More Heads Roll: is Charity Ngilu's Neck Next?

Ruto has exhausted all his ammunition and running really scared groping in the dark holding onto any straw to keep politically afloat. His latest object of tirade Hassan Omar will remain long after Ruto is shipped to The Hague.


Now we've heard it come straight from the horses mouth itself.Suspended Higher Education Minister William Samoei Ruto did not meet with ICC chief prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo in his recent trip to the Hague in Netherlands.

It turns out that the Eldoret North MP really did go to Hague to drink tea with his agemate and friend unfortunately his companion was not in his office as he had other more important matters to attend to in England. But why all the smoke screens?more on that in a minute

But first of all it seems more heads are set to roll in whats turning out to be an ugly mud slinging contest between water minister Charit Ngilu and her former assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri.

The Kitui Central MP is well known for speaking the truth even to the extent of putting to shame the devil himself and in the court of public opinion the jury have already reached their verdict. It is more likely that her word is believed over the assistant minister for public works

Its interesting to note that the current circus going on speaks volumes about what type of power struggles have secretly been taking place behind closed doors of various 40 odd ministries. The idea behind the coalition government was to have the 2 main parties shadow each other in the various dockets of government apportioned as stipulated in the power sharing agreement. Its no secret that ODM a favourite of voters at the time of the signing of the peace accord set out to establish a reputation for performing well in whatever line ministries it was handed. The party's philosophy was to in theory improve service delivery of ministries under its umbrella despite what they expected would be frustration from the ministries that fell under PNU's skirts. In this way they would build momentum for endearing themselves to the public throughout what then was looking to be a most difficult 5 years for the nation

This "government within a governmet" sounded good in theory but practically...well all you have to do is look at whats being exposed in Ngilu's docket.As the minister in charge she was in bed with the opposition who was meant to be her assistant! Meantime of course both continued to enjoy their time in government as ministry was divided in itself and delivering less than half of the services to its people

Will Ngilu's head roll in joining the long list of ministers and public officials who have stepped aside since the new constitution was promulgated?The Prime Minister has thrown his hat into the ring in throwing his political weight behind the Water minister and this could be seen as a sign that she has the right political backing not to lose her Water services portfolio. Honourable Ngilu does have alot of immense political capital and it remains to be seen whether she will graciously bow out of the ring or stay put for another round.

Back to William Ruto. It seems this man flew out of JKIA on a political mission to re-invent himself upon return and as he has said he is soon launching his political party. In all likelihood its possible he already knew he would not be meeting Moreno Ocampo as ICC prosecutor is not a man to waste anybody's time. It is therefore not surprising that since his return he has chosen to hit out at the government at every opportunity as he gets as a way of trying to endear himself to the public so as to be perceived as a man of justice who took shots at his employers and party boss in a bid to shake up the building from the foundations up hoping when the dust settles he will be more than just a governor in some county somewhere in the Rift valley

ICC Curse: Trapped Between Devil, Deep Sea

The elephant that is ICC is refusing to burg. The Kenyan government is refusing to play ball too. In between Kenyan voter and IDP find themselves sandwiched between the devil and the dark blue sea.

We have been reliably informed by bloggers here at Kumekucha that behind ICC's enthusiasm to met justice to PEV victims and perpetrators lurks the evil schemes by some politicians to eliminate their potential rivals prior to 2012 elections. The wisdom from that logic implies that it is alright to leave the IDPs and those who were prematurely and mercilessly sent six feet under during the 2007/8 near-meltdown to their own devices.

When Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo talks from both ends of his mouth on matters ICC, some support him for his bravery and patriotism. Well, if the new constitution is the panacea to all our problems then one is left wondering what the IDPs are still trapped in squalor. But that a concern for the politically naive because big things come at a prize and it seems none is too big to pay even with more than 1300 lives lost.

It is true the US and China are not signatories to the Rome statute but do we have to employ cheap security in numbers and reverse logic (hata wewe pia) after failing to protect the same voters? Kenyans are superlative spinners capable of shamelessly reading malice from an angel's lips. Behind all the plastic patriotism lies ethnic bravado and loyalty. But dare tell a Kenyan blogger that and you become an e-meal cooked in tribal vitriol.

ICC just like the international community came to save us from ourselves. Were it not for them, there would be no Kenya to speak of in the first place. Waxing patriotic to hide our primitive ethnic loyalties is to live a coloured lie. Well, the five-course tribal meal never constipates. We often wash it down with champagne made from ground conspiracy theories and served as intellectual discourse.

ICC must have seen it coming and Prof. Luis Moreno-Ocampo is better advised to brace himself for more roadblocks. He has not seen the last of Kenya's superlative schemers yet. Meanwhile the living Diaspora and Kenyan leaders continue to urinate on the graves of PEV victim, both burnt and sliced.

EPZs and Modern Slavery: Who Shall Tell Wanjiku the Ugly Truth - Part II

By Mwarang'ethe

Continued... But, what makes USA such a high cost nation which forces the industry out? The natural cost of a product is dependent on land rent, wages plus taxes, regulatory costs and profits. On may 1 2010, the DN reported this. "Revealed: How Kenya lost Sh700m in embassy land deal". Ignoring all other juicy stuff, let us focus on this statement. "On February 10, 2009, a valuation report by Teresia Kimondiu of the Ministry of Lands put the value of the land on which Kenya’s mission stands at Sh1.392 billion and the buildings at Sh129 million". Mark you, this after the land speculation disaster of the late 1980's which made Tokyo land more valuable than all of the real estate in the USA. We can see that, the land rent is almost 10 times the value of the bricks and mortars. So, who pockets this rent? The land lord (read land devil). Has he toiled so as to demand this tax from investors and workers? No. It is to afford this private rent the worker in Japan must be paid very highly which makes him unable to compete with Haitian worker. Consequently, so, as to avoid this private taxation, the investor moves his manufacturing to Haiti. It is for this reason, Singapore, whose land tenure is according to the natural law, is the magnet for capital from Japan, USA, Germany etc. (see Esau and Jacob Story at James Gichuru Road.

Likewise, in the USA, this offshore guy contracts a marketing company to sell the baseball in the rich American market. Just like the Haiti manufacturer, the American marketer is tasked to do the very least. As a result, the American marketer gets little payment as well. However, if the USA, UK governments collects VAT, it makes a lot of money when the sellers sell expensively stuff that costs cents to make in Kenya or Haiti. More so, since the UK government is a beneficiary of these arrangements via VAT, they can come around and fund the free education programme for children of the EPZ's worker. What a cruel deception is this?

So, we can see that, in this triangle, only a few guys sitting in the offshore who get over 80% of wealth produced are benefiting in the so called globalisation because via these complicated arrangements since these offshore guy pockets around 80% of the $ 15. If you have been asking why the top 1% dogs in the USA now control over 55% of wealth, the formula is here. In 1995, the Gap sold shirts "made in El Salvador" at $ 20 with El Salvadoran slave getting $ 18 cents. When the El Salvadorian slaves tried to ask for more in commensurate with their humanity, the Asian slaves called Gap.

The story does not end here though. In the USA, when a manufacturer moves to Haiti, he must sack some American workers. Simply, this is economic insanity of capital destroying capital. When they lose jobs, they either remain jobless or get other low paying so called service jobs of washing each other dogs, massaging each other and may be prostitution. For others who have jobs, wages must remain stagnant which has been the case since 1973 as Greenspan, the high priest at the FED confirmed at the "boom" time of Mr Clinton. This is nothing new though. The more slaves Roman Empire soldiers brought to Rome as prisoners of war, the more wages fell and more difficult it became to find work for “free citizens.” Who said history does not repeat itself?

To keep up with rising cost of living (remember that question of energy, money capture for speculation at the source which brings inflation?), the American worker has been forced to go into debts to buy the baseball, jeans etc from 3rd world. However, now, the American worker finds himself committing much of his income to debts given by the same bankers who finance outsourcing such that, he cannot consumer industrial goods. When this happens, the whole ponzi scheme collapses and these debts gets transferred to the already tired taxpayers in the name of public debt as we see now in the USA, Europe and elsewhere. What is interesting is that, the money given to these bankers is loaned again to the government at interest. In this scheme, we have witnessed the GREATEST TRANSFER of wealth in human history from the poor to the rich. In Britain, the 1,000 super-rich saw their wealth increase by one-third – or £77 billion – to a total £334 billion during 2009 alone. In other words, Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s £1,000 billion stimulus package all it achieved was stimulating the assets of the already wealthy. Translated, this is socialism for the rich, free markets for the vanquished masses.

As the Americans capacity to consume evaporates, some workers in the EPZ's must lose jobs. For those who are lucky to retain jobs, they must compete, i.e. further lower their wages to get the few jobs available. And, since our governments must pay their dollar loans which they take to buy local stones or create jobs for the restless young men, they must create more special trace zones to facilitate export of new clothes so as to import mitumba later. How can we call these free markets when the power of the state is used to vanquish workers? We are back to the age of mercantilism.

When all this is going, the American worker cannot see the reality because he spends more time in the shiny shopping temples of godless capitalism buying jeans and ipods to stick in his ears to drown his sorrows. Nothing new here once again. As the Roman Empire collapsed, the Roman citizens had a lot of bread and entertainment. By the time the masses woke up, around 1800 men were holding the wealth of the whole world as the world plunged into Dark Ages. After all, the Havard economist/priest preaches daily on the BBC, Fox News that, this is the most efficient way of conducting our affairs. In this "efficient" way of doing things, we sack the American worker and we transfer his work to a Haitian. In other words, we have capital destroying capital. However, since the Haitian worker has no need for pension, health care or education for his kids, which the American worker would have been paid, the guys sitting in Switzerland pockets the difference.

With a straight face, the pocketing of what in front of man and God and in justice and in equity belongs to the poor workers, they call this profit. That’s why the Forbes Magazine can announce to the mesmerised humanity how many billionaires we have created in the last two- three decades. Using these "profits" these evil men who eat bread of sorrow start speculating in stocks, commodities such as oil, food (as you talk about debe, another food crisis is on the way by the way) and land. In the midst of such orgy of speculation which completely neglects and destroys the real economy, the G7/8, World Economic Forum and other such useless gatherings where a few of African leaders are invited to add the dark colour, they announce to the struggling masses that, "we have high sustainable economic growth." We have read the same nonsense on this blog. Never mind that, we are wasting valuable energy as we noted here, to transport toys from China to the USA. But, who cares, the new technology is around the corner to enable the continuation of this economic insanity.

In the midst of this madness and ECONOMIC GENOCIDE, we are assured that, with the new constitution combined with Vision 2030, we will be a wealthy nation soon. For every reality, there is a fantasy. Let us investigate these claims. Let us recall the division of labour we mentioned above. In this sense, the productive activities that can make a nation wealthy must meet two tests. (a) Such activities should lead to production of valuable tangible/intangible stuff. (b) Such activities should be surplus generating economic activities that can be made available for future re- investment. Ignoring the distribution aspect of this surplus for the moment, we can say that, since our economic activities do not meet test (b), in other words, we specialise in unproductive economic activities (special EPZ's and coffee growing - Malthusian activities) we are going NOWHERE.

Furthermore, even if there is some little surplus revenue for re- investment we also have a major problem of its distribution. Under the private land ownership (absolute title to land), land absorbs almost all of the surplus revenue in form of rent. In addition to this, we have piratical monetary system that also extracts a very large portion of the surplus revenue from our economy. This extraction of wealth by the idle class is at the expense of the class that create real wealth. This class is composed of the labour and the real economy/industrial/agriculture economy. Once the industrialist/farmer who creates commodities we need and exchange with each other is starved of revenue for future investments, it follows that, there are no jobs for the labour. And even if there are jobs, so as to meet the unjust demands of land owners and the financial capitalists, the wages must be low as we see in the EPZ’s. Low wages cannot create an environment for industrialists to invest.

So, if this is the condition of our economy and the “new constitution” has not fixed it, how do you meet the economic and social rights as well as devolution demands? With all honesty, it is impossible to meet these demands. To believe otherwise, is to be stupid for it amounts to asking the question without bothering to answer it. We say it again. We are going NOWHERE until our Constitutions, Vision 2030's are constructed with this reality in the mind and not delusions and wild fantasies. Cheki vile huyu supuu wetu anacheka akisoma mambo ya economic and social rights.

Let us make some issue absolutely very clear. No form of government including so called welfare state can create wealth. All these systems of government do is to redistribute wealth. However, redistribution is not creation of wealth. It only shuffles wealth around from its most economically suitable uses toward purposes that serve the needs of the political class. If any property is forcibly made to serve anything other than its first most suitable purpose, its value is reduced. When it is channeled into purposes that serve the interest of the state, it is done at the cost of freedom as well. Now, we have crafted the economic and social rights. Fine, but, let us think through these delusions.

In introducing economic and social rights all we are saying is that, all should be wealthy for to have a decent house is being wealthy. We have also devolved some funds to the local areas. We are 100% in favour of devolution. But, it must be done in a more thoughtful manner. This calls for two things for sure. Massive taxation and debt pyramid. For the moment, don’t mind that, taxation and debt (public curse) are inimical to wealth creation. At the same time, we know this. Prosperity that will be taxed to build decent houses does not depend on having a saintly president or devolution, but, well thought out economic structures of a nation. If this is so, have we created the necessary economic structures? We have answered this question with emphatic No. If so, how do you provide decent houses? It is a delusion.
We know that, fools love their calamity and they call their prophets lunatics. Nevertheless, we must give you a stern warning. We are giving thee, a hint of the past and the future that awaits us or even better, which is with us. In 1770, the East Indian Company starved 10 million Indians in a cruel famine made worse by the company's hoarding of limited grain stocks and its decision to raise the rate of taxation to maintain its revenues. With London (read Kenya/Africa) facing financial difficulties, it had to get bailout from this monster. This meant the government takeover by this monster of a company. It was in horror of things to come when in 1773, one American in the America colonies warned that: "America is faced with the most powerful trading company in the universe, an institution well versed in tyranny, plunder, oppression and bloodshed." And, whose tea was dumped in Boston in 1773 at the start of the American Revolution? It was this monster's tea.

If the average Joe in America was not spending all his time in the shopping temples, buying with borrowed money "cheap" stuff, he would have saved the humanity by dumping the jeans from special Athi River EPZ's into the Boston sea. Unfortunately, if the Western average citizen is not in the shopping temples, he is watching the American idol; Britain has Talent and Desperate Housewives. Consequently, he cannot hear the trumpet warning of the coming economic strangulation issued by the gods of money at the IMF. The Fund has calculated that almost all advanced economies need to tighten fiscal policy (increase poverty) significantly in the coming decade in order to stabilise debt at 60 per cent of national income by 2030 and the tightening needed in the US, Japan and the UK is just as bad as that required in Greece, Spain, Ireland and Portugal. In other words, Greece is the opening short of coming feudalism for we are back to the past. This we see in the FT "Dangers loom beyond eurozone.

From this, we see that, the American independence was sparked as much by hostility to corporate monopoly which included money monopoly as it was to taxation without representation. Are we today not dominated by modern corporate monopolies which are nothing but the East Indian Company? Doesn't the Kibaki/Raila/Kalonzo, Uhuru, Musalia, Obama’s government constitute taxation without representation (read taxation with impoverishment)? Therefore, since the conditions that fuelled the American Revolution have been met, let us perpetuate an honest indignation against these enemies of mankind.

Humanity is at crossroad for financial capitalism has killed its host, i.e. industrial capitalism/real free economy. If the ongoing economic collapse is not handled with appropriate wisdom which unfortunately Nero, oh, no, Obama has completely failed to show, it will plunge humanity in to a deadly 3 World War. The consequences will be too devastating to contemplate with so many nations armed with nuclear weapons. Just watch how the Euro zone is now jumping from the Titanic ship to Lusitania ship. There is nothing new here because; we saw these same games in the 3rd century after Christ with the monetary collapse of the Roman Empire.

In these uncertain times, there is too much to say, but, let us end with the wisdom of Martin Luther King who said, that, it comes a time when silence is betrayal. Time has come for men and women of goodwill to be maladjusted to an economic system that takes the necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few as Martin Luther said. See his speech here.

While at it bear in mind two very important things:

(a) The fight against Moi, Kibaki, Raila, and Mbeki is all in vain. What we have in place is an Invisible Government of Monetary Power which is worse than monarchical power for it is well versed in tyranny, plunder, oppression and bloodshed. Moi, Kibaki, Raila’s are mere figure heads. In other words, politics and political analysis dominated by personality analysis is a total waste of time and energy which only leads to frustrations.

(b) How is your wealth portfolio? Do you own fictitious wealth (stocks, derivatives, inflated land/houses in London, New York, Nairobi) or real wealth (food, fuel, timber, cows etc).

You can't educate us
For no equal opportunity
(Talkin' 'bout my freedom) Talkin' 'bout my freedom,
People freedom (freedom) and liberty!
Yeah, we've been trodding on the winepress much too long:
Rebel, rebel!

Babylon system is the vampire,
Me say: de Babylon system is the vampire, falling empire
Suckin' the blood of the sufferers

Building church and university,
Deceiving the people continually
Me say them graduatin' thieves and murderers
Look out now: they suckin' the blood of the sufferers

Tell the children the truth
we've been taken for granted much too long
Now we know everything we got to rebel
Somebody got to pay for the work
We've done, rebel.

By the late Bob N. Marley

EPZs and Modern Slavery: Who Shall Tell Wanjiku the Ugly Truth - Part I

By Mwarang'ethe

On 15 January, 1759, Voltaire started distributing his book, Candide or Optimism. It was a chronicle of journey of young Candide who had left home involuntarily (like the African Diaspora) to experience the world he had been taught by the wise professor Pangloss, he the teacher of 'meta-physico-theologico-cosmo-codology, believed to be "best of all possible worlds." Instead of finding wondrous world that professor Pangloss had taught him, he encountered a murderous world of poverty, marauding armies, religious wars in a world where his fiancé, the lovely Cunegonde was cut open by soldiers after they had raped her before selling her into slavery. All while, Pangloss continued to preach that, this was the 'best of all possible worlds.' This led Candide to inquire, 'if this is the best of all possible worlds, then what the others must be like?' Through this book, he sought to emancipate Europe from the mental slavery imposed by wise professor Pangloss.

Likewise, today, the managers of the "global political economy" are in the grip of a similar and very disastrous optimism of the "globalisation" of the economy. This calls for an urgent need to emancipate the masses from today's Panglossian economic theory which is based on arbitrary assumptions and metaphors from physics and astronomy. No doubt, we have all heard the benefits of the so called globalization. In this article, we shall lay bare the real meaning of so called globalization in a way that many will be shocked. The reader will be left with no doubt that, slavery that we are taught was abolished is thriving in the 21st Century and more so, in our own nation.

Let us begin with what is familiar. The first is the NTV's video on Kenya, entitled "Taxation Burden". In this video, a number of things are to be noted. There is Mr Atwoli crying for more pay, the Kenyan women who we are told will be emancipated by the Affirmative Action provided in the new constitution toiling at our Export Promotion Zones (EPZ’s) where they make clothes for the children of a higher god on slavery wages and then wait for these the same clothes to come back as mitumba. They do this hoping for better pay one day as Kara Wainana ignorantly tells a vanquished nation whose elite and the masses are unable to pierce through this Matrix. We also have the FKE (includes owners of textile factories at the EPZ) saying these wages are sufficient given the "low inflation" brought by the “wise governance” of Kibaki and Raila these days.

Then we have the government of Kibaki, Raila, Kalonzo, Uhuru, Musalia the present and the future "leaders" who are all committed to this ECONOMIC GENOCIDE. In this kind of economy, with a stone face, they tell us that, since a master of universe in the Wall Street who is doing God's work spends 35% of his unearned huge income on food; Wanjiku in Kibera does the same. In truth, Wanjiku spends over 60% of her meagre income on food. Where do we get these statistics from? Well, it is here: "About 40 to 70 per cent of household expenditure in the Comesa region accounts for purchases of domestic food," said Dr. Kalibata. Who is Dr. Kalibata? She is the Rwandese Agriculture Minister. Where was she saying this? At an expert’s two-day workshop on food prices in the Comesa bloc, in Kigali, Rwanda. When was this? In early May, 2010. See the full story here: "Kenya cited as case study at food price talks".

So by Kibaki, Raila, Kalonzo, Uhuru, Musalia making inflation seem low when it is not in reality, the Wanjiku's wages can be suppressed further down "scientifically." With suppression of Wanjiku's income a mission accomplished, it is time to invite the foreign infestors into this paradise where Hakuna Matata, with their free dollars from the FED into our EPZ's. If you ask these "leaders" why we must sell our souls to get these dollars, they will tell you with a stone face that, "we need the mighty dollars so to pay for foreign mortgage loans denominated in dollars which are incurring to buy stones and sand produced in Mbeere to build houses in Korogocho and the dollars we must borrow from the WB so as to create temporary jobs for our young people." (Forget Class Wars, Its Economic Coup d'e'tat , also see "World Bank’s Sh12bn boost for jobs").

If you doubt these "leaders" commitments to this ECONOMIC GENOCIDE you need to read this: "Kenya to roll out special trade zones in six months". The word special here means two things. No tax for foreign infestors and even lower wages for Wanjiku. In other words, more exploitative trade zones in a casino state. Nothing surprising here though. During the Vietnam war, spokespersons for the National Liberation Front coined the phrase "country-selling governments", to describe the series of governments headed by former French mercenary officers like Marshal Ky and General Thieu, put in place by the United States, who were willing to participate in the destruction of their country on behalf of the United States in order to "save it" from communist control. We also heard Clinton call Suharto who was a ruthless dictator, a grand larcenist and a mass killer with as many victims as Cambodia's Pol Pot, "our kind of guy." Even Pol Pot was their kind of a guy who only continued from where Kissinger had left.

Before we embark on full analysis, please watch these videos interviews by an Haitian trade unionist entitled: "US military enforces attacks on Haitian unions", also here and here . Once you watch the Haitian video, please watch this about USA and especially the first part.

So, what do we make of all disjointed information? The best way to understand what is going on is to draw a triangle like that of the Atlantic Slave Trade only this time, they see no need for putting us into slave ships. In one corner of the triangle, put the USA. The other corner put Switzerland. On the third corner, put Haiti, that African nation which the ministers of propaganda of this Babylonian system label the "poorest nation on the Western hemisphere." Translated, Africans are poor wherever they find themselves. We shall not dwell on the tragic and heart wrenching history of this nation. We only note in passing that, Haiti never had a chance. It has been treated as a standing threat since its revolution in 1804. How could these Africans challenge the powers that be? First, they had to compensate France for loss of their "property," i.e. slaves. In other words, France owes Haiti around $ 20 billion today.

Having been milked dry to "compensate" the vampire, so as to be “recognised” by France with USA flatly refusing to recognise the first nation to end slavery, it had to be crushed and therefore, real democracy was never to be permitted to it. For instance, since the 1980s, its leading democratic leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was twice removed from his democratic office by the United States. When he came back to power in 1994, it was under the most benighted conditions, these set by the Clinton White House and Wall Street. They wanted Haiti to become a maquiladora, not a country. Today, the Haiti’s debt has spiralled out of control. One Trinidadian intellectual summarised this tragedy in simple words: "The transformation of slaves, trembling in hundreds before a single white man, into a people able to organize themselves and defeat the most powerful European nations of their day is one of the great epics of revolutionary struggle and achievement," Thus, the transformation of that achievement into a nation riven by political violence, ravaged by Aids and devastated by poverty is a tragedy of epic proportions. You may remove word Haiti and put Kenya or any other African nation and the story would be the same.

Before we go further, let us mention something economists call division of labour. When Adam Smith talked about division of labour, he not only talked about it in terms of job specialization, but, also crucially, in terms of productive labour and unproductive labour. However, today, as part of obfuscation of the reality, economists are not taught to see some jobs as productive while others as unproductive. Consequently, as long as labour is employed and there is a buyer for its products or services, such a labour, to a modern brainwashed idiot calling himself an economist one is employed productively. However, in this small intellectual deceit, lies the tragedy of the 21st Century.

Let us now proceed to show the division of labour in our wonderful globalised world of professor Pangloss who tells us that, the world is flat. To do so, we take the case of American baseball which are made in Haiti. In the "study" of economics and MBA's to manage EPZ's, we are taught (read brainwashed) that nations should rely on the comparative advantage in the "free trade" we have in international trade today. Let us follow this theory and see where we end up. The most efficient producers of American baseballs are the Haitians, Honduras and Costa Rica people. The baseballs are still hand sewn as they were when they were invented since engineers have been unable to mechanise the work. The Haitians who work on these balls earn around 30 cents an hour and in mid - 1990's was around 14 cents an hour. Every baseball is stitched by hand 108 stitches. Each worker is able to make 4 baseballs per hour and they do it with the precision requirements of a machine - made product. When President Jean Aristide tried to raise these wages to $ 50 cents per hour, he was removed from power. Then, much of this production was moved to Honduras and Costa Rica where the pay is about $ 1 per hour. Here is something to note.

For Haiti to attract these jobs back, i.e. be competitive, it must lower its wages and expand the freedom to poison its Lake Naivasha so as to grow flowers for Western "lovers". For how to do this, Kibaki, Raila, Uhuru, Kalonzo's government can offer consultancy services on setting special EPZ's and the AGOA which Mrs Clinton came to celebrate with us the other day in Nairobi. However, note the definition of OECD's competitiveness is this. To the OECD, a nation's competitiveness is TO RAISE REAL WAGES while still remaining competitive on the world market. So, on the Haitian corner, put $ 30 cents per hour. When these balls reach the USA, they retail at around $ 15 each. So, on the USA corner, put $ 15.

However, there is more. As opposed to baseballs, golf balls are high - tech products and which America dominates. Please note this. In the golf balls production, research and development plays a major role in production and in spite of high labour costs of about $ 14 - 16 an hour, these costs only represent 15% of the production costs. Given such low labour costs and thereby, low impact on total production costs, and the need for qualified labour, engineers and specialised suppliers, it becomes difficult to move production to low wages nations like Haiti. The differing wage levels in these two industrial sectors, i.e. baseball and golf ball manufacturers are a result of uneven technological development.

This brings us to the comparative advantage theory. The poverty in Haiti and the wealth in the USA are, for both countries, simultaneously a cause of and a result of the choice of what they produce. In other words, Haiti has specialised in useless productive sector and thereby, "made the choice" of being poor and ignorant. Mr market in a ruthless way, has chosen to reward the most efficient producer of golf balls with an income of $ 16 while rewarding the most efficient producer of baseballs with mere $ 30 cents an hour. This means that, an Haitian must work more than 25 hours to buy what an American makes in 1 hr while an American need only work 1 hr. to buy what an Haitian must toil for over 25 hrs. What do you call this? Wealth appropriation by means of unequal trade. Does the USA viceroy in Kenya tell you this? No, no. He talks about African corruption and why we must end it to develop. Since they control what we think, we say, yes. In other words, they say jump, and we jump and then while in the sky we ask, how high Sir? They even bring the Transparency International to brainwash us. They LIE my brothers and sisters to hide the truth.

So, what about that corner for Switzerland? This is where it gets really interesting. What happens is this. The owner of the baseball manufacturing company sets an offshore company here. This offshore company owns all intellectual property for his business. This is crucial because, IPRs is the major component in capitalistic system. With his IPRs here, this offshore corporation contracts with a manufacturer in Haiti to do the bare minimum in Haiti whereby, the Haitian guys takes no risks, owns no IP etc. Now, under contract law (they never teach these stuff in law schools), payment is determined by how much risk, task one undertakes or how much IPRs one owns. Since the Haitian manufacturer does the bare minimum, he gets paid very little. This explains why the EPZ guys cannot afford to pay the Kenyan women even if Atwoli cries blood.

Also, the Haitian state can collect very little tax in such an arrangement. Having been unable to collect enough tax on work that is done on its soil through low pay and tax breaks for foreign infestors, the Haiti/Kenya government must turn to the gods of money at the IMF and WB. And, for these gods at the IMF and WB to hear our prayers for mighty dollar, they demand as a sacrifice, more special trade zones like the ones Kibaki and Raila are introducing. In other words, we lower wages, remove taxes on the foreign infestors while increasing tax on our nurses and doctors who must then move to the USA etc (did some foolish guy ask why Africans in the Diaspora attack their hosts? We hope he is now better informed). In other words, money from "rich world" and the poor from the South pass each other in the night. When money arrives, it is greeted on our shores with kisses, flowers and fanfare as the messiahs of progress. However, in contrast, many Africans sink with their boats as they try to enter Italy. What a contrast?

Celebrating Madaraka Without Mamlaka

Another Madaraka day is here with us folks. Predictably Kenyans will be reminded they have been independent for 46 years albeit on paper without commensurate POWER and RESPONSIBILITY. It was 46 years ago and remains so today that Madarak was an event that merely replaced white colonialists with an indigenous brute albeit black.

All the fossilized leadership has to parade during the ceremony is nothing but nostalgia galore. Look around you and all you see is a painful dearth of any home-grown tangible contribution to define and distinguish Kenya from any institutions inherited from the colonialists.

These past and present scoundrels only sought power for its raw sake. And they are busy perpetuating its divisive traits over a smoldering Kenya. The many Kenyans disenchanted with the status quo and who are brave enough to shout will be promptly locked up, thanks to the suffocating colonial legal relics of yore which are being cleverly guarded.

Inverted priorities
The present leadership thrives on parallel truths that they shamelessly package as truth. Today’s celebration offers them yet another opportunity to gloat over their strangulation prowess over us. Forget basic priorities like security and settling the IDPs but expect superlative enumeration of phantom progress that only resides within the circumference of their fraudulent heads.

What is more, topology associate professor Kiarie has gone further and called Prof Philip Alston bluff and reminded him he is not worth the lofty title. Reason, poor Alston dared question the rogue policemen who went on extra-judicial killings spree on Saitoti’s watch.

We collectively hate the ugly face of truth, don’t we? Just ask new political boy on the judicial block, one Mutula Kilonzo. We may choose to conveniently repeat all the lies to ourselves till the lips crack, but the world and Geneva knows better that we are only expanding our egos.

Prof Alston touched raw nerves and our own smiling Wako is ready to defend himself. Meanwhile police boss Ali has offered to donate the Kenyan standards of investigation reminding him that one month isn’t enough to probe even chicken theft. The phrase verifiable facts can be reflected on Kenyan mirror to give a very different meaning.

Happy Madaraka day wherever you are folks.

Tribalism II: Perils of Living in Collective Denial

By M-Pesa

Tribalism remains the most emotive subject in any discussion in this blog. But we fail terribly to understand how devastating this cancer it by shamelessly denying its existence. Even worse still we rationalize tribal acts with some cheap red herrings that only succeed in propping the hydra as it mutates.

The truth is tribalism seeds were planted by one Jomo Kenyatta, cultivated by the fake professor of politics Arap Moi and being harvested by Emilio Mwai wa Kibaki who has appointed his fellow tribesmen in the Finance ministry from Uhuru to the janitor.

So you think I'm kidding? Just look at the Treasury, KRA, State House, Ministry of Interior, parastatals like KBC etc. Don't we have over 42 tribes in our country? I may be PANUA damu as everyone knows but when confronted with such facts, I just bow my head in utter shame!

Rot from head
This TRIBALISM seed has mutated into an ugly monster which refuses to go away and the shocking thing is that it's being embraced even by very well enlightened Kenyans who are busy living in DENIAL.

You don't need to go far but to peruse through various blogs like KUMEKUCHA and sites like MASHADA. Decent Kenyans from the LUO and KALENJIN communities are being sacked en' masse in various companies due to "global economic recession" and such silly excuses yet you wonder why it's only them being targeted.

A good Luo buddy of mine recently told me he was sacked from EABL simply because his surname starts with an "O"...What a shame and just where is this country heading to? I would challenge the EABL to publish all the names of over 200 employees fired in a recent purge! Actually if there's a decent MP reading this, why not take this hot potato into parliament? Where are the ODM MP's when their core supporters are being targeted in mindless sackings?

Tribalism may eventually consume this country into it's oblivion. It has happened in other countries so don't think Kenya is so special or has bribed God.

The first thing we need to do as a nation is ADMIT we have one big tribalism problem in this nation. The fact is that it's being perfected by members of various communities and races in Kenya. You only need to look at staff employed by ministers in their various dockets and you will be shocked!

Self-destruction
You can tell which tribe a minister comes from just by walking through the corridors of his or her ministry! If nothing is done, we shall soon have a Rwanda style genocide knocking on our nation's door! It's never too late, my fellow country men and women!

If only Kenyans had the opportunity to turn back the hands of time then they would have reversed the national betrayal following Kibaki’s election in 2002. Add that pain to the 2007 election fiasco and you will see the dark tunnel flooded with blood ahead on 2012.

Living a lie and in serial denial are the worst form of painless suicide your can subject your body to. But again not for Kenyans.

The Dilemma of a Political Dog in Dental Brace

The perils of living a political lie must be taking its heavy toll on Kibaki. With the political bills knocking, the opportunity wouldn’t have been more favourable to flex political muscles in managing own succession-autopolitisiasis. But alas! Kenyan political birds have discovered the feathers on the owl’s head and no amount of threat and misinformation that they are horns will wash.

As Mungatana aptly put it PNU ran its course and the vehicle delivered its goods. It may be time to seek fresh business but not so fast when the passenger has just discovered the beauty and benefits of owning the car. Now that the wheels are claimed by everybody with eyes singularly trained in 2012 when Kibaki will be past his sell-by date, whom do you turn to for negotiation? Well, Kibaki has the power instruments of an incumbent and whether he wields that to beat everybody in line is proving to be politically very elusive.

With DP throwing political tantrums at any available microphone, Kibaki finds himself with many political foes than friends. Mark you some of these people know him better than all of us put together and his penchant to ride on people’s back may prove to be his Achilles heels this time round. With Martha and co pissing from inside and daring both perceived and real political foes awaiting the President’s hand, the political road ahead can be anything but not smooth.

Toothless political dog
Four years is a lifetime in politics and Kibaki needs all his political associates lest he is left holding the leaking bath tub with the baby gone. The Gema votes are central to his political schemes and the same commodity pushes Kibaki between the hard rock and the political dark blue sea. The political concoction of Jomo Junior and Prof Kiarie Kinuthia complicates matters for the present heir presumptive. While the hand is crying to be exposed, the law and benefits of loyalty demands otherwise and in the process tension boils.

So how do you rediscover your political teeth when the law of disuse have dispensed of the same? Well, the perils of living a political lie shrouded in deception is not sustainable and the facade may just be about to explode. The DP brigade knows better and with them lies some of the finest strategies to expose the King’s nudity. The time of political reckoning is here and the faint-hearted are in for the shock of their lives. Welcome to realpolitik made in Kenya as practiced by political scoundrels. Simply put PNU was a political fraud and the monster is coming back for its dues.

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Kivuitu Responds to Shailja’s Open Letter

On January 10th 2008, this blog published an Open Letter addressed to ECK Chairman Mr. Samuel Kivuitu by Shailja Patel who is a Kenyan of Asian extraction and an award winning poet/author and activist. Shailja is also a prominent activist for Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice, a coalition of over forty legal, human rights and governance organisations advocating justice and equality for all Kenyans. Here is an interesting response she received from Mr. Kivuitu himself:

Response from Samuel Kivuitu
by Shailja Patel

At the beginning of this year, I wrote an Open Letter to Samuel Kivuitu, Chair of the Electoral Commission of Kenya. It was picked up by a number of sources, online and off, within and outside Kenya, and widely distributed, forwarded, and republished.

On May 14th, Samuel Kivuitu spoke, for the first time since "The Crisis", at a forum on Post-Election Violence in Nairobi. I arrived early at the venue, and slipped a paper copy of my Open Letter under the blotter where he was going to sit. I'd abridged and updated the letter to reflect our current Kenyan reality. It ends with a plea:

It’s not too late, Mr. Kivuitu. To recover your own humanity. To open your eyes to the suffering and longing of this nation. To admit that something went terribly wrong. If you could only rise to the desperate need of this turning point in Kenya’s history, you could redeem yourself with the simplest of words:

“I’m sorry.”

Those words might be the most revolutionary ever spoken on this continent. They might open the floodgates for every leader, every public servant, to acknowledge their own deep fear, grief, and remorse. To admit fallibility. To take responsibility. We are still waiting, Mr. Kivuitu, for you to speak.

During the forum, I watched Mr. Kivuitu bluster, blame, deny all culpability for the stolen election that took Kenya to the brink of civil war. In the plenary, I stood up, heart pounding, and said:

Mr Kivuitu, the whole country, from IDPs (internally displaced persons) in camps to affluent residents of Karen and Mountain View, are waiting for the tiniest expression of remorse, regret, from the Electoral Commission of Kenya. As a human being, a Kenyan, can you find it in your heart to offer just three words: "We are sorry," to the people of Kenya?
He couldn't.

Five days later, this arrived in my inbox:

To: Shailja Patel shailja@shailja.com
From: S. M. Kivuitu skivuitu@nbnet.co.ke
Date: 19 May 2008

Dear Madam,

I thank you for your letter dated 14 May 2008 and the concerns you expressed therein.

The Holy Bible has taught me to leave judgment of others to God the Almighty. I do not know if you are the Almighty God or not but you did not seem to be Him when I saw you on 14 May 2008.

You are all the same entitled to your views. I however humbly deny any wrong doing. The laws require that I declare the winner of the presidential elections once the Commission determines the candidate who scored highest, and led 25% of votes cast in his/her favour in 5 provinces. That is all I did. And there was no other candidate or his/her agent seeking me to hold on and re tally – no. After announcing the results a fellow appeared before me and requested me to hand over to him the president's certificate. I told him that that is only done to the winner personally and directly.

The fellow then informed me that Hon. Kibaki was awaiting to be sworn as the President and the Chief Justice was present, duly robed, for the assignment. He requested me to take the certificate there. I had no business retaining the certificate. It was not mine. The law says it be given at the place the President is to be sworn. I obeyed the law and took it there. Commissioners do not count votes.

Commissioners do not tally counted results. They simply verify these. They do this through the Commissioners' senior officers whose competence and integrity you seem to recognize. Commissioners announce the results as presented to them by these officers. Or what else do you suggest they should have done?

My conscience is absolutely clear. I know how dangerous it is to delay announcing the results. There are several interests in the results and all are equally important. I was hurt in 2002 for not announcing results which I had not yet received. I am not a seer, like you seem to be, to be sure that there would have not been deaths if I postponed the announcement of the results.

With my humblest view I do not share the view that people killed others, or destroyed the properties belonging to others, on account of my announcement of the winner. I believe that irrespective of whoever of the two top candidates won, there was going to be violence. That environment was created by the politicians themselves. You seem however to worship them as deities. Secondly, I respectfully believe the killers, who had been already charged with rhetoric, reasoned thus – why did Kibaki or Kalonzo get these votes in our areas? They looked round and saw Kikuyus, Kambas and other "madoadoas" (1)(as they had been told to call them). They reasoned these where the ones who voted thus and they must eliminate them.

Even in poor Coast, suspected "wrong" voters were ordered to pronounce certain words. Once they did not do so like the locals, they were violently evicted and robbed of their properties and raped. Thus the genesis of the tragedy is in our dirty politics and negative ethnicity. It is bad luck we have kind people like you who are too naïve to realize the depth of our malaise. No wonder facile and dishonest assignments that Hassan Omar (2)advanced thrilled some of you. This confirms Kenya is in for hard time for a long while to come.

Have a nice day Ms. Patel.

S. M. Kivuitu



(1) Madoadoa - spots (Kiswahili)

(2) Hassan Omar Hassan, Commissioner of the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights, condemned Kivuitu and the Electoral Commission of Kenya as delinquent in their duties, at the May 14th forum on Post-Election Violence.

Steep Price for a Deceptive Church

To whom will God turn to when his assistants on earth are all neck-deep in deception and self-denial? Crisis galore has visited the Kenyan church owing to their sectarian political interests. The present political turmoil has exposed the Kenyan clergy as no better than their flock and worse still even politicians.

The Kenyan clergy have slowly and painfully discovered that they are no longer relevant to our lives which they hitherto patronized with religious impunity. Not any more. And with that the purse strings have been tightened. Well, speak of failure of responsibility akin to chopping the very hand feeding you.

Desperate situations surely call for desperate measures. In rue NGO-speak, the Kenyan church is out shouting in confession of their sins. Deep down they must be aware that their self-rediscovery amounts to too little too late. The horses have bolted and their frantic efforts to shut the kraal are an affront to our national intellect.

Reaping abundant irrelevance
The lords of dogma must be deluding themselves that Kenyans are robots to believe their belated promise and readiness to confront the politically divisive forces. Most of these tribal pastors and ministers received their ultimate price when their kinsmen rose to power and they were promptly roped in the schemes to retain the implements at all costs. They don’t see the need nor rationale to fight for a war already won.

There is no free lunch and our church leads must be ready to confront the monster they unwittingly help create. They are the present epitome of moral rudderlessness. The punch in any pastoral letter will never fly past the pulpits they are mouthed. They must go mute and honestly strategize on how to start on a clean slate to regain the lost moral high authority.

The church is simply reaping where it sowed in abundance. No need for crocodile tears. They failed to lead by example and from in front before and after the STOLEN POLLS. The men of cloth abused our collective trust and proved that they are unique bed fellows with politicians both sheltering under a selfish umbrella as the rains viciously pound Kenyans. Muge must be tviolently turning in his grave.

Kenya: Unique Land of Fake Miracles

Is There Any Link Between MP Mugabe Were’s Killing and the Recent Reshuffle in the Kenya Police?

Kenya may be known for many positive things including world-class athletes but the BOTTOMLESS PIT OF VIOLENCE we find ourselves in following last year’s stolen elections by Kibaki makes it a first in many realms. Many things happening right now defy any trace of logic or acceptance and must be uniquely Kenyan.

Kenya is indeed a very special and unique country bereft of humanity. Many things that happen in Kenya have never been witnessed anywhere else in the world. Only in Kenya do you get a police force so determined to crash demonstration that they won’t mind lobbing teargas at coffins bearing remains of what they had earlier killed. The sight of frail old mothers choking under the fumes is no reason enough to be human. Kenyans can kill a body twice if only to prove a point. Tear gas the bereaved to aid them mourn better.

Kenya is the only country which can insist on being called a DEMO(N)CRACY under the rule of the barrel of the gun. Add to this the fact that in the whole wide world only in Kenyan do you find an Electoral Commission boss who declares that he doesn't know who won a presidential poll he was tasked and paid to run. The icing on the cake lies in the fact that statehouse continues to be occupied nonetheless.

Lose to win
Only in Kenya do you win elections by losing it. Truly prophetic because the first shall be last. Besides Kenyans have their own sense of basic counting (NOT BASE 10) where two is LARGER than six. If you doubt and get embarrassed please sue your kindergarten mathematics teacher for intellectual damages to your integrity and fame. Ours must be the only country exclusively populated by geniuses, ehe?

Kenya’s transport and communication network puts Japan’s fidelity and premium to punctuality to shame. Sample this: electoral officials in far-flung areas like Wajir, Funyula, Budalangi, Isiolo, and Lodwar relay their results to KICC overnight yet results from Kiambaa (just past Muthaiga estate in Nairobi) take more than 70 hours (three days) to ‘reach’ Nairobi.
Kenya’s sense of political humour is unparalleled. Consider this: only in Kenya do you count 95,000 votes from a constituency with 70,000 registered voters. Numbers surely don’t lie but we can COOK them into a delicious meal albeit poisonous.

Still on the electoral front, only in Kenya do you find a presidential candidate’s name missing in the Voters register in his own constituency on polling day. Derivatives of selective amnesia can be stretched into other facets of life with a little bit of political entrepreneurship.

Reversed popularity must have been invented by ingenious Kenyans. Only here do we the most "popular" party SCOOPING 35 MPs while the "unpopular" hides in shame with a paltry 100 parliamentary seats.

MOU my foot!
Trust Kenyan voters to pay their politicians with their own coin. These scoundrels can form all GRAND COALITIONS they can dream of but lofty tags like PARTY CHAIRMAN means absolutely nothing to the Kenyan voter. How else do you explain the political Tsunami that swept Kombos, Nyachaes, Tujus, Muites, Ndiles and Koigis of this country?

Finally, who said history repeats itself? For who, by whom and for what? Learning from previous mistakes is an alien concept to us Kenyans. Ati the KANU-LDP MOU was dishonoured by Moi. So what? And then the NAK-LDP MOU was trashed by Kibaki. Common, take a walk and smell the coffee. We live miracles and don’t dream them. ODM-KENYA/PNU is union made in heaven and meant for eternal bliss. Naivety is for the politically faint hearted. Deception is the brighter side of industry and grabbing is a constitutional right to stay anywhere. Kazi iendelee.

Annan Meets Ugly Face of Old Leadership

Kofi Annan may be passionate and committed to his mediation mandate but oblivious of the quality of principal characters he is dealing with. If only the former UN boss knew that INTEGRITY is one word that our leaders mouth only for expediency and never mean any of the letters spelling it!

Annan has visited Kenya's war zone and his verdict of systematic human rights abuses is apt. But there starts the problem and not solution. The events of the last three weeks are results and consequences of smouldering HISTORIC injustices accumulated over 40 years old school leadership - imperialism and impunity.

Ridding tiger
With Kibaki is playing Russian roulette with the lives of Kenyans, Annan has witnessed first hand how a true African leader can single-handedly destroy and sell his country down the path of civil war. Kibaki is riding a tiger and soon the beast will have its prey seated atop.

Land lies at the heart of this turmoil and Kenyatta is the root. An honest evaluation will leave the Kenyatta family bloodied with guilt. Jomo went on a land LOOTING spree as Kenyans smarted from uhuru hangover. Before they realized it Kikuyus were scattered all over Kenya in token appeasement to the disgruntlement of natives of their new homes.

Dishonesty and deception are no pillars to true leadership. The present SYSTEMATIC inequality clothed in TRIBALISM was planted by Jomo, watered by Moi and nurtured to maturity by Kibaki. The end product is the perfect tinkering time bomb which Kibaki belligerent ignited on December 30, 2007.

We haven't seen anything yet and until and unless the root cause is exhaustively addressed we remain collective victims of five-year cycle of violence. Pretending otherwise is to bury our heads in the sand. Kenya's past and present problems requires LEADERSHIP and not the rulership we have been subjected to since independence.