The problem with Kenya is that everyone is a political scientist, everyone has an opinion and their opinion is right. We have dictatorial tendencies, we only see things from our perspective. We know it all, we know what Uhuru, Raila, Ruto etc had for breakfast lunch and dinner even if we weren’t there personally, we make it our business. From the newspaper vendor who sells me my newspaper in the morning, the matatu driver or his tout, we all watch and listen to current affairs and instantly form an opinion which we believe is right. It helps that our media is obsessed with politics in this gossiping nation of he said she said, we are obsessed with what other people are doing rather than what we should be doing ourselves. So I decided to stop buying newspapers because to be honest now days they are filled with opinion columns from every Tom Dick and Harry who seems to think they know the going ons of Kenya more than the ordinary people living the same mediocre routine each day. I discovered that I don’t miss much, at the office the talk would be have you read what this person said about the other person, one way or another, you can never escape news in Kenya, it has a way of getting to you.
For months now I have ignored the political going-ons in this country and have felt no need to comment. There is always a new scandal, a fresh terrorist attack, same insecurity, same press conferences by people who should really be doing their job rather than holding press conferences that inform the public of nothing of real value. Kenyans are now and then distracted from the cycle of insecurity by the constant power struggle by birds of the same feather. Fact is whether people brand themselves as government or opposition they are the same people responsible for the sorry state that we are in. These ‘political gods’ and their wealth whether legitimate or not in Kenya are worshipped by many who believe anything they say is true. We defend them vehemently because they belong to ‘our tribe’, they speak for us and they think for us because somehow we have become so lazy as to think for ourselves and so like sacrificial lambs we must accept to be lead to slaughter. We have been led by the very same people since independence whether they label themselves as ruling or opposition, they are all fighting for the same power, not for our sake, so they can control more land, more wealth, so they can be safe protected by the police, the army and intelligence forces, so they can continue to be paid well and eat well all at our expense. Poverty is not as excuse for stupidity, only stupidity can be an excuse for poverty. The political rich get rich by exploiting those who are stupid enough to allow themselves to be exploited. The reason corruption can not be fought in Kenya despite puppet organisations such as the Ethics and anti-corruption commission is because it is so deeply entrenched in the system infiltrating treasury, the police, the military and the intelligence service such that it is impossible to try and fight it, any credible attempt would only result in failure or suspicious death. The reason we can’t fight insecurity is because of this corruption. As long as this Mafia style of governance is tolerated and we continue to keep the same names in our conversations, recycle the same politicians who remain friends with drug barons, ivory smugglers, murderers, fraudsters. As long as these are the people we call leaders, we will continue to celebrate the mediocrity we live in. Change is not reliving your past. Kenyans have to be intellectual if the true second liberation is to occur, one thing for sure, it will not be ushered in by post-colonial power hungry corrupt post KANU political dynasties that have benefited from the current system. They are not interested in fighting it because they continue to benefit from it. Their businesses need this power and corruption to thrive and that’s why they will continue to fight for the status quo. It will take a strong benevolent no nonsense leader to fight the current system and win, it wont be easy to fight a system that has been maintained for the last 50 years and the current benefactors will not allow it lying down. If we want change we must fight for it, not allow it to be hijacked by those hungry for power or those keen to maintain things as they are.
We are still a society that kills petty thieves stealing potatoes yet we compensate thieves that stole billions from this country. I’ve watched with great amusement the recent drama following the government’s decision to pay compensation to the Angloleasing firms, this isn’t news to me because this was going on anyway. Thieves’ paying themselves is nothing different, there have been several scandals, some known to Kenyans and some still remain unknown. The purchase of Passats to replace fuel guzzlers seems to come to mind, I wonder where those Passats disappeared to, because recently I seem to see the very same fuel guzzlers we were told Passats were to replace, but that’s a story for a different day.
The government of Kenya was fully aware of the contracts way before the dossier reached the anti-corruption
agencies. The reason the scandal was transferred from the Moi to the Kibaki regime was because greedy people within the Kibaki administration instead of stopping the scandal, decided to treat it as a cash cow. Angloleasing was formulated during Moi’s regime because it stems back to 1997 contracts to get Kenyans new generation passports. Moi as usual was dealing with the very same characters we have become accustomed to, The Pattnis’, Ketan Somaia, Anur Pereira and the Kamanis’. These are wealthy Kenyan Indian families known for their shrewd business sense and a lack of morals when it comes to corruption, they all have hands in several corruption scandals stretching far beyond our borders, these are the people Moi decided to be in business with and to fleece Kenya of billions of not Kenyan shillings but dollars.
In 2002 Kenyans rejoiced at Uhuru park at the exit of Moi from Kenyan politics and indeed the old man faced a humiliating exit, his motorcade even being pelted with stones, In his speech following the oath of office Mwai Kibaki urged Kenyans to help him fight corruption, he promised to fight it with zeal and things started off well, the appointment of the credible and competent John Githongo to the Ethics and Anti-corruption docket, was hailed as a bold and positive move in the fight against corruption. The setting up of the independent Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) under the directorship of Justice Aaron Ringera was also seen as promises being fulfilled but in less than 5 years the Kibaki administration would find itself embroiled in its own corruption scandals and a few that Moi had left his fingerprint on. The new free media under Kibaki began to uncover secrets left behind by Moi and little by little ghosts from the past came to haunt us all, whether it was the torture chambers at Nyayo house or the Angloleasing scandal, what Kibaki promised he never delivered, Moi remained free and never answered to the crimes of his administration impunity was to continue being the order of the day and once one sin is let gone, then the rest must also be excused, this was the shame that came to describe the end of the Kibaki regime, that despite high hopes with regards to what is still considered our greatest enemy of economic growth, corruption remains the same. Government colludes with private sector criminals to defraud the tax payer, the script remains the same. I guess somewhere between his entry in to statehouse and trying to retain the seat after a bitter falling out with one time all Odinga, Kibaki’s inner circle turned a blind eye on corruption and had eyes focused on getting their man re-elected at all cost. In the end a violence marred election led to a coalition government that added an extra financial burden on the Kenyan tax payer.
When Angloleasing in the Kibaki administration was exposed by Githongo, the culprits began the denials and as usual behavior of retreating to one’s ethnic cocoons and complaining that one’s tribe is being targeted. The government players and private individuals involved in the scandal were and are still known and it is fact that Kibaki’s government was hell bent on a cover-up because those involved were the president’s friends, Awori, Kiraitu, Mwiraria, Murungaru, Gitonga and co. Despite the offer for assistance by several countries to help investigate the saga, the office of the attorney General under Amos Wako refused to release vital documents and slowed down the investigation to a standstill, the same was done for the Triton oil scandal where despite the UK government arresting the main suspect Yagnesh Devani and asking the Kenyan government to arrange documents for evidence to facilitate his extradition to Kenya, things were slowed down and documents were now somehow missing, once again there seemed to be a conceited effort to frustrate any efforts to bring Yagnesh to Kenya by forces within government meaning Mr. Devani remains in England while the scandal remains unresolved. It is not the first time that forces within government have sabotaged the course of justice and indeed our current president cannot pretend that he was not privy to any corruption scandals while he held the Finance docket. The easy way out for those involved seems to pay the money to make the allegations go away, there is no attempt to prosecute anyone because that would mean turning against his friends
As a protégé of both Moi and Kibaki, our current president knows who is responsible for his growth in Kenyan politics, he knows who buttered his bread and he’s played along knowing that if he wanted to succeed the two, he would have to turn a blind eye to the shady going ons’ in the previous two administrations. Having served under both KANU and PNU regimes, he is not new to corruption, everyday whether it is at the ministry of lands, or ministry of finance, there is someone who turns a blind eye to corruption and in my eyes they are as guilty as the perpetrator. The more we keep quiet about corruption, the more we tolerate it, the more we make it normality, and the easier it becomes the order of the day. Kenyans have now been accustomed to new scandals coming up and we resign our selves in the thought that: there goes another one and deep down we know just like the previous one, it will not be solved and in the end it is us the tax payers who will end up paying more billions to the same people who have defrauded us.
Politics in Kenya is an opportunity for the elite to do business(Raila, Awori, Devani and Uhuru)
We deserve what we get and we must pay because we choose the same people who break the same promises. We make the rich richer, we neglect the poor and the weak, that is not a society that God would bless, our purpose in life is to elevate those who are less privileged than us yet driven by greed we only seek to enrich ourselves. If we choose to recycle the same rubbish if we choose to dress up KANU in a PNU jacket or a TNA jacket or ODM, nothing changes unless we make it change. If you do what you have always done, you keep being what you have always been. The status quo is capable of nothing short of maintaining the status quo. The loyalty we have among Kenyan thieves in government means friend won’t turn against friends, the shouts of corruption only come out of their mouths when friend turns in to foe. The future cannot be built on a lie, if we live a lie then we deserve to stay poor, we deserve to keep paying for the scandals perpetrated by the same people we call our leaders. Kibaki never turned on Moi despite several scandals coming to light after his departure, the old man retired richer and comfortable than the electorate he had tortured and looted from for years, the same way Uhuru will not turn on those in the Kibaki government, Kibaki has retired richer and we continue to make him so, we built him a house and pay him monthly up keep. Therefore we cannot expect Uhuru to go against Kiraitu, Moody Awori, Alfred Gitonga and many of his other friends who he has now distributed to several ministries and parastatals. His loyalty is to his inner circle first, yet the electorate that vehemently defends him is the same one complaining about the current payments.
Angloleasing however also has a political angle, it is rumored that it was tolerated by the powers that be to raise funds for the then Kibaki Tena campaigns. So now we pay back Mr. Pereira his co. conspirators stay safe and rich Moi,Moody Awori, Mwiraria, Murungaru or Gitonga will never see a court case against them, the guilty will go free and the victims will pay, we pay because we have become a lazy society that chooses to pay off a thief rather than to seek justice if that is our fate, then so be it. Change will come when we unite to overthrow this evil order, justice must one day be our shield and defender
We get what we deserve in the end and if we choose to recycle the same people come the next election we cannot expect any different, we deserve to pay because insanity is doing the same thing over and over yet expecting different results. I don’t think presently there is any fight against corruption as long as greed lives it will remain in fact many of us now days just turn the other cheek and move on we have become immune to it. In Kenya we condemn corruption yet we forgive the perpetrators, as if condemnation alone will reverse the damage done by these scandals. Corruption means your children are denied a decent education and therefore a decent future, corruption means patients die in hospitals, innocent people die on our roads and when they die we cannot bury them because corruption even robs us of cemeteries to bury our dead. Corruption means death and the more we tolerate it the more we die as a society.
Kenya’s corruption scandals stretch back to 1963 and they begin with the Mau Mau being denied their dues and land that was to be returned to the natives who had their lands forcefully taken by the colonialist ending up in the hands of people in the Kenyatta administration. This to date is referred to as the first betrayal and as the years have gone by, the greed has grown stronger. For years I have sung our national anthem with pride, a prayer that asks God to bless our land and nation, justice be our shield and defender(yet to be realized) may we dwell in unity( we are divided by tribalism a tool used by politicians to divide and conquer) peace and liberty( where is the peace and our civil liberties are abused by the very people who should protect us, police brutality comes to mind) plenty be found within our borders(we have plenty but not equitably shared, plenty is in the hands and pockets of politicians). In 50 years we have failed to live by the principles of our national anthem, which begs the question: When will justice really be our shield and defender? The agencies that are tasked with protecting the tax payer and ensuring the rule of law are among the most compromised and indeed most corruption scandals are executed under the protection and secrecy of our own security agents, subterfuge in my own words.
The problem we have in Kenya is that the heads of security organs are appointed through a process full of political interference and ethnic bias. If security forces were independent of this interference, if they only took instruction from the constitution and not from the political class, if they refused to bow to political pressure if there only was motivation was the execution of justice for all, Kenya’s economic growth would be a considerable force not only in Africa, but the world over, instead we have a security organ that is secretive, corrupt and only protects the wealthy connected political class who seem to be the major players in the corruption scandals. Truth as the wikileaks cables suggest security agents have either no capacity to investigate those involved, Kenya is yet to have an elite squad in the police force to investigate financial cases, fraud and the capability to carry out forensic audits can only be done by private auditing firms such as PWC and KPMG. Security forces have been for a long time said to protect the
Kenyan Police
interest of the perpetrators rather than the victims who are the Kenyan tax payers who now have to foot the bill running in the Billions all the while the same government cannot feed its people some who are dying of hunger. Until we root out the evil in our security forces and retain those who are willing to protect the weak and ensure the rule of law, until we empower our security organs be it through education, equipment so that they can keep with the times, technology has moved on but we still have a force using 1950 typewriters. Angloleasing denied Kenya the existence of a modern forensic laboratory and satellites supposed to monitor criminal activity, technologies which would have been useful in the wake of the recent onslaught by terrorists reeking havoc on innocent Kenyans. The day we have an intelligent, well equipped, law-abiding, justice orientated security force(police & military) who understand the meaning of utumishi kwa wote, that will be the day politicians would fear the people, that would be the day politicians would fear the consequences of corruption, for now we have to contend with carrying the burden of land corruption stemming from colonial and Kenyatta senior era, Goldenberg, maize scandal, cemetery saga, dubious land scandals will continue so will the subsequent demolitions. Kenya will change when the weak are protected by an uncorrupted security force and a citizenry willing to fully abide by the law.
Fuata sheria
At 50 I sit and reflect on what the words freedom and independent mean to us Kenyans. Everyday you live is an opportunity to start afresh, an opportunity to create a different ending, an opportunity to make a difference. This is called freedom of choice, the freedom to create our own destiny. The question is do we all have this freedom to choose? Some say freedom is a state of mind the refusal to remain shackled to ones misfortunes. It is the slaves who refuse to be shackled that start a revolution. We are born free in to a world in perfect balance in terms of fortune and misfortune, largely where we stumble in this balance scale is a matter of choice over chance. Yes there are those that fall on the side of misfortune by sheer chance but for a majority of us we live through a maze of choice & consequence. It may seem easy to blame the colonial government, the Kenyatta Snr., Moi, Kibaki or Kenyatta jnr. government but in reality we have no one to blame but ourselves. If we remain in the cycle of blame games or self-pity, we will never unchain ourselves from the issues we face. No else one holds the key to unchain the mediocrity we live in other than ourselves. The issues of land, poverty, corruption, greed and insecurity are intertwined. What political will has failed to solve in 50 years, we the people must solve ourselves.
The poor must refuse to feed an ever increasing and greedy government
The political elite are to a greater sense the perpetrators of our misfortunes, yet many of the poor masses look upon these same people to solve these problems. Recycling of political dynasties only serves to enslave the people further, one cannot bring change through the same level of thinking that caused the problem. A higher level of reasoning and a wider reaching vision is needed to transform this country, but as long as majority of us only care about the size of our own pockets, we will continue to build higher walls to keep the poor away but in the end we will all be overwhelmed by the burden we continue to enlarge. This country needs patriots as leaders and an enlightened populations as servants, prepared to ask not what their country can do for them, but what they can do for this country blessed with natural resources in abundance.
Sometimes chances are never given, they are taken. The people of Kenya must unite to claim their place in what is rightfully theirs. Each Kenyan is entitled to a piece of the pie, and that is not to call for a violent revolution, but a revolution of mindset, a different way of thinking, a different way of doing things, informed choices, and an educated public, for as a wise man once said: “The response and dedication of citizens is only strengthened when they are fully informed, and when man is empowered with knowledge, that is the only time he can be what he was born to be, FREE and INDEPENDENT”. We have the opportunity to paint a different picture in the history books for the coming 50 years. The future of this country lies in the UNITY of its people to reject that which is evil or wrong. Our children and grandchildren can only be the architects of a brighter future if we educate them to reject tribalism, greed and corruption. We must all reject this social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence. We must aspire for a just society where all are free to pursue their definition of success. Kenya still remains a beautiful country full of potential, opportunities and a large eager population ready to work towards bettering their own lives.
We Kenyans can be very fickle indeed, after passing a constitution that included a bicameral system of government and instructions to restructure the provincial administration, some of us are now making a big u-turn and calling for the abolishing of the senate. Truth is many Kenyans passed a document they didn’t read or didn’t understand, like fools they said yes or no because someone else said so. Majority of Kenyans have delegated thinking to their politicians & like zombies or sheep, they will follow whatever their tribal gods tell them.
Instead of doing away with a retrogressive provincial administration which the British imposed on us, we pussy footed and allowed the former president to form an unconstitutional ogre called the county commissioners whose function is not guided by any constitutional mandate. Even to restructure the provincial administration, a colonial relic is in itself an economic burden that only serves to create more bureaucracy and pay more people for doing nothing. We remain slaves to the idea that creating more commissions or more civil servants is doing us good yet the ones we have at the bottom of the pile we pay peanuts, the people who interact with us or our children daily are the most important people in our lives. These are the people we need to cherish, the farmer whose produce we buy, without their food we wouldn’t survive, the doctors & nurses who keep us alive, the teachers who give hope of a better future to our children and the police who are supposed to keep us safe. These are the people the government should be treating well, they need to be paid well and appreciated, the government needs to ensure that our hospitals are conducive working environments, how do you expect a nurse to work without water in a hospital? no beds, no equipment, no medicine, no qualified cleaners, how do you expect a nurse to be a cleaner too.
We really need to get our act together and fast the current shenanigans between the senate and MP’s goes to show how confused we are as a nation. Rush decisions are made, no consultations, no compromises, we must always end up at the courts asking them to interpret the constitution for us. Indeed commonsense is not that common. We can’t constantly change goal posts to please our egos, we need to make INTELLIGENT & informed choices and stick to them otherwise we will never develop if we are constantly an arguing nation. While countries out there are surpassing their technological advancement, we are still in the jua kali phase. Idiots are still arguing about Raila vs Uhuru, Jubilee vs Cord when in other countries children as young ad 12 are learning to fly aeroplanes. We pretend we are at par with the mzungu yet we wake up every morning to watch the tv they invented, drive their cars, use their internet, use their facebook etc, when will our children be at par with the rest of the world? when we shun too much simple politics and concentrate on development, when we reduce the number of pencil pushers, useless bureaucrats and politicians whose motivation is self-enrichment, we need to take money out of politics and really make public servants out of our leaders. We need to punish corruption severely because their is no excuse and we need an intelligent police force headed by an intelligent, educated and well informed Inspector General, the same applies to the other security forces instead of the current buffoons promoted there and puppeteered by their tribal gods.
We need to embrace science & technology, we need to have hubs that will nurture good local inventions that will solve our issues instead of forever looking at outsiders to solve our problems. That is when one will be able to look at Kenya and be proud, at present the status quo prevails 50 years on little has changed since independence, case in point we are still ruled by a Kenyatta whose rival is an Odinga, we are still arguing about chiefs, dc’s and pc’s, The Mau Mau are still waiting for justice and many Kenyans are still waiting for their land to be theirs, the media can still be kicked out of parliament, prominent Kenyans can still die in mysterious circumstances and commissions of inquiry will still tell us nothing and parliament is still ignoring recommendations of independent commissions. Nothing has changed, the players might be different, but the game remains the same. I PRAY MY DEAR KENYANS THAT MAJORITY OF US WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.
Four years ago when members of civil society attempted to convince parliament that a local tribunal would be best because all the IDP’s(Internally Displaced Person’s) would all be able to attend and give their own personal recollection of events, parliamentarians refused and coined the phrase “Don’t be vague, go to Hague” with that phrase they sealed the fate of the Kenyan cases. The court subsequently dropped 3 of the Kenyan cases and currently 3 cases remain, but of great interest to most Kenyans is the fate of the President and his deputy, it is as if Mr. Sang is the forgotten one.
When the cases were confirmed by the trial chamber, a vigorous campaign by sections of the last government was launched to save the accused in what was termed “Shuttle Diplomacy” to a great economical expense of the Kenyan tax payer, a divided government was confused on whether it wanted a deferral or referral. When the then Vice president Kalonzo Musyoka failed to win over the UN security council, another campaign was launched, this time to firstly discredit the office of the prosecutor and then the entire court itself. The court that we willingly signed up to had now become a political tool described as a “trap for Africans” and a tool to impose leaders favoured by western powers. This propaganda has been severally repeated in what can most probably be described as an attempt to entirely discredit the court. Joseph Goebbels was once quoted as saying “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”.
Kenya’s Vice President William Ruto
The truth is 4 years ago William Ruto vigorously fought for the cases to be taken to the Hague and he consistently maintained that the elections were stolen, so what happened between then and today that made him change his mind? He was mentioned as one of the accused, he fell out with his former party and in the spirit of self-preservation, He must now save himself, proof that once a politician always a politician, This is a case of self-preservation. Mr Kalonzo Musyoka on his part has also changed his tune, once upon a time he supported the cases being brought back to Kenya and even at one time supported their termination when he was part of a political grouping calling itself G7, what has changed? He has shifted his political alignment and is now in CORD where he has made a complete 360 degree turn on the matter, now maintaining that the case should remain at the Hague. Where is the sincerity and objectivity in that? We voluntarily signed up to the Rome Statute knowing it was mostly African countries that had faced gross abuses of Human rights and war crimes that were going unpunished, when did this then amount to targeting African leaders? I have little to no respect for politicians who consistently change goal posts to suit their personal interests, If you said the Hague, then the Hague it is.
Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN Macharia Kamau
The latest in this attempts to escape the Hague include a letter written by the Kenyan representative to the UN supposedly without government consultation to the UN security council asking for the termination of the cases as if arguing that the elections were some sort of trial by public in which the Kenyan electorate apparently declared a verdict through their votes, but we know legal matters do not work that way and the most recent attempt is now a show of unity amongst African leaders at the AU summit adopting a resolution to defer the cases. Whatever happens in the future, only time will tell. In truth all these side shows do create doubt in the legitimacy of the accused sentiments that they are willing to argue & win their cases at the Hague, why then this attempt to try and defer, refer or terminate the cases, and which one is it? To some, there is an attempt to deny Kenyans a chance to hear the evidence against the accused, calling for the cases to be terminated would in my eyes be a miscarriage of justice because as the law dictates, a case should only be dropped if there is no sufficient evidence or there is evidence that the innocent have been wrongly accused. Terminating the cases because two of the accused are now president and deputy president has no legal basis, because even sitting heads of state are not immune to the Rome statute. In the legal spirit, I fully concur that our President, his deputy and Mr. Sang remain innocent unless proven otherwise and they must be accorded that right and the respect of office that they hold. If they prove their innocence at the Hague, they would indeed achieve the greatest victory against their detractors and those that maintain they are guilty but to dismiss the cases only leaves doubt. By maintaining that the ICC is a political court is to insinuate that only one verdict can come from the court and that is a guilty verdict which is not fair. If indeed witnesses were coached and the prosecution has no case, then kindly please allow Kenyans to watch the cases crumble otherwise all these attempts to derail the process just goes further to reinforce the idea that the accused are trying to pervert the course of justice.
ICC Hague
In the spirit of reconciliation, I wish that these cases are resolved swiftly so Kenyans can move on with their lives because the ICC remains a great threat to Kenyan unity, it has divided Kenyans along tribal lines and continues to leave a deep wound in the hearts of the surviving victims who are still holding the faith that justice will be served. Kenyans must never consider themselves on trial, despite the politics & propaganda, we must stand united in making our country better because we are united in the human spirit of bettering our own lives and the lives of others. Let us remain patient, avoid speculation and let us allow justice to run its own course, united in the acknowledgement that NEVER again should we allow such events as the 07/08 post-election violence to happen in our country.
Below is a link to a video of Ruto insisting on the ICC.
Excerpts from William Samoei Ruto March 2009: “Kesi yote amabaye inataka ifanyike ipelekwe huko Hague si namna hio. Hatutaki mambo itengenezwe hapa eti tunakuja kutengeneza mahakama sijui Eldoret, sijui Nakuru, sijui Kisumu. Sisi tunataka kusema mahakama ifanyike kule Hague wale wenye makosa kama wako ndani ya bahasha ama wako inje ya bahasha wapande boda boda ama waingie kwa bus waende wapi? waende Hague”
We must be mad as a country, over the years we have commissioned several reports from the death of JM Kariuki, Robert Ouko, Goldenberg, Angloleasing, The Kroll report etc. at a huge expense to the tax payer. The findings of these reports are never implemented, the truth is dismissed as political witch hunting and justice is never served. We will be DEEPLY SADDENED if the TJRC report is added to this list of million dollar reports which never serve their purpose. The words TRUTH, JUSTICE, RECONCILIATION carry significant weight and hope that could steer this country to a new better path. Already the report is being dismissed by some, my warning to any peace loving Kenyans would be that without resolution of the demons of the 2007/08 post-election violence and their underlying causes, whether political or historical injustices, without truth, justice and reconciliation coupled with the ever growing gap between the haves and the have nots, Kenya may well experience violence in the future on a worse scale than the 07/08 violence. The current government now has the chance to excel where previous governments have failed, but this will be difficult if the interests are still the same. The hunger for riches and luxury amongst the political ruling elite could plunge this county to an all out war for the spoils. Greed and corruption must be curbed and those that block the path of justice must be held accountable. In a time when the president and his deputy still face charges at the International Criminal Court, some may argue the timing is not right, but the world never stops for one to resolve their personal issues first. They must now find a way of balancing their personal cases at the ICC and the aspirations of Kenyans eager for a new beginning and a government that will steer this country to a different path than that set by their predecessors.
While the Kenyan Mp wastes your money on a brand new German car, he/she waits to be appointed to a committee where they can line their pockets some more cash by claiming bogus allowances while they attend ‘meetings’ in a 5star hotel, they also await the retreat to Naivasha and Mombasa. The report they are supposedly working on will be useless anyway because none of the recommendations will be adopted because some of their friends will receive brown envelopes to shoot down the report on the floor of the house. Not to forget at the end of the month they and their friends are going on a fact finding mission which is parliamentary jargon for shopping trip but the most amazing fact to top it up is that you, yes you the Kenyan tax payer some of you earning as low as 10,000 a month, you are paying for all this yet you cannot afford unga for your children, Ksh 500,000 is not enough for them to maintain their lifestyle but yes you the resilient Kenyan must trek to work everyday because you cant afford fare, you have to fear the insecurity we witness daily because unlike the waheshimiwa, you don’t have a bodyguard yet you pay for your Mp to have one and cry Hakuna usalama. Fact is we allow elected leaders to enjoy perks such as these yet we complain that we are poor.
Government spending must be reduced and if the county government has been infected with the same disease as the central government then we can do without. We must admit to ourselves that we especially the constitutional experts adopted the wrong formula opting for huge government(big parliament, governors, senators, county reps and women reps, not forgetting the nominated slots). I remember expressing my reservations during the constitutional review process and stating that devolution does not necessarily mean big government but it would seem that the fact that mps and the constitutional drafting experts spent much of their time in America and studying the American system possibly influenced their decision to adopt the American template, which in my opinion was wrong, perhaps they should have visited other countries especially much of mainland Europe which has managed devolution without governors and a senate. Countries such as England have managed devolution without big government that consumes a huge chunk of revenue. We have compromised our own comfort so that so called leaders can enjoy theirs, this is utter madness and the sooner majority of Kenyans see the light and rise up the better otherwise we should not complain about dilapidated public hospitals, roads, schools or poor public services when we pay for Mps to have private healthcare insurance, cars, house allowance etc when slums continue to mushroom countrywide. countries worldwide are adopting austerity measures to reduce government expenditure from the UK, US, Greece, France etc Prime ministers, presidents, mps have taken pay cuts so as to save their economy. what makes Kenyan Mps so special if the president of a strong economy such as the US Mr Obama can take a pay cut, why not our Kenyan Mps, forget the argument about an international convention about slashing pay, any government can institute austerity measures which include pay cuts for public servants because local law still remains supreme to international conventions. The Salaries and remuneration commission was within their rights to slash mps pay and Kenyans should begin to view this gesture in good faith, to allow mps to politicize this issue in their favour would be a travesty to the Kenyan tax payer and if we are not careful enough to curb government spending, we may soon end up like Greece with a massive debt which instead of being as a result of development projects instead a consequence of a wage bill. Let common-sense prevail let us see a huge chunk of tax payer money, devolved funds going in to development projects, not paying politicians, bureaucrats and pencil pushers. Patriotism is caring how your money is spent.
When the CJ was interviewed in an open public process, Kenyans were invited to express any objections they had during the interview process, the CJ did not hide anything in his CV, he told Kenyans how he had previously worked in the civil society, how he was arrested & detained without trial by Moi, he listed all civil society organisations he had previously worked for & who funds them, typically civil society organisations are funded by foreign donors and embassies keen on spreading good governance, poverty alleviation etc.
Dennis Itumbi(blogger)who has recently stepped up his attack on the CJ has seized the opportunity to discredit the CJ at a time a crucial presidential election petition is pending at the supreme court by insinuating that because the CJ comes from a civil society background, and has connections with certain human rights activists and civil societies, He is somehow biased and apparently working with ‘Foreign Powers’ to bias the supreme court ruling. Itumbi goes further as to include the CJ in what he calls the ‘Evil Society’ (a number of Kenyans in civil society and the current British High Commissioner Dr. Christian Turner). My question is where was Mr. Itumbi during the interview process to oppose Willy Mutunga’s appointment, if indeed he had evidence that the CJ was a stooge of foreign powers keen on usurping our sovereignty. The evidence that he purports to release are facts that have been available to Kenyans all along, we all know the CJ worked for the Ford Foundation and we also know that part of the CJ’s portfolio involves meetings with Foreign Dignitaries & ambassadors, These meetings have minutes that the public can access, needless to say Many government officials, from the president, ministers, Ps’s regularly meet with ambassadors and foreign dignitaries, are we to assume that they are also working on a plot with Foreign powers to compromise our sovereignty?The CJ was picked in a vigorous process that included public participation, parliamentary and presidential approval, Every Kenyan had an opportunity to object, don’t cry foul now like a jilted lover who had a chance to object to the wedding of his lover and never used it, after the priest has said “anyone who has any objection speak now or forever hold your breath”, when the time has gone you can only blame yourself for not speaking out when you had the chance.
I have watched in dismay as social media has recently become awash with propaganda and hate speech specifically designed to divide Kenyans, for what purpose? I don’t know, whether it is discrediting the IEBC by spreading unfounded rumours, or discrediting the Judiciary by alleging bias in the supreme court or that the Head of the Judiciary is working with some ‘Dark forces’. This propaganda is obviously designed to incite Kenyans towards non-acceptance of the Judicial process which in my opinion is a recipe for disaster & chaos. Anyone with any evidence of any plot by ‘foreign powers’ or ‘Dark Forces’ knows the proper channels of addressing such issues, because I don’t think NSIS and the Military will sit back and allow any Kenyan irrespective of power to sell Kenya’s sovereignty to any alien force.
I for one welcome sentiments by the President elect Uhuru Kenyatta who has urged Kenyans to remain peaceful and await the court decision, a court he has said he has faith in and will accept it’s verdict. The PM has also asked Kenyans to remain peaceful and await the courts decision adding that he has complete faith in the process and that he will accept the decision, the IEBC on its part has also said it will accept the decision, so who are these other people intent on leading Kenyans towards a different path? Kindly please listen to the President elect, the PM and IEBC. Be patient and remain peaceful, refrain from engaging in talk that will incite Kenyans. Kenya belongs to us all
Our greatest achievements that have earned us much acclaim internationally unite us as Kenyans. All tribes come together to make our achievements in athletics, sevens rugby and innovation great. We have together cheered on our fellow countrymen when they have made our country proud winning countless medals in athletics, being revered in sevens rugby or Mpesa getting recognition as one of the world’s greatest inventions. What makes these achievements great is the team effort they exhibit and the fact that they don’t discriminate on the basis of tribe. They solely rely on ability, indeed the greatest independence is one that allows anyone to utilise their ability to be great. Mpesa an innovation that has won many international awards is used by ALL Kenyans transcending tribe and revolutionising the way money transfer is done in Kenya, Africa and the rest of the world, it is clear our great achievements are those that unite us.
If we are united in celebrating our great achievements, then what is it that divides us? The answer is simple, the one retrogressive aspect of our society, one whose international attention is only roused for negative reasons, POLITICS. The only time our politics generates international interest is when new corruption scandals are unveiled or election time when Kenyans revert in to ethnic conclaves, in the hope of securing their tribes ‘interest’ by securing the presidency. The seat of Head of state is the most hotly contested seat in Kenya and to pretend it does not divide Kenyans on ethnic ground would be lying to oneself.
Kenyans on social media (some, not all) have recently been engaging in what has now popularly been termed ‘Post-election violence on-line’. As much as I would rather Kenyans fought each other with words rather than pangas, I have been alarmed by the level of ethnic animosity and insults being spewed all in the name of defending one’s favourite politician. Last time Kenyans decided to fight battles for politicians, they butchered each other in the 2007/2008 PEV only for these politicians to share government, raise their salaries and attempt to hand themselves a hefty send off package all the while some Kenyans still remain in camps as refugees in their own country with the tag IDP, coupled with the fact that the murderers, rapists and perpetrators of the PEV still remain free as the government dragged it’s feet when it came to empowering institutions like the police which should have by now found justice for the victims of the worst violence Kenya had ever seen, shows that clearly lessons haven’t been learned, if we Kenyans continue to engage in a tag of war with each other instead of letting politicians fight their own battles, then we deserve the hell we get.
As much as peace was preached left, right and centre during the elections, the fact that the results have been contested still leaves Kenya vulnerable to the same violence that escalated in 2007/2008, so where do we go from here? The worst things that can ever be uttered in Kenya are ‘stolen presidency’ or ‘stolen elections’. The fact that the results of the presidential race have been contested in court does not amount to an accusation of stolen elections. The IEBC might have faced some ‘challenges’ in the just concluded elections and it is now up to the court to determine whether that result will stand or not. Mine would be to advice patience, tolerance and compassion, these qualities are the height of maturity and intelligence, If we allow the current animosity, ethnic stereotypes and insults to go on then sadly my fellow Kenyans we haven’t move on and haven’t learned any lessons from the 2007/2008 post election violence.
A new Kenya is one that will unite ALL, ensure justice for ALL and be a society where ALL have the freedom to utilise their ability to ACHIEVE and to contribute to society and country. Let us embrace unity because the alternative is to otherwise perish as fools. I wish this great country success, peace and more great achievements to add to our international acclaim.
ed to succeed the two, he would have to turn a blind eye to the shady going ons’ in the previous two administrations. Having served under both KANU and PNU regimes, he is not new to corruption, everyday whether it is at the ministry of lands, or ministry of finance, there is someone who turns a blind eye to corruption and in my eyes they are as guilty as the perpetrator. The more we keep quiet about corruption, the more we tolerate it, the more we make it normality, and the easier it becomes the order of the day. Kenyans have now been accustomed to new scandals coming up and we resign our selves in the thought that: there goes another one and deep down we know just like the previous one, it will not be solved and in the end it is us the tax payers who will end up paying more billions to the same people who have defrauded us.
he years have gone by, the greed has grown stronger. For years I have sung our national anthem with pride, a prayer that asks God to bless our land and nation, justice be our shield and defender(yet to be realized) may we dwell in unity( we are divided by tribalism a tool used by politicians to divide and conquer) peace and liberty( where is the peace and our civil liberties are abused by the very people who should protect us, police brutality comes to mind) plenty be found within our borders(we have plenty but not equitably shared, plenty is in the hands and pockets of politicians). In 50 years we have failed to live by the principles of our national anthem, which begs the question: When will justice really be our shield and defender? The agencies that are tasked with protecting the tax payer and ensuring the rule of law are among the most compromised and indeed most corruption scandals are executed under the protection and secrecy of our own security agents, subterfuge in my own words.
LIBERTY KENYA 