If you are in Kenya the animal will get you if you don't take precautions, you have been warned
Please be patient and I will tell you about this very real and very dangerous animal on the loose.
Life is full of deals gone bad.
Allow me to tell you a little story that involves somebody very close to me.
This man when to see his girlfriends’ parents and was promised her hand in marriage. According to him it was a done deal more so because he was talking to her father who is an old man. Old wise men always keep their word don’t they? He left a happy man and went to start making all the necessary arrangements including getting his wife out of an expensive maternity hospital in the city.
Six short months later he was told that his girlfriend was getting married to a rich Asian tycoon. His girl friend claimed that her hands were tied; she had to do what her parents wanted. “But we had a deal (MOU—memorandum of understanding),” the jilted would-be husband protested to the old man. The old man got really angry and insisted that it was his daughter and he had a right to do what he wanted with “his property.”
This true story has an interesting ending. The Asian tycoon changed his mind because of a reason that had nothing to do with love and the poor “boomerang girl” was left hanging. And because the jilted man really loved her he is back on the scene.
Sometime last year the President and Prime Minister eager to get the new constitution passed (I am certain both have their deep regrets today) made a gentleman’s agreement with the 10th parliament. The legislators were worried that under the new constitution they would be required to pay taxes. They were reassured that this would only kick in when the 11th parliament came into the scene. Indeed the whole thing was put in writing with written assurances from both the finance secretary (Minister of Finance) and the chief tax man Bwana Waweru himself. Under the new constitution even if the president wrote and sealed a letter with his personal seal it would be null and void.
And the greedy legislators relaxed knowing that all was well and they could continue with their reckless spending and careless financial arrangements and basically enjoy their last few months in the house. Only for them to get a rude awakening about to weeks ago when the taxman presented the MPs with a huge tax bill backdated to August last year.
Everybody knows that story, but the big question is what triggered the taxman to demand his pound of flesh so suddenly and despite a high-powered MOU? Was it some political motive and if so by whom?
Many Kenyans are convinced that somebody was behind it for political reasons.
After some serious research I can today reveal the fascinating reason behind the legislators tax troubles. It will disappoint the conspiracy theorists but it is the truth.
When the new constitution was passed a friend who could not understand my excitement (just like many readers here) wondered if the constitution would really make a difference with all the impunity merchants still firmly in power. After all even the old constitution was often ignored. I remember my confident reply to that which I reproduce here word for word;
“The new constitution is an animal with a life of it’s own. There are going to be many many casualties to this animal, just wait and see. What we have done today is release a train that is unstoppable… not even the president has power to undo what has been done today.”
As I write this we have in Kenya for the first time a toothless president who cannot appoint his cronies at will. This alone has changed the political dynamics dramatically. This is the problem when change happens so fast. It takes time for stuff to sink in and register.
What is happening on the ground is that various institutions, now independent from the executive for the first time in history are carefully re-examining their positions under the new constitution. Especially because there are dire consequences to ignoring the constitution. KRA is one of the institutions that did just that and the result is what you see today.
Admittedly there are a few more institutions that are still in deep slumber (like the Kenya Police) but you can be sure that the animal will get them. Even parliament is still asleep trying to flex muscles that it really doesn’t have any more. Just watch what will happen to the Tobiko appointment.
We live in exciting times folks. Long live the new constitution with one important disclaimer; the animal will get to you too, so please re-read the constitution carefully.
Moi and Ruto secrets past and present
Property for sale in Nairobi and Mombasa
The Mutula Kilonzo you don't know
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Monday, July 04, 2011
William “Statehouse punch up” Ruto and his 2012 strategy
Nobody can deny the achievements of Eldoret North legislator William Ruto. Above everything else he is the only person to openly defy President Daniel arap Moi in the Rift Valley and survive to talk about a resounding victory. He is also the only person I know who has been in a fist fight within the precincts of State House (more on that later in this post). Quite a character this Ruto who has recently re-packaged himself for gullible Kenyans...na bado.
William Ruto
In recent days Ruto has been terribly busy marketing his UDM political party in Mombasa where he has already received strong backing from the likes of Chirau Ali Mwakwere and Naomi Shaban.
And so it seems that Ruto will be a major force in the 2012 polls. Or will he be?
There are those who quickly point to Ruto’s massive support in the Rift Valley to prove that the Eldoret North MP will play a major role in deciding who the next occupant of State House will be. Indeed the behaviour of many legislators in the Rift Valley seems to suggest that nobody can challenge the man successfully amongst the Kalenjin community. How many legislators from the region have defied Ruto only to turn up the next day hat in hand and full of apologies?
Hi detractors simply point to the Hague and the battle awaiting Mr Ruto in the hands of the ICC. Hilariously there is a presidential candidate whose main strategy is based on Ruto and Uhuru not being around to challenge him for the presidency, but that is a story for another post.
But assuming he will survive (which I doubt) it is not difficult to figure out the kind of political calculations that may be going on inside the mind of William Ruto. Any presidential candidate who captures Rift Valley is almost there and needs just a little more support from the rest of the country to get enough numbers to get into the run off stage (most political analysts are sure that whatever way one looks at things we will have to go into a run off and so what presidential candidates have to do initially is to go for the numbers first.)
There is another school of thought that suggests that sly Ruto already knows that he stands no chance and is just positioning himself to make deals that will be beneficial to him with those who will emerge as the leading presidential candidates. This is what this blogger suspects is Ruto’s real game plan. There are many reasons for this but top on the list is the fact that financing a serious presidential campaign requires considerable resources. At the end of the day Ruto has consistently ensured that all his calculations have always ended up with more cash in his pocket. There is no reason to suggest why he should have it any different this time round. Ruto is not capable of attracting serious financing and although he is not a poor man it is unlikely that he will want to finance his own presidential campaign. Meaning that all he will do will be to position himself as a leading tribal chief to be courted by every serious presidential candidate for his own financial gain. Remember that this time round there are no cabinet posts to be distributed.
Having said this I will be the first to admit that Ruto is still capable of pulling off surprises, mostly of the nasty kind. This is the man who did the unimaginable in State House, Nairobi a few years ago when he attacked and punched Reuben Chesire, an elderly man who could pass for his father. Ruto had accused the old man of going around and tarnishing his name by telling people that he was a con-man.
Ruto, the democrat was also an official of the youth for Kanu 92 lobby group which dished out so much money to Kenyans in forms of bribes to ensure Moi's re-elected in the first multi-party elections of 1992. The inevitable effects of suddenly increasing money supply was runaway inflation, and was the point at which many Kenyans entered the deep poverty rut they are yet to emerge from today.
The former cabinet minister who was very powerful in a regime that stifled the basic democratic rights of Kenyans like freedom of speech and association told Kenyans at the Coast over the weekend that they should not elect anybody with a suspect past. Hilarious stuff is it not?
Moi and Ruto secrets past and present
Property for sale in Nairobi and Mombasa
William RutoAnd so it seems that Ruto will be a major force in the 2012 polls. Or will he be?
There are those who quickly point to Ruto’s massive support in the Rift Valley to prove that the Eldoret North MP will play a major role in deciding who the next occupant of State House will be. Indeed the behaviour of many legislators in the Rift Valley seems to suggest that nobody can challenge the man successfully amongst the Kalenjin community. How many legislators from the region have defied Ruto only to turn up the next day hat in hand and full of apologies?
Hi detractors simply point to the Hague and the battle awaiting Mr Ruto in the hands of the ICC. Hilariously there is a presidential candidate whose main strategy is based on Ruto and Uhuru not being around to challenge him for the presidency, but that is a story for another post.
But assuming he will survive (which I doubt) it is not difficult to figure out the kind of political calculations that may be going on inside the mind of William Ruto. Any presidential candidate who captures Rift Valley is almost there and needs just a little more support from the rest of the country to get enough numbers to get into the run off stage (most political analysts are sure that whatever way one looks at things we will have to go into a run off and so what presidential candidates have to do initially is to go for the numbers first.)
There is another school of thought that suggests that sly Ruto already knows that he stands no chance and is just positioning himself to make deals that will be beneficial to him with those who will emerge as the leading presidential candidates. This is what this blogger suspects is Ruto’s real game plan. There are many reasons for this but top on the list is the fact that financing a serious presidential campaign requires considerable resources. At the end of the day Ruto has consistently ensured that all his calculations have always ended up with more cash in his pocket. There is no reason to suggest why he should have it any different this time round. Ruto is not capable of attracting serious financing and although he is not a poor man it is unlikely that he will want to finance his own presidential campaign. Meaning that all he will do will be to position himself as a leading tribal chief to be courted by every serious presidential candidate for his own financial gain. Remember that this time round there are no cabinet posts to be distributed.
Having said this I will be the first to admit that Ruto is still capable of pulling off surprises, mostly of the nasty kind. This is the man who did the unimaginable in State House, Nairobi a few years ago when he attacked and punched Reuben Chesire, an elderly man who could pass for his father. Ruto had accused the old man of going around and tarnishing his name by telling people that he was a con-man.
Ruto, the democrat was also an official of the youth for Kanu 92 lobby group which dished out so much money to Kenyans in forms of bribes to ensure Moi's re-elected in the first multi-party elections of 1992. The inevitable effects of suddenly increasing money supply was runaway inflation, and was the point at which many Kenyans entered the deep poverty rut they are yet to emerge from today.
The former cabinet minister who was very powerful in a regime that stifled the basic democratic rights of Kenyans like freedom of speech and association told Kenyans at the Coast over the weekend that they should not elect anybody with a suspect past. Hilarious stuff is it not?
Moi and Ruto secrets past and present
Property for sale in Nairobi and Mombasa
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