Embodiment of Virtues

US Puts 15 Kings of Impunity on the Spot

The big brother is out and breathing fire on the neck of lords of Kenya. But before Michael Renneberger and his predecessor and sidekick Johnny Carson spits fire, one is left yawning given the past heat that left no light.

Threatening sanctions to 15 kings of impunity without publicly naming them is akin to another Kofi Annan-like secret envelope. Leaves you wondering what these people fear so much in naming saboteurs. And that opens the floodgates once more for us to don that tattered gab of patriotism in blind defense.

US must be naive to slap travel ban on landlords likes Muthaura and Uhuru. They even have the temerity to ask for Gicheru head even after the good justice saved Kenya from herself by swearing Kibaki at midnight. They will be awaken to a rude shock when they realize who the real RULERS and shakers of power are in Kenya

Trusted Daily Nation
But uncle Sam and Renneberger better pad their skin for the predictable tongue-lashing from regime apologists masquerading as patriots . Sovereignty is a common and apt word in such times. The script will run like this: Kenya is an independent state and we need no lecturers. And bloggers here will take it a notch higher reminding all and sundry that we have gone East.

Renneberger should know better, Kenya has its owners and no amount of noise NOT even rivers of blood can stop their evil schemes to auction the country. What is more, all the key posts are held by the right genes and they collectively form that critical evil mass to destruction. NA BADO.

Too Late To Save Kenya As Ali Is Retired From The Military

See Taabu's latest post a few hours ago

The ostrich is a very fascinating animal. For starters should it really be a bird? I mean it has feathers and all but it never flys like other birds. Instead it runs on the ground like a Zebra or Lion and buries its’ head in the sand (like no other creature).

The Ostrich has many similarities to many extremely well educated Kenyans today. I have seen this trait over and over again and many times it has even been reflected in the comments on this site. The increasingly common mannerism is to bury one’s head in the sand and pretend that the rapidly approaching forest fire does not exist. Or to completely ignore and trash what you don’t understand and don’t want to understand because it is way too scary to consider. In other words the idea is if one thinks positive thoughts only and sticks to the sensible ideas that their intellect and lifestyle has supported over the years, then surely no harm will befall them. Education is a vital thing but sometimes it can be pretty dangerous. I think the village idiot may be better off many times than the highly educated fool.

I have come to fully appreciate what a blogger called Taabu means when he frequently says; Munajezea mbuzi guitar (playing a guitar for a he-goat).

--------------------------------------0000

We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect. The judgement of the intellect is only part of the truth.

Carl Jung (1875 – 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology known as Jungian psychology.

--------------------------------------0000

Some recent developments have left me very alarmed although I have posted articles in the recent past warning about them. I have no joy in being proved right if Kenya is going to the dogs. As I have said many times before I would rather be proved wrong and things get better for mother Kenya. After all I intend that my children and grand children will live in Kenya and call this currently kidnapped country home. However at this rate there will be no country left if things continue the way they are where my “alarmist ranting” of today turns out to be the headlines of the following week.

Many Kenyans must have caught a fascinating story in the Standard shortly after Maj Gen Ali was relieved of his duties as commissioner of police. The story was done by one Cyrus Ombati and claimed some insider information on Ali that suggested that he was well aware that he was going to be replaced and had NOT been taken by surprise. It was clear that most of the information had been supplied by Ali himself. In fact the story had a major piece of information (or so it seemed) that left me gaping for a number of minutes. Mr Ombati claimed that Maj Ali was in fact being ear-marked to succeed Gen Kianga as Chief of general staff. The military man was going to cross back from the police and head the military in this country (forget about Hague and all those rumours about extra-judicial killings). Now fresh press reports indicate otherwise. Maj Gen Ali has in fact been retired from the military. But what is even more interesting are the developments over the Kianga succession in the military. It is clearly emerging that President Kibaki is cleverly eliminating all potential would-be candidates to ensure that a man called Lt Gen Karangi becomes the next head of the military. Guess where Karangi comes from? He’s from Nyeri, not far from the president’s village in Othaya. Mere coincidence?

If this happens then it means a complete sweep will have been achieved where all key security dockets will be in the hands of Mt Kenya boys. Sample this;

Mathew Iteere (police chief, Meru), Karanja Gatiba (CID chief, Kikuyu), Evans Gicheru (Chief Justice, Kikuyu from Nyeri), Michael Gichangi (NSIS chief, Kikuyu from Nyeri), Kinuthia Mbugua (AP chief, Kikuyu), Aaron Ringera (KACC chief, Meru), George Saitoti (Internal Security minister, Kikuyu masquerading as Maasai) and Francis Kimemia (PS Internal Security ministry, Kikuyu). Mere coincidence? We have a very similar situation in the Fianance portfolio.

And in the event that it is NOT a coincidence what then is the whole idea here? What do these guys want to do exactly? Is the objective for President Kibaki to end up handing over power peacefully and without drama to whoever wins the next presidential election? Or is the idea in fact to maintain the status quo with a hand-picked man going through the motions of a so-called presidential election (similar to the one that happened in 2007?) As it is now, certain “sensitive” conversations can be carried out between security units in Kikuyu (all the Mt Kenya tribes can speak Kikuyu and even when they converse in their mother tongue they can still all understand each other).

As stated in my earlier post these tribal appointments in key dockets started with the Kenyatta presidency in the sixties. President Daniel Arap Moi perfected it and that is why Kenyans voted overwhelmingly for Mwai Kibaki in 2002, a well educated economist whom they hoped would give the country a clean break from the past. Instead the man has proved to be worse than Moi because at least Moi did his tribal thing but showed leadership and kept the country peaceful. Mwai Kibaki continues to relentlessly push the country towards bloodshed with his clarion call wacha wapigane (let them fight), which he is on record as uttering several times in public whenever frustrated wananchi try to show their frustration towards his presidency.


P.S. It amazes me to what extent a man can go to just save face. Former commissioner of police Maj Gen Ali went to great lengths to “leak” a story to the media “to prove” that he was not fired from the police but was in fact being kept aside in preparation for a bigger post (chief of general staff). Kweli pride comes before a fall.

P.S. As “well educated” Kenyans continue to scream about tribe here the situation on the ground with the uneducated pumbavu masses is very different. I witnessed a fascinating discussion the other day between a bunch of Luos and Kikuyus over the current politics. Both tribes were in total agreement that Kibaki and Raila have failed the country big time and are the biggest obstacles to a new Kenya. Meanwhile President Kibaki is much more unpopular in his home districts of Othaya and Nyeri than he is in Mombasa where he still has a significant clique of die-hard supporters (am not sure why). And then Raila no longer goes to Kibera or Kisumu without heavy security and without hired hecklers positioned at the front of every crowd he addresses to ensure that his unpopularity amongst his own people remains a secret.

Ringera Tells KACC Board Off, he’s no Wanjala

This national obsession to embarrass President Kibaki must stop. After the MPs’ antic, now the KACC board is playing to the full gallery by waxing legalistic. But they met their Waterloo in Justice Aaron Ringera who reminded the excited bunch that he is no Dr Smokin Wanjala. The law don is better advised to stop inhaling whatever herb he has been smoking. By inducing Ringera and his deputy Ms Sichale to resign or re-apply after their positions are advertised, the board had their bullets singularly trained on Kibaki albeit via proxy. Well, President Kibaki has seen it all and has been there and back. Nobody knows the game better than him. Very soon all the loud mouth will be permanently zipped as he enjoys the last and longest laugh all the way to 2012. Kenya’s politics shifts with every one of the 42+ indigenous dialects. The hitherto fire-breathing MPs will come for the November parliamentary session both ethnically mellowed and fatigued. The Mau-for-Ringera preface shall have turned into an irresistible thriller. Professional buffoons The KACC board has proved to be nothing but a bunch of professional buffoons. They have been ADVISING through the media who never appointed them. What is more, payment for advertising Ringera’s post must be approved by the dragon slayer himself. And they thought our native Shakespeare is stupid to naively place his head on the chopping block? Vision 2030 and 2012 are both twined to KACC. Kibaki is no fool to let activists ruin his plans, NEVER. The stakes are sky-high and no amount of noise will stop the gravy train from docking come 2012 and beyond. Not even the two loudmouthed musketeers in Michael Ranneberger and Luis Moreno-Ocampo. NA BADO.

See Also;

Old Men In The Background Bringing Political Chaos To Kenya, Tanzania And Uganda

Did Kabuga Name DP Ruto At The ICC?

Felicien Kabuga And Patrick Shaw Biography

Fascinating Kumekucha Statistics And What I said In The Last Post

For those who do not already suspect from various insinuations made here in the past, the truth is that I and a close friend closely monitor the origin and behaviour of Kumekucha traffic virtually on an hourly basis. We use two different independent online tools that give us all the details including the ip addresses of every single visitor to this site. They show that at times the ip addresses are blocked. This is neither the time nor the place to go into the probable reasons of why somebody would want their ip address blocked so let us leave that story for another day.

One of the wonderful tools I use even gives me an instant breakdown on the exact numbers broken down in countries that are coming in to Kumekucha at any given time. Looking at those stats you don’t need a clock to know what time certain states in America are waking up to a new day. This graph shows that there are patriotic Kenyans scattered in every country you can think of all over the world.

Less than half a percent of the visitors to this site usually leave a comment. Meaning that it is impossible to gauge the real reaction of our readership to any post just from reading the comments. This is because out of those who read this site, such a minute fraction of a percentage usually leaves comments. Here is a breakdown from the statistics monitored over a long period of time.

1. 99.5% This is the vast majority of visitors. They do not leave any comments and rely heavily on Kumekucha for information on what is really going on behind the scenes. In recent times these numbers have understandably gone down as the rate at which this insider information is released in this site has gone down. This group includes newspaper and media house ip addresses that probably use the site to get ideas and leads for articles and stories in the main stream media. In this group will also be found those who read a post and look for direction and public opinion from the comments not knowing that some of those leaving comments are on a deliberate mission to control how information here is received and digested.

2. All the other groups fit into one single tiny percentage point of the total visitors who come to Kumekucha. This group includes a group who visit Kumekucha for entertainment. Their idea of entertainment is to leave abusive comments sometimes targeted at their imagined enemies and many times against the writer of the post.

3. Also in this tiny group are people whose job description includes ensuring that the influence of the blog is limited and that the impact of information released here is reduced as much as possible. These people work for various interested groups whose agenda could easily be affected if Kenyans had some certain bits of information that Kumekucha is notorious for revealing.

4. Again to be found in this group that is less than a half of a percentage point of the total visitors to Kumekucha are folks who have no idea what is happening here. They assume that this is just another blog where the founder dreams up fiction in his bedroom and quickly publishes it shortly thereafter. This group quickly warms up to group number 3 above and is usually quick to grasp and follow through on the ridiculous and doubting comments made by this other group.

5. There was a time this last group was fairly large. These are people who genuinely love their country and want the best for it. They look to this site to find like-minded people. The problem is that SOME of the good folks with good intentions in this group are naïve and easily swayed by group number 3. Some of them will never believe that this blog is monitored by any security agents even if the evidence was waved right under their very noses. (Incidentally I have lots of evidence to prove this particular point). The reason why this group has decreased in number is no accident. A carefully orchestrated campaign has always been targeted at everybody who leaves comments here and appears to fit under this category. Very crude tactics have been used and are still used to stop the good people in this group who are viewed as a threat for obvious reasons. Ladies are dealt with by using abusive language (one was repeatedly told that she is pregnant with the child of another commentator and that is the last time we heard from her). Occasionally we are forced to moderate comments because of the barrage of abusive language and comments left here. This is never an accident but a cautiously executed campaign that is usually successful in losing us hoardes of readers at a time (as our traffic and ip monitoring clearly shows us.)

It was therefore hardly surprising that my post yesterday (deliberately done on a weekend) received the kind of comments it did. To liven up things a little I even left a comment in Taabu’s post telling all you good folks to expect my explosive post this weekend. I know that I messed up the plans of some people to have a quiet long weekend away from work and the city, but I did it deliberately.

The whole point of this post is to summarize the key points in my last post because you will realize that with all that is going on in this blog it is easy to miss pertinent points in an article like my last long post. Secondly I would like to explain in a little more detail the meaning of some of this information.

- I revealed that there is a parallel intelligence unit and even gave the name of the person in the president’s inner circle who set it up. As far as I know this has NEVER been revealed before. This unit enjoys all the facilities and access that a top government unit would have except that it is in private hands and therefore is hidden from public scrutiny. It also means that if there is an investigation in future over certain evils that happened during the Kibaki era there will be hardly any evidence because officially this thing does NOT exist. The scary question here is why would there be need to set up such a thing? One possibility is to do something that there must never be any evidence of.

- What I said about the rapid expansion and meteoric rise of the AP police force is no secret and is in the public domain. However by going back to history and giving the example of the Ngoroko and Kenyatta’s inner circle in the last days of his presidency, my post brought some disturbing questions to the fore. More evidence is to be found in the appointments to key security posts (to avoid questions). And then you need to answer the nagging question; what is all this fuss with the AP about? In view of the fact that we all know that President Kibaki has already shown that he is unable to stomach the idea of handing over power to somebody else who could hurt him and dig into what he has done during his tenure means that there is great cause for alarm here. It should be pretty obvious to Kenyans that Kibaki will never hand over power to anybody but his appointed choice ONLY. Anybody who believes otherwise is dreaming and should wake up pronto.

- When you consider all this information next to the looming succession it becomes very clear that Kenya is in very serious trouble and it looks like we are already so deceived and conveniently too divided along tribal and class lines to be in a position to stop those who have taken the country hostage.

P.S. There was a dear reader who recently asked me to do a post on those who would wish a speedy demise of this site. I hope that this post gives them a large percentage of the answer they are looking for. Please let me know.

Deadly Decisions And The Kibaki Succession Part 2

Mbiyu Koinange, bossom buddy of President Kenyatta. He was so powerful that he would welcome his excellency to address the nation as Minister of State (the duty of the Vice President). Ironically the street named after him today is a notorious red light area at night. Koinange was the man who changed Kenya's destiny by not being at Kenyatta's side the night the president died.

I apologize in advance because this post is going to be rather long. It was absolutely necessary because it contains some pretty scary information which I believe a number of Kenyans have already lost their lives for knowing or for stumbling across.

There are a number of reasons why in recent times I have not been making posts in this blog that I founded a little over 4 years ago. One of the main ones stems from some of the scary information you are about to read here. I must admit that I have always rubbished the suggestion that ignorance is bliss and it is much better not to know a lot of stuff because the more you know the more scary it gets. If you had suggested something like this to me just a year ago I would have laughed at you pitifully.

But now I am not so sure. In fact there are many times when I wish I hadn’t started Kumekucha in the first place because it would not have led me to the almost hopeless situation I now find myself in. And so one of the reasons why I have been quiet is because I have been feeling hopeless. More so as Kenyans debate issues that have been deliberately pushed to the forefront as smoke screens to mask the real issues. The scary stuff. Then I asked myself what can a small blog like Kumekucha do to change things? I am aware that this site has had some impact in the politics of the land. But one can only do so much. When issues escalate to what they are today my view is that we do not have enough good people in Kenya to take the information you are about to read here seriously enough to do something about it.

Still, I have decided to reveal a few things here today.

In Part 1 of this post I gave you a background as to why the executive was reduced to tribal and indeed family appointments way back during the Kenyatta days. It was all a question of survival. I also said that the Kibaki administration has a lot of similarities to the Kenyatta administration. However there is one subtle difference that makes the situation even more dangerous in the Kibaki administration. Those close to the president may be hailing from his Mount Kenya enclosure but the difference is that many of them are very well educated and capable individuals. Some are amongst the wealthiest and most powerful Kenyans around. If you compare these fellows to the simple people from the Kalenjin community who surrounded President Moi you will realize that Moi’s men were nothing short of loyal village goons who quickly evaporated with his presidency. Those around Kibaki will not just disappear when the president leaves office. They will remain behind in powerful positions and situations to protect him long after he has left. In other words the next president of Kenya will be faced with the same problem faced by Moi when he took over power in 1978 only this time the situation is much more deadly and difficult to deal with.

Appointments in security organs in the Kibaki administration have to be trusted completely. Trusted to have their loyalty only towards the president and NOT the country. What would you do if you were faced with a situation where you have to abandon your loyalty to your country in order to remain loyal to the individual holding the office of the president of the republic?

This is exactly what is happening in the Kibaki administration. And that is why certain key security positions cannot just be filled by anybody (even if they are the right tribe). Indeed it is not an accident that finance is as sensitive to Kibaki as security is. The two are very closely tied together because a lot of dirty things have to be heavily financed with tax payer’s cash without too many questions being asked. Remember the error in the budget that Uhuru Kenyatta told us was a computer error, earlier this year? By the way if you believed this line then you would believe anything including me telling you one day that some inaccurate information I published in my post here was due to a “computer error”. Computers never make errors, humans do. Feed a computer garbage and it gives you exactly that back. Naturally you can also feed it with an alleged error. Anyway I hope that point has sunk in so that you understand the bombshell I am about to drop.

For a long time now reports that I have been receiving and even signs to the observant point to the fact that the Kibaki administration has been creating secret parallel security organs. Stanley Murage one of the president’s closest aides was reported to have been putting together a parallel intelligence unit about 2 years before the ill-fated 2007 elections (it could even have been earlier). There are numerous happenings since then that suggest that this unit is up and running. The brains behind it are hired individuals who hail from a foreign power known to have the best intelligence unit in the world. Now my question is why would you need such a unit and yet we have the NSIS which reports directly to the executive?

We also know that the Administration police has grown immensely in stature and power since the Kibaki administration took over. For many years the AP was nothing but a handful of semi-illiterate policemen scattered around the country to help chiefs and other provincial administration personnel carry out their duties on the ground. Today the AP has grown so much so that the main stream police force feel very threatened by it. Why?

Whatever the reason for this it all means that whoever is appointed police commissioner would need to be somebody who can look the other way and have complete loyalty to the executive at the expense of their loyalty to the country. When you grasp this you will understand former police commissioner Ali and the current police commissioner Mathew Iteere very well. By the way, Iteere hails from the much trusted Mt Kenya tribe of the Meru who have always voted for Kibaki almost to a man. (Some cheeky rumours have it that Kibaki has some Meru blood in him, don't ask me how).

Here there are some uncanny similarities that the current Kibaki succession seems to have with the Kenyatta succession. Let me explain. In the late 70s there was a special anti-stock theft police unit that was created from State house whose main purpose was to deal with cattle rustling in remote parts of the country like amongst the Pokot. The explanation for the existence of this force made plenty of sense. Cattle theft even in those days was being carried out by heavily armed bandits in remote terrains that they knew well. So nobody butted an eye lid when this unit quickly became one of the best equipped and best armed in the country. And neither did anybody get suspicious when it became known that the members of the new anti-stock theft unit were also being trained as paratroopers. The unit I am talking about came to be known as the Ngoroko (headed by the then powerful assistant commissioner of police in charge of Rift Valley, James Mungai. Mungai was related to President Jomo Kenyatta. The man now lives in Nyali, Mombasa (see this earlier Kumekucha post). Shortly after President Moi came into power it was revealed that the real purpose of this unit had been to ensure that on the death of President Kenyatta, a number of powerful politicians who would be in line to take over power constitutionally would be executed and power would pass on to one of president Kenyatta’s men. Unconstitutionally of course.

Now I am not suggested anything. I am just giving you the facts as they are. So make up your own mind as to what is really happening. If you want to say history may repeat itself, then the facts thus far will support your insinuation. And what makes it even scarier is the fact that those around Kenyatta did not have as much to lose as those surrounding Kibaki now.

But let me make it very clear that this post is not about Kikuyu-bashing. The Ngoroko unit was NOT created to keep the Kikuyu in power. It was created to keep a few individuals in power (they just happened to be from the Kikuyu community). More recently it is not clear what the mysterious contingent of APs sent to every constituency shortly before the 2007 general elections were supposed to do. But one thing I am certain about is that they were NOT acting in the interests of the Kikuyu community. They were acting in the interests of a few very powerful individuals who happen to be Kikuyu.

Now the big problem here is that one of the agents of these powerful people will make a comment here about how this is a Kikuyu-bashing post and before you know it emotions will start running high and my dear Kikuyu readers will rubbish all the information here. Perfect smoke screen, don’t you think? And that is exactly what happened in the run up to the 2007 general elections. Our Kenyan brothers who happened to be Kikuyu were told that ODM were going to finish them. And I played right into their hands in this blog by writing about a number of things the Kikuyu community had done against other Kenyans. My timing stunk but had the desired effect for those who own Kenya. I urge my Kikuyu brethren to wake up and see how we are all being used by a tiny clique of politicians to rise up and fight against each other whilst our real enemies continue to get spectacularly rich at our expense. In the end we all suffer irrespective of our tribes.

To be honest I do not see how these people can be stopped. With our current constitution all the power is in State House. And more importantly the executive controls all the resources and provincial administration to get anything done. In other words Kenyans had no reason being so frightened during the Moi succession. They had good reason to be scared when Kenyatta died however they are justified to get into a serious panic over the Kibaki succession.

These are more or less the same people who plotted to retain power after the death of Kenyatta. The excuse was to protect the Kenyatta family. They remember the mistakes that were made and are bound to make sure that they succeed this time round.

I take refuge in the fact that men make plans but it is only GOD who is the final decision maker. I am convinced (and so are many other people who know the facts) that the Ngoroko plan would have worked and Kenyatta’s close aides would have retained the presidency amongst themselves in 1978. Only one small stupid thing went wrong that fateful night in August 21st 1978. For the first time in over 20 years, a man called Mbiyu Koinange was NOT at Kenyatta’s side that night. He had to rush to Nairobi on some urgent business. Can you imagine that!!! On the night that Kenyatta chooses to die the Ngoroko link within State House happened NOT to be there. And that is how Vice President Moi and others like Mwai Kibaki survived assassination. The information of Kenyatta’s death reached Moi before it reached the Ngoroko. That was GOD.

Ohh and there was something else that the plotters got wrong. They greatly underestimated Moi’s intelligence. To this day I know many people who believe that somebody who cannot express themselves in English is NOT intelligent. They also believe that people who can speak the Queens language in the correct accent are very very intelligent.

Well Moi already had a plan in advance that he had gone over for years. Who to contact, what to do, who was going to help etc. He had no illusions because his life depended on it. He put that plan in motion and got past a Ngoroko road block the night Kenyatta died hidden inside a very dusty old Peugeot 404. Moi is a very tall man and he must have been very uncomfortable but it was a small price to pay for living and rising to the presidency of the republic of Kenya.

I believe that that same God will save Kenya once again, just like he did in 1978. If HE chooses to, that is.

But I thought that you, my dear friends, should have this information. If anything happens to me then you must know that it will have something to do with this post. These people have invested too much to be easily stopped at this eleventh hour. However I am optimistic that I will survive and that Kenya will too. It is all in the hands of the Almighty.


P.S. The Ringera information I promised will be in my next post. I stumbled across some more information that I want to tie it up with. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Beginning Of Long Waited El Nino Here

Stepping away from the circus that is Kenyan politics for just a minute; the beginning of the long awaited el nino rains is finally here; true to script when the rains which are projected by the meterology department to last until early January 2010 begun to fall at 7pm kenyan time tonight, the entire nairobi city went into chaotic mode with the badly driven roads becoming clogged up with long winding queues of traffic as rain-scared kenyans rushed to hurry and get to the safety of their dry homes

No un-kidnapped school children will be singing their usual naughty nursery rhymes "rain rain go away we don't want to play another day" In a year that has seen the country ravaged by prolonged drought, biting famine and lack of electric power, the beginning of El nino is a welcome relief to millions of thirst stricken kenyans who due to the lack of water in the country have had to endure with all types of woes including an irrational power rationing schedule that has seen many homes and small businesses across in the country plunged into a 3-4 day a week blackout from 6am-6pm

It would come as a great surprise if the Govt. which has failed to stop drought and famine in the 21st century has learnt any lesson from the heavy negative impact these 3 supposed "acts of God" have had on the growth and economy of the country. They are of course hoping that the on-set of the "Christ Child" will restore rainfall levels to normal, and will boost agriculture as well as power generation in the country by increasing the low levels of water in the hydroelectric power generating dams

Anyway, lets forget about "acts of man" such as forward planning, investment and straight thinking for a while; for now it's "karibu el-nino"

Poor KACC No.2 Resigns, Next Head Please!

The resignation of Dr. Smokin Wanjala as KACC’s deputy director in charge of preventive services shows he is a political feather weight. Dr. Wanjala can choose to wax spiritual in defending his dignity but his gimmicks only succeeds in soothing his academic ego. The real target of MPs remain the dragon slayer Ringera who is staying PUT.

Wanjala must have lived in outer space and he just landed into alien Kenyan political landscape. You see on these shores of the planet we give conscience abundant leave and public pressure and opinion a wide berth. The Anglo Leasing stakes are too high to prod Shakespeare Ringera into even contemplating resignation.

Some dockets in the present regime are TOO SENSITIVE and IMPORTANT to be entrusted to aliens. A look at treasury, CBK and internal security will disabuse doubting Thomases of any trace of pretense otherwise.

Dr. Wanjala's resignation will definitely NOT rattle the ruling reptiles. Surely dinosaurs never learn. All the old gimmick of scheming for 2012 using state power will come tumbling down like dominoes. We are in the 21st Century and the village brilliance of yore will bring the same bloodshed just like insensitive electoral theft of 2007.

Denial must be a fortress for its faithful residence. As Chris posted earlier, the BATTLE ROYALE of 2012 will make the 2007 preface fade into irrelevance. Ringera is going nowhere, MTA DO?

Deadly Decisions And The Kibaki Succession Part I

How did the bloody revolution in Zanzibar in 1964 affect Kenya and especially the tradition of tribal appointments that persists to this day?

It is fairly easy to criticize without understanding things properly and that is exactly what Mwai Kibaki did before 2002 and the next president of Kenya had better not make the same mistake. The lives and livelihood of millions of Kenyans depends on this mistake NOT being repeated.

And so in this post I will think aloud in an effort to understand all that is wrong with decision-making at the executive level in this country so that the next president of Kenya deliberately takes a very different path. This is a preamble to one of the most disturbing posts I have ever penned here.

Why are all my posts these days about the presidency, I hear you asking? Fair question.

It is because I am of the view that what will save Kenya is decisive leadership at the top (at the executive level). I have never believed in management by committee which is exactly what parliament is. And I am not trying to pour cold water on the heroic deed in the august house last night.

For starters it is important to appreciate the fact that Kenya is exactly where she is today mainly because of executive decisions made within the walls of State House over the past couple of years since early 2003. Don’t forget that the executive in Kenya is so terribly powerful that even Kings from ancient times brought back to life today to see for themselves the power wielded by the president of Kenya would turn red with envy.

Have you ever wondered why it is that decisions made by the executive just make you wonder what kind of advisors are surrounding the president and if they really do have something in the space between their ears? Have you wondered why it is that certain key posts in government cannot be filled by any other tribe outside GEMA or the Mount Kenya tribes as some would like to call them? A good example is the Finance docket. What tribe is the minister of Finance? What tribe was his predecessor? And what tribe was the acting Finance minister before the current appointment? What tribe is the PS? What about the Central Bank of Kenya? What tribe is the governor who was appointed instead of a very capable and brave Kenyan woman called Mrs Mwatela? Remember her?

But closer to the subject of my post today let us take a look at security. What tribe is the head of intelligence in Kenya? What tribe is the new police commissioner? What tribe is the minister in charge of internal security? Did you know that all the ministers in this docket during the Kibaki administration have come from the same tribe? Mere coincidence? Or will you choose to give me an Alfred-Mutua-spin answer to counter my facts. Remember the one about the government having more Luhyas than any other tribe according to a Mutua audit. That made me think that maybe the government employs too many watchmen and cooks. Excuse my joke but my mother hails from the land of ingokho, feelanga free and natuma-salamu so I guess I am allowed this joke.

Kenyans need to know that there is a good reason to everything and many of the answers can be found in history. As I told a friend the other day, to understand the Kibaki administration you need to understand the Kenyatta administration because the difference between the two is continuously blurring before my very eyes every day.

To shed more light here, lets go back to 1964. The then infant Kenyatta government was just beginning to settle in and the mood deep inside that administration at the time is important to note here. That mood was ruled by one central emotion; fear.

Let me explain. In that year some rather frightening events unfolded in rapid succession. The year started with a very bloody coup in neighbouring Zanizibar. The coup was orchestrated by a Ugandan policeman called Okello. One description of the events in Zanzibar in Januray 1964 sums it all up rather neatly. They said that there were “rivers of Arab blood flowing on the streets of the Stone town.” Closer to Nairobi, this was closely followed by a very serious army mutiny at the Lanet barracks in Nakuru. Details of it are still very scanty to this day, but Tom Mboya played a key role in finally getting things under control. Read more about this in an earlier Kumekucha post HERE.

Events across Africa and especially in Nigeria where military coups were happening at a speed that is almost similar to the way that country produces movies these days, were causing even more fear in the corridors of power in Nairobi.

The writing was clearly on the wall. The priority had to be how to survive. Development and fair appointments based only on merit would have to take a back seat. It was clear that any wise African president had to find people they could trust and preferably folks they could speak to in their mother tongue. And this had nothing to do with properly understanding instructions. This led to a very dangerous precedent where the president’s closest advisors increasingly became people form his community and ultimately from his village. To prove it, it is instructive to note that at the height of the Kenyatta administration, oaths were taken by senior offivcials in government and the security forces to ensure that the presidency would never cross River Chania (that is the river that divides Kikuyus from Kiambu with their close brothers from Nyeri.

What many Kenyans may have not realized at the time is the grave danger of having all your closest advisors being people from your village who all think and reason the same. What do you think that does to the quality of decision-making?

I was watching a DVD of my favourite TV show, 24 the other day and in it the president of the United States had all his advisors around him and was listening to two sharply opposing views on how to handle a major crisis. That is how it has always been and should be since ancient times. It is how great Kings like King David and King Solomon (the wisest of them all) went about their business successfully.

If you really think about it, you will now begin to realize why the quality of decision-making in the Kibaki administration has been wanting and has often disappointed even his closest allies.

Imagine the situation in State House Nairobi shortly before the 2007 presidential election “results” were released. I would bet you a nyama choma lunch of my favourite juicy goat meat that all those around the table were in agreement that trouble would come from “those stone-throwing Jaruos who carry stones in brief cases to Gor Mahia soccer matches at the stadium.” What do you think they would have said if somebody as much as suggested that the whole country was in a foul mood after a presidential campaign that started immediately after referendum vote over a new constitution? Do you think you would have been given a hearing if you had pointed out that the Kalenjin community could cause serious trouble in the Rift Valley? How many Kenyan lives did that decision cost? Ooops I know figures vary from a paltry 600 to the Kumekucha 5,000.

Now imagine the situation in State House shortly before the decisive cabinet meeting recently to pass a decision over the Hague-versus-local-tribunal-to-try-post-election-violence-suspects issue. I can almost hear several people I know telling the president; “I don’t see any crisis here. You are the president. Tell them that it will all be sorted out by the Truth Justice and Reconciliation commission. What can they do?” In this decision lies a grave danger and a common trend within the corridors of power since 2003. This trend is where decisions are made that instead of solving the problem escalate it while postponing the explosion to a later date. That is exactly what happened when the Kibaki administration ignored intense pressure to postpone the referendum on the new constitution in 2005 and instead concentrating on cooling temperatures countrywide. The decision to go ahead with that referendum postponed the explosion to a much bigger one in early 2008.

…To be continued soon

N.B. My next post will be a continuation of this one where I will focus more closely on the appointments in security and what the real motive behind them is. I will also say something surprising about why Justice Ringera was re-appointed.

Ringera: MPs Claim an Inch, Crave a Mile

Kibaki is in REAL foul mood. And he rarely acquires that stench of a mood unless the picky Kenyan press dares upset Lucy. Now the MPs have left all the hair strands at the back of Kibaki's neck standing and stiffly so. Woe unto the next head his axe will land on.

MPs will live to rue the day they subjected Kenya's CEO to ridicule. As they adjourned, the loudmouthed lot were all glee in embarrassing the President oblivious of his last sweetest and longest laugh.

Ringera is not going anywhere, WATA DO? Time heals all wounds and Kibaki knows it better than any voluble Kenyan politician. Come next parliamentary session in November and the warthogs shall have forgotten everything including their unpleasant faces.

What's more, the myriad political alliances shall have mutated into all the rainbow colours hence promptly relegating the present heat to political archives. Surely, there are no permanent friends nor foes in politics. Instead the permanent selfish interest of trading Mau for Ringera is a profitable and bankable deal. NA BADO.

Guess Who Wants To Be President?

There is nothing wrong with anybody wanting to be president of the republic of Kenya, after all it is their constitutional right. But there are many times when I am extremely grateful that wanting and becoming president are NOT the same thing.

Before I talk about the central character I want to talk about in this post let me start with some encouraging news on the forthcoming presidential elections. It seems that finally we have some very different kind of candidates thinking of standing for the highest office in the land. My view is that as many of these kind of people should be encouraged to stand for the presidency so that, among other things it forces a change on the ground rules where Kenyans can now begin to look beyond the tribe of the presidential candidate and instead focus on their vision and potential to bring about real change in Kenya.

Some of the faces we are likely to see that are exciting me include former chairman of the Human Rights commission, Maina Kiai and Mwalimu “error in the budget” Mati. None of these gentlemen are anywhere near being perfect for the job but then standing for the presidency does not mean being the ideal candidate. There are a number of other interesting names lining up that I have opted to leave out at this time. But please keep your eyes focused on this space and I will spill the beans soon.

But back to the main gist of my post today.

Insider sources are telling me things that make my ears ring and emotions well up inside me (not good emotions I can assure you).

Have you heard of a lawyer called Mutula Kilonzo who is now Justice Minister? I am sure you know plenty about the current Mbooni legislator. But chances are that you hardly know anything about his past. This Kumekucha post should update you quite a bit on that.

Anyway, in recent times you will have noticed that Kilonzo seems to be campaigning for something. He clearly stood on the side of majority of Kenyans when the cabinet was debating the controversial subject of forming a local tribunal to try post election violence suspects and ended up opting for a lame truth and reconciliation commission. Mutula said some very nice things that must have endeared him to many gullible Kenyans. More recently the “recently brave” legislator has named names in parliament of people he says are corrupt including the president’s bosom buddy and close advisor Eddy Njoroge who is the CEO of Kengen.

Some political analysts have noted what Mr Kilonzo is doing and have suggested that the man is still campaigning for Kalonzo Musyoka who is expected to try for the presidency again in 2012. What these analysts don’t know is that Mr Musyoka and Mr Kilonzo are not the friends they were during the 2007 presidential elections. What is emerging is that Mr Kilonzo has seen many political blunders that Musyoka made in 2007 and believes he can do a much better job this time round.

In fact Mr Kilonzo believes that he even gathered plenty of experience from that race. Did you know that it was Kilonzo who was behind the infamous “wiper” slogan that Kalonzo Musyoka used in his presidential campaigns. Now I have a question to ask. What exactly was that wiper business all about? What did it mean? Did the common man (voter) understand what it was supposed to mean? I am still buffled as we speak and don’t have the slightest clue what it was meant to say. What was Kalonzo Musyoka wiping? I suspect it had something to do with the windshield wiper of a car. Now how many matatu-travelling-Kenyans can identify with that?

And this brings us to the main weakness this would-be presidential candidate would have in any race for State House. He is totally out of touch with the ordinary folks on the ground. We can start with his vast Mbooni constituency where as you read this Kenyans are starving. Fellow Kenyans things are really bad with our brothers down there, believe me. No deaths have been reported so far but my sources on the ground tell me that things are catastrophic and if you visited the place you would not believe that you were still in the same Kenya where some readers of this blog had a five course lunch today.

This is why I get upset when some characters announce their interest in being president. You see it is fairly easy to read their minds. What do you think they are dreaming about? Helping Kenyans? Improving the lot of ordinary folk? OFCOURSE NOT. They are dreaming of long motorcades (much longer than that of the president of the USA for instance). They are dreaming of honour and glory for themselves. And that is one reason why things went badly wrong shortly after we emerged from the polls in 2002.

And you can be sure that this is the same thinking that the whole lot (e.g. Kalonzo Musyoka, Mutula Kilonzo, Raila Odinga, Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto etc) have. They are all oblivious of the kind of pressing challenges facing ordinary folks that need to be addresses like yesterday.

I will finish my post with a short story from some of Mutula Kilonzo’s constituents.

In the run up to the last elections, Mutula asked some constituents from Mbooni to organize a “small crowd” (mainly for the TV cameras) to pay a “courtesy call” to a group of politicians from Ukambani (including Mutula himself) who were having a meeting in Nairobi. When the constituents asked how the poor folks were to be transported all the way to Nairobi (to get to Nairobi from Mbooni you need to travel to Machakos first where the fare is the same as what you will pay from Machakos to Nairobi), Mutula advised that they get transport on credit and the bill would be footed the minute the Matatus arrived in Nairobi.

When the group arrived in Nairobi Mutula received them warmly and promised them that they would get money at the end of the meeting. When the meeting was over he changed his mind and told the rural folk to pay their own transport back and then their leaders would visit his offices at Corner House in Nairobi on Monday to collect the cash to pay all the expenses.

To cut a long story short those leaders of the group from Mbooni ended up being stranded in Nairobi without even the fare to get back home after several promises failed to materialize weeks after that Monday. To this day, almost 2 years later, Mr Kilonzo has NOT honoured his pledge to his poor constituents who were forced to foot the bill. And to make matters worse, the people of Mbooni never see their MP on the ground these days. He is too busy building his national profile (and now you know why). Chances are that he will rush to Mbooni at the very last minute and the people will vote for him to be president (almost to a man) because he is one of their sons. Or so it seems (I hope that they can give him the nasty surprise he deserves, especially after the hunger pangs they are suffering just now).

Ringera: Kibaki, VP Right, MPs Disrespectful

The loudmouthed MPs must have chewed more than they can swallow. After disrespecting the President and subjecting him to ridicule on Ringera, the MPs are now destined to meet they collective Waterloo.

Speaker Marende has opened a Pandora box and all the demons are fighting to snuff life out of Kenya. As the VP succinctly put it, Marende is not only watering the seeds of constitutional impasse but he is shamelessly undermining the president who remains the singular head of state and government.

No more parliamentary dictatorship. Uhuru’s REALPOLITIK will carry the day. The ungrateful nominated MP Amina Abdalla who chairs Parliament’s Delegated Legislation Committee will be taught the lesson to never bite the political hands feeding her.

The last laugh is surely the longest and sweetest. Kibaki has been there and seen it all. Ringera is going nowhere and the voluble MPs are better advised to prepare their stomachs for constipation from humble pie. Kenya has its owners and the MPs must not pretend otherwise.

Is There Anything Like A Kenyan Dream?

What American dream?

Of course I would love to talk about the American dream, but having lived out there I find nothing realistic about it. Indeed, it is dead. If dreams were made of pain, then what folks go through to achieve the dream in America is just what a man does not need. In Europe the pain is even more acute given the secretly racist nature of folks in that continent to the north of us.

Which brings me to what I hope we can and must choose to work on for the sake of our children and posterity. I'm talking here about the Kenyan dream. By invoking the term dream, I'm not talking about a utopia or an essentially perfect little island here in East Africa. No. What I'm actually about to envision for your consideration is a nation united by a set of principles and governed by a core of goals that all her citizens will work to achieve...since the goals will be understood as the mark of success.

Before I lay out the goals, let me warn here that seasoned democracies in the West have struggled over the years to create nations that were truly living the dream, yet as any Diasporian will tell you, that dream can remain a dream for a long long time. Take America, for example, can anybody tell me that struggling with bigotry and xenophobia is something a great nation like that one would want to be confronting this deep into the history of the world? Wasn't it the dream of the Founding Fathers and even Dr. King that one day the children of America would all be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin?

Makes me wonder.

But so much for that.

Here is the Kenyan Dream:

1. That all Kenyans who want to work will find jobs that pay enough for them to take care of their children and provide a warm nest for their spouses in the form of a reasonable home.

2. That Kenyans will learn to see fellow Kenyans as members of one big family, where the pain of one brother or sister hurts us all.

3. That this nation will be governed democratically by men and women who place the Lord first in everything they do.

Fellow Kenyans, on this beautiful Monday morning in Nairobi, I'm back to my office humbled by a ride I took deep into a zone where my Kalenjin brothers live. I felt deeply inspired by the love extended to me and my team out there. Those are the moments that make it hard for me to lose hope in the future of this nation. It may be long in coming, but we have a bright future. In spite of the many problems we face, we can and must work to overcome them one at a time.

It is a blessing to have a dream.

Let it be the Kenyan dream!

Maj Gen Ali, Why I’ll Not Weep for You

Former victim of Ali tells all

Dear Maj Gen Ali,

Sir, my name is Stephen Muiruri, a former Crime Editor at Nation Media Group, whose 11-year successful career as Kenya’s top crime and security journalist ended in disgrace on February 2, 2007, after I crossed your dangerous path. I should have known better not to play with a rattle snake. However, I have no regret for disobeying you or loosing my job. This gave me the opportunity to live with a clear conscience for the rest of my life and in the next world.


First, let me offer my sincere apology for addressing you in an open forum like this and disturbing your peace before you even recover from the shock from your recent misfortunes. I admit it is a sign of disrespect to an army general of your stature. I was close to you for two years and I know you detest your weakness being known, leave alone being exposed. You prefer people to sing your praises and worship you like God. I fully understand why you like it that way. The blood of a true solder and warrior flows in your veins. Water flows in our veins and that’s why you treat us with scorn and contempt.


A general of your calibre is powerful and is always right. You expect other human beings to accord you the holiness of God and never question any of your actions – either stupid or idiotic. Had you given your new post office box to the journalists you laboured so hard to convince for more than 45 minutes you were not sacked, when handing over to new police chief Mathew Iteere, I would have sent this letter directly to your new office of Post Master General. You have to bear with this form of delivery.


Secondly, let me express my sincere sympathy with the manner the master you served so faithfully unceremoniously showed you the door. I watched you on TV trying to laugh off journalists’ suggestions you had been sacked or removed. “It’s not a question of removal . . . removal presupposes you have been chucked out on the basis of incompetence. That’s not certainly the case with me or anywhere else I have served,” you declared. Yes, a general like you never fails!


Sir, I fully understand how you feel. A real soldier like you should not be depicted as weak or outsmarted by your opponent. A solder like you can never be sacked. That word simply does not exist in your vocabulary. I suffered an almost similar fate on February 2, 2007, because of you. Unlike you, I resigned when I could not allow my employer to tailor-make my stories – where police death squads directly answerable to you and murderous gangs had turned Kenya into a killing field and we were swimming in their blood - to suit the selfish journalism that brought a smile on your face.


It was your heart-felt desire that I pretend I was dumb and deaf as Kenyans swum in their own blood. And your bank account could continue swelling with a hefty salary and you continued enjoying the warmth of the powerful post of Kenya’s top cop. In doing so, I was to help you keep your job by creating an impression you were God-sent soldier who wiped any form of crime from the face of Kenya. On the other hand, my bank account would have continued to swell with a monthly salary of close to Sh200, 000 from the employer you expected me cheat on your behalf. You didn’t care I would have lived a haunted man for the rest of my life with bloody hands to cover your dirty tracks.


Sir, I share your feelings of loosing a plum job especially when you had served your employer so faithfully. I felt the same on February 2, 2007. Unlike you, I did not get a soft landing after I crossed your path. You were given a new job. I vanished into the wilderness to run my tour business. But unlike in your case, I was not sacked. I resigned in principle. When I studied English at Kenyatta University for four years, professors told me that when you are removed from the office you held, you are simply unwanted. So, in your case your boss did not want you and he sacked you. If you were not, you would still be holding onto that office today.


Sir, I watched you on September 4, when former CNN journalist, Jeff Koinange, hosted you on his lively Capital Talk show on K24 TV and you smiled when you declared: “I’m going nowhere. I’m here to stay.” Koinange was amused and teased you: “You even smile when saying that . . . you make me laugh. . . . people are not used to see you smile!”


Although you trained in military intelligence to read other people’s minds, you mistook Koinange’s warmth and laughter throughout the show as falling into your worship doctrine. Koinange has a sharp mind and that’s why he advanced his journalism career to levels majority of Kenyan journalists will only dream about. He asked you hard questions as he laughed to conceal what he was driving at, And you thought he was doing public relations for you! Finally, you uttered: “The police job is the most thankless job.” I burst out in laughter. So, finally it had dawned on you the commissioner’s job was not a pontiff’s job?


Sir, as you sat on the bench, where Koinange conducts his shows, extolling your achievements and bragging to your critics you were going nowhere, your military intelligence mind seemed to fail you. The writing had been on the wall for months and it was just a matter of when the axe would fall on your head. In your wild dreams, you thought you would stay on at Vigilance House until a time of your own choosing or when God dispatched you to the other world. Desperate to save their face and image, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga were working hard behind the scenes to drop the axe on your head. While we saw it coming, you were so drunk with power, pride and arrogance and your mind failed to give you the right signals. The axe fell four days after you bragged how you are God’s gift to Kenya.


Sir, just to refresh your memory I was the only crime journalist you warmed up to for almost two years after President Kibaki gave you the commish job. I held a powerful post of Crime Editor in the largest media house in East and Central Africa region. No other journalist in Kenya has ever held that post. The post was hurriedly scrapped by Linus Gitahi after I resigned. He could not risk having another man hold such a powerful post due to the obvious risk. What if the new holder followed in my footsteps and discharged his job independently by refusing to be manipulated to write stories giving a false impression the police were doing a good job to please a commish and political leadership allergic to criticism and the truth?


When you looked around the media industry, I was the most lethal. I posed the biggest risk to your police job. Other media houses had junior reporters and correspondents (casual journalists) handling the crime beat and you didn’t consider them harmful or dangerous. As an editor and an experienced journalist, I had Kiboro’s ear and he gave me a free hand to do my job.


For two years, you exclusively invited me to your office. I was the only journalist who had your cellphone number and other telephone numbers. When you frequently changed your cellphone number, you sent me the new number. We could exchange text messages and you invited me for cups of tea. I declined to take your tea or take a cent from you like what most journalists shamelessly do while pretending to hold a higher moral ground than the Kamlesh Pattni’s and public officers they tear into piece and bring down. For the 11 years I worked in NMG, I learnt how the media worked. Reporters and editors are quick to spot and expose the log in other people’s eyes while they had bigger logs in their own eyes. You were amazed why I often refused to take even a cup of tea from your thermos flask. That is the Stephen Muiruri you underrated.


As our friendship flourished, I realised you had other ideas. You wanted to use our friendship for your advantage. You called me to your office or on my cellphone to seduce me like a man in love to a girl couching me how to scale down major crimes like the attack on Ngugi wa Thiong’o. I politely told you I would never do anything unprofessional. You had your job. I had my job. You had your employer. I had my employer. We were serving different masters and had different interests.


You were the fifth police commissioner I worked with. I had created a warm friendship with your predecessors. The four CID chiefs whose tenure coincided with mine were my good buddies. I had direct access to their offices without any appointment. But we all respected each other’s territory. None of them asked me to do anything unprofessional. And they did not take offence with my reporting or when I exposed things they wanted put in a tight lid. In fact, they respected me for managing to dig up the filth they thought was well hidden. To date, we have remained great friends with all the other former police chiefs and CID chiefs.


Sir, you will recall we started taking different paths in 2005 when I refused to bend my professionalism to make you happy. The row climaxed in October 2005 when your own officers shot dead four people during protests in Kisumu over the referendum on the Wako draft Constitution.


If you recall, you called a press conference at police headquarters to counter calls for your sacking and offered your total support to the killer riot squad. With TV cameras rolling, you shameless claimed police opened fire when a mob attempted to raid Kondele police station in an attempt to steal arms. And you declared you had no apology to make to anyone over what happened. After the shootings, Odinga was furious and he demanded you return to the Army where he said “they were trained to kill people.”


Although you were my friend, I didn’t let the story die. I dig up. Daily Nation published my exclusive full page investigative article revealing that three of the victims of trigger-happy police were school children and they were caught up in the mayhem when schools were closed and bumped into police chasing demonstrators. They were killed in school uniform and their school bags were still on their back. The fourth victim was an innocent milk vendor. So, none of the four was taking part in the protests.


You were so furious with me over the story and you called me names and hang up my call. However, you changed your mind and apologised because you thought I would be more dangerous with my pen if you didn’t have me as a friend. Your case was complicated because you had tried to pollute Wilfred Kiboro, my CEO, I was bad man but he had often told you off since you had no facts to back your wild claims. Your only choice was to work with me.


The last time you called me to your office was on January 6, 2006. You were at the time roasting in boiling fat after the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, Mr Justice Aaron Ringera, on December 15, 2005, released a damming statement revealing the countrywide police recruitment you had just presided was riddled with massive corruption.


You couched me how I should discredit the Ringera dossier. I told you I deal with facts and not mudslinging. You were furious a mere journalist could disobey your orders. You issued a threat to the effect that we would see who would loose his job first. You were right. I lost mine one year after your prophecy. I informed my bosses of all my encounters with you. I also carried a tape and secretly recorded all my discussions with you. Kiboro stood behind me.


Sir, you then fell out with Internal Security Minister John Michuki and CID chief Joseph Kamau. They did not trust you and used your own police to raid the Standard behind you back. I told the truth and saved you from public anger. Michuki and Kamau didn’t mind what I exposed about them. The two carry a heavy burden to date.


When I became untamable, you desperately sought refuge in other media houses. And they welcomed you. They reported only what was sweet music to your ears. I continued telling the stories as they were. I told stories of your boardroom rows with Kamau and Michuki and other Government officials. You clashed with anyone who held a different opinion from yours. During our happy days, you told me you only took orders from two men – the president (being the appointing authority and commander in chief of the armed forces) and the chief of general staff. The rest of us were civilians and you could not bow to us. We had to worship you.


While other media houses turned a blind eye to your rows and escalating wave of crime, I unleashed a series of stories and Daily Nation took pride with my stories. I even did a better job in the Standard raid than the bereaved. Kiboro was so proud of me.


When all attempts to convince Kiboro failed, you turned to Wangethi Mwangi, our Editorial Director, whom I had clashed with for killing my stories on the Anglo Leasing scandal to shield former Internal Security Permanent Secretary Dave Mwangi, who was among those being investigated by Ringera. I’m told Wangethi Mwangi and Dave Mwangi share the same blood. Although Wangethi gave you a shoulder to cry on, his hands were tied as he couldn’t overrule Kiboro.


Frustrated, you resorted to a smear campaign by writing secret letters to my bosses demanding my sacking every time I wrote a story. Although I was not supposed to know about the letters, my network spread far and wide and I got copies before they landed at Nation Centre. That failed. You wrote press statements and circulated in all media houses. Your letters and press statements did not address any of the issues my stories had raised. They were raw insults, the sort of thing you expect from a lover who has been ditched.


To cite one example, on October 22, 2006, the Sunday Nation published my exclusive story titled Career Policemen Top List of Candidates for CID Boss Job. The story gave names of three career policemen, including the then Coast provincial police chief, Gatiba Karanja, which had featured in a meeting you had chaired in his office earlier that week. The new CID chief was to replace Mr Joseph Kamau who was on suspension and was due for retirement on November 14, 2006. I confirmed the story with two senior police officers who had attended your meeting to discuss possible candidates to replace Kamau.


In a press statement sent to all media houses, NMG included, on October 22, you rubbished my entire story using unpalatable and abusive language. You dismissed the entire story as total lies and my own imagination.


“Rarely supporting his articles with facts and often quoting phantom police sources, Stephen Muiruri has waged what is clearly a personal vendetta on his own behalf or behalf of somebody else,” your statement said.


“It is our position that this malicious writing should stop. We are therefore asking the management of the Nation Media Group to take necessary steps to address our concerns over the biased and ill-intentioned writing by their chief crime writer, Stephen Muiruri.”


“Indeed, it is unethical and unprofessional for a journalist to push a private agenda through a reputable media group like the Nation Group,” you summed up your statement titled Protest on Sunday Nation Baseless and False Article.


Although press statements end up with the news editor, I don’t know how the document ended up on Wangethi Mwangi’s desk. His secretary delivered a copy of the statement, which Wangethi Mwangi had written some foul comments at the top of the paper suggesting I was manufacturing stories.


His comments read: “Muiruri. These complaints about the veracity/accuracy of your stories are beginning to alarm me. We can’t have a situation where you’re being accused of manufacturing copy. Who are your sources and how credible and dependable are they? I need to get to the bottom of this before our reputation is irreparably damaged.”


I wrote an eight-page report to Wangethi Mwangi on October 24, 2006, explaining the accuracy and objectivity of my stories. I also highlighted other instances you had called me to his office or telephoned me wanting me to scale down my reporting. Kiboro was still in charge and I told him about the new war.


“I’m tired of being accused of doing imaginary things,” I told Wangethi.


The story which you and Wangethi had discredited with insults was, however, vindicated two weeks later when the Head of Civil Service, Francis Muthaura, announced President Kibaki had appointed Gatiba as the new CID chief. Gatiba was among the three candidates my story said had been short-listed by you.


When Gatiba was named the new CID chief, Daily Nation boasted in the headline story how its sister publication, the Sunday Nation, exclusively broke the story. I was overjoyed you and Wangethi had been ashamed. Neither you nor Wangethi offered any apologies for your unprofessional actions and insults.


I sent an email to Wangethi on November 15, on the day Daily Nation was boasting, and I told him it was my prayer that no other NMG journalist would ever be accused by his seniors of manufacturing a story to please outsiders bent on manipulating the media. I received no response to my email.


When Kiboro retired, your buddy Rose Kimotho arranged for a lunch date with Linus Gitahi under the pretext the new NMG chief was to be introduced to you. But after your stomachs were full, you cleverly dropped my name and sought Gitahi’s help to tame me. I was ahead of you and Gitahi and my network of police contacts informed me about the lunch date.


On the day Gitahi reported in Nation, November 1, 2006, he called me and pretended he had read my stories before he took up his NMG assignment and he wanted to congratulate me for a job well done. He never told me you had met. But my contacts alerted me. Gitahi warmed up to me but at the back of my head I knew he could be holding a dangerous dagger.


My fall out with Gitahi came when Daily Nation published my story on January 22, 2007, titled Police Too Eager to Gun Down Suspects. The story told of how police had resorted to extra-judicial killings as a desperate measure to counter a wave of crime rocking Nairobi and its environs.


That was the last of my stories to be published by NMG. My subsequent stories were not touched and I lay idle in the newsroom for two weeks. This led me to inquire why my stories were no longer being published. Two of my bosses informed me Gitahi had complained about my story to one of the editorial chiefs.


Gitahi is not a trained journalist. I, therefore, walked to Gitahi’s office on the afternoon of February 1, 2007, to seek a clarification if he had issued any directive to Wangethi to ban my stories. That brave move cost me my job.


Instead of addressing my concerns, Gitahi called in six other top managers and editors to his office and he introduced two irrelevant issues: I was being accused to have bought a vehicle from a public action from the police and I was required to explain why I owned a tour company.


When I got wind Gitahi was secretly investigating me, I pulled the rag under his feet and made his work easy. I went to his office and presented the original documents showing who buyer of the vehicle was. My only crime was the buyer happened to be my relative. However, the vehicle was bought legally in an open and transparent public auction after all conditions were met. It was among hundreds of unclaimed vehicle disposed off by the police in a sale sanctioned by the High Court and yourself. I owned up I owned a tour company. But there was no crime doing so since there was no conflict of interest. I had invested my own sweat and created employment.


My police sources had informed that you alerted Gitahi on the two issues – the vehicle and the tour company – and these were the weapons he was to use to blackmail me to succumb to your whims. Kibaki was running for a second term in office and Gitahi, who hails from Nyeri, was an interested party and he regarded my journalism as giving ammunition to Kibaki’s opponents, especially Odinga. Gitahi, therefore, fell into your game plan.



At the stormy meeting, I told Gitahi I knew this vicious war against me had nothing to do with the tour company and the vehicle, as I had not broken any laws or company policies. It had nothing to do with my performance. I was as white as snow and my impressive record spoke for itself. I topped the list of performers in the ritual half-year audit. In my view, this scheme to frustrate and force me out was deliberate and well choreographed.


After the meeting, Gitahi tasked Wangethi to issue me with a memo titled Discipline asking me to explain the two issues again in writing. Due to the firmness and uncompromising professional way I ran my docket, Wangethi anticipated I would fight back. Instead, I pulled the rag under their feet and did the unexpected – I tendered a resignation letter the following day.


I resigned not because I was guilty of any of the charges. I resigned because my integrity had been unfairly and maliciously put into question and it was clearly evident to me the issues of vehicle and the tour company were deliberately being used to blackmail me to submit to your whims. There was no way I could continue working for an employer who betrayed his flock to please the enemies.


With my resignation, I sacrificed my huge salary – which a majority of Kenyans only dream about. I don’t worship money. I love my name and my integrity and I chose to put my life on the line to preserve my principles.


After I resigned from NMG, I reported to my company offices and directed all my energy trying to establish the foundations of tour business. I kept receiving information from my police contacts about a looming dangerous plot against me.


On March 14, 2007, I was in my office when NMG’s Security Manager, Mr Sam Koskei, led a squad of about 15 armed plainclothes officers into my office. Koskei, with Gitahi’s knowledge, brought the cops claiming I had played a role in authoring and disseminating damaging emails that had been doing round in the internet exposing alleged sex-for-hire-and-promotion scandals at NMG touching on the top leadership. That was wastage of manpower when Kenya’s were being brutalised by thugs without a single cop to respond to their SOS.


The squad, which had no search warrant and acted in the same manner as they did in the Standard, ransacked all the offices and cabinets, dismantled internet equipment and computers and ferried them to CID Headquarters. They also took away all my business licences. Even after they failed to find anything to link me to the alleged offences, the officers whisked me to CID Headquarters under the supervision of Mr Koskei. The illegal raid was meant to cripple my investment.


After being held for nine hours, the Attorney General Amos Wako ordered for my release after he was alerted by my lawyer Paul Muite. Wako could not find any evidence to link me to the crime and I have never been charged with any crime since then. My seized property still lies with Gatiba’s men. Your men were not lucky. They kept asking for all my tapes. I was wise enough. I have kept my secret tapes in safe custody and if I die unnaturally, the tapes will provide the vital information.


NMG chiefs were furious when they learnt orders for my release came when I was being asked to remove my shoes to enter the cell at Kileleshwa police station. That was God’s miracle. Capital FM, the People and Kenya Times reported my arrest. Daily Nation gave my story a blackout. In fact, I was told how NMG chief tried to prevail upon the other media houses to give the story a blackout. Isn’t it hypocritical a media house which vigorously condemned the Kibaki regime for raiding the Standard could shamelessly do the same to a former employee to settle personal scores?


When the plot to bring me down using your cops failed, my enemies started sending death threats. I reported the death threats to CID Headquarters and nobody showed any interest in the matter despite the email and phone evidence I produced. The assassins took freight when I was invited by the US ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, to his Muthaiga residence and he promised to take up the matter with the relevant authorities.


Sir, my departure from NMG was a big victory to you and criminals. With my departure, criminals and your police death squads went overdrive killing and committing crimes. There was no brave voice in the media to expose the evils and crimes. From July 2007, distraught relatives started going to the state-owned Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) telling harrowing tales how their loved ones mysteriously ended up in mortuaries or disappeared without trace shortly after they were arrested by the police. You dismissed the reports as fiction.


Your unholy relationship with the media was best told by slain policeman-turned-KNCHR whistle-blower, Constable Bernard Kiriinya. He was eliminated by your cops in October 2008 for betraying them and the media remained silent.


Surprisingly, the media found a voice in February 2009, five months after Constable Kiriinya was killed, and went into a frenzy telling Kenyans how he died. This coincided with the visit by UN Rapporteur on Extra-judicial Killings, Prof Philip Alston, who flew into Nairobi to investigate rising cases of killings by state agents. The media also found a voice on the harrowing tales they had ignored for months – agony of relatives who had lost their loved ones to the police death squads.


Although he paid a heavy price with his life for betraying his death squad unit and the police chiefs who have adopted extra-judicial killings as the official way to fight crime and outlawed groups, Constable Kiriinya told us stories journalists had deliberately failed to unearth and inform the public. Perhaps, those who wanted to kill me wanted my mouth shut for good like Kiriinya’s.


Prof Alston’s report exposed what has been going on since July 2007 with little, if any, coverage in the media. Prof Alston’s report was an indictment on the Kenya media which had gone to sleep with the police and abdicated its cardinal role of bringing out evils in our society to please only one man – you.


In February, there was a craze in the media with the outlets trying to outdo one another in reproducing Prof Alston's report - most likely because it came from a foreigner. The media had paid lip service to a similar report from KNCHR.


All the killings exposed by Prof Alston occurred unabated because you had a firm grip on all the newsrooms. Most journalists I have spoken to told me they fear doing what I was doing for the sake of their careers and safety. Some of the death squad officers are my friends and they told me how they were ordered to kill anyone they suspected belonged to Mungiki. They used all sorts of crude methods to extinguish lives from their victims. An estimated 5, 000 Kenyans lost their lives before Prof Alston blew the whistler louder. Your methods of fighting crime were not only primitive; they also showed how you had no respect for human life. If Kenya was still hanging condemned convicts, I would have written to President Kibaki to consider you for the job of a hangman. There is no other better choice for that job than you. The Post Master’s job is wasted talent.


You dismissed Prof Alston’s report with the same venom you dismissed my stories. The Kibaki regime backed you then. Local and international anger was mounting. But you were so drunk with power and your word and actions were law.


Under pressure, President Kibaki set up Judge Philip Ransley’s task force. You mistook this as another gimmick by the president to buy time. You feared no one, including the man who appointed you. Under your watch, the police leadership deliberately leaked unsigned documents to the media to assault a task force’s report before President Kibaki laid his hands on it seeking to influence the writing of the final report and seek public sympathy. This was an unorthodox mode of transacting official state business. Why not come out openly in a press conference and explain why any of you opposed the report? That is a sign of cowardice.


Sir, I would rather die penniless fighting for what I believe to be right than die under the bed whining and lose all the principles and values I hold dearly in my heart. I could not live with bloody and soiled hands, cleaning your mess. Sir, you are a general in the army. I’m a general with my pen and the truth is my shield. You’ll never shut my mouth. Only death will. I fear no man or death. Those who kill will also die one day. So, why should I fear death?


I wish to inform you that Gitahi realised his own mistakes and invited me for a breakfast meeting at Muthaiga on December 19, 2008, and we mend our differences, I solely blame you for breaking in the first place. Gitahi was man enough and he told me everything – how you wanted to use him to do your dirty job. I forgave Gitahi.


At the breakfast Muthaiga meeting, Gitahi still believed I had played a role in the dirty campaign, which in reality I didn’t. “You’ll know the truth one day. You eat and dine with the enemy who pretend to be so loyal to you,” I told him. “You are free to believe what you want but the truth will be out one day,” I added.


I have previously challenged any of the NMG editors and managers named in the sex scandals to use the vast resources at their disposal to hire the best lawyers to clear their names in court, if they believed I had a hand in the dossier. I am still waiting for a date with any of them in court.


Sir, if you want to know the hypocracy in the Kenyan media just look at what they have done to you after you were sacked. They sang your tune and you all along regarded them as your great friends after you got me out of your way. Did you ever think they would turn against you? The media, which had gone to sleep as your police death squads went overdrive in 2007 and 2008 before Prof Alston lifted the lid, found a voice after the axe fell on you. Daily Nation and the Standard on September 9 dedicated acres of space to publish stories and editorial taking a critical look at your tainted legacy. Both newspapers carried cartoons taunting you, the fallen general.


On September 10 Daily Nation carried a second editorial titled Tough Agenda for New Police Chief said: “Unfortunately for him, there will be no honeymoon. He must quickly sink his teeth into the job and deliver results. As an institution, the Force stands accused of extra-judicial killings, human rights abuses, brutality, corruption, and extortion.”


“Ordinary citizens talk of fearing to meet rogue police officers more than they fear common thugs. This is because the police can be vicious as they use their positions to intimidate, extort and kill,” the editorial read. But the question is; if editors at Daily Nation knew that all along, why wait till Maj Gen Ali was sent packing to tell us what was in public domain for months but which they sat on? Was the newspaper trying to save face? Didn’t I fall out with Gitahi for saying the same? What has changed now?


In my own view, the new faces in the Kenya Police leadership were chosen to suit personal and political interests of Kibaki and Raila and not driven by the desire for change or implementing reforms that will give birth to a professional police agency, which will make Kenya much safer for all of us.


What is the rationale and wisdom of having a police commissioner and a CID chief – who are the most crucial in the country’s security machinery - come from one of Kenya’s region while the force boosts of highly trained and dedicated officers from other regions?


The quest to fill the top vacancy at Vigilance House saw the main political players — ODM and PNU — take part in behind-the-scenes negotiations before the appointment was made. Each of the parties wanted their own man at the key post. Kibaki’s side carried the day and Odinga’s preferred choice, Francis Okonya, had to settle for the Number Two slot. Gatiba Karanja was retained as the CID chief.


My take is that Iteere and his team will miserably fail like you and all their predecessors if reforms in the security machinery are mere change of faces and not a stop to paying lip service to making bold and fearless changes that will uproot the rot and colonial structures that created the force. You told Kenyans and the media to judge you by your performance. If you strongly believed you were God’s gift to Kenya, why did Kenyans rejoice when you are sacked and a section of MPs questioned your new assignment? Did you leave a major mark? In my view, the only notable difference between your tenure and those of your predecessors is the number of Kenyans sent to their premature graves by police bullets.


Wise men told us too much pride and arrogance comes before a fall. And so, you rode high and anyone who crossed your path lived to tell harrowing tales. You had proved time and again that you were immune to being sacked. Arrogance and contempt for your critics was your trademark. On September 8, you bitterly learnt politicians are only useful to you when it suits them.


Former CID chief Kamau walked the same path when he listened to selfish politicians on the Standard raid. Kamau has been my great friend and he refused to listen when I warned him he would be used by politicians who would dump him when the heat was too much to bear. You thought Kamau was using me to hammer you. No. I was doing my job. And Kamau remains one of my best friends. I couldn’t allow you choose my friends and who I associated with.


Sir, I am sincerely sorry for boring with my long letter. There is so much I can write about you. I forgave you long time ago for what you did. Your sacking came at the right time when I was putting final touches on my book to be unveiled before the end of the year and it has enriched my content. My letter is just extracts from the book. You can stop its publication if you believe you have powers to do so. You had a firm grip on the Kenyan media. Do you have a firm grip on foreign publishers? John Githongo found a UK publisher to tell his story. No local publisher could take the risk.


You will appreciate I have throughout addressed you with the most honourable title of Sir, a title other crime journalists used as a sign of worshiping and glorifying you. I was a naughty boy and I never used it. Sir, I have since repented and I seek your forgiveness for showing disrespect to an army general.


Sir, I have always believed that those who live by the sword also die by the sword.

The resignation letter I served Gitahi read: “Malice and witch-hunt will never take this company anywhere. But I take solace in the Bible which states that those who kill by the sword also die by the sword.”


“And I also take solace in the words of William Shakespeare who said that the evils that men do live long after they are dead. God will one day hear the cries of the silent majority who have been suffering for long or have been forced out of this great company through witch-hunt and evils perpetuated by a small clique of managers who have been using their positions as a tool of oppression,” I wrote.


Sir, you must be aware that Wangethi Mwangi, whom you turned to for gossiping me after Kiboro told you off, also retired from NMG on August 30, just a week before you were sacked. I did not weep for your or Wangethi. I rejoiced because fate had painfully shown both of you that all human beings are equal when it comes to God.


Did you watch K24 TV a day after you were sacked? Jeff Koinange did an emotional story looking at your tainted tenure and summed up your new assignment as the Post Master General thus: “It’s like giving a man a rope to hang himself!” Did you think Jeff Koinange would say that about you five days ago when both of you laughed your hearts out on his famous bench?


For six years, you lived in a dreamland at Vigilance House. Sir, welcome to the reality in the world where the majority downtrodden live. Your attempts to cripple my tour business flopped. I accepted my fate and built a new life. It’s time you shed off your big ego, pride and arrogance and learn to live humble lives like the rest of us.


With kindest regards,


Stephen Muiruri

Former Crime Editor

Nation Media Group