This is one of the moving pictures during former roads minister Kipkalya Kones' requiem mass yesterday. Mr Ruto's loss cannot be understated following the plane crash that also took with it the life of Honourable Lorna Labosso, a fellow Kipsigis (a Kalenjin subtribe) MP to Kones. The sudden and unexpected death of a loved one is very painful. Pole sana Honourable William Ruto.
That said, there are many in the Rift Valley who did not have the sacred moment of coming to terms with the sudden death of their loved ones. Their loved ones were brutally and grievously hacked to death, others shot with poisoned arrows and others burnt alive. Many were denied the sacred right to grieve in peace for their murdered loved ones.
Thousands were denied the sacred opportunity of giving their loved ones a decent burial. They were forced to squeeze their fathers, mothers, friends, sons and daughters into pit latrines or bury them in shallow mass graves. Sadly others were forced to hurriedly run for their lives leaving their departed loved ones' bodies to rot in the open, in shame. These thousands suffered indignity just because they were not Kalenjin. Thousands are still suffering having being denied the chance to put back their lives together. Just because they are not Kalenjin.
It is disconcerting that the emerging leader of the Kalenjin, William arap Samoei Ruto has a heart that is not made of stone. It should be comforting, having himself acknowledged publicly that he is the leader of the Kalenjin. Probably, in the ticking of time he will empathize with the course of the non-Kalenjin in the Rift Valley.
Pole Sana Honourable William Ruto
Constitution Review the next time-waster for Hon. Tumbos
Kenya Public Denied Fair Returns for Safaricom
Today 120m shares of Safaricom changed hands. With over 60,000 shareholders it closed at Sh7.80. Barely a week after inconveniencing the public, Michael Joseph said Safaricom will be back to the capital markets to borrow more funds to fund its expansion in the next six to 12 months. Kenyans are still struggling to process their refunds from the Safariom IPO after EFT requests were ignored by the IPO gurus.
Following central bank's directive that refund cheques cannot be endorsed, there are growing concerns that the level of fraud in the Safaricom IPO was in unprecedented high amounts. Meanwhile, the Kenyan wananchi continues to suffer under the 20% who control 80% of Kenya's wealth, Kibaki and Raila included. No wonder, the socialist professor Anyang' Ny'ong'o and the emerging voice of the poor in William Ruto issued a caveat emptor on Safaricom IPO but noone listened.
Constitution debacle revived
After telling off Adeniji the Nigerian chair of the Kenya Dialogue & Reconciliation committee, our Hon Tumbos were back to his table to conveniently spark off the next war front; constitutional review. The committee agreed to Martha Karua's publishing of two bills in the Kenya Gazette before Friday. The new constitution debate will be based on the Bomas Draft, Naivasha Accord and Kilifi Draft. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a bare knuckle war. ODM parliamentary group hurriedly met and endorsed the initiative, its announcements led by the group secretary and grand opposition activist, Ababu Namwaba. The bills will be introduced in parliament after the budget debate.
Parliamentary Budget
KShs 7 billion has been set aside for the Kenya National Assembly. Key highlights include the Shs 185 million set aside for live broadcast of parliamentary proceedings already in the test phase. Half a billion has been
set aside for mileage allowance, Shs 200m for ex-gratia payment to some 345 former parliamentarians and Sh 8m for purchase of furniture for the speaker's home.
Mt Elgon Military Base
Chief of General Staff, General Jeremiah Kianga says the military will set up a permanent training base in Mt Elgon forest after the end of the Okoa Maisha operation. The operation was aimed at doing away with torturous Sabaot Land Defence Force. Gen Kianga refuted claims by various human rights watchdogs of the gross violation of human rights and torture in various camps in Mt Elgon. The parliamentary committee on security has taken up the matter.
James Orengo flexs his muscle once again
It cannot be understated that James Orengo, the minister for Lands was allocated the most explosive of all Kenyan passions; land. Whereas he is getting stuck in the status quo rote, once in a while he gets a chance to flex his reformer muscles. This time he is partnering in the passionate Nairobi Metropolitan Development Minister, Mutula Kilonzo snr to repossess all grabbed land within the proposed Nairobi Metropolis even if the land has legal documentation. The only problem with Orengo is that he does not have a roadmap of how he is going to sort out the humongous land problems. He is comfortable chasing and taunting the land ogre with a kitchen fork.
Mutula Kilonzo started off well, with his lifetime asset, the tongue. Nairobians are however growing weary by the day. All talk and no work makes Mutula a damn lawyer. Nairobi Metropolis needs action not talk! Solve the small problems first before delivering heaven in Nairobi when there are no Nairobians. In the same spirit as his tongue the current obsession is an international competition for the master Nairobi Metropolis plan, damn! what was vision 2030 for?
Secondary Schools' Second Term Demons on the rampage
Whatever ails high school students in second term cannot be fathomed. Between June 1 and June 17, 18 schools had been closed due to students going on the rampage, setting up dormitories on fire or ghosts pelting them with stones while they sleep. In May 5 schools were closed due to similar reasons. The leaders of tomorrow start early. Anarchy is ingrained into the Kenyan lifestyle of resolving grievances from an early age. Vision 2030 will be blown up before it crawls!
Jerry Okungu: Raila Should Avoid Fighting all Fires
Sometimes I wonder whether this is the kind of job Raila Odinga expected when he accepted to be
As an observer, I fear that if this trend continues, Raila will end up fighting fires from all corners of the republic, achieving nothing in the end and getting blamed for everything.
If I were Raila, I would not entangled in football politics, Mungiki menace, Mau Forest environmental saga, land problems in Rift Valley, a dispute with bank benchers over whether to have a Grand Opposition or not and whether to release election violence suspects or not. These matters are too much for a single individual to handle even with the best of intentions.
As Prime Minister in charge of coordinating and supervising government ministries and departments, his job should just be that: to coordinate and supervise.
In this job description, there should be inserted proper delegation to respective ministers who should find out how to deal with their respective problems and report the same to the Prime Minister for action.
As much as Raila loves football, he has no business getting embroiled in football politics because that is where insanity lives. Because of this insanity, many governments over the years have dissolved the Kenya Football Federation a hundred times in 50 years. They never found a lasting solution to the disease.
Let the football nuisance be handled by the sports minister Helen Sambili to the best of her ability. If she fails to manage the eternally corrupt fraternity, let her then report to the Prime Minister, get her efforts discussed at the cabinet meeting and a collective decision taken.
In my opinion, disbanding KFF permanently would not be a bad idea even if it irks FIFA. In fact banning
As for the Mungiki sect, this is a national security issue whose origins and initial promoters are still in the cabinet.
Let this be the full responsibility of the internal security minister Prof George Saitoti who should give the Prime Minister and the President progress reports on his efforts. If the cabinet decides to open talks with them along the lines of Joseph Kony and Yoweri Museveni, so be it.
The Prime Minister should similarly handle land, environment and other sensitive matters through respective ministers. He should be the last resort when his ministers fail to find a solution.
Being on the frontline will cheapen the office of the Prime Minister because there are some in the cabinet who will just be too happy to either contradict him or celebrate if his efforts tumble.
On the internally displaced persons in Rift Valley, there are the ministers of special programmes, internal security and defence to deal with them.
If there are any talks of releasing the youths languishing in police custody for having taken part in the post election violence, these matters need serious backroom negotiations.
Borrowing a leaf from Charles Njonjo on how he used to deal with mass university students arrests in the 1970s may come in handy. Amos Wako should be at the forefront in dealing with these cases rather than sitting on the fence as cabinet ministers grope in the dark.
Finally, Raila should desist from engaging back-benchers on the controversial Grand Opposition coalition. This is a matter that can be handled by the government spokesman and other MPs detailed by the Prime Minister and the President.
There are some ministers and assistant ministers who can easily engage the MPs in meaningful debate rather than the PM taking it upon himself to confront the MPs, some of whom will just be too happy to bring him down.
Remember the days of David Mwenje and Kuria Kanyingi, when Moi used them to derail the political careers of former vice-president Josephat Karanja and former constitutional affairs minister, Charles Njonjo?
In
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The Indefatigable Prime Minister
It seems nothing can slow down Prime Minister Raila Odinga. He lands at
Later in the afternoon he is back to the city to attend the match between Harambee Stars and Guines. Though he misses the first goal, he is in time to do that now familiar jig when Denis Oliech slams in the second. All this energy can certainly do this country some good.
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The Trouble with Kenya is Leaders
In the just-concluded by-elections, we saw the bad and ugly. In Kilgoris, leaders exposed themselves as the high priests of tribalism. That nonsense about outsiders versus the host community was played out without shame. I may not be an expert in such matters, but some of the pronouncements I heard were nothing less than incitement.
Emerging from tribal violence caused by political campaigns based on ethnicity, one would have thought that people who have been entrusted wit leadership would be more circumspect when it comes to matters of ethnicity. One also would have expected the security apparatus to swing into action and stop warmongers in their tracks. Kilgoris exposed the trouble with this country: its leaders.
How PNU Finished Passaris
Last minute scheming eliminated early lead of Passaris
Last minute manoeuvres by PNU ensured that ODM’s Esther Passaris lost the Embakasi Parliamentary seat to PNU’s Ferdinand Waititu.
By Wednesday last week, opinion polls conducted by various pollsters for both PNU and ODM in Embakasi showed that Passaris was leading Waititu.
On realizing the party was losing the seat, PNU shifted into high gear. It activated its city councillors, some Mungiki members, and also released millions of shillings which were distributed to agents last weekend. The money was used to pay off Passaris agent and provide transport for some voters.
Waititu’s campaign was taken over last Friday by assistant minister Dick Wathika, Laikipia West MP Nderitu Muriithi, PNU executive director major Matu and former Mungiki leader Reverend Ndura Waruinge.
Nderitu, Ndura and Major Matu held their first meeting at Silver Springs hotel in
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta met all PNU councillors in
PNU also secretly reached a deal with ODM agents who leaked information regarding her campaign strategies to Waititu.
“While we escorted Passaris around the constituency and she paid us for the job well done, we reported all her plans and next moves to Waititu. For the whole of last week we did not campaign for her in the evening as we were supposed to do after we parted ways. Instead we worked for Waititu,” said an ODM agent who claimed that many of his colleagues were also double agents.
The meetings by PNU to plot how to “kill off” Passaris were held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. PNU bigwigs Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Minister of Justice Martha Karua then made a final tour of Embakasi on Monday.
“The seat was won last weekend and the Monday campaign tour in Embakasi was a lap of honour,” said Waititu.
Waititu got 36,536 votes against 27,339 for Passaris in the tightly contested by-election held on Wednesday.
The win ensured that PNU at least walked away with two parliamentary seats out of the five that were being contested countrywide. ODM took Wajir North, Emuhaya and Ainamoi.
Fighting broke out in Kilgoris in the night of the election where 14 houses and a car were set on fire after PNU’s Gideon Konchellah clinched the seat.
Passaris has flatly refused to accept Waititu’s win claiming widespread voter irregularities and malpractices.
“It’s too early for PNU to celebrate because I will be taking action to claim my rightful win. You have not won this seat,” an angry Passaris said immediately the results were announced.
Electoral expert Koki Muli who observed the Embakasi election told the Nairobi Star that the scanners were not working in most polling centres and this allowed wayward voters to vote as many times as they wished.
“In these circumstances, voters who could clean their fingers wit high-tech chemicals were able to vote almost over ten times in the same polling center but in different polling stations within it,” she said.
Contacted yesterday, Ndura could not deny or confirm Mungili’s secret hand in Waititu’s campaign. “Iam a PNU supporter and have given my little contribution to the party,” said Ndura.
Embakasi was seen as a key battle ground for the two coalition partners and ODM was expected to retain the seat which the late Mugabe Were won for them in December last year.
Most of the PNU losers in nominations led by former mayor John Ndirangu and Kanu Chairman David Kamahuhia threw their weight behind Waititu which helped him win the seat.
ODM leaders including Prime Minister Raila Odinga also went to Embakasi.
Raila in the Heart of a MEGA Circus
Raila has come to terms that he can never be the President of Kenya without the Mt Kenya communities in his political bag. To this end he has started courting the populous Kikuyu community in preparation for a possible shot at the presidency in 2012.
Of course this is not the only cat in Raila’s bag who is becoming to be known as the next professor of politics after former president Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi. In his bag is the derailment of the grand opposition spearheaded by Cyrus Jirongo and Ababu Namwamba who swore in the name of Raila during the swearing in ceremony of the current parliament.
His resolve to retain the opposition seats vacant was demonstrated during the reading of the budget. Raila sat in the seat reserved for the leader of official opposition. The opposition benches are Raila’s plan B.
The other option is hedged in the derailed constitution review process. That is a story for another day.
Back to Raila courting the Kikuyu community, it started with Raila extending an olive branch to the outlawed Mungiki sect. This is an idea that has not seen the light of day.
The current talk is on Raila becoming a Kikuyu elder at Ruring’u stadium something some section of the Kikuyu community considers as a sacrilege.
This is a mega project of the MEGA chairman Peter Kuguru. Following this development an exchange between some sections of the Kikuyu community has elapsed in the media.
*******************Letter by MEGA done on 09/06/2008 ***************
MEGA Initiative Welfare Society: MEGA Press Release
MEGA initiative Welfare Society (MEGA) refutes the contents of the press reports published on 5th June 2008 and 8th June 2008 attributed to Mr. Peter Kuguru. Mr Kuguru has no mandate to represent or speak on behalf of MEGA in any forum including the Meru GEMA meeting held on 31st May, 2008. To put he record straight Mr. Kuguru officially relinquished his position as chairman of MEGA in June 2007 when he decided to contest for the Mathira Parliamentary seat in last year’s General Elections. This was in accordance with MEGA constitution Section 2 (3), which states: “The society will remain non-political and shall not allow any of its office bearers to hold an elective political office.”
Under Mr. Kuguru’s chairmanship, the much publicized MEGA bank mentioned in the press reports failed to see the light of day. Afterwards, the Bank promoters unanimously resolved to shelve the project and start MEGA Microfinance Institution, which is soon to open its door with the aim of growing into a fully fledged bank.
It is worth mentioning that MEGA as an institution operates strictly in accordance with the Kenyan law and although a community based welfare society, MEGA serves all Kenyans without discrimination and has no preference or any arrangements with any particular group or groups as the press reports tries to imply.
While MEGA supports all genuine efforts to unify the Kenyan people, the sentiments expressed by Mr. Kuguru on GEMA and the installation of the Prime Minister as a Kikuyu elder are not those of MEGA.
It is therefore incorrect for Mr Kuguru and any newspaper to link MEGA with the 20th July 2008 function in Ruringu stadium and the supposed rivalry with GEMA. As already pointed out the GEMA Constitution bars the organization and its officials from engaging in active politics. Mr Kuguru is himself a victim of violating that position.
Finally, MEGA-National Executive Council (NEC) publicly demands that:
Mr Kuguru desist from purporting to represent MEGA.
The publishers of the offending articles issue an immediately apology for publishing damaging and malicious articles, bringing
Kamau Mucuha
Chairman
MEGA Initiative Welfare Society
******** Letter dated June 12, 2008 by Kuguru ***********
Clarification to Members of MEGA Initiative Welfare Society
Following the press release in the Nation Newspaper of 11th June 2008 I feel an obligation to clarify the following:
After my voluntary resignation as National Chairman of the society in June 2007, I hav never purported to present my views or opinions as those of the society in any forum. In my view, any publications and news articles that seem to depict this are drawn from the fact that I was highly visible in my role as National Chairman during my tenure.
During my tenure as National Chairman of the society I was head of a team that included Mr. Mucuha who at that time was the National Secretary. As is the case in all corporate organizations the successes and/or failures of any initiatives the society is and was involved in can therefore not be attributed to any individual.
All the sentiments on the need for the Kikuyu community to reach out to members of other communities following the violence early this year that I express in all the forums I am invited to attend are made in my capacity as a member of the Kikuyu community.
Neither the right to be involved in initiatives that seek to bring reconciliation between communities across the country at this time, nor the desire to honor those who have played a role in bringing back peace we nearly lost can be claimed as a monopoly by any single group from any part of the country.
The key objectives of the planned event to honour Honourable Raila Odinga are to enable national unity and reconciliation, to reach out to elders from other communities, to build capacity for a strong national spirit, and to lobby for similar recognition of our elders by other communities. We also expect that the event will enable us to rebuild social networks across communities, and possibly steer national politics toward issue-based politics rather than personalities and ethnicity.
Finally, I would like to point out to my colleagues in MEGA that my involvement in this event is as part of a greater group of progressive members and leaders of our community who recognize the importance of such a gesture in the current environment of a Grand Coalition Government – in fact, just yesterday H.E. the President, during the unveiling of The Vision 2030, also thanked Hon. Raila Odinga for his role in reconciling for his role in reconciling the country. There is room for everyone to play a part in such events which I hope will be replicated in other areas as well.
Hon. Peter Kuguru
ODM Bags 3 out of 5 By-Election Pariamentary Seats
Ainamoi
Benjamin Langat – ODM - 17,572
Dr. P. Chepkwony - UDM - 15,689
Emuhaya
Wilbur Ottichilo – ODM – 10,947
Julius Ochiel – KADDU
Wajir North
Mohamed Gabor - ODM – 5,759
Ali Abdullahi - Kanu - 4,729
Kilgoris
Gideon Konchellah PNU - 33424
Jonah Ng’eno ODM - 22,929
Six more polling stations to go. The lead is unassailable even if Ng’eno gets all the votes in remaining constituencies
Embakasi
Ferdinand Waititu – PNU – 27,537
Esther Muthoni Passaris – ODM – 21,934
30 polling centers counted. Vote counting underway
Muslims pressure Raila on secret deal
Prime Minister Raila Odinga is on the spot. Muslim leaders are now demanding that he make good the promises he made to them in exchange for their support of his presidency.
The National Muslim Leaders Forum says they kept their side of the bargain – mobilizing the Muslim community to support Raila and the ODM – and now want him to honour his pledge to among others, set up a commission to inquire into the schemes and actions of the government to target and interfere with the community’s welfare.
According to the details of the memorandum of understanding signed between Raila and Namlef which the Nairobi Star has in its possession and whose contents have been shrouded in secrecy, the Muslims want the PM to have all the Kenyans who were illegally arrested and renditioned to Somalia, Ethiopia and Guantanamo Bay as terrorism suspects be released and returned home.
“Such schemes and actions will be put to an end and public officers responsible for the same named and held to account,” he pledged in the memorandum.
The NAMLEF leaders have already met Raila over the MOU that almost derailed the ODM leader’s presidential campaign last year and demanded that he starts to implement the promises he made to the Muslims.
“He told us that some of the issues will have to be discussed and agreed on at cabinet level before their implementation,” the officials said.
Raila is also understood to be referring all matters relating to the MOU to Tourism Minister Najib Balala. The Mvita MP witnessed Raila sign the MOU with the Chairman of NAMLEF Sheik Abdullahi Abdi. Other witnesses were Said Athman and Mohammed Adan.
The Muslim Human Rights Forum (MHRF) has also written to the prime minister asking him to intervene and address the issue of arbitrary detention, rendition and disappearance of alleged terror suspects as agreed in the deal.
“MHRF wishes to draw your attention to the continued suffering in detention in
It further states: “You are aware too that amongst these people detained without trial were nineteen Kenyans and that one of them is now held at the US Naval base detention facility at
Kimathi said Raila had personally in an open letter to President Kibaki published in local dailies in October last year, acknowledged the report compiled by the MHRF entitled “Horror of Terror” and lamented the government’s inaction on the revelations of the gross violations of these detainees’ rights.
“As we said in our report from which you quoted extensively, the fate of the deported Kenyans remains under a very dark cloud fifteen months after their renditions,” said Kimathi.
They reminded Raila that in the memorandum he committed himself to stand as a beacon of hope in the face of injustice and support institutions where “veritable” evidence and not “ethnicity” was the barometer f guilt.
The group is now asking when the Government will bring back the deportees to be accorded justice locally, the steps being taken to ensure gross violations are dealt with ad ensure those involved are brought to book and when legislation will be introduced in Parliament to safeguard against such abuse in future.
The letter is copied to various cabinet ministers among them Martha Karua, Moses Wetangula, professor George Saitoti, Ibrahim Mohamed Elmi, AG Amos Wako, Police commissioner Major-general Hussein Ali, KNHCR chairman Maina Kiai.