Kumekucha On The Run

As a boy in primary school I distinctly remember my dad driving me to school one morning with a big loaded gun on the floor of the empty front passenger seat. I was in Standard six at the time and I wondered what the problem was because I could “smell” the same tension and fear that had been in the air the year before when the then Nyandarus North MP JM Kariuki’s badly mutilated and charred remains had been discovered somewhere in Ngong Hills. That day school had closed at lunch time because everybody had expected serious trouble.

I remember wondering what the problem was this time round and making a point to read the newspapers that evening when I got home, which I did and found nothing to give me the faintest clue as to why my senior policeman dad was suddenly given to walking around armed to the teeth.

Years later the mystery was solved. He had rubbed the dreaded Kiambu mafia up the wrong way by stubbornly refusing to look the other way as smuggled coffee belonging to a member of the Kenyatta family was given police escort to Mombasa. Not even a call from the then police commissioner himself could get him to change his mind. (incidentally the commissioner’s exact words on the phone to the most principled man I know were; “I am very disappointed in you Mr ..........). I also learnt that during those frightening days my father never slept at home and would slip away to book himself into different hotels using assumed names, always armed and ready for anything.

I went through high school wondering what the hell was wrong with my dad. Why couldn’t he be like those other “cool” albeit corrupt dads who usually brought their kids to school with better-looking cars than our battered old Ford Escort and had a lot more money? After all there was no way that he could single-handedly stop all the corruption in Kenya.

My dad always said that the reason why he could not bear to accept a bribe or be corrupt was because there was no way he was going to live with it in his conscience. I often wondered what the conscience had to do with the pocket which is where one kept the fat bundle of crisp bank notes received from bribes. With the benefit of hindsight and after watching what finally became of all those corrupt colleagues of his, I now know exactly what he meant. Many of those “cool” dads are now six feet under. One of them lived his last months having to get terribly drunk just to get to sleep. Today I have great respect for that man and his principals. I am very proud to call him my dad.

This week I have found myself in exactly the same position he was in those many years ago. I have been on the run and worried sick about my personal safety. I now know precisely what he must have felt.

Mercifully I am currently in fairly safe territory (although I am not yet out of the woods kabisa) and as I write this, for the first time in days I do not have that sickening feeling at the pit of my stomach.

For the last 18 months I have been writing this blog from within the borders of our beautiful country. It has its advantages. Like the fact that I can mix with ordinary Kenyans at the grassroots and get their views. Or organize the poll that showed in the run up to the elections last year that ODM’s Raila Odinga would win 6 provinces out of the 8. Most of all it is easy to get a “feel” of exactly what is happening within the country. Now circumstances which I cannot give details of here (but have published a few more fascinating facts in my raw notes this week) have forced me to hurriedly leave.

It is rather fitting that on my last night in Nairobi two things happened. Firstly I had a long talk with my dad that happened purely by accident and without any prior arrangements. Secondly the headline on one of the leading dailies that day showed just how much things have NEVER changed since that day so long ago when I was being driven to school with a loaded gun in the car. In fact they have gotten incredasingly worse.

Let me start with the headline. Apparently a man called Deepak Kamani who had been on the police’s “most wanted” list has suddenly and mysteriously been cleared of all charges and suspicions. I will not say anymore about this man who featured prominently on the Kroll report and is one of the main names behind the mammoth Anglo Leasing scum. It is said that he is the same man who paid President Kibaki’s hospital bill in London shortly after that near fatal accident of 2002.

During my long talk with my dad, it occurred to me how we still do not agree about many issues (like he was sure that Hilary Clinton was going to easily secure the democratic nomination for the presidency and he also voted Kibaki in the last elections). Then on the other hand there are other things we are in total agreement about. Like the current political mood in the country the coming unprecedented famine and what is most likely to happen in the months to come. Folks we are seated on a time bomb that is about to explode big time. More on that in the days to come.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those wonderful people who have in one way or the other helped me and assisted me in any way small or big during this very difficult and trying time. Ahsante sana. Especially that close friend who has repeatedly gone out of their way to be of such great help, quite often sparing no expense.

Now, if you are reading this and you often get a feeling of being overwhelmed by corruption and injustices in Kenya, take heart. I am sure you feel like a flickering candle in the wind, but always remember that the flame will never be quenched until that day when it will be strong enough to burn down the entire forest called “corruption and injustices in Kenya.”

My dad survived because his conscience was clear and he knew he had done the right thing. For the same reason, Kumekucha too will survive.

P.S. Have you noticed how after the 2007 general elections the wrong people are on the run while the crooks are being cleared to come back to Kenya to rape some more? I am not talking about myself but about the long list of Kenyans who have had to leave the country suddenly. For instance do you guys know where Ted Josiah is and why he is there? Yep I am talking about that music producer guy.

Cheering Shameful Leadership from the Rear

Wentangula's goofs over violence in South Africa and AU mediator Adeneji were apt examples of poor leadership and disastrous diplomacy. He can choose the cheap Kenyan politician escape of denial and claiming to have been misquoted BUT CAMERAS DON'T LIE. But then this Kenya were DECEPTION and living in serial self denial are revered virtues.

Just like lies you have to use fraud and deception to prop up fraudulent leadership. As a nation we have taken deception to new levels. We shamelessly rush to rally behind our GOOFING and FRAUDULENT tribesmen at the slightest criticism even when caught red handed napping on the job. Reasoning by DISPLACEMENT is our forte during such missions. We readily sanitize their ROTTING leadership using cheap comparison with their political rivals. That is why 5 years of Kibaki's misrule and rape is less ruinous compared to Moi's 24.

True leadership is measured by the amount of conviction and effort a leader puts forward to confront a challenge and not how many years you compare yourself with an IMBECILE. Deflection from the truth never makes the TRUTH change its colour nor shade. Wetangula's diplomatic goof is symptomatic of the present leadership INCOMPETENCE. Remove Annan and Adeneji (his successor) and there would be no country called Kenya to talk about in the first place. Well, haters of the truth will jump to cheap justification with buzzwords like LETS MOVE ON. And there lies DECEPTION and FRAUD extraordinary - bandaging the cancer and wishing it away. We must be our own worst enemies.

Led by the tail
We must call our scoundrels bluff. Until we discard TRIBAL lenses and look truth in face and squarely face to its demands we are unwittingly fooling ourselves that HEALING and PROSPERITY can be built without hard choices. We must replace DECEPTION with the useful HONESTY. There are no two ways about this. There has never been and it won't be. Faint hearts never won any battle leave alone war. Opting for cheap and quick fixes is our national bane. Indulge and soothe your TRIBAL ego if you must but you are only fooling yourself in expecting miracles out of the indulgence. Our present leaders are a disgrace at best and a disaster at worst. Bring them on.