Kumekucha weekend special: The book everybody is talking about

If you love surprises, you will love this weekend. My weekend book special today and tomorrow features sections from the book everybody is talking about; Dark secrets of the Kenyan presidency.

In this post I start with the book jacket, dedication page and introduction. Later today I will post more mouth-watering sections of this book many have told me is ground-breaking. ENJOY!!!!


Book Jacket

Dark secrets of the Kenyan presidency explores the office
the presidency through some rarely-told (and some
never-before-told) incidences surrounding this bigger than
life office created by Jomo Kenyatta and the founders of the
Kenyan nation. “This thing” they created grew and became
an enormous un-tameable beast that has caused untold distress,
suffering and death to Kenyans.

Kumekucha’s account is mostly angry and dissects this
subject ruthlessly without fear or favour. The tone is very much
that one of his blog which has received worldwide attention
sometimes in praise and at other times in condemnation but is
certainly a blog that cannot be ignored. The result here is a
thought-provoking account that will forever change your
views about this all powerful office which has the kind of
powers under the constitution Kenyans have lived with for
decades that would be the envy of any god.

The Kumekucha blog was launched in May 2005 by a blogger
who only reveals his first name, Chris. The site continues to
shape political opinion for many Kenyans locally and spread
all over the world. This is the first in a series of books that
will be published from information researched and written
by the blogger known to his adoring readers and sharp critics
alike as Chris Kumekucha.

Book Dedication

To all my very dear readers of Kumekucha especially the very early ones who left comments and helped me continue on the journey to discover that I could actually write politics in my own unique way. Folks like Taabu, Phil, Vee, Luke, Vicky, Kenya one and all the others whose names I cannot remember. But also am indebted to those who came later like Beth, Mugo (M.G.), Mrembo wa ODM, Wanjiku Unlimited, tnk, Sam Okello, Mwarangethe etc.

Special mention to JG my biggest fan and supporter.

This book is to you and all Kumekucha readers. Read it proudly knowing that without you it would never have happened.


CONTENTS

Introduction.........................................................................Pg 7

Chapter one: The old man who stopped drinking..........Pg 11

Chapter two: The early bloody years..............................Pg 23

Chapter three: Suffering Moi..... ......................................Pg 43

Chapter four: Without a president for 12 hours....................................................................................Pg 62

Chapter five: A brand new Moi is born..........................Pg 70

Chapter six: Professor Kimya..........................................Pg 82

Chapter seven: Proud Makerere Don.............................Pg 89

Chapter eight: Who is Mwai Kibaki?...............................Pg 108

Chapter nine: Raising cash for a presidential
campaign.............................................................................Pg 126

No Conclusion..................................................................Pg 154

Introduction
I cannot quite remember how old I was when it happened (but I was not yet 7).
And yet the memory is still so vivid on my mind. Very telling because I have forgotten so many other things from my childhood but this little incident.

My dad had come from work at the end of a long hard day and was changing from his imposing police uniform to casual wear so that he could go our for his usual drink. I questioned him persistently over something that had been disturbing me for a number of days.

I wanted to know how many steps he was in the hierarchy away from the presidency. He tried to explain that the president was not a policeman (he was an assistant commissioner of police then) but I insisted that he give me a number which he finally did. Many years later I learnt that the number took into account the parliamentarians and the policemen above him in rank but was given more out of desperation so that I give him peace. It was the kind of answer that you give a child when the question they ask is too complex for their young immature minds to grasp.

Still the point is, like many Kenyans, even at 7 years old I was awe-struck by the Kenyan presidency. I had watched many times on TV as the president arrived for various functions. Complete with a motorcade with numerous motorcycles and vehicles. I watched as the military parade stood to attention and the smart respectful salutes. Even as a naive youngster it blew my mind away. There and then I decided that I wanted my dad to be president of Kenya and then I would take over as president myself from him when I grew up.

Although the presidency was has always been an elective office at the beginning, many African presidents modelled it after royalty in a kingdom and did everything to surround the office with mystique and grandeur. As well as spilling plenty of blood to ensure that they remained in office until death snatched them away. They succeeded big time and quickly became life presidents and gods who straddled the entire way of life of their countries. To this day too many Kenyans still look at the office of the president with awe and will be quick to remind you that not anybody can be president. If the second coming were to happen today it would be found that most Kenyans fear the presidency more than they fear their creator God almighty. Very sad but true. As a result numerous things remain hidden about the presidency past and present.

In writing this book I hope to begin a journey of discovery for Kenyans. More so in discovering how we have suffered and been held in bondage by some mystique created for mostly selfish reasons.

I have been to State House Nairobi. Once.

It is such an anticlimax this revered house on the hill. The sacrifices, the murders, the killings and all the crazy things Kenyans have done in the name of wanting to live at this address (or remain there definitely); you would have thought that it would be a much grander place than what you end up seeing. Alas the red carpet is clean and well maintained but it is rather old. In fact the whole place looks like it needs an interior designer badly.

In the 46 years that Kenya has been independent only three men have called this place their official residence and held the office of President of the republic of Kenya. Johnstone Kamau (aka Jomo Kenyatta) for 15 years, Daniel Toroitich arap Moi for 24 years and the rest of the years to date, Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki. Interestingly whatever happens Kibaki will be the man who has occupied that office for the shortest time and yet history will record that his presidency has caused the most damage. His supporters will be quick to argue that Kibaki was only a victim in that he bore the brunt of all the cumulative evils of the presidency before him that boiled over during his watch. Others including this writer will think otherwise.

But even more fascinating is the fact that these three men have all been very ordinary simple good men who were transformed into something very different shortly after taking office. Kenyatta was a humble teetotaller after publicly promising church elders in the 1920s that he would never touch alcohol again in his life. 30 years later there was evidence that Kenyatta not only kept his vow to the church but detested alcohol and strongly believed that the drinking of beer was hindering the coming of Uhuru. Moi grew up walking extremely long distances to school and developed into a strong patient and tolerant man who could forgive almost anything. Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki was a staunch Catholic and brilliant economist who attracted the attention of the young Kanu party because of his educational background at a time when it was very rare for an African to have a high school education let alone be a university lecturer. This prompted Tom Mboya to drive from Nairobi all the way to Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda in an air cooled VW beetle to persuade Kibaki that his country needed him more than Makerere University did. Mboya is said to have come back with Kibaki in the VW. Always the reluctant politician and determined to retain his dignity and stick to his principals, Kibaki became a very different person when he entered State House. Kenyans got a glimpse of his other side when the post election crisis of December 2007 and January 2008 unfolded. A friend of mine was so shocked that he just kept on muttering under his breath… This is not Kibaki, this is not Kibaki, over and over again.

In this book we shall try to understand these three men intimately and the magical transformations they underwent better. Because in understanding this we will understand our beloved country and the institution of the presidency completely. Trust me on that and hold me to account for it when we finish our journey right at the end of this book. We shall dig into the true characters of these men and reveal many never-told-before secrets in their lives.
This book is deliberately written to be a quick entertaining read. It is my hope that this will provoke huge readership amongst Kenyans and get all of us thinking very deeply, more so as we prepare to usher in a new constitution which despite our best efforts still has a powerful presidency. It is my sincere prayer that later somebody will be inspired by my work to do a much more detailed thesis.

Go to Part 2

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Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

YES, Even Dead Fish Goes With the Flow

By Mwarang'ethe

In his latest piece, Chris has written this: “how long do you think we will be able to flout our cash around even as our fellow countrymen starve and struggle to survive”? The implied meaning in this statement is that, the yawning gap in wealth between the few rich and majority dirty poor will be reduced or eliminated by the “new constitution.” As we have stated previously, a constitution is an economic document. As such, a constitution drafted without clear understanding of economics, i.e. natural laws of wealth creation and distribution is rubbish. We shall demonstrate with real examples.

Let us first note two crucial, but, little known facts. In the “classical age” politics and economics were studied under the rubric of political economy as the science of wealth. Science in this manner meant the systematical classification and arrangement of the natural laws of social prosperity. However, so as to produce one dimensional idiot who cannot see the whole picture, this subject was divided into political science and economics. The reason given by Neo Classical economists was that, economics had now become a science like physics and astronomy. However, the main aim was to fool mankind for the benefit of few.

About a hundred years ago, a group of socialists established a society called Fabian Society. Taking their name and strategy from Quintus Fabius, the Roman general who advocated a war of attrition against Hannibal of Carthage, they sought to impose socialism on mankind by stealth. To do so, they founded the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1895 (by the way, isn’t Kibaki and many other economists not graduates of this prestigious school?). For those of us who are awake in these dangerous times, we can see their dream of socialism is close to realization all over the world. Yes, we hear the right to food, decent housing and everything else to be provided by the government. The masses completely ignorant of long historical plans are deceived by this monkey language. In this collective ignorance, we hear them say hallelujah. We say woe unto you for we are on the road to serfdom worse than any other in the human history. While at it, remember this. It is socialism for the rich and free markets for the poor. If you doubt the definition of socialism, please tell us what you make of this.

This year Citigroup just announced that its profits for just the first three months of this year totalled an incredible $4.4 billion, Goldman Sachs' haul was $3.5 billion, JPMorgan Chase grabbed $3.3 billion, and Bank of America took $3.2 billion. How did these geniuses make this fortune? It is this. The Fed has deliberately held short-term interest rates to historic lows -- less than one half of a percent. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department is paying almost 4 percent interests on longer-term loans that banks make to the government. This might sound complicated. However, it's really a very simple transfer of public wealth to the giant banks owned by a few thousand people out of 6 billion people. The Fed loans, let's say, a billion dollars (public money) to a bank at a half-percent interest. The bank then turns right around and loans that billion dollars to the Treasury Department, collecting 4 percent interest. In short, the banks take citizen’s money and loan it back to them for a sweet 3.5 percent profit. Apart from loaning the citizens back their own money at interest, they are using the same funds to short including naked short selling shares and government bonds in Greece, Europe and globally. To prevent the collapse of land values, shares and government bonds and currencies (which is a futile exercise where we are now), governments must come up with money bailout (more public debts on the shoulders of the poor) and the game goes on and on. Sheer genius!

Question for YES people
Have we entrenched such a system in your wonderful constitution? And, if yes, can we be educated how such a piratical monetary arrangement will help in bridging the wealth gap you talk about when we know as a matter of fact, that, it is a means of transferring wealth from the poor to the super rich, i.e. the rentier class?
In a recent article on this blog we stated something like this. “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. “

We added this. “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.”

Question for YES people
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?
More so, there is something else we seem not to understand. It is the real meaning of “free trade” under which we are operating. This is a simple analysis. The imperial nations export capital to our nations for two reasons. These are the development of low cost sources of food (coffee, tea, fruits) and raw materials required by developed nation’s factories (copper, oil etc). By exporting capital to us, these nations can keep wages for their labour a bit low because basics/food is cheap. This ensures that, their profits for future investments are not squeezed too much. If free trade for the rich is meant to preserve their profits, what do we seek to preserve on our part? We answer debt, poverty and ignorance and conflicts over shrinking cake.

Question for YES people
To what extent does this wonderful constitution come even close to appreciating this reality, and therefore, come up with innovative means of escaping these arrangements? And, since it has not done so, can we be taught how prosperity of the poor will come about when wages must be kept low such that, we lack purchasing power and the profits for future investments?

We seek to write as little as possible, but, we are attempted to say more. In Article 41 (3) of the proposed constitution, we read this: “Every employer has the right – to form and join an employer’s organisation, and to participate in the activities and programmes of an employer organisation.” May God save Kenya. In the USA, we hear that, lobbyists make it impossible to make the necessary reforms. However, here we are, seeking to entrench such rights in our “new constitution.”
Let us see what Adam Smith said about employers and let the reader judge whether the drafters of this document and the Kenyans in general know anything they are talking about. He wrote this:

“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices... The interest of dealers ... in any particular branch of trade or manufactures, is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public... The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it.”

In the end, it seems as if one thinker who also a journalist was right. He argued that, people, including journalists were more interested in believing the pictures in their heads (housing for all, wealth distribution etc) rather than come to judgment by critical thinking. He added that, the function of journalists and news in this sense is only to signalize an even while the function of truth is to bring to light the hidden facts and thereby, set them in relation with each other so as to make a picture of reality upon which men can act. The news is that, we have a new constitution. The truth is that, it is the same old wine in new wine skins. In this case, news and truth are not synonymous. Even worse, he noted that, even if journalists could be effective in educating the public about important issues, the masses are never interested in learning and assimilating the results of accurate investigations. Thus, like a dead fish, they go with the flow.

In conclusion, no, we are not motivated by fear, but, the truth. However, we are aware that, today, there is little regard for the truth, little access to it and even little ability to recognise it. Truth is unwelcome entity. It is very disturbing. Truth is an inconvenience for governments and the interest groups who benefit from so called governments. Even worse, those, whose goal was once discovery of the truth about just wealth creation and just distribution thereof, are now paid very well to hide it. In other words, truth has fallen to the gods of mammon.