So Moi now believes the late Prof Saitori was capable of higher leadership. Well, he couldn't be more right with his eulogy that “Saitoti was the cornerstone which the builders ignored,” mourned the former president." Except he failed to accept that he tops the list of those builders who refused the cornerstone. Hypocrisy!!
Even before the late Saitoti is provided with a grave to turn in disgust, former President Moi was at his home lying through his spacious teeth.
By declaring that he was campaigning for Saitoti's presidency, Moi must be at his vintage best taking Kenyans for fools. The good professor of Kenyan politics has conveniently forgotten KISIRANI KASARANI.
It seems Moi's humiliation of Saitoti was not complete before the former retired from politics in 2002. Moi is still determined to shamelessly punctuate the slander with a period over Saitoti's dead body.
One can only imagine the counterfactual if Moi backed Saitoti in 2002. May as Kenya's third president he would have been using more secure helicopters and still alive. But such speculations can only go as far as helping enlarge Moi's obtuse ego at deceit.
On the flipside assuming Moi was rooting for Saitoti so what? He lost his political midas touch and rungu in 2002. Who knows maybe Saitoti would have been comprehensively beaten just like his project then.
Moi may boast having known Prof Kinuthia Kiarie for along time having plucked him from his dusty and chalky offices in Chiromo. But the meteoric rise also spelt the beginning of Saitoti's nightmare.
The son of Muthengi was constantly stalked by both perceived and real murderous shadows. No wonder bullet proof vest formed his second layer of skin.
Moi's insensitive and shameless lies about Saitoti makes the hitherto powerman and evil total man (BIKINI) Biwott look like a saint.
Granted, Saitoti had his hands in many scams including the heinous Goldenberg. But for civility sake Moi and his ilk must not laugh nor ululate on his grave. Shame.
Taabu,
ReplyDeleteAti Moi laughs/pees on Saitoti's grave, LOL that is hilarious.
That said shame on Moi for fooling around with his aged lies. He came to say pole to Margaret Saitoti instead he makes the headline with his needless lies. Ashindwe.
Well without Moi we might have never heard the name George Kinuthia Kiarie Saitoti!
ReplyDeleteHowever let it also be known that siding with Moi was quite possibly the worst thing that happened to the late Saitoti and therein lies the lesson for all the rest of us Kenyans at large;
Kenyans will worship anyone with money and despise you for being poor and we transfer the same avarice values in our choice of poor leaders every election cycle We who are still alive on this earth have the benefit of hindsight-When you see the famous "wenya inchi" of Chris Kumekucha driving towards you with money in one hand and a golden goose in the other r.u.n. a.w.a.y. q.u.i.c.k.l.y i.n. t.h.e. o.p.p.o.s.i.t.e. d.i.r.e.c.t.i.o.n.
His memory seems to be getting the best of him unlike in the days when all the president's men had to dance to his beat and sing his tune at all times if they wanted to make it.
ReplyDeleteIt was his way or else an individual (cast away) ended up on the express highway of dwindling political and economic fortunes.
The late Saitoti and many other cabinet ministers suffered the humiliation of being reproved severely during cabinet meetings and at times in public while their juniors were present.
After all, the main man who once owned the whole of Kenya for two and a half decades had hand picked all the made-men (president's men) for special political tasks.
Recall the old African-American maternal warning, I brought you into this world and I can take you out anytime I so wish.
Likewise, all senior and junior politicians were very much aware of the mighty hand that fed them and protected their political and personal interests (1979-2002).
Some of whom - like Kalonzo Musyoka and comapny - still hold prominent positions in the current two-tier government that has become known for its wastefulness.
A place to turn in disgust or into dust? Tongue-in-check.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for the retired professor of Kenya politics, he will not have the personal satisfaction of viewing Saitoti in his final deep slumber, given the circumstances.
Eti Moi plucked saitoti from his dusty and chalky offices in Chiromo. Funny considering the author of this post was also undeservedly plucked from obscurity and awarded a government scholarship to go study abroad denying other more deserving Kenyans with the wrong DNA that opportunity. Funnily, as fate would have it, nothing good whatsoever has come from this now old and bitter fellow.
ReplyDeleteBoit
Ignorance is bliss. Leo kwa Kinuthia Saitoti kesho [2013-17] kwao.
ReplyDeleteSome politicians who are still busy shedding crocodile tears in public, while laughing and cheering behind closed doors in the wake of what seems to be an end to their enemy's long political career and soon to be the collapse of a lucrative business empire, have no clue about what lies in wait for them around the next corner on the right east-side or left west-side of their favourite watering holes, eateries, personal castles and political fiefdoms.
Saitoti may just end up having the last posthumous laugh at his former Kasarani traitors and other perceived enemies he dared not confront while he was still alive.
Time will tell who is going to be next in the exit line.
Moi almost killed Kenya and Kenyans economically. But I think this statement is the worst thing he has ever done! Not goldenberg, not Ouko murder not Land clashes. But this absurd lie that he was helping Wa Muthengi in RV! Why not the whole Kenya.
ReplyDeleteIs this a confirmation that he is very tribal?
How about the known open statement he made when he started Project Uhuru! That " Saitoti ni rafiki yangu, lakini urafiki na uongozi ni tafauti!"
This is in deed shading crocodile tears on Kinuthia's grave.
could Saitoti have been take out conscidering his reaction durin Moi's gig in parliament on that day.?!
ReplyDeleteCould this be the history repeating it's self saga....mboya,kariuki,ouko etc?!
Another threat to internal security!
Some pictures speak for themselves. The fossilization of the old man's metacarpus is self-evident, and his five metacarpals seem longer than the ones owned by average modern humans. The constant handling of his infamous rungu may have taken its toll.
ReplyDeleteThe sure isn't much news under the sun no matter all them secrets the top-cats bury.
ReplyDeleteSince time in memorial heads of states etc, have always had the threat taken out without a fuss.
King David on his death bed couldn't have made it any more clear to his successor....."kill them all".
Had king Saul followed through with his order through his allocated prophet,he need not then have pursued David like a dog on heat.
But in the above case,the Saul deluded threat was justified or a prophecy come so VERY TRUE....ouch!
Taabu, even Raila was yesterday tripping all over himself with crocodile tears and admission of giving Ojode a lesser ministerial appointment. What a loser with a loose tongue. The fellow has no qualms giving fellows like Gumo and Kajwang full ministerial posts even when its common knowledge that they have fleeced the public before..But of course, what do you expect from this septuagenarian perennial opinion poll president winner but ballot loser??
ReplyDeleteBoit
..septuagenarian perennial opinion poll president winner but ballot loser?...
ReplyDeleteThat is hillarious, then WHAT?
Wonders never cease to amaze as a a crop of certain politicians try to out do one another by claiming that they should have done more for the deceased or exerted extra political leverage in favour of the late Saitoti and Ojode.
ReplyDeleteThe question is why now after the fact? Where were they when it mattered most?
Or why not just show some respect for the departed, issue condolences to the respective families as expected given their political status?
How about they just shut up for a change if there is nothing of importance to be said at any given moment while funeral arrangments are still being work out by the respective communities?
As predictable as it is, there are those among them who will definitely try to use the occasion as a campaign platform to mine as much political mileage as they can get in the hopes of attracting more regional appeal.
While there others like the former .... (whose name is no longer relevant among the younger generation) who will also use the occasion as an mispalced avenue to flex what remains of their vestigial political muscle.
Let the short term political games continue to unfold as expected, and milliters of crocodile tears are shed for public consumption.
While there others like the former .... (whose name is no longer relevant among the younger generation) who will also use the occasion as an mispalced avenue to flex what remains of their vestigial political muscle.
ReplyDeletewink* wink*
At first I though the former prezzo but realized you meant the former oposition leader aka current PM who is hitting 70, a fact that even tonnes of hair dye cannot smudge.
I was trying to help him out politically as someone from the Rift Valley, sounds so audacious and preposterous, yet, that's precisely what has been uttered by one former political figure head.
ReplyDeleteOn what concrete political grounds was the help being offered? And why not extend the help through public affirmation rather than do it at a gingerly pace from behind the scenes?
It's now seems as an issue of too little too late for those who had all the available political means to provide Saitoti and Ojode with their rosses (political dues) while the now deceased were still well and alive.
Debt is not our basic problem; it is to whom we owe debt that matters. Hence, the pontificators should have generously offered the dues to Saitoti and Ojode as means and ways to enhance their political future as well as for the much needed development in their constituencies, without the expectation of binding them to the dark political past that continues to stagnate the country on many levels.
Political platitudes with their fantasies laced with raw political calculations that are usually delivered around general election campaigns, only end up druging those who suffer and perpetuate their plight for decades to come.
Agist,
ReplyDeleteWhat is this obsession with age among KK readers. Chronological age can be a blessing or baggade depending on the quality of life you lead.
Being youthful can be all great but a curse when all you think and dream is negativity and bigotry.
Please just discuss and give your point of view and we will judge whether you have a structure separating your ears of grey matter.
Apologies for any insensitivity that may have been extend toward certain members of our greater community of people.
ReplyDeleteThe older wise men and women whoe are in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s were once the youthful, ambitious, proud and very patriotic men and women in their teens, 20s, 30s, and 40s during the prosperous 1960s, 70s and early 80s.
As a matter of fact, there is nothing wrong with being a person of a certain age, an advanced age or having attained more valuable experience and much needed wisdom in many spheres of life.
Kuishi kwingi ni kuona mengi and that is why many politicians from respected older generations have always been expected to lead by good examples and help break the endemic cycle of self-fulling prophecies.
The logical sequence that life employs is strikingly effective, every body gets to grow older one year at a time, and it's only the foolish youth who keep believing that they will never ever get to be 50, 55, 60, 65, 70 or 75 years of age.
While at the same time its the vainglorious older folks who are always so fearful to the point of running scared from their respective age, and hating whoever or whatever that reminds them of their golden age and respectful stations in society.
However when politicians from the older generations of Kenyans can no longer put their lived experience to better constructive use while in positions of power and influence, then they have no alterantive other than to do the country and citizenry a very great favour by quiting so that others regardless of age may take charge and lead the country in a better direction.
Old age just like young age can be a curse or a blessings, depending on whether the individual or politician is Gidion Kioko Mbuvi or Robert Mugabe.
What will politicians like Mr. Odinga and others do for the whole country in the next five-to-ten years that they have not been able to do in the last thirty or twenty years now that Mr. Kibaki will no longer be in the presidential equation? - Omar Mzamil.
ReplyDeleteThe former president may have been an easy with Saitoti taking over from him because of the type of friends he had in high places, Jerry Rawlings being one of them. Such type of friendships with powerful military men like Jerry rawlings would have landed any Kenyan in detention during the 80s and 90s. Wonder how Saitoti managed to keep it a mathmatical secret from the snoopy gestapo CID of his days?
ReplyDeleteAnd yo running away. Ya running and ya running. But ya can't run away from yourself. Could ya run away from yourself? Can ya run away from yourself? - Bob Marley
ReplyDeleteHe led a dual identity life - Kinuthia wa Kiarie vs. George Saitoti.
I think Saitoti's problem throughout his life was to run away from his earlier life when he came from abroad, those of us who stuck to our heritage referred to him as Kinuthia. I think it was out of this paranoia of hiding from his past that he had to step on some of us who reminded him about his past - former senior government official.
The late Saitoti was not the only who changed his name several times in order to gain an advantage of some sort.
There are some of our former classmates, neighbours, relatives, friends and associates who are known to have changed their names for one reason or another.
But have most of them ever managed to run away from themselves or their dreaded past in the end?
@8:56 AM
ReplyDeleteWhen all is said and done, it's not the chronological age that matters but it's one's chronoscopic will that best suit their desired performance in life. After all, half of todays's youth have a messed up chronobiology, and the only they can be rescued ro function is through chronotherapy.
Truth be told that without Moi we might have never heard the name George Kinuthia Kiarie Saitoti.
ReplyDeleteThe late George Saitoti was a project of Kenya's second president given the political climate at the time.
He may not have been a volatile individual nor accustomed to boisterous conviviality that is common in many political circles, but he did allegedly become extraordinarily wealthy after being introduced into upper echelons of political world.
Most of his wealth developed from official associations with Western businesses that handled multimillion dollar government contracts, as well Kenyan Asian businesses that were the backbone of Kenya's private sector.
He was involved in several scandals, including the Goldenberg affair. However, the power of mathematical thinking helped sustain his political survival for many years, and the use of mathematics to solve problems in a wide range of spheres that he encountered as vice president and a politican was his secret weapon
of getting to the heart of countless issues, overcoming his rivals on numerous occasions, as well as evading his perceived enemies.
Geroget Saitoti's influence remained unhidered until his death that resulted from a police helicopetr crash several miles from Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, an East African nation.
When the unfortunate few among us are suddenly removed from the political corridors of power, others are immediately brought in to not only walk within the very same corridors of power, but to occupy them for as long as they can with the help from powerful brokers and blessings of their kingpins.
ReplyDeleteSadly, one of the ugly truth(s) of life is that one person's sudden loss becomes another person's unexpected gain for all its worth while it lasts.
There are individuals who are already clamouring for the vacant parliamentary positions, but holding by-elections in the affective constituencies is out of question at the moment.
However, will there be ministerial replacements for Prof George Saitoti (RIP) and Hon. Orwa Ojode (RIP) before the general election?
Or will the fallen parliamentarians be honoured by leaving their former adminstrative slots vacant until after the general election has been held?
And who among the two major political parties stand to gain if the slots remain vacant or preferential replacements are appointed as soon as possible?
@Kumekucha,
ReplyDeleteHow comes that what is good for perceived enemies is not good for allies in the war against corruption and impunity, yet Kenyans will worship anyone with money (generated from endemic corruption) and despise you for being poor?
Given our signature collective modus operandi, how will the war against endemic corruption, impunity and ukabila mambo leo ever get started without finding out how a battle squadron consisting of a few good patriots can successfully fend off a numerically superior battlefleet that supports, protects, escorts and propagates the above mentioned vices that continue to corrode and errode the basic foundations of our nation and the very core of the younger generations?
The Internal Security docket is crucial and only Amos Kimunya has the right DNA and pedigree to occupy it.
ReplyDeleteWatch this space, AK will succeed Saitoti (and they were both PNU).
The former leader of KANU seems to be getting up there in age and his cognitive faculties may no longer be reliable as they were during his 'fabulous' reign of renaissance.
ReplyDeleteSaitoti was not the foundation stone which the citizenry ignored during the famous Kasarani gathering that spelt the beginning of the end of KANU as a mighty political party (the rest is history), but Saitoti was one of the many hand-picked 'cornerstones' which the inefficient mason builder - you know who - rejected as evidenced during the 'Kisirani Kasarani' episode, or sidelined during the two and half decades of his reign of renaissance.
The former leader of KANU still insults the people's intelligence by laughing at all Kenyans for having been easily duped into letting him off the judicial hook and tip of the spear of accountability that been strategically aimed at him and his dreaded clood blooded cronies before he signed a mediated memorandum of immunity against all sorts of lawsuits.
The deal was approved and signed by a cast of well known political characters who were bought courtesy of the over flowing state coffers, and they have been in power since December of 2002, while others are very busy preparing to reinvent themselves so as to remain in powerful positions and circles of influence for the next decade (2013-2022).
Very little has changed since the former leader of KANU was let loose to roam all over the country as he so wishes without ever being held accountable for any of his numerous political misdeeds.
Well who is to blame? The buck should have stopped with Kenyans from every corner of the country if radical change was of paramount importance to all of them.
Hii mambo gani tena? Shauri yake. One never shows his back to a dead person's coffin, especially that of a person who has died a very violent death. It's a calling card of a kind. Dismiss it as an irrational belief that arises from ignorance or cultural fear. I.W.H.T.Y.T.I.T.Y.S.
ReplyDelete'Can we all get along?' - Rodney King, 1991.
ReplyDeleteYes we can get along just fine as a one nation, different communities and political animals that we have become since 2002, so long as we remain calm, sane, tolerant and respectful of other people's political views, party affiliations, social backgrounds, choice of local and county representatives, parliamentary, senatorial, gubernatorial and presidential candidates in the coming few months. Why not allow the country and its people to evolve and devolve at the same time?
ReplyDelete