Kenyans must have seen it coming. The voluble MPs predictably and conveniently dissolved in thin air leaving parliament chambers empty. Result, the popular Imanyara Bill meant to create local tribunal to punish perpetrators of PEV was pronounced dead on arrival.
To compound matters, the Kenya clergy are already proposing minimum reforms after prophesying failure in enacting new constitution. But you cannot fault men of the cloth given our penchant to kill any progressive idea that doesn't serve present political interest.
Give it to Minister Michuki for shooting straight from the hip. At least the snake rattler is forthright in telling off Imanyara to separate local tribunal from his obsession in targeting the president. Kimendero is a go-getter who knows what brings results and what amounts to hot air bereft of any meaningful movement.
For results, Michuki has promised Imanyara his vote provided the provision stripping the president of immunity is deleted from the bill.
A+O+O=Fire or meddling?
So here we are paying over 200 MPs to desert their work stations and still expect progress from their collective inertia. The political stakes have never been higher and the forest is getting even more crowded.
It appears we haven't sunk to the bottom of abyss but we are steadily headed there.
The eloquent inaction, rudderlessness and official indifference are the trinity arsenal we need to exterminate ourselves come 2012.
No wonder only the fire of A+O+O shakes the scoundrels off their boots.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Re-discovering the old Kumekucha
The old Kumekucha is desperately needed just now as our beloved
I have sifted through many of the old posts in this blog that I consider classics and in the spirit of re-discovering the old desired Kumekucha I have pasted one of those posts below. It was a brief post but what really stands out is the informative sober debate that follows the post. There are no tribal comments only a decent debate that is a joy to read even now.
So what went wrong?
One of the things that went badly wrong and caused the old Kumekucha "to be lost in the sea" was an invasion (still ongoing) of this blog by what I would refer to as “paid hands”. Their objective was (and still is) to discredit this site and thus dilute any power it may have in Kenyan politics. Can the rest of us refuse to be dragged down by these very clever and well trained chaps and urgently address the immediate and desperate needs of mother
I hope so.
But meanwhile I, Kumekucha cannot escape blame. I want to admit that I lost focus and departed from the straight and narrow path that carried this blog from obscurity to worldwide fame within such a short time.
Today my fellow Kenyan I re-dedicate myself to my original mission statement. I do it selflessly with the realization that despite the risks involved we will all probably never live to enjoy the new
Oh God of all creation bless this our land
Here is that old "classic" post;
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Biggest Risk Taken In Posting A Comment: Kumekucha Nomination For Comment Award
I would like to nominate this reader for the award of post made at greatest risk to the personal security of a Kenyan but for the good of the motherland.
This post pointed me in the right direction for research that led to new evidence and angles published only here in this Kumekucha blog that have never before been presented anywhere else in the still unsolved riddle of the Mboya assassination.
This same reader made a number of other very illuminating comments with pointers which I will not reveal for security reasons (to protect the commentator). Obviously this is a person who has worked with the security aparatus in this country in the past if not in the present as well.
It is interesting how many younger generation Kenyans who have never studied the history of Kenya and especially the life and death of Tom Mboya get upset when we mention that tribalism exists in Kenya and it is a dangerous monstor that should be faced and not swept under the carpet (like they want us to do). It is impossible to understand Kenyan politics if you have no idea who Mboya was, a man who relied on almost 90% Kikuyu votes during his entire political career... that was before the Kisumu riots and deaths and the propaganda that followed. My friends I do not peddle lies here, only very carefully researched truths that you are free to investigate on your own an verify.
Please my dear readers, study the history of your country and don't come to this blog to get upset over things you do not understand. PLEASE.
Congratulations to this annonymous blogger. Whoever you are, thank you for loving your country enough to have given us these and other vital leads.
Anonymous said...
On the right track Chris. To describe Kingsway House as eerie confirms that I was not the only one who shuddered when I entered that building. I visited it when it was
The original post can be found here;
http://kumekucha.blogspot.com/2006/07/kingsway-house-building-in-nairobi.html#comments
Chris
8 comments:
Anonymous said...
Chris, thank you very much for that. But have you ever thought of an idea that has been largely circulated that TJ was a CIA agent.
It was at the height of the ideological Cold War between
TJ was opposed to Oginga Odinga's communism ideolgy and with the history that us younger Kenyans have been able to read, TJ was the one who coined the infamous 'there shall be no other political party in
Well, in Nyanza, TJ and Odinga divided the Luo along imaginary ideological and political boundaries, something that the government of the day enjoyed and even split the massive Nyanza province in
As I said earlier, let the spirits of this great man rest.
He could ganner all Kikuyu votes at that time. Why? He was in a cosmopolitan province that drew most of the inhabitants from the tribe, and he was not wrong at all. He was popular. It is not a lie.
chris said...
Hi Annonymous,
You have much more knowledge on the man than most. Now I encourage you to dig deeper. Find out the following;
During the famous
Who first told bewildered Kenyans; "Uhuru sasa"
From the deep research I have done, I too am convinced that Mboya was a CIA operative. However in my book, that does not downplay his achievements.
It was not any easier for a Luo to get Kikuyu votes in 1958 than it is now. Mboya's charisma and political craftiness was just exceptional. By the way there were Kikuyu candidates he beat in 1958. One of them was called Munyua Waiyaki.
Oh and please note that Mboya was despised in Nyanza and practically had no following there. It was said that he looked down on the Luo (I agree). The man was brought up in Thika amongst the Akamba and traveled widely. Spend a lot of time in
Ironically Mboya became very popular in Nyanza only after his assassination.
The rivalry between TJ and Jaramogi is a joy to study and much more complex than just a difference in ideologies. The most fascinating final analysis is that of David Goldsworthy author of the only Mboya biography so far who points out that in dealing with Jaramogi so effectively on behalf of Kenyatta, Mboya paved the way for his own assassination, because his job was well don and now he remained the only threat.
Also ask yourself the question why Goldsworthy called his biography on Mboya “The man
Finally although other Kikuyus did not benefit from the Kenyatta grabbing and wealth, they swallowed the anti-Luo propaganda hook line and sinker and me and you were brought up on the same. I remember as a kid being told that Luos were too proud to rule
Once again I have nothing against Kikuyus or any tribe in
Thank you for being such a frequent visitor here. I really appreciate it. And never think for one day that you have to agree with me for me to like you and appreciate your visits.
Have a nice weekend my brother and God bless the people of
-Kumekucha-
P.S. By the way for anybody reading this who wants to take a short cut and avoid them books just ask any older person irrespective of their tribe or even nationality who was a grown up in Kenya in the 60s what they thought of Mboya.
Anonymous said...
Chris, thank you for that. Sorry, I dont want to divulge id in this forum, i fear the repercussions of the Kenyan media, nomenklatura, and not at this time that Kumekucha is being said to be behind the back-stabbing at The Nation.
I agree with every word that has been said about TJ. I once spoke to a British lecturer who once taught at Makerere. He is very old now (may be dead). His wish was to visit TJ's grave before he departs to the ancestors.
He told me something that i thought only my grandfather told me, thereby confirming it. "We (they) argued for three hours in the Commons that the young man was not a university graduate. I am convinced he was hiding something". This old man says that Mboya's address at Makerere broke with tradition. 'the first non-graduate to lecture' (I dont know, i stand to be corrected whether the first Kenyan, east african or black man'.
But Chris, if you go back to benefits that the Luo got from Mboya, apart from the 'flights' which Oginga Odinga answered with the Russian ones, and the first beneficiaries were Oburu, Osewe and Agola, his three sons, what else did the luo get from TJ.
Yes,
I have said before, thanks to the two luo greats but what are we, the current generation reaping from them. This is my bitterness with Raila and His family. Still the Homa bay Road remains as it is and he was the minister for roads. Instead, his first priority was to slap Nyachae on the face by completing the
Chris with respect and sober arguments only. Dont take it personal. I might be wrong and stand to be corrected.
NB: Have you read the Steadman latest. I think they are very right.
Taabu said...
Granted, TJ was a great leader and apolitcal organzer per excellece. But with due respect (may God reast his bones in peace) aren't we losing the wider plot by glorifying the dead and leaders of yore? If anything, what dynamics and relevance has the Makerere model of the 1960s as myopically practiced by the present regime achieved apart from tokenism and plastic growth only justfied inself denial?
True, a drowning man clutches to a straw to stay a float. Similarly we are gropping in the dark looking for foccused leadersip that is presently but a mirage. The truism that no future exists without a related past is no excuse to be slaves to the past. In effect we are simply being blinded by nostalgia and living a lie of counterfactual (what ifs) proportions.
To be brutally honest, who knows, maybe TJ's death was a blessing in disguise for he would part of the dinosaurs and gang now driving us to political oblivion, nay abyss. That bullet stoped may have been the silver kind that literally created a martyr and political hero out of a scheming opportunist.
TJ's brialliance, political and otherwise, remains undeniable. But to extrapolate genuis of the 60s to the present millinium is to turn intellectualism on its head.
Mboya died and got intered with all the values he lived for. To imagine that he would win in Thika today, were he to resurect, is the height of political naivity. The guy would look for the next available noose were to wake up to the monster they inadvertently and invariably nurtured.
Lest I appear ignorant of our history and heroes, I couldn't agree and appreciate more with their ideals which we must retrace and live in their honor and respect. Their era is long past and time waits for no man. Let souls of TJ, JM et al rest in peace. Equally, we the leaving must stop propagating their negative traits of tribalsm and regionalism.
Anonymous said...
Yes, TJ was and remains part of the problems we have in this country today. He inserted the words 'there shall be no other political party in
Again, 'the president is above the law'. Who said that? TJ Mboya. Taabu, you are dead right. He is part of the calamity that we face in present life. Let his soul rest in peace.
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