Busing in supporters to central Khartoum chanting WE LOVE PRESIDENT BASHIR was a movie scripted and premiered in Kenya. After butchering nearly 300,000 of his own subjects in Darfur, Bashir outdid Kenyan politicians in running home to drum support when cornered.
Luis Moreno is a tough cookie. He terrorized dictators and murderers in his native Argentina and Bashir must have underestimated his resolve to indict him even if only for sentimental reasons. The heat is on and fellow strongmen in Africa are not sitting pretty any more as evident in their opposition to Bashir’s arrest warrant.
Not that they love General Al-Bashir any bit but they are alive to the fact that their necks may be next on Moreno’s chopping block. Bashir’s copy of our own Mutua was predictable as the sun rising in the east with that tired line of neo-colonialism. And Mustafa Othman Ismail is in good company with many here who will wax patriotic when convenient in support of their own political tin gods.
Security in numbers Bashir will not present himself to The Hague but Moreno has cut the ice. The precedent ans symbolism will sent a cold chill on the spines of scoundrels hell bent of exterminating their opponents and voters whom they consider a challenge to their dictatorship and plunder. No amount of plastic patriotism will buy immunity from indictment.
And just as our IDPs continue to pay the price of unholy trinity perpetrated by our own king, Sudanese refugees are the end losers with six foreign aid agencies having their registrations revoked already. Speak of painful security in numbers amongst insensitive murders who will stop at nothing in the process of feathering their nests at national expense.
Raid on Standard newspapers was carefully planned in State House Nairobi
The motive behind the March 2, 2006, police raid at the Standard Group offices has remained top secret to date.
However Kumekucha today unveils the secrets behind the raid based on interviews from two of President Kibaki’s aides privy to the "Government operation."
In February 2006, President Kibaki chaired a meeting at State House, Nairobi, which was attended by the then Minister for Internal Security, Mr John Michuki, Mr Stanley Murage, Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, NSIS Director General Michael Gichangi, the then CID Director Joseph Kamau, among other State House operatives.
Despite the gravity of the matter under discussion, the Commissioner of police, Maj Gen Mohamed Ali, was not invited. This was purely a Nyumba ya Mumbi affair. The House of Mumbi had been rattled.
There was tension and anger in the room. The NSIS chief tabled two pieces of paper which he told the meeting had two explosive stories the Standard Group was planning to publish. This blogger has seen and read the two "articles" the Standard was alleged to be planning to publish.
----
Bank Robbers Fled Into State House Nairobi, Gates Opened ---- The first "article" was about how Kibaki, when he was the DP chairman and was vying for presidency in 1997, allegedly travelled to Southern Sudan to meet with Al Qaeda founder and world’s Number One terrorist Osama bin Laden to solicit funds for his presidential campaign.
In the second "article", the author was discussing Kibaki’s failing health in January and February 2003, shortly after he was sworn in as president. The “article” even quoted Raila Odinga saying there was going to be a snap election within the year (implying Kibaki was dying/would be dead to warrant a snap election).
What shocked this blogger was that the person who authored the two “articles” did not have any sense of journalism. They appeared like the raw copies readers often pen and send for mailbox consideration. The “articles” were written in poor English and had no news value and had broken all rules of journalism
The two “articles” were shallow in details, short pieces and were not quoting any authority or source. They were like opinion pieces. Judging from the journalistic expertise of this blogger, those “articles” were not written by a trained journalist and no serious newspaper could publish them in that form. The “articles” were highly seditious and lacked any proof and no editor in his right mind could even consider them for publication.
---- How Kibaki's Government Was Paralyzed By State House Cartels ---- According to Mr Gichangi, the two articles were leaked by an NSIS mole/agent at the Standard Group. The mole/agent claimed he downloaded the articles from their newsroom computers. This is why the police squad dismantled and took away computers from the Standard offices.
The Standard had previously published an exclusive explosive story about President Kibaki having a second wife, Mary Wambui. They had also published other stories that did not please State House.
Daily Nation, on the other side, had published an exclusive story revealing how President Kibaki had collapsed and hit his head against a staircase in State House leading to the highly publicized admission at the Nairobi Hospital during his early days as president. Then rumours hit the country that President Kibaki had been pushed off his wheel chair by his burly wife in her characteristic fury.
--- According to our sources, the gathering was concerned the media had "grown big horns" and State House feared they were up to no good and they could publish more damaging material unless checked. There was great concern the media frenzy was aimed at humiliating the new president and exposing him to public ridicule. The two “articles” were tabled as evidence of how the media had overstepped its mandate. President Kibaki spoke less but he endorsed the decision to raid the offices of the Standard Group to pre-empt the publication of the two “articles” and to send a strong message to other media houses. President Kibaki was made to believe Kalenjin forces were ganging up and using the media to undermine his regime. He swallowed the bait.
Those present regarded Nation Media Group as somehow pro-Kibaki. Daily Nation had also been forced to denounce their story on Kibaki collapsing and offered an apology. It was also argued that attacking NMG would be disastrous because of the influence the media giant had in the country due to the Aga Khan factor.
The Standard Group was regarded as too hostile and it was seen as the voice of former President Moi, who was then in bad books with the Kibaki regime, his son, Gideon, William Ruto, and anti-Kibaki elements. There was suspicion that the Moi family – which had hand-picked and placed in key positions staff from the Kalenjin community at the Standard Group – could have been behind the scandalous reporting.
The meeting, under President Kibaki, instructed Mr Kamau to use any means at his disposal to stop the publication of the two “articles”.
Mr Michuki and Maj Gen Ali were at loggerheads and the meeting agreed the commissioner could not be trusted with the top secret plot. There was growing pressure from a section of Kibaki’s loyalists to sack Maj Gen Ali. Maj Gen Ali, who was fighting for survival, was close to the then Standard CEO Tom Mshindi. Raila Odinga was also baying for Maj Gen Ali’s blood after police shot dead three children and a milk vendor in Kisumu during protests over the Wako draft.
Maj Gen Ali rubbed Raila the wrong way when he claimed those killed wanted to raid Kondele police station and arrogantly said he had no apology over the shootings even after evidence showed police had shot dead innocent people. Raila was demanding sacking of the commissioner. Mr Michuki said Maj Gen Ali should be kept in the dark to avoid leakage of the information. The Standard raid offered Maj Gen Ali a lifeline as he leaked secrets of the Artur brothers and Raila softened his hard-line stance for the commissioner to go.
Mr Kamau was instructed to personally handpick loyal officers to do the job and make it so lean as to avoid any leakage. The officers who were approached were first warned of the deadly assignment ahead without details. Those who developed cold feet were left out. Finally, a squad of 15 officers, mainly from the dreaded Kanga Squad, was formed and rehearsed on the mission ahead. They held regular briefings with Mr Kamau. The squad received technical support from the two Artur brothers. The Artur brothers came up with the idea of wearing hoods to cover their faces. The Artur brothers coordinated the raid on the ground on that fateful March 2nd date.
The original plot was to bomb the entire I&M Building housing the Standard Group editorial department and KTN newsroom and studio and their printing press in Industrial Area. The hooded officers developed cold feet and opted for the “softer” way they carried the operations instead of bombing the entire premises. They feared the bombing idea could bring unrest in the country.
One of our sources believe the “articles” appeared to have been authored by Dr Alfred Mutua and planted at the Standard newsroom by NSIS agents/moles. NSIS claimed the copies were downloaded from computers at Standard Group offices. This gave President Kibaki the excuse to raid the media house.
Mr Michuki later confirmed the raid was a police operation and quipped: “If you rattle a snake, you must be prepared to be bitten by it.” The snake in this case was President Kibaki.
Dear Kenyans. Forgive me for being in this foul mood. I can’t hold back when our president and his wife are crying at a Press conference. A responsible child should show concern when his parents are crying loudly in public. Am in this foul mood because this article is not meant for Kibaki’s loyal diehards and those whose reasoning faculty equates to Lucy’s or is even worse.
It is a big shame to the First Family and Kenya as a nation when President Kibaki repeatedly appears on national TVs to “clarify” he had only one wife and four kids. So what? Who cares how many wives he has?
Kenyans are not fools. Kibaki’s antics, edged on by Lucy’s crocodile tears and loose temper and slapping public officials in public, will not wash away the truth or fool anyone. Instead, they will aggravate the already volatile situation.
Majority of Kenyans are today faced with serious problems and are spending sleepless nights cracking their heads on how to put a meal on the table and pay school fees and meet the rising cost of living. They care less about their president’s domestic woes and how many wives he has.
--------------------------------
Be careful because if your hard drive crashes you reduce the chances of successful data recovery by trying to revive the hard drive on your own. It is always a better idea to call in the experts right away. --------------------------------
Former Kabate MP Paul Muite was just re-stating what the then minister for Internal Security, John Muchiki, had told the parliamentary committee investigating the Standard raid and the Artur bothers’ saga. Mr Muite was chairing the committee and he on Monday disclosed what Michuki gave as the motive to dispatch a police squad to raid the Standard. The Standard was raided by state agents when Kibaki was in power. Kibaki should have used his Press conference with his burly wife to explain who ordered the raid, why and what was achieved instead of whining and shedding crocodile tears while TV cameras rolled.
Rather than Kibaki try to fools Kenyans who already know the truth, he should have been kind enough to shed more light on who is Mary Wambui and who is the father of her daughter, Winnie Mwai, why the two enjoyed Presidential security, and why Kibaki remained silent as the two brought to Kenya the Artur brothers and housed the criminals as they went around defecating and defiling our motherland with impunity. And they returned to their country scot-free! Kibaki did not appear on TV or utter a word, yet he was president of the Republic of Kenya and he had sworn to protect our country!
Every married man will tell you he has domestic crisis in his home. But the wise ones solve their domez under the confines of their bedroom or within their home boundaries and not in public. They wouldn’t even want neighbours to know there was a fall out. Kenya currently or during the Kibaki rule has had many pressing needs which Kibaki has turned a deaf ear to. His domestic woes are not a matter of public or national concern. And the best he could do is to quietly seek help from elders from Othaya to resolve his marital status.
It is in bad faith for Kibaki to misuse public resources and officials to help him clean up his domestic filth. He appeared at Tuesday’s Press conference in the company of head of Civil Service, Francis Muthaura, and Commissioner of Police, Maj Gen Mohammed Hussein Ali. Why misuse such senior public officials? Maj Gen Ali should be explaining why he is so blood-thirsty going to the extent of executing youths at will under the guise of fighting crime and Mungiki. Kenyans pay the Commissioner of Police a salary to make their country safer and not sort out their president’s domestic woes. Next time I suffer a domestic problem, I’ll summon Maj Gen Ali to my house and the media to re-state my position.
In fact, Maj Gen Ali should have been sacked on the spot on Tuesday because he watched and did nothing as Lucy committed a crime by threatening to raid the Standard. She even owned up raiding the Nation. Maj Gen Ali should have arrested her and locked her up pending court appearance today morning.
Kibaki, like any other married man, should put his house in order and not wail and look for scapegoats while he was solely responsible for his domestic mess. By engaging in endless public dramas, Kibaki and his wife only end up looking more foolish and open themselves to public ridicule. Kibaki must stand up like a real man and not act stupidly and foolishly under pressure from his “dear wife”.
Picture the following and Kibaki remained silent:
ØThe Grand Coalition Government he heads is dogged by serious political problems which he has turned a blind eye to.
ØProf Alston released a report exposing grisly police executions and the existence of police death squads in Kenya which had executed thousands of youths under the guise of fighting Mungiki/crime. The UN investigators called for sacking of Maj Gen Ali and AG Amos Wako. Kibaki thinks Prof Alston’s report was about another country no Kenya.
-------------------------00000000000
Kumekucha titbits: Avoid sitting for hours in a traffic jam on your way to the city centre from the airport. Simply book into a nice brand new budget hotel in the outskirts of Nairobi 5 minutes from the airport.
============================
ØOn the other hand, Mungiki and other criminal gangs have been killing Kenyans at will. Instead of reforming the Kenya Police to make it responsive to the needs of Kenyans, Kibaki allows Maj Gen Ali to round up anyone he wishes and executes them in the name of fighting Mungiki. For every one Mungiki executed by police, they (police) end up killing at least five innocent Kenyans. Surely, this is not the way modern police fight crime.
ØPoor Kenyans have been going hungry, party due to theft of maize, but largely due weak Government food policies. Some Kenyans have since died and Kibaki cares less.
ØThe oil scandal in the Ministry of Energy and other corruption scandals. Kibaki had promised his regime would make Kenya a corruption-free nation. That remains a pipe dream.
ØThe Anglo Leasing scandal, masterminded by Kibaki’s close aides, went on unabated despite Kibaki being made aware of it. Despite the huge sums of public money involved, the matter was swept under the carpet and trashed into history without any action.
ØKibaki spent huge public resources in the Goldenberg inquiry only to end up with a report being tossed in Government shelves to gather dust.
ØThe Artur brothers’ saga went on right in Kibaki’s eyes. We ended up in another fake commission of inquiry.
ØKibaki traded the Grand Regency Hotel with Libyan President Gadhafi for campaign funds in 2007 and purported it was sold last year. If the hotel was sold where did the money go? Another fake commission was formed.
ØKibaki promised us a constitution within 100 days after re rose to power in Dec 2002. The matter was forgotten when he attained what he wanted.
ØDoes Kibaki know there was a State House-sponsored raid on the offices of the Standard Group in March 2006 because we have never heard his voice?
It’s a pity that Kibaki remains silent where Kenyans are faced with serious challenges and only appear on TV to growl about his dear wife! Kibaki, please do better than this. You are a man. A man does not go crying and whining in public because his wife has put him under pressure to denounce a parallel affair.
I wish Kibaki and Lucy make good their threat to take Hon Muite to court. What a juicy drama will that be? Under pressure from his wife, MP Mwangi Kiunjuri took the media to court when it was reported he had been seized in a police swoop on prostitutes on Koinange Street. He thought it was a mere walk over and he paraded witnesses in court to prove he was nowhere near Koinange Street on the dreaded night. The media dug in deep into his past and unearthed past filthy affairs and the MP lost the case miserably. I wonder how he faces his wife in the bedroom today.
Give it to President Kibaki. In one smart TEARFUL move he masked the joy of KCSE candidates and most importantly deflected attention from quarrelsome ODM demanding reinstatement of political conjugal rights without any marriage in the first place.
But the real LOSERS were the Kenyan press who failed to strike the iron when it was red hot. They failed pierce the soft under belly with KILLER QUESTIONS. The first question asking Kibaki the basis of his clarification that he had only one wife was smart but the reporter failed to nail it with a follow up that would have smoked the visibly agitated Kibaki.
Kibaki's press conference was about one Mary Wambui whose name was not even mentioned in passing. The Kenyan media failed to in an empty goal. They allowed Lucy to chaperon and goad them while silently smarting from her visible threats. Even after inadvertently accepting raiding Nation Media House the press fell for her plastic tears instead of asking her to confirm if she would actually re-enact another attack on KTN.
Our so-called journalists refused to think outside the box. They went to Kibaki’s press conference with a prepared script and shamelessly stuck to thinking in one direction. The killer question would have been asking the president point blank WHO IS MARY WAMBUI. Asking Kibaki if as a head of state he knew Mary Wambui and the state security she enjoys would have left him and his handlers exposed.
Predictably Kibaki would have ducked that question just like he feigned ignorance of the genesis of his artificial foul mood. But an array of smart journalists would have outfoxed him with follow-up questions on whether Winnie wa Mwai was her daughter. That would have now worked up both Kibaki and Lucy to force them into releasing some unpleasant truths albeit unknowingly.
Unimaginative press The media failed to expand the agenda of the rare press conference. Having denied knowledge of the genesis of his anger, this was the golden opportunity to speak for the masses and exorcist the Grand Regency, Oil and Maize ghosts. But alas the myopic cameras could only flash the familiar faces and missed watering the most fertile ground for a SCOOP in an unrehearsed honest answer.
The media simply played into Kibaki’s hands when he showed emotions to mask the facts. Politics is not meant for the faint hearted and if you cannot stand the heat you vacate the kitchen. Seasoned journalists would have disabused Lucy of her crocodile tears.
We have surely perfected the art of living national lies and made it our pastime. A lie repeated several times must mutate to truth according Kibaki. Otherwise why would a whole president call three press conferences in as many years to deny his own blood and wife?
President KIbaki hardly ever calls a press conference... but today he did. So you would have naturally expected that what he had to say was of great national importance. Something really, really important.
Something to do with him finally addressing the rampant corruption in the grand coalition government (that we are told by John Michuki he is in full control of). Somebody would have probably speculated that he wants to announce the dissolving of the entire cabinet or some other equally significant decision.
Instead, flanked by a tearful first lady, the President of the republic of Kenya and the commander in chief of the armed forces called a press conference to tell Kenyans that he only has one wife. He then allowed his wife to threaten the press with another of her “raids” for daring to suggest that she has a co-wife.
-------------------------------- Be careful because if your hard drive crashes you reduce the chances of successful data recovery by trying to revive the hard drive on your own. It is always a better idea to call in the experts right away. --------------------------------
Honestly I did not know whether to laugh or cry. This was totally and utterly unbelievable. Will somebody please wake me up from this nightmare, there is no way it can be happening. Not now.... How?
When the country is grappling with some serious problems including Kenyans dying of starvation, the president calls a press conference to discuss domestics? I really have no words this time.
Of course the whole storm seemed to have been triggered off by the comments of former Kabete MP Paul Muite yesterday over the raid on the Standard newspaper where property confiscated from the Media house is yet to be returned. Muite claimed that the raid had nothing to do with national security issues but had something to do with “the president and his two wives.” That last bit must have been what stirred the hornet’s nest. So much so that the first lady threatened to take people to court.
Interestingly I have never seen the government spokesman look so embarrassed. I mean even after the man releases his highly fictional accounts to the press he always keeps a straight face and never butts an eye lid. This time Dr Alfred Mutua and other State House staff looked visibly embarrassed and very uncomfortable as the president of the republic of Kenya embarrassed himself in full glare of TV cameras.
-------------------------00000000000 Kumekucha titbits: Avoid sitting for hours in a traffic jam on your way to the city centre from the airport. Simply book into a nice brand new budget hotel in the outskirts of Nairobi 5 minutes from the airport. ============================
Everybody in Kenya is aware of the fact that Mwai Kibaki has paid dowry for one Mary Wambui. Indeed even as you read this her house is still being guarded by GSU personnel at the taxpayer’s expense. So who is this Wambui woman and why does she still cost the taxpayer money when the president has denied her and the children they had together?
If what the president is saying is true (and we presume it must be true because if a president can tell the nation lies in full glare of press cameras, then he has no business continuing to serve the public in any capacity even as the member of a board running a cattle dip in the village) then Mary Wambui should be immediately arrested for being an impostor and claiming to be the president’s wife. Surely if this is not done right away we will soon have hoardes of women swarming from the wood work claiming to be the president’s wife.
P.S. 87% of Kenyans in an NTV survey completed minutes ago, say that they do NOT believe the president when he says that he only has one wife. Jijazie……
If you ever doubted who the real power and rulers of Kenya are look no further after hearing it straight from minister John Kimendero Michuki, He rattles reptiles and shot straight from the hip by assuring his Kangema constituents that hollow talk about power sharing is nothing but a fat fad.
Love him, hate him Michuki minces no words and he told everybody listening that Kibaki is in SINGULAR and TOTAL control of Kenya plc. The man is a genius in his perfectly timed and smart way to mark the third anniversary of the Standard raid that he delegated to the Artur brothers.
Before you shout yourself hoarse HUYU ANNAN NI NANI just reconcile your rage with the painful fact that Kenya has its owners who can raid a whole media house and gloat over it on camera. Michuki has reminded any Kenyan with an ear for the truth to ignore the hollow claims by detractors that Kibaki sharing any power with a Prime Minister.
And that is at it should be-TELL THE TRUTH. The good minister would have done us great favour to confirm that all the present charades about Special Tribunal, Interim Independent Electoral Commission, Constitution review and all other fads fashioned as reforms are smokescreens by the ruling elite to entertain us as they dig their heels into legal ownership of property Kenya.
Power sharing MY FOOT. That figment of fertile political imagination must be banished when you see the lords of impunity continue to run roughshod ridding on the back of starving Kenyans as they mine the next asset inside Kenya to auction to Libyans. And why not when their choir and apologists have oiled lips for hire to cheer them on?
True entrepreneurs Kenya is one country ruled by straight talkers like Michuki who frown at politico-speak. No need to constipate us with such empty epithets as the political will to exorcise ghosts of corruption. And if you insist in mouthing such lofty words you are welcome to join John Githongo in penning memoirs from the safety outside our poisoned borders.
Our sovereignty and plastic patriotism is beyond reproach. No wonder we earn invitation from none other ex-UN boss Annan for a cup of tea all the way in Geneva. Add that to exotic and priceless blueprints authored by none other than UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston and you find a proud country whose owners will not blink at anything thrown at them to distract them from feathering their nests.
We haven’t seen the last of our TRUE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ENTREPRENEURS.
Today is March 2nd. On a day like today in 1975, the then popular MP for Nyandarua North, called Josiah Mwangi Kariuki or JM Kariuki was murdered. The man was killed in such a gruesome way that I suggest if you are eating while reading this, you should finish eating before reading the next paragraph. Or stop eating to read on.
JM Kariuki, one of the first whistleblowers in Kenya. He paid for it with his life on a day like this one in March 1975.
There were signs of torture, like cigarette burns but what is more, the MPs private parts had been cut off and stuffed into his mouth. The body was then soaked in acid to prevent it ever being recognized again. Still the body was found because wild animals cannot eat a body doused in acid. And then one of his wives was able to identify the badly disfigured and burnt body from a mark or scar of sorts on his inner thigh (where the acid did not reach, obviously it was mainly concentrated on his face).
Despite strong leads developed by a parliamentary select committee (led by the late Elijah Mwangale) that investigated his grisly murder, those responsible for this most heinous crime have never been brought to book to date.
But what I want to bring to your attention today my dear friends is a particular aspect of this popular legislator’s life that most writers have ignored when analyzing this assassination. JM was extremely wealthy. So where and how did he make his money?
A few clues. JM was President Jomo Kenyatta’s very first press secretary. There is no doubt that he experienced first hand the colossal land-grabbing and corruption right when it started at the heart of Kenyatta’s very first administration. It is also quite possible that he shared in some of "the loot" that came in those early days.
The human conscience is a strange thing and for some people it haunts them into confessing what they did and into also “selling out” their partners in crime.
JM Kariuki grew to become an extremely vociferous voice against land grabbing and the rapid creation of millionaires within the Kenyatta kitchen cabinet at the expense of the masses. Hence his popular quote of "I don’t want to see a Kenya of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars.” Insiders in Kenyatta’s government must have been puzzled how somebody who had benefited from the system had so suddenly turned against it.
Indeed JM will go down as one of the first real voices of opposition to corruption in the Kenyatta regime. It seems that many times whistle blowers are usually bad guys turned good who actually once participated in the evil they feel so compelled to expose.
Fast forward to 2008. Constable Kirinya participated in the execution of numerous Kenyans until his conscience gave in and he decided to run for his life and spill the beans. (His story was first told here in Kumekucha.) Because of his brave action, we are able to understand much more clearer how the police were involved in mass murder of the very citizens they took an oath to protect. Amongst the guilty who were gunned down and murdered, you can be sure that hundreds of innocent, mostly povery stricken Kenyans lost their lives in the process.
My whole point is that it is looking like the prayers of many ordinary Kenyans are being answered and what we are now witnessing is the conscience of some individuals giving in and spilling the beans of what is exactly happening. In some cases we are seeing former allies falling out and selling out each other. The best example here is what seems to be happening between Agriculture minister William Ruto and his former mentor Cyrus Jirongo. Information reaching this blogger indicates Jirongo got wind of an evil plot by Ruto to heap all the blame on Jirongo for the maize scandal and thus divert attention completely away from himself. And yet it is believed that Jirongo and Ruto acted together in the maize scandal. So what Jirongo did was spill the beans on the meetings that took place between Ruto and Martha Karua. This was simply a warning salvo to Ruto that he should not even think about selling out Jirongo. Well it seems to have worked like magic. because Ruto is so quiet now and the whole matter has dissapeared from the news.
Just carefully watch what happens in Kenya next. I can guarantee that people will fall out and others will be betrayed and the result will be that some parties will start to “sing like a bird” (to quote the famous Mafia expression). Songs of freedom because they will reveal the truth which will set Kenya free from the stranglehold of the political class.
Just like smelly skunks, the sickening ghosts of Artus brothers are in no hurry to leave our shores. The damning report by Muitie-led parliamentary committee exposes the real source of power that protected the Armenian drug dealers. In her attempts to sanitize her political standing, Martha Karua is one ambitious politician who will find it very hard to weave herself out of some of these nefarious political schemes. Her rants and empty pontifications only reduce to an elite propagandist.
Stanley Murage may be gone out of State House, but the present Wanjohi-Kabue tiff is a replica of hitherto Murage/Wambui-Lucy wars. Exploiting the EXECUTIVE mad rush to auction anything still left standing in Kenya, the reign of economic and political mercenaries remain supreme. Add ex-CID boss Joseph Kamau to the mix and you find a potentially INTRA-DNA explosive mix.
Only in Kenya do you find the head of public service CLEVERLY leaking top information to the press to divert national attention from ELITE INFIGHTING among the ruling class. The gatekeepers are must have completed the MASTER PLAN to legally OWN Kenya no matter the choice of the electorate.
If you dreamt that Kenyans went to the polls (nay dogs) in 2007, then you better wake up from the delusion and see Kenya and her real owners who will stop at NOTHING to mortgage the tenants occupying their properties.
The Artur brothers just like the Anglo Leasing scam before then are the twin faces defining the present regime. Their only crime was impatience to flaunt RAW POWER secure in the knowledge that sampling ROYAL FLESH earned them immunity and utmost protection.
Royal flesh With top government bosses Michael Gichangi, Muthaura, Gituai and Wako sanctioning offering unfettered protection, the Artur brothers literally owned Kenya o behalf of their political masters. Asking the role of one Mary Wambui in all is akin to inviting the regimes apologists to a shouting match.
You don’t have to be a neurologist to see where the source of ULTIMATE POWER behind the Arturs. It is unfortunate the abrasive hit men had to leave before accomplishing MISSION 2007.
Well, the present global downturn may demand responsibility from financial CEOs to ensure no rewards for failure. Contrast that with Kenya's obtuse case impunity from the Arturs who were handsomely rewarded with police escort even after breaching airport security and beating customs officials and a CID officer.
What is more, the Casanovas continued flirting with ROYALTIES for cover as they plotted more lethal deals within our borders. We surely live in interesting times and populate a uniquely owned property Kenya.
1st Kenyan: I am sick of the corruption going on in Kenya.
Other Kenyan: So am I. My Dad lost his job as a result of corruption. Life for our family was never been the same since.
1st Kenyan: Sorry to hear about that. What exactly happened?
Other Kenyan: He refused to look the other way. All he needed to do was sign some stupid document. He flatly refused to do so, said his conscience wouldn’t allow him to.
1st Kenyan: Your dad is a hero, you know that?
-------------------------------- Did you know that if your hard drive crashes you reduce the chances of successful data recovery by trying to revive the hard drive on your own. It is always a better idea to call in the experts then. --------------------------------
Other Kenyan: Yeah. But being a hero unfortunately does not pay the bills. Anyway, how did your dad make his money?
1st Kenyan: He is a businessman.
Other Kenyan: What business does he do?
1st Kenyan: He has a company that supplies stationary and office stuff. He started it from humble beginnings when he was still a civil servant.
Other Kenyan: I would bet you that his biggest client is the Kenyan government.
1st Kenyan: Yeah. How did you know that? Do you know him?
Other Kenyan: Of course not but I know that is how the rich make their money in Kenya, especially former civil servants.
1st Kenyan: (Getting visibly uncomfortable) My Dad hates corruption. Talks about it all the time.
Other Kenyan: Well my dad doesn’t just talk about it, he tried to do something tangible against it and look what happened to our lives?
1st Kenyan: I am really sorry to hear about what happened to your family. So you guys live in Kayole?
Other Kenyan: Yes. In a tiny room that we all squeeze into. We have to close our eyes when our parents are dressing.
1st Kenyan: GOSH!!! But at least you save money to go to the supermarket don’t you?
Other Kenyan: Supermarket?
1st Kenyan: Yeah prices are lowest at the supermarket are they not?
Other Kenyan: You obviously have no idea what living from hand to mouth is all about. You never have enough, let alone some cash to go into a supermarket.
1st Kenyan: I think I have a rough idea of what it is like to be poor. When we were young and my dad was still working for the government we used to eat Matumbo a lot. And sukuma wiki.
Other Kenyan: Did you ever go hungry?
1st Kenyan: No. But eating some things is worse than going hungry.
Other Kenyan: I see.
1st Kenyan: Well at least we agree on what needs to be done in Kenya. We need brand new leadership.
Other Kenyan: I think we need a president who understands that eating some things is NOT worse than going hungry.
1st Kenyan: Ouch!! I did not mean it that way.
Other Kenyan: What if that man is poor himself, would you elect him or her as president?
1st Kenyan: Now there is a problem there. Poor people are mostly dishonest and thieves. There was this maid from a very poor family who stole all my mums shoes and clothes when she was at work.
Other Kenyan: My dad is a poor man so are you saying he is not honest?
1st Kenyan: Well your dad is exceptional.
Other Kenyan: Not really. There are a number of people I know who did very similar things to what he did. They are his friends mostly. The ones who have stuck with him. My dad says that the difference between a rich man and a poor man is that the rich man is greedier.
1st Kenyan: Well as long as this poor president had an Ivy school education like President Obama, I think I can vote for them.
Other Kenyan: Well if they are poor chances are that they will not have had an Ivy school education. Education is expensive and mostly the children of the corrupt in Kenya are the ones who had those opportunities.
1st Kenyan: How will they rule without a good educational background?
Other Kenyan: As my dad always says, all we need is a man of integrity. Period. We just need to stop the corruption. You realize of course that stopping corruption will affect your family business negatively?
1st Kenyan: No way!!! Anyway we all want change. Change will make everybody prosper.
Other Kenyan: Nope. I think real change will cause lots of upheaval amongst the rich in Kenya.
(To be continued if you readers feel it was worth continuing. Please let me know.)
Remember Joseph Kamau, former head of the CID who had a problem coping with police commissioner Major General Hussein Ali and ended up being fired?
Well the man has made a dramatic resurfacing act and is now President Kibaki’s new special advisor on security affairs. As usual the man raffled feathers the minute he landed on the job by calling for the immediate sacking of the head of the president’s security detail. I was unable to establish the reason why Mr Kamau wanted the man gotten rid of but am still doing some digging.
-------------------------00000000000 Kumekucha titbits: Did you know that corporate team building programmes have been known to turn around previously loss-making companies the world over? ============================
Kamau’s appointment at a time when the security of the two principals has been drastically increased poses some interesting questions that beg for answers. The current political situation in the country not withstanding, why did somebody feel it necessary to increase the security detail to unprecedented levels a few months ago? This was long before the so-called terror threat on the Prime Minister. Does the intelligence community have information suggesting that the executive would be under some sort of threat? What do they know that the rest of us do not know about this matter?
Meanwhile recent surveys by various organizations have confirmed what I have reported in this blog as the general feelings of Kenyans on the ground at the moment. For instance the popularity of the principals has sunk to an all-time low with most Kenyans firm in the belief that the coalition government has achieved absolutely nothing since coming to power about a year ago. Kenyans would also like to return to the polls as soon as possible (as impractical as that may seem at the moment.)
I love to talk to strangers. Especially the down and out and ordinary Kenyan folk. In fact the reason why so many important people and even the media look to this blog to get a feel of what is happening on the ground is because of the track record of we seem to have in that area.
Admittedly it has not always been like this. I will forever remember with deep regret the serious blunder I made over the 2005 referendum. The blog was new in those days and I was yet to learn a number of things and build the impressive range of informant and contacts that I have today. At the time I talked to a lot of people about their views and I was sure I had it right. There was only one problem—I had talked to the wrong guys. And indeed you would be making the same mistake gauging things on the ground from the comments you read here from our readers. Mostly our commentators are rich privileged kids who have never gone hungry for a single day.
Over the last few days I have been doing a lot of talking to people (the right people that is, in Mathare, Kawangware and places like that) and a fascinating trend seems to be emerging.
Clearly there is sharp divide between the rich and the poor in Kenya that has widened into a chasm that is impossible to cross and too wide to build a bridge across. One of the perfect ways to illustrate this is by the widely differing views on Prof Alston’s damning report on police brutality and extra-judicial killings.
The rich mostly feel that police commissioner Maj General Ali has been very effective in cutting down serious crime and have no problem looking the other way concerning the methods used to achieve this. To them, the end justifies the means. Most of them point to the fact that there is no serious evidence to suggest that their was any killer squad formed within the Kenya police, never mind what the truth is.
-------------------------00000000000 Kumekucha titbits: Avoid sitting for hours in a traffic jam or trying to get into chaotic Nairobi after a long flight. Simply book into a nice budget hotel in the outskirts of Nairobi 5 minutes from the airport and completely avoiding the traffic into the city. ============================
The poor have very different views on police brutality. Many of them having experienced police brutality first hand are looking forward to Ali’s exit. Police will never go to Muthaiga or Runda to harass the Kenyans who live there. Those thieves they wil mostly salute and respect. However they are always in Mathare and Kawangware and some middle class estates arresting people outside their houses for no reason. Even with groceries that they have just purchased in their hands to prove that they were not upto no good.
The biggest horror for the rich is being shot by some carjacker for handing over their car keys too slowly.
The biggest horror for the poor are the usual police operations ordered when something goes wrong where policemen go from house to house harassing, beating up and raping poor Kenyans whose only crime is to be poor.
It seems that already the serious fault lines that will trigger the anticipated poor versus rich troubles in Kenya are already beginning to show very clearly. The gap is too wide and more privileged Kenyans have absolutely no idea what it feels like being without lots of money in Kenya. It hardly matters how you earned it in the first place…
They hogged, hugged the cameras and waxed religious while playing to the gallery. But are the Kenyan men (sorry no women) up to any good given their soiled past these two years? Well, you can bet your next lunch these men of the collar are typical tribalistic Kenyans albeit with the added advantage of holy hypocrisy from the pulpit.
Taking the plastic high moral ground, Cardinal Njue has found the best excuse to lead his flock for tea at State House oblivious of the image he painfully created since December 2007. The less said about his sacrilegious abandoning of holy duty to prop up his kinsman the better.
Kenya’s Catholic Church built a reputation of defending the masses during Moi’s RUINOUS era but they lost that in a flash by supping with the powers that be once the right church-state DNA mix was complete. Njue’s short reign makes Otunga’s ordinary tenure look like saints of yore just like the present ECONOMIC RAPE FRENZY and misrule makes the devious Moi shamelessly claim the moral high ground in admonishing his astute students of fraud.
The Anglican Church may have found the game to the gallery too appetizing to resist as evident in the Catholic Church’s biblical betrayal to seek audience with the earthly throne. Apologists of the present scoundrels will predictably and readily justify the church’s selfish manoeuvres as one borne out of respect. Well, Kenyans have perfected the art of living national lies secure in the knowledge that nobody ever constipated on the vice.
Toxic fumes This must be one of the smartest ways to divide and weaken the so-called Inter-Religious Forum. And the government must be all glee for the religious spanner boys coming hot in the heels of successful attempts to cut the giant KNUT to size.
Well, a regime premised on FRAUD and DECEPTION can only sustain itself with serial and shameless mischief at the collective expense of its subjects. With the church playing ball, the game can only go one UP for the gate keepers. Meanwhile ordinary Kenyans continue to choke from toxic fumes of fraud. NA BADO.
The man has a rather dry, sardonic sense of humour that was very clearly displayed in a memorable press conference the day before Mwai Kibaki stole the elections in full view of TV cameras and the world in late 2007 (many are the times when he cracks a joke and laughs first a mischievous chuckle that would be more appropriate to a comedian rather than a law enforcement officer. And more oftren than not nobody else in the room finds what he is saying funny). Police commissioner Maj general Huseein Ali: Under his watch terrible, terrible things happened.
In retrospect that day Ali was cracking jokes at the media conferemnce, we were being prepared for the horrific events of the next day and police commissioner Maj general Hussein Ali was at the heart of the game plan. In fact over a year later it is now coming to light that those plans may have included the “extermination” of any pockets of resistance to the electoral theft according to the report by UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston.
Prof Alston has issued a bombshell of a report that just confirms a lot of what we told skeptical Kenyans in this blog about a year ago Read the full story. In fact I stand by the figures that I gave here then. That over 5,000 Kenyans have been killed by the police in the reign of terror overseen by police commissioner Ali.
For all intents and purposes it is now looking like Maj general Hussein Ali will be one of the first people to stand trial for his role in the failed presidential elections of 2007. Prof Alston has already asked the ICC (Hague) to take over the investigations into police brutality in Kenya and extra-judicial killings.
But even as we pass judgement of a man who has to go down in history as the most brutal police commissioner ever, it is important for Kenyans to understand the whole story behind this sad saga.
-------------------------------- Do you suspect that your spouse is cheating on you? Simply get their cell phone and then recover deleted sms messages --------------------------------
The whole story, according to me, started long before the 2002 general elections. We were in a meeting at Ufungamano House. Present was at the meeting was Mwai Kibaki and a host of other NAK top brass. Kibaki repeated at that meeting what he had already said countless times before. That the problem of increased crime was one that was going to be tackled easily by budgeting for and employing more policemen.
Well we all know what happened. Kibaki did employ more policemen in 2003 but that did not solve the problem and his administration struggled with the problem of insecurity for a time. That was until they proudly announced the appointment of a soldier to the police commissioner’s post. Enter Maj general Hussein Ali (then a brigadier).
Ali’s strategy was simple, and I must admit, effective. The idea was to create killer squads and to hunt down suspected hardened criminals and simply mow them down in a hail of bullets. The only problem with this strategy is that along with the hardened criminals and scum of the earth were very innocent Kenyans whose only crime was that they were at the wrong place at tragically the wrong time.
When the Mungiki problem came (created and financed by politicians) Ali used the same tactics in a very vicious and bloody operation that left Kenyans numb with shock.
But Ali was not as smart as he always tried to portray himself in front of newsmen. It did not cross his mind that investigators from outside would ever start snooping into what the police were doing. He also did not realize the fact that it is impossible to wipe out all evidence when you are involved in mass murder.
The result is that even though the government seems to be defending Ali at the moment (or at least factions of it, because Prime Minister Raila Odinga, obviously thinks different from what he is saying) it is clearly only a matter of time before the soldier boy not only leaves office but also stands trial for his heinous acts.
Other effective ways of fighting crime other than mass murder need to be found. But the problem is that the old dinosaurs we have in office today cannot be expected to come up with new ideas or even to think out of the box.
Food for thought: NTV last night aired old footage of President Kibaki saying that criminals who killed others will also be killed and that “there is no other way.” This was early in his first (and only genuine) presidential term. Related stories from the past:
Prof Philip Alston came with guns blazing and shooting from the hip. The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary or Summary Executions pulled no punches in recommending the resignation or firing of both Wako and PC Ali. What is more, he readily entered the local lingo by declaring that the AG was the embodiment of the phenomenon of impunity in Kenya.
Kenya has been left bleeding from all her orifices. Even before our national inner garments aired by both Judges Kriegler and Waki dried, Prof Alston is exposing the rot that pseudo patriots would rather is left to stink underneath. You know Kenya is in denial when parrot Alfred Mutua shamelessly regurgitates those tired lines in defending the indefensible.
Government’s sanctioned extra judicial killings in the last 5 years is an extended solid proof of the jungle and failed state we have degenerated into. No sensible Kenyan will be surprised by the predictable denials and contempt from Wako and Ali. The subsequent partisan brickbats taking the cheap party lines will be the icing on this toxic cake.
By attacking President Kibaki, Alston has invited smelly flies to patch on his coat. And they will come furious while trivializing his mission and report. Alston’s report couldn’t have come at a worse time with Kenyans chocking from the satanic grip of gate keepers who are busy auctioning every available piece of property Kenya while the voters scavenge for wild fruits to keep starvation-induced death.
The last one year has proved Kenya to be the most suitable case study of a self-destructing country whose leaders shamelessly circle a carcass as it rots. We are a failed state in serial and painful state of denial. Kibaki’s loud silence and inaction in the face of present challenges is not only deliberate but by design for acting otherwise is not an item in the shopping list of the present ruling class.
Reign of official terror Only the rule of law separates us from other primates. But perpetrators of the free reign of terror using the police force and military can run roughshod secure in the knowledge that their devious actions will not earn them any reprimand. They are in safe hands and company. What with an AG almost clocking two decades as the chief obstacle in meting justice.
Poor Kofi Annan is wasting his precious retirement time in warning scoundrels who have no intention whatsoever of governing. Annan's concern must be treated as some irritating noise by the smart fast-track looters. Our predicament amounts to foolishly continuing to dig while already in a deep hell hole. NA BADO.
It has taken the rule of Sudan’s sitting president, Omar al-Bashir, six years to exterminate 300,000 fellow citizens. That’s about 137 victims per day…for six years. While not exactly Adolf Hitler proportions, his is still a pretty efficient killing machine, wouldn’t you say?
Next Wednesday, the ICC sits to determine whether the charges against Bashir warrant a date at The Hague. There’s a chance they may let him free to continue roaming the sand dunes of Sudan atop a camel chewing miraa under the desert sun. You see, France, Russia, Britain and China are willing to essentially pardon the president, provided he shows a serious commitment to the peace process. What exactly is a ‘serious commitment’ to the peace process? That’s a rhetorical question. The four out of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, with ‘special powers’ to suspend ICC charges, are afraid that violence will increase exponentially should a warrant for his arrest be issued. Proper English calls that blackmail. Add that to the fact that the ICC is broke and in fact considering the release of Charles Taylor. Yes folks, the guy whose war tactics included chopping off limps, ears and surgically removing the full breasts of lactating mothers by use of rusty farm implements….such as the ones transported to Western Province in Kenya government vehicles prior to our bungled elections. You know you are a failed state when a local tribunal is regarded as the worse proposition even with the current state of the ICC.
Well, it goes without saying that our local PEV superstar suspects are carefully analyzing each step Bashir takes with great interest. This is an important ‘case study’ that may set the precedent assuring our prime suspects peace of mind. The argument will always be the same; frog matching suspects to The Hague will ultimately provide their supporters the green light to embark on large scale mayhem. The formula is simple. If you are going to commit any level of genocide or war crimes against humanity, do so with the utmost ruthlessness. You not only achieve your devious aims but also leave behind a bloody track record of what your supporters are capable of repeating were you called to answer silly questions at The Hague. Is there anything or anyone who can prevent our prime suspects from pursuing similar blackmail tactics? To maintain peace, justice will have to be curtailed.
This should not mean anything to Kenyans; of course unless we consider the fact that our current coalition government was established on the same premise; that of peace over justice. These ‘principals’ did not hug, kiss and make merry to provide Kenyans a route to prosperity and good living. Rather, they did so to stop Kenyans from shedding blood. Kofi Annan’s primary job was to stop the bleeding; not to clean and heal the wound. If we wanted a clean government geared towards healing the nation, we should have chosen justice over peace. It’s funny we are now preoccupied in searching the source of our government’s incompetence yet the majority of us breathed a sigh of relief at the raising of Raila’s and Kibaki’s jointed palms. Honestly, what were we thinking? Depending on your political affiliation at the time, one of the two ‘principals’ was in fact a culprit. Yes folks, a culprit with whom we rewarded either the presidency or premiership based on the fear of continued mayhem as may be delivered by his supporters.
What follows is a bloated government held at ransom by itself. One defined by its record breaking inefficiency in service delivery but with very high expectations from the public. Combine the pre-election promises of both principals into one government policy and you will start to see what the public expects. Think of visions upon visions of the Kenya we want and you will understand why 70% percent of us would rather see the whole machinery close shop. Here we are today starving for lack of maize, forgetting sold hotels and expecting the very same scandalous people, who we knew are culprits from day one, to own up to political responsibility; whatever that means.
Listen, as afflicted Kenyans, we must continue seeking for accountability on a daily basis, however, please do not go on hunger strike expecting the status quo to change….as you will surely starve to death.
On the surface it would appear that Cyrus Jirongo is at the moment on a collision course with agriculture minister William Ruto. But is that really what is happening?
According to the information this blogger has, Cyrus Jirongo was one of the key players in the maize scandal and was working closely with William Ruto.
In fact one just needs to look at the past of these two individuals to realize that there is something somewhere that does not makes sense.
Lets go back to the 1990s and to the year 1992 to be more specific. That was the year that the first multi-party elections were held in Kenya after many years. President Daniel arap Moi was struggling for survival against lots of opposition. Incidentally the then united opposition operating under the banner of FORD (forum for Restoration of Democracy) had haled a mammoth rally on the Kamukunji grounds which must have caused Kanu hawks to urinate on themselves. To the keen observer it looked like Moi was going to be swept aside by the opposition political current. After all, the aging president had never stood in a seriously competitive election all his political life.
-------------------------------- Is your spouse cheating on you? Well, you can easily find out for sure. Just get their cell phone and then recover deleted sms messages --------------------------------
Little did Kenyans know that Moi had a number of very dirty cards up his sleeve which he was about to play that would cause great damage to Kenyans. One of them was the birth of an organization known as YK92 or Youth for Kanu 92. The main players in that organization was one Cyrus Jirongo and William Ruto. Operating from a building called Anniversary Towers, close to the University of Nairobi, the offices of this organization were used to distribute cash on an unprecedented scale. Several eyewitnesses have described how cash was stacked in cartons that were piled up to the high roof and filled a huge hall. Jirongo and Ruto would authorize how many cartons were to be given to who and where they were to be diostributed. At that time Ruto was an innocent nobody who was being taught politics by Cyrus Jirongo.
Since those heady days the two have remained close friends so much so that in the maize scandal Ruto must have felt that Jirongo was the only person he could really trust to ensure that the trail never led back to him.
So could it be that Jirongo has now turned against Ruto? And if this is what has happened what is the motive?
Actually a more plausible explanation is that the two are still friends and only pretending to have fallen out. The reason being that Cyrus Jirongo holds the key to linking Ruto directly to the maize saga. Naturally Ruto would want at all costs to ensure that nobody would try to follow that lead. Hence the fact that Jirongo voted against Ruto in the censure motion (what difference would one vote have made when both Ruto and Jirongo could see that he had the numbers in the house to defeat the motion?
You know there is something like being too damned clever for your own good and that would be an appropriate term to use to describe agriculture minister William Ruto.
The Vice President came with the guns loaded and blazing. He was firing from all cylinders. And with the nozzle squarely aimed at the PM he left no doubt that making yourself relevant and count is key in every political game. The 70% Kenyans disapproving of the GCG are in good company of the VP. He has picked the gauntlet and fighting in their corner.
If Raila thought he would get away with his unwarranted criticism of the GCG then he got a promptly loaded mouthful from the President’s principal assistant. The man of God spelt it as clear at it is by reminding the LESSER PRINCIPAL that all key ministries responsible for coordination, prioritization and consistency in implementation of government programs are headed by ODM.
To remind all and sundry of his relevance, the VP listed the three parties making the Grand Coalition Government as PNU, ODM and ODM-K. And that should lay to permanent rest any doubts that ODM-K is just a passenger in Kenya’s present gravy train.
Kalonzo is not asking for too much apart from demanding accountability from his colleagues. His statement to the press couldn’t have been more clear and FORMAL replete with all instruments of his office.
Smokescreen Every Kenyan of good will must rally behind Kalonzo if we have to detour from self-destruction. His mission deserves our unwavering support. Add Karua's nightly Reconciliation and National Healing overtures with Rift Valley leaders and you get people seeing far and beyond the present political gridlock. Theirs is proof to the fact that there is more to productive life than just DOMO DOMO.
Meanwhile ODM has no wiggling room and the RAGING HEAT is directed at her face. The NARA has been revised and people must be alive to the true position. With 7 out of every 10 Kenyans dissatisfied with the ineffective GCG, Kalonzo is demanding collective ownership of the one year failure epitomized grand corruption.
The smokescreen packaged as vision 2030 has been exposed for what it was. One year gone and the glue that partnered the scoundrels together is getting weaker by the day. The succession war will surely mutate into a hydra with every passing day, NA BADO.
