Dark secrets of the presidency Part 1

Kumekucha Weekend Special

I have been to State House Nairobi. Once.

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

In the 46 years of independence only three men have called this place their official residence and held the office of President of the republic of Kenya. Johnstone Kamau (aka Jomo Kenyatta) for 15 years, Daniel Torotich arap Moi for 24 years and the rest of the years Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki. Interestingly whatever happens Kibaki will be the man who has occupied that office for the shortest time and yet history will record that his presidency has caused the most damage. This weekend we shall try to understand these three men better because in understanding them we will understand our beloved country much better. Trust me on that and hold me to account for it when we finish our journey late Sunday evening. We shall dig into their true characters and reveal many secrets in their lives.

So lets start from the beginning shall we.

Violent struggle has happened in Kenya several times through its short history but it has never worked out too well or even proved to be effective. More recently the saba saba riots that hit the country in the 1990s were quickly crashed by security forces. In the end change came to Kenya mainly as a result of pressure from the International community.

Still many Kenyans cling to the mirage that our independence was won from a violent freedom struggle. Very romantic but NOT true. Yes the gallant Mau Mau warriors spread terror in everybody. Indeed they inspired others in far away lands most notably Nelson Mandela which led to the formation of the armed wing of the ANC in South Africa. You have all heard of the Umkonto We Sizwe (spear of the Nation). Indeed the influence of the Mau mau spread as far away as the streets of New York where at least one notoriously violent street gang called itself the Mau Mau. But back home it was ineffective in winning independence for Kenya. The Mau mau uprising reached its’ height in 1952 and was quickly crashed. Mainly because it was about one tribe’s fight for their land rights. Actually the Kikuyu were joined by other neighboring tribes like the Merus. The leader of the Mau mau, a man called Dedan Kimathi was executed at Kamiti prison on February 18th 1957. By that time the Kikuyu uprising had been well and truly crashed.

The statistics of the Mau mau struggle tell an even more interesting story. The Mau Mau rebels killed over two thousand African Kenyan civilians, but killed only 32 European settlers and fewer than 200 British soldiers during the 8 years of the uprising. The British in turn killed 20,000 Mau Mau rebels in combat, hanged over 1000 suspected Mau Mau supporters, and interned more than 70,000 Kikuyu civilians for years in brutal detention camps on suspicion of providing material support for the uprising. Actually some researchers say that the true number of Kikuyus who were held or detained during that period was closer to one million. Read more details on this HERE. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedan_Kimathi.

The man who was to later become Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta always had a frosty relationship with the Mau mau. They threatened his life several times and then he ended up on trial trying to prove to a compromised court his innocence and the fact that he had no links with Mau mau. The chief witness in that sham of a trial Rawson Macharia admitted only in recent years that he had given false evidence against Kenyatta. In all likelihood Kenyatta was not a violent man at heart and did not believe in violent means and yet when he became president he worked hard to glorify the Mau mau as the chief freedom fighters of Kenya and always emphasized that independence was won with a violent resistance. We shall understand later what his motivation for this may have been.

But for now it is important to appreciate the circumstances under which Jomo Kenyatta ended up as the first president of Kenya. This is important because to date every single man who has ended up as president of Kenya has done so as a compromise candidate. We wait to see what will happen in 2012 but in all likelihood history will duplicate itself once again.

In the run up to independence Jomo Kenyatta was rotting away in detention without a hope of ever getting back to politics. The white settlers government officials swore in public that that would never happen. The two front runners for president were Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who firmly believed that he should be president by virtue of his age over the other front runner Tom Mboya who was barely in his twenties. Sensing defeat, Odinga decided to fix his main opponent politically by demanding the release of the forgotten Jomo Kenyatta. That decision set in motion a chain of events that handed over the presidency on a silver platter to Kenyatta. Indeed when he was receiving the instruments of power on June 1963, Kenyatta still looked dazed and unbelieving. Like he wanted to pinch himself to convince himself that all these wonderful things were suddenly happening to him after years of struggle and very hard times which had been set off by false accusations against him in 1952 that put him in jail. Kenyatta’s words on that day perfectly capture the mood and his personal feelings. He did not start by saying that it was a great day for Kenyans. Instead he said; “Today is the happiest day of my life.”

I have closely studied the first years of the Kenyatta administration and read many accounts and watched many clips. All of them paint only one picture. That there was a mood of constant celebration in the corridors of power in those early months. More like the ancient court of Kings where every day was a day of celebration and entertainment, unless of course there was a problem. Kenyatta loved traditional dances and alcoholic drinks flowed freely from the State House bar to the kitchen cabinet and their regular visitors. Kenyatta loved to trade stories with his brother-in-law Mbiyu Koinange (brother to his first wife Grace Wahu) about the good old days when they were younger.

Evidence suggests that Kenyatta entered office with high ideals and a genuine determination to make good. But the honey moon was quickly and rudely brought to an end as crisis after crisis hit the infant administration. There was the scary army mutiny at Lanet in 1964 just a few months into the Kenyatta administration. There were numerous coups in other African countries most notably Nigeria. Closer to home there was the extremely bloody coup and revolution in neighbouring Zanzibar.

It soon became very clear that there were plenty of threats to the presidency which had to be addressed immediately. Kenyatta started by appointing close relatives and village mates to sensitive positions in the security forces. Later after the assassination of Tom Mboya the Kenyatta administration launched secret oath-taking amongst those same senior officials in the security forces.

Then the threat that all three men have faced early in their presidency also quickly emerged for Kenyatta. The dominant economic force at independence was the small group of white settlers who had chosen to stay. The president’s close advisors correctly identified this small group as a potential threat to the presidency. In such a poor country as Kenya, money can do a lot of damage in any political cause. These settlers were the financiers of KADU which was the main political opposition to Jomo Kenyatta’s KANU. These settlers had never really trusted Jomo Kenyatta and it would only be natural for them to jump at the first chance at a change of guard.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that Kenyatta’s early years in State house were chiefly occupied with neutralizing these threats. We shall now see exactly how that was done, sometimes pretty ruthlessly.

To be continued: In the next post; Was Kenyatta capable of siring children after detention?

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Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Deadly political games

I can confirm to my readers that the following two incidences in political posturing have actually taken place in the very recent past.

Evictees from the Mau were never forcibly evicted in an inhuman way as William Ruto wants Kenyans to believe. Actually as the deadline to leave was approaching people were carefully instructed to leave the Mau and camp not too far off by the roadsides. The rains were pouring at the time and it was expected that they would continue for a while further heightening the misery of those who had been forced to leave the Mau and creating an uproar with the public. It was all a very carefully orchestrated thing and I can authoritatively report that cash was used to create this situation purely for political gain. What went slightly wrong was that the rains suddenly stopped and of course William Ruto had underestimated the intelligence of the Kenyan public and their ability to grasp the real issues concerning the Mau. Still Ruto achieved his objective of causing the Prime Minister to be extremely unpopular amongst the Kalenjin community and in effect to drive home the final nail in the ODM coffin. Despite what the PM and ODM high command are saying, the honeymoon is definitely over and ODM has been reduced to a shell of its’ previous self. A Luo party with pockets of small support from a few other places. Bottom line ODM is no longer the formidable national political movement it was in the run up to the 2007 elections.

Second scenario; The so-called show-of-strength-ODM meeting in Mombasa was actually a very well stage-managed affair with people being ferried mainly from different parts of the Coast province to attend the Raila rally. Organizers were very careful to downplay the huge Luo population at the Coast who are naturally diehard ODM supporters. Raila’s pointman and chief financier and organizer in all this, one Ali Hassan Joho legislator for Kisauni, Mombasa. The whole idea was to show the press that the party still has widespread support from all over the country. But does it? An interesting question I want to ask and answer. What motivated Mr Joho to spend millions of his own cash on a ship that everybody knows is sinking? The only plausible answer is that he wants to rapidly enhance his own national political profile with the 2012 general elections firmly in mind. This man wants to be the man to do business with for any presidential candidate who wants the Coast vote. That presidential candidate he does business with, winning is not important. This is an extremely lucrative business all on its’ own without the political intricacies.

These two incidences should not surprise anybody who understands Kenyan politics where appearances are everything.

What Njenga Karume left out of his biography

Everybody has skeletons in their closets. Everybody!!! I am talking about those dark little secrets that one would never dare tell.

So to be fair to one Njenga Karume, it is a wonderful thing that he has made the brave (and rare in Africa) move to write a biography. There is no doubt that he has gotten an excellent ghostwriter and probably the best book editor that money can buy to bring out a very well written book. Perhaps the best written biography ever in these shores. Not bad for a man who hardly got any formal education to speak of.

What this man has done should be encouraged as much as possible amongst other Kenyans and indeed Africans across the continent.

Having said that, it is also worth noting that Njenga Karume is one of the most controversial Kenyans still around who has straddled the twin arenas of big business and big politics for a very long time indeed. The man knows a lot and I dare add has also done a lot, both good and bad.

Although he was not a member proper, of Kenyatta’s inner kitchen cabinet, Karume knows enough to shed much more light on some of Kenya’s big mysteries, like the murders of Tom Mboya and JM Kariuki. Not to mention the disappearance without trace of one Kungu Karumba. I am not surprised that he has steered clear of some of these very sensitive topics. After all some of the chief murderers who participated in these crimes are still very much alive. And besides even where they have passed on, those murders have helped retain the status quo and a system that has helped Mr Karume rake in billions over the years.

Still I have to admit that there were quite a number of shocks for me in the Karume book. For instance everybody knew that the man had access to President Jomo Kenyatta but I was surprised at the ease with which the man could just pick up the phone and talk or leave a message for a president who would disappear from the public for weeks on end and would regularly slip in and out of comas. Indeed Mr Karume’s honesty in many instances is very refreshing and will make this biography a hot seller for many years to come.

I went to school with one of Njenga Karume’s sons (he was a couple of years ahead of me) and one incident stands out in my mind that illustrated just how wealthy the man was especially in those days (early 80s). The younger Karume was pretty popular in school and everybody knew that it was his dad’s wealth and influence that had gotten him to the national school and not his academic prowess. But what he lacked in academics he more than made up for on the social scene. This chap would “borrow” his dad’s cars and paint the town red with his friends and girls from Kenya High School. One day he was involved in an accident that badly damaged the Mercedes Benz car he was using. The young lad was terrified of his dad and could not dare bring back the badly dented car and so it was towed away to some garage where the repair bill proved to be too high even for the crazy pocket money the young Karume used to receive. And so it was stuck there for quite some time. It took Njenga Karume months to realize that one of his personal cars was missing.

One of the things that has been left out of the Njenga Karume biography is his extremely dodgy beginning where it is said that some of the activities he got involved in in the early days to raise capital for his businesses was stealing car tyres.

Secondly although Karume’s ability to use his political contacts to profit hugely on the business front comes out very clearly in the book, one curious deal made possible by then Finance Minister Mwai Kibaki is missing from the book.

Mwai Kibaki leaked out a small part of his budget proposals a few days earlier which he knew would greatly profit Mr Karume. The price of beer was set to rise by 10 cents (roughly the equivalent of Kshs 2 today). I have to admit that there are many businessmen who would have gotten this same information and done very little if anything with it, but not Mr Karume. The man started working his phones and through his beer distribution business, placed a colossal and unprecedented order for beers. In those days he had a huge depot for storing the stuff so storage was not a problem. Naturally the huge order was being paid for at the “old prices” that is minus the 10 cents. Mr Karume then postponed making any deliveries for a day or two (another name for that is hoarding) until after the budget was read. The result was that he made a fortune from this insider trading transaction. Karume and Kibaki have remained friends for years except that brief moment prior to the 2002 presidential elections when Karume’s business empire faced some serious cash flow problems and he ditched Kibaki and the party he (Karume) himself had formed and financed to back Uhuru Kenyatta for the presidency. To his dismay he ended up with the losing horse but was quickly back in Mwai Kibaki’s fold shortly after Narc started crumbling. The two men have too many secrets they share to remain separated for long.

Read this previous Kumekucha article on a dirty deal that Njenga Karume executed.


Kumekucha Chris will be back this weekend with his controversial Weekend special. This time he digs into the dirty secrets of the presidency. Don't miss it. Cancel all your weekend dates stay away from the beaches if you must, at the very least make adjustments... he promises you will NOT regret it. This Saturday and Sunday only here in Kumekucha.

Draft Constitution: The Curse of Two Parties

One week to go and the discussion on the so-called harmonized (conflicting) draft constitution has refused to leave the station. The whole noble task of drafting a constitution for posterity has been reduced to the never-ending PNU-ODM political wars.

You can never built anything sustainable premised on FEAR. Chapter 12 of the draft on executive has proved to the most contentious. Each political side is determined to have her cake and est it. Unfortunately, the truth is that none of the parties is right on either the presidential or parliamentary system of governance.

While Moi frustrated the search for a new constitution for selfish reasons to consolidate his powers, the present political leadership are no better. No wonder the key players inadvertently let it out that the struggle was not to make Kenya better but to remove Moi and inherit his powers. Meanwhile Kenyans remain stuck in the middle suffocating from impunity.

The whole country is held hostage by the political class. Despite being overtly political, the average Kenyan will fall to the gimmicks of these scoundrels and miss yet another opportunity to re-invent Kenya.

Only a third neutral force devoid of the present brinkmanship can make us realize the dream of a new constitution. And there promptly comes the question, who will offer this selfless leadership. There must be such a Kenyan out there, who is s/he, ANYONE?

Reforms: More Visa Bans Coming Soon

While Amos Wako re-invents his poisonous smile smarting from the US visa ban, more politicians are lined up for the next round of ban. And the present grandstanding and brinkmanship on the draft constitution won't have been godsend. Forget the empty abroad-is-not-heaven chorus. The bans hits the mighty hard where it hurts most.

Calling learned politicians ignorant may sound disrespectful but what else can you term a bunch of people whose vision never extends past the present leadership? Add to that the obnoxious obsession with TRIBE and you get a recipe to make a superb idiot.

But these leaders are not alone. The have good company in equally-schooled Kenyans who mouth superlatives with no intention of walking the talk. Hypocrisy must be our collective forte. Look no further than the predictable propensity to chest thumb while supporting political turf wars at the expense of weighty national issues.

Kenyans appear to have been weaned on LEADERLESSNESS so mush so that any trace of tough decision is fast reduced into cheap grandstanding and partisan warfare. In the meantime nothing moves and Kenya remains the worst for it all.

No wonder the so-called international community have refused to buy into our national lies. Annan and co will never leave us stew in our own blood again and the EU and US visa bans are coming soon and furious.

The Curse of A+O+O: Rain Isn't From Forests

Hail the king and his sidekick for true triumph. Fighting him is akin to cutting fig tree with a razor blade.

The last laugh is surely the longest, loudest and sweetest. Don't spoil the party with all those stale draft constitution debate. Forget about LEADERSHIP, politics is all about triumph here and now. And the winner is........................(NOT KENYANS).

So in appreciation let us all expose our post-molars please and applaud the brave worriors of democracy. One, two, three ............

The great Luo political Kitendawili Part 4

What does the future hold?

Now we have to wrap this up quickly because the weekend is over already.

We have said a lot of things about our Luo brothers. Many of the things I have taken courage to speak about, nobody has dared to utter in public before. The whole intention was for us to understand this community that I love so much better. When you understand something and especially its’ past, the future becomes clearer.

Why don’ we go back to that entertainment spot in Kisumu city before I summarize the political future of the Luo community?

The man seated next to me on the table was alone. I noticed that he had greeted several ladies and one had even stopped by at his table for a brief chat. Clearly he preferred his own company. But still it was easy to start chatting to him and I found that I could pop the question I had in mind much quicker than I had earlier anticipated.

“Do you think Raila Odinga has a political future?” I asked.

“I thought that was pretty obvious. This has to be the end for ODM and him,” he said after taking a long sip of his cold beer.

“Most people in this city will not agree with you.”

“I know. Let me tell you something. We Luos are very optimistic people. We will gladly look for possibilities in an impossible situation. The truth is that we do not have the discipline to plan and end up getting what we really want. You know I have just been transferred from Mombasa where I had two bosses a Kikuyu and a Luo. The Luo drove a big car and the Kikuyu drove one of those small Toyotas from Dubai. It even smoked and we used to laugh at him a lot from behind his back. There were many other differences. The Kikuyu man lived in Ganjoni in some dirty flats, and the Luo lived in up market Nyali. Now there was some restructuring recently and both of them lost their jobs. The Kikuyu stayed on and is doing very well with several plots in Mombasa and some small businesses. My fellow Luo is now in Nairobi and desperately looking for a job. One man was optimistic and did nothing to work towards his goals, the other was focused and didn’t care that people were laughing at him. Now look who is laughing? You see what I mean? Don’t get me wrong. Kikuyus have their weaknesses but the difference is that they have the discipline and we don’t. Pure and simple.”

I could not believe what I was hearing from this man and promised myself that his words would make it to my post (which they have).

So lets warp this up by looking into the future. In my humble view I think all indications are pointing towards the following future for the Luo community in Kenyan politics.

Firstly, like it or not, they will remain an important political influence in Kenya but will sadly continue to suffer from bad decisions made by leaders that the community follows blindly. The really sad thing here is that in my view our Luo brothers and sisters are amongst the most brilliant Kenyans. I know one or two specialist surgeons now based in the USA who are known the world over and hail from Kenya and the Luo community. (Interestingly the Luo always seem to do very well as far away from home as possible.)

The biggest weakness in the Luo community is the tendency for many of their leaders to make reckless decisions on the spur of the moment based on emotions more than anything else. You can be reckless but think things through. Sadly these leaders hardly ever think things through and it is not for lack of intellect. We have seen this in the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and more recently in Raila Odinga. Future Luo leaders will do well to make a huge effort to ignore their emotions and work towards being more calm, cold and calculating if they are to make major breakthroughs in politics.

It is important that the Odinga spell which has stradled and suffocated the community for so long, is broken. Many of my Luo friends agree that as difficult as this may seem, it is the only way forward for this community that possesses just too much untapped potential.

Sadly all indications at the moment are that in 2007 the community will find itself irrelevant and spectators in the unfolding of the new political order and the emergence of the third and last liberation. The only way that they will remain in the centre of things is if Raila Odinga survives to win the presidency. This is very unlikely and if you asked me to be blunt, out of question.

In my personal view Kenya will be fully healed the day a son of Luo Nyanza is elected to the presidency with votes from a large cross section of the country. For now it seems like a distant pipe dream but personally I see it happening much sooner than most people think. Possibly in the next 20 years or so. My hope hinges on an emerging new generation who are determined to make a clean break with the past.

A good beginning for the healing of Kenya is for the other Kenyan brothers across the country from the 41 other tribes to realize the great injustices that have been committed against these Kenyans and to publicly apologize to the community for them and open a new chapter.

Good job Chris my brother. You have had a long love affair with the Luo, you should have been one. But your work is all vanity. In the final analysis you lie, the Luo are beyond redemption.

I hope I have provided at least some answers to the big Luo political puzzle which you must have realized by now is a mystery that can hardly be solved by a few controversial posts one slow weekend.

As I pen off, let me take this opportunity to thank all you wonderful guys out there who kept me company through this weekend. I saw you all in my blog site stats right up to the long minutes you spent here and the links you clicked through to. I hope this was as enjoyable and enlightening for you as it was for me.


Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The great Luo political Kitendawili Part 3

Magical powers?

Sometime in 1969 Jomo Kenyatta was settling in for a sumptuous lunch at the PCs house in Kakamega (Western Kenya). One police officer based in the town at the time who had to coordinate the president’s security on this particular day was extremely surprised when the president rose to leave just 5 minutes later. He had hardly touched his soup (which was the first of several courses). The president was leaving for Kisumu in what would be his last trip to that town even though he would continue to president of those who lived there along with the rest of Kenya for another 9 years.

Jaramogi, Kenyatta and Mboya shortly before independence.

That police officer (now long retired) still remembers the events of that day as if it was yesterday and as he hurried to get into one of the police cars to escort the president to the border of Kakamega and Kisumu, he was worried. It was obvious that the president was in a very bad mood. Constitutionally all who work for the government work “at the pleasure of the president.” In simple terms what this means is that a president in a bad mood could simply not like your face and decide that it no longer pleased him for you to serve the government of Kenya. (President Moi once sacked a police officer by telephoning the Police commissioner while he was about 2 hours away from Nakuru and saying: Sitaki kuona hio nyagau nikifika Nakuru roughy translated it means; I don’t want to see that animal when I arrive in Nakuru.)

The cars left without any incident and as the officer handed over he felt a great sense of relief and at the same time dread for his colleagues serving in Kisumu who had the daunting task of taking care of the president in very hostile territory.

Every Kenyan who cared to read newspapers at the time knew that there was a lot of tension in the country after Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga had resigned in a huff to form his own political party called Kenya People’s Union. The assassination of Tom Mboya earlier that year in July had made things worse and one wondered what the president expected going through Kisumu and Luo Nyanza in his motorcade.

The fears of that policeman had on that fateful day were not unfounded. A few hours later dozens of innocent people lay dead their bodies strewn all over the place. To this day the exact number of people who died on that day is still a closely guarded government secret.

Details are scanty as to what exactly happened on that sunny afternoon of late 1969. According to my source who was on the ground on that day, on arriving in Kisumu Kenyatta and his aides were confronted by a very angry Oginga Odinga who had some angry words for Jomo. Wikipedia actually says that the two hurled abuses at each other. An interesting photo that I had hoped to publish here today but did not find on time, shows Oginga talking angrily to a calm Kenyatta who was surrounded by his aides who appeared to be carefully listening to Odinga senior.

There was a chaotic public meeting after that where President Kenyatta dwelt on insulting Oginga Odinga and the Luo community. At one point he said that the Luo were lazy and could not cultivate land like others and instead just wanted free hand outs. Fascinatingly as Kenyatta made his speech, Oginga who was seated not too far was replying to his accusations and sometime the microphone Kenyatta was using picked some of Odinga’s words. The other highlight of Kenyatta’s abusive speech was when he said in Swahili that his government would crush Odinga and his followers until they were “powder”. Don’t say I didn’t warn you he said to Odinga.

All through the meeting there were shouts of Ndume which means “bull” and was the slogan for the then recently registered Oginga political party called Kenya People’s Union (KPU).

What happened next is not clear. However impeccable sources from a member of the security forces present on that day insist that the following happened;

The crowd had been very hostile throughout the entire proceedings and the presidential guards were extremely nervous. Suddenly a chair was hurled from the crowd in the direction of Jomo Kenyatta. It was a harmless missile because one of the guards easily caught it in mid air before it could hit Kenyatta. It was then that an order was issued for the guards to open fire.

Time magazine reported in their issue later that week that at least 9 people were killed and 70 wounded (read the full TIME article). My source says that they counted no less than 50 bodies of women children toddlers and men as well.

In retrospect the problem that day was more of a personal issue between Jomo Kenyatta and Oginga Odinga. Some would say a clash of political ideologies. It had absolutely nothing to do with the Luo people and Odinga senior should NOT have dragged his people into his spat with Kenyatta and the government. It is instructive to note that these were the early beginnings of politicians using tribal politics to enhance their personal interests and political ambitions. Odinga sold the idea to his people that the government of Kenyatta was finishing Luos.

Admittedly what also raised the tensions very high was the move by the Kenyatta administration shortly after the assassination of Mboya to resume Mau mau oath taking only this time those taking the oath swore their allegiance to Jomo Kenyatta. All this was coupled with the fact that the man convicted of firing the fatal revolver shots that had slain Mboya one Nahashon Njenga, was a Kikuyu. And so it was easy to sell the idea to the Luo community that the Kikuyus were “finishing them.”

Kenyatta toured many parts of the country until his death, but never Kisumu again. KPU was banned for “attempting to overthrow the lawful and constitutional government of the Republic of Kenya.” All 8 of it’s MPs as well as Oginga Odinga himself were picked up two days later by the dreaded Special branch police and detained without trial.

This is how the deep hatred between the Luo and Kikuyu communities was launched. By the sad and chaotic events of that day in Kisumu. The Kenyatta government went on to actively encourage and promote the stereotype views many Kikuyus still have concerning Luos to this day. This includes the view that Luos are cowardly boys at best because their culture does not allow for circumcision. Of course the fact that the Luo rite of passage for men of having 6 of their front teeth literally knocked out was much more painful than circumcision was totally ignored. And besides the Luo may be many things but they are certainly NOT cowards.

It is no secret that the Luo have always been led by leaders with magical powers. Right through the days of heroes like Luanda Magere. In fact Wikipedia the online encyclopedia says of Jaramogi;

His (Oginga odinga) efforts earned him admiration and recognition among the Luo, who revered him as Ker (spiritual leader) – a position previously held by the fabled ancestral Luo chief, Ramogi Ajwang, who reigned 400 years before him. Vowing to uphold the ideals of Ramogi Ajwang, Odinga became known as Jaramogi (meaning son of Ramogi).

During Oginga Odinga’s long years away from politics, the Luo believe that he was protected and kept alive only by his magical powers. One particular incident during the Moi era stands out. Wary of Jaramogi’s increasing political activities at the time in backing opposition to Moi’s government by insisting on the repel of the famous section 2 (a) of the constitution which made Kenya a dejure one party state, government agents embarked on a mission to plant guns on Odinga’s farm in Nyanza. The idea was f0r the guns to be later “discovered” and used as “evidence” that Oginga was planning an “armed rebellion” against the “democratically elected government of Kenya.” The mission was done in the dead of the night but the Luo believe that Oginga Odinga’s magical powers enabled him “to see” what was being planned. He is said to have woken up and confronted the government agents by simply asking them what they thought they were doing.

These magical powers it is believed were passed on to Jaramogi’s son, Raila Odinga. Indeed this belief spread to many other communities countrywide who voted for Raila in 2007. In late 2007 I met a Giriama man in Mombasa when I was doing one of my many political surveys on the ground. He told me that he would vote for Odinga because he admired his magical powers which are the only thing that had kept him alive and enabled him to escape assassination when it was clear that he would win the presidency from Mwai Kibaki.

The controversial truth is that to this day many of our Luo brothers believe that it is impossible for Raila to be felled in politics. Reading some of the comments in this blog that display of only blind faith and no substance in support of the Prime Minister, is easy to detect.

Back at the entertainment spot in Kisumu, I ignored the dashing smile from the stunner and decided to pick a conversation with a man seated next to me on the table who I had been observing for sometime. I wanted to ask him what he though about Raila’s political future. To be honest I was not prepared for what he was going to tell me. It shocked me a great deal knowing what I already knew.

Why were you shocked at the honesty of that man, Chris. We Luo people are brutally honest when you catch us at an unguarded moment or when we are in a good mood. But it means nothing, we never walk our talk.


...To be continued. Don’t miss the fourth and final part of this riveting series

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The great Luo political Kitendawili Part 2

A weakness for women?

I can’t remember the last time a woman tried to pick me up but then the world seems to have changed a lot and the hunted I am told have become full fledged hunters. Besides this one was a great looker as I said earlier and the way she carried herself she seemed fully aware of the fact. Still I found it difficult to believe that she was not a prostitute.

Right then I realized that there are a lot of similarities between the Kamba (the tribe my father hails from. My mother was Bukusu Luhya) and the Luos. One of those similarities is that both tribes are rather promiscuous. If Kamba men and women are referred to as the legendary sex athletes in bed then it can be said of Luo men that they never saw a voluminous behind of a woman that they did not want to gawk and “salivate” at and Luo women never saw a strong good looking man and did not want to sample right away. Stereotypes of course but fairly common.

Why lie Chris, I have always told you that when it comes to sex the Luo are in a class of their own. You Kambas should just accept second spot roho safi. In the days before I met Jesus I would pick a prostitute in the CBD and walk with her all the way to my hall at the Nairobi University with a hard on. I think back and am shocked at myself and what I was capable of. What sexual anointing I had in those days. It was obviously from My Luo ancestry.

Many people don’t know it but during the Moi administration there are many instances where the then president tamed Luo political allies and perceived political threats hailing from the tribe using women. To Moi a seductress was always more effective when dealing with the Luo than just cash only.

Even legend seems to support this widely held view. The story is told of how the Nandi finally defeated the legendary Luo leader Luanda Magere using a weakness that they saw in the Luo early. It is said that Luanda Magere was a very tough warrior who possessed magical powers so that a spear or knife could not penetrate his skin. Because of this, long before the colonialists arrived, the Luo were easily able to subdue the Nandi using their great warrior. The crafty Nandi however called for a truce and held a beauty contest to choose the most beautiful young Kalenjin girl who was given to the great Luo warrior and leader as a gift to cement the peace between the two communities. Luanda was delighted at this “gift” because it is said that the young Kalenjin girl was a real stunner. And like most present day Luos who are said to have a “weakness” where women are concerned, he saw no danger at all in having a wife from the fold of his enemies.

Peace reigned between the two communities for sometime until one day the great warrior got sick and he gave instructions to his youngest wife as to what needed to be done. It involved cutting his shadow with a razor to draw blood, which she did and Luanda recovered. Shortly after that incident she asked her husband for permission to visit her parents which she had no problem obtaining being such a dazzling beauty who charmed the fierce warrior immensely. She was sent with many gifts and on arriving in Nandi country, narrated what had happened when her Luo husband, Magere had fallen sick. The Nandi promptly declared war on the Luo and somebody simply speared the shadow of Luanda Magere, killing him instantly and winning the battle for the Nandi.

Many stories have been told about prominent Luo politicians and the mipango za kando (mistresses) that they have had. Tom Mboya was a notorious lady’s man. Robert Ouko the slain former minister of foreign affairs at the time of his death had a mistress and this fascinating fact came through during the commission of enquiry into his death. But the really fascinating thing here was how some policeman were so determined to sell the suicide theory trying to convince intelligent Kenyans that Ouko may have committed suicide because he had Aids from his mistress. Then of course there are many fascinating tales (some truth others pure fiction) about the escapades of both Odinga senior and Raila.

My apologies folks, that smiling Luo beauty made me digress a little but then this a weekend is it not? But back to serious business now.

It is widely known that the Luo migrated into East Africa from a place in Sudan called Bahr-el-Ghazal. But few talk of where they arrived from when they settled in Bahr-el-Ghazal. My research shows that they actually originated from far in the Western part of Africa in present day Nigeria. There are also unconfirmed reports that give some very fascinating information to the effect that the reason the early Luos left Nigeria was because of a very serious quarrel between two brothers, Uthieno and Gillo. Gillo was killed in the ensuing fight between the brothers. It is said that Uthieno killed him in a jealous rage. Uthieno is the father of modern day Luos in East Africa.

This web site seems to confirm some of these facts although the version here is a little different at one point 3 brothers are mentioned. The general facts are however similar in many ways. This murder theory about Uthieno is just the thing the conspiracy theorists need and true to form one told me that when you murder a person a curse falls on your children’s children and can be carried for many generations. In other words it never ends. This could neatly explain all the tragedy’s misfortunes and raw deal in Kenyan politics. But then most Kumekucha readers don’t believe in such mumbo jumbo.

…To be continued. One of the issues I will discuss in my next post is the magical powers of all Luo leaders.

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The great Luo political Kitendawili Part 1

Kitendawili is the Swahili word for puzzle. Indeed the most prominent Luo political personality currently, Prime Minister Raila Odinga loves to use these Swahili puzzles to get his points across at public rallies.

But political analysts are agonizing over what I will call the Luo puzzle.

Consider the following.

No other Kenyan community has gotten so close to the presidency and still come up short. In the run up to independence the two front runners to be the first president of Kenya were both Luos. Namely Tom Mboya and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. If it was another community the two would have sat together and sewn up the deal easily. Instead a vicious struggle between the two ensued that handed over the presidency to another community and Jomo Kenyatta. But all was not lost. Oginga Odinga was appointed the Vice President and Kenyatta was rapidly aging. All he had to do was to sit tight for a few years and he would have easily become president after all Daniel arap Moi did it after him. If there were any slip ups then the young flamboyant Mboya (who was already being hailed by the Western media as a President in waiting) would have taken over. Again the community blew it. Oginga ended up in political oblivion and Mboya died shortly after finishing Oginga politically. Then came 1982 and finally the community had one of it’s own at the helm of power, albeit for about 30 minutes. Some insist the coup of August 1st caused senior private Hezekiah Ochuka to be president of Kenya but for brief chaotic 30 minutes. It is worth noting that many (including this blogger) are convinced that such a junior officer of the air force would have been incapable of acting on his own and there were other bigger names behind him. There is of course the still unique case of one Master sergeant Samuel Doe of Liberia who carried out a successful coup in the 80s and ruled that troubled country for some years.

Then came the most astounding and astonishing event yet in the history of the Luo community and the presidency. In the 2007 presidential race, Raila Odinga won the presidency by a landslide (according to Kumekucha estimates). The elections were stolen and the worst that should have happened is that Mr Odinga would have remained out of government and waited for the next elections. Instead a power sharing arrangement (where the winner received bread crumbs in terms of power from the loser of those elections) was mooted to keep peace in the country. As you read this the writing is clearly on the wall for Raila’s political future and whatever the ODM diehards say, it will be easier for a hungry Tana crocodile to ignore the soft supple flesh of a child bathing at the shores and swim away than it will be for Mr Raila Odinga to ever live in State House as the president of Kenya.

What the hell is wrong?

I once heard this long shot theory of how the community has been cursed never to rise to the presidency. But that particular theory was blown sky high when the son of a Kenyan Luo, Barack Hussein Obama rose to the presidency of the most powerful nation on earth. Or was it? (I will discuss this very controversial point in more detail later on this weekend).

And so that is the big Luo political kitendawili.

I have had the privilege of getting to know the Luo very well. Ironically I was born in Kisumu (now Kisumu City) and over the years fate has kept me close to the community and that interesting city by some amazing twists including the fact that the best friend I ever had (the late G) was a Luo. And so I am in a unique position to talk about the community from a neutral point of view. Indeed from this point I will punctuate my prose with bold comments of what good old G would have said to some of the most controversial statements I will make here. Rest in peace my dear brother.

Chris, you are one melodramatic Kenyan. Now you want to elevate me to saintly status. Vanity my friend, you know my views on that, there is only one who can be worshiped. Secondly you have brains. The Luo will skin you alive for what you want to do here, we like to keep some truths unspoken.

I sat at this Luo entertainment spot in Kisumu and listened to the sad beat of popular Tony Nyadundo. The dance floor was packed with gyrating revelers many of them sweating profusely and with their eyes closed. It was as if they were hungrily drinking in the sadness. Enjoying it and all the tragedy and bad luck that has befallen this community. A friend recently said of the community “they always seem to have this great sadness hanging over them.”

I will be lying if I say I was not enjoy the Tony Nyadundo music and the sadness with them, although I was not on the dance floor yet. I was still seated reflecting on this humid city that has always appeared from the blue at very critical points of my life. My parents were traveling when they had to hurriedly stop over in Kisumu for me to be born. I met my wife of 20 years in Kisumu about 20 years later. Then when I was down and out and a hopeless alcoholic I met G (who called Kisumu his home town). And now at a critical point of Kenya’s political history, I am taking my readers back to this place. This place where I hope to pick the answers they wait for to help them solve the big Luo political puzzle.

But my thoughts are interrupted by a great looking young girl who passes my table and flashes a big smile at me whose meaning is obvious.

…To be continued later today.


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Raila Vs Ruto Political Duel: Raila Fast Digging His Political Grave!

See also most recent article by Chris: Why Ruto will win the war against Raila
Some of the things Kumekucha is reading: Annonymous comment costs employee his job

By Guest Writer

In the height of post-election violence, William Ruto and Najib Balala were key ODM figures who fought the Raila’s mass action war of “stolen” presidency like their own personal fight and the TV images of the two fleeing in Nairobi streets from mean-looking GSU officers lobbing tear-gas at them are still fresh in my mind. The two men were ready to die for Raila. Remember Balala even shed tears when he stepped down for Raila during ODM presidential nomination at Kasarani. That’s as far as the marriage of convenience lasted.

The unfolding drama and imminent fall out in ODM was not unexpected but I could not imagine Raila falling out with Ruto and Balala. The fall out best explains how Kenya politics is fluid. Raila largely owes his position and the powers he enjoys to Ruto and Balala. Apart from vigorously campaigning for Raila in the 2007 General Elections, Ruto and Balala took charge of Raila’s mass action call and rallied ODM supporters and their affiliate tribes to civil disobedience to protest Kibaki’s controversial win. The fall out is a big lesson to other politicians and tribes – never fight another man’s war or kill in their name.

If Raila called for the mass action and only Luos heeded his call, Kenyans wouldn’t have been subjected to PEV or violence would have been minimal and of little consequence. But Ruto’s powerbase, the Rift Valley, was the main battle zone for PEV and the tragic and barbaric events in the province were what put Kenya on the international radar. Without Ruto and Balala and the Rift Valley primitive slaughter, Raila would have reluctantly settled for the humble position of the Official Opposition Leader. But thanks to the blood of innocent Kenyans, Raila landed on the prime post he is now using to flex his muscles against the foot soldiers and lieutenants who killed and uprooted innocent from their homes and businesses in his name.

Ruto and Balala are the equivalent of Martha Karua, who toppled the scale against Raila on the finishing line and ensured Kibaki got a controversial second term. Without Karua, Kibaki would have kissed goodbye to the presidency. The Krieger Report told us neither Kibaki nor Raila could stake a high moral ground and claim they legally won. ODM and PNU fiddled with election results in their strongholds. Kibaki and Raila loyalists can fume with that assertion but that’s the reality. For that, Raila and Kibaki equally share the blame in 2008 PEV.

The seeds of hatred were sowed by Kibaki when he refused to honour a pre-election MoU with Raila when he came to power in 2002. Kibaki added fuel to the fire when he started weeding out key Kalenjins from his new Administration. Kalenjins regarded the presidency to be synonymous to Moi and as if State House was their property. They were bitter loosing power to a Kikuyu. Ruto and Kalenjins would be consigned to the political dustbin were it not for Kibaki’s poor judgment in politics.

After the fall out with Kibaki over dishonoured MoU, Raila’s only option was to team up with Kibaki’s enemies and that’s how Kalenjins and leaders who had looted state coffers or had criminal records (some murderers for their roles in 1992 and 1997 tribal clashes), and killers likes of Ole Ntimama, got a new lifeline. Raila and his new-found allies saw the best way to fight Kibaki was to pour petrol to the fire of hatred, which he had lit with the dishonoured MoU. The birth of ODM after the 2005 referendum was based on pure hatred towards Mt Kenya folks and revenge against Kibaki. Thanks to Kibaki’s failures and fall out with Raila, Moi today looks like a saint despite his many dark evils in his 24-year rule.

ODM big guns and their supporters held divergent personal and political ideologies and their marriage was only for convenience but not driven by desire to bring genuine change and reforms in Kenya. These were strange bedfellows. ODM was meant to replace Kibaki’s eating club with new or re-packaged thieves and looters. But the revenge against Kibaki and by extent his tribe, the Kikuyus, was the temporary glue that brought political conmen, looters, murderers and graft lords together. The glue held up to the 2007 Presidential elections and Kenya went to elections in a charged and polluted environment. The ODM unity of purpose – to kick out Kibaki from State House – was what made Raila’s mass action call work. Sooner or later, party time and honeymoon was going to be over for Raila and his ODM.

Unknown to Ruto and Balala, Koffi Annan was pushing for ceasefire and a Grand Coalition Government without revealing his true intentions. He wanted to bring peace but ensure killers were punished. In fact, Raila and ODM were the ones who wanted Annan and the international to intervene claiming they had been robbed of the presidency by Kibaki. Kibaki and his allies were content after retaining the presidency and they didn’t want Annan to come in.

Raila and ODM got an upper hand and Kibaki conceded to share power. The man ODM saw as their saviour had a trick up his sleeve – unleashing the ICC and Ocampo after the PEV dust settled. Ruto and his ODM thought the PEV issue ended as soon as Kibaki and Raila signed a peace deal. How mistaken they were! To the disbelief of Ruto, Balala and others who suspect their names were in the Waki envelope, Raila backed trial of PEV suspects. This is after Raila had equated the PEV killers to freedom fighters! What a betrayal from the mass action general.

Raila looked at 2007 General Election as the end of the world – it was a do or die. He forgot he could loose and vie another day. His mass action call gave birth to mass murder and Kikuyus suffered the most. Raila realised the folly of his mass action call and warmed up to Kikuyus and to the larger Mt Kenya people after he invited Kibaki to his Bondo home. He now enjoys a good working relationship with Kibaki.

When relations improved, Kibaki cleverly pushed the explosive Mau eviction issue to Raila and the PM enthusiastically took it up hoping to win an image of a national and international leader. Raila has received a huge sarcastic backing from Mt Kenya folks on the Mau issue – but that will remain as far as Mau forest is concerned. In public, Mt Kenya folks displaying their “support” to Raila in regard to Mau, while in private laughing as Raila’s burns the bridges that propelled him to where he is today. Doubt this? Read comments on Daily Nation website everyday and guess who are cheering on Raila.

In evicting Kalenjins from Mau, Raila is stepping on the toes of murders, thieves, looters and land grabbers who had played a key role in his 2007 presidential campaign and what he is today. The current fall out was inevitable. Mt Kenya are arguing Raila is unknowingly revenging on them for what Kalenjins did to their Gema kinsmen in 2008. What a better way to get revenge for Kikuyus killed and uprooted from RV? By using their 2007 hero, Raila!

Those who wish away Kikuyus to play a major role in any election are doomed. Kikuyus have the numbers and they vote to preserve their selfish interests – to protect their wealth. In this regard, even if a Kikuyu doesn’t vie for the top seat in 2012 to avoid a repeat of the backlash of 2007, the community will play a big role in deciding Kenya’s next CEO. If no Kikuyu garners for the top seat, Raila’s campaign will be largely deflated as he will not have the ammunitions he had in 2007, rallying other tribes against Mt Kenya folks. Raila’s political future will be doomed.

Unlike Luos who openly express their anger and thoughts and you can easily read their mind and next move, Kikuyus are the opposite. Luos may have celebrated too early that they managed to drive a final nail in the coffin of the frosty relations between Kikuyus and Kalenjins – stemming from land in Rift Valley. Kikuyus in Rift Valley may never mend fences with Kalenjins. But Kikuyus in Central Province and elsewhere have nothing to loose in mending fences with Kalenjins as long as that will place them in leadership or the next Government. Furthermore, Kikuyus and Kalenjins have a lot at stake – land in Rift Valley. What have Luos to offer Kikuyus? Kikuyus can bury their past grudges as long as Kalenjins are willing to accommodate them in RV.

In this regard, Raila made the 2007 General Election look like a personal battle against Kikuyus and majority of Kikuyus believe they would not have fallen victims and suffered so much due to PEV were it not for Raila. Even before 2007, majority of Kikuyus openly said they couldn’t vote for a Luo, more so Raila. Raila’s tribal and hatred politics that led to PEV permanently burnt his political bridges with Mt Kenya folks. Raila may have toned down his hard politics on Kibaki to please Mt Kenya folks, but they are unlikely to ever forgive him for the PEV.

From the look of things, Ocampo is unlikely to go after Kibaki and Raila. Kibaki loses nothing since he is doing his last term. If Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta are both indicted by Ocampo over PEV and leave Raila, Kikuyus and Kalenjins will be united by a common purpose as happened in the recent Mau evictees fund-raising. The common enemy for the two tribes will be Raila and they will never forgive him for his mass action call that gave birth to PEV and took their sons to Hague.

In such a scenario, the person who will be smiling all the way to the bank and likely to reap is one Kalonzo Musyoka. He’ll tell Kikuyus: “I rushed to boost Kibaki from Raila on slot after the disputed polls and you retained the presidency.” He’ll turn to Kalenjins and tell them: ”I warned you about Raila. Look at what he has done with you with Mau and with Ruto.” The Mau eviction and PEV trials were the turning point of Raila and Kalenjins and only a divine intervention can save Raila from the imminent tsunami he faces in 20120 and beyond.

Raila mistakenly believes if Hague takes Uhuru and Ruto, his ambitions to rule Kenya are home and sealed. I bet Raila will die like his father before he rules Kenya. The best Raila and his father managed is a step away from the throne. It is very unlikely Kibaki will back Raila in 2012 and Kikuyus are very unlikely to vote for Raila come rain come sunshine – even with Kibaki’s backing.

Lacking a better strategy to tame the Ruto-Balala axis, Raila has resorted to laughable theatrics by challenging them to quit the Cabinet. That’s a very cowardly challenge. If you are an employer and your employee openly defies you, do you keep daring him to quit or you sack him? A rogue employee looses nothing clinging on and making trouble from within. Ruto and Balala have equally hit back and said they did not fear being sacked.

Raila’s frequent challenge to Ruto & Co to quit shows he has no moral courage to fire the group. He would be digging deeper his political grave. Raila is playing holistic politics. Didn’t the same Raila rock Kibaki’s Govt from within in Narc and after becoming PM? I believe Ruto and Balala have psychologically set their minds Hague is real. They must have decided even if they went to Hague, they’ll sink the political ambitions of the thankless general they fought for.

Raila is fast digging his political grave and if I was him, I would do all I can to win back the Ruto-Balala axis, to win their tribesmen and women. Due to his greed for power, Raila is fast digging his political grave while being cheered by his enemies and his blind supporters. Let’s wait and see if the powerful Kikuyu block with vote for him in 2012.

Kibaki in his first term evicted settlers from Mau forest. Raila ganged up with Ruto and his allies denouncing Kibaki and introducing hate and tribal politics. They used Mau evictions as ammunition against Kibaki in 2005 referendum. When campaigning 2007 presidential elections, Raila and allies perfected hate politics and again used Mau to settle scores with Kibaki and assured settlers they wouldn’t be evicted. Raila scored political mileage and won Kalenjin votes. Ruto and allies perfecting what their master taught them.

Kibaki has last laugh as Raila’s hate politics returns to haunt him. Kibaki is playing clever. He agreed to a truce with Raila and allows him to flex his muscle and exercise his perceived and illusionary powers (Kibaki retains all executive powers) as he sits back to enjoy his former enemies fighting each other and their general.

If Hague prunes Ruto and Uhuru from Kenya’s political map, I encourage doubting Thomases and Raila’s blind ardent follows to keep a copy of this story as a historical reference. I love this show. Who would have expected a fall out after all the chest-thumping in ODM in the run up to 2007.


P.S. And on the CoE constitution, I share Moi’s stand and concerns. Kenya should have one CEO, pure presidential and system. The CEO’s power should be drastically watered down and checked by strong judiciary and parliament. All appointments must be endorsed by Parliament to curb tribalism and nepotism. Two centres of power will put Kenya permanently on tension due to power struggle between president and PM, driving away investors and tourists. Two centres of power will spell doom for the future survival of Kenya. Raila and his like-minded shud should seek our mandate if they want to rule but not grab power through back door.

Kumekucha Weekend Special is back!! Don't miss the most controversial posts here in a long time this Saturday and Sunday. Topic; The Big Luo political kitendawili. Chris is truly BACK!!!

Kumekucha changes his position: Why Ruto will fell Raila

I have no problem with constructive criticism. Most people think that I concede too easily and too quickly at the earliest sign that I have been proved wrong. If you ask me most people never want to be proved wrong and can argue for hours just to maintain appearances and an image of never being wrong. That is really sad because learning becomes almost impossible with such a kindergarten attitude.

Anyway I am writing this post to change my position on the ongoing Raila/Ruto war. Earlier I said that I believed that Ruto will go down first. Now I am writing to say that Raila will go down first.

I used history to write my last post and somebody challenged me with the same history to prove me wrong. I have dug deep into my history books and I have no option but to agree with them. I firmly believe that history always repeats itself; I have seen it happen too many times.

Let me give you the historical facts and arguments presented to me.

On 26th June 1958 Oginga Odinga (father to Raila Odinga) made his famous “Kenyatta tosha” move in parliament (Legco). He did this by doing what was then “unthinkable”. In a speech he later referred to as “his bombshell in the house” he said that those convicted in Kapenguria were “still the real political leaders” of Africans in Kenya. He singled out Jomo Kenyatta and compared him to Makarios, the then exiled leader of Cyprus. Makarios was a religious leader and it was obvious that Odinga was elevating Kenyatta to almost godly status. The colonial government did not mince any words and governor Sir Evelyn Baring made it clear that the government had no intention of allowing Kenyatta to return to active politics even if he were released. But the political impact on the ground was huge (just as Odinga had intended) and Raila’s dad had set in motion a chain of events that would give the presidency to Kenyatta on a silver platter.

It was clear what had motivated Odinga senior. It was his deep hatred for the much younger Luo called Tom Mboya who had outsmarted him at every turn. He could not stand the idea of watching the young upstart climb to power and loathed the idea so much that he preferred a Kikuyu to his own tribes-mate.

More importantly in retrospect, Odinga launched tribal politics in Kenya for the first time. He chose Kenyatta because Kenyatta was a Kikuyu and he knew that the bedrock of Mboya’s support in his Nairobi constituency were the Kikuyu. Odinga senior was to play this tribal card again and again in his political battles against Mboya who firmly remained a nationalist to the bitter end.

My critic says that Odinga seniors’ motivation was exactly the same as that of Raila in rejecting Uhuru Kenyatta as the presidential candidate for Kanu in 2002. Raila chose Mwai Kibaki not because he liked him but to frustrate the youngster Uhuru from ascending to the presidency. Like his dad he could not bear to see the youngster rise to power above him while he watched. Hence the “Kibaki tosha” statement that gave the presidency on a silver platter to the Kikuyu once again and this time round to one Mwai Kibaki.

Back to Odinga senior; the relationship with Kenyatta was warm and cordial at first and he was even appointed Kenya’s first Vice president. However Jaramogi Oginga Odinga quickly got disillusioned and frustrated by the Kenyatta administration of thieves who never saw any prime land they did not want to grab. The Kenyatta administration was quick to identify Odinga and the Luo community as a serious threat and many lives were saved and chaos averted because of this wisdom in Kenyatta and his close advisors.

Mwai Kibaki took a much longer time to realize that Raila was a threat after the initial honeymoon had ended. As late as a few months to the presidential elections of 2007 many Kibaki advisors were saying that Kenyans would never elect “an Luo Kihehe (uncircumcised)” to the presidency. This lack of foresight is what led to the chaos and blood shed that will be the Kibaki legacy long after he is gone.

Kenyatta identified Tom Mboya as the man he would use to neutralize the Odinga threat. Kibaki has identified Ruto as the man to use to neutralize the Raila threat to him and his administration. Mboya won and so will Ruto.

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga remained very powerful and influential amongst the Luo people but was powerless because he had been forced out of mainstream national politics. I now believe that exactly the same thing will happen with Raila. He will remain very influential in Luo Nyanza politics but will fade out of national politics.

Mboya was killed and elevated to cult status as a result of his death. I believe Ruto will be removed from the scene and end up in some prison cell which will elevate him to cult status amongst the Kalenjin. It is not too dfficult to imagine the Kalenjin talking about Ruto in the same awed tones as they still talk about their military hero and leader Koitalel arap Samoei. Ironically one of Ruto’s names is Samoei. Read all about this amazing Kalenjin secrets in my earlier post. Read This one first.

Away from history there are some telling pointers on the ground that point to a Raila downfall in the very near future.

For starters he has made the same mistake Mwai Kibaki made in 2005 in thinking that he would still win the referendum for a new constitution he had crafted with Wako, with the big landowners of Kenya on the opposing side. Have you ever wondered why the Kenyattas, Mois etc were so firmly against the new constitution (redrafted by Wako)? It was the simple matter of what that draft had to say about land policy and a truth and reconciliation commission. In simple language passing that new constitution in 2005 would have meant that the Kenyattas Mois etc would have ended up losing their vast tracts of land (and thus wealth).

If Raila sees the Mau evictions to their logical end, one of the biggest losers (apart from William Ruto himself) will be former president Daniel arap Moi and his sons. The Kenyattas are very worried because after Mau other parcels of land countrywide are sure to follow. While it is important for Kenya and Kenyans that Raila wins this gallant fight, the political reality is that he cannot. He is already a marked man. Give the powerful landowners of Kenya a few weeks and their money will have done its work and gathered enough votes in parliament to easily pass a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister. But before that the president will appoint a new leader of government business in the house and Raila will no longer have the clout in the house to reject the appointment this time.

Folks ODM is dead and no matter what Steadman polls say, Raila is no longer the formidable national political figure he was in 2007. If you can’t hear what I am saying, then please try and read my lips ODM IS DEAD AND BURIED!!!

K-Whatever Alliance: Will it Survive the Coming Tsunami?

Why Matiba and Rubia Are Disgusted By Some MPs of the 10th Parliament

One thing I always admired in Kenneth Matiba was his slogan kuuga na gwika. Loosely translated from his native language, this means walking the talk. Matiba, then a throughly frustrated cabinet minister in late eighties courtesy of the then KANU Organising Secretary, quit the then ruling party KANU in a huff – something that was unheard of in those days of single party dictatorship. Matiba and Charles Rubia went on to create an alliance that campaigned for repeal of section 2a of the constitution, and this eventually led to their painful detention without trial. But ultimately, Moi, then strongly supported by some leaders still at the scene today, finally caved in to the pressure that these two gallant Kenyans started and allowed multi-party democracy in Kenya. In the earlier years, when most of the current chest thumping Rift Valley MPs were still enjoying free Nyayo milk at primary school, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the late George Moseti Anyona and many others had also tried to register their own political parties but they also ended up in detention courtesy of fimbo ya Nyayo.

Many other patriotic Kenyans have walked the talk or kuuga na gwika like Matiba would put it. This list cannot be complete without one Raila Odinga – who was incidentally also detained without trial for the umpteenth time - after he was joined by Matiba and Rubia to champion calls for multi-party democracy in the late eighties. Later on, Raila Odinga also quit the then leading opposition party FORD-K in 1997 to little known National Development and six months later run for president emerging 4th in an election that was rigged in favour of Moi and KANU. Kuuga na gwika!

The freedom of speech that many Kenyans now enjoy is owed to the efforts of these Kenyans who at one time or another put their lives on the line to fight the Moi autocracy.

The current pretenders to the throne masquerading as provincial representatives of Central, Rift Valley, Coast and Lower Eastern, pale in comparison when put on under the same microscope with the likes of Matiba, Anyona or Odinga. Charles Rubia must be exhausted at switching off TV channels and shaking his head in disgust whenever the press cameras go to a funeral in Rift Valley. The current crop of Rift Valley MPs are certainly no match for a lady who was elected as the first woman MP from Rift Valley and who was known as Chelagat Mutai. This lady was among those who dared to challenge the Kenyatta regime when the president’s word was law. We dearly miss this gallant daughter of Kenya! These current MPs have completely abused the freedom of speech that those of us who have walked the painful road of democratizing this country laboured for.

Today, although the politics of Kenya has evolved from what it was in the KANU era, it is still not apparent to the Panafric Hotel party goers that politics is now issue driven. Luckily, even a village peasant in rural Kenya knows this and this is why some of them are lining up to voluntarily return irregular MAU title deeds and also register the Mau secretariat. Some rookie MPs are refusing to accept this obviously acting at the behest of their status quo benefactors.

These MPs led an assembly at Panafric Hotel under the guise of raising funds as aid and humanitarian assistance to Mau Forest IDPs. But because many Kenyans do know that most of those who were at that so called future high table, including the convenor of the fund raiser, are themselves owners of huge tracts of illegally acquired land, some of which they have sold on to unsuspecting members of the public. In reality, the fundraiser was itself a total failure when looked at from a political angle. No wonder Moi is asking them to go back to KANU and take lessons on how to play premiership politics!

To add insult to injury, a quick follow-up of the of the Panafric fundraiser with successive public rallies in Lugari and Kwale to drum up support for the new K-whatever alliance ended disastrously when they were totally snubbed by the locals leaders and wananchi. Clonning the ODM Pentagon is no easy task especially if you omit the well known common denominator that brings the mwananchi to his rallies and his party.

Ironically during the same weekend, the Prime Minister was addressing a massive rally in Kibera's Kamukunji grounds in which he dared the land grabbers of yesteryears to quit the government if they were men enough. The prime minister was inferring to a situation where ministers unanimously adopt government policy today only to run back to funerals tomorrow to disown the same policies they helped create and adopt! Political observers also took note that the PM could be re-constituting yet another history making politburo when he declared that yet another tsunami is coming to wipe all the trash into the sea. Older Kumekucha bloggers know that in politics timing is everything and the time comes, it will be revealed here very promptly. Watch this space!

Despite all the disgust, the Rt Hon PM still found time to share a drink with us patriotic citizens at the popular Birongo Square (Nairobi West) after watching the Harambee Stars versus Zambia game. It was indeed a candid sitting in which we told the PM to keep up the efforts at reclaiming our valued water tower! Clearly the PM ridding on the back of huge public support judging by the pandemonium he caused at the busy shopping center.

The last one week has been a very humbling experience for the so called future leaders. The message they have received from churches, mosques, FM call-in programs, newspapers and other public forums is that they are now deemed to be promoters of impunity, betrayers of the Kenyan dream and a liability to the reform process that is already underway. In fact, the MAU land baron’s threats to introduce an ill-advised motion of no confidence against the prime minister has apparently suffered a painful still-birth after it received no support, even from the same crowd that gathered at Panafric. Suddenly, some Rift Valley MPs find themselves very lonely and very afraid. I think they will be totally shocked at what will happen to their already declared presidential candidate come 2012.

When the rest of country is brainstorming the all important Harmonised Darft Constitution, it is truly sad that some sections of society want to treat us to useless KANU era theatrics. It churns one’s stomach when we see that these are the same characters who are serving as Kenya’s VPs, DPMs, and Ministers.

Shindwe kabisa hiyo pepo mbaya.

Kibaki’s hand in the Mau battle and how history always repeats itself

What many people don’t know about a writer called Mario Puzo is that he struggled most of his life to make enough money to put food on the table. In fact he was mostly unable to feed his own family until the age of 49 when he wrote a book called The Godfather. I love the novel and have watched all the movies based on it from the first to The Godfather III. I even watched the movies with my young son to teach him about life. There is no other movie that I have watched three times and can still watch a fourth time. You can read Mario Puzo’s amazing biography HERE.

With all due respect to some of our commentators here in Kumekucha they need to read the book and/or watch the movies to get into their heads that politics is a very brutal “game” (if you can call it a game). If it is a game, it is the only game I know where you can kick your opponent when he is already dead on the ground and not only get away with it but get wildly cheered for it.

I promised in my last post that I would do some serious digging on the Mau politics (which I am still doing) but I have stumbled onto something major which I would like to share today.

Most of my readers hate history and those who read it don’t take time to study it and instead read it hurriedly to twist it to suit their current political interests and worship of certain individuals. And so bear with me as I go back into history so that you understand what exactly is going on at the moment.

In the mid sixties, shortly after independence, the Kenyatta administration identified the Luo community as the main threat to the long term survival of the corrupt land-grabbing government. They identified one Jaramogi Oginga Odinga as the main threat. This man had handed over the presidency on a silver platter to Kenyatta not because he loved him but just to frustrate fellow tribesman and arch rival Tom Mboya from ascending to the same office. He did it in one move where he stood up in the Legco (the parliament of the time) and said that Kenyatta was “like a God to Kenyans” and there was no way the country would attain independence with Kenyatta still in detention thius kick-starting a campaign for the release of Kenyatta. But after Kenyatta became Prime Minister and then president, Jaramogi quickly got disillusioned with the Kenyatta administration and especially the murderous bunch who surrounded the old man who just wanted lots of wealth like there was no tomorrow and were ready to murder to retain the status quo at all costs.

Kenyatta gave the job of “dealing with Jaramogi” to Tom Mboya who accepted the task with glee mainly because he had a couple of scores to settle. At the same time Kenyatta made it appear that he was a great supporter of Jaramogi and even gave funds towards some of his pet projects. The impression created to keen observers was that there was a power struggle over the Kenyatta succession between Mboya and Odinga senior. It was only much later that those analysts realized that the whole thing had been engineered by Kenyatta himself.

Mboya won that battle and by doing so signed his own death warrant as David Goldsworthy so ably analyzed things for us in his landmark Mboya biography: Tom Mboya: The Man Kenya wanted to forget.

Now let’s fast forward to the present.

Many people do not know it but Mwai Kibaki is facing the biggest political fight of his career. For Mwai Kibaki this battle is bigger than the one he faced for 10 years as Vice president to Moi when he had to survive. He finally lost that one (with lots of casualties including his own father). And it is also much bigger than the one he fought to remove Moi from power and ascend to the presidency. A grand battle where he almost lost his own life. Yep, this one is far greater.

Mwai Kibaki is faced with two major threats. William Ruto and the Kalenjin community on one side and Raila Odinga on the other. Unchecked these two could make his future living hell on earth with a big possibility that the member for Othaya could live out his retirement in the serenity of a prison cell.

Like Kenyatta did in 1964, the president has to decide which of the two is the bigger and more immediate threat. I believe that the president and his close advisors have decided that it is William Ruto.

Now just as Kenyatta had to get rid of Oginga without being seen to be in direct confrontation with the Luo community, Kibaki has to isolate Ruto and somehow retain the support of as many Kalenjins as he possibly can.

And that is how the Mau forest (an issue that the Kibaki administration had ignored for months suddenly swept to the forefront of Kenyan politics). It is NOT Ruto using it for political mileage, it is Kibaki. In one single move Mwai Kibaki and his close political advisors may just succeed in destroying ODM and at the same time neutralizing both Ruto and Raila forever. Interestingly there are many who believe that Mwai Kibak will have no option but to support Raila for the presidency in 2012 (forget it, there is no new constitution being passed, lets wait and see).

How will Ruto be finished? (a commentator said here yesterday that he does not see how this will be accomplished). That is a fair question.

Have you guys forgotten Ruto’s soft underbelly so quickly? It all stems from the way he accumulated his vast wealth so quickly. As you read this the man still has a case pending in court (do you guys realize how rapidly a case file can be retrieved to land on the Ag’s desk through political motivation?). And we have not even started talking about the post-election violence and the ICC at the Hague. One of the two will fell this cocky, arrogant legislator and when it happens all blame will be heaped on one Raila Odinga and NOT Mwai Kibaki. This is significant because it means that with a bit of luck that ridiculous contraption called KKK can survive Ruto’s downfall. The new point man from the Rift Valley may just be Gideon Moi whom as I mentioned here earlier has been on grassroots campaign mode for a very long time now. Or it could be a close ally of Ruto who will castigate “those who finished Ruto” and urge the community to stick to the KKK alliance to seek revenge. All too neat and I have a feeling it is too neat to succeed. In any case it does not matter who the new Kalenjin “tribal chief” will be after William Ruto.

I am very reliably informed that the president’s closest and main political advisor currently is one Ambassador Francis Muthaura (something that I found so difficult to believe that I had to look for a second source to confirm this, which I found). The president’s chief advisor on Kalenjin politics is of course retired president Moi. When you know how these two gentlemen think then it is very easy to confirm or dismiss the contents of this post.

There is one final bit of tell-tale evidence that makes the scenario depicted here very believable. Have you noticed that the relationship between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga has improved dramatically as the relationship between Ruto and Raila has worsened almost at the same pace? That, my friends, is very telling indeed.

Why did Uhuru call Raila "stupid"?

Break ups are very nasty things indeed. Very few people are able to manage them, let alone live with the new reality they present to the two individuals concerned. And I am talking about relationships where those concerned are passionately and deeply in love with each other.

Najib Balala and Raila Odinga were once inseparable. I remember the tearful moment during the ODM presidential nominations in late 2007 when the handsome mzee from the Coast publicly stepped down in favour of “the Captain.” Not even that Nyagah guy from Embu stepped down for Raila. And this was after Mr Balala had already spent a small fortune campaigning for his presidential bid. I saw Raila shed tears and I said to myself if that man becomes the next president of Kenya then Mr Balala is going to be a very powerful man indeed.

Alas, human relationships are not that predictable. As you read this the two are bitter enemies. Balala took a very direct swipe at his party chief during the controversial Mau fund raiser when he said; “Look at this high table here. This is the future. If you are not here you are not the future.” There was loud mocking laughter at the end of his comment because there was absolutely no doubt who he was referring to as “ NOT being in the future.

Then at the same meeting Uhuru Kenyatta angrily said that “there are some people who are very stupid.” He quickly recovered and tried to make excuses saying that he had never hurled abuses at anybody from a podium in his life. But it was too late and again it was clear who the insults were directed at.

The clincher for me came when the increasingly busy (politically) Jimmy Kibaki addressed a meeting and started by telling people that he had brought greetings from Honorable William Ruto. Who is Ruto?

So what the hell is going on?


Why don’t we start by asking what has caused this bitter break up. Remember that in a real relationship the true reasons are sometimes so petty that neither of the parties will even talk about them. At other times they are so serious that they will talk of nothing else. So which is it in the case of Balala and the man who shed tears because of him not too long ago? I believe the Raila/Balala problems started with very petty issues like Balala not getting enough attention and not being given quality time. But they quickly escalated to more serious issues like the involvement of the said gentlemen in the post election skirmishes. Indeed on the surface this seems to be the same reason that Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta are so bitter against the Prime Minister. But why should they be so bitter and yet the PM has dutifully protected all the murderes in ODM and has even defied Ocampo and stuck with his fellow principal Mwai Kibaki in insisting on a local tribunal to try post election violence suspects. For my slower readers a local tribunal means that the real culprits will go scot free no matter how much noise Kenyans make. Muta-do?

Some analysts believe that it is all political and that is why Balala, Uhuru Ruto etc are under the banner of KKK. This KKK rubbish is meant to signify the union of three major tribes in 2012, namely Kamba, Kikuyu and Kalenjin. Actually in my book the real name for this ridiculous “contraption” that will never work is Kalonzo, Kenyatta and Kipruto (the order is significant). But that is a story for another post very soon.

Let me admit to you folks that the real reason why there are such bitter feelings of animosity towards the PM is still a mystery to me. But I am digging and you guys know that when I start digging I never quit until I am able to solve all my mysteries and cold cases.

But the Jimmy Kibaki mystery I have already solved and I will tell.

Remember how I have said in many posts here that Mwai Kibaki’s schemes are usually so perfect that they never work? Well the president is still at it. If a leopard can ever get rid of its spots then you can expect that he will change soon. Admittedly in this case the president is borrowing heavily from the political notes of one Jomo Kenyatta who often fanned battles between his close lieutenants and then supported both sides, even going as far as financing both sides. Once upon a time Kenyatta had let loose Tom Mboya to destroy Odinga Oginga (Raila’s dad) and he gave hefty donations to both sides so that Oginga started believing that Mboya was acting on his own. Fast forward to the present and the president is fully backing Raila Odinga in the Mau battle. But he is also fully backing Ruto and the KKK alliance.


P.S. I stand by my headline in the last post where I asked if Ruto will survive. My opinion is that both Ruto and Raila are finished politically (only that they don’t know it yet.) However Ruto will fall first and Raila may survive even to the next presidential elections where it will dawn on him at the very last minute that his time (politically) is up. Hold me to account for this prediction, if I forget.