US Plots to Topple Kibaki: Tell it to the Birds

So the might US of A has degenerated so low to an extent of financing Kenyan youth to topple their government? Well, one must expose his post molars at that laughable jibe of yore. And while at it forget the present hot potato from the cyber fascists called Wikileaks who gives priority to the facial beauty of our president as if governance is a catwalk. They can rant and rave all they care but we remain SOVERRIGN so much so that only we have the patent for such gems as Goldenberg, Anglo Leasing, Triton and Grand Regency. But that is a story for another day.

For now the big boys are in town wielding the bid stick. Koffi Annan has never tired of babysitting toddler Kenya. And for good measure this time he is accompanied by the holder of that scary ICC office, one Luis Moreno Ocampo. Which leaves you wondering why the later did not save Ruto money by asking him to wait in Nairobi instead of suffering The Hague winter. Again a story for another day.

Kenya is choking with imperialists demanding every pound of her flesh. If it is not the US envoy Renneberger hogging the local political scene with his diplomatic incitement of Kenyan youth against their own government, we collectively get painted with that broad brush as a stinking SWAMP of FLOURISHING CORRUPTION. Well, if that is the accolades from a friendly country I guess we need not search for true enemies.

Forget that fat lie that the international community saved us from ourselves. We have always butchered each other in five-year periodic cycles since 1992. Annan is better advised that his determination to remain relevant and in employment since leaving the UN is selfish at best and overbearing at worst.

Reign of shameless imperialists
The ex-UN boss must leave Kenyans to run their own affairs in ways they know best. Now Kofi is in town breathing fire on our necks threatening brimstone if we derail implementation of the new constitution which has proved to be the elephant ready to evict us from our own house.

The stakes are too high to leave this hydra-headed monster set of new laws to grow legs of its own lest we all get consumed by it. Kenya is the largest economy if both East and Central Africa and the REAL ENTREPRENEURS who make us tick must not be harassed with fictitious.

The Charterhouse bank operated on Kenyan money and was run by Kenyans for Kenyans. The phantom drug lords are mere shadows. For the records Taib is a lawyer and must know better when it comes to matters that appertains to law. Loud-mouthed Renneberger must stop being jealous of SELF-MADE MPs Kabogo and Joho and smart ex-sharp shooter Mwau.

We must unite as a country to collectively stop the so-called international community from conspiring to bring Kenya down to her knees by targeting our industrious leaders.

The truth be told, Annan and Ocampo are poorly disguising their escape from Europe's biting winter, WASHINDWE.

This man Andrew Ligale

In another life, I was a useful rugby player although I retired too early even before my full potential could be realized. But I did try to stage a comeback once or twice. On one of those come back attempts I met a sensationally explosive and very talented young winger. We played for the same club. His second name was Ligale and in one drunken moment of weakness after the game he blurted out that when he was through with school (he was still a schoolboy then but playing club rugby nevertheless) he would love more than anything else to be a PS in government, just like dad had been for many years.

Andrew Ligale: Missed the opportunity for a solid legacy despite his dark past.

His words haunted me for years after that. Indeed they came back vividly recently when it was reveled that the immediate former Vihiga legislator Andrew Ligale would chair the highly sensitive but crucial Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission. (IIBRC). I immediately knew that there was trouble ahead. ASnd indeed trouble came.

Back in the old days when I myself was still a schoolboy and my dad worked for the government we lived in Kileleshwa. In those days there were still plenty of houses for government employees in this leafy suburb and many of them that were built in the colonial days and were becoming an eyesore as “private developers” put up lavish houses right next to them after purchasing some of the old houses from the government. The “developers” would promptly demolish the old houses and put up apartments or classy massionettes. It was in this kind of unfolding scenario that we lived right opposite the “stinking wealthy” Ligale family. At that time the rugby star was too young and the only person I remember well was his dazzling much older sister whom I made a spirited bid for but failed in what is obviously not a tale for this political blog.

So how did Mr Ligale make his money? The man is extremely wealthy too wealthy to have made it all from investing his salary whilst working for government.

Of course the official story is that he worked hard in the civil service, climbed up the ranks and made the right investments. His CV reveals something else. Ligale joined the Ministry of Lands and Settlement in 1966 in a junior position and climbed through the ranks until he became director of Physical planning. For those unfamiliar with the territory under discussion, when you mention the word “land” in Kenya you awaken terrible murderous basic instincts in many Kenyans. They stem for a desire to own large tracts of dirt at all costs. They will bribe, kill, maim and generally do anything they have to do to get land for themselves. Many Kenyan families have made fortunes from the land racket in Kenya and Andrew Ligale’s name can not be left out of that list.

Playing the land game and yet being from the wrong tribe (that is not a Kikuyu during the Kenyatta era) there is no doubt that the man was forced to develop survival skills to implement exactly the right kind of politics to ensure that he not only amassed cash and property but was also able to fully protect his wealth. The kind of wealth that made such an impression on his young son that he was able to blurt out in a drunken moment of weakness that he wanted above all to be a PS in the Kenya government.

Unfortunately it is politics from that era that Mr Ligale decided to play as chair of the IIBRC. A lot has been said in support of the Ligale commission and against it but how do you explain the fact that his very own Vihiga constituency was split into two? Ligale was MP for the area for two terms from 1992 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2007. He was defeated in the ODM nominations in 2007 but retained very close contact with the ODM high command which is what bagged him the IIBRC job.

Ligale is a smart man but even smart people get overtaken by events when changes are happening as fast as they are in Kenya. The impunity was obvious in Ligale’s tone of voice when he arrogantly told members of the press that those who were not happy with the work of his commission were welcome to go to court.

I have a feeling that history will not be so kind to Andrew Ligale. It will be recorded that he had his opportunity to make his contribution to the new Kenya but squandered it on the altar of political gain. A man with a long history of using his public appointments for personal gain.

Ligale CV

Employment History
1966-1978: Ministry of Land& Settlement
(rose to become Director, of Physical Planning)
1979-1991: P.S. Various Ministries
1997-2002: Chairman Consolidated Bank of Kenya

Education
1952: Chanzeywe Primary School
1953-1956: Chavavo Intermediate School
1957-1960: Friends School Kamusinga
1961-1962: Alliance High School
1963-1966: Makerere University, Uganda (B.A. Hons. Degree)
1966-1968 Nottingham University (M.A. Degree)

Period Served in Parliament
1992-1997 , Re-elected 27th December 2002

See older Kumekucha article: The Andrew Ligale Gideon Moi cash distributing link.