Nzamba Kitonga’s Revised Harmonized Constitution has at last been submitted to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Review (PSC). His decision to recommend a hybrid form of Government is likely to come under heavy criticism. But this criticism will only come from a few individuals who are so used to the misuse of power provided to them by faulty Constitutions which have erroneously concentrated too much power in the hands of the dictators of Kenya.
Very soon the people who have been opposed to a new Constitution for Kenya will be exposed. Kenyans will have an opportunity to identify individuals who have benefited in the past due to a constitution that created a privileged class. The individuals will come up in arms against the Nzamba Kitoga proposals. They will claim it creates two centres of power that would confuse Kenyans. They will even make every effort to frustrate what has been achieved so far. This will be done in Parliament where all sorts of criticism will be made against the hybrid system recommended by the Committee of Experts (CoE).
Those piling up blame on Nzamba Kitonga and his team are being deliberately malicious. They are only attempting to change the subject of restructuring the Constitution of Kenya. They want to hoodwink the people to forget the most important changes that need to take place in the country to bring about the desired democracy. They know very well that none of the ideas expressed in the Harmonized Draft constitution and its revised form are originally Nzamba Kitonga’s.
All that Nzamba has done so far , as he is mandated to by Section 23 of the Constitution of Kenya Review Act 2008, is to articulate the respective merits and demerits of proposed options for resolving the contentious issues; he has also made recommendations to the Parliamentary Select Committee on the resolution of the contentious issues in the context of the greater good of the people of Kenya. Just as the law required him to, he has prepared a harmonized draft Constitution for presentation to the National Assembly. So far that is all that Nzamba Kitonga has done.
From now on the law allows him to facilitate civic education in order to stimulate public discussion and awareness of constitutional issues. Soon he will be required by law to liaise with the Electoral Commission of Kenya to hold a referendum on the Draft Constitution. The law also allows him to do such other things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of the objects and principles of the review process. To blame him for anything he has done so far is to lose sight of what the law has mandated the CoE to do. Rather than condemning them they should be congratulated for a job very well done so far.
Despite all these negative efforts by the privileged class, the struggle to get a new constitution in 2010 must continue. What Nzamba Kitonga has proposed so far agrees with the aspirations of the people of Kenya who have suffered untold misery due to despotism protected by faulty Constitutions. A purely Presidential system with a powerful Head of State who is also the head of Government will not solve the problem of despotism in Kenya. Likewise an extremely powerful Prime Minister could very easily end up just as despotic as the three Presidents who have misruled Kenya so far.
That is why Nzamba Kitoga suggests that a Presidential or a Parliamentary system would polarize the country. According to him, public preference for a President and a Prime Minister points to, and reinforces a collective executive system of government that accommodates these offices while maintaining a clear distinction between offices of State and offices of government as laid out in the Harmonized Draft Constitution. The proposal to have a hybrid system, therefore, does not come from Nzamba Kitonga. It comes from the people of Kenya who clearly recommended to Nzamba Kitoga to draft a Constitution that deliberately includes both a President and a Prime Minister.
The collective executive system Nzamba Kitonga is talking about is in fact the hybrid system. He says the notion of a collective executive has been further clarified by indicating that executive authority under the constitution derives from the people and shall be exercised by their elected representatives in accordance with the Constitution. According to Kitonga the executive is defined more clearly, with the authority of the State President in decision making delineated, and the holding of regular consultations between the State President and the Prime Minister elaborated. While the Prime Minister runs government, the State President has a supervisory role that is evident in the stated requirement that the Prime Minister reports to the President.
The people told Kitonga to come up with a Constitution that clearly defines the duties of the State President as opposed to the duties of a Prime Minister. They also told him to come up with very well defined duties of the Prime Minister which cannot be confused with the duties of the President. By creating a proper delineation of powers between the State President and the Prime Minister, Nzamba Kitonga was simply obeying the people of Kenya. The people of Kenya also recommended to Nzamba Kitonga to come up with a revised draft that creates a clear distinction between offices of the State and Offices of the Government and he has just done that. As a matter of fact he says in his statement that the CoE considered these views of the people before it decided to stand by its original proposal of a hybrid system of the Government.
According to the Constitution of Kenya Review Act of 2008 the matter now is in the hands of the PSC which must not forget that Nzamba Kitonga has handed them the revised harmonized draft backed by the majority of the people of Kenya. According to Section 33. (1), of the Act, the PSC shall, within twenty-one days, resubmit the draft Constitution and report presented to it under section 32(c) to the Committee of Experts with the recommendations agreed upon as a result of its deliberations, and the Committee of Experts shall revise the draft Constitution taking into account the achieved consensus. Before that happens Kenyans will keenly want to know which members of the PSC will go against their wishes and oppose the Nzamba Kitonga proposals.
In the Committee there are a number of ODM MPs who are likely to back the Nzamba proposals even though originally they were for a Parliamentary system headed by a powerful Prime Minister. Kitonga’s proposals are most likely bound to be opposed by PNU MPs who have been vehemently opposed to what they blindly refer to as “two centres of power”. What the PNU MPs conveniently forget is that the establishment of two centres of powers is the wish of the people of Kenya who have had enough of dictatorial concentration of powers in the hands of the President. Those fears also make them reject too powerful a Prime Minister. Whatever revisions the PSC makes to the Nzamba proposals, they must bare in mind that Kenyans are scrutinizing what they are doing and waiting for them to answer for whatever sins they commit now. That will be in 2012. Whoever sits in the PSC will find it extremely difficult to convince the people of Kenya to reelected him or her to Parliament if he or she rejects the Nzamba Kitoga proposals now.
The responsibility in the hands of the PSC is big. They must put the interest of the country above those of their various political parties. Whatever changes they introduce to the Nzamba proposals, they must never forget the fact that the people of Kenya have spoken to the CoE and expressed their wishes to have two centres of power in the future Constitution of Kenya. The problem with some of the politicians in the PSC is that they look at the proposed constitution as an instrument to pave their way to political power that will protect both their positions and wealth. If there is any such a person in the PSC then he or she should be exposed to the people of Kenya as the stumbling block that stands on their way to establish a true democracy in the country.
It so happens that the major changes that are needed in Kenya before we can have such a democracy depend on constitutional reforms. The people of Kenya have, by and large, indicated in more ways than one, the type of constitution they want. It is a constitution that will guarantee that the political powers in Kenya belong to the people .Their leaders in Parliament must not be allowed to usurp those powers.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Friday, December 25, 2009
KKK Alliance: Our greatest shame!
The year 2009 will go down in history as Kenya’s epoch of many shameful man-made disastrous calamities. Top on that list is the transgression of tribalism. Because of tribalism we have elected misfits into leadership positions, which have led to the establishment of a House of Nincompoops in place of a Parliament; because of tribalism we have killed our pregnant mothers and raped their young daughters; because of tribalism we have slaughtered hundreds of our own brothers and sisters. And now our chauvinistic leaders have come out in the open to establish an obnoxious tribal organization which they, either by design or by sheer ignorance, call the KKK alliance.
Once upon a time, as a young Managing Editor of the Daily Nation, I had the misfortune of interviewing one David Duke in New Orleans. He was then the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, commonly referred to as the KKK. I say the "misfortune" because of the most uncivil, if not barbaric, language used by the boss of the KKK during the interview. Words that came from his mouth were so horrific that I dare not repeat them here. Suffice it to say that he unsuccessfully tried to equate me to monkeys and baboons, which he describes as black people’s closest cousins. In his mind no Black man or woman was a fully developed human being and they, therefore, did not deserve being treated as such.
Today, when I repeat that story to my students, a cold chill still runs down my spine. It was therefore my greatest shock to hear people in my own country, who consider themselves respected leaders, with titles such as the Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Honourable Minister, forming a political alliance with a name exactly the same as David Duke’s KKK. Kalonzo Musyoka, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto would like to tell us that their KKK stands for Kikuyu, Kamba and Kalenjin. But the aims and aspirations of their KKK are not different from David Duke’s xenophobic organization. Both are just as chauvinistic. They are also both shamelessly intolerant. The American organization is racist and the Kenya one is tribalist. So what is the difference? The American KKK seeks the supremacy of the White race headed by Anglo-Saxon Protestants. The Kenyan one wants to snatch political power in Kenya and establish a dictatorship headed by tribal chiefs. Honestly, I see no difference between the two.
Kenyans should just examine the political history of the leaders of the KKK alliance to get concrete evidence why it should be thrown into the dustbin of history. As the leader of the Orange Democratic Movement – Kenya (ODM-K), Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has not sought permission from his party executive before pulling every member into an unholy alliance with the Deputy leader of ODM, William Ruto and the Chairman of Kanu, Uhuru Kenyatta. It was only a few short years ago when Kalonzo was denouncing, in the strongest possible words, the leadership of Ruto’s ODM and Kenyatta’s Kanu. What metamorphosis has the Vice President undergone to see his 2007 strongest political enemies as his strongest partners for the 2012 elections? Alternatively what changes have taken place in Ruto or Uhuru’s leadership to attract the Kamba leader?
Kalonzo has been a loyal member of Kanu, Liberal Democratic Party, the National Rainbow Coalition, and ODM-K. All within a short period of time since he joined politics in 1983 when he unsuccessfully tried to represent the people of Kitui North in Parliament as a supporter of the dreaded one party political system in Kenya. Strictly speaking, Kalonzo Musyoka does not have a political philosophy he believes in. He changes his political colours like a chameleon. Today he is preparing Kenyans to vote for him as the next President in the 2012 elections as the leader of the KKK Alliance in the country. But will the others in his group let him take the lead? Even more important than that, will the Kamba people be prepared to be led by their noses by a man who wants to isolate them from the rest of Kenyans?
To answer the last question first, the Kamba people , who overwhelmingly backed Kalonzo in 2007 as the leader of the ODM-K should ask their leader what philosophical changes have taken place in Kanu or ODM for Kalonzo to want to cooperate with Uhuru as the Kanu Chairman or Ruto as the Deputy Leader of the ODM? They should also want to know the significance of Kikuyu, Kamba and Kalenjin political alliance against the rest of the country? Why, for example , should the Kambas in Mariakani, consider themselves closer to the Kikuyus in the Central Province and Kalenjins in the Rift Valley than the Mijikenda people of Mariakani , Miritini , Changamwe, and Mombasa which are all close next door neighbours, and have been for decades?
As to the first question , which is extremely mind boggling, it is always amazing to see people who believe in no ideology at all ganging up together to form a political alliance based on tribal loyalty, when in fact they belong to three different tribes. None of the three leaders i.e. Kalonzo, Kenyatta and Ruto has shown a remote willingness to step down for the other, for the Presidency of Kenya after Kibaki. The only thing they have in common is the perception that they have the ability of putting their entire communities in their pockets. By the look of things the trio is in for a very big surprise this time.
The majority of the new generation of voters, whose number run into millions and are scattered all over the country, have two things in common: Poverty and unemployment. They all rightly believe they are in that predicament because of the greedy leadership of the likes of Ruto, Kalonzo and Kenyatta. They believe the only salvation they have is the use of the ballot, rather than the bullet, to bring about the desired change. After all, that method has succeeded in the most powerful country where a Black man was only considered a slave, and today he is the most powerful leader introducing changes that could only be confined to a dream world.
The story of Uhuru Kenyatta is basically the same as that of Kalonzo Musyoka. Though born with a silver spoon in his mouth, his only hope of succeeding Mwai Kibaki at State House is to be accepted as the official Presidential candidate of the KKK alliance. Uhuru erroneously believes he is the undisputed leader of the Kikuyu people, who have supported his family for a long time, even before he was born. What Uhuru forgets, or is incapable of comprehending, is that the majority of the Kikuyus of today, who are the majority of young voters in Central Province, believe the rich in their community have only become so by robbing their forefathers. The majority of the rich Kikuyus are the children of home guards who killed a lot of Mau Mau in the struggle for liberation before independence. The majority of the poor among the Kikuyus today are children of the Mau Mau freedom fighters who, until today, have never seen the fruits of independence. In the next election they too see the power of the ballot bringing justice into the political scenario of the country.
Of the three KKK leaders, it is only William Ruto who has the backing of his people in the Rift Valley. But if they remember the history of how Daniel Toroitich arap Moi, who made them back his hand picked Presidential candidature of Uhuru Kenyatta in 2002, led them to be isolated by the entire country, they may not support Ruto for long . After all the Kalenjins are the quickest people in changing their minds in the entire country. If you don’t believe me, ask Raila Odinga.
Once upon a time, as a young Managing Editor of the Daily Nation, I had the misfortune of interviewing one David Duke in New Orleans. He was then the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, commonly referred to as the KKK. I say the "misfortune" because of the most uncivil, if not barbaric, language used by the boss of the KKK during the interview. Words that came from his mouth were so horrific that I dare not repeat them here. Suffice it to say that he unsuccessfully tried to equate me to monkeys and baboons, which he describes as black people’s closest cousins. In his mind no Black man or woman was a fully developed human being and they, therefore, did not deserve being treated as such.
Today, when I repeat that story to my students, a cold chill still runs down my spine. It was therefore my greatest shock to hear people in my own country, who consider themselves respected leaders, with titles such as the Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Honourable Minister, forming a political alliance with a name exactly the same as David Duke’s KKK. Kalonzo Musyoka, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto would like to tell us that their KKK stands for Kikuyu, Kamba and Kalenjin. But the aims and aspirations of their KKK are not different from David Duke’s xenophobic organization. Both are just as chauvinistic. They are also both shamelessly intolerant. The American organization is racist and the Kenya one is tribalist. So what is the difference? The American KKK seeks the supremacy of the White race headed by Anglo-Saxon Protestants. The Kenyan one wants to snatch political power in Kenya and establish a dictatorship headed by tribal chiefs. Honestly, I see no difference between the two.
Kenyans should just examine the political history of the leaders of the KKK alliance to get concrete evidence why it should be thrown into the dustbin of history. As the leader of the Orange Democratic Movement – Kenya (ODM-K), Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has not sought permission from his party executive before pulling every member into an unholy alliance with the Deputy leader of ODM, William Ruto and the Chairman of Kanu, Uhuru Kenyatta. It was only a few short years ago when Kalonzo was denouncing, in the strongest possible words, the leadership of Ruto’s ODM and Kenyatta’s Kanu. What metamorphosis has the Vice President undergone to see his 2007 strongest political enemies as his strongest partners for the 2012 elections? Alternatively what changes have taken place in Ruto or Uhuru’s leadership to attract the Kamba leader?
Kalonzo has been a loyal member of Kanu, Liberal Democratic Party, the National Rainbow Coalition, and ODM-K. All within a short period of time since he joined politics in 1983 when he unsuccessfully tried to represent the people of Kitui North in Parliament as a supporter of the dreaded one party political system in Kenya. Strictly speaking, Kalonzo Musyoka does not have a political philosophy he believes in. He changes his political colours like a chameleon. Today he is preparing Kenyans to vote for him as the next President in the 2012 elections as the leader of the KKK Alliance in the country. But will the others in his group let him take the lead? Even more important than that, will the Kamba people be prepared to be led by their noses by a man who wants to isolate them from the rest of Kenyans?
To answer the last question first, the Kamba people , who overwhelmingly backed Kalonzo in 2007 as the leader of the ODM-K should ask their leader what philosophical changes have taken place in Kanu or ODM for Kalonzo to want to cooperate with Uhuru as the Kanu Chairman or Ruto as the Deputy Leader of the ODM? They should also want to know the significance of Kikuyu, Kamba and Kalenjin political alliance against the rest of the country? Why, for example , should the Kambas in Mariakani, consider themselves closer to the Kikuyus in the Central Province and Kalenjins in the Rift Valley than the Mijikenda people of Mariakani , Miritini , Changamwe, and Mombasa which are all close next door neighbours, and have been for decades?
As to the first question , which is extremely mind boggling, it is always amazing to see people who believe in no ideology at all ganging up together to form a political alliance based on tribal loyalty, when in fact they belong to three different tribes. None of the three leaders i.e. Kalonzo, Kenyatta and Ruto has shown a remote willingness to step down for the other, for the Presidency of Kenya after Kibaki. The only thing they have in common is the perception that they have the ability of putting their entire communities in their pockets. By the look of things the trio is in for a very big surprise this time.
The majority of the new generation of voters, whose number run into millions and are scattered all over the country, have two things in common: Poverty and unemployment. They all rightly believe they are in that predicament because of the greedy leadership of the likes of Ruto, Kalonzo and Kenyatta. They believe the only salvation they have is the use of the ballot, rather than the bullet, to bring about the desired change. After all, that method has succeeded in the most powerful country where a Black man was only considered a slave, and today he is the most powerful leader introducing changes that could only be confined to a dream world.
The story of Uhuru Kenyatta is basically the same as that of Kalonzo Musyoka. Though born with a silver spoon in his mouth, his only hope of succeeding Mwai Kibaki at State House is to be accepted as the official Presidential candidate of the KKK alliance. Uhuru erroneously believes he is the undisputed leader of the Kikuyu people, who have supported his family for a long time, even before he was born. What Uhuru forgets, or is incapable of comprehending, is that the majority of the Kikuyus of today, who are the majority of young voters in Central Province, believe the rich in their community have only become so by robbing their forefathers. The majority of the rich Kikuyus are the children of home guards who killed a lot of Mau Mau in the struggle for liberation before independence. The majority of the poor among the Kikuyus today are children of the Mau Mau freedom fighters who, until today, have never seen the fruits of independence. In the next election they too see the power of the ballot bringing justice into the political scenario of the country.
Of the three KKK leaders, it is only William Ruto who has the backing of his people in the Rift Valley. But if they remember the history of how Daniel Toroitich arap Moi, who made them back his hand picked Presidential candidature of Uhuru Kenyatta in 2002, led them to be isolated by the entire country, they may not support Ruto for long . After all the Kalenjins are the quickest people in changing their minds in the entire country. If you don’t believe me, ask Raila Odinga.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Harmonized Draft Constitution disturbs tribalists
Nothing is disturbing the tribalists, who have ruled Kenya for the last four decades, more than the Harmonized Draft Constitution, which threatens to move the centre of power from a few despots to the people. The three imperial Presidents who have misruled the people of Kenya since independence have made sure the wealth of the nation benefited only a few privileged classes from their own areas. The process created the evils of nepotism, tribalism and corruption which can only be corrected by a complete overhaul of the political systems established by the dictators in Kenya, which is what the new draft is trying to do. No wonder the tribalists are ganging up to form ethnic political cabals to protect their ill gotten wealth and, if they succeed, they hope to establish a formidable tribal faction to win the 2012 election.
Under Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya saw the creation of a real gap between the haves and the have-nots with the haves apportioning themselves huge tracks of the most fertile land from the former White Highlands in the Rift Valley. The servant-master relationship between the people and the colonialists continued in a different form. The new masters were Jomo Kenyatta’s closest relatives and a few selected people who occupied top positions in his regime.
President Daniel arap Moi did exactly the same as his predecessor and went further to break the law through the most colossal robbery of public funds known as the Goldenberg scandal. Apart from the scandal, Moi committed further crimes of annexing fertile land from the country’s largest water reservoirs on the Mau forest and giving it to his closest family members as well as his most obedient servants from his own community. Today the land grabbers are fighting tooth and nail to retain their looted land against the wishes of the rest of Kenyans.
Mwai Kibaki on his part came in with his own type of scandal known as Anglo Leasing. The scandal was so disgraceful that a few heads in his regime had to roll. His efforts to introduce his own form of nepotism have been vehemently opposed by the entire country. Now his regime hangs on a thin thread kept alive by the coalition he has established with Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Should the coalition collapse the chances of his serving the rest of his term comfortably are extremely remote.
What the three regimes have in common is to wish for a future government that would protect their huge ill-gotten wealth through a despotic government established by one of their own. The Kikuyu-Kalenjin-Kamba alliance is supposed to achieve that goal. A government of Uhuru Kenyatta, Kalonzo Musyoka and William Ruto would make sure the gap between the haves and the have-nots would grow even wider. The so called KKK alliance will therefore do everything possible to oppose the parts of the Harmonized Draft Constitution calling for a paradigm shift that removes the power from a few privileged families to the people.
The relevant part of the Draft constitution which gives the tribal despots sleepless nights concerns land. The proposed law says in Chapter Seven , Article 77 that land is Kenya’s primary resource and the basis of livelihood for the people, and shall be held, used and managed in a manner which is equitable , efficient, productive and sustainable. It further says the national Government shall define and keep under review a national land policy ensuring the principles of equitable access to land and associated resources. That part of the proposed Constitution can bring together Uhuru, Ruto and Balala despite their past differences. Now they all paddle in the same canoe as they symbolize the elite who own unfairly huge tracks of land while the majority of the people of Kenya have nothing at all. Some of the huge pieces of land owned by Balala’s people down at the Coast have been left idle by absentee landlords who live in the Middle East while the true owners of the land , the Mijikenda people, are still treated as squatters,forty years after independence.
Tribalists will also be most disturbed by the section of the proposed Constitution which deals with basic requirements for political parties. Article 114 requires every political party to promote the objects and principles of the rule of law by promoting and upholding national unity. In the past tribalists have survived politically by forming parochial ethnic political parties which they have used as ladders to high national positions. If the Harmonized Draft Constitution goes through, political parties will have national character as prescribed by the Political Parties Act of 2007 which , among other things,prohibits the registration of political parties founded on ethnic, age , tribal, racial , gender, regional, linguistic,corporatist, professional or religious basis or which seeks to engage in propaganda .
Tribalists will particularly oppose this part of the proposed draft because it demands political parties to have a democratically elected governing body; and abide by the democratic principles of good governance, promote and practise democracy through regular, fair and free elections within the party, and promote discipline within it. That particular demand of the draft Constitution simply means the ownership of tribal political parties as personal properties will be a thing of the past. It may also mean democracy will be introduced in political parties’ nomination process making the obnoxious hand picking of favorite candidates by despotic leaders, also a thing of the past. Personally I would have liked the Harmonized draft to go even further and demand primary elections for all political parties to be supervised by the IIEC.
It is my hope that that proposal will be taken seriously by the CoE while drafting the final version. After all, the Harmonized Draft demands political parties to conduct their affairs in a manner that promotes democracy and peaceful politics. It also demands them to respect the right of others to participate in the political process, including, persons with disabilities and other minorities. Well organized, transparent and democratic primary elections in Kenya will ensure that the Harmonized Draft’s demand for political parties to respect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and gender equality and equity, will be achieved very easily.
Tribalists in the past have survived politically by engaging in tribal warfare. They have remained at the top leadership of their parties by terrorizing their local opponents as well as their national rivals. The Harmonized Draft Constitution prohibits political parties from engaging in or encouraging violence by, or intimidation of, its members, supporters, opponents or any other person. It also criminalizes the establishment or maintenance of paramilitary forces, militia or similar organizations. If the Harmonized Draft Constitution is passed then engaging in bribery or other forms of corruption in political parties will be the thing of the past.
The other part of the Harmonized Draft Constitution which will be vehemently opposed by the tribalists concerns the Executive. For forty years since independence tribalists have benefited from an imperial president with so much powers that only rewarded his own people. To continue to enjoy the fruits of independence exclusively as members of the privileged elite the tribalists will fight to maintain power through an imperial president whom they hope will come from one of the three tribal grouping of the so called KKK.
The part of the Harmonized Draft Constitution which they would like to get rid of is Article 179 which says the Prime Minister shall be the head of the Government and shall preside at the meetings of the Cabinet. This is something extremely hard for the tribalists to swallow because they know none of them, as leaders of tribal organizations masquerading as political parties, can succeed in accumulating enough members of Parliament to qualify to be appointed Prime Minister. So they spread lies that it would be most unfair to give so much powers to a prime minister “who is not elected by the people.”
They conveniently forget what Article 180 of the Harmonized Constitution says. That part of the Draft demands that within seven days following the summoning of the National Assembly after a general election, or whenever necessary to fill a vacancy in the office of Prime Minister, other than on the occasion of a vote of no confidence, the State President shall appoint as Prime Minister in a manner that clearly indicates the people have a major say in that appointment.
First the State President has to consider the member of the National Assembly who is the leader of the largest political party or coalition of parties, represented in the
National Assembly. Tribalists forget that no one becomes the leader of the largest political party in the National Assembly without the consent of the voters, who, for all practical purposes, are the people of Kenya.
The Draft Constitution says if the leader of the largest party or coalition of parties has been unable to command the confidence of the National Assembly, the member of the National Assembly who is the leader of the second largest political party or coalition of parties represented in the National Assembly will be the next candidate for Premiership to be considered by the State President. No one becomes the leader of the second largest party in the National Assembly without the consent of the people.
There can be no confusion as to who the leaders of these parties are because the Harmonized Draft Constitution clearly says each party participating in a general election of the National Assembly shall designate a person as the leader of that party for purposes of being selected for the appointment of the Prime Minister.
Anticipating possible disagreements in this sensitive issue of the appointment of the Prime Minister, the Draft gives the State President a third option where neither of the persons contemplated in the first option or the second option has been able to command or retain the confidence of the National Assembly. This third option says that the State President shall propose to the National Assembly the name of a member who, in the State President’s opinion, may be able to command the confidence of the National Assembly.
According to the Draft on receiving that proposal from the State President under clause (3), the Speaker shall summon the National Assembly and introduce the proposal from the State President. The Draft says within seven days of the Speaker receiving a proposal from the State President, the Speaker shall call a vote in the National Assembly to
confirm the appointment of the person proposed by the State President. And if that process also fails then the National Assembly shall by a vote supported by a majority of members present and voting nominate a member of the National Assembly for appointment as the Prime Minister. Parliament will therefore vote to elect a Prime Minister when all the other options have failed. But tribalists like to trumpet this aspect loudest magnifying the none participation of the people. The tribalists don’t like the people to know that the first option proposed by the Harmonized Draft Constitution reflects the wishes of the people.
The role of the people in appointing the Prime Minister is so important that if, within sixty days of the State President first appointing a person to be Prime Minister, no person has been confirmed or nominated for appointment, the National Assembly shall stand dissolved and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission shall conduct a fresh general election for the National Assembly. That is what the tribalists don’t want to hear.
Under Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya saw the creation of a real gap between the haves and the have-nots with the haves apportioning themselves huge tracks of the most fertile land from the former White Highlands in the Rift Valley. The servant-master relationship between the people and the colonialists continued in a different form. The new masters were Jomo Kenyatta’s closest relatives and a few selected people who occupied top positions in his regime.
President Daniel arap Moi did exactly the same as his predecessor and went further to break the law through the most colossal robbery of public funds known as the Goldenberg scandal. Apart from the scandal, Moi committed further crimes of annexing fertile land from the country’s largest water reservoirs on the Mau forest and giving it to his closest family members as well as his most obedient servants from his own community. Today the land grabbers are fighting tooth and nail to retain their looted land against the wishes of the rest of Kenyans.
Mwai Kibaki on his part came in with his own type of scandal known as Anglo Leasing. The scandal was so disgraceful that a few heads in his regime had to roll. His efforts to introduce his own form of nepotism have been vehemently opposed by the entire country. Now his regime hangs on a thin thread kept alive by the coalition he has established with Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Should the coalition collapse the chances of his serving the rest of his term comfortably are extremely remote.
What the three regimes have in common is to wish for a future government that would protect their huge ill-gotten wealth through a despotic government established by one of their own. The Kikuyu-Kalenjin-Kamba alliance is supposed to achieve that goal. A government of Uhuru Kenyatta, Kalonzo Musyoka and William Ruto would make sure the gap between the haves and the have-nots would grow even wider. The so called KKK alliance will therefore do everything possible to oppose the parts of the Harmonized Draft Constitution calling for a paradigm shift that removes the power from a few privileged families to the people.
The relevant part of the Draft constitution which gives the tribal despots sleepless nights concerns land. The proposed law says in Chapter Seven , Article 77 that land is Kenya’s primary resource and the basis of livelihood for the people, and shall be held, used and managed in a manner which is equitable , efficient, productive and sustainable. It further says the national Government shall define and keep under review a national land policy ensuring the principles of equitable access to land and associated resources. That part of the proposed Constitution can bring together Uhuru, Ruto and Balala despite their past differences. Now they all paddle in the same canoe as they symbolize the elite who own unfairly huge tracks of land while the majority of the people of Kenya have nothing at all. Some of the huge pieces of land owned by Balala’s people down at the Coast have been left idle by absentee landlords who live in the Middle East while the true owners of the land , the Mijikenda people, are still treated as squatters,forty years after independence.
Tribalists will also be most disturbed by the section of the proposed Constitution which deals with basic requirements for political parties. Article 114 requires every political party to promote the objects and principles of the rule of law by promoting and upholding national unity. In the past tribalists have survived politically by forming parochial ethnic political parties which they have used as ladders to high national positions. If the Harmonized Draft Constitution goes through, political parties will have national character as prescribed by the Political Parties Act of 2007 which , among other things,prohibits the registration of political parties founded on ethnic, age , tribal, racial , gender, regional, linguistic,corporatist, professional or religious basis or which seeks to engage in propaganda .
Tribalists will particularly oppose this part of the proposed draft because it demands political parties to have a democratically elected governing body; and abide by the democratic principles of good governance, promote and practise democracy through regular, fair and free elections within the party, and promote discipline within it. That particular demand of the draft Constitution simply means the ownership of tribal political parties as personal properties will be a thing of the past. It may also mean democracy will be introduced in political parties’ nomination process making the obnoxious hand picking of favorite candidates by despotic leaders, also a thing of the past. Personally I would have liked the Harmonized draft to go even further and demand primary elections for all political parties to be supervised by the IIEC.
It is my hope that that proposal will be taken seriously by the CoE while drafting the final version. After all, the Harmonized Draft demands political parties to conduct their affairs in a manner that promotes democracy and peaceful politics. It also demands them to respect the right of others to participate in the political process, including, persons with disabilities and other minorities. Well organized, transparent and democratic primary elections in Kenya will ensure that the Harmonized Draft’s demand for political parties to respect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and gender equality and equity, will be achieved very easily.
Tribalists in the past have survived politically by engaging in tribal warfare. They have remained at the top leadership of their parties by terrorizing their local opponents as well as their national rivals. The Harmonized Draft Constitution prohibits political parties from engaging in or encouraging violence by, or intimidation of, its members, supporters, opponents or any other person. It also criminalizes the establishment or maintenance of paramilitary forces, militia or similar organizations. If the Harmonized Draft Constitution is passed then engaging in bribery or other forms of corruption in political parties will be the thing of the past.
The other part of the Harmonized Draft Constitution which will be vehemently opposed by the tribalists concerns the Executive. For forty years since independence tribalists have benefited from an imperial president with so much powers that only rewarded his own people. To continue to enjoy the fruits of independence exclusively as members of the privileged elite the tribalists will fight to maintain power through an imperial president whom they hope will come from one of the three tribal grouping of the so called KKK.
The part of the Harmonized Draft Constitution which they would like to get rid of is Article 179 which says the Prime Minister shall be the head of the Government and shall preside at the meetings of the Cabinet. This is something extremely hard for the tribalists to swallow because they know none of them, as leaders of tribal organizations masquerading as political parties, can succeed in accumulating enough members of Parliament to qualify to be appointed Prime Minister. So they spread lies that it would be most unfair to give so much powers to a prime minister “who is not elected by the people.”
They conveniently forget what Article 180 of the Harmonized Constitution says. That part of the Draft demands that within seven days following the summoning of the National Assembly after a general election, or whenever necessary to fill a vacancy in the office of Prime Minister, other than on the occasion of a vote of no confidence, the State President shall appoint as Prime Minister in a manner that clearly indicates the people have a major say in that appointment.
First the State President has to consider the member of the National Assembly who is the leader of the largest political party or coalition of parties, represented in the
National Assembly. Tribalists forget that no one becomes the leader of the largest political party in the National Assembly without the consent of the voters, who, for all practical purposes, are the people of Kenya.
The Draft Constitution says if the leader of the largest party or coalition of parties has been unable to command the confidence of the National Assembly, the member of the National Assembly who is the leader of the second largest political party or coalition of parties represented in the National Assembly will be the next candidate for Premiership to be considered by the State President. No one becomes the leader of the second largest party in the National Assembly without the consent of the people.
There can be no confusion as to who the leaders of these parties are because the Harmonized Draft Constitution clearly says each party participating in a general election of the National Assembly shall designate a person as the leader of that party for purposes of being selected for the appointment of the Prime Minister.
Anticipating possible disagreements in this sensitive issue of the appointment of the Prime Minister, the Draft gives the State President a third option where neither of the persons contemplated in the first option or the second option has been able to command or retain the confidence of the National Assembly. This third option says that the State President shall propose to the National Assembly the name of a member who, in the State President’s opinion, may be able to command the confidence of the National Assembly.
According to the Draft on receiving that proposal from the State President under clause (3), the Speaker shall summon the National Assembly and introduce the proposal from the State President. The Draft says within seven days of the Speaker receiving a proposal from the State President, the Speaker shall call a vote in the National Assembly to
confirm the appointment of the person proposed by the State President. And if that process also fails then the National Assembly shall by a vote supported by a majority of members present and voting nominate a member of the National Assembly for appointment as the Prime Minister. Parliament will therefore vote to elect a Prime Minister when all the other options have failed. But tribalists like to trumpet this aspect loudest magnifying the none participation of the people. The tribalists don’t like the people to know that the first option proposed by the Harmonized Draft Constitution reflects the wishes of the people.
The role of the people in appointing the Prime Minister is so important that if, within sixty days of the State President first appointing a person to be Prime Minister, no person has been confirmed or nominated for appointment, the National Assembly shall stand dissolved and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission shall conduct a fresh general election for the National Assembly. That is what the tribalists don’t want to hear.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Draft Constitution boosts Raila’s chances
The Draft Constitution is the closest Kenya has come to establishing a truly democratic society. It obviously favours those who have been struggling to establish such a society where political leadership is transparent and accountable to the people. One such person is Raila Odinga. His long struggle to demolish an imperial presidency has been fulfilled by Nzamba Kitonga’s success in coming up with a document that eradicates all the past despotic evils of dictatorial presidents. The evils came in the form of concentrating too much power in the hands of the demigod Presidents.
In a country where political survival has, for a long time, depended on tribal hegemony of ethnic supremacists, Nzamba Kitonga and the Minister for Constitutional Affairs, Mutula Kilonzo, as the two people who steered the formulation of the Draft, would have been accused of boosting their own tribe if Raila Odinga was a Kamba. The fact that both Mutula and Nzamba happen to be Kambas is a sheer coincidence. Similarly the accusations of the Draft Constitution appearing to support Raila are misconceived perceptions based on ignorance and lack of understanding of recent political development in Kenya.
An unbiased examination of those developments will clearly reveal that political parties in Kenya are by and large ethnic institutions under the leadership of ambitious tribal chiefs camouflaged as national leaders. That is with the exception of the Raila’s Orange Democratic Party which, though personally controlled by the Prime Minister, is a national party with leaders from all corners of the country. Sure enough, the most powerful political position in Kenya, if the draft Constitution is accepted by the people, will be that of the Prime Minister. But no one can dream of becoming a Prime Minister in Kenya if he or she does not lead a powerful political party capable of winning the majority of seats in the Legislature.
The only way to make sure that Raila does not become the first powerful executive Prime Minister after the 2012 elections is to remove him from the leadership of the ODM in a democratic manner. The other way is to establish a powerful non tribal political party to rival the ODM in every part of the country before 2012. Such an undertaking would be an uphill task for leaders who are already stigmatized as both tribal and hegemonic monsters.
Given the fact that there have been two Presidents from the Central Province there is little wonder that MPs from that area are still lamentably calling for an imperial President. Arguing that because the Draft Constitution demands that the President gets the mandate of the people before occupying State House, and therefore the elected President deserves to have more powers than what they call “unelected” Prime Minister, the MPs’ hope is to confuse Kenyans and make them reject Nzamba’s proposals. In that confusion may be a man from Central Province, hopefully Uhuru Kenyatta, could end up the third Kikuyu President for Kenya. Such a wishful thinking is building castles in the air. It would take an unusually clever conjurer’s trick to convince Kenyans that the next executive President should come from Kiambu.
The claim that the Draft Constitution favours a Prime Minister who is not elected by the people is as misleading as it is malicious. To qualify to be a Prime Minister one has to be the leader of the largest political party or coalition parties represented in the national assembly. Political parties don’t become the largest parties in the national assembly without the consent of the people. As a matter of fact to achieve that goal, a political party has to be national and acceptable to diverse people of Kenya, which is far more difficult than receiving more than half of all the vote cast in the presidential election even though it also requires at least twenty five percent of the vote cast in the majority of the regions.
It is also wrong and most misleading to claim that the Draft Constitution crates an office of a figurehead President. The elected President of Kenya after 2012 would be a very powerful person with very well elaborated State functions as well as Legislative functions which can hardly be described as duties of an impotent Head of State. For anyone to exercise those powers he or she should rightly get the consent of the people. By getting his or her many candidates win elections in the majority of the constituencies in various parts of the country the Prime Minister would have demonstrated clearly to have the support of the people.
There are many possible positive outcomes of the Draft Constitution. One of them would be the establishment of national political parties that are not parochially tribal. These would be parties that would compete on ideological differences rather than ethnic diversity. Briefcase political parties will be a thing of the past. The demand by the Draft Constitution to have regular elections in political parties would also introduce badly needed internal democracy in political parties. Being the most favoured person by the new Draft, Raila is likely to spend more time revamping and strengthening the ODM. Holding the already powerful position of Prime Minister he is likely to perform that duty so magnificently that very soon ODM will have offices where there will be long queues of people seeking party membership.
Knowing very well the power of the Kikuyu vote in any election in Kenya, a special recruitment ODM team is likely to be formulated in Central Province to fish for Kikuyu membership, particularly among the Kikuyu youth and even among the members of the Mungiki clandestine organization. Raila’s friendly approach in dealing with the Mungiki menace is a very well calculated political maneuver which Agwambo is a master of.
Despite its popularity ODM has its own internal problems caused by the rebellious William Ruto and Najib Balala. Their departure from the party means Raila will pay special attention to the party development in both the Rift Valley and the Coast provinces. In both places the Prime Minister has identified people who can easily step into Ruto and Balala’s shoes. Raila’s job in doing this will be made very easy by national mobilization against tribal politics. Stigmatizing Ruto as a tribal leader, however, may be a lot easier than disgracing the non tribal Arab Balala who can only be fought by reminding the coastal Mijikenda people of the dishonorable historical role of the Arabs in that part of the world. That Raila can do most effectively through his charismatic public attraction.
To get the massive support of the Luhya people Raila is likely to groom Musalia Mudavadi as the country’s next President. It will not be surprising at all if Raila starts grooming some young man or woman for the position of Deputy President. Very much like Moi, Raila will soon start using top Government positions, including that of the Deputy Prime Minister as political baits to win popular support from all parts of the country. This method is likely to work wonders for Raila who is sure to be the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2012 for a very long time to come because, unlike the position of the President, there is no limited term of office for the premier.
In a country where political survival has, for a long time, depended on tribal hegemony of ethnic supremacists, Nzamba Kitonga and the Minister for Constitutional Affairs, Mutula Kilonzo, as the two people who steered the formulation of the Draft, would have been accused of boosting their own tribe if Raila Odinga was a Kamba. The fact that both Mutula and Nzamba happen to be Kambas is a sheer coincidence. Similarly the accusations of the Draft Constitution appearing to support Raila are misconceived perceptions based on ignorance and lack of understanding of recent political development in Kenya.
An unbiased examination of those developments will clearly reveal that political parties in Kenya are by and large ethnic institutions under the leadership of ambitious tribal chiefs camouflaged as national leaders. That is with the exception of the Raila’s Orange Democratic Party which, though personally controlled by the Prime Minister, is a national party with leaders from all corners of the country. Sure enough, the most powerful political position in Kenya, if the draft Constitution is accepted by the people, will be that of the Prime Minister. But no one can dream of becoming a Prime Minister in Kenya if he or she does not lead a powerful political party capable of winning the majority of seats in the Legislature.
The only way to make sure that Raila does not become the first powerful executive Prime Minister after the 2012 elections is to remove him from the leadership of the ODM in a democratic manner. The other way is to establish a powerful non tribal political party to rival the ODM in every part of the country before 2012. Such an undertaking would be an uphill task for leaders who are already stigmatized as both tribal and hegemonic monsters.
Given the fact that there have been two Presidents from the Central Province there is little wonder that MPs from that area are still lamentably calling for an imperial President. Arguing that because the Draft Constitution demands that the President gets the mandate of the people before occupying State House, and therefore the elected President deserves to have more powers than what they call “unelected” Prime Minister, the MPs’ hope is to confuse Kenyans and make them reject Nzamba’s proposals. In that confusion may be a man from Central Province, hopefully Uhuru Kenyatta, could end up the third Kikuyu President for Kenya. Such a wishful thinking is building castles in the air. It would take an unusually clever conjurer’s trick to convince Kenyans that the next executive President should come from Kiambu.
The claim that the Draft Constitution favours a Prime Minister who is not elected by the people is as misleading as it is malicious. To qualify to be a Prime Minister one has to be the leader of the largest political party or coalition parties represented in the national assembly. Political parties don’t become the largest parties in the national assembly without the consent of the people. As a matter of fact to achieve that goal, a political party has to be national and acceptable to diverse people of Kenya, which is far more difficult than receiving more than half of all the vote cast in the presidential election even though it also requires at least twenty five percent of the vote cast in the majority of the regions.
It is also wrong and most misleading to claim that the Draft Constitution crates an office of a figurehead President. The elected President of Kenya after 2012 would be a very powerful person with very well elaborated State functions as well as Legislative functions which can hardly be described as duties of an impotent Head of State. For anyone to exercise those powers he or she should rightly get the consent of the people. By getting his or her many candidates win elections in the majority of the constituencies in various parts of the country the Prime Minister would have demonstrated clearly to have the support of the people.
There are many possible positive outcomes of the Draft Constitution. One of them would be the establishment of national political parties that are not parochially tribal. These would be parties that would compete on ideological differences rather than ethnic diversity. Briefcase political parties will be a thing of the past. The demand by the Draft Constitution to have regular elections in political parties would also introduce badly needed internal democracy in political parties. Being the most favoured person by the new Draft, Raila is likely to spend more time revamping and strengthening the ODM. Holding the already powerful position of Prime Minister he is likely to perform that duty so magnificently that very soon ODM will have offices where there will be long queues of people seeking party membership.
Knowing very well the power of the Kikuyu vote in any election in Kenya, a special recruitment ODM team is likely to be formulated in Central Province to fish for Kikuyu membership, particularly among the Kikuyu youth and even among the members of the Mungiki clandestine organization. Raila’s friendly approach in dealing with the Mungiki menace is a very well calculated political maneuver which Agwambo is a master of.
Despite its popularity ODM has its own internal problems caused by the rebellious William Ruto and Najib Balala. Their departure from the party means Raila will pay special attention to the party development in both the Rift Valley and the Coast provinces. In both places the Prime Minister has identified people who can easily step into Ruto and Balala’s shoes. Raila’s job in doing this will be made very easy by national mobilization against tribal politics. Stigmatizing Ruto as a tribal leader, however, may be a lot easier than disgracing the non tribal Arab Balala who can only be fought by reminding the coastal Mijikenda people of the dishonorable historical role of the Arabs in that part of the world. That Raila can do most effectively through his charismatic public attraction.
To get the massive support of the Luhya people Raila is likely to groom Musalia Mudavadi as the country’s next President. It will not be surprising at all if Raila starts grooming some young man or woman for the position of Deputy President. Very much like Moi, Raila will soon start using top Government positions, including that of the Deputy Prime Minister as political baits to win popular support from all parts of the country. This method is likely to work wonders for Raila who is sure to be the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2012 for a very long time to come because, unlike the position of the President, there is no limited term of office for the premier.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Carson should have hit harder
Johnnie Carson’s ban on a senior Kenyan official is both timely and effective. The official has been stopped from visiting America. The US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs’ threat to 15 prominent Kenyans in September to ban them from visiting the US unless they stopped their systematic opposition to political reforms in Kenya, has now started to work. Since then the 15 have gone underground and don’t want to talk about the issue in public. They feel like lepers isolated from the rest of the community.
The Carson tactic could work wonders. When African politicians are stopped from traveling to Europe or America they feel completely disoriented and absolutely insulted. What good is money if it can’t buy all the goodies to be found in Western capitals? That is why many of them send their children to America and Western Europe for both secondary and university education though Kenya has more universities today than at any other time in history. A lot of our leaders have no trust in the country they lead. That is why many of them have their real bank accounts in either America and or in Western Europe.
Carson should therefore not only have banned a nameless influential individual Kenyan official, but he should also have named all the other 15 he had written to a month ago. And what is more he should have frozen all their bank accounts which contains money they have looted from the people of Kenya. Furthermore he should have announced that the children and other relatives of the named people now living in America were going to be deported back to Kenya. That is the language our leaders understand.
More than anyone else, Carson, who has served his country as the Ambassador in Nairobi, understands all the tricks in subterfuge that Kenyan leaders engage in while dealing with the international community. He knows, for example, when Kofi Annan visited the country recently, attempts were made to mislead him and make him believe the country was really serious in implementing Agenda Four reforms. Carson knows Annan found a lot of rotten skeletons in Kenyan leaders’ cupboards.
The visit by Kafi Annan to review reform progress, Carson knows, exposed Kenyan leaders as the most hypocritical people who can go as far as spending public funds to cheat and hoodwink wananchi into believing that the coalition Government was serious about Agenda Four. On October 4th when the former UN Secretary General landed on Kenya, the Government chose to shamelessly tell the people a complete lie through an advertisement in all the national newspapers by the Government spokesman, Dr. Alfred Mutua, who must obviously be underestimating the intelligence of the people of Kenya.
As if he was addressing primary school kids, Mutua imprudently told Kenyans that the Government had achieved what he called a “reform performance” Grade “A” or 90 per cent. The very thought of coming up with such a wicked propaganda, and in such thoughtless format, proved that the Government spokesman, and the people he speaks for, live in a completely different world from that in which the wananchi of this country dwell.
It took Kofi Annan a very short time to realize that the so called leaders of Kenya were planning for yet another bloodbath in the Rift Valley where Kikuyu Mungiki hooligans and Kalenjin militias are collecting dangerous military guns in preparation for another confrontation between them in 2012. Depending on a South Consulting report the former UN Secretary General warned that serious crimes in Kenya were going up and that warlords, who have always won elections in Kenya through threats and bloodshed, hadn’t gone to sleep, but were indeed still preparing to kill more Kenyans in three year’s time.
The South Consulting October report says although post-election violence ended with the signing of the National Accord in February 2008, new forms of crime have arisen in different parts of the country. In areas affected by post election violence, threats against certain communities perceived as ‘outsiders’ persist. Kenyans must be wondering why it took Kofi Annan to come all the way from Europe to expose a heinous plot by our leaders to remain in power through mass murders.
Carson is also aware that on October 6th Raila and Kibaki tried to sanitize Mutua’s dirty propaganda by paying for full page advertisements in all the national papers, and telling the people a story closer to the truth regarding the progress Kenya was making in achieving Agenda Four reforms. But up and above Agenda Four, Carson is likely to raise the issue of insecurity in the country, with the two principals. It is amazing that neither President Kibaki nor Prime Minister Odinga has come up with convincing truth about the security situation in the country. None of them has come up with a clear condemnation on the preparation for war between Kikuyus and Kalenjins in the Rift Valley.
While in Kenya, Carson will most certainly raise the issue with the two principals and demand that the two become more open to the people about the dangerous issue. He must have read the South Consulting October report which says there is a continuation of old illegal armed groups and the emergence of new ones. According to the report some of the new ones have mutated from the old groups. Further, the report says, the groups are emboldened by the failure to successfully prosecute members suspected to have taken part in criminal activities in the past. As reported in the past reports, says the report, lack of policy guidelines on how to deal with organized crime and the fact that some groups enjoy the backing of powerful political leaders have combined to limit actions that would eliminate these groups. This notwithstanding, adds the report, criminal groups have no support among Kenyans -- many people prefer the police to these groups.
The news about constant meetings among Kalenjin Leaders must be extremely worrying. They claim to be meeting about “social and cultural issues”. If that is the case then why are the agendas of these meetings not made public? Why are journalists not invited to the meetings? Another group of leaders engaged in clandestine meetings is that from the Central Province. They claim to be planning “one man one vote” in the next general election. The relationship between the Kalenjins and the Kikuyus has been disturbingly cool ever since the last general election when the two ethnic groups were virtually engaged in a civil war. What is the Government doing to harmonize the relationship between these vital ethnic groups in the country? When Kofi Annan warns of planned conflict in 2012 whom exactly did he have in mind? And why do journalists not write exposes on these national stories? What has happened to investigative journalism in this country?
The Carson tactic could work wonders. When African politicians are stopped from traveling to Europe or America they feel completely disoriented and absolutely insulted. What good is money if it can’t buy all the goodies to be found in Western capitals? That is why many of them send their children to America and Western Europe for both secondary and university education though Kenya has more universities today than at any other time in history. A lot of our leaders have no trust in the country they lead. That is why many of them have their real bank accounts in either America and or in Western Europe.
Carson should therefore not only have banned a nameless influential individual Kenyan official, but he should also have named all the other 15 he had written to a month ago. And what is more he should have frozen all their bank accounts which contains money they have looted from the people of Kenya. Furthermore he should have announced that the children and other relatives of the named people now living in America were going to be deported back to Kenya. That is the language our leaders understand.
More than anyone else, Carson, who has served his country as the Ambassador in Nairobi, understands all the tricks in subterfuge that Kenyan leaders engage in while dealing with the international community. He knows, for example, when Kofi Annan visited the country recently, attempts were made to mislead him and make him believe the country was really serious in implementing Agenda Four reforms. Carson knows Annan found a lot of rotten skeletons in Kenyan leaders’ cupboards.
The visit by Kafi Annan to review reform progress, Carson knows, exposed Kenyan leaders as the most hypocritical people who can go as far as spending public funds to cheat and hoodwink wananchi into believing that the coalition Government was serious about Agenda Four. On October 4th when the former UN Secretary General landed on Kenya, the Government chose to shamelessly tell the people a complete lie through an advertisement in all the national newspapers by the Government spokesman, Dr. Alfred Mutua, who must obviously be underestimating the intelligence of the people of Kenya.
As if he was addressing primary school kids, Mutua imprudently told Kenyans that the Government had achieved what he called a “reform performance” Grade “A” or 90 per cent. The very thought of coming up with such a wicked propaganda, and in such thoughtless format, proved that the Government spokesman, and the people he speaks for, live in a completely different world from that in which the wananchi of this country dwell.
It took Kofi Annan a very short time to realize that the so called leaders of Kenya were planning for yet another bloodbath in the Rift Valley where Kikuyu Mungiki hooligans and Kalenjin militias are collecting dangerous military guns in preparation for another confrontation between them in 2012. Depending on a South Consulting report the former UN Secretary General warned that serious crimes in Kenya were going up and that warlords, who have always won elections in Kenya through threats and bloodshed, hadn’t gone to sleep, but were indeed still preparing to kill more Kenyans in three year’s time.
The South Consulting October report says although post-election violence ended with the signing of the National Accord in February 2008, new forms of crime have arisen in different parts of the country. In areas affected by post election violence, threats against certain communities perceived as ‘outsiders’ persist. Kenyans must be wondering why it took Kofi Annan to come all the way from Europe to expose a heinous plot by our leaders to remain in power through mass murders.
Carson is also aware that on October 6th Raila and Kibaki tried to sanitize Mutua’s dirty propaganda by paying for full page advertisements in all the national papers, and telling the people a story closer to the truth regarding the progress Kenya was making in achieving Agenda Four reforms. But up and above Agenda Four, Carson is likely to raise the issue of insecurity in the country, with the two principals. It is amazing that neither President Kibaki nor Prime Minister Odinga has come up with convincing truth about the security situation in the country. None of them has come up with a clear condemnation on the preparation for war between Kikuyus and Kalenjins in the Rift Valley.
While in Kenya, Carson will most certainly raise the issue with the two principals and demand that the two become more open to the people about the dangerous issue. He must have read the South Consulting October report which says there is a continuation of old illegal armed groups and the emergence of new ones. According to the report some of the new ones have mutated from the old groups. Further, the report says, the groups are emboldened by the failure to successfully prosecute members suspected to have taken part in criminal activities in the past. As reported in the past reports, says the report, lack of policy guidelines on how to deal with organized crime and the fact that some groups enjoy the backing of powerful political leaders have combined to limit actions that would eliminate these groups. This notwithstanding, adds the report, criminal groups have no support among Kenyans -- many people prefer the police to these groups.
The news about constant meetings among Kalenjin Leaders must be extremely worrying. They claim to be meeting about “social and cultural issues”. If that is the case then why are the agendas of these meetings not made public? Why are journalists not invited to the meetings? Another group of leaders engaged in clandestine meetings is that from the Central Province. They claim to be planning “one man one vote” in the next general election. The relationship between the Kalenjins and the Kikuyus has been disturbingly cool ever since the last general election when the two ethnic groups were virtually engaged in a civil war. What is the Government doing to harmonize the relationship between these vital ethnic groups in the country? When Kofi Annan warns of planned conflict in 2012 whom exactly did he have in mind? And why do journalists not write exposes on these national stories? What has happened to investigative journalism in this country?
Monday, September 7, 2009
Raila’s silence on Ringera baffling
The Prime Minister has been mysteriously quiet on the Ringera controversy. His silence is puzzling the whole country. The enigmatic manner in which Raila Odinga is treating the Ringera affair means Agwambo has something up his sleeve, on which he is probably still working and, when he is ready to let the cat out of the bag, it will be quick and punchy. His first reaction will come with such a big explosion that it will shock both Aaron Ringera and Mwai Kibaki, who has had the impudence to unilaterally give the retired judge a new contract, at the risk of angering the whole nation. The manner in which the Ringera debate has been conducted so far indicates the majority of Kenyans have had enough of the old lawyer; not because he is not qualified for the controversial job, but because of the perception of his sluggish pace to expose the big fish among the corrupt and his apparent lack of enthusiasm to prosecute them.
Having once been falsely accused by a section of the community of being involved in maize scandal, that is said to have included his son Fidel, Raila must be extremely careful before he openly attacks the man who, ostensibly, would have investigated the Prime Minister and his son following the false allegations. Indeed there are some people who believe Agwambo should have called for an inquiry to investigate both his family and himself to prove that he undeniably was not involved in any corrupt activities. Now that a lot of time has passed since the allegations, Raila does not want to appear to be rejoicing at the misery of the man who was supposed to probe him. Hence the deliberate silence. But there are many other reasons that could have made the Prime Minister buy his time before commenting on the hottest issue of the day.
First the Prime Minister must be enjoying the embarrassment the President is going through for acting unilaterally without consulting the right people. Strangely, the President’s imprudent act came about only when Francis Muthaura returned to his office after a long absence caused by ill health. Inevitably, people will wonder why Kibaki deliberately ignores Agwambo only when Muthaura is around. This time, however, he has done so at his own peril. For taking the thoughtless action of single handedly renewing Ringera’s contract, the President is paying heavily, even though many respected lawyers believe he did nothing illegal. Raila must be enjoying seeing Kibaki against the wall for preferring to consult Muthaura rather than his equal in the coalition Government.
Secondly the Prime Minister must be enjoying seeing the President being chased around the political field of intrigue by Parliamentarians who seem to have very little respect for the Head of State. The cat and mouse game between the President and the Legislature proves that Kibaki has neither full control of the Executive, to which Raila belongs and controls a very substantial share, nor the Parliament, which is fully controlled by Agwambo. The fight between Kibaki and Parliament also proves that ignoring the Prime Minister in making major decisions in the country can be extremely costly for the President. The continued silence by Raila keeps Kibaki in the torture chamber for a longer period, where the Prime Minister hopes the President can learn a lesson of his lifetime.
The current confrontation between the Executive and the Legislature can probably be sorted out in court, but before then, Parliament can do something to remove the ambiguity in the Anti Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, which has landed the country in a political quagmire. The warring parties do not disagree on the manner in which the Director and his assistants should be appointed. The bone of contention is on how the Directors’ contracts can be renewed. The President, and the people who back him, seem to think the law empowers the Head o State to renew the Directors’ contracts without consulting anyone.
His opponents seem to think the President has no such powers without consulting the Advisory Board and getting the approval of Parliament. As the debate continues the whole issue has been politicized and old political wounds have been reopened. Parliament should take the fastest step possible to amend the Act and remove the ambiguities. Either the President has the powers to unilaterally renew Ringera’s contract or he doesn’t and the law should be clear about that issue.
Now the debate has taken a new turn with ODM insisting the President broke the law and PNU explaining that no law has been broken by the reappointment of Ringera. The old ODM-PNU rivalries on governance issues are at play in pulling the country apart in political confusion at taxpayer’s expenses. MPs continue to draw fat allowances when all they are debating on is whether or not Ringera was properly reappointed to serve his second term.
Meanwhile the MPs and Ministers, whose files Ringera had opened while investigating graft, wish the debate will never end before Ringera is sent home and corruption cases against them can finally be swept under the carpet. Some MPs are even suggesting that the entire ACCK should be disbanded and Ringera and his complete team should be sent packing. If that happens, it will be the most irresponsible act by Kenya’s Legislature in recent history. No matter how lackadaisical people may think Ringera has been, he has started some very vital investigations which cannot be wished away because some MPs think his reappointment has been done irregularly.
Before MPs send Ringera away and maybe even disband the KACC, the people who pay Ringera and sustain the institution he heads must be told the nature and content of the 498 files which he has handed to the Attorney General for prosecution. A lot of MPs are probably in those files and they would not like Ringera to talk about them. There are eight Ministers who Ringera has recommended for prosecution for corruption. Five of these Ministers served in the former Kenyan Governments and three of them are still Minister in the Kibaki-Raila Government. Wananchi would obviously like to know who these Ministers are and what nature of corruption Ringera is accusing them of. Arguing about the manner in which Ringera’s contract has been renewed will not change the situation. Eight Ministers are still being accused by Ringera. The big question is: Do Kenyans want to back Ringera on this particular issue or do they want to back eight corrupt politicians now hitting so hard against Ringera?
In a Press Statement issued by Nicholas M. Simani, the KACC principle Public Relations and Protocol Officer, the anti corruption body shows that Ringera has made major pro-active interventions that have saved this nation billions of shillings which would have ended up in top corrupt public officials’ pockets .These include a 2.2 billion shilling mis-procurement in the Kenya Sugar Board, one billion shillings mis-procurement of cranes at the Kenya Ports Authority and many other proven cases which mysteriously have been given a total blackout by the local media. What is of greater significance to Kenyan journalists, the vanishing billions that end up with corrupt officials, who Ringera has exposed, or the manner in which his contract is being renewed? What has happened to the news values of Kenyan journalists? What about their own ethical principles of accuracy, impartiality and fair play? The world is watching the misbehaviour of the Fourth Estate in Kenya with a lot of interest.
Having once been falsely accused by a section of the community of being involved in maize scandal, that is said to have included his son Fidel, Raila must be extremely careful before he openly attacks the man who, ostensibly, would have investigated the Prime Minister and his son following the false allegations. Indeed there are some people who believe Agwambo should have called for an inquiry to investigate both his family and himself to prove that he undeniably was not involved in any corrupt activities. Now that a lot of time has passed since the allegations, Raila does not want to appear to be rejoicing at the misery of the man who was supposed to probe him. Hence the deliberate silence. But there are many other reasons that could have made the Prime Minister buy his time before commenting on the hottest issue of the day.
First the Prime Minister must be enjoying the embarrassment the President is going through for acting unilaterally without consulting the right people. Strangely, the President’s imprudent act came about only when Francis Muthaura returned to his office after a long absence caused by ill health. Inevitably, people will wonder why Kibaki deliberately ignores Agwambo only when Muthaura is around. This time, however, he has done so at his own peril. For taking the thoughtless action of single handedly renewing Ringera’s contract, the President is paying heavily, even though many respected lawyers believe he did nothing illegal. Raila must be enjoying seeing Kibaki against the wall for preferring to consult Muthaura rather than his equal in the coalition Government.
Secondly the Prime Minister must be enjoying seeing the President being chased around the political field of intrigue by Parliamentarians who seem to have very little respect for the Head of State. The cat and mouse game between the President and the Legislature proves that Kibaki has neither full control of the Executive, to which Raila belongs and controls a very substantial share, nor the Parliament, which is fully controlled by Agwambo. The fight between Kibaki and Parliament also proves that ignoring the Prime Minister in making major decisions in the country can be extremely costly for the President. The continued silence by Raila keeps Kibaki in the torture chamber for a longer period, where the Prime Minister hopes the President can learn a lesson of his lifetime.
The current confrontation between the Executive and the Legislature can probably be sorted out in court, but before then, Parliament can do something to remove the ambiguity in the Anti Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, which has landed the country in a political quagmire. The warring parties do not disagree on the manner in which the Director and his assistants should be appointed. The bone of contention is on how the Directors’ contracts can be renewed. The President, and the people who back him, seem to think the law empowers the Head o State to renew the Directors’ contracts without consulting anyone.
His opponents seem to think the President has no such powers without consulting the Advisory Board and getting the approval of Parliament. As the debate continues the whole issue has been politicized and old political wounds have been reopened. Parliament should take the fastest step possible to amend the Act and remove the ambiguities. Either the President has the powers to unilaterally renew Ringera’s contract or he doesn’t and the law should be clear about that issue.
Now the debate has taken a new turn with ODM insisting the President broke the law and PNU explaining that no law has been broken by the reappointment of Ringera. The old ODM-PNU rivalries on governance issues are at play in pulling the country apart in political confusion at taxpayer’s expenses. MPs continue to draw fat allowances when all they are debating on is whether or not Ringera was properly reappointed to serve his second term.
Meanwhile the MPs and Ministers, whose files Ringera had opened while investigating graft, wish the debate will never end before Ringera is sent home and corruption cases against them can finally be swept under the carpet. Some MPs are even suggesting that the entire ACCK should be disbanded and Ringera and his complete team should be sent packing. If that happens, it will be the most irresponsible act by Kenya’s Legislature in recent history. No matter how lackadaisical people may think Ringera has been, he has started some very vital investigations which cannot be wished away because some MPs think his reappointment has been done irregularly.
Before MPs send Ringera away and maybe even disband the KACC, the people who pay Ringera and sustain the institution he heads must be told the nature and content of the 498 files which he has handed to the Attorney General for prosecution. A lot of MPs are probably in those files and they would not like Ringera to talk about them. There are eight Ministers who Ringera has recommended for prosecution for corruption. Five of these Ministers served in the former Kenyan Governments and three of them are still Minister in the Kibaki-Raila Government. Wananchi would obviously like to know who these Ministers are and what nature of corruption Ringera is accusing them of. Arguing about the manner in which Ringera’s contract has been renewed will not change the situation. Eight Ministers are still being accused by Ringera. The big question is: Do Kenyans want to back Ringera on this particular issue or do they want to back eight corrupt politicians now hitting so hard against Ringera?
In a Press Statement issued by Nicholas M. Simani, the KACC principle Public Relations and Protocol Officer, the anti corruption body shows that Ringera has made major pro-active interventions that have saved this nation billions of shillings which would have ended up in top corrupt public officials’ pockets .These include a 2.2 billion shilling mis-procurement in the Kenya Sugar Board, one billion shillings mis-procurement of cranes at the Kenya Ports Authority and many other proven cases which mysteriously have been given a total blackout by the local media. What is of greater significance to Kenyan journalists, the vanishing billions that end up with corrupt officials, who Ringera has exposed, or the manner in which his contract is being renewed? What has happened to the news values of Kenyan journalists? What about their own ethical principles of accuracy, impartiality and fair play? The world is watching the misbehaviour of the Fourth Estate in Kenya with a lot of interest.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Corruption is fighting Ringera back
The countless enemies of Aaron Ringera are up in arms. Daggers have been drawn against the KACC boss for more reasons than meets the eye. His invisible, yet extremely powerful, enemies include tribalism, party politics, professional jealousy and, last but not least, corruption itself. For the whole week now the entire country, led by the Fourth Estate, has buried its head in the sand and totally declined to listen to reason on the need to renew Ringera’s contract. Making more noise than anyone else, Parliament itself has condemned the retired Judge’s reappointment as illegal. That, despite the fact that the august House is full of lawyers, who simply refused to be logical and instead became so openly partisan, tribal and unreasonable.
The claim that the reappointment of Ringera was illegal was based on either the ignorance of the law or a deliberate misinterpretation of it. The relevant part of the Anti Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, under which the KACC comes, was expertly discussed in a well written article in the Daily Nation by the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Mutula Kilonzo, who reveals that no law was broken by Mwai Kibaki when he reappointed Ringera to serve the second five year term. What is shocking is the number of lawyers, including the KACC Board Chairman, Okongo Omogeni, who have ganged up to oppose the reappointment of Ringera. Did these lawyers tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Facts don’t support their case.
The fact that Mwai Kibaki broke no law does not mean he behaved in the most upright, decent or honest manner. His act of ignoring the KACC Board simply means he is an extremely stubborn, pigheaded and may be very obdurate old man who is drunk with power and does not hesitate to exhibit it. Doing so, however, does not mean he is breaking any law. So the Board members have every reason to be upset, but they should not do so by exposing their ignorance of the very law that puts them there. Parliament is making a lot of noise and getting very disconcerted for nothing.
The law does not say that the Legislature has to be consulted before the Director is reappointed to serve a second term. According to the law Parliament is only involved in approving candidates to be hired by the Commission. Ringera had already gone through that procedure before he was hired. Something is seriously very wrong when the whole Parliament becomes embarrassingly so worked up at the taxpayers expense. The LSK is taking the matter to Court but Mutula has already interpreted the law for them.
For the short time that the KACC Director has served Kenya he has made very many powerful enemies including Minister in the current Government. Among the people he has recommended to the Attorney General for persecution are three Ministers in the Kibaki-Raila Government and 58 Chief Executives of Public Corporations. Ringera should now publicly announce the names of the people he wants the Attorney General to prosecute. That way we shall know who his enemies really are. The biggest problem with Ringera is that he has no prosecutorial powers and without those powers he will always appear to be incompetent whereas in fact the man is indeed being frustrated by the big sharks he is trying to expose and prosecute. There are very many Kenyans who believe Ringera should be given more powers to prosecute rather than being shown the door.
Among the people who would like Ringera to lose his job is Rashmi Chamalal Kamani who is involved in the Anglo Lasing scandal including some wanting security related contracts. This man is so crafty that not even Ringera can trace him. All that Ringera can do is to offer an award of 100,000/- to anyone with useful information about Kamani. Whereas Kamani has been forced by Ringera to go underground it is not conceivable that the later is sitting on his laurel waiting for the Anglo Leasing scandal to vanish in thin air. Obviously Kamani is fighting back and he is fighting back using the most powerful men and women in and outside the Government and Parliament.
The next powerful man who can easily do Ringera in is Yagnesh Mohanlal Devani whom Ringera exposed as the man behind the Triton scandal involving more than seven billion shillings. The amount of money is so staggering that any of the beneficiaries exposed by Ringera would do anything to make sure the retired Judge is sent home as soon as possible. There is little doubt that Ringera has achieved more than the Fourth Estate in Kenya would like to acknowledge. Indeed rather than joining forces with those who would like to get rid of Ringera, journalists should support him as the one man always ready to help them do exposes that would put crooks in trouble.
Big money in the hands of crooks is not the only enemy fighting Ringera. Tribalism is also fighting him. Many tribal chiefs look at Ringera’s job as a feather in Gema people’s cap. Jobs in Kenya are so “tribalised” that it is almost a shame to hear even the most highly educated people talking of how many ministers their tribes have, or how many judges and how many heads of parastatals their tribes have. The larger the tribe the more top public official bosses it is supposed to have. Ringera’s job happens to be the most lucrative public office of the land.
Every tribe with anyone on the bench thinks it is time for their son or daughter to occupy that office. Ringera’s achievements notwithstanding, he will always be opposed by tribalists trying to get their own people at the KACC helm. The other reason Ringera is opposed by tribalists is the perception that he is there to protect his own people from facing the long arm of the law no matter how corrupt they are. Tribalists therefore want their own man or woman in that important office to be protected from the law as they continue engaging in corrupt activities.
Besides big money and tribalism, Ringera’s enemies include party rivalries. Ringera is perceived to be a PNU supporter regardless of his real political conviction. This makes him the dart board of the ODM missiles. No matter what he does, he will be always a victim of the most lethal attacks from ODM MPs. This trend will continue until the office is occupied by an ODM candidate. How beneficial that candidate will be to the party is not easy to imagine. But ODM is made up of Kenyan politicians who suffer from the same societal weakness as the rest of the country. Many of them are as corrupt as PNU leaders. Professional jealousy is yet another enemy facing Ringera. The only way he can fight that is to be even more competent. But first he has to keep his job.
The claim that the reappointment of Ringera was illegal was based on either the ignorance of the law or a deliberate misinterpretation of it. The relevant part of the Anti Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, under which the KACC comes, was expertly discussed in a well written article in the Daily Nation by the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Mutula Kilonzo, who reveals that no law was broken by Mwai Kibaki when he reappointed Ringera to serve the second five year term. What is shocking is the number of lawyers, including the KACC Board Chairman, Okongo Omogeni, who have ganged up to oppose the reappointment of Ringera. Did these lawyers tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Facts don’t support their case.
The fact that Mwai Kibaki broke no law does not mean he behaved in the most upright, decent or honest manner. His act of ignoring the KACC Board simply means he is an extremely stubborn, pigheaded and may be very obdurate old man who is drunk with power and does not hesitate to exhibit it. Doing so, however, does not mean he is breaking any law. So the Board members have every reason to be upset, but they should not do so by exposing their ignorance of the very law that puts them there. Parliament is making a lot of noise and getting very disconcerted for nothing.
The law does not say that the Legislature has to be consulted before the Director is reappointed to serve a second term. According to the law Parliament is only involved in approving candidates to be hired by the Commission. Ringera had already gone through that procedure before he was hired. Something is seriously very wrong when the whole Parliament becomes embarrassingly so worked up at the taxpayers expense. The LSK is taking the matter to Court but Mutula has already interpreted the law for them.
For the short time that the KACC Director has served Kenya he has made very many powerful enemies including Minister in the current Government. Among the people he has recommended to the Attorney General for persecution are three Ministers in the Kibaki-Raila Government and 58 Chief Executives of Public Corporations. Ringera should now publicly announce the names of the people he wants the Attorney General to prosecute. That way we shall know who his enemies really are. The biggest problem with Ringera is that he has no prosecutorial powers and without those powers he will always appear to be incompetent whereas in fact the man is indeed being frustrated by the big sharks he is trying to expose and prosecute. There are very many Kenyans who believe Ringera should be given more powers to prosecute rather than being shown the door.
Among the people who would like Ringera to lose his job is Rashmi Chamalal Kamani who is involved in the Anglo Lasing scandal including some wanting security related contracts. This man is so crafty that not even Ringera can trace him. All that Ringera can do is to offer an award of 100,000/- to anyone with useful information about Kamani. Whereas Kamani has been forced by Ringera to go underground it is not conceivable that the later is sitting on his laurel waiting for the Anglo Leasing scandal to vanish in thin air. Obviously Kamani is fighting back and he is fighting back using the most powerful men and women in and outside the Government and Parliament.
The next powerful man who can easily do Ringera in is Yagnesh Mohanlal Devani whom Ringera exposed as the man behind the Triton scandal involving more than seven billion shillings. The amount of money is so staggering that any of the beneficiaries exposed by Ringera would do anything to make sure the retired Judge is sent home as soon as possible. There is little doubt that Ringera has achieved more than the Fourth Estate in Kenya would like to acknowledge. Indeed rather than joining forces with those who would like to get rid of Ringera, journalists should support him as the one man always ready to help them do exposes that would put crooks in trouble.
Big money in the hands of crooks is not the only enemy fighting Ringera. Tribalism is also fighting him. Many tribal chiefs look at Ringera’s job as a feather in Gema people’s cap. Jobs in Kenya are so “tribalised” that it is almost a shame to hear even the most highly educated people talking of how many ministers their tribes have, or how many judges and how many heads of parastatals their tribes have. The larger the tribe the more top public official bosses it is supposed to have. Ringera’s job happens to be the most lucrative public office of the land.
Every tribe with anyone on the bench thinks it is time for their son or daughter to occupy that office. Ringera’s achievements notwithstanding, he will always be opposed by tribalists trying to get their own people at the KACC helm. The other reason Ringera is opposed by tribalists is the perception that he is there to protect his own people from facing the long arm of the law no matter how corrupt they are. Tribalists therefore want their own man or woman in that important office to be protected from the law as they continue engaging in corrupt activities.
Besides big money and tribalism, Ringera’s enemies include party rivalries. Ringera is perceived to be a PNU supporter regardless of his real political conviction. This makes him the dart board of the ODM missiles. No matter what he does, he will be always a victim of the most lethal attacks from ODM MPs. This trend will continue until the office is occupied by an ODM candidate. How beneficial that candidate will be to the party is not easy to imagine. But ODM is made up of Kenyan politicians who suffer from the same societal weakness as the rest of the country. Many of them are as corrupt as PNU leaders. Professional jealousy is yet another enemy facing Ringera. The only way he can fight that is to be even more competent. But first he has to keep his job.
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