Overheard at a private function in Mombasa last Sunday: "Ningependa watu wajue kwamba Raila si Mungu na ODM si Dini! (I would like people to know that Raila is not God and ODM is not a religion!)" That's Tourism minister and ODM Pentagon member Najib Balala.

That nominated MP Musa Sirma is now a Tugen Elder is just part of the bigger plan to divide Rift Valley. We are told by those close to Prime Minister Raila Odinga that Sirma, one-time ally to Agriculture minister William Ruto, has the ability to help split the Kalenjin vote should Ruto and other MPs decide to join another party.

A senior police officer funded a campaign to discredit one of his colleagues. The officer, who was recently transferred by Commissioner Mathew Iteere, is reported to have given money to some activists who launched a campaign to discredit the other policeman who was at some point tipped to take over from Commissioner Hussein AN.

The Bomet seat may be turned into a family affair. Held for several terms by Kipkalia Kones, his widow Beatrice Kones was elected MP after his tragic death in a plane crash. Rumours are now rife that she might not be interested in defending her seat in the next election. To ensure that a Kones captures the seat, her son is reportedly already campaigning and is confident that his name will be on the ballot box come 2012.

A group of civil society activists siphoned millions of shillings from donors using dubious projects. We are told that the group, working with a number of highly placed and credible people in civil society, received the millions in the run-up to the December 20007 elections and the money was meant for voter education. The individuals also received more money soon after election to "document" the post-election violence cases. But to date they have not handed their reports and donors have now demanded that they account for all the money by the end of this month.

Are there people scheming to buy Kenya Electricity Generating Company? We are told that very influential people are scheming to buy the parastatal once the government decides to sell it. One of them told a friend that he is in the process of liquidating some of his assets in readiness for the big buy-out of the electricity generating company.

Another MP from Eastern Province is apparently planning a stab at the Presidency. We are told that Kareke Mbiuki, the MP for Nithi and Assistant Minister for Agriculture, is working behind the scenes to have his name in the ballot in 2012. The youthful MP has not officially declared his candidature but has shared his plans with a few close friends.

Musikari Kombo may be determined to defend his seat as chairman of the once popular party during the forthcoming Ford-Kenya national elections but there are some of his supporters who are convinced that the former Webuye MP may at the last minute decide to support another candidate. Apart from Kombo, Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula and Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa are battling to take over Ford-Kenya.

Grumbling has resurfaced at the Ministry of Sports and Culture where some of the officers are complaining that Minister Heller Sambili is making decisions without consultations. Those complaining say the minister is going ahead and issuing statements without consultation and making decisions which have made it difficult for them to work.

Staff at a government agency were surprised when their chief executive officer who had been dismissed for gross misconduct was re-appointed back to his former post. We are told that the CEO was sent home for among other things mismanaging the agency's funds and failure to attend board meetings. The minister responsible for the agency has however gone ahead and re-instated the man saying the Kenya Anti-Corruption Com-mission had cleared him of any wrongdoing.

A senior Cabinet Minister linked to the troubles of the Internally Displaced People has been trying to get a number of MPs to come to his defence. The minister has been reaching out to "friendly" MPs to try and persuade them to issue a press statement in his defence against growing allegations that he is responsible for the misery faced by the IDPs.

Gideon Moi's announcement that he will run for President may not have elicited much reaction but we are told that his supporters in parts of Rift Valley especially in Baringo Central are excited about the prospect. They believe that the man has the financial muscle to mount a serious campaign for the seat and if Agriculture Minister William Ruto falters then the young Moi will be the next "king" of Rift Valley.

Why did Mungiki leader Maina Njenga join Margaret Wanjiru's Jesus Is Alive Ministries church? We are told that the leader of the outlawed sect wanted to be associated with a high profile church, which he will use to "re-launch" himself. Maina's decision to join JIAM has increased speculation that he is likely to ask his supporters to back Margaret Wanjiru's presidential bid should she declare her interest for the top job. Talk has been rife that Wanjiru is preparing to contest in 2012 and she has already identified a party with his son as an official.

People who visited the Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura this past weekend were shocked by his humility. Portrayed as a hardliner on the Kibaki's side of the coalition government, Muthura shocked many of his visitors when he, together with his wife, tirelessly served guests in his Nkoroi home. The top civil servant carried plate after plate and served people who qualify to be his juniors with a sumptuous meal.

Francis Atwoli's decision to hold rallies across the country to push for Agenda Four reforms is raising questions. Some COTU members are questioning the source of the money their Secretary-General is using to fund the rallies. They are also questioning Atwoli's motives saying the COTU membership had not approved Atwoli's latest campaign. Could Atwoli be laying ground for his presidential bid? If so should he not declare his sources of funding?

A human rights activist is planning to sue a top permanent secretary whom he claims has sent 13 obscene and insulting short text messages to his mobile phone. The activist has already instructed his lawyers to take up the matter and sue the PS.

The political battles between Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Water minister Charity Ngilu are back. We are told that Ngilu has decided to "reclaim" her place in Ukambani politics by winning over the region's legislators. Her strategy seems to be working because she has managed to win over one of Kalonzo's close allies David Musila who has openly declared that he will from now on work with Ngilu.

A city based businessman associated with Deputy PM Musalia Mudavadi is giving Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo sleepless nights. The youthful businessman, who is known to be close to another Cabinet minister and several MPs from the region, is now planning a major funds drive in Lugari this month where he is expected to donate Sh1 million just to send a message to Jirongo. But Jirongo has been countering the man's plans by telling his constituents to receive him warmly, elect him as their councillor so he can become the chairman of the local county council before he can start dreaming of becoming an MP.

A human rights activist who has recently been fighting MPs and the former head of the Kenya Anti-corruption Commission Justice (retired) Aaron Ringera is reportedly in the payroll of a senior politician from Western Kenya who has been picking up his tab and paying him a retainer every Friday. The man was spotted last week at a Westlands hotel where he sipped a soda for nearly two hours waiting for the MP who showed up later and paid the bill.

A former PNU Parliamentary aspirant has found a way of raking in millions from the more successful politicians. His latest cash cow is a Cabinet minister from Coast Province who, our moles say, paid the man Sh2 million to build the minister's profile in the Coast Province.

Stanley 'Moneybags' Livondo who always tries to keep himself in the public radar is at it again. The man is now telling anyone who cares to listen that he would release the "original" list of suspects in the Waki envelope if Moreno-Ocampo fails to do so. Kofi Annan presented the secret list to Ocampo but now Livondo claims to have seen it.

The Chief Executive Officer of a local bank is furious with his staff for releasing the title deed of a huge piece of land to a well known personality who bought it at an auction. The junior officers released the title deed even though the personality had only paid 10 per cent of the value at the fall of the hammer. We are told that heads will roll at the bank
as it no longer has any way of recovering the money.

Two daughters of prominent politicians are understood to have made millions from the resettlement of IDPs. The two were reportedly given the responsibility of identifying land on which the IDPs were to be resettled. The two young women, one of whom is a property manager, are said to have inflated the price of the land they identified by millions of shillings. The property manager was overheard boasting she will now not have to work for years as "my account is fat enough".

Why is a city MP keeping money in his socks? The legislator was overheard complaining that he had lost some money which he had stashed in his socks. The problem is he could not identify who the thief was or when the stash was stolen. Talk about keeping your feet firmly on the ground!

Tourism Minister Najib Balala we hear is now planning massive political rallies at the Coast to try and lay claim to be the kingmaker in the region. His key rival for this is fellow ODM MP Hassan Joho who has promised to match anything Balala puts across.

A senior Cabinet minister has suddenly discovered that he has a school going daughter in Kaloleni Estate, Nairobi. Out of the blue, the PNU lawmaker, who had earlier denied he was the girl's father, has after seven years decided to take custody of the child and her mother. He has moved his new found family to a house in one of the leafy suburbs. The mother and child are now the talk of Kaloleni Estate who regard them as having made it in life.

What is going on at the National Social Security Fund? We are told that a big rift has emerged between the NSSF managing trustee Alex Kazongo and some suppliers and contractors who are complaining that their payment cheques are being delayed for no reason.

Remember yesterday's item about two daughters of prominent politicians who have been bragging that they have made millions of shillings out of the IDP resettlement scheme? Now we are told by very senior people who know what is going on that no money has been paid to the two women, contrary to claims by one of them. One wonders why she would bragging about making millions when she hasn't made any.

Remember the city MP who stashes his cash in his socks instead of his wallet? Well, the man eventually found the roll of notes which he though had been stolen. The bundle of notes was found in his car. He now has to sheepishly explain to his colleagues just why he opts for such an unconventional way to carry his money around. It can't be that he does not know of plastic — the credit or debit cards that banks so willingly offer to all monied customers.

Even before the dust of the December 2007 elections settles, we are told that two ODM legislators are shopping around for parties which they hope to use to propel their candidacy for the 2012 presidential race. Starehe MP Bishop Margaret Wanjiru is eyeing a little known party — Nuru where her son is an official, while South Mugirango MP Omingo Magara is eyeing another small party — either POP or Mazingira — to launch his presidential bid.

A city lawyer known more for the cases he has lost than anything else has become the subject of talk among the learned fraternity. The man, who is a close associate of a senior Cabinet minister, has in a few years managed to accumulate immense wealth which he has been splashing around. He has acquired six "wives" after paying dowry for all of them even though his religion only allows him four at any one time. The concern among his relatives is that he does not seem to have enough "wives" and is considering taking on some more.

Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba has been unusually quiet. This has now become a concern to some of the professionals from his constituency. The elite constituents held a meeting over the weekend to find solutions to some of the problems affecting the people of Budalangi. Of great concern is the threat of floods which are inevitable with the predicted El Nino rains. The professionals were frustrated that Namwamba failed to attend the meeting and complained that they have been unable to get in touch with him.

It is a fiction that a day brought about by sycophants and used to advantage by a politician is a national occasion. Actually, on Moi Day we should all remember why we sought over so many years to bring that regime to a close. And what the cost was.

We have to reflect on why it is that too many of those who fought to liberate the country from such rule are now not safe, often disabled and in economic difficulty. And have not been protected against these indignities.

We have to reflect on why the children of those who brought about that change are not in good schools or at university; and why the cycle of cares and problematic earning is on them, and not instead on those who oppressed Kenya for so long. We must ponder also on why those who perpetrated those crimes have been able to buy or bargain or blackmail their way back to immunity, wealth, and even a cautious arrogance again.

No, we must not make mistakes about what the Moi regime stood for, nor about what it did. Its money, or its remnant power, or amnesia on our part, may yet bring about embellished revisionist accounts.

It is important therefore to place on record that the Moi regime was a grid of corruption, the enforced subservience of state institutions, distorted constitutional prescriptions, and 'leaders' who considered detention, torture and assassination as normal tools of governance.

Worst of all, Moi's regime generated a camp-following of ephemeral and frightened politicians in the grim shadow of unquestioning obedience to One-Man rule. They were praised when they stole from public resources. They were punished if they sought reform. They were made the political pool from which 'leadership' was offered to Kenyans for two decades.

Too many of our current 'leaders' are from that very same tainted pool. Some of them are now bringing Moi to their constituencies, calling him the father of the nation. They endanger Kenya.

Such fawning and alliances with him carry the real possibility of regression to Moi-regime-type politics. The Moi regime cannot teach anyone about reform or governance devoid of fear and protection money. It never knew anything about reform or governance based on law.

It is from this ignominious framework that we have been gradually extricating ourselves.

There is a further fiction that Moi Day commemorates some achievement. Implicit is that there is some legacy which the day preserves, that there is something to emulate. So I spent Moi Day examining the past, searching for that legacy.

I recalled Parliament making us a one-party state; those beaten mercilessly on every public occasion by the police that were used by the Moi regime as an army against his own people; a father who when he sought the truth about his daughter Julie, was told by Moi's regime that the animals were to blame; the removal of the tenure of judges; the political prisoners' mothers who shamed the man after whom this day is named — instead of being named for them; the banning and persecution of the editor of the internationally acclaimed publication, the Nairobi Law Monthly; the charred remains of a minister on a hill in Nyanza; the many, many false judgments in too many courts.

I remembered too: The torture chambers in Nyayo House, Nairobi's provincial headquarters; the many fine poets and writers in exile; Moi telling Amnesty International "to go to hell"; Bishop Muge driving into the road crash that was designed to get rid of him; the degeneration of our public services with the contamination of personal rule; the mlolongo destruction of the secret ballot and its reversed totals even after the public counting; the censorship of the press, and the monopoly of the state radio and TV; how 55 per cent of Kenyans were pushed below the poverty line.

I recalled also: The lawlessness of the provincial administration; those who died on Saba Saba Day; the fear that the Moi regime poured onto Kenyan society; one Jamhuri Day when the people refused to come to Nyayo Stadium; those who never looked for rewards but gave of their all against this oppression; the Attorney-General of Moi who said, "No one is above the law, except the President"; the detainee who was told about his wife's death after her burial; how the country's economy had declined to minus 0.2 per cent.

Twenty-four years of Moi, twenty-four memories. Out of the many, so many more. What a quaint legacy to celebrate with a national holiday.

Pheroze Nowrojee is a lawyer based in Nairobi.

In the absence of any tangible evidence to the contrary, many people in the world, courtesy of the media, agree that Afghanistan is today the most dangerous country in the world because of the ongoing military campaigns being led by the Nato forces against Taliban who seek to overthrow what they believe is a puppet government in Kabul.

Besides, it is believed the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, and his Al-Qaeda terrorist network, were bred in Afghanistan and have their havens there.

In this regard, the reason the international community has focused on Afghanistan is because of the spillover effects that the conflict in that country has over neighbouring countries, and the potential of the conflict being exported to other countries of the world.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is therefore the country that has borne the heaviest brunt of the conflict in Afghanistan, and as US President Barack Obama observed recently, the conflict in Afghanistan cannot be resolved without dealing with certain internal dynamics in Pakistan.

But one would ask; how did Pakistan get embroiled in the conflict in Afghanistan to the extent that it has to pay the heaviest price for the mess in its neighbour's backyard?

The answer is simple — analysts say that during the 10 years that the former Soviet Union invaded and occupied Afghanistan from 1979, Western powers, because of their ideological differences with the communist Russia-led USSR, used their financial resources and intelligence apparatus to assemble an insurgency group that would be deployed in Afghanistan in order to dislodge the Soviets from that country.

That insurgency group was to be named Taliban, and Pakistan, because of its complex border and ethnic relations with Afghanistan, was the country where the recruitment of fighters was conducted.

The recruitment of fighters involved bringing in young people from both Pakistan and other Islamic countries, training and deploying them for guerrilla attacks on Soviet forces in the Afghanistan.

Also, Al Qaeda was founded in Pakistan with the support of Western powers. The Arabic word 'Al Qaeda' simply means 'the base' or 'foundation.'

Pakistan was, therefore, the midwife of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. And the Western powers supported the creation of Taliban and Al Qaeda because they were not willing to come into a direct military confrontation with the Soviets. These were their proxy armies.

But after the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan, a huge number of well-trained fighters remained behind. And as tables turned and roles were reversed in the post-Soviet era, these fighters were recruited afresh to fight against what is perceived as the domination of Western powers over Islamic countries. The rest is history.

I have cited the foregoing example because recent reports in the media that youth from the North Eastern Province are being recruited to fight for the besieged Transitional Federal Government of Somalia are indeed worrying.

This could easily cause Kenya to pay the kind of price Pakistan is paying for its involvement in the Afghanistan conflict.

Despite denials by the authorities, credible sources say youths from the Somali community are being recruited and trained by Kenyan security agents for deployment in Somalia to assist the government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmad fight off an insurgent assault from the Al-Shabaab militant group.

The government, which supports Sheikh Sharif's government, has been under immense persuasion to deploy its troops in Somalia to assist the TFG. But given the complex consequences of direct involvement in Somalia, it looks like the government could be seeking to assist the TFG through a proxy army, hence the latest recruitment of Kenyan Somali youths to fight for the TFG.

But this could be a very dangerous move because of the kind of consequences that Pakistan faces for having been used to establish the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

Kenya should worry itself about what may happen once the conflict in Somalia is resolved and leaves behind well-trained fighters who return home to become civilians.

It is in view of Pakistan lessons of that Kenya should approach the Somalia conflict with caution.


The writer is a Chevening Fellow and the CEO of the Kenya Muslim Youth Alliance.

" The fundamental rights and freedoms of an individual in Kenya are an integral part of the democratic state and are the framework for social, economic and cultural policies," states the first paragraph on the Bill of Rights chapter in the proposed draft constitution that is a cut, copy and paste of the current Constitution.

Section two of the chapter states that the purpose of the recognition and protection of human rights is to preserve the dignity of individuals and communities and to promote social justice and the realisation of the potential of human beings.

One of the most abused and violated chapters in the Constitution is the Bill of Rights.

If these rights were to be implemented to the letter, the country would be a sparkling model in the world. Ethnic, economic and political tensions would be things of the past because every individual would be catered for in the distribution of resources.

Little known is the fact that from the public taxes, the government is under obligation to provide basic needs such as infrastructure, education, health services and food as enshrined in the Constitution. Service delivery to the electorate is a non-negotiable right, not a privilege. The ignorance of rights has cost taxpayers a fortune.

The political leaders have made Kenyans believe they own the country's resources and have powers to distribute them to political friends and relatives.

Starving Kenyans are paraded as cattle in an auction before television cameras to receive relief food from political leaders.

MPs are not fighting to reverse the trend. They do not demand their fair share of budgetary allocations.

One of the pre-independence parties manifesto ideals was not far from the chapter on the Bill of Rights. Kanu emphasised bettering the quality of life of Kenyans by declaring war on the three national enemies — poverty, ignorance and disease.

Unfortunately, these national enemies are still unwelcome guests in most of our homes. The poor bear the brunt of the ravages. The begging bowl carried by leaders and constituents today is a contradiction if not a violation of the supreme law.

A lawmaker will go down on knees with rounds of applause to present a memorandum listing the needs of a constituency to a national leader and expect the same treatment from the constituents.

Amongst the projects listed could be the creation of district or upgrading of a local authority, providing funds for roads construction, electricity supply, building of classrooms or providing drugs to a health centre.

Long after Kenya became a multiparty state, it is still assumed that one must belong to the governing party or be a partner in the coalition to enjoy state funding of projects. On account of party affiliation, the host may be lucky to get a lion's share of the demands.

It follows therefore that the MP has to beg for development or consider defecting to the ruling party in order to benefit from presidential favours.

This national blackmail makes a mockery of the Constitution and good governance.

Leaders exploit this chronic ignorance to deny the electorate their inalienable right.

Hands of Parliament are tied and cannot point an accusing ringer at an extravagant or dishonest MP. Sometimes a dishonest parliamentarian could be a member or chairman of a watchdog committee where his conduct could be the subject of interrogation.

Perhaps conflict of interest and complicity could explain Parliament's reluctance to legislate penalties for the em-bezzlement of public funds or follow up on how the tax money is spent on projects in their areas of jurisdiction, the nation or at the constituency level.

Without a wink, most of the current African leaders emerging from decades of misrule seem to approve of the perpetuation of age-old habits of blackmail and manipulation.

The big question is who is going to intervene and save Kenyans from exploitation? Not Kofi Annan but the just constituted Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission whose mandate is to examine past and present injustices. In one way or another, Kenyans are violators of rights or perpetrators of injustices in exercise of their assignments.

The writer is a former Cabinet minister, Mathioya MP and secretary-general of Kanu and LDP.

Skal International is a global network of clubs for tourism executives and managers. The meaning of the word Skal is cheers or bottoms-up and the wine and whisky flows at their monthly luncheon or dinner meetings.

Skal clubs are about the tourism spirit of hospitality and therefore much loved.

However their slogan, complete with a white dove, "Tourism Brings Peace", is sadly wrong.

If true the slogan would be indeed wonderful as world peace could be won globally by everyone taking a holiday. Alas, the order of the words needs to be reversed to arrive at the real situation, which is that "peace brings tourism". If only governments valued peace more than election results!

Another global tourism network, the World Tourism Organisation, has managed their message much better with the WTO Global Code of Tourism Ethics. Based on years of distilled wisdom as the world tourism watchdog, the WTO states that tourism represents an opportunity to learn about other cultures and promote better understanding amongst mankind. The WTO champions the preservation of local culture, handicrafts and resists attempts to degrade or commercialise them.

All countries have something of culture and local entertainment. In England, to take one example of a typical Kenya Coast inbound source market; you may visit a theatre in many of the large cities, something the British have excelled at since before Shakespeare. Castles, ca-thedrals, abbeys, forts and other places of historical and cultural interest abound. Military parades are commonplace.

Go further north to Bonny Scotland and the cold may drive you indoors but there is one sure way to bring out the crowds regardless of the weather and that is tribal dance and war tradition. It may be a long time since tribes made war on each other in Britain but the swirl of the kilt, the crash of drums and the wail of the bagpipes still brings intense excitement as does the highland dance over crossed swords.

Traditional dance enthrals people everywhere and no less than in Africa, where overseas visitors long since detached from their own tribal dances, are fascinated to watch living tradition. Although a rapidly modernising country, we market tourism with scenes of Maasai warriors leaping vertically in war dance. The scope and variety of Kenya's tribal dancing is impressive and a hugely important heritage guaranteed to make a lasting impression on the minds of our visitors.

So why has Bomas of Kenya, operated as a government business unit to showcase our dance and music heritage to tourists in Nairobi, become such a failure and why is tribal dance reserved for visiting heads of state?

Nairobi has, admittedly, become inconvenient due to traffic jams and pedestrian congestion and visitors therefore escape Nairobi after one night in a luxury hotel, without tribal dance, to be whisked away to the peace and serenity of our beautiful wildlife parks and conservations.

However, more aggressive marketing by Bomas of Kenya would surely pay dividends with such a popular attraction.

Whatever the reason there exists an important but unfulfilled opportunity for the Bomas of Kenya to recover its pride by building a new cultural centre at the Coast. The situation there is quite different from Nairobi as tourism is out of town, and beach hotel guests stay one or two weeks within reasonable driving distance to visit a well marketed high quality cultural centre.

The Coast destination is the natural home for Bomas, being a mass charter market, where pre-packaged excursions are sold daily and Bomas will be booked day and night for infotainment that tourists are hungry for. The world loves song and dance and showcasing our local Swahili and other national cultures will be a winning formula.

Many beach hotels currently provide mini tribal commercial dance shows and will be relieved to return to what they do best, modern dance in their own discos with live modern bands. All this will raise entertainment standards and the range of attractions of a beach holiday with more diversified entertainment readily available, with tourists encouraged to go outside their hotels and spread their money around.

The new Coast Bomas can be built with funds provided by yet another dysfunctional tourism parastatal, the Kenya Tourism Development Corporation, recognised as going astray in entering into commercial enterprises.

The KTDC must sell all its assets to make money available for worthwhile tourism investments. Let us see it wisely spent on building a new Coast branch of Bomas of Kenya and expanding our conference and training facilities.

Cleave is the acting chairman of the Kenya Association of Tour Operators.

Kenya's slide into temporary anarchy after failed elections at the end of 2007 shocked the world. The country had been seen as a force for stability in a turbulent region.

Its robust economy, sophisticated urban middle class, good infrastructure, and other advantages made it an economic, political, and social hub for East Africa.

Then came ethnic violence in which more than 1,000 people were killed and some 350,000 were displaced, stunning Kenyans and the rest of the continent.

This wasn't supposed to happen here. A 2002 election saw the kleptocratic administration that had ruled Kenya since independence peacefully removed from power and President Daniel Moi replaced by his onetime Vice President Mwai Kibaki.

In 2003 Gallup polls found Kenyans to be the world's most optimistic people. Economic growth averaged more than 5 per cent between 2003 and 2007. Industries rendered moribund by graft and incompetence were revived.

The introduction of free primary education brought 1.3 million children to school for the first time. Mobile telephones and FM radios became widely available, various other infrastructure improvements were made, and salaries for police and other civil servants were increased.

The government repeatedly committed itself to tackling graft, and by improving tax collection (to more than Sh300 billion a year), Kenya dramati-cally reduced its dependence on foreign donors.

The country enjoyed a boom in urban real estate and stocks; between 2003 and 2007, 500,000 Kenyans bought shares for the first time. Kenya, it seemed, was finally fixing the flaws in its hardware — its physical environment and the system for developing it.

The signs were everywhere, from the Japanese cars clogging the streets to the appearance of new schools, cafes, stores, and villas.

The subsequent near collapse into ethnic war should be thought of as a dramatic national software crash — a crisis of relationships. For all its progress, the new government continued to tolerate corruption, even at the highest levels, and to lend new currency to old ethnic grievances.

The new ruling elite, perceived as largely hailing from Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group, shunted aside the largely Kalenjin-led elite of Moi's day, leaving virtually everyone feeling excluded.

Kenyans realised we have a fairly strong state in terms of executive power, but a weak sense of nationhood and a high level of impunity when it comes to graft and human-rights abuses. The 2007 elections exposed underlying schisms. Indeed, in a cruel irony, the much-vaunted middle class — supposed to be the driver of modernity — became and remains the most vociferous of Kenya's new ethnic nationalists.

Software providers like the church, previously one of the more respected arbiters of national disputes and a champion of the poor, were also polarised, weakening their ability to intervene effectively.

Today Kenya is consumed by a sense of foreboding about the future, especially the 2012 election. To prevent another outbreak of violence, the country badly needs a software upgrade — an improvement in personal relations.

Corruption and ethnic hatred must be fought. Regional economic and political integration would also reboot the software of a number of African countries by subsuming local conflicts into a larger project.

These things are easier said than done. But unless the basic software issues of nationhood are addressed, no amount of infrastructure development or economic growth will save Kenya and its neighbours from future convulsions driven by resentments not captured by World Bank statistics.

Indeed, where the right software is lacking — and people distrust their neighbours and leaders — rapid growth can actually increase political instability. Other nominal democracies such as Uganda and Cameroon are at risk for similar reasons.

In Kenya, at least, our national crisis forced us to confront our problems. And we have started to address them while building bridges, roads, schools, and hospitals. More important than these physical structures is creating an idea of Kenya—a collective identity.

At the moment, that identity involves a great sense of shame, felt acutely when fellow Africans walk up to us and say, "Sorry about what happened to you chaps." But it can also prove our ultimate salvation.

Githongo is a trustee of the Zinduko Trust and head of Twaweza Kenya. This article was first published in Newsweek.

There are some serious choices before us about what the country will become in the immediate future.

They are: Exclusionary government by a small ethnic clique out for political and economic domination; violent infiltration from outside resulting in dissolution; reform by Kenyans; or continuing management by the "international community".

Obviously, the choice that would best serve the largest number of Kenyans is reform by ourselves.

The prospects for reform are rich despite the difficulties and obdurate opposition to it. There is a window. There is more support for substantive change than ever before, and more support for reform in the country than is resistance to it.

This is the time to tip over into real change. It needs hardworking reformists in government. We have always had only a very few of those. They are still only a few but now those few are more than we have ever had before.

They need increased active support from us. Change does not come by itself. It is fuelled by a continuing demand for decisions that bring about transformation. It needs new thoughts about new systems, and new thoughts about the working of old institutions. It is how Nelson Mandela approached the task of government in South Africa after apartheid. Then he and the ANC became the managers of that change. They had massive and visible support and this is what we too must provide to those who can bring about the transformation of Kenya. Without such visible and constant support we may waste this opportunity.

The realisation of the promise of change cannot be in the hands of those who have been opposing it. We cannot support them. Support must be for those who are qualified by the long years of the struggle to know how to hold the compass, to be the compass.

Reform needs a coordinated and systematic programme of moving. We therefore have a choice. To support the politics of programme . Or support its opposite — the politics of only personal advancement. This is an important choice. Because this choice by each of us decides whether change will come. Our choice makes the opportunity.

Obsessing with the media about the rivalries of individuals is not a political choice. It is a diversion. It prevents change. The headlines in the papers these days are not news. They are SMSs from their proprietors.

Therefore we are in need of a visible rejection of what does not bring about change. And active support for what does. We move then from preference to choice, and manifest that choice by more visible backing for what is bringing about change.

Most of our 'politicians' are used to easy politics — distribution of money in elections, buying fellow Parliamentarians, funding oneself through government contracts, talk national walk ethnic, comfortable meetings in five-star hotels, saying whatever comes to mind in rallies, not preparing what to say in Parliament, looking for easy alliances that will be jilted when the opposite side comes with a better one.

Not only is all this easy politics, it is not politics at all. Politics is about the polity, all of us. Most of our holdover politicians are not about us, but about themselves. Real politics is harder.

Politics is hard work. It is not about buying followers, it is about persuading followers. That is always difficult work. The sycophants of the past never persuaded. They were used for, and became fond of, 'warning' opponents and all other Kenyans.

Those days have gone. To make sure that they do not return, we have to support those leaders in politics who seek to persuade not purchase; most of all, those who persuade by example. That is proof of their application in the job of leadership.

The example of those who seek to buy or inherit office only confirms that their principal purpose is themselves and their families, and that to them we, the public, are an incidental nuisance to be used when necessary. We have seen that the first task of those who inherit power is always to ensure that they remain extraordinarily wealthy.

Their second task is to keep other Kenyans continually poor, so that people remain dependent on them and the relationship of ruler and ruled remains.

We will become in five years what we choose now to support. Or fall prey to the other alternatives. We have to choose our politics. Or others will choose them for us.

Pheroze Nowrojee is a lawyer based in Nairobi.

Lions, and other Big Five, used to stalk our land in great numbers and were treated as vermin and killed. In 1947 a pride of seven lions strolled across the Makupa causeway that links the mainland to Mombasa Island, and caused instant panic among town residents. A bank manager who owned a gun dispatched them.

Past reaction to dangerous wildlife was to kill them and, in an extreme example, the early colonial game department culled 163 rhinos in one year to clear a small patch of ground for sisal planting.

Sadly, our Big Five numbers have been reduced to dangerously low levels but we now have greater understanding of our moral responsibilities and take measures to protect them. The recent Pride of Kenya campaign advocated sensible measures such as banning Furadan that poisons innocent lions. With only 2,000 left in Kenya we are now obligated to safeguard their future, not only morally but because they are good for business.

Most overseas tourists live in countries that long ago exterminated their dangerous creatures and are willing to spend money and travel long distances to see wildlife in its natural state. However, they can also visit zoos at home and, if the game viewing experience in Kenya deteriorates to that of a zoo, they will stay away.

Regulatory protection under the Environment Management Act does not cover reserve and park management plans and neither does the new Tourism Bill, passing slowly through Parliament. Although it grants wide powers to the Minister of Tourism to protect designated areas, this is intended for monuments and archaeological sites.

The new Forestry and Wildlife Act is still in draft form, but carries the best future hope.

We may, however, have a long wait in a regulatory vacuum.

Meanwhile the clock is ticking. Kenya's population has increased from 5 million at first count to 40 million today. The larger population means a greater need of sustainable income from marginal land areas. The choice may be between agriculture and tourism. Where rainfall is unreliable, tourism may prove the most viable option, because the very rarity of wildlife has increased its value.

Land without farms, schools, clinics, houses and fences can be turned into private wildlife conservancies that create buffer zones and migratory corridors for species movement when adjacent to a national reserve. Due to their small size, the number of visitors to these conservancies must be controlled to prevent the zoo syndrome, hordes of safari vehicles around a single lion. The same is also true for our larger national parks and reserves.

Under a proposed new Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife Act, public and private wildlife conservation will benefit from clear guidelines. Conservation, by definition under the new bill, means the protection, maintenance, rehabilitation, restoration, management and wise use of wildlife.

The act neglects to define wisdom but does not allow non-nature based land use and prohibits all forms of consumption even though this could keep the ecosystem in balance and protect biological diversity. The draft bill, however, does require all public and private conservancies to have an ecosystem plan with a requirement that the opinions of other people in the area be discussed as new developments may adversely affect them.

This planning is currently sadly neglected and the National Environmental Management Authority has no guidelines of maximum beds per acre, does not consult widely with all other camps and lodges, and actually fulfils only a secondary requirement on responsible waste management for effluents and heating.

Many unscrupulous developers, however, now obtain a camp or lodge licence from Nema that would not be allowed under management plans in the new Wildlife Act and the current scramble to build, unethically supported by Nema, is turning our reserves into zoos.

All reserves and conservancies must now agree the number of beds per square acre and prevent overexploitation. Existing camps and lodges need to immediately form associations and protect their environment because the greed of commercial developers kills a conservancy as fast as a lion will eat a warden. Control of commercial exploitation is essential. Tourism is at risk because we have not sufficiently regulated our national reserves.

Although legally challenged by existing camps and conservationist, greedy developers have learnt to circumvent the National Environment Tribunal by steering preventative law suits at the high court, to be bogged down for years. In a legal vacuum the industry must quickly adopt voluntary limits and protect itself from the human predator.

Cleave is the acting chairman of the Kenya Association of Tour Operators.

There is in Kenya presently a rabid determination to clip the President's powers and hem him under Parliament. The excitement is motivated by a deep loathing of the President's management style and his demeanour towards the public, which views him as insensitive and smug.

But the alternative is just as dangerous; there is no evidence that an all-powerful Parliament is good for this country. It is akin to jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Clearly, the public's memory is short. Today we cheer the MPs as they connive to whip the rogue President into shape but forget that just the other day we were all prostrating and begging him to please help us rein in the greedy MPs who had declined to have their hefty allowances taxed.

Indeed, the public is the unwitting pawn in wicked, self-serving schemes of our politicians. There is nothing constant about MPs. They flip-flop according to political considerations and personal gains.

Today, we applaud them for putting brakes on Executive flat in the appointment of Aaron Ringera and his deputies but forget how the same MPs voted when they were confronted with the maize scandal. It is not a secret that money changed hands to influence the voting in the House.

We have similarly forgotten what happened during the debate on setting up a tribunal to prosecute perpetrators of the post-election violence or the Mau Forest report.

We are in such a hopeless institutional crisis that we are desperately grasping at any straw even if only for momentary relief. Emasculating the Presidency is good for now because it has been the object of our hatred throughout the Moi years.

But it is the poor leadership and immense political compromises that are now leading us to the brinkmanship between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.

The colourless Judiciary seems to have lost its vitality, for which Chief Justice Evan Gicheru must bear full responsibly. All of us had such high hopes in him when he ascended to the helm, yet his tenure seems destined to be perhaps the most disastrous administratively. Just last week, Imams petitioned the President over the unexplained transfer of the Mombasa magistrate they believed was doing a good job fighting drug barons.

Indeed there is evidence that unlike the Legislature, the Judiciary's leadership has failed to assert its independence and is susceptible to political and executive manipulation.

Questions abound about the frequent transfer of judges from one station to another, often midway through cases, which has adversely affected the administration of justice.

Some cases still take ages in court while others are fast-tracked. In arbitrating "political" disputes or "sensitive" cases, the Judiciary is yet to strjke anything as fundamental as what House Speaker Kenneth Marende has achieved within a,very short time.

Yes, we can applaud the small blows being handed out by Parliament to the Executive and deplore the Judiciary's lack of independence, but when all the chips are settled, it is only the new Constitution that will save this country from further degeneration and ruin.

The Constitution we write must define and limit the powers that are being contested all the time by the Judiciary, Legislature and Executive in such a manner that there shall never again be abuse of office. It must lower the stakes of power. That is the most urgent business of all we have as a nation.

I dread what will happen next year if a new constitution is not enacted quickly. A lame duck President on his way out will make even more outrageous appointments to secure his immediate interests and future. Imagine for a moment if the President unscrupulously used the current loopholes in the Judicial Service Commission, as he did with the Electoral Commission, and rushed to fill the vacancies in the High Court and Court of Appeal with his friends?

If you consider that the last judicial appointments had a smattering of kinship and friendship ties, this is not mere fantasy. The country is yet to be told why Justice Aggrey Muchelule and Abida Aroni were blocked from taking up their appointments even when they continued to draw their new salaries. If such key judicial appointments can be subjected to personal whims, what will stop anyone with a penchant from appointing his wife as Chief Justice?

Only a new constitution will save this country from the excesses and failures of our leadership.

David Makali is a media consultant.

A former MP from South Nyanza has turned his experience in-serving the people to good use. The Mheshimiwa is now the barman of an exclusive establishment in Hurlingham, Nairobi. While the honourable man tends the bar, his wife is the congenial waitress who attends to the patrons comprising top businessmen, academics and political pundits from the region.

An ODM assistant minister has been shown the door after his wife discovered he was cheating on her with a well-known city designer. The man, who has been frequently spotted at various city hotels enjoying the company of his inamorata over cups of cappuccino, is hoping his wife will forgive him and let him return home.

Euphoric from their successful campaign to ensure KACC director Aaron Ringera became the ex-director, the lawmakers have now trained their eyes on the ever smiling Attorney General Amos Wako. The MPs are planning to wipe the smile off Wako and remove him from office. However, one lawmaker was overheard saying they might face an uphill task as many MPs, and even Cabinet Ministers, are unwilling to let the man go.

We are told the strategy of Simama Kenya, the outfit led by President Kibaki's son Jimi, is to cajole, persuade and convince all "heartbroken" politicians whose demands have not been met by their parties to join the group. If this happens, the Orange parties of Prime Minister Raila Odinga (ODM] and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka (ODM-K) are likely to be the major casualties. They seem to have the largest number of unhappy politicians.

An MP from Nyanza is at loggerheads with his wife over Sh20 million which she had secured from donors to put up an orphanage. Instead, the MP used the money in his election campaigns. Confronted by the donors who wanted to know just how the money was spent, the MP is reported to have informed them that the orphanage was established but all the equipment and furniture bought with the money was looted during the post-election violence. Our moles tell us that the MP's wife is angry with her husband as her reputation is at stake and has given him an ultimatum to return the money before the end of the year. Now the MP has opted to hire out his official Prado to raise the cash and has been using the vehicle bought with CDF as his personal vehicle. His aides have been told to solicit funds from any available source.

Yet another MP from Nyanza is struggling with finances. We hear the MP has run up bills at a hotel in Kisumu which has become his second home as he has been living there for days on end when he travels upcountry and dares not spend even a night in his constituency. A mole has told us that out of the monthly Sh800,000 pay in salary and allowances, the MP is barely taking home Sh10,000 as the rest goes into settling his outstanding bills and loans!

Two small parties that partnered with ODM in the 2007 elections are unhappy that the "mother party" is not willing to share with them about Sh61.2m which it is supposed to get from the political parties fund. Some officials of the parties have been heard complaining that ODM has been treating them as though they never brought any vote during the election. Some 80 per cent of the entire Sh200m kitty is supposed to be shared by the parties based on votes garnered in the election.

Just where were the bodyguards guarding PNU activist Mary Wambui deployed to after the recent reshuffle? The Nyeri businesswoman and her daughter Winnie Wangui each have a new team of armed bodyguards who provide round-the-clock security. Interestingly, three of the people currently on presidential detail closely resemble those who had earlier been deployed to guard Wambui before the reshuffle.

Businessman Kamlesh Pattni is making good use of his passport. We hear that brother Pattni was the "elder" of the Asian community in Kenya during the recent Kenyan elders trip to Libya, courtesy of the "great leader of the great revolution" Col Muammar Gaddafi. Corridors of Power was left to speculate on how he got back his passport from the courts.

Was the chair of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission Bethwel Kiplagat considering resigning sometime last week? We hear that during the induction seminar for the commission a fortnight ago, international experts rammed the point of a legitimate commission so much that Kiplagat started to weigh the options. The grey-haired former diplomat has been rejected by victims of past atrocities and civil society groups.

Talking of Kiplagat, we hear that the old man was almost conned when a quack masquerading as a journalist approached him with an offer to help clean his image in the face of public criticism. Unknowingly, the old man agreed to the offer but backed off when the con artist insisted on getting his cut first.

Minister for Special Programmes Naomi Shaaban pulled a fast one on guards at the Kenya Pipeline Company's Changamwe depot in Mombasa over the weekend. Inconspicuously tucked at the back of a Nissan Sunny car, Naomi let the guards subject the car to a thorough mandatory check only for them to get the shock of their lives when they realised it was her. The Taveta MP who was being driven by her younger sister to officiate at a function however told them it was quite in order.

Will the parties affiliated to ODM get a share of the huge chunk of money due to-the Orange party. Some of the affiliates are Water minister Charity Ngilu's Narc and the little-known POP of Richard Onyonka. The affiliates' officials say they should get a share in the money due from the Registrar of Political Parties as their three MPs add to the Orange party's parliamentary strength.

A Cabinet minister who strongly suspects he is on the Waki list of the post-election violence perpetrators and financiers has been consulting widely to find ways of putting up a strong defence. Among the options he has been considering is confessing to the deeds and throwing himself at the mercy of the court or alternatively hiring the best lawyers possible and putting up a formidable defence. If that fails, fall back to the tried and tested scenario to claim that his community is being unfairly targetted!

Assistant Minister for Sports Kabando wa Kabando wants the United States to go ahead and ban politicians from travelling to that country if there is credible evidence to support US government's claims that the people are responsible for delaying or frustrating reforms. Kabando told Corridors that issuing warning letters without evidence was reckless.

A senior assistant secretary who was recently deployed from the Provincial Administration to the Ministry of Housing and placed in charge of transport has been giving drivers sleepless nights. The man, the son of a former High Court judge, has confiscated all the fuel cards issued to all the ministry's drivers and taken on the responsibility. He either makes a call to the petrol station or personally drives to filling stations whenever government vehicles have to be fuelled. The man's style of micro-management has riled the drivers who are too scared to report the man because they are afraid of his "godfathers".

why are Lup MPs giving assistant minister Orwa Ojode the cold shoulder? We are told the MPs from the lake region are suspicious of the Ndhiwa MP whom they say is planning to start a campaign for the political separation of Southern Nyanza from the Central Nyanza regions.


A top level Cabinet minister who was equally influential in the former Nyayo regime reportedly owed Sh260 million in tax arrears and the KRA attached his salary for the entire five years which he served in the last Parliament. When the man was re-elected t to Parliament, the KRA lifted the attachment but a few months ago, the taxman wrote to the minister reminding him that he still had arrears to pay.


Three South Rift MPs were over-heard criticizing a senior Cabinet minister from the North Rift whom they accused of using them to further his own political ambition. The MPs accused the man, who holds a senior party position of "finishing" them through his recent political manipulations and have now vowed "not to be drawn into any of his "selfish schemes."



An assistant minister from Ukambani is very angry with two Cabinet ministers from the region whom he suspects of plotting to bring him down politically. The assistant minister from ODM-K reportedly wept accusing the two ministers of carrying out a personal vendetta against him. The man has since refused to pick up calls from the two ministers who are hoping to seek reconciliation for the sake of the party's unity.

MY recent criticism of our Nobel laureate Prof Wangari Maathai, and her interventions in the controversy on the Mau forest, appears to have troubled quite a few readers.

Obviously there are many who see her as a national icon, beyond all criticism.

Nonetheless, hardly a day passes before she comes up with some new statement to confirm that for all the honours that she has received internationally, she is first and foremost a parochial Kenyan politician, no different at all from many others. And in this she is further revealed to be both a false prophet and a hypocrite.

The most recent proof of her hypocrisy was in that she has guided some World Bank reforestation project right into her own political backyard, in the Aberdares mountain range.

This happens to be the one forest that is already effectively protected by a fence of the kind that the government has pledged to one day put up around the Mau forest.

But if we set aside for a minute her fame as a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and see her as a failed politician determined to regain the Tetu Constituency seat in 2012, the choice of the Aberdares as the place to set up this labour-intensive tree planting makes perfect sense. It's fairly typical of how Kenyan politicians operate.

And as the gullibility of World Bank technocrats is stuff of legend, it cannot have been all that difficult for a person of her stature to convince the local World Bank office that Central Province was the ideal place for such a project - even though Eastern Province probably deserved it more.

What is far more disturbing, however, is her persistent declaration that no compensation should be given to the Mau farmers, and also that they must be evicted without delay.

In this she is a false prophet very much like those political leaders who, in the early years of independence in the 1960s, argued that the departing "white settlers" should not be compensated for giving up their farms, since this land they were now selling had been originally "stolen" from the indigenous Kenyan tribes.

Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed. And their wisdom was to be vindicated a full 30 years later, when the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe set out to accomplish precisely what these Kenyan politicians had advocated in the 1960s: violent and compulsory acquisition of the land owned by white farmers, with no compensation.

The contrast between the subsequent collapse of the Zimbabwean agriculture-based economy, and the relative success and resilience of the millions of Kenyan smallholder farms, could not be greater.

And the underpinning factor in all this is that in Kenya property rights were respected, while in Zimbabwe, property rights were violated.

When Maathai argues that there is no need to compensate the Mau settlers, since they "stole" that land, her words merely echo what Mugabe has been saying for over a decade.

She is supporting violation of the property rights of those farmers in the Mau, many of whom bought their land from the original allottees and received title deeds from the local lands registry.

It is true enough that there is something inherently dubious in the fact that former
president Moi should have a vast tea estate in what was formerly Mau forest land.

But as the French philosopher Ernest Renan said, "To form a common nation, people have to agree to remember a few things but also to forget a few things". And, as concerns the Mau, this perspective argues against violent eviction with no compensation paid.

For make no mistake - in the absence of compensation, those evictions will of necessity have to be violent.

We have already seen how this plays out, back in 2005, when the Lands minister of the time, Amos Kimunya, declaring the title deeds of the Mau settlers to be "mere pieces of paper", coordinated an eviction which saw homes, churches and schools burned and traumatised families left out in the cold on roadsides.

This is more or less what happened again on a more terrifying scale in the post-election violence, for which some of our leaders are now faced with the likelihood of being indicted by the International Criminal Court.

Given this recent history, if Maathai is determined to continue in her insane persecution of the farmers in the Mau, this is what she must do:

First she should return her Peace Medal to the Committee in Stockholm that gave it to her. And then she should prepare to make a journey to The Hague when the time comes, to join the other Kenyan political leaders who stand accused of fomenting politically-instigated violence within our borders.

DEVELOPMENT projects and government salaries for the second half of the year could be frozen if Parliament makes good on its threat to delay or throw out the appropriations Bill, Treasury has said.

Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said yesterday Treasury will table the bill when Parliament resumes duty on November 10 but it will be up to MPs to approve it.

MPs have threatened to shoot down the bill to pro-test against the re-appointment of Justice Aaron Ring-era as Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission. But Uhuru said the issue should be dealt with in isolation without forcing government operations to shut down.

"As we are dealing with the situation that does not mean the whole country has to grind to a halt," Uhuru said. "The government is currently operating on the vote on account."

Uhuru was speaking after signing exchange notes with the Japanese government for a Sh830 million non-project aid.

The vote on account allows government to spend 50 per cent of its tabled budget for the year with the rest being subjected to parliamentary vote through the Appropriations Bill.

"Once the 50 per cent is exhausted, that is that. It means that development programmes will have to be stopped, salaries will have to be stopped," the minister added.

Government is this year working with a Sh860 billion budget meaning so far it is working with about Sh400 billion. Part of the money is yet to be raised through government borrowing programmes.

Uhuru however asked Parliament to pass the Appropriations Bill to allow for government to implement stimulus programmes.

THE Kenya Tea Development Agency has announced the highest ever earning for tea farmers of Sh25.4 billion which rivals any payout for small holder tea farmers in the world.

The Sh25.4 billion represented a 28 per cent increase in earnings for this year compared to Sh 19.7 billion reported last year.

In what is a record year for small scale farmers the average rate payable per kilo of green leaf delivered to factories increased from a total average of Sh24.6 in 2008 to an average of Sh35.1 this year.

Managing director Lerionka Tiampati said the record earnings by KTDA's half a million farmers are the reward of efficient factory processes, improved auction prices caused by high global demand that has been driven by prolonged drought and favourable interest rates.

"Exporters have enjoyed the weakening of the shilling and we hope it remains below the Sh70 mark," said Tiampati.

He said of the Sh25.4 billion total payment Sh7.7 billion has already been paid out to farmers at a monthly rate of Sh10.50 per kilo of green leaf over the year. The balance of Sh 17.7 billion will now be released as second payment, commonly referred to as the 'bonus' will be paid out in October.

This represents a significant increase over the Sh 11.3 billion earned last year.

At Sh35.16 per kilo of green leaf, KTDA is so far the best payer in the world.

Ginger beer and snails seem a comic mix of subjects but when combined, these humble ingredients created a legal chain reaction that, over time, modified our rights and continues to globally influence consumer protection today.

A manufacturer of ginger beer was held accountable in law to pay damages to a claimant who fell ill after drinking from a bottle she discovered contained the remains of a snail.

At the heart of this legal nicety is the discovery of an irreducible duty of care the average person owes to everyone else on the planet to be "reasonable" in actions and not cause foreseeable harm to another.

Tourists are vulnerable to duty of care and contract issues because they do not stay long, do not wish to waste holiday time confronting problems, are constrained by language differences, and heavily rely on local service providers to obtain the quality of service they expect in their home countries. Preventing problems before they occur is therefore central to sustainable inbound tourism.

Laws covering tourism services are contained in various Acts of Parliament and the new tourism bill, awaiting parliamentary approval, attempts to draw them together in one new bill. The tourism bill, however, focuses mainly on government authority and licensing requirements that for the most part are easily met.

The Tourism ministry has little oversight capability, few training facilities, or inspectorate outside the hotel industry and therefore relies on command and control laws in other sectors. These are not always enforced.

Only mandated membership in designated business member organisations with codes of practice, known as soft laws, can provide overall protection because code infringement results in loss of membership and loss of all tourism licences.

Mandatory membership in an association with soft laws does not infringe individual liberty and the first step towards ethical co-regulation, self-regulation and legal partnership is to link licensing to mandated association membership.

The right of free association and free speech are constitutional protection of individual rights under private law, but consumer protection falls to a sub-section of the constitution that governs relationships between individuals, citizens, companies and the state under public law.

Mandated membership of business associations have been upheld by the European Union and in Kenya, membership in the Kenya International Freight

Warehousing Association is mandated. The Kenya Revenue Authority does not issue a licence without membership.

Tourism Associations welcome mandated membership and those that do not must be hiding some form of oligarchy or monopoly. Self-regulation is about markets and mandated codes must include joining minima and an agreement that membership cannot be withheld provided the minimum joining standards are met. No one is locked out.

An example of enhanced tourist hotel protection is membership that requires a fire self-assessment risk certificate. No certificate, no membership. No membership, no licence.

Fire prevention inspections and the insurance industry will coordinate a process to prevent the continuous outbreak of fires on makuti-roofed tourist facilities at the Coast.

Another example under the code will be the introduction of a new law of tort for harassment to provide arrest of vendors not legally allowed to trade on beaches.

Beach vendors regard strenuous sale routines to be excellent merchandising, whereas overseas visitors regard them as hostile. The soft law leads to a new hard one in a beneficial social and legal relationship.

Another example, highlighted by the recent accidental death of a young British tourist while fishing is still under investigation, so no comment can be made, but it is known that the boat was not owned by a member of the Kenya Sea Anglers Association that has a code of ethics and conduct. Membership may have prevented such a sad occurrence.

An overarching code of practice for the industry is, therefore, desirable to provide high standards in all tourism activities. Soft laws are a social and legal engagement between business and government to add governance where it is needed.

Unscrupulous entrepreneurs are a drain on national resources and reduce credibility in the eyes of potential investors. In a country committed to eradicating poverty and becoming a semi industrialised state within 20 years we need to take these matters very seriously.

Tourism is a vital component of our economy and tourism business licensing linked to mandatory association membership will protect tourists, raise standards and enhance sustainability. This must now be incorporated in the new tourism bill before it is published.

Cleave is the acting chairman of the Kenya Association of Tour Operators.

JUSTICE Minister Mutula Kilonzo, his wife Nduku and their son Mutula Junior are living in fear after receiving death threats from unknown people.

The latest death threat was when an anonymous caller phoned Mutula's wife on Friday last week.

There is no clear motive but the minister has allegedly been confronted by his own Cabinet colleagues.

Two Cabinet ministers went to his 14th floor office at Co-operative House in July to ask Mutula to stop pushing for a Bill to establish a Special Tribunal to try post-election violence suspects.

The ministers were angry with Mutula's insistence that the best option for Kenya was to create a local tribunal instead of referring the case to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

They asked Mutula to declare his interest and explain why he was so determined to have a local tribunal.

One minister asked Mutula if he had a valid passport but declined to explain why he wanted the information.

Contacted yesterday, Mutula was reluctant to discuss the conduct of his Cabinet colleagues but said he was taking the threats directed to him and his family very seriously.

"I do not know why anyone would target my family and myself but I can tell you that all these issues have been reported to the police as required by law. I am hoping that action will be taken as soon as possible because this is a very serious matter," said Mutula.

"They tried to make me malleable but did not succeed. Now they have decided to threaten my family. Why would any one threaten my wife or my son? It is totally unfair and unacceptable," said Mutula.

Mutula's wife told the Star how someone called her on Friday at about 10pm to say that she was targeted for elimination. The caller did not say who was behind the plot or why they wanted her dead.

"The person who called me sounded very polished and spoke very good English for the 15 or so minutes I engaged him. He made it clear to me that he was not just delivering a mere threat but that he was tipping me.

"He then went on to say ask me to report the matter to the police as soon as possible because the plan was about to be executed," said Nduku.

She said the man refused to identify the people behind the plot and insisted that the plot was real.

"I do not know who I have wronged so much that someone can actually plan to kill me," she said.

Nduku's report to the Gigiri police station is recorded in the Occurrence Book as OB 16/10/9/09.

Acting Gigiri OCPD Paul Korir confirmed last night that Mutula's wife had recorded a statement.

"I can confirm that we received that report and we are investigating the matter," said Korir.

Mutula Junior said he had received death threats several weeks ago and had reported the matter to Central Police Station but no arrests have been made so far.

"The person was very general but said he had been paid Sh200,000 to kill me because of a sensitive case I was handling. He did not name the case but just insisted that there was plan to eliminate me.

" I reported the matter to the police and the last I heard was that they had traced the location where the call was made. I do not know if they are continuing with investigations or not," said Mutula Junior who now runs his father's law firm Mutula Kilonzo and Company Advocates.

The two ministers went to Mutula's office a few days before the Cabinet met on July 20 and finally decided to reject the Bills which proposed the changing of the constitution to establish a special local tribunal.

Instead, the Cabinet decided to change the mandate of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to enable it to handle post election violence suspects.

Following the Cabinet decision, mediator Kofi Annan handed the Waki list of suspects to the International Criminal Court whose Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo is now analysing the evidence, will soon take over the Kenyan case.

Yesterday, Mutula said the the death threats against his family was because of the position he had taken on the tribunal issue.

THE hearing of an injunction that has stalled a Sh96 million corruption case against Agriculture minister William Ruto for five years began yesterday.

The minister and eight others were charged in 2004 with obtaining Sh9,916,830 part of the total sum from Kenya Pipeline Company finance manager by pretending he was in a position to sell land belonging to the Environment Ministry.

The 1.745 hectares land is situated within Ngong Forest.

But the minister rushed to the high court and filed the constitutional application challenging the criminal proceedings at the chief magistrate's office.

He told a three-judge bench yesterday that he is a stranger to the case and cannot be held liable because all the actions and decisions that led to the sale were approved by the government.

Through his lawyer Katwa Kigen, the minister argued that his right to secure protection of the law is violated.

He said he did not receive any monies, as evidence adduced in court shows that the money from KPC went into Kenya Times account and not his.

In the magistrate court, Ruto is accused together with former president Moi personal aide Joshua Kulei, Baringo Central MP Sammy Mwaita, Sovereign Group Limited, Berke Commercial Agencies, Priority Limited, Celtic Multy stems and Somog and Limited.

But the minister argued that the accusations have been brought based on discrimination and out of malice.

SACKED Kenya Bureau of Standards boss Dr Kioko Mang'eli left office yesterday saying he was the victim in a 'terrible war' against counterfeit goods.

Mang'eli, who was in the third month of his second three-year term as head of Kebs, handed over to the Director of Metrology and Testing Joel Kioko in a hurriedly convened press conference at the organisation's headquarters yesterday afternoon.

The meeting was presided over by Industrialization PS Prof John Lonyangapuo and senior Kebs officials.

"It's tribal and political. I was given the (sacking) letter yesterday but I wasn't given a chance to explain myself," a bitter Mang'eli told journalists at the meeting.

He claimed unnamed politicians who wanted to make money for 2012 election campaigns from counterfeit goods had hounded him out of office.

"I don't regret being pushed out, they will also not live in power," he said. "Tomorrow I might be the Prime Minister or President and I will be there with them."

Mang'eli was sacked on September 8 through a letter by head of civil service Francis Muthaura but vowed to stay on saying the sack was not procedural.

Ukambani politicians including Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo and Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo rushed to his support and faulted the Government for sacking him.

Police had recently been instructed to arrest Mang'eli if he showed up the bureau offices in South C.

His fate was finally sealed last Friday during a meeting at Harambee House between President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, before the PM flew out to the United States.

Prof Lonyangapuo was instructed to inform Mang'eli of the orders and enforce the decision.

Yesterday, the PS skirted questions from the press but said Kioko would be the acting head until the board advertises the position, and a new MD is picked.

He heaped praise on the sacked director and said he managed to turn round fortunes of the bureau.

"Nobody failed and that's why the board appraised him," Lonyangapuo said.

Mang'eli accused leaders of cheating' the public on the financial position of Kebs. "As I leave, Kebs has Sh1.8 billion in the banks. They can go to National Bank and ask (managing di-rector Reuben) Marambii," he said, waving documents.

Muthaura had accused Mang'eli of seeking a pay rise after falsifying Kebs documents to show that he had turned the organisation's fortunes around.

The National Standards Council (Kebs board) had upped his salary from Sh480,000 to Sh 1,070,000.

Mang'eli however said the pay rise was decided at a meeting chaired by Minister of Public Service Dalmas Otieno.

The board had claimed the MD had turned Kebs' fortunes around from Sh300 million surplus in 2005-2006 to Sh826 million in the 2007-2008 financial year. However, audited financial statements show Kebs had a surplus of Sh288 million in 2006-2007 and Sh229 million in the period 2007-2008.

Mang'eli, who had also been accused of irregularly employing and promoting employees, was unrepentant and said he did so because Kebs had enough money.

"We've employed 150 people and increased salaries without receiving any money from the government," he said.

Some ODM members are worried that failure by President Barack Obama to meet his distant cousin Prime Minister Raila Odinga may impact negatively on the perception that the party has 'connections' to the White House. They claim that ODM has done nothing wrong to warrant its party leader being denied a chance to wine and dine with the world's most powerful leader with Kenyan roots.

We hear State House was on fire two weeks ago after The Star published a story of how Othaya councillors were locked out of a hotel in Nyeri town, where their MP, President Kibaki, was enjoying lunch after a tour of the constituency. Some members of the First Family asked certain civil servants why the councillors were locked out. It seems the incident has ruffled some feathers in the Big House on the Hill as the Othaya civic leaders express their unhappiness.

An MP from Central Kenya was heard "talking badly" about a PNU minister from the region. The man, who is not known for being discreet, was overheard describing the senior minister from the region, with whom they share constituency boundary, as a "walking corpse".

We understand Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo has tasked a team of lawyers to study the decision by Parliament to nullify the appointment of retired Justice Aaron Ringera as the executive director of he Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission. Mutula has told the team to report back to him by early this week for him to take an appropriate decision.

Where did a female Cabinet minister from Rift Valley take the money she was given on Tuesday night by a vocal minister from the region to distribute to some politicians in the region? Corridor was shocked yesterday when one MP shouted at another in Parliament Buildings: "You ate our money but you did not fulfill your side of the bargain"

The wife of a prominent Kajiado politician has now declined to send pocket money to her husband after they differed over a political decision taken by the politician recently. We are told the man who used to distribute dollars to his constituents during the last general elections has now turned into a beggar. He has been frequenting Parliament Buildings where he solicits for handouts from MPs.

We told you that Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo's bid for presidency is stealthily gaining momentum. On Monday, a group of Kamba professionals numbering about 200 met at a Lukenya Hills outpost where prospects and strategies of his bid were extensively discussed.

The unceremonious and abrupt transfer of a top crime buster in Kawangware has set tongues wagging that despite a change of leadership, the police force remains the same. The man was transferred to Meru after he "got into trouble" by arresting two sons of a prominent Westlands politician who were found peddling drugs and smoking bhang.