1.0 The Kenya National Examinations Council wishes to inform parents/guardians,candidates and all stakeholders that the 2009 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results will be released on Tuesday, March 2, 2009. The ceremony will be presided by Education Minister, Hon. Amb.Prof. Sam K.Ongeri at the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) starting 9.00 a.m.

2.0 All Provincial Directors of Education (PDEs) are reminded to avail themselves to pick the results for the schools in their respective provinces and districts for distribution. Through this notice, all senior officers from the Ministry of Education and its SAGAs as well as representatives of all relevant stakeholders are also invited.

3.0 Candidates/parents/guardian can pre-subscribe to receive exam results by sending a text message (SMS) KCSE#index–number to 2228 (Safaricom or Zain) as from Thursday 25th February 2010. Exam results will be sent to the subscribers upon release on 2nd March 2010.

The SMS will only be charged upon receipt of the results.Subscribers are advised to send one SMS message only.

4.0 Upon the release of the results, they will be available on KNEC website:www.knec.ac.ke or www.examscouncil.or.ke

Council Secretary/Chief Executive Officer

Former KTN anchor Esther Arunga (right) has topped the list of Chaguo La Teeniez Awards in the Role Model of the Year category. Esther grabbed media headlines in the past week after she quit her job, broke her engagement to fiance Wilson Malaba and was arrested on charges of being a member of an illegal society.

However, David Ngaruiya, the co-founder of the Teen Awards, said the list making the rounds in the Internet is not the final list. "The final list will be released on March 2," Ngaruiya said, adding "The nomination process took place in 2009 from January to December."

Meanwhile, Esther is set to run for Vice President come 2010 alongside Joseph Hellon who has declared that he will be running for the top seat. It is yet to be established what party they will run on.

In the Role Model category, other nominees include Daniel Ndambuki a.k.a Churchill, Wahu Kagwi, John Allan Namu and Jua Cali.

On the nomination list, Kiss 100's Shaffie and Kalekye's show Rush Hour is nominated for the Teeniez' Most Hype Show and Teeniez' Blazin' FM Station.

As Kenyans reel from the incredible revelations that top television personality Esther Arunga has been ensnared in the activities of the hitherto unheard-of so-called Finger of God Church, weirder details are emerging that may make even the hardest of red-light district operatives blush.

According to a woman who has been in the church and who has since left after realizing that she was headed the direction that is the exact opposite of what she had been made to believe was towards a more rewarding life, for one to be accepted in the church that she says is actually a sect, one has to insert his finger in the privates parts of a woman in a bizarre act that in all descriptions and purposes is a pornographic initiation rite.

It is from this that the cult derives its finger of God name. Indeed, it is said, the worship in the church is nothing but partying that ends up in out of control sex orgies. Finger of sex church, sources say, would be the appropriate name of the church. The church at Runda Estate has eight bedrooms making it the only known church of its kind in Kenya, with live-in adherents partially cut off from the main society.

That the church has a thing with sex is illustrated by the fact that its adherents reportedly run sex related businesses. Arunga herself recently opened a spa in Nairobi's Runda area which apart from offering hairdo and beauty services it offers other services.

In Nairobi, spas are pseudonyms for brothels as apart from sauna hot baths, they also offer sex services with beautiful and nude girls who are permanently stationed in the spas ostensibly to offer massage.

One of the earliest followers of the Finger of God in Kenya Seanice Kacungira who until early this year was a presenter at Capital FM, has now opened a spa of her own in Kampala near the gates of the US Embassy and it is suspected that she is now on missionary assignment to fish more adherents in Kampala.

Capital FM intriguingly seems to be the media home of the finger church as the church's leader Joseph Omondi Hellon has been holding prayers called morning evolution sessions for staff every Wednesday. What remains unknown is whether the station's owner Chris Kirubi aka DJ CK has given a nod to the church although it is highly unlikely that anything can go on a weekly basis in his pet project radio station without his knowledge.

Incidentally, Arunga started her media career at Capital FM she presented the Saturday morning rock music show.

Capital FM also happens to be a rich fishing ground of the church as it has won the hearts and minds of Anne Kiguta, Cess Mutungi and Everline Wanbui. KTN's Isabella Kituri is an usher in the church and has flatly refused to quit even after the human resource manager at KTN called her after the saga exploded and asked her to either choose the church or her job. Kituri lost her husband barely two years into marriage and experts have pointed out that she is just the right target for cultists as she might be vulnerable and gullible.

Lillian Muli of KTN is said to have been a member but left after a brief stay. Others in KTN who were approached but declined are Esther Kahumbi and Cynthia Nyamai. It is not known whether Esther Kahumbi turned down the offer. Mwenda Kiogoria attends. Linus Kaikai was once seen driving to the residence following the David Makali's vehicle. Makali is Omondi's music promoter. K24's Luois Otieno and True Love's Carol Mandi have been targeted as was Daniel Ndambuki aka Churchil alias Mwalimu King'ang'i.

At NTV, Jamila Mbugua is said to be a member while Peninah Karibe has been approached by Arunga. Apart from holding prayers at Runda, the members also congregate at the Lenana Conference Centre at Kilimani opposite DOD.

Others in the church that seems to derive most of its following from the media and entertainment industry are musician Kanji Mbugua and music producer Big Kev and events organizer Big Ted. Daughter of minister Anyang Nyong, Lupita Nyong'o is also alleged to have been approached. Classic FM's Maina Kageni is said to be a member. Jackson Makini alias Rakim Ngechu aka Prezzo was approached declined because he is a muslim.

At a press conference organized by Makali who owns the Sound Africa music company that has signed Omondi who is a saxophonist in a class of his own, Omondi declared that he will run for the presidency in 2012 with Arunga as his running mate. Now if anyone needed proof that this is a cult, that was it as it is only a deluded Omondi and Arunga who can imagine that they can become prezzy and VP in 2012.

Cults are known to specialise in self-belief antics that make their followers live in a dream world that they believe is real. In TV interview with K24's Jeff Koinange, Arunga compared herself with biblical Esther and said that she is the one who is going to save Kenya.

So blinded is Arunga that e-mails were sent from the next room to hers and she believed they were coming from international evangelist Benny Hinn who has since disowned the e-mails one of which is seen as the stroke that broke the camel's back as it instructed Arunga to dump the boyfriend, Wilson Malaba whom she was going to marry in April for Omondi's friend one Wambiti who has changed his name to Quincy Timberlake taking a name from global musical icon Quincy Jones and another from superstar Justin Timberlake.

To add insult to injury, Timberlake was made pastor of the church. With his woman gone, the man, Wilson Malaba started spilling the beans of the church that he was also a member of. It is worth noting that Arunga broke another engagement and called off the marriage that was supposed to take place in October last year.

Another time, a man invited her to Mombasa after lying to her that he was a big shot in a blue chip company only for her to realize that the boy was jobless and lived with his mother and had no house of his own. The boy never took her to his home and she stayed in a hotel room.

But even as Arunga last week' projected her mid-range future plans, others were worried about her immediate future with her thousands of admirers sympathizing with her for resigning from her enviable job into the vagaries of tarmacking.

Reality show star Valerie Kimani sought forgiveness in church for getting a baby out of wedlock.

The singer famed for her Spanish song Besame Mucho - loosely translated 'Kiss me, kiss me quick' - stood before the congregation of Good Shepherd Church, Ngong Road, and apologised for straying from the Holy Scriptures.

Valerie has been at the centre of controversy after she admitted that she was pregnant leading to grand speculation of who the father is.

She played the lead role of Syombua in the Mo Faya musical that stole the hearts of many with its satirical and political look at society. In the musical, she was the love interest of Eric Wainaina who played DJ Lwanda.

Valerie, who was also cast as the naive Sindi in the three-part MTV series Shuga, confessed to the congregation that she is sorry for getting pregnant outside wedlock and would like to be forgiven and accepted back to the flock.

She was called to the altar by the pastor and was joined by her mum and her step-father.

During the short confession, the paternity of the unborn child did not crop up.

This act of contrition took place two Sundays ago.

First it was the Lands PS Dorothy Angote who questioned the integrity of some of the MPs grilling civil servants. Now we are told that some CEOs of parastatals and some private companies who have been summoned are very unhappy. One of them was overheard complaining that several chairs of house committees are harassing them because they have refused to part with handouts.

***

Colleagues to one senior cabinet minister are stunned by his new struck love-bug. Those close to him claim whenever his Malindi-based mistress calls, he has to dash out of even high profile meetings to receive the call. The young woman is said to be having the days of her life given that the minister is currently separated from his official wife.

***

And who might be planning to disrupt Raila Odinga's trip to Murang'a? We are told a group of stone-throwing youths have been meeting to strategise on how to disrupt the intended visit. Raila's planned visit has generated debate with Central province civic leaders as well as MPs taking sides.

***

A group of Somali leaders including MPs and influential business people in Eastleigh are mad with Internal Security minister George Saitoti over a meeting he held with Israeli officials. They believe this meeting identified Eastleigh as a potential security threat hence the latest security operation in the area.

***

Talking of the good old mathematics professor, we hear that a censure motion might be in the offing for him. From the face of it, we hear, the censure is about the recent police cache of 130,000 bullets in Narok but there is more to it. Saitoti has previously survived ouster from PNU chairmanship.

***

Corridors has learnt that a former powerful civil servant has been appointed by a presidential hopeful from Central province to coordinate his propaganda campaign. The former provincial administrator held the first meeting with his team last Friday at Blue Post Hotel on Thika Road.

***

A group of rich politicians from Central province commonly referred to a 'homeguards' are planning to buy property owned by a once flamboyant opposition leader from the region. Those close to the indisposed leader say the politicians have on several occasions shown interest in the property instead of coming to his help in his hour of need.

***

What might be happening with disbursement of Political Parties' Fund? Corridors has learnt that three weeks since they were promised the fat cheques, officials from several political parties are yet to receive any cash. The registrar of political parties had written to parties on February 2 promising that the money would be availed in two weeks time.

***

Cabinet minister Moses Wetang'ula has suddenly decided he is no longer interested in the Ford Kenya chairman's seat. The minister has now said he is going for the bigger seat of party leader. He made the announcement through an official at his Foreign Affairs ministry. This now makes it easier for Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa to clinch the chairmanship. Eugene held a big rally in Bungoma yesterday.

***

The Minister for Planning and his PS are quietly entangled in a tug of war on payment of millions of shillings to two companies contracted to store census material. The two companies worked as a consortium to win the contract but are said to have differed over who between them should call the shots over the warehousing contract they won ahead of last year's national census by the Kenya National Bureau for Statistics.

***

That the two coalition leaders Raila Odinga and President Kibaki do not trust each other is not a secret. People close to them tell us that one of the partners has formed the habit of telling his juniors what the two principals discuss and agree in confidence. One of the principals is apparently incensed that his partner went ahead and told one of the ministers what his party boss had said about him!

***

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta is said to have done all he could to ensure that the PNU side got most of the things it wanted into the draft constitution while in Naivasha. Some of those from the PNU side who attended the Naivasha talks have been praising Uhuru for fixing ODM in Naivasha. Remember the story we published during the Naivasha talks that said PNU was bulldozing its way?

***

Friends and colleagues of a well-known TV presenter are wondering why she has continued to date an assistant minister from Rift Valley many months after she got married to someone else. We are told that attempts by her friends to stop her from dating the politician have failed because the woman has continued to openly show her affection to the politician. Worries are that things could go the wrong way if her husband discovers.

***

Has former South Mugirango MP Omingo Magara made up with ODM party leader Raila Odinga? We are told that the former Assistant Minister for Trade has dumped Agriculture minister William Ruto because he believes sticking with Raila would get him elected again. Magara attended the party's national executive committee meeting as a way of showing his loyalty to Raila.

***

Do you remember the story of how a Cabinet minister snubbed his girlfriend who had carried for him red roses to the airport on Valentines Day? The minister is in trouble with another girlfriend who apparently watched all the drama unfold last Sunday when the minister landed. The second girlfriend had also driven to the airport to receive the man but because of her profile, she sat in her car with her driver hoping to ride with the minister in his car on her way back from the airport so they could celebrate Valentine's Day. But when she saw the other woman with flowers, she ordered her driver to drive away and those who saw her say the woman was devastated and has since then refused to talk to the minister.

***

Will President Kibaki really meet Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday to discuss the current crisis? People close to President Kibaki tell us that the meeting may not take place saying there is no crisis in the first place. They say even if the President will accept the meeting, it will not be on Sunday because it is not a working day.

***

Have you noticed that Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has unusually not commented much regarding the current crisis in government? We are told by some of his handlers that the man from Mwingi has been advised to keep his mouth shut on this crisis until — "all facts are clear". Those close to him say the VP has been warned against taking sides in the latest tiff because he could "burn himself".

***

They are political cry babies! That was the response from some people close to President Kibaki when news broke out that ODM had asked Chief Mediator Kofi Annan to return and help resolve the latest tiff in the coalition government. The President was so amused that the only thing he said, according to one of the advisers who was with Kibaki at the time, was "wacha wajienjoy"

***

We hear that a senior government official has sent his most trusted aides to South Africa. The mission, to try and destroy records which show who the real owners of one of the companies contracted to ship maize into the country in 2008. Those in the know have whispered that the official is scared that if an enemy lays hands on the records, the political career of the official will be in jeopardy.

***

Still on the maize scam, we are told one of the suspended officials is having sleepless nights trying to have audit firm PriceWaterHouseCoopers clear his name. The suspended official has been making endless phone calls to anyone he thinks is in a position to have his wishes fulfilled. A little bird has disclosed that PWC on the other hand has flatly refused to clear or even meet any of those mentioned on grounds that it completed its work and handed over the report to the appointing authority. The audit firm has said all queries, including additional information on the scams should be directed to the PM's office or Treasury, since they are the ones who commissioned the audit.

***

One of the senior officials in the Prime Minister's office who stepped aside last week spent a bit of time in Treasury yesterday trying to have Finance permanent secretary Joseph Kinyua accept his evidence clearing him from the maize scam. The man wanted the PS to pass the information to PriceWaterhouseCoopers so that PWC can issue a statement and even show the purported evidence clearing him of wrongdoing in the scam.

***

Allegations are rife that Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his ODM party schemed to have the National Accord re-negotiated. Wags say the reason why the ODM leader decided to suspend Cabinet ministers William Ruto and Sam Ongeri was that he wanted to precipitate a crisis so that Chief Mediator Kofi Annan could return and help renegotiate the accord. That is why ODM Deputy Leader Musalia Mudavadi was quick to ask for Annan's return.

***

Some Rift Valley MPs were so angry at Prime Minister Raila Odinga's decision to suspend William Ruto that they were considering defecting enmasse to another party in protest. The MPs were overhead saying that there was no reason for them to remain in, or even continue to be associated with, OOM since Raila had openly shown contempt for them. But their colleagues with cooler heads rejected the suggestion reminding them defection would lead to an election which most of them would lose!

***

Simon Mbugua was at it again. Last week he walked into a Safaricom's Advantage Centre to sort out an issue regarding his bill. The Kamukunji MP first jumped the queue and then took more than 30 minutes haranguing the attendant in between answering his phone and loudly conversing with acquaintances at the centre. All this time the poor attendant waited for the mheshimiwa so that he could complete attending to his problem. When he was finally ready to leave, Mbugua got a hold of his wallet, took out Sh1,000 and handed it over to the attendant who declined the 'gift'. Not to be fobbed off, Mbugua forced the note into the attendant's shirt pocket before walking out.

***

A police chief has been summoned to police headquarters after he was involved in a scuffle with his junior early this month. The provincial boss is reported to have punched and used abusive language against one of the division's bosses. The division boss has since been transferred.

Only in Kenya would you have sound bites accompanied by one-line political utterances referred to as "legal opinion by the Attorney-General". It is equally sad, disappointing and quite embarrassing when one reads "opinions" by "legal experts" like Kibe Mungai, trying to trash clear constitutional provisions through misrepresentation: (See yesterday's the Star article on Page 15 headed, None has Powers to Suspend Ministers).

Mungai says "prior to the enactment of the National Accord Act the appointment and dismissal of ministers and their assistants was governed by Sections 16 and 19 of the constitution which allowed the President to remove them".

However, he argues that "when the National Accord happened on our shores this position was marginally altered through a new section 15A(3) to provide that Parliament may provide for the appointment and termination of office of the PM, DPM and ministers."

In other words, Mungai is acknowledging that a constitutional amendment was made that significantly reduced the President's power to appoint and dismiss ministers. He is also acknowledging it is that constitutional amendment that created the position of the PM, DPMs and ministers.

But Mungai then gets carried away and confuses the functions of the three arms of government.

He argues, unreasonably, that only Parliament can appoint or remove ministers. It is baffling why Mungai casually refers to the signing of the National Accord arid its entrenchment into the constitution as a "happening" on our shores.

Mungai argues further that "the legal changes... created three positions for Raila. First, under Section 15A(4) Raila is a minister although a first among equals. Secondly... the PM whose functions are to coordinate and supervise functions of government, including those of ministries. (Note the word used is ministries rather than minister).

"Thirdly, under Section 4(2), Raila is the parliamentary leader of ODM and it is in that capacity that he nominated half of the Cabinet."

Mungai tries to term constitutional changes as "legal" hoping this would limit their significance. He purports that the National Accord was only signed and entrenched in the constitution to give Raila a job in government; that Raila is a mere "minister" and that he is only authorised to supervise "ministries" not "ministers".

Mungai then says Raila only became PM because he was the leader of ODM. What cheek?

Mungai knows that the sections he deliberately cites without quoting deal with the formation of the coalition government, which clearly stipulates that the "leader of the largest political party in the National Assembly" would become PM. Isn't it desperate for a lawyer to assert that the word "ministries" excludes "ministers"?

Mungai goes on: "The unadulterated truth is that the PM is vested with statutory powers. I readily concede the fact this revelation begs several questions in view of Section 15A(5) which provides that the National Accord Act shall be read as part of the constitution".

So what is Mungai's unadulterated truth? That the National Accord's entrenchment in the constitution amounts to a statute? Is he implying that Section 15A(5), which actually says the National Accord takes precedence over provisions of the constitution that contradict it, isn't applicable?

Mungai's argument is fundamentally incompetent and both logically and legally defective.

Everyone knows that the accord is part and parcel of the constitution and that its provisions must be read with the rest of the constitution. Mungai contradicts himself when, having stated before and after that only Parliament can suspend or dismiss ministers, he then argues that the President can, after consulting the PM.

Mungai exposes either his limited legal knowledge or obvious bias in this statement: "The constitution does not expressly authorise Kibaki with or without the consultations with or consent of the PM to suspend ministers. If the constitution does not provide for the exercise of any power that does not mean that the ambitious can claim or usurp such powers."

If the constitution does not give Kibaki power to suspend or fire ministers, why did he purport to rescind the PM's order of suspension?

From Isaiah Kabira's statement that Kibaki is Raila's boss, to Mungai's utterance that Raila is a mere minister, one sees a logical thread: That Kibaki and his PNU brigade have refused to accept, respect and come to terms with the National Accord. They have also refused to accept the tenets of a coalition government.

The writer is the PM's adviser on coalition affairs and joint secretary to the Permanent Committee on the Management of Coalition Affairs. The opinions expressed here are his own.

The dispute provoked by Raila Odinga's decision to suspend two ministers goes beyond the question of whether or not he consulted President Kibaki. The real issue is whether ministers can be suspended from office either under the constitution or the National Accord.

Prior to the enactment of the National Accord Act the appointment and dismissal of ministers and their assistants was governed by Sections 16 and 19 of the constitution which allowed the President to remove them. When the National Accord happened on our shores this position was marginally altered through a new Section 15A(3) to provide that Parliament may provide for the appointment and termination of office of the PM, DPMs and ministers.

The legal changes to establish the coalition created three positions for Raila. First, under Section 15A(4) Raila is a minister although the first among equals. Secondly under Sections 3(1) and 4(1) of the accord, Raila is the Prime Minister whose functions are to co-ordinate and supervise the functions of government, including those of ministries. (Note the word used is ministries rather than ministers). Thirdly, under Section 4(2), Raila is the parliamentary leader of ODM and it is in that capacity that he nominated half of the Cabinet.

By now the keen reader must have noticed the inconvenient truth that lawyers such as Miguna Miguna have been trying to mask or muddle with litres of ink over the last two years, namely that the so-called constitutional powers of the PM are nothing but legal fiction.

The unadulterated truth is that the PM is vested with statutory powers. I readily concede the fact this revelation begs several questions in view of Section 15A(5) which provides that the National Accord Act shall be read as part of the constitution.

However, there are three quick rejoinders to the envisaged counter-argument. First, the words that an Act of Parliament "shall be read as part of this constitution" does not make a given statute a part of the constitution or confer its provisions the same status as constitutional provisions but simply requires that the same be read jointly with the constitution to give its full meaning and effect.

Secondly, in anticipation of the National Accord, Section 3 of the constitution was amended to give it constitutional immunity from challenge in court on the grounds of inconsistency with the constitution. Thirdly, the Act was actually passed using simple majority voting rules and can be repealed in the same way just like other statutes.

Viewed this way, the question as to whether the PM can lawfully suspend ministers is easy to answer. First as PM, Raila has no such power because according to Section 51 of the Interpretation and General Provisions Act Cap 2, the powers to suspend arise from the power of appointment.

Secondly, as the parliamentary leader of ODM, Raila cannot dismiss or remove ministers — including those from ODM — because Section 4(5) of the Act recognises that the removal of ministers shall be by the President except that he must be consulted when it comes to ODM ministers. Even after the enactment of the Act, the appointment and removal of ministers remains the constitutional function of the President.

Finally it is doubtful whether the President himself with or without the consultation with or consent of Raila can suspend ministers. At the technical level, so long as appointment and dismissal of ministers is government by the constitution, Section 51 of the Interpretation Act (Cap 2) does not apply and so the fact that the President appoints and dismisses ministers does not give him the power to suspend them.

The Act does not apply to the constitution because, unlike the National Accord Act and other statutes, the constitution is not considered a statute.

Secondly, there is no such thing as disciplining of ministers which would entail powers of suspension. In the nature of their functions ministers are either in office or out — there is no middle ground. There are good reasons why this is so.

Since suspension creates no vacancy in the Cabinet there would be a constitutional vacuum if the President could exercise such powers because one man rule could easily be created through suspension of ministers. In short, as integral components of government, ministers are never suspended, they are removed and replaced to ensure smooth government.

Thirdly, the constitution does not expressly authorise Kibaki with or without the consultations with or consent of the PM to suspend ministers.

If the constitution does not provide for the exercise of any power that does not mean that the ambitious can claim or usurp such powers. In democracies the law enumerates all the powers of the governors — unenumerated powers vests in the people and is not exercisable by whoever claims such powers.

Finally, so long as the constitutional status of Raila is that of minister of the government, law, reason and common sense dictate that he has no power to suspend, let alone remove, fellow ministers. It is really this simple when you think about it without blinkers!

Mungai is a lawyer.

Until his appointment to chair the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission, Bethwel Kiplagat was one of the few Kanu-Era government officials that had some integrity left.

His achievements in the diplomatic service and as mediator and personal envoy of former President Moi in the region were well recorded.

Even when the post-election violence broke out in 2008, he was among the few credible Kenyans who pioneered mediation before the African Union-appointed group of Eminent Persons led by Kofi Annan stepped in.

There is no doubt he has peace building credentials and is a decent man. But his obstinate refusal to resign from the chairmanship of the TJRC is erasing that resume. I am beginning to question his wisdom. Kiplagat says he is clean and suitable to chair the TJRC. That there is no evidence implicating him in past injustice or human rights violations. That he has nothing to do with the Wagalla Massacre or the murder of Dr Robert Ouko.

That's fine, Bethwel. But does it mean you should continue to occupy the crucial position against the wishes of a significant section of the very public you are supposed to serve and whose confidence you must enjoy to execute your functions?

Kiplagat is applying the wrong standard of integrity and acceptability. It is not enough for you to vindicate yourself. Public confidence is absolutely necessary for the carrying out of the TJRC mandate. It is clear that his , continued stay in office is the biggest stumbling block to the performance of that mandate.

According to the Act, the commission is supposed to conclude its work and hand in a report by November 2011. Yet there is very little progress so far and all indications are that this deadline is unrealistic. According to the programme of action, the TJRC is supposed to have recruited all staff and established a functional secretariat by November last year. That is still dragging on, the director having been recruited only a fortnight ago.

By now, it is supposed to have begun investigations, research and hearings. But the first step of public awareness that the commission has embarked on has been derailed by protests against the chairman.

Kiplagat's stance is also an outdated and dim view of public service. It is not enough for one to be innocent; you must, like Caesar's wife, be above suspicion.

Unfortunately, in this case, he is being suspected, rightly or wrongly, and a significant constituency of the clients of the TJRC —victims of the violations — have no confidence in him.

There are questions that you, Mr Kiplagat, must answer: why are you clinging on to this position? Don't you have anything else to do? Did you seek this position for your own aggrandizement or for the posterity of the country? If you indeed believe that your actions serve the country, and your leadership of the commission is distracting it from its focus, why can't you step down or aside?

And now to the other commissioners: if Kiplagat does not resign, what is your recourse? Are you going to sit there and suffer collective opprobrium while enjoying your huge salaries?

My advice is that you issue a quit notice to your chairman; if he does not resign, boycott any meetings he convenes and proceed to resign en mass to embarrass him or report your inability to progress back to Parliament. Anything less will render you accomplices in the waste of public funds.

Civil Society: there is something awfully wrong with your approach. Why are you ranting about instead of presenting a detailed petition to the Chief Justice to establish a tribunal, as required by the TJRC Act, to probe the allegations against Mr Kiplagat?

Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo: Legalistic arguments aside, are you honestly proud of the progress of the TJRC? Your arguments that Mr Kiplagat was vetted before appointment do not hold water. What of the new information that has come out afterwards?

Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki: why have you forgotten this Commission? Besides the corruption standoff in the coalition, you should make the removal of Kiplagat part of the agenda of your meeting this week.

Parting shot to Kiplagat: It is a sad precedent for a man of your calibre, who has earned international fame to stoop this low. What example are you setting by clinging on to the position?

How different are you from the old-fashioned African leaders who do not step down when their moral authority is questioned?

You should stop listening to Mutula Kilonzo and learn from Aaron Ringera. You cannot hold down a whole nation to fix its ugly past and stride into the future confidently by your tenacity. This will not go away.

Makali is the director of The Media Institute. dmakali@yahoo.com

It is political high season following the clash between the two principals over the "suspension" of ministers William Ruto and Sam Ongeri.

Our self-serving "experts" now subject us to treatises interpreting the coalition powers. There is a media frenzy with lopsided intellectual arguments, conspiracy theories and juvenile debate.

Wananchi share the discourse huddled in estate corners, pubs and village barazas. Politicians, myself included, engage in bare-knuckled exchanges, cheerleading and seek to outdo each other at funerals and harambees.

This impasse between the two principals is no longer about who is right or wrong over Ruto and Ongeri. Plainly said, it is about the intertwined forces of corruption and succession politics.

The ordinary mwananchi may not appreciate the magnitude of corruption and its capacity to fight back as alluded to by former anti-corruption czar John Githongo and Aaron Ring'era.

The lack of political will to fight corruption is a fact. If Raila is politically responsible for the misdeeds of a government whose operations he supervises and coordinates, then Kibaki is equally culpable for denying him the tools (read power) to right the wrongs.

The most recent scandals — Grand Regency, maize, free primary funds and Triton, politically speaking, all belong to ministries under the PNU wing of the coalition (even though maize was partly administered by a parastatal under Agriculture).

It is difficult not to read mischief into the power play against Raila by Kibaki. When Kibaki rescinded Raila's decision, he barely scratched the surface on the substantive issue of corruption.

And Kibaki suspended the various PSs because he wanted to share the moral high ground after officials in Raila's office had resigned.

Kibaki has been lukewarm towards Mau which is a "Raila" project. You can see revenge and succession proxy wars being played out. If a schism can be wedged between the PM and the Kalenjin, or any other community for that matter, then Kibaki's succession plan gains.

How can the Prime Minister exercise responsibility without authority? Clearly the management chain and unity of command have been redefined. Kibaki is encouraging anarchy and insubordination in the management of government affairs.

The timing of Raila's suspension of Ruto and Ongeri may be treated with suspicion, considering the fallout with some Rift Valley leaders and pressure from donors on the free primary education. I accept it may have been politically expedient for Raila to play to the gallery with a selective war against corruption.

But the battle lines are drawn. I don't believe the deep rooted rifts between the two principals can be resolved by Kofi Annan. In fact it is not in Kibaki's interests to have them resolved because they afford the opportunity to exercise his perceived imperial presidency.

Notwithstanding, the culture of holding leaders to account must start immediately.

The current stalemate between Kibaki and Raila is a red herring meant to distract Kenyans from the issues that safeguard their future and that of their grand-children. Many leaders will want this debate to last forever while they preserve the status quo of deals, ill-gotten gains, and power sharing.

The only reason Kenya has not slid into a failed state is through the resolve and resilience of the wananchi. If only they realised how much people power they wield, yote ingewezekana.

Kenyans, let us now give the constitution making process top priority. Do not be derailed from this process and do not let politi-cians dictate when you should have it. With its minimum acceptable safeguards, demand it now and let's modify it as we move along. But the end game of that document should be a General Election not later than mid 2011.

Kenyans, don't accept lip service on comprehensive institutional reforms. Clamour for them at every opportunity. Use all public events and national days to agitate both for this and the constitution. Let your national leaders appreciate the urgency. Boycott functions if necessary. It will be pointless to achieve the constitution and still meet an inept judiciary or security organs headed by individuals heavily implicated in the post-election violence.

Let us force compliance of a once and for all settlement of all IDPs by mid-2010.The current bickering is callous when victims of political violence still languish in makeshift homes.

Hopefully, by the time we go for the elections next year under a new constitution, the answers we seek today will be answered. Who holds the moral high ground? Who do Kenyans trust most? Who is playing politics? Who are the mavericks? Who are the vultures in our midst? But when we do make that choice, let's agree to live with it. As they say, leaders mirror their society.

Shebesh is an ODM nominated MP and a member of the PanAfrican Parliament.

By Irene Wairimu and Eluah Kinyanjui

A 'miracle of the century' where two pastors were expected to rise from the dead blew in the face of a Nakuru 'apostle' yesterday.

By the time of going to press last night, Patrick Wanjohi and Nyahururu's Francis Ndekei, who died in a road accident last week Monday, were still dead as the dodo.

'Apostle' John Kimani's charismatic church had on Saturday attracted thousands of people who thronged its Nakuru headquarters to witness the century.

Nakuru-based Pastor Wanjohi Wanja and Nyahururu's Ndekei were travelling to Nakuru from a church event in Nairobi when the accident occurred at around 10pm.

The two were the immediate assistants of the head of the Kingdom Seekers Fellowship church, 'Apostle' Kimani.

The church operates under auspices of the Mission of the Body Christ International.

Kimani, its spiritual leader, had promised that February 20 would be the day when the duo will be "raised from the dead".

He proclaimed their death was the work of the devil and ordered the worshippers to fast and pray for three days starting last Wednesday for the pastors' resurrection.

A pastor, Stephen Mulungi, had travelled from Uganda to preside over the special prayers service.

Kimani said before inviting Mulungi to start the rituals: "We cannot accept the two to leave us because they will leave the church of God very weak, so we have decided that we will not take them to the grave but sit and wait for the Lord's intervention."

An estimated 2,000 people were present and most of the church's faithful had been expecting them to resurrect on the third day of the fast like Jesus did after three days.

Nakuru Town MP Lee Kinyanjui was among the thousands of people who attended the service.

Kinyanjui however left immediately before the prayers to raise the dead began.

"It is not up to me to comment on their ability to raise the dead or their lack there of, that would be improper," the MP told journalists.

"The dead ministers were my constituents just like their faithful are so it is the natural thing for me to be with them at their time of mourning."

Pastor Mulungi tore at the media, accusing those who had come there of mocking their faith in the gospel of Christ.

Torrential rains that pounded the town for most of Saturday afternoon did not stop the prayers that at one point threatened to turn into a stampede when ushers opened up the caskets in readiness for the 'resurrection'.

By late evening, the exhausted faithful were almost ready to give up on their elusive miracle as it slowly became apparent that there would be no resurrection despite the fervent prayers and intonations in 'spiritual' tongues.

One by one, they started trickling out of the church grounds prompting their leader to get up to the pulpit and admit defeat.

The last of those who had attended the strange ceremony finally gave up and left the church grounds at 9pm.

I was woken up this morning by rays of sunlight, which had m bathed my room in such brilliance that it felt completely new. I began to notice things around me in great details. It was as if the room had been given a facelift. I looked out of the window and, behold, a cloudless sky. The trees danced lazily enjoying the early morning breeze. I looked far into the horizon and the beauty of what I saw around me stirred my soul. It was as if I was standing atop Mt Kenya surveying the landscape. I said to myself, "Oh, what a beautiful country!"

These were some of the heady sentiments uttered by Mwai Kibaki on December 30, 2002 at his inauguration as the third President of the Republic of Kenya.

At the end of one of the more difficult weeks in our political affairs, it is hard to share in the euphoria and optimism of his words.

And as we commemorate the second year of the signing of the Kenya Dialogue and Mediation Agreement of February 28, 2008 by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Kibaki's inauguration speech should offer a stark perspective of just how dashed, bashed and crushed the Kenyan dream is and can continue to be.

Hence, we need to continuously ask ourselves, why it is that we should expect that the promises signed off on February 28, 2008 should meet any greater success in achievement than those made on December 30, 2002.

Just listen to how hollow this sounds now, especially to the 47 per cent living under the poverty line, including IDPs. Indeed, we are so blessed, so endowed. Poverty, scepticism and despondency are not supposed to be our lot. Ours is a land of unparalleled beauty and promise. It is a land of laughter and hope.

On that day in December 2002, when unbounded, unbwogable and eternal hope coursed through our pumping veins, we were told: Corruption will now cease to be a way of life in Kenya and I call upon all those members of my government and public officers accustomed to corrupt practice to know and clearly understand that there will be no sacred cows under my government.

Hear him: We want to bring back the culture of due process, accountability and transparency in public office. The era of "anything goes" is gone forever. Government will no longer be run on the whims of individuals. The era of roadside policy declarations is gone. My government's decisions will be guided by team work and consultations.

There was also the promise to offer a new kind of leadership at the personal level: Yow have asked me to lead this nation out of the present wilderness and malaise onto the promised land. And I shall. I shall offer a responsive, transparent and innovative leadership. I am willing to put everything I have got into this job because I regard it as a sacred duty... I promise not to let you down. "You have asked me to be your chief servant and I accept it with humility and gratitude.

At the level of collective identity and political in-elusion, the newly sworn President offered: The National Rainbow Coalition represents the future of Kenya politics. Narc is the hope of this country. Our phenomenal success in so short a time is proof that working together in unity, we can move Kenya forward.

Some prophets of doom have predicted a vicious in-fighting in following this victory. I want to assure you that they will be disappointed. When a group of people come together over
an idea or because of a shared vision, such a group can never fail or disintegrate.

Narc will never die as long as the original vision endures. It will grow stronger and coalesce into a single party that will become a beacon of hope not only to Kenyans but to the rest of Africa.

December 30, 2002. On February 28, 2008, we got more promises — in fact, four agenda items of them. The events of this week once more gravely under-mined the already-shaky performance of the coalition government on them.

But I would dare suggest that, despite it all, Kenyans must continue to hope. But this hope cannot be built upon the consuming quick-sand of our venal, ravenous and forked-tongued political class. Rather, it should be founded upon the dream deferred: that in-deed, where we ought to be is infinitely superlative to where we currently are and that we truly can get there despite our politicians.

True despair will only set in if we anchor our dreams on the artificially-sweetened, sugar-coated and honey-laced words of our politicians. For as Nikita Khrushchev, himself an astute politician, warned: "Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river."

Mugambi Kiai is the Kenya country manager at the Open Society Initiative for East Africa. The views expressed in this article are entirely his own.

It is fairly obvious that Prime Minister Raila Odinga has a very keen focus on the 2012 General Election, which he hopes will at last see him ascend to the top of the political totem pole.

This compels him to constantly seek to ally himself with issues which the general public feels strongly about, and to act with long-term advantages in mind, rather than any immediate difficulties that he might face.

On the other hand President Kibaki has no such reelection campaigns on his agenda. He need not worry whether he is personally popular or not.

Indeed he has revealed a rare mastery of passive resistance: he just sits there and ignores all the noise. As a man who does not have to worry about reelection, why should he care if dropping two ministers will make him popular with the public? What has he to gain from taking such difficult decisions now?

Given this disparity, it could only be a matter of time before there was a parting of ways between the two.

But I have also argued that there is no inherent danger to the republic in this quarrel between the two principals. And I base my reasoning on the assessment that the two ministers whose careers are at stake are not important enough to cause a permanent falling out between the two
principals.

My guess is that Kibaki was all along bound to dismiss these two Cabinet ministers, only that he wanted to do so at his own time. After all, who is Prof Ongeri and what makes him so important to the President that he would willingly undergo continued public criticism just to keep him in office? The President has dumped men who were much closer to him in the past. He has no compelling reason to keep Ongeri in the Cabinet at all.

And as for William Ruto, these recent developments have been rich in political irony: here is a man being hounded out of office by the PM whom he struggled so hard to help ascend to power; and being kept hi office only by the intervention of a president whom he did everything he could to eject from State House.

I am inclined to speculate that the President would very much prefer that Ruto was not in his Cabinet at all. And that he is indifferent to the fate of Ongeri. So, why did he intervene to keep them in office?

I would argue that unless he was willing to allow us all to conclude that it is the PM who is really running the country, Kibaki really had no choice but to distance himself from Raila's action in "suspending" the ministers.

However the PM too had no choice but to take such a step: Would he really be able to go out campaigning in 2012 on his usual anti-corruption platform if he kept quiet at this time, over the two scandals which have most outraged the common citizens of this country?

Whatever the truth about Ruto and Ongeri concerning the corruption scandals in their ministries, at this time when the public is demanding resignations, a clever politician steps out and adds his voice to those demands. And this is what the PM did.

And I would add to this, that the PM's feelings on all this very likely mirror those of the President: he too would prefer to have Ruto out of the Cabinet; and he too is indifferent to Ongeri's fate.

It may be unfair, but it is just the reality of politics, as so many other ministers have found out to their horror — when the public decides that you are guilty, no argument you bring forward will change their perception. Your best bet is to step aside and hope that a few months later, most people will have forgotten all about it and you can quietly return to the Cabinet.

Still, as I say, neither Ruto nor Ongeri is important enough to bring about any serious cleavage in the coalition government. And sooner or later, the President and the PM are going to sit down and come to some kind of understanding over this.

In the end, the PM will have burnished his anti-corruption credentials in anticipation of the 2012 elections, and the President will have demonstrated clearly that he is in charge. Both will have gained something that matters to them.

And I think Ruto and Ongeri will then find out that the President, all along, had no intention of keeping them in his Cabinet.

Wycliffe Muga comments on topical issues.

At the Copenhagen Conference last year, Raila Odinga requested funds to help Kenya plant trees and combat climate change.

Declaring that Kenyans were the victims of First World development, he added that in environmental matters, they "weren't waiting for Copenhagen to help".

The other thing the government wasn't waiting for, it seems, was public approval for the construction of a new port at Lamu, a Sh1.23 trillion venture that will cover 1,000 acres, displace thousands of families, and devastate an irreplaceable mangrove forest. "Harmony with the land is like harmony with a friend," deep ecologist Aldo Leopold wrote. "You can't cherish the right hand while cutting off the left."

The new port is envisioned as the hub of a transport scheme that will span much of East Africa, combining an oil refinery, a tanker terminal, an international airport, and an extensive rail network, with Juba as its northern terminal.

Financed by investors from China, the USA, the UAE, Qatar, and India, media hype flaunts the venture as "thoroughly bankable", and urges potential backers to "think bold, think big, and think smart". Beside such an audacious undertaking, what are a few mangrove trees, anyway?

The answer is: almost everything. The pristine mangrove forests along Manda Bay, Mkanda Channel, and Dodori Creek, that will be cut for the project, are part of a crucial world ecosystem, not only mitigating the effects of climate change, but also providing key nutrients for a vast and immensely varied marine ecology.

Seagrass beds nurtured by fallen mangrove leaves and branches are feeding grounds for reef fish, crabs, shrimps, sea-turtles, and the dugong — the aquatic mammal that is among the world's most endangered species. The trees provide a habitat for many terrestrial creatures including fishing-cats and monitor lizards and nesting and resting grounds for thousands of migratory birds.

The catastrophic effect of the new port is likely to go far beyond the trees actually cut down.

Mangroves are highly susceptible to environmental stress, and their exposed roots are vulnerable to clogging by oil-spills — a predictable side-effect of the processing and transport of fossil fuels due to take place in the area.

Quite apart from the mangroves, though, the construction will endanger the notoriously fragile coral reefs protecting Manda Bay and the inland channel by Pate island. It will wipe out the shrimp sanctuary in Dodori Creek, vital to subsistence fishermen, negate the intention of the 60,000 hectare Unesco Biosphere Reserve north of Lamu, and impact both the Kiunga Marine and the Dodori National Reserves — all founded in recognition of the area's outstanding biodiversity.

Raila himself recently pointed out that while 40 per cent of Kenya's land was forested at independence, tree-cover has been reduced to only 1.4 per cent today — a result, he said, of "unbridled greed, mismanagement of public resources and a severe lack of civic responsibility".

That must also include the cutting of mangrove forest which, in East Africa generally, has proceeded at a rate of 3,000 hectares per year over the last quarter-century.

That work on the site starts at a moment when mankind is facing the most devastating natural disaster in our entire history, though, shows a lack of concern for the future that's almost suicidal. In the Deep Ecology movement we believe that no one has the moral right to interfere with any ecosystem, except in the case of vital human need. That cannot be argued for Lamu port: Kenya already has a working port, Mombasa, which, with modifications, could meet all the requirements of the new one. Any employment the new site offers will scarcely offset the claims of the 6,000 families displaced.

As for development, the argument that "the industrial nations have had their turn and now it's ours", simply won't wash: no rational person would argue that because other countries have destroyed their own environment, we should ruin ours. In any case, the wealth generated by the new port will, as usual, fall into the hands of a few powerful individuals, most of them non-Kenyans.

Here in Kenya, we can be wiser than that. We can refuse to rush blindly down the road of development at any price, following the myth of 'progress' that has doomed the industrialised nations, and threatens shortly to engulf the entire Earth.

We can go instead for a sustainable economy based on appropriate technology and renewable resources. We can recognise that our true wealth comes not from the man-made world but from the biosphere. A sustainable shrimp fishery, after all, is of far more enduring value than an oil refinery: you can go on eating shrimps long after the oil has run out.

Asher is an internationally known writer, award-winning explorer and deep ecologist. He has written 20 books, translated into 15 languages and he is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

What triggers the dissolution of the grand coalition government and with what legal, constitutional and political consequences? These are the questions Kenyans are asking and pundits are falling over themselves to understand and explain.

Embarrassingly, PNU and their sympathisers are positing that if the coalition government dissolves, then President Kibaki and the party will "continue" with the government "as it was before" with the only difference being that the Prime Minister and ODM would not be part of that government. The PNU has belligerently threatened to bring a censure motion against the PM to prepare ground for such an eventuality.

However, before we get lost in the jungle of PNU's partisan political posturing, let's examine what the law that brought this government into being says.

Section 6 of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act (2008) says the coalition stands dissolved if any of the three things happen: if the Tenth Parliament is dissolved; or if the coalition parties agree in writing; or if one coalition partner withdraws from the coalition by a resolution of the highest decision-making organ of that party in writing. A censure motion is not one of those triggers.

Under a coalition arrangement, Parliament can only be dissolved under two distinct circumstances: firstly, if the two coalition principals agree in writing that Parliament should be dissolved and elections called; or secondly, if the two coalition parties — ODM and PNU — agree through resolutions, in writing, by their respective highest decision-making organs to dissolve Parliament.

There is no legal allowance for either of the principals to act precipitously in dissolving Parliament or declaring a withdrawal from the coalition. Nor can either principal act alone. And despite a lot of noise by self-declared legal experts on these issues, there is no evidence to suggest that any of the above conditions are likely to occur. Strictly speaking, those conditions don't currently exist.

There exists no written agreement on the dissolution of the coalition. Neither ODM nor PNU has suggested that they contemplate summoning their respective national delegates' conferences to individually and separately resolve, in writing, to withdraw from the coalition. It is highly unlikely that both parties will agree in writing to dissolve the coalition.

If the coalition was dis-solved, its dissolution would result in fresh elections because the coalition is a constitutional creature brought into being by the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, which is entrenched in the constitution.

The President and Prime Minister derive their mandates from the National Accord. If the National Accord is repealed by a two thirds majority vote in the Parliament, both principals will become jobless except for positions they hold in their respective political parties.

In a democratic and constitutional democracy, the mandate to govern is granted by the people through elections. Yet the 2007 presidential elections were indeterminate and therefore gave neither the PM nor the President the mandate to govern alone. They both acknowledge this in the Preamble of the National Accord. However, the 2007 elections gave a mandate on the ODM to govern by virtue of being the largest parliamentary party.

Without the authority derived from the National Accord, both principals have no other source of legal or constitutional authority. With the dissolution of the coalition, fresh elections would be triggered so that whichever party wins the polls can govern alone.

Legally, neither party can chase the other from the coalition either through a censure motion, vote of no confidence or impeachment. The only way both principals can be replaced and the coalition government continue is if they voluntarily resign, cease to be MPs or if their political parties replace them. Is that likely to happen?

By signing the accord and declaring that "given the disputed elections and the divisions in Parliament and the country, neither side can govern without the other" and that "there needs to be real power sharing to move the country forward," both principals recognised that (a) President Kibaki's first term ended on December 30, 2007; (b) the 2007 elections resulted in no mandate being granted to any party or person; and (c) that the only mandate the coalition principals and the government have was granted by the accord, whose termination would result in the termination of the entire.government.

Under the circumstances, a vote of no confidence would be a waste of time. It would have no legal or constitutional consequence whatsoever. And to dissolve the coalition government, one must repeal the National Accord and Reconciliation Act. Such action would trigger fresh elections to enable the people to choose their leaders.

The writer is PM's adviser, coalition affairs and joint secretary to the Permanent Committee on the Management of Grand Coalition Affairs. The opinions expressed here are his own.

Controversial Jazz maestro Joseph Hellon and five followers were on Monday arraigned in a Nairobi Court and charged with being members of unlawful society, the Finger of God Church.

Mr Hellon was accused alongside Quincy Zuma Timberlake, who is linked to former television news anchor Esther Arunga.

Others in court were Samuel Onyango, Fredrick Onyango, Vincent Onyango, Grace Njii and Veronica Agape Koteng'o.

But the six through lawyer Harun Ndubi declined to plead to the accusations, saying the charge did not disclose any offence.

“The charge as framed does not disclose any offence. It is illegal and I urge the court not to admit it,'' he said.

The advocate told Nairobi Chief Magistrate Gilbert Mutembei that his clients had not committed any crime for the church to be declared illegal.

“There is nothing wrong they have done for the church to be considered unlawful,'' he argued.

He explained that the church was registered back in 2002 adding they have a right to worship and associate as they wished.

Mr Ndubi claimed that the investigation officer had continued to detain the registration certificate “in order to deny accused persons justice''.

But the prosecution asked Mr Mutembei to disregard the objections and admit the charge saying the information contained therein was sufficient and discloses an offence as provided and the Criminal Procedure Code.

“Your honour I urge the court to disregard the objections raised by the defence lawyer. It is clear from the particulars of the charge that there is an offence committed by the accused persons and I urge you to admit the charge so that they can answer to the charges,” Superintendent C K Towett urged the court.

The accused were remanded in custody until Tuesday when Mr Mutembei will decide whether to dismiss or admit the charge against them.

If found guilty, the court heard, the accused could serve a one year jail term or pay a fine of not more than Sh5 million.

The accused were arrested on Sunday over their involvement in a religious organisation with suspicious background.

The activities of the church have been in the public limelight after the former KTN news anchor Ms Arunga ditched her work and joined the church.

Police raided Mr Hellon's house in Gigiri at 2am on Sunday and arrested the two and other followers of the controversial Finger of God ministry based in Nairobi's Runda estate.

The suspects were locked up in various police stations in Nairobi. Ms Arunga who spent Sunday night at Muthaiga police station was released on Monday morning on a police bond.

According to police sources, she might be used as a prosecution witness in the case.

By Isaac Ongiri

Police arrested former KTN presenter Esther Arunga at 2 am yesterday morning. Efforts were being made to release her into her mother's custody as she was not feeling well.

Esther was arrested with seven other people and two underage girls at the house on the Runda estate used by the Finger of God church. Among those arrested were saxophonist Joseph Hellon, Apostle of the Finger of God church, and Quincy Timberlake, the suspected mastermind behind the Benny Hinn emails.

"We have Esther and three others here in custody to investigate cases reported to us. From here we shall take them to the CID headquarters for them to record statements," Kasarani OCPD Leonard Omollo said at Muthaiga Police Station yesterday.

"All are Kenyans," said Omollo confirming none of them was a foreigner.

Esther and the two young girls spent 12 hours in the Muthaiga police cells while Hellon, Quincy and" other church members were held at Gigiri. Around 2 pm they were all taken to CID head-quarters where they recorded statements with head of Serious Crimes Unit Henry Ndombi.

Clad in a denim jeans, white sandals, a red long sleeved T-shirt, black jacket and spectacles, a composed Esther was led to a waiting green Land Rover from Muthaiga to be driven to CID headquarters.

Her parents, relatives and friends flocked the Muthaiga police station but did not speak to the media. Her mother was in a pensive mood. Hellon's wife also visited the station.

Lawyer Harun Ndubi said Esther and the others had been arrested for belonging to an unlawful society. He expressed optimism that his clients including Esther would be released on police bond as they wait to appear before court.

Meanwhile, new information is emerging about Quincy who was due to marry Esther after she broke off her engagement to Wilson Malaba two weeks ago.

In December Quincy joined the Runda residence of the Finger of God, claiming to have just returned from the UK. Around that time, Hellon started receiving emails from Pastor Benny Hinn who he recognises as his spiritual leader.

Last week the Benny Hinn ministries, based in California, told the Star they have no knowledge of Hellon, Quincy Timberlake or Finger of God.

The emails from 'Hinn' encouraged Hellon to use Quincy as your "bridgestone to the future" saying that "Quincy is the 123rd brightest personality on earth as per God's wisdom is concerned".

'Hinn' said "I enforced a spirit into him to handle Esther, the heartbroken girl since Esther has been secretly liking him for a long time".

'Hinn' also advised Hellon to run for President with Esther as his running mate, and to disband the church and fast for 100 days after the police started investigating the Finger of God two weeks ago.

Other sources said that Quincy told Hellon that Pepsi had cancelled its annual 60 million pound (Sh7.8 billion) sponsorship deal with Tiger Woods and convinced Hellon that he could be the replacement.

Reportedly Quincy convinced Hellon and Esther that her fiance Wilson was a Freemason and intended to make her a human sacrifice on Valentine's Day. She then cancelled the marriage and 'Hinn' advised that she should then marry Quincy.

Wilson has denied that he is a mason or that he would harm Esther.

Yesterday The Star went to a house at Komarock in Eastlands and met a woman who claimed to be the wife of Quincy. Salome Gideon said she had two children with Quincy with whom she had been living for 11 years.

She was shocked to hear that 'Hinn' had ordered him to marry Esther. She said she had not spoken to him for one week. She tried calling him today but his phone was off.

Salome said that she had not met Esther but she knew she lived at Hellon's house. She said Hellon was a childhood friend of Quincy whom she said had travelled to Britain in the past. She refused to reveal Quincy's original name.

The wannabe musician has worked under different personas.

Dance star Kanda King said he knew him as a Congolese by the stage name Dezato.

"I recruited him to my band in 2004 and he was my keyboard player for a year and a half before I fired him," Kanda said.

He described Quincy, who now claims to be half South African and half Kenyan, as "very sharp. Everything I talked about he knew."

"He was a very strange guy. He told me that he would hook up our band with a UK tour contract. What I came to find out eventually was that he had created emails and was communicating with me as the hotel manager organising the said UK tours," Kanda said.

"I housed him throughout that period," Kanda said. "But I had to throw him out and fire him from the band when I found out that he had told my wife I was being unfaithful when we go for
gigs"

A cyber cafe owner, who asked to remain anonymous, formed a friendship with Quincy and sold him a computer and a modem for his home.

Quincy is said to have been living in the UK with a British passport and to have returned to Kenya in December after contacting Hellon on Facebook.

However the cyber cafe owner say he met Quincy in August 2009.

"To us he was half-cast with a Congolese mum and a Luo dad but he never talked Dholuo. He tried an email scam on my friend where he posed as a UK visa official but we traced back the email to the IP address of the computer he was using. I confronted him with the information in November. Since then he hasn't been back to the cyber cafe," the man said.

By Grace Kerongo and Pauline Odhiambo

Friends and family have been flocking to the home of ex-KTN presenter Esther Arunga's parents in Kileleshwa since news of her joining the Finger of God church was revealed.

Esther's father Bob Arunga, a retired consultant who once worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, yesterday told The Star that he would soon be speaking out on his daughter's recent affairs but asked the media to give his family time to deliberate over their next move.

"We're really suffering. It's a pity what is going on now with Esther and we're praying that it will all work out well eventually," he said.

"We are grateful for what The Star has highlighted so far on our daughter but we're not ready to speak to any media at the moment because we have to protect Esther. It's a very delicate issue and my wife and are willing to speak exclusively to The Star when we are ready," he said.

Two weeks ago the TV presenter broke her engagement to fiance Wilson Malaba, having resigned from her high-profile job at KTN in January and turned her back on most of her friends. She has distanced herself from her family since last week and even had a lawyer present when she met her mother for lunch on Wednesday.

Esther has been living fulltime since March last year at the house in the upmarket Nairobi Runda estate of the Apostle of The Finger Of God Church, saxophonist and Tusker Project Fame instructor Joseph Hello, and following his instructions.

The house is used for monthly entertainment events called Starry Jazz nights. But it is regularly frequented by Finger of God followers who go to consult Hellon.

A mysterious figure called Quincy Timberlake, who says he is half Kenyan and half South African, also lives in the Runda house. He was recently elevated to Apostle in the church by an email from "Benny Hinn".

Yesterday the deputy general secretary of the National Council of Churches, Oliver Kisaka Simiyu, said the Finger Of God is not one of the 600 churches registered under the NCCK. "It therefore cannot be classified as a church under Kenyan law "A cult is a group whose doctrine or teaching differs from the orthodox teaching of Christ," said Simiyu.

"There are five major warning signs that a church you are attending is a cult. One, it is often led by a very charismatic character who has the power to hire and fire. Two, they follow other spiritual material or word of a 'messenger from God' other than the Bible," Simiyu said.

"Three, they often look to convert the already 'saved' Christians. What they do is offering them a religion that makes them feel the faith they have is not sufficient. Four, a cult does not allow its members to criticise; the word of the spiritual leader is final. If they differ with the leader they are immediately excommunicated".

Simiyu added: "And finally, five, it is difficult for the members to leave. This is mainly because it isolates the members from the sober voices of their family and friends enabling an atmosphere where they can be brainwashed."

An inside source said the family is worried about Esther and have decided to change their approach.

"They have realised that she is not herself," the source said. "After the press conference outburst on Thursday, the family decided to go into prayer and have opted not to confront her because that won't help anymore."

At the press conference, Hellon said he was planning to stand for President in 2012 with Esther as his running mate.

A friend who worked with Esther at Capital FM said, "The girl I saw on TV is not the same one I worked with back then. She is different."

In the last two days there has reportedly been a mass exodus of members of the Finger of God after the church was exposed as a cult.

The members are currently on a 100-day fast and not attending church following instructions by email from "Benny Hinn".

Yesterday the Star exclusively revealed that the genuine Benny Hinn Ministries deny all knowledge of the cult.

"When word got out that Benny Hinn has disowned the said emails, the members decided to leave the church," a source said.

Many Finger Of God members come from the media and entertainment industry. They are mostly young females and upwardly mobile.

"It seems that he is targeting the finer class. If the church is promising to fill up a vacuum, I hope it is doing so in a Christ like way. But that is also a tell tale signs that it is a cult," said Simiyu.

Simuyu described the special communion of the Finger of God combining wine, bread and salt twice a day as "not alarming."

"But you should be aware that these practices lead to a culture where the followers develop a holier than thou attitude which effectively leads to them been brainwashed," he said.

Clarification

In our headline story titled 'Benny Hinn Disowns Esther Cult', we quoted Cabinet Minister Njeru Githae complaining about the Finger of God house which neighbours him in Runda.

Unfortunately a second quote talking about attending jazz nights at the house erroneously was attributed to the minister. It actually came from a prominent Nairobi lawyer. We regret this misleading impression and apologise to the minister for any embarrassment caused.

When Esther Arunga walked into the press conference room on Thursday to set the record straight, she was a new woman.

The humble and sweet face that united Kenyans in loving her was gone and, in its place, was a blank stare. The sweet voice that wooed us all to watch the news religiously was no more. A more aggressive, almost combatant voice, had taken residence instead.

She wore a look that loudly exclaimed: “Good girl gone”.

For someone who viciously protected her private life, Esther Arunga was sparing no words to express her disappointment with what she described as ‘‘stupid journalism’’ and garbage reporting.

Full of contempt, Arunga, dressed in all black, could not explain why she chose to live with a married man in his house while she could afford to live comfortably on her own.

“I am almost 30 and I can live wherever I want,” she said spinning her neck.

Some questions she did not even have to answer. “That’s a stupid question,’’ she shot back.

The irony was that one of the most notable faces on television was talking trash about the media in general which she was a part of until a week ago and quit because “I wasn’t being paid enough.”

But she contradicted herself severally, telling the media that she quit because of a low salary but later saying she will sue the media but not for financial gain.

“You can keep your money,” she yelled.

Nobody knows how much money she is making by being the director of Hellon’s music company which handles all of his live performances to make her quit her job.

But, once in a while, the girl that Kenyans came to love would jump from behind the stern look and smile or say something but this would be hurled back to where it came from.

As Hellon talked, she agreed to every word he said while his wife was seated next to him silent only smiling occasionally.

The moment of the week came when she went hard on her ex-fiancé, Wilson Malaba, whom she accused of cheating on her and not having his finances in order.

Two cancelled wedding ceremonies in one year. Arunga said her first wedding was affected by long distance and, of course, the most recent one was because of infidelity. She called off both weddings.

Asked whether it was true Hellon had, through his spiritual dad in the US (said to be Benny Hinn) given her someone to love, she said “Not true” and changed the subject.

As for Hellon, he was not offended by all the negative publicity about his church or dealings with Arunga. He said the media had helped him launch his political career.

“No news is bad news,” he told a packed press conference and in what can only be said to be a brilliant way to divert all the attention, he decided to announce his candidature for the 2012 presidency with Esther as his running mate.

That statement caught her by surprise but she played along well.

Asked why he was not fazed by all the publicity, Hellon said: “I want to lead a country of 40 million people, so such a small story cannot scare me.”

Esther has since deleted her facebook account.

Enter Wilson Malaba, the man at the centre of it all - Esther’s ex-fiancé.

Although he won’t admit it, Wilson Malaba is a very distraught man. Up until Sunday, February 7, it was all systems go for the couple’s wedding plans.

In fact, on that Sunday, Wilson’s family visited the Arunga family at their home in Kileleshwa to firm up the plans.

The following day (February 8), they spent most of the afternoon together at his office from where Arunga left to read the news on KTN at around 7 p.m.

“From that point everything was okay until the following evening when I started receiving SMSs from Hellon about how I killed his child, how I was planning to kill Esther in a road accident, and my expulsion from the church,” said Wilson.

He tried to call Esther but she wouldn’t answer his calls or reply to his SMSs. The only one that came from her was the one breaking their engagement, saying it was from guidance from Esther’s spiritual father (Hellon).

She also accused him of having a wife and two children in South B estate.

“The accusations of killing someone or plotting to kill my fiancee were very disturbing and that is why I decided to inform the authorities,” says Wilson.

Wilson also denies having any children and even offers to put up a paid newspaper advert asking anyone who has his child to come out in public.

“It’s all totally false and I am willing to go the entire length including the advert and doing DNA tests to prove that I have not fathered any child,” he said with an anger laden voice.

Wilson was at the Kilimani Police Station when Hellon was brought in to record a statement. With Hellon were Esther Arunga and Quincy Timberlake.

Wilson says that Esther refused to talk to him. Hellon was arraigned in a Kibera court and was released on a cash bail of Sh20,000.

Since then, Esther has refused to leave Hellon’s house in Runda and only appeared in public at the press conference on Thursday. According to Wilson, she wasn’t even accessible to her parents who have been very worried about her.

Wilson and Esther met in early 2008 but at that time, Esther was engaged to someone else, a pilot. However, it was only after Arunga broke her engagement with the pilot in October of 2008 when she and Wilson became an item.

At the time of their meeting, Esther Arunga was already a member of the Finger of God Ministries International – the church in question.

“It is Esther who persuaded me to join and I did so in May last year,” he recalls.

Wilson was already a pastor, ordained at the Redeemed Gospel Church, although he was not actively preaching. Naturally, he found it easy to join the church leadership when invited to do so by Hellon.

“Everything was fine and there was nothing out of the ordinary until some guy called Quincy Timberlake joined,” recalls Wilson.

The official word at the time, and what Hellon repeated at the press conference, was that Quincy was Hellon’s childhood friend who had just returned from the UK and was back to do music with Hellon and help him run the church.

Later it emerged that Quincy was actually sent by famous televangelist Benny Hinn to help Hellon with the ministry.

According to Wilson, Hellon is not a bad person but has been deceived by Quincy who claims to be a go-between between Hellon and ‘‘Benny Hinn’’.

Emails purported to be conversations between ‘‘Benny Hinn’’ and Hellon, and which have been seen by Buzz, appear to be a conversation between the two.

From the emails, it appears as though Pastor Hinn was giving daily advice to Hellon including advising Hellon against Wilson and Esther’s marriage.

Instead, in one of the emails, Pastor Hinn advises Esther to marry Quincy.

According to Wilson, he got the emails from a former member of the church who was fired by Hellon when she complained about his association with the women staying in his house.

The lady in question happened to have had Hellon’s password and is willing to stand by the allegations in public. We have since established the identity of the lady but nothing different has come forth.

At the press conference, however, Hellon rubbished the authenticity of the emails branding them ‘‘fake’’ and being used to tarnish his name and that of the organisation.

He says that Pastor Hinn has been his spiritual father since 1996.

On Friday, a Nairobi newspaper reported that ‘‘Benny Hinn’’ had denied knowledge of Hellon or even his ministry.

Also, it has to be noted that opening an email in someone’s name is very easy and someone could have easily opened an email account pretending to be Hinn.

So, did Hellon believe that he was talking to the real Hinn when it could have been someone with the fake email even next door to him?

“That’s possible and I want to insist that Hellon could have been deceived,” adds Wilson.

The ogre in all this is one Quincy Timberlake aka Fizzle Dogg.

His identity is closely guarded and even those who know him are unwilling to divulge information. Buzz learnt that this is the same man who had in 2003 walked into Ogopa Dj offices claiming to be a South African national interested in a collabo with K-Rupt.

Several weeks into the deal, sources say, his dealings became dodgy and Ogopa suspended any further association with the “big name from SA asking K-Rupt to relook the arrangement.

Weeks later K-Rupt died and Fizzle Dogg vanished.

Kiss FM’s Shaffie Weru remembers the artiste but says he was too inconsistent to be believed, “if he is the same guy then I wouldn’t take him seriously,” says Shaffie; “He could do anything to become famous.”

One time entertainment journalist Dan Teng’o vaguely remembers the artiste but cannot recognise him now.

Who exactly is Quincy?

Why is he the man, according to the emails, better placed to marry Esther? Is Hellon too gullible to recognise the tell- tale signs of a con game?

An anonymous source told Buzz that Quincy is indeed a Kenyan national. A car sale deal transacted in 2003 places Quincy’s identity in question.

If he came back to Kenya only last December, why is it that he lived in Golden Gate, South B, in 2003 driving a Mitsubishi Lancer bought locally.

Why is it that every communication he has with the supposed ‘‘Benny Hinn’’ is on g-mail or text? Why is it that on the official website of all the celebs he says he has dated and courted, no one knows him?

Event organiser Big Kev says Quincy is the cause of all the grief but adds that he has never met him even though True Blaq entertainment has his questionable profile alongside that of K-Rupt on their site.

Wilson Malaba says Quincy is the problem but does not have a picture of him and has never met him.

Who is saying the truth? By the time of going to press Buzz had conclusively unwrapped the mystery that is Quincy. He is not what he wants people to believe he is.

He is the same wannabe who has lived and played with Lingala musicians locally.

Senior pastors at Benny Hinn’s crusade in Kampala have confirmed that Bishop Arthur Kitonga is their official contact in Kenya. What happens to the angel and the Saxophonist?

Reporting by Philip Mwaniki, TKB, John Muchiri and Adhyambo Odera

Even as a schoolboy at Starehe Boys’ Centre, Nimrod Omondi mesmerised not just with his jazz skills but lively performance in Alice in Wonderland.

Now Pulse brings you the ‘wonderland’ to occult- nature that his dream has become. As they say if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck its probably a duck!

Outside, the house built in Texan stucco style, two storeys tall, whitewashed and with scenic little floral arrangements all appears calm.

A tree that sways in the cool breeze shows no signs of the strange on-goings that have been rocking its interiors.

The fair and comely former TV queen Esther

Arunga has been holed up with jazz star Joseph Hellon in this plush home at Runda for months– ostensibly running a Church. The Finger of God Ministries (yes that’s the name), which was formed three years ago, has hitherto attracted top celebrities including Debbie Asila, Big Kev, Wilson Malaba, Angela Ndambuki, Angela Mwandada and Odada Okello who was a youth pastor, among others. We understand Big Ted attended a few meetings in the Finger Of God Ministries and opted to remain in his old church. Almost a year ago, Esther joined the congregation and duly moved into Hellon’s house.

A few other newscasters almost joined the church. All has been run smooth and no one was suspicious of the church which has been growing fast steadily. In the last three years it had attracted 500 members. It is at this church that Wilson Malaba met Esther Arunga and the two soon became an item. After dating for one year– with Esther operating from Hellon’s house throughout– they got engaged.

A few weeks ago Wilson went public about their upcoming wedding in April. A week later one of the girls living in Hellon’s house took off from the house. She would later narrate to youth pastor Odada Okello how Hellon; the senior pastor; was not only mentoring them but involving them in sexual acts.

Alarm bell rang and Okello called Esther’s fiancÈ- Malaba informing him of the transgressions.

"Odada called me and told me that he had been informed that Hellon was engaging in sex with the girls at his residence. I decided to call Esther and requested her to leave the house immediately," says Wilson.

As soon as he was done with the conversation with Esther, Hellon called him, immediately informing that he had been suspended from Church alongside Odada and another member named Mark Bichache.

The Runda home where Hellon and his wife Kuyu shared with Esther and other faithfuls.
"He was abusive and warned us of dire consequences and sent me a text claiming that I killed his son two years ago," said Wilson.

A disappointed Wilson showed us text messages sent to him by Hellon, which read: Benny Hinn and I have been talking and the Lord has revealed these things through our talks. Your wedding is nullified. You can’t fight against the Lord and succeed!

Another read: You are hereby banned from church and from our compound. Breach of this will lead to your arrest. Watch out for the Lord has found you out and is now fighting you himself! You sacrificed my boy last year but one. You have a wife in South B with 2 kids. You’ve spoken to Zahra so as to sacrifice Esther through a road accident. You’ve been demanding for sex from Esther. You have her logbook. You’ve been asking her to demand 500k that she put in people music and to sell her shares to you at the spa!

Wilson sued Hellon for the above false texts and was arraigned in Kibera court. He was released on cash bail of Sh20, 000.

Hellon admitted that he sent the texts to Wilson.

"Yes, I nullified his wedding and he got angry," admitted Hellon in a telephone interview.

The fallout was triggered when Wilson asked Esther to leave Hellon’s Runda residence but she would have none of that; opting instead to end her long time relationship with Wilson.

"Hellon lied and he knows that his wife had a still birth and I don’t have a wife or kids," explains Wilson.

"Esther has even been urged to leave the house by the family and has remained steadfast. In fact her parents are worried about her," he adds.

But Esther denies that saying that she had lunch with her mother on Monday at Sarit Centre and that she is in touch with her other family members.

"My parents know that since March I have lived with Hellon who is a distant relative. I’m 30 years old and I can live where I want. In fact I have left my job because of another better opportunity," she reiterated.

Esther dismissed the allegations saying that she dumped Wilson who is now crying foul. "I just broke off the engagement and he is running all over the place spreading malicious rumours. I have broken another engagement in the past with another ex, so what’s the big deal here?" she posed.

It is alleged that the plot thickened when a certain Quincy joined the church and claimed he was organising Joseph Hellon / Euro Jazz Tour sponsored by Pepsi worth millions. Secret emails also reveal that Hellon was also promised a Jaguar and a jet sometime between now and next year. For Hellon to get all the cash and riches, Quincy was to appear in four of Hellon’s videos, which were released recently. The videos are already reportedly playing in certain TV stations.

Our investigations also revealed emails purportedly from USA pastor Benny Hinn to Hellon urging him to include Quincy in his church committee. The e-mail messages insist that Quincy must always preach before Hellon takes over the pulpit. Another email purportedly from renowned and top selling musician Whitney Houston to Hellon claims that the singer is powerless without Quincy who was her ex-boyfriend.

The purportedly email from Whitney Houston to Hellon read in part: I know you’re serving some powerful thing and I do serve mine too which I think is also all-powerful man. Quincy was almost joining the core of the brotherhood by Jan 25th and you distorted everything. Without him I got no power. Man do me a favour, I need him back and you got US$10,000.

Further Pulse search also came across a copy of a logbook where reportedly Quincy bought a car from a certain Mr Michael Thuo but was unable to pay a balance of Sh50, 000. Consequently, Quincy was not handed the logbook.

The shadowy Quincy Zuma Wambiti Timberlake or just Quincy Timberlake aka Pizzle Dogg was ostensibly supposed to record five songs with the late K-Rupt according Internet sources. He disappeared after K-Rupt’s death only to re-appear.

Wilson told Pulse that Esther has been brainwashed by Hellon and has even taken up the singer’s name. "Esther has disowned her family and has even changed her name to Veronica Hellon," he claims. We are trying to bring her back to her senses," he adds. But Esther refutes the claims saying that Veronica is just their house help.

" I‘ve not changed my name. I’m Esther Arunga," she maintained.

Another email from Benny Hinn read: I see Esther becoming a prominent personality in your government. I like her maturity in live chat, surely she deserves a man and that’s the special gift for her now.

Apostle, disband church until 100 days… change venue.

Pulse understands that the church is indeed a 100-day break since February 11 as ordered by the televangelist.

Another mails yet from the televangelist strangely ordered Hellon to keep off from a certain brand of soda besides informing Hellon that the televangelist intended to kill Wilson though him.

And a supposedly mail chat between Benny Hinn and Hellon went:

Pastor: Great, we are out to kick butts and anuses

Me: In Jesus name no butt will be spared?

Finally, the email between Benny Hinn and Hellon that made Esther leave her job goes like this: My daughter Esther is seated at my table looking beautiful and happy. Dad I feel she shouldn’t go back to KTN and I have told her already. Kindly advice?

Give my wife a beautiful Hebrew name…

Apostle first of all from now on, Kuyu becomes Vineyard Hellon…. Tell Esther to go nowhere for Wilson. That girl loves Quincy no doubt about it and her love is clean but Quincy is being careful to fulfil my commands. I command him to care for Esther no more no less. Agape and Sam goes nowhere but let me study Pauline closely. Ask her to delete Wilson numbers.

As the drama continues there is no doubt for some caught in the thick of things life has surely turned hell-on earth!