Predictions to the effect that most of the current members of parliament will be shown the door come the general elections later this year seem to have been confirmed yet again yesterday when Finance Minister Amos Kimunya faced angry constituents at his Kipipiri constituency.
This latest incident comes hot in the heels of yet another one involving Kamukunji legislator Norman Nyagah who was booed, heckled and embarrassed by his angry constituents only last week during what was supposed to be a triumphant tour of development projects in the constituency.
Kimunya's problems seem to have stemed from the 9-member constituency electoral panel which a cross section of his constituents felt was unfairly formed giving the incumbent legislator a clear edge over any would-be challengers within Narc-Kenya. In fact the constituents, most of them supporters of a former MP of the area Mr Mwangi Githiomi, stormed out of the heated Narc-Kenya function. It is clear that Mr Githiomi is standing once again in this year's general elections and he intends to do so on a Narc Kenya ticket. Last time round Kimunya enjoyed the anti-Moi Narc wave that swept right across the entire country and easily enabled him to sail into parliament. One thing is certain, the same thing will not happen again this time.
Kimunya's cause will not be helped by his spirited defense of the government against corruption allegations leveled at it by former ethics PS John Githongo. In a recent TV show no doubt watched with keen interest by many of his constituents, Kimunya repeated the ridiculous government assertion that Githongo was not recognized by law as an investigator and claimed that the Kibaki government was winning the war against corruption despite this mega scandal over which no cabinet minister is yet to be prosecuted. This is apart from the victimization of mere PS's over the scandal, some of whose cases are still pending in court, the government has continued to add insult to injury by getting TV camera crews to record the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission arresting traffic policemen for receiving kshs 50 bribes for matatus and motorists. A big joke when this apparently toothless organization is consuming taxpayers funds at a very crazily high rate.
These are just some of the questions Kimunya will be hard pressed to answer when the campaigns finally kick off in earnest, closer to December this year. But perhaps the most challenging of all issues he will have to explain to the village folk will be how the economy is said to have grown at a whooping 5.8 per cent this year, and yet many of his constituents have continued to wallow in poverty.
Challenger Mwangi Githiomi promised to raise a complaint at the Narc Kenya party headquarters over the issue of contention at Kipipiri.
Interestingly, although Narc Kenya has been observing the numerous challenges facing rivals ODM-Kenya with lots of glee, it is now clear that the party seems to have even more serious problems of its' own and right at the grassroots level where many aspirants have said that the party structure clearly favors the incumbent MPs. If the usual Narc Kenya arrogance and complacency that saw them lose the referendum prevails, then chances are that the party will create a stiff challenger for itself in its' strongholds, mainly consisting of disgruntled but popular challengers who will end up not find justice within Narc Kenya.
The Terrible Truth: Masai African Tribe Sexual Secrets And The Impact On Tourism In Kenya
Monday, February 12, 2007
Martha Karua Now Calls Paul Muite A Traitor
Leading government figures have now started showing their true colors as political temperatures in the country continue to rise.
Constitutional Affairs Cabinet Minister Martha Karua called Paul Muite a traitor over the weekend.
Now that in itself speaks volumes. Why would Hon Karua refer to Muite as a traitor? It is clear that what she meant was that Muite is fighting for minimum reforms and yet he belongs to the Kikuyu tribe. That is the reason why he is a traitor, in the eyes of the government that she represents.
But there was still another even more disturbing utterance that Karua made over the weekend. She said that whatever reforms that parliamentarians agree on, will have to be subjected to yet another referendum. This is a new demand by the government side and it is clear that the intention is to throw a spanner in the works and make minimum reforms even more difficult.
As we have repeatedly said in this blog, this government is bound to do everything it can possibly do to avoid any reforms before the polls. There are many reasons but the chief one is that some of the cheeky reforms being proposed by the likes of Paul Muite is that the president must garner at least 50 percent of the votes cast plus one to be declared the winner. This throws into disarray the carefully laid plans for re-election that the President's think tank has already put in place. The plan heavily leans on the massive Kikuyu vote plus the Mount Kenya region support Kibaki has always enjoyed to win a slim majority that will be enough to see Kibaki back at State House.
The government's increasing impatience with the reformists was clearly illustrated by Martha Karua's punching Muite under the belt with some snide remark about his management of the constituency development find CDF. This naturally angered Muite who feels that the Kabete constituency has one of the best-managed CDFs in the country.
Fascinatingly it seems that the new demand from the government side has been met by another new demand from the opposition side. Raila Odinga now says that unless IDs are issued to youths eligible to vote, they will make sure that there are no elections. Again it is increasingly clear that the government has all along been dragging its' feet over the ID issue claiming that materials were out of stock. In fact ID materials have now been out of stock for well over a year. This clearly points to the fact that the ID issue must have something to do with the government's well-laid and finalized re-election arithmetic.
The Terrible Truth: Masai African Tribe Sexual Secrets And The Impact On Tourism In Kenya
Constitutional Affairs Cabinet Minister Martha Karua called Paul Muite a traitor over the weekend.
Now that in itself speaks volumes. Why would Hon Karua refer to Muite as a traitor? It is clear that what she meant was that Muite is fighting for minimum reforms and yet he belongs to the Kikuyu tribe. That is the reason why he is a traitor, in the eyes of the government that she represents.
But there was still another even more disturbing utterance that Karua made over the weekend. She said that whatever reforms that parliamentarians agree on, will have to be subjected to yet another referendum. This is a new demand by the government side and it is clear that the intention is to throw a spanner in the works and make minimum reforms even more difficult.
As we have repeatedly said in this blog, this government is bound to do everything it can possibly do to avoid any reforms before the polls. There are many reasons but the chief one is that some of the cheeky reforms being proposed by the likes of Paul Muite is that the president must garner at least 50 percent of the votes cast plus one to be declared the winner. This throws into disarray the carefully laid plans for re-election that the President's think tank has already put in place. The plan heavily leans on the massive Kikuyu vote plus the Mount Kenya region support Kibaki has always enjoyed to win a slim majority that will be enough to see Kibaki back at State House.
The government's increasing impatience with the reformists was clearly illustrated by Martha Karua's punching Muite under the belt with some snide remark about his management of the constituency development find CDF. This naturally angered Muite who feels that the Kabete constituency has one of the best-managed CDFs in the country.
Fascinatingly it seems that the new demand from the government side has been met by another new demand from the opposition side. Raila Odinga now says that unless IDs are issued to youths eligible to vote, they will make sure that there are no elections. Again it is increasingly clear that the government has all along been dragging its' feet over the ID issue claiming that materials were out of stock. In fact ID materials have now been out of stock for well over a year. This clearly points to the fact that the ID issue must have something to do with the government's well-laid and finalized re-election arithmetic.
The Terrible Truth: Masai African Tribe Sexual Secrets And The Impact On Tourism In Kenya
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