Lean Cabinet, Dream Team PS Naikuni Back

Poor Muthaura! The old man must be nursing the kicks of a thankless donkey after soiling his hands doing all the dirty sectarian work of hardliners only to be booted out so unceremoniously. While his unsolicited clarifications on hierarchy must have sounded sonorous to his ears, he never lived long enough to thumb his ‘I said so’ chest. Well, Naikuni deserves all the appointment as the new secretary to the cabinet. He has a record that speaks for itself and is no stranger to the government having served as part of Leakey’s dream team that never slept to have any trace of dreaming.

The lean cabinet of 25 must be what the political doctor ordered for ailing Kenya. PM Raila must now move with speed to earn the trust and confidence of his two deputies, Martha Karua and Musalia Mudavadi.With the cabinet formed, the power-sharing must begin in earnest to bear fruits in delivering services to Kenya and her people. The final meeting to mint this compromise cabinet between Kibaki and Raila must have been hot. But thank goodness they both saw the big picture and shoved aside the political baggage that is cronies. But above all else Kalonzo must be the BIGGEST winner in the resulting political pecking order.

Butchered political ego
Martha Karua’s elevation to DPM position open the floodgates and jostling for Kibaki succession. Kalonzo may sit pretty in the knowledge that he will have Iron Lady’s backing together with the GEMA block votes. But politics being no game where only interests remain permanent, the dynamics may prove that theory dead wrong. Karua may spring a surprise by raising the stakes when she goes for the presidency come 2012.

While the give and take must have definitely butchered Uhuru Kenyatta’s political ego, it may have just opened another round of political realignment with potentially new dynamics. Kanu must retrace her steps and will of necessity re-evaluate her stay within PNU. Whether Uhuru and Kanu fast-tracked their political sell-by dates only time will tell.

Meanwhile Raila has his job cut well out for him. Depending on his actions and intention, he will go down in Kenya’s history either as the messiah his supporters paraded him to be or the wreck his detractors wanted to paint him as. He has less than 1000 days to make of write his political appendix. Will he measure or bungle the opportunity up? Kazi ianze sasa na iendelee, take your pick. One love one country.

Is Peace Guaranteed The Way Our Leaders Are Behaving?

Kenyan politics (if you call it that) is crazy these days.

A few days ago I heard somebody saying that President Kibaki signed the peace accord ONLY to cool off things enough for the Safaricom IPO to happen. I never believed that porojo for a minute then. But now my position has changed and I am no longer too sure. One just needs to analyze carefully what is going on in the country.

But this issue of the IPO in relation to the still-to-be-named coalition government raises a very fundamental question which every Kenyan needs to ask themselves;

Is it safe to buy shares when Kenya’s future peace and stability is not guaranteed?

Surely the current behaviour of PNU and president Kibaki leaves a lot to be desired. It is becoming increasingly clear that they are bent on frustrating the law that they are so fond of talking about and insisting that it must be followed to the letter.

Today the media announced that the President had a cabinet meeting. Now how is that possible under the current law of the land? The Prime Minister was not there and neither was any ODMer. This is the clearest sign yet that as we enter this April fool’s day, the “prank” is on Kenyan people.

It is also probably instructive that the Safaricom IPO was launched a few days to April Fool’s day. And it is even more hilarious that as tensions build in the country over the fact that a full cabinet is yet to be named, going on to the fourth months after the polls, some Kenyans are lining up to purchase Safaricom shares. But alas it is their money.

Not that Raila Odinga is much better off. The kind of acrobatics he has done over the Safaricom IPO is crazy and leaves many questions hanging in the air. But even more worrying is the company that the prime minister designate keeps these days. I shall say more about this in my next post, later today when I have gathered all the information and evidence I need.

Then there is the fact that ODM want a cabinet of 34 and in the view of the party, this is a cabinet that is lean enough. The truth is that in comparison to PNU’s 44 it is smaller but only slightly so.

If this coalition government is going to be named at all then not more than 20 ministers should be in it. In fact we do not even need assistant ministers. To do what?

But much more worrying to me today as I write this post, is the ticking time bomb that everybody is ignoring. I am of course talking about the IDP’s. Those poor Kenyans who through no fault of their own are now sleeping in the rain with their children. Already some kids have died from the cold of ailments like pneumonia.

Eldoret Stadium is the largest camp and a young boy who sneaked out of the camp yesterday and went to what he used to call home to fetch his bicycle, came back with a scary tale. He said that their farm had been occupied and that people were cultivating and planting crops. Do you have any idea what this means? They of course warned him never to return.

That’s Kenya for you. When tensions over land are being heightened, President Kibaki is still playing political chess while Raila Odinga prefers musical chairs where his position over an important national matter keeps changing every day.

And amid all that people are lining up for Safaricom shares as others get emotional arguing whether it is a wise thing or not to buy the shares, and their fight is taking place right here on Kumekucha.

As my former boss used to say in sarcastic wonder and amazement when people don’t seem to know what they are doing; WOW….

How a mere Mini Skirt can get you a high profile job