Kibaki Backs Down,Next Constitutional Deadlock Please

President Kibaki finally put his house in order.Well,Kenyans are far ahead of their leaders and were not fooled by Tuesday's cleverly crafted press conference and stage managed photo op disguised as smart give and take politics.Make no mistake,H.E.had painted himself into a corner that left no option but to beat a hasty retreat in order to save his face from an inevitable egg plastering.Just imagine the combined embarrassment of swallowing pie in public with the inevitable rulings from the constitutional court favouring the same verdict as Parliament, AG Wako, CJ and High Court.What would he have done then?We may find out come the next inevitable constitutional deadlock thanks to his cabal of advisors, PNU allies and ODM rebel MPs

Phony Advisors

What a shame to his close croonie advisors? This cartel of stubborn elderly elitist never miss an opportunity to try and introduce primitive style old leadership schemes and gimmicks through the back door. Once again their bad decision has cost PORK humiliation in the just concluded nominations row.Throw PNU allies and ODM rebel MPs into the mix and the picture slowly starts to emerges of a posse out to advance their selfish causes with the singular result of constantly undressing the emperor leaving him naked. Well, after December 2007 and August 2010 Kenya will never be the same again and it is no longer business as usual.Kenya is now anchored on a NEW CONSTITUTION and no amount of political TANTRUMS will derail our determined march towards realizing a truly united and prosperous country.

Let TRUE leadership lead from the front and by example;the 2 principals the Prime Minister and the duly elected must be alone so that BOTH may take charge of not just the nominations process but the entire remainder of implementing the new constitution.The national expectation now is that our leaders will stop politiking and listen to the nation's pulse by allowing only the Prime Minister and President to read from the same script so that the current scenario of constitutional deadlocks will not keep repeating itself.Parliament and the house speaker should not be required to keep on adjudicating political stalemates between the 2 principals while Kenyans continue to be robbed of their peace and subjected to permanent tensions.God bless Kenya

Raila’s Popularity in Central: Fact or Fiction?

Why is the proposed PM’s working trip to Central province creating an uproar? Why is the DPM suddenly eager to meet councillors from Central and parts of Rift Valley in an all-expenses-paid trip to Thika?

The ground in most parts of the country has moved. Old order politicians are slowly being edged out.

We saw it happen in Rift Valley in 2007, and it is now officially happening in Central Province. Up to four million votes, and upwards of 50 parliamentary seats, will be up for grabs in former PNU strongholds. The Central Kenya voter is already making his/her surprise choice known.

The amazing political goings on in Central Province have even been vindicated by the latest Synovate (Steadman) opinion poll. In their report released just last month, Synovate places the PM at 17% against DPM’s 15% in Central Province in terms of preferred presidential candidates. Even as political focus moves from Mau Water Tower in Rift Valley where a plot to paint the PM as an aggressor aborted, an interesting battle is shaping up in Central especially since it emerged the PM has identified the vote rich Muranga District as a launch pad for action oriented development and political forays into Central Province.

No one individual can currently be said to have total political grip on any province when it comes to elections. The most apparent of all is Central Province which is surprisingly emerging as the province that will make or break the next president of Kenya.

To add insult to injury, the DPM continues to hang on by a thread to an imaginary front run of the Central Province political leadership; a thread mostly held out by the likes of Simon Mbugua and Jamleck Kamau. Meanwhile, no scientific evidence has ever been tabled that the DPM is the automatic political leader of Central Province and neither are there any guarantees that Central Kenya will fall for the usual ethnic driven and short sighted politics.

In the meantime, the prime minister appears to be overwhelmed to accommodate tens of Central Province grassrooters, professionals and business leaders who are itching to pay courtesy calls and place invitations to visit them back home. Some of them believe he is the only leader who cares to resolve problems affecting the common man. The grapevine has it the PM has convinced influential Agikuyu elders and is now working on building a corruption free team of pointmen that includes individuals like Peter Kenneth and John Githongo. An endorsement is also expected from Nobel Laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai.

Interestingly, a petty cold war is being fought at Treasury Building where both the PM and one his DPM’s share the same office block. When Central Kenya delegations are visiting the PM in droves, one cannot help imagine a situation where these delegations from the DPM’s supposed stronghold meet with the DPM in the lifts, which then passes the KANU Chairman’s office to be ushered into PM’s conference room higher up. The same thing repeats itself on their way out. Boy! If only we could move the entire Treasury to some other place!

The latest development paints a remarkable turnaround of fortunes for the Prime Minister who in 2007 only managed a paltry 1.9% of the presidential vote against the incumbent’s 97%. During the same polls the Vice President managed a face-saving 0.7%.

Clearly, the Overton window has shifted and voter will no longer be used like sufurias that are only remembered when hunger sets in.

Although many had predicted the demise of certain causes following the 2007 disputed polls, most Kenyans appear to be ready to vote without regard to ethnic origins or ethnic alliances.

Hague Express: Envelope Watch Day 5

Two is better and deadlier than one.

Elephant Moreno Ocampo is in the house. There is no room to wiggle. The political temperature sores, the tempo heightens, the heat intensifies, the atmosphere is poisoned. No template to read from, the plot thickens as the environment gets lethally toxic.

Kibaki Outsmarts Kenya’s Timid Media

Also published a few hours ago: Chris on Kibaki's embarassing press conference

Give it to President Kibaki. In one smart TEARFUL move he masked the joy of KCSE candidates and most importantly deflected attention from quarrelsome ODM demanding reinstatement of political conjugal rights without any marriage in the first place.

But the real LOSERS were the Kenyan press who failed to strike the iron when it was red hot. They failed pierce the soft under belly with KILLER QUESTIONS. The first question asking Kibaki the basis of his clarification that he had only one wife was smart but the reporter failed to nail it with a follow up that would have smoked the visibly agitated Kibaki.

Kibaki's press conference was about one Mary Wambui whose name was not even mentioned in passing. The Kenyan media failed to in an empty goal. They allowed Lucy to chaperon and goad them while silently smarting from her visible threats. Even after inadvertently accepting raiding Nation Media House the press fell for her plastic tears instead of asking her to confirm if she would actually re-enact another attack on KTN.

Our so-called journalists refused to think outside the box. They went to Kibaki’s press conference with a prepared script and shamelessly stuck to thinking in one direction. The killer question would have been asking the president point blank WHO IS MARY WAMBUI. Asking Kibaki if as a head of state he knew Mary Wambui and the state security she enjoys would have left him and his handlers exposed.

Predictably Kibaki would have ducked that question just like he feigned ignorance of the genesis of his artificial foul mood. But an array of smart journalists would have outfoxed him with follow-up questions on whether Winnie wa Mwai was her daughter. That would have now worked up both Kibaki and Lucy to force them into releasing some unpleasant truths albeit unknowingly.

Unimaginative press
The media failed to expand the agenda of the rare press conference. Having denied knowledge of the genesis of his anger, this was the golden opportunity to speak for the masses and exorcist the Grand Regency, Oil and Maize ghosts. But alas the myopic cameras could only flash the familiar faces and missed watering the most fertile ground for a SCOOP in an unrehearsed honest answer.

The media simply played into Kibaki’s hands when he showed emotions to mask the facts. Politics is not meant for the faint hearted and if you cannot stand the heat you vacate the kitchen. Seasoned journalists would have disabused Lucy of her crocodile tears.

We have surely perfected the art of living national lies and made it our pastime. A lie repeated several times must mutate to truth according Kibaki. Otherwise why would a whole president call three press conferences in as many years to deny his own blood and wife?