....And the beat goes on!

Looking at the ongoing saga of Syokimau and other affected areas where Kenyans are systematically being rendered homeless, It is difficult to not say, 'you thought you were safe, now it's your turn!'
This is so because after nearly five years now, other Kenyans of slightly different pedigree have been living under tents and other makeshift structures after they were rendered homeless by political thugs now sitting in Parliament through their agents and hired hooligans.

Our national psyche and conscience has been so numbed to feel pity and pain for such actions that no one really remembers that we still have IDPs, squatters, people in the sprawling slums living in inhuman conditions-who need 'a final solution', as far as land for permanent settlement and shelter is concerned. We should never forget that there are children, the aged and invalids in those camps and all these, through no fault of their own like acquiring illegal land, have been made homeless by our own intolerance and individual/communal greed.

While we question the honesty of such institutions as the Airport Authority who watched as a modern housing estate was constructed 'on their land' only to suddenly wake up as if from a stupor and commence demolitions, We need to remember that such actions/behaviours have in the past resulted in the calamities that we have witnessed like the recent fire in Sinai, the not so distant past fire in Athi River, the deadly train accidents in Kibera….etc. In all these incidents, land reserved for public utility corporations has been encroached on by unscrupulous settlers with the full knowledge of the corporations and no action taken until the gross loss of life after the accidents. Then our political consciousness makes pilgrimages to the sites to mourn and promise government assistance. They also shed a crocodilian tear or two in the process, hoping that it will be remembered come next voting season.

How come no one ever gets to be prosecuted for all these wrong doings or is there no relevant jurisprudence or statute infringed in all these activities? If the acquisition of the land in Syokimau was illegal, whoever received monies for the transfers surely needs to be put on the stand? Whoever produced the fake title deeds surely needs to state how they were obtained? Whoever was responsible for enforcing the airpot authority boundaries ought to state what was happening when the houses were being constructed! How come our air force base in Nairobi was swamped in by illegal constructions-what happened to national security for heaven's sake? Many heads need to be rolling.

In the spirit of the new constitution, let us put to test our resolve to rope in runaway corruption and impunity. Let us follow our laws to the letter and spirit and in so doing extract the cancer of corruption from our system for ever.

Poleni sana Sinai, Athi River, Kibera et al.

Disasters come packaged like the links in a chain. Starting with the base link which is the causative factor for subsequent events (links), they follow each other-not necessarily sequentially -like dominoes till the final one hits you. Why do we 'die so repeatedly' from fuel spillage, especially in these days of universal information? Why do we gravitate towards mass annihilation like a moth to a flame?

The problem, when one suffers the ultimate from a calamity, it is often too late to learn and the ones left behind usually dismiss it as bad luck on your part. The powers that be will at times label disasters as 'Acts of God' while the lesser mortals will at times declare them 'acts of witch craft' and 'curses of evil'. Religious leaders will sometime label them as 'God's judgement of the evil humans' and /or 'signs of the times'.  The fortunate survivors will live on to repeat the same mistakes on a future date and for them too, the bell will toll. ad infinitum.

Solutions for these recurrent problems revolve around addressing abject poverty, civic education, enforcement of laid down regulations, building and habitation codes, effective investigations as to who the responsibility falls under for ensuring safe functioning of systems and disciplining all who may be found in fault. Why do we encroach, live and do commerce on road reserves, railway reserves, pipeline reserves, game reserves and no one is able to stop us? The cancer of corruption which results in breeding impunity, nepotism and favouritism, will haunt us till we look at it in the face and call it as such. Question is; will we live to that day or are we going to self-destruct before it?

My sympathies are with all the victims and those left behind. May we learn something from those events to help us live more safely and appreciate the dangers surrounding us. and let us see who will be held responsible for these events.

Serikali is not Sirikali.

The AG, the learned Mr Amos Wako is the longest serving government legal advisor we have had in Kenya. It is hinted that he knows nearly everywhere all the skeletons are hidden by the two most recent regimes. He might even have been the consultant-in-chief when the skeletons were being made
He has been indoctrinated in the art of secrecy. He might even be the chief architect of the art itself thereby advising such dictators like Moi to always keep 'a secret weapon' with which to rout any formidable foe- real or imagined, at elections. We are lucky enough to have witnessed this in the days of SabaSaba and the FORD movement. The greatest and most formidable mass movement since the clamor to oust the British colonialists and their hatchet-men in the 50's and 60's was instantaneously rendered obsolete with one tea session at the State House where it is said Ugali was also included in the menu!
Due to a stroke of fate or national misfortune, it is this same Wako that we are forced to rely on to transcend the deep dark divide between the old constitutional order and the new one. He is the bridge to see us through. And we are all very afraid. VERY AFRAID!
Come clean, honourable AG. That constitution you are trying to 'secretly doctor' was concocted by Kenyans in the open. That is exactly how we want it to be implemented!

Wake up and live....

What The Boss is seeing since June 3rd are ordinary Kenyans going about their daily lives ( and they are not weird ). I have been seeing them all my life and they haven't been of any particular threat to me. What he is afraid of is his own models of phantoms or the guilt of sins past committed, and his only refuge is to come out clean and face his accusers in broad daylight. Only the truth will set him free.
........
As Marley sang,
Life is one big road with lots of signs...
As we move along the ruts,.....not to complicate our minds
....to be free from hate, deceit and jelousy...
........

A luta continua.....

The battle lines for Africa's ultimate liberation seems to be getting clearer as we progress.
It is now clear that corruption, impunity and irresponsible, unaccountable regimes headed by  lame-duck leaders are our common enemy. Our politics have been dominated by criminals and compounded by greed and blind power struggles.
Most of African populations are held up at bottle-necks created by politicians seeking to entrench and enrich themselves with total disregard of the woes facing the masses. The only time the masses' needs are in the politicians' agenda is when the elections are near, and even then, the needs met are meagre, short term and only fulfilling immediate desires; beer for the men-folk, one kilogram packages of sugar for the women-folk and or a large denomination currency note. The more real problems are listed as development plans to be implemented if the politicians get the votes. These will be as vague as possible to make sure no one is able to question the implementation progress or lack thereof. They will shout about how they will " bring electricity and water to the villages…, the schools will be improved…, the roads will be upgraded,…"
Finally to get the voters out in their droves, the politicians will pull the age-old trick of accusing past regimes headed by 'other' tribes of all the underdevelopment in their region. They will however forget to mention that they were in Parliament when these regimes were in power and that they have nothing in record to indicate that their efforts to represent their voters were frustrated-of course because the Hansard is not accessible by the ordinary mwananchi.(Parliamentarians are known to go through their terms without ever contributing anything in The house except the conversion of oxygen into carbon dioxide.) They will call on their supporters to vote 'as a block' and these is normally translated as a green light to frustrate opposition as necessary-unfortunately including violence.
To the issue at hand, fight against corruption and impunity.
Why is it that someone who is associated with prosecutorial debacles related to serving parliamentarians is nominated and approved for the post of chief prosecutor by the said parliament-is this a sign of things to come, that none of the sitting parliamentarians suspected of crimes both local and international-and we have many!-will prosecuted?Aren't we, by this actions, entrenching impunity into our new constitution?
Why don't our parliamentarians see the urgency to clear the DPP nominee of all accusations facing him before approving his nomination?
Because of political expediency and feelings of need for leniency/protection, parliamentarians are now aligned along those in need of a blind eyed prosecutor supporting Ole Tobiko and those with no fears of prosecution opposing his nomination.  The president and prime minister either by design or by accident are held at ransom. And our new dawn will be muddied by this act.  So again, this is a false start.The struggle for our liberation continues. Let there be no more blood spilling-innocent blood.

Tusisahau kamwe...

When Kenyans are reminded that they have a short memory like one of the four-legged natives of the Kenyan game reserves-which is both good and bad, they feel hurt.
When they are misguided by their politicians to kill each other and destroy property, they somehow don't feel the hurt-that is until the international community goes..' Oh my God!! How could they?'

Since the time the white man schemed and executed his plan to perpetuate his dominion in Kenya by pitting one tribe against the other, we have never been able to shed this spell of animosity and mutual mistrust among ourselves.  This has mostly been the effects of bad politics. We have never really shed the white man's politics. Our founding fathers saw the harm colonial politics could rain on a nation and came up with an alternative approach dubbed African socialism-but this remained a dream on paper. They had the good will to approach politics with the African attitude of brotherhood and community burden sharing, simply put, being mindful of ones neighbours' welfare.

Somewhere down the line, our leaders betrayed their own cause and and deviated their noble path and took up short cuts to enrich themselves and entrench their grip on power. The noble goals of eradication of poverty, disease and ignorance were thrown by the roadside and forgotten. The ignorant 'mwananchi wa kawaida' was left dazzled by the slogans, chanting and fanfare blaring from the political arena. His case was sealed. He was forgotten.

That is, until just the other day when a people driven attempt to change the way politics is played was promulgated. The mwananchi wa kawaida finally shook the dust off, cleaned himself up and got ready to march on towards the old goals of zero poverty, zero disease and zero ignorance-or so he believed, but then again the politicians might have set other goals! The under-currents in the public service and political scenes seem to indicate that it's the same old song only with a different tune. This is the reason that most of those interested in the new political seats of governors and senators are former or current politicians. The powerful seats in the judiciary have attracted old players in the tainted system. The nominee for the director of public prosecutions is a shining example of a system not willing to let go of the reins of power by hook or crook-even laden with an impeccable record of commissions and omissions, the gentleman is not self conscientious enough to withdraw and reflect on his own past record. One cannot be found wanting by so many scales and come out clean- Lazima iko kitu.

My call is to the mwananchi wa kawaida to not forget the past betrayals. To look at those calling for support with a sober mind and gauge each according to their past deeds and mis-deeds, both committed directly or by proxy. Listen and take note of what they are promising and hold them accountable-the current constitution allows for recalls if one fails midterm. The mwananchi wa kawaida needs to keep in mind that the power really rests on himself and not the politician. The time to be conned and treaded on by the politicians is gone. This is the new dawn of the Kenya we always wanted-and no one should be allowed to hijack it from us. Let us always remember.

Of ear studs and the Constitution....

Kenyan politicians and administrators need to grow up and shed the ways of 'boys and girls'. They are behaving like rudderless marine vessels with sails in a windy ocean. They are completely without 'mwelekeo' other than making a lot of noise so as to be recognized as 'people who talk'- or maybe Peoples' spokesmen, come the 2012 political showdown.

What we need in Kenya today, in the new political dispensation, are new-age politicians who stand out because of solid principles. Principles that should guide the whole nation into the 2030 dream of national prosperity. What we are hearing at the moment is just a disharmonious rabble and din by self-proclaimed quasi-paramount chiefs who are, each in their top gear trying to woo  their tribesmen and sycophants, promising the ever elusive 'sugar-candy' lands we have all been yearning for since the departure of the British colonialists in the sixties.

….And our politicians know which side of the slice is buttered. Not so many sunsets ago, the ICC protagonists were 'mum' on a group of individuals who had been 'selected' to preside on the highest judicial seat, the public prosecutor, and Attorney general in Kenya. They did not mention, not even once, that the 'selection' was unconstitutional. The majority of Kenyans- who, by the way, are capable of thinking for themselves- saw through the hoodwink and declared 'Umekula huu! Jaribu tena!' to the President.
Now, one of those 'washtakiwa' is calling on Kenyan Christians to pray to God because a noble Kenyan, who happens to think that wearing an ear stud is chic, has been suggested as a likely Chief Justice. How about the said Kenyans praying because a 'house of God' was burnt down with the said God's flock inside? Which prayers would the said God give priority?…

The problem with politicians is that they never realize it when they become obsolete. They have placed themselves into some form of time freeze, some kind of suspended animation, and unfortunately they would like the rest of us to stay under their spell. They wish they thought for everyone. They earnestly believe their word is sacrosanct.
Oh! How wrong they are.

May We Dwell In Unity....

Read online comments about the IDP situation in Kenya, by Kenyans and it is like a window into the psyche of a mad evil being. Kenyans have been turned into an uncontrollable mass of hate, prejudiced and stereotyping lot- all because the government has chosen, either by design or mere incompetence, to ‘not be government’.

The Kenya government seems to be in control of nothing. The judiciary is sleeping, the Executive is on some kind of vacation, and the legislature?- well we all know what the legislature is busy doing. In the mean time, poor ordinary Kenyans are lonely, cold and hungry. They have become so deprived that they have lost all sense of ‘human-ness’ let alone the patriotism reminisced by Ngugi wa Thiong’o recently. Ordinary Kenyans are now grabbing at each other’s throats desperately fighting for basic survival while the politicians are busy pouring ethnic vitriol into the wounds of inter-ethnic suspicions.

The law seems very helpless. It seems like there is no law in Kenya at all except if you are a government minister and you misplace your laptop- then the whole police force will be mobilized to torture all those that may have some information about it. And the laptop will be recovered. The same police force cannot find drugs traffickers who traffic in the hundreds of tonnes. They cannot be trusted to ensure security for Kenyans as they go about their lives. They cannot apprehend the perpetrators of inter-ethnic hatred or the warmongers amongst us who, with tongue in cheek, stoke age-old fires sparked by abject poverty and deprivation. But then again, maybe they need a command to do all these, from whoever commanded them to search and retrieve the DPM’s laptop, and probably that command has not been issued. Selective justice.

The government is still in the slumber of the old Constitutional order. This is the age of zero impunity. The government has no business poring over the map of Kenya looking for land to resettle people who were bonfide landowners prior to 2008 and did not lawfully transfer these parcels to their current occupiers! The government’s job is to facilitate the safe return to these lands and to sort out the landless ones with the vast public land in its control. Regional or ethnic statements to the effect that people from certain regions may not be settled in other regions are simply a contravention of the Constitution and should be treated as such- infringement of the law. Entertaining such sentiments is encouraging impunity.

It is my submission that had the government acted like the government it was supposed to be; we would not have fallen so deep into the pit we find ourselves in now. We would not have so many issues to grapple with now- basic issues like food and shelter! In a nutshell, the government has been a total betrayal of the aspirations of ‘mwananchi wa kawaida’. The reason why we need to go back to the drawing boards and find selfless individuals who can be trusted to guide our nation to reap the fruits of our labour now and not 2030, or those other future dates. Our prayer to the government is ‘….give us this day our daily livelihood, and don’t forgive our trespasses…for we will not forgive yours..’

hypocrisy at its best

....Interesting to note that the government of Kenya has acquired one million hectares for wildlife conservation in three regions that have fought tooth and nail to frustrate the same government's intention to acquire thousands of hectares to resettle displaced Kenyans.
This says alot about Kenyans or their government (politicians).

Lest We Forget...

The Ocampo 6 obeyed the summonses, presented themselves before the judges and identified themselves for the mentioning of their cases. They probably enjoyed the scenery in Europe, enjoyed their vast wealth, be it ill-gained or otherwise, others may have spent the misappropriated taxpayer shillings in whichever needs they deemed necessary and they are now jetting back into the country. Pundits have been processing the intricate details raised during the proceedings in The Hague and pondering the different likely outcomes, scenarios and implications.

Strangely, Kenyan style, we manage to focus our national lens away from the real issue and instead get set to discuss peripheral issues, non-issues and innuendoes.  We, as Kenyans refuse to contemplate the charges facing these gentlemen and to ask ourselves how we got there in the first place.

The charges listed among others; murder, rape, persecution (all in large scale) and the victims are people we knew. They are people we are living with and some of us are still struggling with the results of these heinous acts.

In every Kenyan’s lips should be the statement “ Never again! ” But the prevailing mood is that we are ready for part two of it all. What with politicians planning and scheming plots to marginalise and lock out opponents in the forthcoming elections.

The unmentioned effect of the actions by the politicians are; feelings of disenfranchisement by the communities whose leaders are locked out and we all know what could happen if communities feel an election has been blatantly stolen. Those in the Ocampo 6 know this scenario all too well, yet…..

The government which has been burning midnight oil trying to convince the international community that it can handle its own legal issues seems, yet another time, to be in a spell. It seems to be paralysed and incapable of lifting a stick to stop the warmongers and anarchists. No one in government seems to realize that the sole reason two of its agents are among the Ocampo 6 is the fact that there was a government in power when the PEV was raging, but the government either did nothing, did the right thing the wrong way, or did the wrong thing the wrong way.

So the return of the Hague suspects is cause for celebration and thanksgiving, for some. To others it is a statement that God is with the communities, to some it is a signal to shift gears in the putsch for the elimination of other communities’ voting power. The whole country’s attention seems transfixed on these parochial issues and all seem to have forgotten why or how we got here in the first place.

No one seems to have the solution for our chronic land ownership problems that mostly gets exacerbated by general elections. No one is pondering the pressing problem of resettling the IDPs still in the ‘refugee camps’- all attempts to resolve their problems seem half-hearted and self defeating: why is the government hell bent to purchase land to resettle people who owned land in the first place? Why not resettle them on their original land? Is the application of the law on land ownership partisan? Why do some communities get to decide who can own land in certain parts of the country?- This is impunity and it’s what sent those six to the Hague, let’s not forget that.

'Government Replies for Dummies', Second Edition.

One simply can't help but to marvel at Kenyan politicians. Their hard-wired line of response, maybe according to government issued manual 'Government Replies for Dummies', to any issue is 'deny first, ponder over the allegation, if it's the whole truth then claim that it is an attempt by your political enemies to finish you politically. If they persist, state that your tribe is being attacked, and that the tribe will fight by all means. And the options go on till somewhere down the line, the 'manual' advices the concerned to concede there is a problem but state that investigations are in progress to bring the culprits to book, and that once caught they will face the full force of the law. And then cross your fingers praying that everything will go away.

scene 1, act 1;
Minister in charge of  Security-''No we are not habouring drugs barons in.........'
.......
scene 1, act 2;
Minister in charge of  Security-' No there are no Kenyan mercenaries in Lybia......'
.......
If this honourable professor does not know what is happening within Kenyan borders, how credible is he when commenting on happenings in a distant country? Can he vouch for all Kenyans who reside in foreign countries as far as their innocence is concerned?

The Way Forward...

So President Kibaki has beat a retreat as far as his nominations to the four high offices are concerned. That is rightful and fitting. Now all he needs to do to regain his momentum for a final legacy before he leaves office is to shed his already soiled exoskeleton and show off his 'clean' inner self.

As long as his actions are deemed to be fueled and guided by the 'unholy trinity' of the 'KKK' alliance, he is misguided as far as the majority of right thinking Kenyans are concerned and he will never gain their trust and confidence. This triad is largely seen as mischievous, power-hungry, scheming, and only interested in halting varying legal proceedings against them as individuals-be they corruption, abuse of office on the home front or the ICC driven charges of crimes against humanity.

Conventional wisdom dictates that one is innocent until proven guilty, but when one actively and persistently postpones or frustrates the efforts to be proven innocent, or to be tried, then doubts are cast as to their innocence and what is implied is a self proclamation of a guilty verdict. Fraternise too much time with the guilty and their guilt rubs on you.

President Kibaki, being both a de-facto and de-jure, national unifying figure, and one who once promised zero tolerance of corruption in his administration, should try and spend his administration's twilight moments forging unity in all the ethnic communities and calling out corruption from the grand coalition he is fostering, one of the best ways to go about these tasks is to do just what he did by reneging his infamous nominations and being seen to be doing this in consultation with the PM, not his handlers, apologists and sycophants.
History will judge him very severely despite all the gains and strides he has afforded the ‘mwananchi wa kawaida’, democracy and economic infrastructure have truly thrived under him in scales unforeseen in a long time. History dictates that he pins these up the Notice Board and rightfully claim his task in our national progress.

To Hague or not to Hague....That's the Question.

"In my actions as your President, I have at all times acted in accordance with the Constitution and the Laws of Kenya.... However, our primary duty is to ensure we are guided by the Constitution and ordinary law as enacted so as to ensure the smooth and predictable running of our country."-President Kibaki.

This is the crux of President Kibaki's mitigation in his displeasure with the ruling by the Speaker of the National Assembly. He goes on to say that only the judiciary could interpret the Constitution. Already, one learned judge has cast doubts on the nomination process and ruled that there's a case to be heard on monday and that it is illegal for any individual or any state organ to approve any of the nominated individuals for now.
-------
It is not enough to simply follow the dictates of the constitution. Justice ought to be seen to be done. The back drop against which these nominations were carried out blurred the clear intentions the President had-if at all he had any, and it is this 'blot' in the picture that  the unheard voice-(which seems to be wailing in the distant background but appropriately propagated by the general opposition to the nominations) is shouting about.

Conventional opinion is that the President needed some facts to present to the AU in Addis to prove that Kenya was ready to tackle its own legal problems as far as trying indigenous 'criminals against humanity' is concerned. The mistake he made, prior to the nominations, he had publicly paraded himself without batting an eyelid with the very people suspected of the said crimes and public statements, by two of the principle six, made in his presence were attributed to be his guiding principle when he pored over the nominations.

No one could therefore not jump into the conclusion that the fate of the 'Ocampo Six' was the driving force behind the hurriedly done 'consultations'- if at all they happened, and me believe they did not. The implication he gave the exercise was that machinery was in place to investigate, arrest, try and sentence the suspects of the 2008 PEV . Had he been wiser, he would have avoided the fraternising he so gleefully enjoyed with the likes of Ruto and Uhuru until after the nominations. One of those nominated, the DPP nominee,  was/is still representing Ruto in another criminal proceeding! The President completely forgot  that 'judges,- or his nominees, like Caesar's wife, should be above suspicion!'

How could he provide the Ocampo Six's wishes; their own prosecutor and their own judge? Which leads me to ponder as I have in the past in this forum, 'just where does the government stand in the 'Ocampo Six vs the victims of PEV'? Does the government really have any 'locus standi' in these proceedings? If yes, then it could fit in as a co-defendant- because there was a 'de facto' government when all these atrocities were carried out. Therefore the government's hand should not be seen to interfere with what the ICC deemed as crimes against humanity. The government abdicated its role when it treated the atrocities as a non-issue until Luis Moreno Ocampo rode into town.
So, Mr President, get your act together and huddle with your Prime Minister and both of you get us a team- clean and spotless, to investigate and prosecute the rest of the PEV suspects. Just let the ICC handle 'the principle six'.

Who's still fooling who?

comme ci comme ca: Who's still fooling who?: "One of the many reasons Kenya has not demonstrated maturity and responsibility widely accepted to be trusted to try criminals against humani..."

Who's still fooling who?

One of the many reasons Kenya has not demonstrated maturity and responsibility widely accepted to be trusted to try criminals against humanity is that our leaders behave like disjointed warring cartels.
They all seem to regard the constitution as a personal statement to back them individually and as long as there's a clause that can be mis-interpreted, it will be; and wait to see the reaction of 'the other side'.
This time around, the move by the President to 'unilaterally' nominate officials who the constitution clearly dictates ought to be nominated in consultation with the PM, is taking the game too high up. Recent events do not mitigate for the President, specifically his apparent 'love affair' with the axis comprising the two embattled ministers in the grand coalition-those two in Ocampo's cross-hairs and his Vice President. The unholy trinity hatched under the moniker 'the KKK' alliance.
Could these (and others routing for domestic trials of the ICC suspects) have been in the kitchen cabinet that replaced names in the original nominees' list? Implying that the nominated officials are sympathetic to their cause? And so, an attempt to defeat justice?
President Kibaki, and all in power today, for that matter-should be wiser considering that events happening in our corner of the world indicate that 'leaders' cannot mislead all the people all the time. Civilians' uprising is a very real reality where the populations feel downtrodden with extravagant impunity. There is not much snow in Afrika - especially in the Sahara North Afrika, but these events have the capability of snow-balling across borders, exactly the same way sand dunes migrate. Leaders be warned.

Wake Up, Kenyans.

2012 is now in the radar screen in Kenya! The drums are rolling, and the people are being mobilised to head to the fields to ward off the elements of distraction who threaten the communities' harvests!
Those who live along the wild life reserves are looking out for animals that invade the farms and destroy the crops while in the political scene, 'the leaders' are drawing imaginary boundaries and marking off territories with a view to identify who their 'allies ' are and therefore know who their 'enemies' are. The stage is being set for another round of PEV?
GOD Forbid, NO!!!
All these alignments and re-alignments, shuffling and re-shuffling by the political class, using 'uncivil' language is bound to mislead gullible Kenyans into getting into 'fight or fight' mode. This is the last thing we need as a nation, especially before we have gotten to a closure of our last internal 'civil war'. We haven't finished sorting the good, the bad and the ugly in our Grand Coalition. I wish all Kenyans would take the wisdom of UB40's song "Who you fighting for?" and think twice before they take up any arms against each other.

".......
You do the shooting - they do the looting
You do the killing - they do the drilling
You do the dying - they do the lying
All the way to the Bank
You can hear them crying.......

.....Sell the arms, suppress the truth
Create the fear, invent the proof
Wave the flag - don't tell the youth
Who they are fighting for
.........."- UB40

While the politicians are traversing the countryside hyping up support for their political ambitions, CDF funds; millions of shillings earmarked for raising the standards of living for millions of Kenyans lie idle in the Central Bank unclaimed, thousands of innocent Kenyans are still in the cold in IDP camps, and others are living in abject poverty and squalor in our slums. The MPs are just too busy to concentrate on what they were voted into parliament for.
 At this point in time, there are politicians who are calling for a generational change in leadership. They are not telling Kenyans what the young generation of leaders will do differently from their fathers or grandfathers. They are not mentioning that some of the ills that beleaguer our nation; corruption, impunity, nepotism have become so entrenched in our psyche that they are hereditary. To quote the UB40 again..." the sins of the fathers.."
may be passed on to the sons. Started by the white colonialists handing over power to black colonialists at the dawn of our independence.
In the early 1990s Kenyans were crying about the Moi dictatorship and the rallying call was 'Moi Must Go', 'yote yawezekana bila Moi!' We lost sight of the fact that without Moi there could be 'Moi-ism' and so we pushed Moi out but retained 'Moi-ism'. Because of this, 'yote hayakuwezekana!'
What we need in Kenya is not only generational change in leadership.We need a reset to our national mindset. We need genuine national civic enlightenment. Citizens need to be educated on the consequences of their individual and communal decisions on the national level. This time around, we have a Constitution that seems well poised to facilitate the actualisation of our national dreams. We should not lose this momentum and spirit.

Siasa mbaya, maisha mbaya....?

This whole KACA/ODM/ICC/KKK circus and the national debate is displaying what I want to call hoodwinking but then again, I'm not sure it's not an attempt by our leaders to lead Kenyans on a wild goose chase or an attempt by them to draw a red herring in our search for culprits in national corruption, the next batch of parliamentarians and the new county leaders as prescribed by the new constitution.
The two principals in the Ocampo 6 have gravitated together with the current Vice President and are upbeat at convincing Kenyans that between them is the best option for president come the year 2012.
My biggest worry is that the ODM camp came up with the rebuttal for the accusations leveled at their leader and none of them mentioned the fact that those accusing the PM of misdeeds (real or imagined), some of those now gravitating towards each other in the UDM all have a common factor in their political lives; they have been accused of one or multiple misdeeds committed while in public office and none has been cleared by a court of law. Maybe this was because the leader of those issuing the rebuttal has a skeleton or two in his own closet? Skeletons which are supposed to be in a cemetery? A cemetery that never was?
Most of our politicians have lost credibility. Very few of them can be trusted. The very main reason that Kenyans overwhelmingly voted to re-write our political dispensation, our constitution- the hope that we will rid ourselves of these corruption ridden parliamentarians and bring in a new leadership with servitude.
Leaders who are selfless, leaders who are first and foremost servants of the people.
The press, especially the main-stream press should not be dragged into this game of hoodwinking and should be steadfast in putting in the spotlight (or limelight)the various issues that our politicians would like swept under the carpet because our new political mindset is one of issues and not personalities, ethnic regionalism, or who can shout the loudest. The politics of mud-slinging your opponent so that you look clean yourself despite the sins you have committed is in our past.