Is Kibaki safe from the ICC?

For the first time in the history of Kenya we have two retired presidents in the wings as a third relatively youthful one is at the helm. Most Kenyans do not realize it yet but our circumstances are such that both retired presidents are still extremely powerful. Albeit for totally different reasons.

Kibaki could not have been happier handing over power to his godson and the man who was only a few days old when he himself gave him his name UHURU. Uhuru’s ascension to power was all part of a very elaborate plan hatched in the run up to the 2007 elections. Later the plan took on a new urgency and became a do or die road map aimed at ensuring that even in retirement Kibaki would stay well away from the menacing claws and reach of the increasingly threatening ICC court at the Hague (read my book on the PEV Let The Blood Flow).

The truth is that as testimonies continue to fly thick and fast from the Hague it will become increasingly clear who the person most responsible for the 2008 post election troubles (according to ICC prosecutors) is. 

So for those who are alert and observant the question now has to be in view of recent developments, is Kibaki safe from the ICC in retirement? The shocking answer and the latest ICC strategy on Kibaki is revealed in a recent issue of my much acclaimed Kumekucha Real Time Intelligence Reports (send an email to umissedthis at gmail dot com for an instant response on how to get your hands on these much acclaimed reports).

But Kenya’s second president Daniel arap Moi is probably even more powerful in Kenya today. Not only has the former president kept himself very much in the loop with an impressive team of handlers still at his beck and call but he is also the closest mentor that President Uhuru Kenyatta currently has. Remember that it was the same Moi who groomed Uhuru for the presidency in 2002. It was a failed attempt because Mwai Kibaki ascended to the presidency. But Moi’s hard work behind the scenes did not go to waste because as you read this Uhuru is now finally president of Kenya.

Fascinatingly very few Kenyans remember that Uhuru had major problems speaking Kiswahili before 2002. Today he speaks and even the Waswahili Kenyans at the Coast with their sophisticated Kiswahili understand what he is saying.

Observant Kenyans will also have noticed that Moi has kept a much lower profile since the 2013 elections than he did during Kibaki’s 10 years at State house. Do not for a moment fool yourself that mzee is getting senile. He is in fact in much better shape than Kibaki (who will celebrate his 82nd year on earth on November 15th. Moi hit 89 on September 2nd).

No 2 still retains much the same programme he maintained during his 24 tenure as president getting up at 4am every day. By the time he sits down to his breakfast of plenty of milk and brown wimbi porridge at 6am he has read all the newspapers and has a pretty good idea of what is going on in the entire banana republic. This information helps him a great deal in the counsel he gives to President Uhuru on a regular basis. Politics aside our president is indeed lucky to benefit from the vast experience and wisdom Moi has and all he has to do is listen and take only what he wants to use. He doesn’t have to be another Moi because that won’t quite work in today’s rapidly evolving Kenya. 

Moi is keeping a low profile because he is more powerful than ever.

My latest information is that Kibaki is recovering quite well from the ordeal that was the presidency for him. More so when all the pressure came after the terrible road accident he had at the Machakos junction in December 2002, where he was very lucky to have survived, thanks mainly to the airbags that inflated in micro seconds inside the car he was traveling in. But Obako, as most Kenyans like to call him has a nagging problem still haunting him and it has to do with what is unfolding far away in Holland.

What was Raila Odinga's involvement in the 2008 post election violence? This explosive article is a wee bit sensitive to publish online but you can see it in a few seconds, please read it in your email inbox for FREE).

Propaganda invades Kenyan TV news

"These guys are spinning so much that it is making me dizzy." that was a comment from a leading media analyst to me last night.

Spinning, PR and media are mighty powerful. Done with the skill that is obviously somewhere in State house, it sways public opinion and turns lies into solid facts and solid facts into unconfirmed hearsay.

I have watched with horror as bloggers and popular columnists have started churning out articles that suggest the crimes against humanity committed in Kenya in 2008 are nothing and are best forgotten. Justice  can be considered another day... maybe.

Recently the ICC judges did an unlikely thing in granting President Uhuru Kenyatta reprieve and excusing him from attending most of the sessions in his trial which starts next month. Already the president had given a strong indication that he would not attend. The news hit the TV stations as breaking news. The same TV stations that have been highlighting the very few voices that are against the trials proceeding and giving the impression that it is the view of the majority worldwide.

But let's cut to the chase and try and analyze the president's game plan. It is clear that what is at play here are delaying tactics. The very opposite of what an innocent person would do. Indeed this is an age old favourite strategy in Kenyan courts. Actually it has not only been used in cases with political implications but also in ordinary criminal ones. For instance some folks in files arrive at some poverty stricken homestead somewhere in Kenya and announce that the land belongs to them. The case goes to court and drags on for decades. Meanwhile the funds of the poverty stricken family (whose financial standing was carefully analyzed before the land thieves moved in) are running out maintaining their lawyer on the case. In many instances they finally give up and hand over their property to the evil but clever land grabber.

The ICC is of course a different league altogether and so the question is what is the end game in getting a one year deferral? Well a lot can happen in a year. Politics can change, terrorist attacks can increase and witnesses can pass on etc.

What was Raila Odinga's involvement in the 2008 post election violence? This explosive article is a wee bit sensitive to publish online but you can see it in a few seconds, please read it in your email inbox for FREE).