibaki's government may be grudgingly tugging along but the momentum and the international community singularly pulling together in the same direction is on Kenyans' side. We are a country hanging precariously on a swaying cliff. This week holds the key to either a safe landing and prosperity with peace thereafter or we collectively perish.
History is replete with success cases of coalition governments pulling near-failed states of political meltdown. It has worked before elsewhere and only incorrigible Kibaki apologists would sneak in its inadmissibility in Kenya’s constitution.
Kenya’s constitution doesn’t permit any form of election fraud. Consequently only a shameless application of the same constitution can be used to justify maintaining status quo. The present problem may have been triggered by politics but it has acquired a large life of its own that can only be comprehensively tackled within a broader and inclusive political leadership.
Perils of selective logic
An honest diagnosis of Kenya’s present haemorrhage reveals three ailments: CONSTITUTION, CONSTITUTION AND CONSTITUTION. No amount of deception will gloss over this reality. We must seize this selfishly self-inflicted malady to reshape Kenya for what we want and not what the few want it to be. Such opportunities don’t knock at any door twice, never.
Kibaku MUST accept coalition government to midwife this process. The stakes are high but a time comes when the wider good prevails in overriding all else. Wetangula’s warning for the world to keep off Kenya’s affairs must be treated with deserved contempt as a beneficiary of old order afraid of losing out.
This crisis can only be turned on its head by seizing it to define true Kenya for all Kenyans and not just a few. We owe it to ourselves and the future generation. That would be the only fitting tribute to the more than 1000 Kenyans who lost their lives. Any form of business as usual antics is an INEXCUSABLE BETRAYAL that will expensively haunt us forever.
The world behind Kenya
Kibaki's government may be grudgingly tugging along but the momentum and the international community singularly pulling together in the same direction is on Kenyans' side. We are a country hanging precariously on a swaying cliff. This week holds the key to either a safe landing and prosperity with peace thereafter or we collectively perish.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Lessons for 2012 (or is it 2010)?
If it was not already clearly evident to you dear reader, it should by now be as bright as the light -this great nation of ours sadly does not have any leaders willing to place the interests of our people first before their own selfish gain and personal advancement
Nowhere has this been more clearly reflected than in the current attitudes and bad manners on display by especially those in the PNU party (although ODM are not innocent either) whose sluggish reactions to the emergency of the current crisis are slow-moving responses that best exemplify all known reasons and unearth even more unknown reasons as to why they and their ilk are not fit in any capacity to lead any government this country had, has or will ever have in any century particularly the 21st-please don't remind me, i already know we are stuck with them for another eternity
Way before this blog had peaked 1,000,000 readers and it was simply serving as a healthy forum for wholesome debate, witty repartire and in-depth political analysis not available then through the current staple of main stream media, the header at the top of this page read "only brand new ideas and brand new leadership can save kenya"-of course i'm aware that the banner is still the same at our sister blog http://kumekucha1.blogspot.com/
So naturally as always i am keeping in theme with editorial policy Kumekucha and on the look out in particular for what lessons we can learn from the present to apply to the next generation of fresh-faced, new ideas totting political "rookies" complete with their radically different ideologies and approaches on how to change this country for the better. Not only will they have severed all ties and links with the political dinosaurs of the past but also their names may actually be new to our political landscape.
Well, its still integrity and not the economy, stupid. The light ease with which the present impasse has been treated, as if 1000 dead kenyans and 500, 000 IDPs have all the time in the world to wait for airplanes to land at Wilson Airport from Kilaguni lodge, shows that without a heart for the suffering havenots, nobody has a right to qualify to occupy any seat whether parliamentary, civic or legislative in both government and opposition
What of crisis management? Its also true that without prior requisite experience of reacting speedily to humanitarian crisis and national disasters in times gone by(and boy haven't we had plenty to practise from land clashes '92, '97 to el-ninio '98, bomb-blast 2003 and arturs 2005) how can we expect our mandated institutions and instruments of social governance representation (starting at the top with the presidency all the way to law and order e.g. police) to now display the much needed efficiency and effectiveness in leadership, planning and organisation in times of trouble that they could not hitherto show in times of "peace"-relative peace-i repeat 1,000 needlessly dead kenyans 500,000 IDPs do not have time for airplanes to land from Kilaguni lodge before their needs are given urgent attention-they require action and they needed it yesterday and it should not be mickey mouse answers and paper-tiger solutions(i salute you Dr. Mutua)
Who is behaving more like a leader?Watching Koffi Annan traverse the country in its length and breadth has been a great lesson to me in asking myself the question who is behaving more like a real leader? even without the official job title and constitutional job description to match, let alone not being from the same country as he is actually trying to help-of course i understand there is a covert undercover snipper on the lose biding his time before picking off our dishonourables one-by-one therefore, therefore understandably their desire to lie low at this moment and issue statements from the relative safety of their fotresses mainly in the capital is clear
What of diplomacy? after this shambolic handling in treatment of ArchBishop Tutu, AU chairman John Kufuor, emminent ex-african presidents Kaunda, Chisano,Mkapa and Masire, and even US envoy Jendayi Frazier, you know that this current dispensation of parliament has lost the right to be allowed to ever mediate and broker peace in conflicts throughout the region and continet at large owing from their shameful and disrespectful attitudes display in dumbing down efforts of outside helping hands of concern and equating it to long-distance tea and coffee drinking excursions
What of international image?Condolezza Rice's visit on Monday will help turn up the heat and the spot-light on hidden messages hitherto undicepherable by the pumbavu mwananchi such as the fact that the international community, while being repeatedly slapped in the face with parched calls of "our soverignity" nevertheless represent a global willingness to if need be show a strong arm of force in the face of a possible failure of the Annan talks, just serving as a friendly reminder that some countries are more sovreign than others no matter how much the other says so
Future leaders, heed to what you are seeing-the type of clownish antics currently on display represent nothing at all of what is the hopes, wishes and desires of the majority of the kenyan population-whether they're just too afraid to say anything because of fear of the unknown i don't know-but it will take a brave fool to dare confront architects of past decay, charismatic bullies and handsome cowards and carry the nation on their shoulders to a future where both rich and poor homes will once again be filled with laughter and injustice has taken a bow to reason and sense
Nowhere has this been more clearly reflected than in the current attitudes and bad manners on display by especially those in the PNU party (although ODM are not innocent either) whose sluggish reactions to the emergency of the current crisis are slow-moving responses that best exemplify all known reasons and unearth even more unknown reasons as to why they and their ilk are not fit in any capacity to lead any government this country had, has or will ever have in any century particularly the 21st-please don't remind me, i already know we are stuck with them for another eternity
Way before this blog had peaked 1,000,000 readers and it was simply serving as a healthy forum for wholesome debate, witty repartire and in-depth political analysis not available then through the current staple of main stream media, the header at the top of this page read "only brand new ideas and brand new leadership can save kenya"-of course i'm aware that the banner is still the same at our sister blog http://kumekucha1.blogspot.com/
So naturally as always i am keeping in theme with editorial policy Kumekucha and on the look out in particular for what lessons we can learn from the present to apply to the next generation of fresh-faced, new ideas totting political "rookies" complete with their radically different ideologies and approaches on how to change this country for the better. Not only will they have severed all ties and links with the political dinosaurs of the past but also their names may actually be new to our political landscape.
Well, its still integrity and not the economy, stupid. The light ease with which the present impasse has been treated, as if 1000 dead kenyans and 500, 000 IDPs have all the time in the world to wait for airplanes to land at Wilson Airport from Kilaguni lodge, shows that without a heart for the suffering havenots, nobody has a right to qualify to occupy any seat whether parliamentary, civic or legislative in both government and opposition
What of crisis management? Its also true that without prior requisite experience of reacting speedily to humanitarian crisis and national disasters in times gone by(and boy haven't we had plenty to practise from land clashes '92, '97 to el-ninio '98, bomb-blast 2003 and arturs 2005) how can we expect our mandated institutions and instruments of social governance representation (starting at the top with the presidency all the way to law and order e.g. police) to now display the much needed efficiency and effectiveness in leadership, planning and organisation in times of trouble that they could not hitherto show in times of "peace"-relative peace-i repeat 1,000 needlessly dead kenyans 500,000 IDPs do not have time for airplanes to land from Kilaguni lodge before their needs are given urgent attention-they require action and they needed it yesterday and it should not be mickey mouse answers and paper-tiger solutions(i salute you Dr. Mutua)
Who is behaving more like a leader?Watching Koffi Annan traverse the country in its length and breadth has been a great lesson to me in asking myself the question who is behaving more like a real leader? even without the official job title and constitutional job description to match, let alone not being from the same country as he is actually trying to help-of course i understand there is a covert undercover snipper on the lose biding his time before picking off our dishonourables one-by-one therefore, therefore understandably their desire to lie low at this moment and issue statements from the relative safety of their fotresses mainly in the capital is clear
What of diplomacy? after this shambolic handling in treatment of ArchBishop Tutu, AU chairman John Kufuor, emminent ex-african presidents Kaunda, Chisano,Mkapa and Masire, and even US envoy Jendayi Frazier, you know that this current dispensation of parliament has lost the right to be allowed to ever mediate and broker peace in conflicts throughout the region and continet at large owing from their shameful and disrespectful attitudes display in dumbing down efforts of outside helping hands of concern and equating it to long-distance tea and coffee drinking excursions
What of international image?Condolezza Rice's visit on Monday will help turn up the heat and the spot-light on hidden messages hitherto undicepherable by the pumbavu mwananchi such as the fact that the international community, while being repeatedly slapped in the face with parched calls of "our soverignity" nevertheless represent a global willingness to if need be show a strong arm of force in the face of a possible failure of the Annan talks, just serving as a friendly reminder that some countries are more sovreign than others no matter how much the other says so
Future leaders, heed to what you are seeing-the type of clownish antics currently on display represent nothing at all of what is the hopes, wishes and desires of the majority of the kenyan population-whether they're just too afraid to say anything because of fear of the unknown i don't know-but it will take a brave fool to dare confront architects of past decay, charismatic bullies and handsome cowards and carry the nation on their shoulders to a future where both rich and poor homes will once again be filled with laughter and injustice has taken a bow to reason and sense
PNU Must Accept A Grand Coalition or Else
Pic: PNU and ODM teams disembark from an aircraft that flew them from Kilaguni Lodge on Thursday evening.
In his press briefing yesterday, Kofi Annan read resolutions that sounded more like a replica of the ODM manifesto than from a three-week intensive negotiation between two bitter political rivals. Information on what transpired in Kilaguni Resort indicates that PNU will not (voluntarily) concede an inch of executive power to ODM.
According to Annan, who apparently enjoys universal support in his Kenya peace mission, a grand coalition is the only viable option, but the government side is avoiding this arrangement like plague. In reality, PNU are only making additional enemies each day the Annan mediation drags on. PNU are also unknowingly giving the ODM undue mileage because Koffi Annan is experiencing first-hand the kind of crap that Kenyans have had to put up with since Kibaki received instruments of power in 2002. Annan is relaying his frustrations to the diplomatic community who are becoming bolder in their pronouncements with each passing day.
ODM insiders say (and I agree with them) that the party is just about done with negotiations and any political analyst worth his salt knows that nothing less than force will make the ‘duly elected government’ concede to democratic demands. They opine that it is just a question of when and how.
The PNU government is now using its perfected kindergarten tactics of enticing the ODM negotiators with cabinet positions and amnesty from persecution for past crimes (sic!) rather than engage in progressive negotiation while not having the slightest idea that they are undermining the Annan led mediation talks.
This afternoon, hints will be definitely dropped by ODM leaders at the funeral of the late Embakasi legislator Mugabe Were in Budalangi, Western Province, and the grapevine tells us that ODM leadership (read Pentagon) are not amused by the illegal approach of its members and the dragging of feet by the government side.
With the presence of George Bush next door in Tanzania and his influential Secretary of State Condi Rice due to visit Kenya on Monday ‘to support Annan’s efforts’, and going by the number of strong warnings issued to saboteurs by the international community, Kenyans can expect diplomatic fireworks to take place as from Tuesday (actually Monday afternoon) next week.
The issue is no longer who stole/won the last elections, but how best peace, stability and normalcy can be returned to Kenya. PNU have been evasive on any proposals to a coalition government since January but on Monday, Kibaki will have to make hard decisions including that of giving up significant power to a prime minister who not only beat him at the ballot but also happens to control more MPs than himself. The government side has continuously frustrated mediation efforts and international community seems to be running out of patience.
It will be a sad day for the country if Kibaki rejects Annan’s grand coalition proposals. Intelligence leaked to us indicate that PNU will most likely be walking out of the Annan talks (Bomas style) and this will be the beginning of anarchy.
PNU will, in its usual chest thumping modus operandi, resort to state sponsored intimidation tactics like mass arrests of ODM supporters and leaders, out-law public demos, probably another assassination of prominent ODM member, imposition of illegal curfews in opposition strongholds, etc. The end result will be a rising death-toll which will give the UN Security Council a perfect excuse to intervene. Eventually, the regime of Kibaki will be forced out militarily by the UN and fresh general elections called to the advantage of the ODM.
Whichever way you look at it, PNU will have to concede power to ODM sooner or later. In my opinion, they stand to secure more if they accept Annan’s proposal for grand coalition transitional government now, rather than be militarily forced out later.
Friday, February 15, 2008
No More Games: Mediation Enters New Phase
Kofi Annan’s press conference today may have not turned into a screaming headline but the import of his speech remained in his unspoken insinuations. The mediation talks have entered a new phase where none of the two principals have ABSOLUTELY any control of the direction or outcome it will take.
Annan’s diplospeak betrayed the underlying toughness ahead. If in doubt then just wait and see the turn of events when Condoleeza Rice jets in Nairobi early next week. The blue-eyed brains behind the throne, the village warlords and warmongers are all in for a rude shock. Their platitudes on sovereignty will be rendered totally irrelevant.
We live in a different era and woe unto those deriving plastic pleasures from cheap nationalism and patriotism clothed in sovereignty. The global community will not sit square as another country melts in their watch. In a matter of days, Kibaki’s gatekeepers and power pushers will bear the full force of unadulterated pressure both from within and without.
Rants about recolonization wont wash. The West is determined and they are coming in full force and no option spared. Forget about the empty noises about them serving multinational interests. Well, that only makes sense in times of peace and not now when things have to be sorted out first and fast. Better learn from Chad on what counts when the stakes are high.
It is crunch time people. No more games nor creating impressions of motions bereft of real movement. Songs laced with colonial hangover lyrics must be exclusively reserved for the birds. The defining week for Kenya begins next Monday. Countdown tick tock...
Annan’s diplospeak betrayed the underlying toughness ahead. If in doubt then just wait and see the turn of events when Condoleeza Rice jets in Nairobi early next week. The blue-eyed brains behind the throne, the village warlords and warmongers are all in for a rude shock. Their platitudes on sovereignty will be rendered totally irrelevant.
We live in a different era and woe unto those deriving plastic pleasures from cheap nationalism and patriotism clothed in sovereignty. The global community will not sit square as another country melts in their watch. In a matter of days, Kibaki’s gatekeepers and power pushers will bear the full force of unadulterated pressure both from within and without.
Rants about recolonization wont wash. The West is determined and they are coming in full force and no option spared. Forget about the empty noises about them serving multinational interests. Well, that only makes sense in times of peace and not now when things have to be sorted out first and fast. Better learn from Chad on what counts when the stakes are high.
It is crunch time people. No more games nor creating impressions of motions bereft of real movement. Songs laced with colonial hangover lyrics must be exclusively reserved for the birds. The defining week for Kenya begins next Monday. Countdown tick tock...
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Annan Conditions Kenyans for Bad News
So Kofi Annan will tomorrow deliver some form of SIGNED agreement between ODM and PNU yet the talks have been adjourned to Monday next week? That statement leaves more questions than answers. Solving the paradox doesn’t require the brains of a genius.
Annan is taking his responsibilities seriously. He knows the whole weight of Kenya rests on his shoulders and any vacuum for speculation will open the floodgates for another round of bloodbath. The good diplomat has therefore enlisted his experience and knowledge to condition an expectant nation for devastating news tomorrow.
The truth of the matter is that Annan will NOT announce anything worth the label news or breakthrough. Granted, Kenyans have been through hell these last five weeks and HOPE remains the only treasured asset in their souls. I have been labelled an alarmist by simply reminding my dear countrymen/women of the grim prospects in these talks given the principal’s past.
Truth never mutates and speaking it does not make you a doomsayer. The talks have predictably failed the way Kibaki and his cronies planned. Annan is only giving himself time to exhale and consult further while throwing a straw at Kenyans to keep them afloat. Annan is a polished gentleman. He promised us good news in less than 72 hours and so he had to give us something to ruminate after the talks flopped.
Rumour therapy
The intensity of international pressure in the last two days betrays any hope of a truce. Behind the stern warning and threats from the UK and Switzerland lies intelligence pointing no deal. Bush would never send Condoleezza Rice to Nairobi to beef Annan’s efforts if a deal has been reached. Add to that the sight of Kenya armed forces and GSU taking strategic positions in potential trouble spots and you get a peep into the impeding chaos.
Substituting optimism for reality in the face of a crisis is to unwittingly court a heart attack when the truth finally hits home. The two words are NOT synonymous and CANNOT be used interchangeably especially on anything involving Kenyan politicians. Annan is simply conditioning us for bad news.
The script is that when Annan finnally reports NOTHING substantive tomorrow, the national disappointment shall have mellowed thanks to 24 hours window for speculation and rumour therapy. How I wish this was only a bad dream.
Annan is taking his responsibilities seriously. He knows the whole weight of Kenya rests on his shoulders and any vacuum for speculation will open the floodgates for another round of bloodbath. The good diplomat has therefore enlisted his experience and knowledge to condition an expectant nation for devastating news tomorrow.
The truth of the matter is that Annan will NOT announce anything worth the label news or breakthrough. Granted, Kenyans have been through hell these last five weeks and HOPE remains the only treasured asset in their souls. I have been labelled an alarmist by simply reminding my dear countrymen/women of the grim prospects in these talks given the principal’s past.
Truth never mutates and speaking it does not make you a doomsayer. The talks have predictably failed the way Kibaki and his cronies planned. Annan is only giving himself time to exhale and consult further while throwing a straw at Kenyans to keep them afloat. Annan is a polished gentleman. He promised us good news in less than 72 hours and so he had to give us something to ruminate after the talks flopped.
Rumour therapy
The intensity of international pressure in the last two days betrays any hope of a truce. Behind the stern warning and threats from the UK and Switzerland lies intelligence pointing no deal. Bush would never send Condoleezza Rice to Nairobi to beef Annan’s efforts if a deal has been reached. Add to that the sight of Kenya armed forces and GSU taking strategic positions in potential trouble spots and you get a peep into the impeding chaos.
Substituting optimism for reality in the face of a crisis is to unwittingly court a heart attack when the truth finally hits home. The two words are NOT synonymous and CANNOT be used interchangeably especially on anything involving Kenyan politicians. Annan is simply conditioning us for bad news.
The script is that when Annan finnally reports NOTHING substantive tomorrow, the national disappointment shall have mellowed thanks to 24 hours window for speculation and rumour therapy. How I wish this was only a bad dream.
What Happens Next After PNU Hardliners Render Annan Peace Mission Stillborn?
Breaking News: Troop Movements Worry Kisumu Residents
It can be authoritatively revealed that three members of president Kibaki’s part cabinet and his two close advisors have made it their business priority to ensure that the Annan led mediation to resolve the post-election crisis is still-born. Sadly, one of the cabinet ministers is the PNU Team lead negotiator of what is now known as the Kenyan National Dialogue and Reconciliation Team. These unpatriotic individuals represent the interests of powerful business cartels which supported Kibaki’s re-election campaign and those which dread the prospects of transferring government operations into the office of the yet to be created Prime Minister, even worse when the holder of this office is one Raila Odinga. What is interesting is that some of these hardliners including the cowboys in cartels whose interests they represent form up to two thirds of those who have received letters from the US State Department about imminent asset freeze and visa bans.
The Minister for Justice & Constitutional Affairs Martha Wangari Karua and her Transport and Finance colleagues, John Njoroge Michuki and Amos Kimunya respectively are the main stumbling blocks in the mediation efforts. Unlike other members of cabinet who have to seek appointments before seeing President Mwai Kibaki, these three individuals have unhindered 24-7 access to Kibaki and have variously advised the president to adopt uncompromising positions that end up undermining international attempts at mediation. To begin with, after ODM rejected their insistence on local mediation, they are said to detest use of the term ‘mediation’ and prefer ‘negotiation’. Secondly, they are directly responsible for the failure of President Kufuor’s mission earlier in the crisis to bring the two protagonists together. Other efforts they have successfully frustrated include that of retired African heads of state as well as that of Desmond Tutu. Kimunya is so confident that he has dismissed threats of donor aid freeze by assuring kibaki ‘over 90% of the Kenyan budget is financed internally and our Chinese friends will never let us down in our time of need’.
The other two individuals responsible for the deepening of Kenya’s worst quagmire in independent history are his long-time golfing buddy , Joe Wanjui as well as the State House based PS in charge of Strategy, Stanley Murage. The former is the ‘general’ who brought in Amos Kimunya into Kibaki’s inner circle and campaigned for his appointment as Daudi Mwiraria’s replacement at the Finance ministry. On his part, Murage has in recent weeks had ‘minor’ problems with respect to fighting his detractors at the hill, but that appears to be water under the bridge as the man has outmaneuvered his and still remains in his influential position at state house. These two individuals have repeatedly urged Kibaki to totally reject all international intervention aimed at resolving Kenya’s political crisis saying that there is a government in charge and it has everything under control. They opine international intervention is akin to admitting that PNU government lacks legitimacy and to an extent allowing foreigners take control of Kenya’s sovereignty. International pressure and the fact that government has not had total control in the country appears to have forced Kibaki to accept Annan’s mediation mission, but that now seems to be under serious threat from the hardliners.
After half-heartedly accepting Kofi Annan’s mediation mission, the PNU have adopted a strategy in which they intend to concede as little ground as possible to ODM in the on-going talks least of all agree to a transitional government under a grand coalition.
This probably explains why Martha Karua was quick to send a protest letter to Annan after he told Parliament that a "grand coalition" could oversee reforms in Kenya to pave the way for elections in two years. Karua’s letter went on to say "My team is alarmed at some serious inaccurate statement made by your excellency.” Forming a transitional government to prepare elections "has not been discussed or agreed upon" in the mediation talks, now in their third week and nearing the deadline fixed by Kofi Annan at the start of the talks.
In other words, political observers and diplomats are interpreting the protest letter by Martha Karua that PNU are not ready to make any concessions and still stand by their belief that Kibaki is the duly elected president of Kenya after having won presidential vote fairly and having been constitutionally sworn-in, and should therefore not have to share power with ODM under whatever circumstances. So what is next for this country?
While Annan sees a grand-coalition as the only workable political solution to Kenya’s crisis, PNU are trying to push the argument that the move is like introducing single-party dictatorship through the back door.
Meanwhile, interesting news from Kilaguni Lodge (unknown location my foot!) where the mediation team is based, say that ODM have demanded that the coalition be crafted in terms of parliamentary strength and that ODM should therefore have 55% of cabinet seats while the rest share 45%! Interestingly, Kibaki’s heir apparent and the hardliner’s choice to inherit Kibaki’s mantle KANU’s Uhuru Kenyatta has been quoted as saying he does not have any qualms with a grand coalition government arrangement.
Anyone with their ears to the ground in Nairobi must have heard that the mediation talks are doomed to fail and residents are being urged to stock-up now to avoid next week’s violence and inconveniences of street protests that will break-out following the announcement of the postponement (diplo- speak for failure) of the mediation talks.
What follows after this announcement will disappoint a lot of people…….
(to be continued as we monitor events and pray for this country)
Stop Press: Kenya Crisis Talks Adjourned To Monday
It can be authoritatively revealed that three members of president Kibaki’s part cabinet and his two close advisors have made it their business priority to ensure that the Annan led mediation to resolve the post-election crisis is still-born. Sadly, one of the cabinet ministers is the PNU Team lead negotiator of what is now known as the Kenyan National Dialogue and Reconciliation Team. These unpatriotic individuals represent the interests of powerful business cartels which supported Kibaki’s re-election campaign and those which dread the prospects of transferring government operations into the office of the yet to be created Prime Minister, even worse when the holder of this office is one Raila Odinga. What is interesting is that some of these hardliners including the cowboys in cartels whose interests they represent form up to two thirds of those who have received letters from the US State Department about imminent asset freeze and visa bans.
The Minister for Justice & Constitutional Affairs Martha Wangari Karua and her Transport and Finance colleagues, John Njoroge Michuki and Amos Kimunya respectively are the main stumbling blocks in the mediation efforts. Unlike other members of cabinet who have to seek appointments before seeing President Mwai Kibaki, these three individuals have unhindered 24-7 access to Kibaki and have variously advised the president to adopt uncompromising positions that end up undermining international attempts at mediation. To begin with, after ODM rejected their insistence on local mediation, they are said to detest use of the term ‘mediation’ and prefer ‘negotiation’. Secondly, they are directly responsible for the failure of President Kufuor’s mission earlier in the crisis to bring the two protagonists together. Other efforts they have successfully frustrated include that of retired African heads of state as well as that of Desmond Tutu. Kimunya is so confident that he has dismissed threats of donor aid freeze by assuring kibaki ‘over 90% of the Kenyan budget is financed internally and our Chinese friends will never let us down in our time of need’.
The other two individuals responsible for the deepening of Kenya’s worst quagmire in independent history are his long-time golfing buddy , Joe Wanjui as well as the State House based PS in charge of Strategy, Stanley Murage. The former is the ‘general’ who brought in Amos Kimunya into Kibaki’s inner circle and campaigned for his appointment as Daudi Mwiraria’s replacement at the Finance ministry. On his part, Murage has in recent weeks had ‘minor’ problems with respect to fighting his detractors at the hill, but that appears to be water under the bridge as the man has outmaneuvered his and still remains in his influential position at state house. These two individuals have repeatedly urged Kibaki to totally reject all international intervention aimed at resolving Kenya’s political crisis saying that there is a government in charge and it has everything under control. They opine international intervention is akin to admitting that PNU government lacks legitimacy and to an extent allowing foreigners take control of Kenya’s sovereignty. International pressure and the fact that government has not had total control in the country appears to have forced Kibaki to accept Annan’s mediation mission, but that now seems to be under serious threat from the hardliners.
After half-heartedly accepting Kofi Annan’s mediation mission, the PNU have adopted a strategy in which they intend to concede as little ground as possible to ODM in the on-going talks least of all agree to a transitional government under a grand coalition.
This probably explains why Martha Karua was quick to send a protest letter to Annan after he told Parliament that a "grand coalition" could oversee reforms in Kenya to pave the way for elections in two years. Karua’s letter went on to say "My team is alarmed at some serious inaccurate statement made by your excellency.” Forming a transitional government to prepare elections "has not been discussed or agreed upon" in the mediation talks, now in their third week and nearing the deadline fixed by Kofi Annan at the start of the talks.
In other words, political observers and diplomats are interpreting the protest letter by Martha Karua that PNU are not ready to make any concessions and still stand by their belief that Kibaki is the duly elected president of Kenya after having won presidential vote fairly and having been constitutionally sworn-in, and should therefore not have to share power with ODM under whatever circumstances. So what is next for this country?
While Annan sees a grand-coalition as the only workable political solution to Kenya’s crisis, PNU are trying to push the argument that the move is like introducing single-party dictatorship through the back door.
Meanwhile, interesting news from Kilaguni Lodge (unknown location my foot!) where the mediation team is based, say that ODM have demanded that the coalition be crafted in terms of parliamentary strength and that ODM should therefore have 55% of cabinet seats while the rest share 45%! Interestingly, Kibaki’s heir apparent and the hardliner’s choice to inherit Kibaki’s mantle KANU’s Uhuru Kenyatta has been quoted as saying he does not have any qualms with a grand coalition government arrangement.
Anyone with their ears to the ground in Nairobi must have heard that the mediation talks are doomed to fail and residents are being urged to stock-up now to avoid next week’s violence and inconveniences of street protests that will break-out following the announcement of the postponement (diplo- speak for failure) of the mediation talks.
What follows after this announcement will disappoint a lot of people…….
(to be continued as we monitor events and pray for this country)
Stop Press: Kenya Crisis Talks Adjourned To Monday
Nairobi Mayoral Polls: ODM Pentagon, City Councillors on Collision Course
Breaking News: Troop movement worries Kisumu residents
Out-going Adopt-A-Light MD Esther Passaris (pictured) has caused considerable discomfort in political circles following her abrupt resignation as Adopt-A-Light MD and her declaration of interest in the Mayoral seat as ODM nominated councillor in the Nairobi City.
It is now an open secret that she has powerful friends in the prestigious ODM pentangon who want her to be elected Mayor of Nairobi City and this has given her enough confidence to resign from a successful private company she founded six years ago.
However, it will not be smooth sailing as it now seems it will take the ODM captain’s personal intervention to get Passaris elected as mayor. This is because , in what will be sweet music to PNU’s ears, ODM’s elected councillors have publicly announced they will NOT cast their votes in favour of a nominated councillor for the mayoral seat. ODM’s councillors have in a rare show of unity already nominated Baba Dogo councillor Godfrey Odhiambo Majiwa to run for the seat.
On her part, Passaris has already dismissed claims that elected councillors were uncomfortable about her candidature terming it healthy democracy within the party. She added that the city needs a mayor who will ensure accountability, transparency and service delivery to its residents. These have to be implemented along the lines of ODM’s manifesto and the pre-election pledges of its presidential candidate.
Pressed further Passaris stated, “As ODM, we have to work as a family. We are not going to be divided, if the (elected) councillors decided that they want one of their own, then as Esther Passaris, I will back that candidate because we must put the city first.”
“To become a mayor of this city,” she added, “one has to have an all inclusive vision that takes care of the city.”
Passaris pointed out that Margaret Kenyatta – the city’s only female mayor - was successful during her stint because ‘she had absolute government backing and had a lot of donor funding’. Kenyatta served from 1970-1976 and is credited with spearheading the construction of city hospitals, school and several housing projects.
Passaris has intimated that her proven business skills are what Nairobi residents needs and it is high time they got what they pay for. She has been a long time city resident herself and has worked with slum dwellers - in various projects - within the city by helping them light up the areas they live using floodlights. Passaris also introduced a laudable policy at her company of rehabilitating street children and offering them employment in maintenance of street lights.
The Mayoral polls are due on 25th February 2008.
Out-going Adopt-A-Light MD Esther Passaris (pictured) has caused considerable discomfort in political circles following her abrupt resignation as Adopt-A-Light MD and her declaration of interest in the Mayoral seat as ODM nominated councillor in the Nairobi City.It is now an open secret that she has powerful friends in the prestigious ODM pentangon who want her to be elected Mayor of Nairobi City and this has given her enough confidence to resign from a successful private company she founded six years ago.
However, it will not be smooth sailing as it now seems it will take the ODM captain’s personal intervention to get Passaris elected as mayor. This is because , in what will be sweet music to PNU’s ears, ODM’s elected councillors have publicly announced they will NOT cast their votes in favour of a nominated councillor for the mayoral seat. ODM’s councillors have in a rare show of unity already nominated Baba Dogo councillor Godfrey Odhiambo Majiwa to run for the seat.
On her part, Passaris has already dismissed claims that elected councillors were uncomfortable about her candidature terming it healthy democracy within the party. She added that the city needs a mayor who will ensure accountability, transparency and service delivery to its residents. These have to be implemented along the lines of ODM’s manifesto and the pre-election pledges of its presidential candidate.
Pressed further Passaris stated, “As ODM, we have to work as a family. We are not going to be divided, if the (elected) councillors decided that they want one of their own, then as Esther Passaris, I will back that candidate because we must put the city first.”
“To become a mayor of this city,” she added, “one has to have an all inclusive vision that takes care of the city.”
Passaris pointed out that Margaret Kenyatta – the city’s only female mayor - was successful during her stint because ‘she had absolute government backing and had a lot of donor funding’. Kenyatta served from 1970-1976 and is credited with spearheading the construction of city hospitals, school and several housing projects.
Passaris has intimated that her proven business skills are what Nairobi residents needs and it is high time they got what they pay for. She has been a long time city resident herself and has worked with slum dwellers - in various projects - within the city by helping them light up the areas they live using floodlights. Passaris also introduced a laudable policy at her company of rehabilitating street children and offering them employment in maintenance of street lights.
The Mayoral polls are due on 25th February 2008.
Breaking News: Troop Movements Worry Kisumu Residents
News just in this morning from the Kumekucha man on the ground in Kisumu indicate that for almost a week now, there has been movement of Kenya Army soldiers through Kisumu headed towards Kakamega and Busia.
Our man counted three Kenya Army trucks this morning all packed with soldiers. It would appear that the troop movement is being staggered in such a way as to attract as little attention as possible.
We cannot speculate at this time as to what this troop movement means. Kumekucha is however still consulting experts on these matters and I will update this story later in the day.
PNU Mischief In This Blog
Meanwhile persons believed to be supporters of PNU have over the last few days been up to some serious mischief in this blog. Cutting and pasting old posts in the comments area, they have convinced many that Kumekucha is about to be shut down. I can confirm that the comments have NOT been posted by either Marianne Brinner or the Okellos. In fact at one point posts attacking both sides were posted from the same IP address. The comments have almost had the desired effect of provoking both the Okellos and Marianne Briner against each other.
I appeal to readers to disregard this mischief even as I take further action on this.
Interestingly this comes hot in the heels of an effort at duplicating the design, look and even address of this site to create a clone site that had mostly PNU propaganda. This effort fell flat on its’ face and the perpetrators were forced to change the site into a members-by-invitation only blog, meaning that most of the public they seek to influence with their lies are not able to access the site. The reason was probably because the ceators of this site had not thought through their action and suddenly found themselves in a very embarrassing position where everybody could see “their dirty work.”
I appeal to all Kenyans of good will to be extremely cautious at this time because a wounded lion is very dangerous. My belief is that PNU supporters are in exactly that position now and this is the time when they are bound to resort to the dirtiest tricks.
P.S. We have so far been unable to confirm rumours of heightened police and military activity in Nairobi suburbs. Many of our readers have bombarded me to confirm these reports.
Our man counted three Kenya Army trucks this morning all packed with soldiers. It would appear that the troop movement is being staggered in such a way as to attract as little attention as possible.
We cannot speculate at this time as to what this troop movement means. Kumekucha is however still consulting experts on these matters and I will update this story later in the day.
PNU Mischief In This Blog
Meanwhile persons believed to be supporters of PNU have over the last few days been up to some serious mischief in this blog. Cutting and pasting old posts in the comments area, they have convinced many that Kumekucha is about to be shut down. I can confirm that the comments have NOT been posted by either Marianne Brinner or the Okellos. In fact at one point posts attacking both sides were posted from the same IP address. The comments have almost had the desired effect of provoking both the Okellos and Marianne Briner against each other.
I appeal to readers to disregard this mischief even as I take further action on this.
Interestingly this comes hot in the heels of an effort at duplicating the design, look and even address of this site to create a clone site that had mostly PNU propaganda. This effort fell flat on its’ face and the perpetrators were forced to change the site into a members-by-invitation only blog, meaning that most of the public they seek to influence with their lies are not able to access the site. The reason was probably because the ceators of this site had not thought through their action and suddenly found themselves in a very embarrassing position where everybody could see “their dirty work.”
I appeal to all Kenyans of good will to be extremely cautious at this time because a wounded lion is very dangerous. My belief is that PNU supporters are in exactly that position now and this is the time when they are bound to resort to the dirtiest tricks.
P.S. We have so far been unable to confirm rumours of heightened police and military activity in Nairobi suburbs. Many of our readers have bombarded me to confirm these reports.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Steep Price for a Deceptive Church
To whom will God turn to when his assistants on earth are all neck-deep in deception and self-denial? Crisis galore has visited the Kenyan church owing to their sectarian political interests. The present political turmoil has exposed the Kenyan clergy as no better than their flock and worse still even politicians.
The Kenyan clergy have slowly and painfully discovered that they are no longer relevant to our lives which they hitherto patronized with religious impunity. Not any more. And with that the purse strings have been tightened. Well, speak of failure of responsibility akin to chopping the very hand feeding you.
Desperate situations surely call for desperate measures. In rue NGO-speak, the Kenyan church is out shouting in confession of their sins. Deep down they must be aware that their self-rediscovery amounts to too little too late. The horses have bolted and their frantic efforts to shut the kraal are an affront to our national intellect.
Reaping abundant irrelevance
The lords of dogma must be deluding themselves that Kenyans are robots to believe their belated promise and readiness to confront the politically divisive forces. Most of these tribal pastors and ministers received their ultimate price when their kinsmen rose to power and they were promptly roped in the schemes to retain the implements at all costs. They don’t see the need nor rationale to fight for a war already won.
There is no free lunch and our church leads must be ready to confront the monster they unwittingly help create. They are the present epitome of moral rudderlessness. The punch in any pastoral letter will never fly past the pulpits they are mouthed. They must go mute and honestly strategize on how to start on a clean slate to regain the lost moral high authority.
The church is simply reaping where it sowed in abundance. No need for crocodile tears. They failed to lead by example and from in front before and after the STOLEN POLLS. The men of cloth abused our collective trust and proved that they are unique bed fellows with politicians both sheltering under a selfish umbrella as the rains viciously pound Kenyans. Muge must be tviolently turning in his grave.
The Kenyan clergy have slowly and painfully discovered that they are no longer relevant to our lives which they hitherto patronized with religious impunity. Not any more. And with that the purse strings have been tightened. Well, speak of failure of responsibility akin to chopping the very hand feeding you.
Desperate situations surely call for desperate measures. In rue NGO-speak, the Kenyan church is out shouting in confession of their sins. Deep down they must be aware that their self-rediscovery amounts to too little too late. The horses have bolted and their frantic efforts to shut the kraal are an affront to our national intellect.
Reaping abundant irrelevance
The lords of dogma must be deluding themselves that Kenyans are robots to believe their belated promise and readiness to confront the politically divisive forces. Most of these tribal pastors and ministers received their ultimate price when their kinsmen rose to power and they were promptly roped in the schemes to retain the implements at all costs. They don’t see the need nor rationale to fight for a war already won.
There is no free lunch and our church leads must be ready to confront the monster they unwittingly help create. They are the present epitome of moral rudderlessness. The punch in any pastoral letter will never fly past the pulpits they are mouthed. They must go mute and honestly strategize on how to start on a clean slate to regain the lost moral high authority.
The church is simply reaping where it sowed in abundance. No need for crocodile tears. They failed to lead by example and from in front before and after the STOLEN POLLS. The men of cloth abused our collective trust and proved that they are unique bed fellows with politicians both sheltering under a selfish umbrella as the rains viciously pound Kenyans. Muge must be tviolently turning in his grave.
Spy Chief James Kanyotu Is Dead
The Crazy Things Kenyans Are Discussing In Domo, our new chat site
Kenya’s longest serving spy chief James Kanyotu is dead. He died last night at Nairobi Hospital where he had been rushed for treatment. It has still not been revealed to the press what he was suffering from. He was 76.
Kanyotu led the infamously cruel Special Branch from 1965 to 1991. Interestingly circumstances surrounding his dismissal by Moi in 1991 are worth noting here. It is said that shortly after then Health Minister in the Moi government, Mwai Kibaki announced his resignation from government in Mombasa on Christmas day 1991, then president Moi called Kanyotu and angrily asked him why he had not been made aware that Kibaki was resigning from his cabinet to form a political party. Kanyotu replied politely that he was not aware. Moi asked him angrily what he would do if he fired him. Kanyotu politely replied that that was the prerogative of the president. And that’s how Kanyotu left.
It is widely believed that Moi thought at the time that Kanyotu had held back the information from him deliberately because he came from the same tribe as Kibaki. Those who know Kanyotu say that he was too professional for that and are still very surprised that the man ever got involved in Goldenberg.
Moi seems to have had a phobia concerning Kibaki’s perceived political clout and
Read more
Kenya’s longest serving spy chief James Kanyotu is dead. He died last night at Nairobi Hospital where he had been rushed for treatment. It has still not been revealed to the press what he was suffering from. He was 76.
Kanyotu led the infamously cruel Special Branch from 1965 to 1991. Interestingly circumstances surrounding his dismissal by Moi in 1991 are worth noting here. It is said that shortly after then Health Minister in the Moi government, Mwai Kibaki announced his resignation from government in Mombasa on Christmas day 1991, then president Moi called Kanyotu and angrily asked him why he had not been made aware that Kibaki was resigning from his cabinet to form a political party. Kanyotu replied politely that he was not aware. Moi asked him angrily what he would do if he fired him. Kanyotu politely replied that that was the prerogative of the president. And that’s how Kanyotu left.
It is widely believed that Moi thought at the time that Kanyotu had held back the information from him deliberately because he came from the same tribe as Kibaki. Those who know Kanyotu say that he was too professional for that and are still very surprised that the man ever got involved in Goldenberg.
Moi seems to have had a phobia concerning Kibaki’s perceived political clout and
Read more
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Kenya's Protests Against Misrule Goes Regional
A Ugandan opposition MP Betty Kamya is facing sedition charges after imploring Ugandans to take after Kenyans in demanding their country back from the teeth of dictatorship. Writing in the Monitor newspaper of January 28, 2008, Ms Kamya reminded her fellow country men that only the zeal and ultimate price paid by Kenyans can rid Africa of her dinosaur authoritarian regimes.
MP Kamya eloquently urged Ugandans that "like Kenyans, we are going to have to fight to extricate ourselves from Museveni's paws". Well, predictably Museveni came forcefully with all guns blazing. Kaguta M7 ‘penned’ a 17-page (yes twenty less three) reprimand to madam Kamya warning her of coming sedition. As they say in African rulership parlance the rest is history because the MP was promptly arrested with the very offence there after.
Kenyans’ protests against stolen election are having rapid and immediate political effect. Museveni must have seen it coming. No wonder the haste in the only congratulatory message to Kibaki. Speak of common interest collectively served by birds of a feather.
Back home the mediation talks are tottering in the brinks of collapse with PNU suffering acute bouts of fear of the KNOWN. It is finally hitting home that their bravado and brinkmanship are not sustainable under global spotlight.
Martha Karua’s riot act to Annan has effectively dispensed full dose of poison to the mediation. Knowing the devils Kenyans have for leaders, we haven't seen anything yet. Kibaki’s sense of shamelessness and insensitivity is regionally and globally unparalleled.
Well, optimists would wish their virtue floods the hearts of all Kenyans. But I fear the devastating truth of impeding ARMAGEDDON EXTRAORDINARRE is nigh. How I wish I was JUST dreaming but unfortunately this is no dream.
MP Kamya eloquently urged Ugandans that "like Kenyans, we are going to have to fight to extricate ourselves from Museveni's paws". Well, predictably Museveni came forcefully with all guns blazing. Kaguta M7 ‘penned’ a 17-page (yes twenty less three) reprimand to madam Kamya warning her of coming sedition. As they say in African rulership parlance the rest is history because the MP was promptly arrested with the very offence there after.
Kenyans’ protests against stolen election are having rapid and immediate political effect. Museveni must have seen it coming. No wonder the haste in the only congratulatory message to Kibaki. Speak of common interest collectively served by birds of a feather.
Back home the mediation talks are tottering in the brinks of collapse with PNU suffering acute bouts of fear of the KNOWN. It is finally hitting home that their bravado and brinkmanship are not sustainable under global spotlight.
Martha Karua’s riot act to Annan has effectively dispensed full dose of poison to the mediation. Knowing the devils Kenyans have for leaders, we haven't seen anything yet. Kibaki’s sense of shamelessness and insensitivity is regionally and globally unparalleled.
Well, optimists would wish their virtue floods the hearts of all Kenyans. But I fear the devastating truth of impeding ARMAGEDDON EXTRAORDINARRE is nigh. How I wish I was JUST dreaming but unfortunately this is no dream.
Kibaki's Prime Fear….
…..of a grand coalition.
The second Kibaki cedes a fraction of 'his' presidential powers to Raila, his ass is toast. First of all, based on the selective manner he has handled the post election violence, he will never be able to convince anyone that his partial surrender is purely for the interest of peace...for all Kenyans. Secondly, not only will he be proclaiming to the entire world that he indeed stole the election, he will also be raising the white flag in desperate anticipation for the safest possible exit. I think we all agree that if elections were to be held outside of an year, Kibaki will not be on the ticket. Lastly, I'm not quite sure Kibaki has it in him to share a stage with Raila. As I've said before, any power sharing arrangement has to be sold to the people...which pretty much means joint public peace rallies. I need not say more.
Of course the other causes of Kibaki/PNU headaches include oversight and scrutiny in everything from allocation of government contracts, government appointments, review of future IPOs and the like; things that the current and previous retinue of Kibaki handlers are not necessary welcoming with warm open arms. While I appreciate that some characters have absolved Kibaki of his sins and will go to the trenches of war with him, I cannot understand how they will perceive his concessions... if any. There's a school of thought that suggests it's about time Kibaki metamorphosed into the Moi of 1982. That for government continuity, he should go about detaining folks like Okoiti Omtata, Maina Kiai, Wangari Maathai and Wafula Buke. That it is Raila's turn to live in Sweden writing books and poems of freedom. That the spoils of war must not be shared (it actually was a war my friends). That the army must reflect the people in power. Oh please Kibaki do not forsake us! Do not let go. I'm not quite sure why I brought that up but it appears that may be Kibaki's only option in the failure of a safe exit.
The next most neglected and least discussed source of prime fear is parliament. It is fair to say that 'false until proven claims' of Ruto financing atrocities in the Rift Valley hasn't endeared the party to some. Government media reports of ODM encouraging and endorsing violence has had some effects; even internationally. That as it is, all Kenyan voters acknowledge that PNU was and is still out to demonize Raila and ODM (remember the text messages). Sometimes, the purveyor of negative political campaigns ultimately suffers the backlash. So what's my point? Should peace and normalcy ensue as a result of a power sharing formula it will be because ODM has inched closer to power (like the people wanted) and not because PNU has partially conceded for the sole sake of peace. Outrageous as it sounds, please expect the defection of PNU mps to the ODM camp. Don't laugh yet; you see, power sharing may also mean subjecting Kalonzo to the periphery (where he belongs) thereby dismantling the current PNU arrangement. Also, it may not be wise or safe for some MPs to remain in PNU depending on where they come from. That PNU will be reduced to CPK (Central Kenya Party) is a foregone conclusion. In effect, Odinga anywhere near power means death to PNU.
These are just tit bits of what PNU has to contend with. The reality is that some of these folks spend sleepless nights with their passports under their pillows; ready to dash to foreign lands at the sound of the national anthem opening parliament with Raila an 'equal' to Kibaki.
Well, that's the rosy part. Now for the road leading to fire and brimstone. ODM/Raila has no option but to come out of these negotiations with 'true goods'. If all he gets is a cabinet position, no matter how serious, even I will cross over to KENDA. They must also not exude the arrogance associated with PNU. While a 50/50 arrangement towards peace and fresh elections is a win for many Kenyans, ODM must not be seen as gloating...the kicks of a dying PNU are the most dangerous. Further, for this thing to work, Kenyans must come together.
So long for the dream. Reality checks reveal that Kibaki historically does not honor any agreement. He is not a gentleman. With such evidence, ODM must pursue constitutional legitimacy on anything agreed on...especially if Kibaki appends his signature with his left hand.
The second Kibaki cedes a fraction of 'his' presidential powers to Raila, his ass is toast. First of all, based on the selective manner he has handled the post election violence, he will never be able to convince anyone that his partial surrender is purely for the interest of peace...for all Kenyans. Secondly, not only will he be proclaiming to the entire world that he indeed stole the election, he will also be raising the white flag in desperate anticipation for the safest possible exit. I think we all agree that if elections were to be held outside of an year, Kibaki will not be on the ticket. Lastly, I'm not quite sure Kibaki has it in him to share a stage with Raila. As I've said before, any power sharing arrangement has to be sold to the people...which pretty much means joint public peace rallies. I need not say more.
Of course the other causes of Kibaki/PNU headaches include oversight and scrutiny in everything from allocation of government contracts, government appointments, review of future IPOs and the like; things that the current and previous retinue of Kibaki handlers are not necessary welcoming with warm open arms. While I appreciate that some characters have absolved Kibaki of his sins and will go to the trenches of war with him, I cannot understand how they will perceive his concessions... if any. There's a school of thought that suggests it's about time Kibaki metamorphosed into the Moi of 1982. That for government continuity, he should go about detaining folks like Okoiti Omtata, Maina Kiai, Wangari Maathai and Wafula Buke. That it is Raila's turn to live in Sweden writing books and poems of freedom. That the spoils of war must not be shared (it actually was a war my friends). That the army must reflect the people in power. Oh please Kibaki do not forsake us! Do not let go. I'm not quite sure why I brought that up but it appears that may be Kibaki's only option in the failure of a safe exit.
The next most neglected and least discussed source of prime fear is parliament. It is fair to say that 'false until proven claims' of Ruto financing atrocities in the Rift Valley hasn't endeared the party to some. Government media reports of ODM encouraging and endorsing violence has had some effects; even internationally. That as it is, all Kenyan voters acknowledge that PNU was and is still out to demonize Raila and ODM (remember the text messages). Sometimes, the purveyor of negative political campaigns ultimately suffers the backlash. So what's my point? Should peace and normalcy ensue as a result of a power sharing formula it will be because ODM has inched closer to power (like the people wanted) and not because PNU has partially conceded for the sole sake of peace. Outrageous as it sounds, please expect the defection of PNU mps to the ODM camp. Don't laugh yet; you see, power sharing may also mean subjecting Kalonzo to the periphery (where he belongs) thereby dismantling the current PNU arrangement. Also, it may not be wise or safe for some MPs to remain in PNU depending on where they come from. That PNU will be reduced to CPK (Central Kenya Party) is a foregone conclusion. In effect, Odinga anywhere near power means death to PNU.
These are just tit bits of what PNU has to contend with. The reality is that some of these folks spend sleepless nights with their passports under their pillows; ready to dash to foreign lands at the sound of the national anthem opening parliament with Raila an 'equal' to Kibaki.
Well, that's the rosy part. Now for the road leading to fire and brimstone. ODM/Raila has no option but to come out of these negotiations with 'true goods'. If all he gets is a cabinet position, no matter how serious, even I will cross over to KENDA. They must also not exude the arrogance associated with PNU. While a 50/50 arrangement towards peace and fresh elections is a win for many Kenyans, ODM must not be seen as gloating...the kicks of a dying PNU are the most dangerous. Further, for this thing to work, Kenyans must come together.
So long for the dream. Reality checks reveal that Kibaki historically does not honor any agreement. He is not a gentleman. With such evidence, ODM must pursue constitutional legitimacy on anything agreed on...especially if Kibaki appends his signature with his left hand.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Terrible Truth Kenyans Don’t Want To Hear
Listening to Mwai Kibaki yesterday, any alert Kenyan would have concluded that we are in very serious trouble indeed. The “duly elected president” was at his vintage best (for those who know him well).
Firstly he pulled away Prof Sam Ongeri from the Anan talks a clear indication that launching the free secondary school education program was more important than those talks which so many Kenyans are hanging all their hopes on (pole sana). The whole idea is to prop up his government and emphasize business as usual (which is what every middle class and wealthy Kenyan is desperate for, for mostly selfish reasons).
Secondly Mwai Kibaki also talked at length about resettling displaced persons and the government helping them to rebuild their houses. I do not for one minute support the gruesome murder and chaos that has been going on, but what do you think the other side felt? Those with land issues high on their agenda. The president was behaving as if all that has happened means nothing.
Then there was another even clearer sign that all was not well. Annan came out of the talks yesterday looking a very tired and frustrated man. He asked the press to leave him alone and then took a long walk along Kenyatta Avenue with his bodyguards in tow. Later in the evening, he issued a statement announcing a news blackout on the talks and a last dash 48 to 72 hours to reach an agreement of sorts. It seems everybody has forgotten the strange events of last Friday when a breakthrough was announced and then when everybody went to Harambee house nothing happened.
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Talks Collapsing as Diaspora Exports Bigotry
All the waiting about political breakthrough over our political was not worth the anxiety. Playing to the gallery and shameless media leaks throughout last weekend all but indicated the dead road we patronized as a nation. Ours is a country lacking in leadership and asking the scoundrels to measure up to any self-induced challenge is akin to selling winter cloaks in Garissa.
So Annan has given himself two days deadline to come with a solution? Well, you guess is as good as mine because the outcome is clear even before the principals take their seats. Kibaki never stole the elections with an intention to reneging on deceit or succumbing to international pressure. Hailing his free secondary program is a song sung better by his apologists.
Political sharks
The opposition may have played it smart in pushing him to a corner by making indicative motions and intentions of concession. But honestly such games are only effective on people with conscience not a hoard of supremacists already swimming in rivers of blood from Kenyans. Like sharks these lot never gets enough of human blood .
From the word go the Annan-lead talks were never meant to take off as evident in Kibaki’s obstructive pronouncements of being the duly elected president. Kofi Annan must be having his shoulders aching sorely from the global responsibility thrust on him. He must be cleverly chatting a hand-washing (safe) exit route.
The REAL KENYAN ARMAGEDDON is viciously knocking at the door. Make no mistake, Kibaki will not barge an inch. Annan will consequently have no choice but leave in a huff (really disgusted and disappointed). His excuse will be going to seek more guidance from UN and AU. A national Armageddon has never a comprehensive rehearsal like ours.
Exporting bigotry
Meanwhile the deception bandwagon has new passengers in the shape of a bunch of tribal jingoists masquerading under the banner of Kenyans abroad. These shameless Kenyans have exported their bigotry abroad. They are only fooling themselves by sending a VILLAGE memorandum that denigrate all OTHER Kenya's 41 tribes. These dimwits must be so naïve to waste their time in asking Gordon Brown to respect the laws of Kenya that are abused with absolute impunity by their ruling kinsmen.
Sir Edward Clay would provide Brown with a more detailed report on Kenya. And that is not brain-washing because the truth never mutates even among those who vomit on our collective shoes. A heap of lies and misinformation packaged as a petition only succeeds in unmasking the true face of serial liars. No damage is more devastating than self-destructive antics laced in virgin village bigotry that is left untouched by any trace of modernity.
The cheap smear campaign to paint Raila as unelectable fell flat on its face and Kenyans saw it for what it was – glossing over national rape and deception. Now roping in Ruto and crying foul with their teeth shamelessly biting into deception, these supremacists have gone global with their vice.
I am no doomsayer. But the truth remains that Kibaki is not annd was never interested in any peace or resolution of the present political crisis. How I wish I could be more optimistic. But I would hate blaming myself for being so naïve to the impending and beckoning Armageddon. May God save Kenya from herself.
So Annan has given himself two days deadline to come with a solution? Well, you guess is as good as mine because the outcome is clear even before the principals take their seats. Kibaki never stole the elections with an intention to reneging on deceit or succumbing to international pressure. Hailing his free secondary program is a song sung better by his apologists.
Political sharks
The opposition may have played it smart in pushing him to a corner by making indicative motions and intentions of concession. But honestly such games are only effective on people with conscience not a hoard of supremacists already swimming in rivers of blood from Kenyans. Like sharks these lot never gets enough of human blood .
From the word go the Annan-lead talks were never meant to take off as evident in Kibaki’s obstructive pronouncements of being the duly elected president. Kofi Annan must be having his shoulders aching sorely from the global responsibility thrust on him. He must be cleverly chatting a hand-washing (safe) exit route.
The REAL KENYAN ARMAGEDDON is viciously knocking at the door. Make no mistake, Kibaki will not barge an inch. Annan will consequently have no choice but leave in a huff (really disgusted and disappointed). His excuse will be going to seek more guidance from UN and AU. A national Armageddon has never a comprehensive rehearsal like ours.
Exporting bigotry
Meanwhile the deception bandwagon has new passengers in the shape of a bunch of tribal jingoists masquerading under the banner of Kenyans abroad. These shameless Kenyans have exported their bigotry abroad. They are only fooling themselves by sending a VILLAGE memorandum that denigrate all OTHER Kenya's 41 tribes. These dimwits must be so naïve to waste their time in asking Gordon Brown to respect the laws of Kenya that are abused with absolute impunity by their ruling kinsmen.
Sir Edward Clay would provide Brown with a more detailed report on Kenya. And that is not brain-washing because the truth never mutates even among those who vomit on our collective shoes. A heap of lies and misinformation packaged as a petition only succeeds in unmasking the true face of serial liars. No damage is more devastating than self-destructive antics laced in virgin village bigotry that is left untouched by any trace of modernity.
The cheap smear campaign to paint Raila as unelectable fell flat on its face and Kenyans saw it for what it was – glossing over national rape and deception. Now roping in Ruto and crying foul with their teeth shamelessly biting into deception, these supremacists have gone global with their vice.
I am no doomsayer. But the truth remains that Kibaki is not annd was never interested in any peace or resolution of the present political crisis. How I wish I could be more optimistic. But I would hate blaming myself for being so naïve to the impending and beckoning Armageddon. May God save Kenya from herself.
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