I met this pot bellied Kenyan who is yet to donate Kshs 10 to the hungry

Even as Kenyans get involved in an unprecedented effort to feed their starving fellow citizens mostly in the Northern parts of the country, we still have pot bellied men (and a few women) gorging themselves with their usual nyama choma in a most unhealthy way who are yet to contribute even the minimum Kshs 10 towards their starving fellow citizens.
I know because I struck up a conversation with one such Kenyan just a few hours ago and got really angry and disgusted. I watched in fascination as this fellow took in such huge quantities of nyama choma that I was genuinely surprised when they did not pass out at the end of it all. Instead they just belched and took a long swig from a bottle containing cold Tusker (can you imagine a sweating cold drink in this Kenyan winter?)

It was difficult for me to hide my disgust, especially when I discovered from a casual comment that they are yet to show any kind of mercy to starving fellow citizens.

Well, it is not mandatory for every Kenyan to contribute to the Kenya for Kenyans initiative and I fully appreciate the fact that this thing is voluntary however in this day and age those of us who live in such an unhealthy manner and yet have no compassion in our hearts for those less fortunate than ourselves only remind me of our political class.

These guys not only continue to gorge themselves with public funds (they have refused to pay taxes and those who have, have done it for publicity with much fanfare so as to score points in their bid for the presidency). Not only that, these guys continue to campaign for 2012 and are really angry that some of the limelight has moved away from them and is now more focused on ordinary Kenyans and their gallant efforts to save the lives of their fellow citizens.

I am really sorry if you are reading this and yet you have this big huge pot belly, so huge that if you ended up at a maternity hospital in the city with your pregnant wife, you might just get taken into the labour ward first. Nothing personal and to prove it I will be doing a post later to help you look much better minus that heavy thing you are carrying.

I have a message for you even if you will have no compassion, even if you are saying that the hungry are well taken care of now because of the huge contributions being made. Even if you are saying that this is Kenya and some of the funds will get embezzled tupende tusipende. Whatever your excuse, that is up to you and your conscience.

My message today is very simple. Just try and skip a single meal tomorrow and then see what you feel. Maybe then you will start to have a little compassion. Save that money you would have spent on that unhealthy lunch and send it via Mpesa or any means convenient to you to the Kenya for Kenyans initiative. Just send it! Do your part and the rest of us will do our part in ensuring that NO single shilling will get into the wrong hands. (Kumekucha already has people hovering around waiting for somebody to try something stupid.)

This is a strong appeal from Kumekucha to all you wonderful Kenyans out there to stand up and be counted. Please don’t slow down your giving. We must feed these people until well after the rains come (nobody even knows when that will be). We can do it and we must not get tired.

But what jazzes me most of all, above everything else is that we will keep sending this message to our political class which they do not like. The message is that we don’t need them and they should start packing their bags (with their presidential pipe dreams) because any government that cannot accomplish something as simple as feeding it’s own people has no business being in power. Any legislator who sits in parliament silently as Kenyans starve to death has no business being an MP.

If you support the contents of this post, please forward it to as many of your friends as you possibly can. If you read this through facebook ask all your Facebook friends to re-post it.

Kenyan lives depend on it.

The future of our beautiful republic depends on it.

Miguna Miguna a casualty of Raila’s campaign for a better presidential image

PM Raila Odinga, the real winner of the 2007 presidential general elections has not yet announced his bid for the presidency in 2012 but it is clear that his campaign has already started in earnest and kicked into a higher gear in recent times.

Miguna Miguna, one of his closest aides and confidants seems to have been caught in the crossfire of Raila’s preparations and was last night summarily fired for what the PM’s office referred to as “gross misconduct.” Read the story HERE.

With the Prime Minister who will now look odd without the burly figure constantly at his side.

Clearly what Raila is currently doing is trying to clean up the image around him and portray a more national and presidential outlook. Little wonder that Salim Lone, the man responsible for building Raila and ODM’s formidable image so quickly and effectively in 2007 is being seen tailing the PM much more frequently. Quite a contrast from what has been happening where Miguna Miguna has been sticking closer than a fly to Raila. Only that the latter is rather burly and has such an imposing presence that my imagery seems comically out of place for somebody familiar with him.

Experts in image building have for a long time been wondering about this man called Miguna Miguna. A confrontational, aggressive and take-no-prisoners character the Canadian lawyer has all along been behaving more like a student leader than a presidential advisor.

There have been numerous calls for his sacking which have so far been ignored by the PM. Little wonder that he received the news of his sacking yesterday with shock saying that he was yet to receive any communications.

As a student in Njiris high school 1984

While he served at Raila’s side it was often clear that his powers extended well beyond his docket of advisor on coalition matters. In recent days there have been whispers that Raila is keen to strike a deal with close allies of Mwai Kibaki in an effort to make what he sees as his own ascension to the presidency in 2012 smoother. Since Miguna hardly ever used to leave the PM’s side and has on numerous occasions even been captured in posed official photos that were only meant for those in cabinet, it was predictable that he would start being excess buggage to the PM sooner rather than later. Indeed any negotiations with PNU in the presence of Miguna Miguna would not go down well because it is said he leaves a bad taste in the mouths of PNU big wigs which would make a favourable outcome for his boss virtually impossible.

But who is Miguna Miguina?

Mr Miguna was a BA arts student at the University of Nairobi before he was arrested and briefly detained in 1987 by the then dreaded Special branch. Although he was later released, he was expelled by University authorities and fled to Tanzania shortly after that. He managed to obtain temporary political asylum in Swaziland (Africa) before being granted more permanent status in Canada where he completed his studies and also qualified as a lawyer. That is where he was practicing law mainly as an immigration lawyer before his dramatic return to Kenya and Raila’s side in 2004.

Addressing students as Finance Secretary of SONU at the University of Nairobi in 1987.

He was one of the ODM parliamentary aspirants for Nyando constituency but did not make it to the ballot stage. Technically Miguna Miguna did not even qualify because the Kenyan constitution at the time did not allow for dual citizenship and Mr Miguna has always held Canadian citizenship since he started practicing law in that country. Talk of impunity by somebody fighting against impunity in others.

Curiously one of the places where there is generous celebration this morning at the sacking of Miguna is at Makini school where his children go to school. Teachers at the famous school have been bitterly complaining of harassment from the PM’s aide who is said to frequently call them very late at night usually shouting and warning them to give special treatment to his children and to “stop being harsh” towards them.

TJ monument finally goes up as Kumekucha releases new secrets from past assassinations