Cabinet: Finance Docket is Reserved!

PIC: Will see you soon; Kimunya, Mbaru, Kibaki and Nganga

Let’s face it. The country is being held hostage by vested interests in the Kibaki succession. In failing to fill vacant cabinet posts, the very reasons attributed to the post election violence by Kriegler and Waki are being put into play!

Long after the Bomet and Sotik by-elections, and Kimunya’s ouster, the ODM was ready to refill its dockets soon after the Mps-elect were sworn in, but the cabinet reshuffle is being held back by fierce infighting in the PNU camp. The heat arising out of the secret envelope of the Waki report is not relenting and the President’s indecisiveness is not helping matters either.

The country continues to go without a sworn-in Finance Minister who holds the constitutional mandate to sign certain bills, bilateral agreements and gazette notices. The current holder of the post, John Michuki, also doubling as Environment Minister, is only acting capacity and therefore unqualified to discharge duties of a finance minister effectively.

Reports are emerging that John Michuki has declined an offer to permanently take up the Finance position because the former holder Amos Kimunya has been declared innocent by the Commission of Enquiry set up by the president to investigate him. Never mind that, unlike other commission reports so far compiled this year, the Kimunya dossier is known only to the President, the commissioners themselves and a few individuals around state house, plus of course friendly pressmen at Royal Media and Nation Media. Never mind also that a parliamentary committee has already declared Kimunya as unfit to hold a cabinet position.

Perhaps most worrying, is that it is apparent that the Finance docket has been reserved and will only go to individual(s) whose origins are not just PNU coalition but also from a certain part of Kenya. Did the president not pledge to heed the advise in the Waki and Kriegler reports? The names being dropped by PNU-friendly media have mentioned MPs sharing more than one commonality with the President. Even during Moi’s dictatorial regime, there was never a finance minister who hailed from Moi’s backyard for a whole 24 years, 10 of those in multi-party politics. Phew!

Although there are numerous individuals within the currently full-capacity National Assembly who are more than qualified and can be appointed Finance Minister, it is obvious that they are technically disqualified because they do not share any commonality with the president and are therefore are unfit to hold the finance docket.

Meanwhile, the country continues to be served by acting ministers, contrary to the constitution and contrary to the NARA accord. All because, the kitchen cabinet is working on a Kimunya rehabilitation plan and the president is seemingly not in full control of an increasingly hostile parliament.

Another spanner has been thrown into the succession works by a stubborn Martha Karua. Being the person who single-handedly saved the PNU coalition during the inauguration of the tenth parliament, she is herself pushing for an end to what she calls politics of anointment and has challenged those interested in the presidency to face her in the field, instead of running to Kibaki because they hope to be declared his successor.

Further to this is that the fiercely independent Justice minister is edging closer to ODM this is causing panic within the PNU wing of government given that most of the reform agenda lies in her docket. The only solution it would appear is to transfer her to another less glamorous ministry or sack her altogether but, just like in the finance docket, PNU are desperately short of qualified individuals to take up this critical docket. Quite surprising considering it is now a grand coalition with a full parliament to choose from.

My suggestion: Appoint Prof. Anyang Nyongo as Finance Minister, transfer Prof. Ongeri to the health docket and promote Dr. Mwiria as Education minister. Kazi kwisha.

Heard About Regular Hijackings And Rape On Kenyan Roads?

One of the things that has gone terribly wrong with the mainstream media in our beloved country is that they deliberately hold back a lot of information from Kenyans. Some of it would save lives or help many Kenyans stay safe. It seems that the policy is NOT to cause panic.

Inside a Coast bus similar to the one that was hijacked by gunmen in harrowing incident on the Nairobi Mombasa Road. (Read the story HERE. Be warned. The graphic nature of this tale may be upsetting.)

Let me give you an excellent example of what I am talking about. Statistics show that every day the Kenya police receive at least half a dozen reports of hijackings of public transport vehicles by gun totting thugs. Hardly any of these cases are reported in the media. In a significant number of these cases female passengers are raped. (Read this harrowing Kumekucha exclusive of a hijacking early last year on a Mombasa-bound bus where torches were used to examine women’s private parts before rape.)

Some of the routes most notorious for hijackings are the Nairobi-Kisii route and the Nairobi-Mombasa route.

We are already in the holiday season and you can be sure that these incidents are bound to go up as the concerned parties look for cash for Christmas. What precautions are the Kenya police taking to keep Kenyans safe? Are the numerous Police checks and road blocks all over the country as efficient in smoking out gun-carrying passengers as they are in collecting 50 bob notes from every public transport vehicle that passes their route? A Kumekucha informant was in a bus late at night recently and saw a policeman who was NOT a traffic cop receive cash from a matatu (so all cops now take cash from public transport vehicles and not just the traffic police.) The same informant witnessed the vehicle he was traveling in defying an order by the police to stop and speeding on. The driver quipped “Huyo amekula mia saa hii anataka nini tena?” (That one has taken a bribe of Kshs 100 just now what else does he want?).

As usual Kenyans are on their own. So my dear Kumekuchans please take the necessary precautions as you travel during this festive season. Avoid traveling at night. (be careful about early morning as well because there have been recent reports of early morning hijackings on major highways and even within Nairobi. Mercifully these incidents hardly ever involve the rape of passengers)

Secondly be very observant in the vehicle you are traveling in. Look out for young innocent-looking guys carrying big bags. Sometimes they communicate on cell phones telling somebody their exact locations. Usually Hijackings will be executed with some gang-members in the vehicle while their colleagues are on the route somewhere ready to ambush. Those in the bus or matatu then ask to be dropped off exactly where their colleagues are waiting.

Do have a safe holiday season and thank you for being part of the rapidly growing Kumekucha family.

Are you in Kenya or would you like to work in Kenya? Choose from plenty of Kenyan jobs available at this site.

Dream beach holidays near Mombasa this Christmas.