A New Dawn in Kenya

Ruto’s political teeth were not cut in democratic struggle

2010-01-25T17:14:00.001+03:00

By Miguna Miguna

In November 1987, I was the Finance Secretary of the Students Organisation of Nairobi University (Sonu). At that time, there was a young man in first year Bachelor of Science class known as William Samoei Ruto.

The young man was not known for anything exceptional apart from the fact that he was a regular at the Christian Union meetings at Ufungamano House, next to the university halls of residence. Then, William Ruto thumbed through Psalms and sang Christian hymns.

Early morning on November 14, 1987, more than 80 per cent of University of Nairobi students rose up in protest against the single party dictatorship of the then President Moi who had ordered the arrest of five student leaders, including myself, for leading their fellow students in concerted campaigns for multi-party democracy.

On November 14, the young Ruto ate tear-gas for the first time, as he knelt down inside the Ufungamano House, praying for God to stop the confrontation between the students and the police outside.

However, Ruto’s prayers did not stop the brutality and carnage of President Moi’s repressive forces that day. Many students were raped, beaten, arrested, tortured and arbitrarily detained incommunicado without trial. When some of us were eventually released from brutal detention and torture, the university had been closed indefinitely and students sent home. I was expelled together with the entire student leadership except for one woman who had been a Government informer. Thereafter, some of us went into exile where we continued the fight for democracy.

Dramatic transformation

Less than five years after the young Ruto suffocated under Moi’s tear-gas and tasted the truncheons merely for kneeling in prayer, he went through a dramatic transformation. Instead of praying for the Holy Ghost to redeem the country from dictatorship, Ruto became Moi’s disciple. Rather than join his fellow students in fighting and opposing repression, Ruto joined the Youth for Kanu ’92.

Given what he had been subjected to, albeit briefly, it is understandable why the young man would later prefer to be on the side of those throwing tear-gas canisters rather than being on the receiving end. Perhaps he understood the "superiority" of raw power to godliness.

Within one year of graduation, and without having held a job, Ruto became a millionaire. Subsequently, his name was synonymous with all the bad things associated with the Kanu regime. So much so that when the 1992 General Election was held, he and Cyrus Jirongo became leading lights in Moi’s first election campaign; not because of their exceptional intellect, but due to their skills in issuing threats, intimidating Moi’s opponents.

Whenever and wherever Moi could not get his way, the two ‘Bad Boys’ made sure that the ground was softened. Accordingly, Ruto, Jirongo and company became certified political experts at softening targets.

Hence, Ruto’s political teeth were not cut in democratic discourse and struggle. The type of politics he learnt at the feet of his masters had nothing to do with persuasion or debate.

I was therefore not surprised to read that Ruto has lined up Uhuru Kenyatta, Kalonzo Musyoka and Cyrus Jirongo as his 2012 General Election running mates. Those are natural choices. Kenyans could not have expected a better line-up. In that line-up, Kenyans can, once and for all, sort out those who have stood on the wrong side of history.

Ruto has declared that he wants to become president in 2012. But there is a small matter with his campaign gimmick. First, Ruto claims that he has differed with the Prime Minister Raila Odinga over the youth arrested by police in the aftermath of 2007 General Election.

He accuses Raila of not standing up for those youth. Yet, it is the PM, not Ruto, who has constantly raised the issue of the youth who were unlawfully arrested or killed by the police. The PM has done that both publicly and within Government. As a senior member of the Grand Coalition Government, what has Ruto done to seek justice for those youth?

Second, Ruto claims that he has differed with Raila over the treatment of post-election violence suspects. Presumably, he is saying that those suspects should not be tried and punished even if they are found guilty. Yet, Ruto was a member of the Serena Team that constituted the Waki Commission; Raila was not. Why blame Raila for the Waki recommendations? If Ruto is seeking justice for the youth arrested or killed, why is he opposed to the justice prescribed by the Waki Commission? Doesn’t Ruto want those who killed, maimed, tortured and unlawfully arrested the youth punished?

It is public knowledge that Ruto and Uhuru are fabulously wealthy. But apart from wealth, can anyone please explain to me what qualifies the ‘KKK’ junior squad for top leadership?

The writer is PM’s Advisor, Coalition Affairs and Joint Secretary to the Permanent Committee on the Management of Grand Coalition Affairs.

Miguna Miguna, while you were away

2010-01-25T17:06:00.000+03:00

By Wafula Buke

The Party of National Unity’s contestation of the citizenship credentials of Mr Miguna Miguna, the PM’s advisor and the protest by a section of Luo Nyanza MPs at his commentaries, bring into sharp focus, not just the quality of his political analysis, but also the authenticity of the moral ground on which he claims to draw inspiration. It is apparent that he overrates his patriotic credentials and contribution to political change.
Despite Kenya having gone through many national political phases, Miguna’s 1987 student days are not just a highlight, but a full stop in his presentation on his CV as far as the struggle he lionises himself for is concerned. This is what one gathers when he delves into his role in the struggle for change in the piece in which his subject was Agriculture Minister William Ruto.

Let Miguna and the rest of the later day returnees from Western capitals as refugees learn from the first lesson of released long serving prisoners from their wives or fiances. They are summons titled While You Were Away. They are stories too painful to be penned in most biographies of the freed. Imagine your sweetheart confessing that she aborted many times and decided to carry the last pregnancy. She then proceeds to introduce a baby whom you must accept as your own.
From that point on, you introduce her or him as your son or daughter. She further tells you that all your friends abandoned her and that it is only enemy so and so who paid school fees for the children. She may add that a stranger gave her the job she has. In short, new relationships emerged to address new contradictions.
Miguna needs to be told that while he was away, the nation did not wait for him. New challenges emerged and with them new strategies, new alliances, new forms of sacrifice and new heroes. Our generation of strugglers sacrificed studies, life, freedom, and jobs, among others.
After the removal of section 2A, new forms of sacrifice emerged, namely: Business, jobs, friends, money, history and time. Comrades joined Kanu and risked their patriotic credentials in the old school definition in readiness for the famous implosion in 2002. Others joined the NGO sector as new platforms. While he was away, a monster called Wako Draft nearly consumed this country and had it not been for those he contemptuously criticises, this country would be worse off than it was when he left in 1987. Miguna would still be a practising barrister based in Toronto, Canada. While he was away, we forged a united front under the leadership of Raila Odinga and won the 2007 General Election.
Let him know that we did not achieve all these by manipulating history and maligning those he perceives to have fallen short of glory in the past. We did it through open re-alignments based on national priorities of our time.
Even as we disagree, we do so with mutual respect due to the trophies we share. As things stand today Miguna remains "a cut and paste civil servant" from Canada who does not understand the rocks on which the office he serves stands.

Human experience
When those who have walked the trajectory of the struggle in Kenya hear words like "revolution" and "reform" used by Vice- President Kalonzo Musyoka, we call it progress for the nation. Behold the only permanent thing in human experience is change. All I ask from him is humility as he enjoys the fruits of the change he mainly observed and occasionally wrote about in our local dailies when continuing with his studies, practising law and "struggling" in Canada.
Miguna’s ‘better than thou’ psyche puts into focus the patriotic credentials of those who flew out into exile and stayed on for years. I became part of that past after being elected 1987 as chairman of the Students’ Organisation of Nairobi University, while Miguna served under me as finance secretary.
As told by Miguna, a few days later, we were expelled and we, their leaders, ended up in Nyayo House; the bit he left out was that I, his chairman, was jailed for five years while he and the rest were released.
What many do not understand is that being in exile is not synonymous with being in the struggle. Exile in practice offers continuity to dissidents to dissuade them from their revolutionary commitment, if any. Those who come back with PhDs and careers in readiness for absorption in the system as privileged labour, fall in this category.
Exile therefore had two categories of people. There were those who perceived exile as a disorientation from their career pursuits locally and hence considered an opportunity to carry on from where they left a windfall to grab and abandon or relegate the struggle to the secondary plane.
This category exaggerated their profile to the UNHCR as targeted dissidents to win priority for relocation to ‘lands of opportunity’. It is a cocktail of careerists, job seekers, citizenship seekers, fortune seekers and half-hearted strugglers. In the Kenyan context, they were the externally based version of opportunists.
The other category was composed of men and women who left for exile bitter that they were delinking with the struggle for change. They crossed the borders weeping for a lost opportunity to institute change from within. They lobbied for accommodation in the neighbouring countries and whenever they were relocated to the West, they found their way back to guarantee a more relevant struggle. Mr Koigi wa Wamwere stands out as a remarkable illustration of this patriotic spirit having been arrested in Nairobi in 1990 despite being the most high profile freedom fighter and anti-establishment leader then exiled in Norway.
The contrast, on the other hand, were the likes of a top ranking diplomat, who rejected pleas from Prof Micere Mugo and Dr Adhu Awiti in early 1992 that he joins us in the struggle.

Air transport
Efforts in getting comrades from Europe failed despite funds for their air transport being available. We only got some from Tanzania.
With due respect, Miguna was never in this category. He still pursued his personal dreams in Canada.
I find Miguna’s belligerency and self-righteous evil in our efforts to re-invent the nation — the principal contradiction of the moment. Why does he accuse the others of being opportunistic when he came back because of spotting opportunities brought into existence by those he recklessly dismisses? By the way, the late Mukaru Ng’ang’a and George Anyona returned and contested for the presidency in 1992. What patriotic duty was Miguna doing between 1992 and 2007 in Canada?

—The writer is a political activist
bukewafula@yahoo.com

Raila-Ruto Political Duel: Raila Fast Digging his Political Grave!

2009-12-17T15:45:00.004+03:00

Source http://kumekucha.blogspot.com/

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, Kofi 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 should seek our mandate if they want to rule but not grab power through back door.

What goes around..comes around

2009-11-05T21:43:00.000+03:00

Remember seeing him slapping one man who was guarding an land alleged to have been grabbed by a councillor and an administrator in Embakasi? I thought I saw Ferdinand Waititu some months ago 'fighting like a brave warrior, to save his people's land from being stolen, yet days ago, the same heavy built member of parliament for Nairobi's largest constituency was literary held captive by his constituents demanding an explanation for the misuse of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) kitty.

This time round, he sat composed perhaps shocked at the turn of events, or just mark-timing before recollecting himself for yet another brawl, with the alleged land grabbers!

The CDF is usually chaired by a member of parliament of a particular constituency. In most cases, there is not transparency on how some projects are awarded grants while others are left out, yet they are in the same area. There have been widespread scandals about CDF's in Kenya ranging from corruption, nepotism and larceny. These have led to criticism from many quarters because where the MPs are patrons to these Funds, then equal distribution of resources will not be felt fairly.

Waititu may have left Kayole Social Hall unscathed, but his reputation has been touched, harmed and perhaps, lowered. I'm sure his heart was pouncing, but was relieved when the police came to his rescue.

One thing that beats my logic is why does Embakasi Constituency look like a confused Nairobi city council?

Even giants, do cry as they fall down!

Change of mindset needed urgently

2009-10-22T18:02:00.000+03:00

I’m trying to come to terms with an article I read recently in the Daily Nation concerning racism in Kenya. I thought it was one of those articles which are aimed at besmirching the tourism sector considering that the post-election violence witnessed between December 2007 and February 2008, which saw about 1,000 people perishing and almost 300,000 displaced.

The tourism sector has been so unlucky every time an election - especially a general election - is called in Kenya. This was experienced in the 1997 general election where militias in the coast killed and maimed those who came from inland, commonly referred to as wabara. The people from the coast felt Kenyans from the other parts of the nation were denying them land, jobs and lifestyle. These claims were agitated by the local politicians. The common man there felt that this was a chance to get back what was usurped by the so-called internal settlers.

Because of this, an en masse displacement of communities from the mainland was seen packing leaving what they considered their homes for decades.

This saw scores of tourists cancelling their trips to Kenya, as a preferred choice of relaxation and tourism, while others redirected to the neighbouring Tanzania and South Africa.

Whenever a political issue is aired in Kenya, it affects the whole nation’s spectrum, politically and economically. It basically converts Kenya into a begging state, lowered to the state of hopelessness because the political class does not take into consideration the suffering of the people once they get into power, neither do they matter what goes down as soon as they utter careless statements.

One of the most unease government agencies is the ministry of Tourism which, realistically, should be making Kenya a comfortable nation to both the visitors and the locals. Actually, it is not the Ministry of Information which should make Kenya the best nation in the region but the Tourism Ministry. The reason is that while the Information Ministry is charged with conveying the correct and unparallel information about Kenya, the tourism ministry creates a platform for people to remain happy and secured in Kenya. The Information Ministry is just a messenger of what other arms are doing!

The unease comes when the ministry fears that political instability will keep off tourists from coming to Kenya, or that Kenya will lose in terms of economic growth. While that is true, it does not go well when the information is lopsided towards one side, without necessarily curing the real cause of the problem. Political instability does not come as a result of my being an African, but the mere fact that politicians want to main the status quo by instilling those attitudes which are suiting their own logical thinking and goals. The 2007 post-election violence, for instance, was caused by politicians’ insatiable greed. It did not occur because of the presence of this community in a hostile environment nor was it because one is a Kikuyu, a Luo, a Maasai, Kalenjin or a Kisii.

I’ve heard over umpteenth time, all the way from my primary schooling, that Kenyans depend on tourists for economic mainstay and dependence. The tourist dollar is worth my Kenyan shilling. Yet, by my own standards and judgement, if my shilling is not gotten using queer ways, then it should not be lowered because of the colour of my skin!

It is rather shocking to note that 46 years after Kenya’s independence, racism is still rampant in the hotel industry!

There are those people who are still clamoured in the colonial hangover despite the global efforts aimed at eliminating this vice. The hotels at the Kenyan coast, some of which are owned by the European investors, have projected the art of making Africans act as helpless smiling and people who deserve sympathy. While there are those Africans who have made it a profession, to show how poor they are and only alms can sort them out, but a generalized symptom which has bedevilled the perception of an African.

Interestingly, in that Daily Nation article, the management of these entities have woken up from their wakeful slumber allowing Africans to enjoy the services of using their hotels, because of the global economic recession. I bet, had it not taken place, racial discrimination would be the order of the day.

My advice to the Minister for Tourism: forget about making Kenya a tourist destination. Make sure Kenyans appreciate their country as much as possible and tell your colleagues in politics, Kenya is not a pie, to be squabbled over, because of petty madness and competition!

2012 is here, so are the armed militias

2009-10-13T23:57:00.000+03:00

Just a week ago, we heard that armed militia in the vast Rift-Valley Province were arming themselves as they wait for the 2012 General Elections, to brace of an eventuality that their preferred candidate does not win the elections.

While that is happening, the political leaders are out again, saying that such an accusation does not exist and that the BBC report, was callous in the light of the efforts made by the government to protect the citizens by providing enough security to all and sundry.

Going back to 1990 when Kenya introduced the multi party politics, armed militia in the Rift Valley launched tribal clashes against communities they thought were against their preferred political leader. This was, perhaps the first ethnic driven clashes, after the Emergency.

The Rift-Valley has been a home to many different communities sharing a common land, diverse cultures and depended on each other for survival. The enclave, that is tribes, was born by the British colonialists, who applied divide and rule in order to control over their subjects. Initially, Kenyan communities did not have boundaries separating them from other communities and when the European settled in Kenya, he realized that allowing the Africans to live as a community, would be a threat to rule over them.

In the subsequent periods up to general elections (1997 and 2007) the province has bore the brunt of being affected by the clashes that erupted because of an unfavourable political climate.

Traditionally, the Rift Valley Province is the home of the Plain Nilotes, who include the Maa speakers and Kalenjin sub-tribes. Other communities who reside in this province include the Kikuyu, Luo and Luhya though there original homeland is Central, Nyanza and Western Province respectively. Because of the closeness of the communities living in Rift-Valley, their cultures are synonymous with the way they interacted among themselves.

However, with the politics coming in, there has been hostility emerging as a result of the original inhabitants feeling that their space and land, have been encroached by other communities. The political leaders have aided in the hostility by claiming that larger tribes are dominating over the land, businesses and even marrying off their daughters. This kind of agitation and incitement, has destroyed the foundation so established of a harmonized relationship and trust.

Since 2005, Kenyans have been looking at each other suspiciously based on tribal affiliations. This suspicion is perfected through political sentiments, pitying one community against the other - a replica of the colonialists divide and rule.

With just a few years to the next general election, politicians have again started talking of political alignments as IDPs continue lingering in camps, over 10 million Kenyans on the face of starvation and lack of political will in public reforms. Kenyans have just given up and lost hope with the political class for not seeing the problems affecting the common citizen and acting with gusto.

While the political alignments are being drawn, it is alleged a group of youths from the Rift-Valley are arming themselves ready for fighting against the members of another community because, enough is enough. It is now, or never! The BBC reports that Kenyan youths are rearming themselves ready for the 2012 something which the government has vehemently denied as rumour.

While it is not wrong to deny the fact that armed militias are training for a plebiscite, there is a need for the security apparatus to come out and clarify on this. With bodies such as the National Security Intelligence Services (NSIS) and the police, there should be no blanket denial of the militias arming themselves, and only come out crying after death has strike.

In a country where the majority seems to be drifting away from the government, it is only sane, if the same government were to conduct a thorough investigation and assure its citizens that all is well.

Reforms anywhere but nowhere!

2009-10-11T18:31:00.005+03:00

For the first time since 1963, Kenyans have seen the word reform more than any other, in the recent times.
There is Constitutional Reforms, Public Sector Reforms Secretariat, Police Reforms, blah blah blah reforms!

All these reforms are done in light of the need to making Kenyans take an active and central role in the development of issues affecting the country, by initiating national agenda and of course moving the country towards achieving the Vision 2030.

It all begun one morning in 1990, when there was pressure from the international community, read the US, who demanded comprehensive reforms in Kenya by agitating for multi-party in Kenya. These reforms were done in the belief to allow Kenyans take a central role in national development.

Today, we are seeing the whole country agitated for a comprehensive reforms cutting across human rights, education, transport, communication, and personal reforms.

The most conspicuous organization calling for reforms in Kenya is the Diplomatic Corps. We've seen the European Union and the US, calling for the government to promote a culture of rule of law and the respect of human rights.
Through the Assistant Secretary of Sate for African Affairs and a former US Ambassador to Kenya, Johnny Carson, the United States government has been in the forefront in this regard. The current US Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger has, at times, gone out of the diplomatic decorum and crossed shoulders with the political elites in Kenya, who feel Kenya is not a US colony.

The political class in Kenya feels that the US and EU should not interfere with the local issues affecting Kenyans because they perhaps feel their (local politicians) space is being interfered.
However, the US says Kenya is a strategic partner in the region. Therefore the political situation in Kenya, affects the whole of the region in political, social and economic perspectives.

There is however a need not to criticize the US government for interfering with the political issues of Kenya because just as Kenya's Ambassador to the US does not interfere with the US internal issues (though there is no proof here)!

The reason why we are bullied by the super powers is not because Obama's roots are in Kenya. But because our leaders are exhibiting impunity as a way of life and they don't want to take responsibility for their unruly action.
If we can call ourselves a democratic nation, then the voice of the common citizen, must be heard and respected.

In every corner of the country, the tone is change in the provision of services, but the political leaders and elite have refused to see change that they would rather cling on to a sinking ship, with the hope that someone will act... and probably rescue them from the sharks.
Reforms are not just mere rhetoric, but action driven towards making Kenya a much better and safe place to live in. people who fear change are the ones who are making Kenya suffer this much. We need to adapt a culture of being concerned with the need of the citizens in order to allow growth and sustainable development to take place.

May be then, will the US stop issuing threats of a political and economic sanction, against innocent Kenyans who have nothing to do with reforms!

In Quest for Justice... the Jungle Way!

2009-10-07T22:44:00.000+03:00

There is an mantra which goes as justice delayed, is justice denied! It is usually used whenever someone feels the justice system is favouring another person because the latter has close connections with the highest office in the land.

There are instances when justice delays, that one has to go an extra mile and get hold of it, even if it involves crude methods, and apply whatever he thinks is right. I was taught in college that ethics of an individual, at times, supersedes society's ethics because it takes long for the society to understand why an individual does an action, whether good or bad, in their (society's) right estimation!

That, never occurred to me, until I saw it just recently, and was astounded at how things work!

One honourable member for Embakasi, Mr. Ferdinand Waititu, thought that justice has probably taken too long and instead of getting it where it was apparently sleeping, did it better, the jungle way.

But first, let me go to the cause of the matter.

A land is allegedly grabbed in Umoja Estate, within Embakasi at Tumaini Primary School, by a councillor and an area chief (not sure whether it is an Assistant Chief). According to the media reports, the land was earmarked for the construction of a secondary school, to cater for the ever growing population of Nairobi's largest constituency. The land grabbers had divided the land into two, probably an indication that they have already sub-divided the parcel equally.

According to a source in the knowledge of Embakasi Constituency offices, the said councillor had earlier on approached the MP with a request for 'developing the said piece of parcel'. However, Waititu turned down the offer because, as the source adds, ' the land was public and so the MP tuned the councillor's offer down'.
The councillor decided to go on with this intended plans and, with the assistance from the administrator acquired the land. He further hired his men 'to keep off intruders' (read Waititu) from stepping into the land.

So why didn't he pursue the matter using the courts, I ask? 'Courts take long to bring justice to the light yet the residents needed a secondary school on the disputed land!,' my source reveals.

I further enquire what the local community thought of their MP. My source tells me that Waititu, a large built-muscled man, and a first-time legislature in the tenth parliament, is considered by the residents of Embakasi as their Moses, who has the heart of the locals within his reach.
'In fact, the residents of this area pass by our office and appreciate the good work our MP has done, though this is his first-time as an MP.' The source tells me never have the locals seen a leader fighting for their land like Waititu!

I then ask why Waititu did not go for the land grabbers, and not slap a guard, to which my source aptly says, 'because they were not there as the MP was uprooting the fence from the grabbed land, and adds, 'Waititu had to use to easiest and quickest method to fight the grabber. The fight was in self defence, because the hooligans were throwing stones at him and he had to reciprocate.'

Interestingly, I came to note, Embakasi's 17 councillors do not cross the line of Waititu, for fear of repercussions, especially if it involves grabbing public land.

I still find it interesting that the justice system has been put to test, because nobody trusts the pace in which it will move, and the man who Waititu slapped, wants the courts to take action against the legislature. See http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/657600/-/umup23/-/

Sometimes, the law of the jungle, is the language that people understand!

WHO’S FOOLING WHO?

2009-09-20T16:54:00.005+03:00

They tried out pocket-book psychology
They'd better think again
When they try sussing me

Who is fooling who
Who is fooling, who is fooling
Who is fooling, who is fooling who

They think they know me
But they couldn't be more wrong
They're not listening what I'm singing
When I'm singing out this song
Well they think they know me
But they haven't got a clue
I'm the one who knows
Who is fooling who

They think I'm an open book
But they can't see
They're in the darkroom
When it comes to reading me
(from Mike Rutherford’s Song Who is Fooling Who?)

There are some issues which are really getting into the nerves of many Kenyans. Some of these things do not require some Greek interpretations to have relevance around!
Why, for instance, would it take a compromise from the so-called law makers to shelve the Mau issue, because embattled Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC), Director Justice (Rtd) Aaron Ringera’s issue is hotter than saving Kenya’s water catchment areas? And who says beautifying Uhuru Highway by planting flowers and grasses was better off than providing people with water?
I heard that our politicians from the great Rift-Valley met with their Central Kenya colleagues and mapped out a way of making ‘sense’ into the political issues facing Kenya. This strange married can be equated to an alligator marrying a crocodile and all ends well, like Snow White-type stories ‘...and they lived happily ever after!’
The Mau issue was and is still a hot one. Why? A lot of people depend on the Mau for survival. It is one of the few water towers we have in Kenya, thus any tampering with it, causes untold suffering to the people way down. The whole country has been affected by the depletion of the forests and the farming in the forests programme, commonly referred to the ‘Shamba system.’
While it is important for the community to be empowered, there are situations when future needs to be addressed in real-time, because failing to inform the communities on the dangers of sidelining the future, at the expense of the present, leaves people heaving for solutions, when it’s already too late.
While I don’t in any way support Ringera as the head of the KACC, I think an individual should not be exchanged for a nation. Ringera can stay, if he so wants, but the people living in Mau, should leave. We are not going to kill the future because some politician sees his political lifeline coming to an end! Sometimes, it an option existed, I would have chosen to have all the politicians thrown in a crocodile infested lake because they are known, to make laws which are useless, rant when things are not moving (according to their own estimates) and incite the youth to go against the law, when demanding their (youth) rights.

Land of contrast
There has been concerted effort by the Ministry of Environment and the councils in Kenya to beautify the land. For a very long time, we’ve had to live with stench, garbage everywhere yet we were paying rates to some ghost services. Now there has been some trend, by the concerned parties, to restore the tarnished image of our very great nation. We’ve seen ads on CNN marketing Kenya; the government spokesman Dr. Alfred Mutua planting trees and painting roads, a cabinet minister resigning; the president appointing a civil servant without following the due course of law and the premier’s luncheon with the US president cancelled. (By the way, isn’t Obama a cousin to Raila? Update me please, on this one!) .
Kenya has unique views. We’ve got guys who think the Prime Minister is superior to the Vice-President because the National Accord, institutionalized the premier’s office, yet Chapter II of the constitution recognizes the Executive as being the Office of the President (not Harambee House) and the Vice-President while the Prime Minister is not given specific duties. Article 15 (sections 1 to 6) of the same chapter, gives the functions of the Vice-President, the appointment and how such an office may fall vacant.

The problem here is clear...

Section six, in part, states:
(1) If the office of President becomes vacant by reason of the death or resignation of the President, or by reason of his ceasing to hold office by virtue of section 10 or section 12, an election of a President shall be held within the period of ninety days immediately following the occurrence of that vacancy, and shall be held in the manner prescribed by section 5 (5).
(2) While the office of President is vacant as aforesaid, the functions of that office shall be exercised:

(a) by the Vice-President; or
(b) if there is no Vice-President, or if the Vice-President considers that he is for any reason unable to discharge the functions of the office of President, by such Minister as may be appointed by the Cabinet.

So where does the Office of Prime Minister fall, in all this? Methinks if the Committee of Experts and Kenyans in general to do not make this office part and parcel of the Executive, with powers and outlined roles and functions, then this office becomes obsolete come 2013!
There is no need of forming an office yet it's existence will come to an end immediately after the general elections.
We are told that the National Accord was established because 'we wanted to have peace'! But why bury our heads in the sand and pretend nothing is wrong with our laws?

I’m not agitating for anything. But gaining knowledge and passing it over... is better off than keeping it. The Bible states "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as My priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children" (Hosea 4:6).

Without having strong institutions, I'm still seeing a situation where the rule of law will be an exclusive club for the elite and the influential. It is for this reason the Executive can appoint anybody to any position without following the law and things continue just as normally.

Maybe, just maybe when we start seeing things from a wider telescope, then would we be in a position to know who indeed, is fooling who!

Can anything good come out of our leaders?

2009-08-31T11:52:00.026+03:00

Some 2000 years ago, a contemptuous inquiry on the honour of Nazareth is recorded in the book of John: “And Nathaniel said to Phillip, ‘can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?’ Phillip said: ‘Come and see.’

Nathaniel’s inquiry can be equated to Kenya’s asking: “Is there anything good that can come out of President Kibaki’s Administration, the tenth parliament and Kenya in general?”

In order to check on the validity of this question, we need to stop and take a look at our past; where we are standing and where we are heading to.

The history of the last 19 years of the second liberation has been capsuled into two concepts: integration and human rights.

During the struggle for the freedom we are currently enjoying, our leaders clamoured for an open and democratic space. It was a period during which Kenyans yearned to have constitutionally enshrined rights that had been locked up with chains and the key thrown into a crocodile infested river. Many Kenyans lost their lives and dignity in the name of democracy. We saw doctors, academicians and businesspeople running away from their own country to seek asylum in other countries. The second liberation was indeed more painful and heart rending than the 1960s struggle for independence. Why? The independence liberation was strategically created with the aim of reclaiming back the rights forcefully taken from us by the colonizers. The colonizer was a foreigner claiming legitimacy over the running of the affairs of Kenya.

The second liberation on the other hand, was against laws borrowed from the colonizer by the African-run government. These laws were characterized with tribalism, ethnicity, regionalism, political sycophancy and abuse of human rights!

Although if finally came, the rain started beating us immediately after the 2002 General Elections which saw National Rainbow Coalition’s (NARC) Mwai Kibaki winning with a landslide victory against KANU’s Uhuru Kenyatta.

When President Kibaki took over the leadership of Kenya, as the third president, we sighed with relief – our prayers had been finally answered. Everybody was shouting with joy, ululating to the highest pitch ever. We joyously held our arms and quickly said yote yawezekana (all is possible). After 24 years of former President Moi's rule, we thought Kenyans had crossed the Red Sea into the promised land of milk and honey. Everybody was singing on better Kenya would turn out to be! It felt like a freed slave owning large chunk of land where he was enslaved!

However, even before the dust cooled, things started going out of the way; the river drifted off the course. So what went wrong yet we had confidence with Kibaki’s leadership?

Things started going wrong when we forgot our past, and focused on moving against the tides and principles of human rights. Our leaders, whom we voted for with many expectations, drugged us with seeds of lies, hatred, mistrust and pretence. Instead of seeing fruits of virtues, they misused our Kenyan friendly attitude in the name of fighting for our rights. We were drugged with a misconception of integration as a way forward. Instead of telling us to make our rights a reality, or leading us in the pursuit of excellence, they led us in the sterile chase of an integrated thinking as an end rather than a means of freeing us. When, for instance, the now obsolete controversial Memorandum of Understanding between Kibaki and Raila was signed, it was not open for the public to scrutinize. As the electorate, we should have been given a first hand in determining its validity instead of being held at ransom by being told “we unanimously agree to…”

We are therefore made to frame and believe that President Kibaki was Judas yet the majority of Kenyans, save for the few around then, can claim to be privy of the contents of the MoU.

As a result of this, ours became an integration of intellectual mediocrity, economic inferiority and political subservience. Like young children, we feared eating from strong meat of human rights and instead, sucked the milk of our leaders’ lies and believed in the ideals in totality without questions. We believed that by electing intellectuals, economists, mathematicians, doctors and professors, we were doing ourselves some good. Instead of them making good use of their intellectualism, they betrayed us by increasing their allowances for little or no work done, failing to vote on crucial votes in parliament, corruption, infighting amongst themselves and not honouring God as the sole provider of leadership.

Still, we sat down waiting for God to come and rescue us. We just folded our arms and said “Kenyans are peace loving” and contemptuously wore a veil of ignorance. They quickly acknowledged that the democratic space has been opened for all to enjoy. Human rights which they made us believe they were fighting for are God-made; democracy is human-made. The kind of democratic space we are enjoying has been a grand deception practiced by those who have not placed God first. Demanding these rights is to seek God’s intervention into our political, psychological, cultural, social, biological and economic lifestyles.

After getting in power leaders became more arrogant, selfish and greedy. Those who spoke with agitation against the oppressor became silent – not willing to identify themselves with the oppressed. The oppressed turned to God for solace and tranquillity.

Kenya was on the way to becoming an epitome of respect for human rights in the region during the struggle for second liberation. When the voices of reason armed with dynamic creativity and excitement such as Kivutha Kibwana, James Orengo, Gitobu Imanyara, Njehu Gatabaki, Koigi wa Wamwere, Wangari Maathai, Edward Oyugi, Anyang’ Nyong’o and others defied all odds and kept the then government on toes, what a splendid and glorious symbol were they! But where are those symbols of the Second Liberation now? Where is their glamour? Where are the defenders of the oppressed consciousness? Can anything good come out of them? Have they, like Nicodemus, been born again – with the image of human rights gone? Have their wombs aborted that they cannot hold any good thing for the oppressed? Has the new social contract become obsolete? What about our part? Can we turn everything upside down and move on?

Blaming our leaders for moving away from the main course is a big joke. Instead we must ‘drop our buckets’ where we are and deal with the situations at hand. Why sit down with somebody at the bargaining table when there is nothing to bargain? Why allow politicians to represent us when they are demonstrating their own selfish interests? Can’t we mobilise ourselves and posses the noble allegiance that inspires men, women and children, move the nation ahead and decide on the trend to follow? We should not be compromised to be free or sit down and reason together whether we should have some rights today and full rights tomorrow. Let us walk in the new spirit of rights consciousness and not prejudice.

So what can we say about the future? We have been holding national prayers and reconciled. But still a lot need to be done. A lot of jabbering has been made on why the country is undergoing through these hard times. Talking too much, as the Holy Writ say, leads to poverty. And talking about one thing for a very long time is unhealthy. It therefore becomes necessary for the majority to come together and say ‘enough is enough; something good can come out of our unity.’ The masses have the power to make this country a proud nation of audacious leadership through the ballot.

For now, we are surviving because God wants us to, not because politicians think we live by their grace. At times, we find ourselves surviving because all options have been exhausted. Now we are literary living under the mercies of waheshimiwa because Mau Forest is not a national issue, but a political and tribal one. Political leaders have failed to see Mau is depended by many for survival, yet they decided to politicize the issue claiming their kin are targeted by the government. Ministers and politicians who have been named as beneficiaries of the Mau Forest, have vehemently come out in the open fighting with all their might, denying ever getting free land on the complex. You see, every scandal that a politician is swept under the carpet while that which touches on a common mwananchi, has to be dealt with because ‘the rule of law must be strictly adhered to!

The general pattern in Kenya is determined by the politicians – what we are to do – and like sheep we believe that it is Gospel truth. However, the truth of the matter rest with the voters. I don’t subscribe to the school of thought which believes that the youth are the key to unlocking myriad political and social issues affecting Kenyans. It all rests in adapting responsibilities.

Taking fully responsibilities to promote the social balance of Kenya cannot be missed in totality. How many times have we seen the so-called leaders of tomorrow following political leaders demanding haki yetu on the streets because they believe their rights have been taken away? Also all weekends, many bars are filled to the capacity with the youth constituting to the large chunk. When Monday comes, the young Kenyans are so inebriated that they cannot go to work, to build the nation. Then they come out blaming the leaders of being corrupt and inefficient! No wonder the youth are exclusively branded as hot-blooded, naïve and leaders of tomorrow.

Leadership is not found in bars and red light streets or grown overnight on trees. It is nurtures through patience and perseverance, without forgetting hardwork!

It is so unfortunate to learn that the empowerment of the youth has been exclusively referred to. One fails to understand when this future will be a reality. This stereotypical thinking should be done away with.

Since the 1980s we’ve been told that we are the leaders of tomorrow. Some twenty years later, we are still singing to the same ideological tune. This makes one believe that fate has pre- determined that we must elect old and tired leaders over and over instead of having a new and fresh blood to run the affairs of our country well. Celebrated politicians are known the whole world over to turn small crises into irreversible tantrums of hatred, mistrust, tribalism and wars.

With a determined effort, we are likely to make the country grow devoid of vices such as tribalism, grand corruption, mistrust and out-doing each other. Having such mobilized thinking we can erect skyscrapers of economic accomplishment, scale mountains of educational excellence and be free of political lies.

To cap it all, Lao Tsu commented that ‘the good leader is the one that people adore; the wicked; leader is the one that the people despise; the great leader is the one people say “we did it ourselves.” Then I believe there is surely something good which will come out of us – to answer the contemptuous question.

http://www.facebook.com/mburu.kamau?ref=profile

2009-08-11T16:24:00.001+03:00

http://www.facebook.com/mburu.kamau?ref=profile

Shared via AddThis

Najivunia Kuwa Mkenya?

2009-07-28T16:26:00.012+03:00

We all have at once come across the patriotic clarion, courtesy of Dr. Mutua, yes, he of the Cobra Squad and the Government Spokesman.

The Najivunia Kuwa Mkenya has received so many modifications that one wonders where were these creative artists to improve on the call. Terms such as Naumia Kuwa Mkenya, Navumilia Kuwa Mkenya etc, have been coined from the original beseech patriotic cry to make Kenyans restore sanctity in their nation.

I can't remember when we had such a call!

Najivunia Kuwa Mkenya probably was aimed at making things move the Kenyan way: politicians meddling with the lives of innocent Kenyans, Women in Maragua demostrating in the Town's streets beause their hussbands have become impotent, thanks to the illicit brew and of course, Hakuna Haraka, in Africa!

I guess life in Sahara Continent has it's own unique joys and cries and so the patriotism clarion came in timely.
Like most of the government initiatives, one is not always trained on how to use a product. It is always do it at your own risk approach. So we do something and quickly run to blame the government because it is not working out right. Only to be told the solution to your problem is ABCD and there it works. Remember the KRA Online System? You enter your details and wait for the process to be easy. The response is quiet a challenge; there is an online generated password, where you can't copy-paste, and by the time you come to realize what you out to have done, you have made numerous visits to Times Tower, to join the exasperated Wananchi on the same problem. The problem of being wired is a mess!

If only Najivunia Kuwa Mkenya could make things work simpler as a teen in the UK calling the White House, claiming there is a Bomb in the Big Apple!

Now imagine calling State House demanding to speak to the President! BTW, do the numbers to the House on the Hill, provided on the Directory really work? I'll one day give a try!

I guess with Najivunia Kuwa Mkenya, it can work!