President Kibaki came into power with a very convincing clarion call that he repeated at every opportunity and which did not omitt the words; zero tolerance to corruption. But naïve Kenyans failed to ask the right questions which had they asked, would have told them that this was one president who was NOT going to avoid corruption.
When it was decided that Kibaki would be the presidential candidate for the opposition in the 2002 elections that propelled him to state house, a clique of rich men came forward and stated that they would be responsible for raising the much needed funds to bankroll his presidential campaign.
Among these people was a super rich contractor known as Ephraim Maina of Kirinyaga construction company. In the rare event that you have never heard of the name of the person or his company, his company was notoriously known for doing shoddy jobs on roads or not doing anything after being paid huge sums of cash to repair the same.
To date, the Nyeri-Sagana road is dilapidated thanks to Kirinyaga construction who have already been paid to repair the road but nothing much has been done. Maina even went ahead and used his influence to stop councilors from Nyeri visiting state house recently after he got wind that the poor state of the road was in their agenda list.
Maina is said to be so well connected that even when Raila Odinga was minister for public works and roads, he blacklisted Kirinyaga construction and ordered treasury not to pay him his dues but the then finance minister David Mwiraria went ahead and released Maina's millions.
The flamboyant contractor is also known for his famous goat eating parties in his rural home which is usually attended by cabinet ministers including the current finance minister Amos Kimunya amongst many other top government and parastatal bosses.
Maina who is nursing political ambitions comes from Kibaki's Nyeri home district and is said to have started making his millions during the Moi era where road contractors were considered among the richest Kenyans as this was where corruption was at its worst with contractors over quoting jobs by several hundred millions and dividing the difference with senior civil servants.
President Kibaki should however not pretend that he did not know where his campaign funds came from as it was clear to him that there were plenty of unscrupulous businessmen who chipped in towards his campaign and these men naturally expected favors back when he landed at State house.
Some of them were content with plum parastatal appointments, read Eddy Njoroge and Joe Wanjui but others were strictly profiteers and were in a hurry to recover their money and needed lucrative government contracts as soon as possible to do so. The likes of Maina fell in this group.
Unfortunately, these will be the same people that Kibaki will reach out to when he goes about raising funds for the forthcoming general elections and chances are that these men will donate even more generously so as to ensure that the status quo is maintained at all costs.
It is this same people who have made Kibaki's government unpopular with accusations of failing to deal with high level corruption. Though they will be instrumental in vouching for Kibaki's return, they might also be responsible of causing the presidents defeat in the hands of an increasingly popular opposition.
This whole unfortunate chain of events raises the big question of how presidential candidates should raise funds for their campaigns. This is an issue that we will tackle in this blog in the coming days, watch this space.
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Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Americans Murdered By Carjackers In Escalating Kenyan Crime Wave
Last week, two Americans were gunned down in a botched up car jacking incident that proved that foreigners are just as vulnerable as the locals in the runaway crime situation that has turned out to be a nightmare for president Kibaki's administration.
The Americans were dragged out of their vehicle and shot dead as they waited for a friend in the crime prone Nairobi-Naivasha highway in the comfort of their sports utility vehicle, SUV, which are popularly known here as four wheel drives.
Little did the Americans know that they had parked their vehicle in a crime infested area and when they were dragged out of their vehicle, one of the American ladies became hysterical and started screaming, this probably led to their shooting as the thugs must have panicked.
In record time, a contingent of policemen arrived at the scene and combed the area swiftly in a fruitful operation that led to the gunning down of two suspected carjackers and the recovery of two AK-47 assault rifles which incidentally has become the weapon of choice for local hoodlums.
That was not all, American federal bureau of investigations, FBI, personnel also visited the crime scene and collected evidence. The Americans are yet to disclose the identities of the victims and where exactly they worked in the country.
The escalation of violent crime in Kenya is nothing new and the situation could have been arrested four years ago when president Kibaki assured Kenyans that fighting crime would be top in his agenda.
Taxpayers expected more policemen patrolling the streets and better terms of service for the men and women who put their lives on the line daily as they go about their duties and face usually better armed hardcore criminals.
Kenya's police force is not just ill equipped but their morale is very low due to poor terms of service not to mention the squalid accommodation they are offered by their employers who are quick to accuse them of corruption yet they have failed to address themselves to the fundamental problems facing the force.
The contract of the police commissioner, Hussein Ali expires this coming month and it remains to be seen whether the president will extend it or replace him with another (most probably a member of Kibaki's own Kikuyu community) as he braces himself for general elections later in the year.
Ali had proposed radical and far-reaching reforms for the force which are yet to be implemented due to cash constraints and lack of political will on the ruling elite's part who seem to have their priorities up side down. Ali has tried hard and should be retained, but will also probably be glad to leave the thankless frustrating job he has at Vigilance house.
Search engines can give you huge traffic. Here's how a Kenyan company can get thousands of visitors to their site daily.
The Americans were dragged out of their vehicle and shot dead as they waited for a friend in the crime prone Nairobi-Naivasha highway in the comfort of their sports utility vehicle, SUV, which are popularly known here as four wheel drives.
Little did the Americans know that they had parked their vehicle in a crime infested area and when they were dragged out of their vehicle, one of the American ladies became hysterical and started screaming, this probably led to their shooting as the thugs must have panicked.
In record time, a contingent of policemen arrived at the scene and combed the area swiftly in a fruitful operation that led to the gunning down of two suspected carjackers and the recovery of two AK-47 assault rifles which incidentally has become the weapon of choice for local hoodlums.
That was not all, American federal bureau of investigations, FBI, personnel also visited the crime scene and collected evidence. The Americans are yet to disclose the identities of the victims and where exactly they worked in the country.
The escalation of violent crime in Kenya is nothing new and the situation could have been arrested four years ago when president Kibaki assured Kenyans that fighting crime would be top in his agenda.
Taxpayers expected more policemen patrolling the streets and better terms of service for the men and women who put their lives on the line daily as they go about their duties and face usually better armed hardcore criminals.
Kenya's police force is not just ill equipped but their morale is very low due to poor terms of service not to mention the squalid accommodation they are offered by their employers who are quick to accuse them of corruption yet they have failed to address themselves to the fundamental problems facing the force.
The contract of the police commissioner, Hussein Ali expires this coming month and it remains to be seen whether the president will extend it or replace him with another (most probably a member of Kibaki's own Kikuyu community) as he braces himself for general elections later in the year.
Ali had proposed radical and far-reaching reforms for the force which are yet to be implemented due to cash constraints and lack of political will on the ruling elite's part who seem to have their priorities up side down. Ali has tried hard and should be retained, but will also probably be glad to leave the thankless frustrating job he has at Vigilance house.
Search engines can give you huge traffic. Here's how a Kenyan company can get thousands of visitors to their site daily.
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