Security NOW!!!

It is sad when a nation's security situation cannot be guaranteed to the citizens but it is even horrifying when the very organs of the state that are empowered and equipped to guarantee the said security themselves seem in dire need of help.
The security personnel in Kenya are in the cross hairs of forces (either foreign or domestic) yet to be identified. Forces so darely and bold they don't seem to care who they shoot at, Administration Police, Regular Police or KDF soldiers! This puts the ordinary mwananchi in a very scary situation. This might be the result of decades of in-breeding and nurturing impunity and general disregard of the law. It is even sadder that the real cause of the death of the immediate former Internal Security minister together with his deputy is yet to be known.
The Kenyan government(s) needs to get off the habit of knee-jerk responses and reactionary tactics in the face of national issues. The government's response to the Garisa incident is appalling. Even before the security personnel have investigated fully to know who or where the perpetrators of the original crime are, they mount an invasion and generally terrorize a town in total disregard of who is innocent or guilty. They thus loose the citizens' trust and goodwill, and the chance of ever finding the culprits and breed more disgruntled elements to attack them in future.
Now we have the Police force mounting their own operation into one end of the vast norther frontier in response to the massacre of their comrades while the Military is mounting their own into another section of the same frontier in response the murdering of three of their colleagues. Now that is a very sad situation.
While all that is happening, citizens with ancestral connections with the same northern frontier are being harassed and victimized in the city of Nairobi by criminal gangs and of course, they state the Police are not coming to their aid. They shout there is no government in Kenya! These statements, though unsubstantiated, could be very disturbing if true.
It is high time the government put everything on hold and be seen to be in control. The attention however, as all these happen, is the posturing and positioning of the politicians as they align themselves for the coming elections. All of them of course pleading with the citizens to register for the polls, reminding the citizens  of the evils of the post election violence of the yesteryears!!

Let's Be Clear

March is coming. A lot can happen in march as history can reveal. As happened to one Julius Caesar, who believed he had no capacity to fear anyone, the august house and the other one 'on the hill', in Nairobi are begging for respectable occupants. The contenders need to fear us, the voters, for as in the nursery school rhyme, 'Ngunyî-îrî maara-î', we can sing it (and we will) and pull out all those thirsting for our blood and public resources.
......

Ngunyî-îrî maara-î, nîikunyanaga-î, ta mwana na nyina-î,

Kunyûkia kagîo.....

The lineage of masters as inherited from the colonialists by our fathers and grandfathers is still plaguing us today in the poor disguise of reformists. They would want us believe they have our interests at heart but we now know better where their hearts lie- in the interests of their bank accounts. Their fathers told our fathers that they would eradicate poverty, disease and ignorance, these ills still hold us in bondage and their sons and daughters don't seem to notice it. They are in ignorance of our plight.

Again, who is fooling who???

I have always tried my best not to justify or qualify statements by politicians. I also don't subscribe to their apologists and sycophants.
Politicians are simply not easy to pre-guess because they are the most selfish of beings. They will change positions like the hands on a clock to suit their needs and all have the pre-existing condition of chronic amnesia, or selective memory.
Up to the build up towards the new constitution in Kenya, there were obvious divisions in prominent politicians, the protagonists being led by the PM and the antagonists by his former deputy in the ODM outfit who shortly thereafter completely fell out with the outfit claiming having been 'sold to the Hague' by the PM.

It was notable that the main bone of contention was 'being sacrificed to Ocampo' and not a plea of innocence. When the PM did not contest the allegations one would not be blamed for assuming that the PM's position was that he concurred with the investigators who found Hon. Ruto et al with a probable cause for prosecution. This would have been a fair position after all, all are innocent until proven guilty. But then again, politicians are one species not easy to understand!

Without going too far to find fault with anyone, Hon. Ruto has not exonerated himself from the sins past committed by himself, cronies or his henchmen in YK92, he still has yet to clear himself decisively of misappropriation of public land charges in a court of law. He clearly could be on the wrong side of chapter six of our constitution. Using the inconclusive bench mark of who was who in the drive to implement our new constitutional order as an indicator of who is with us versus against us, the line between the reformists and the conservatives (those against reforms dictated by the new constitution) should set the PM and Hon Ruto on opposing sides of the political divide. I am now told that the PM is apologizing to the Kalenjin community in general and to Hon. Ruto in particular for unspecified mistakes he has made in the past and pleading for a re-marriage. What gives here? Are we supposed to believe that now they both have the same convictions as to what direction our country is headed?

This move by the PM, who is still rated as the front runner in the race to the house on the hill because of his apparent reformist stance, is a total disqualification and it begs for a general re-think by the Kenyan voters. This move is a clear indication that what is needed in our politics is a genuine, credible third force. Needed is/are individuals who are selfless, focused and truly accountable to the nation. Individuals who will stand for the ordinary mwananchi come rain or shine and will not sacrifice their convictions on the altar of 'vote count'. For far too long we have subjected ourselves to the lies and deception of the ruling class who are only interested perpetuation of their grip on power. The whistle has been blown to stop these corrupt and selfish lot. The urgency of now as we approach the general elections is to clean up our august house and install leaders who will respect the voters and conduct themselves with civility, humility and respect our constitution.

Our Turn to Eat...

So we now know that the PM has a dossier, or several, about a DPM's past misdeeds. In the same vein, we know that the PM has a closet of skeletons he would like Kenyans to ignore and , yes you guessed it right, the said DPM has that dossier. But conveniently enough, none of them saw it wise or prudent to involve the AntiCorruption watchdog in these issues. All to maintain the status quo of the grand theft that is the Grand Coalition.

We have known all along that the once long serving VP had something to do with a number of corruption deals during the 'Nyayo Error' and so when he says he is experienced enough to lead us 'unto greater heights of prosperity', one only wonders what he means by prosperity.

We all know what YK92 did for the 'ordinary mwananchi' during those dark days of 'Baba na Mama', the period the national economy was plundered in broad daylight so that the son of Moi could hold onto the reigns of leadership, so that he could prove that multi party democracy was a phenomenon alien to the African politico. It was in that period that Kenyans started witnessing the now familiar pre-planned, well orchestrated, government sponsored ethnic violence. All to make true a prediction the then 'father-of-the-nation' had earlier made that multi party politics would plunge the country into chaos. One of the Ocampo 4 is currently awaiting court process, in the Hague for among others-these same atrocities, and still insisting that he knows what is best for Kenya. He is also yet to have his day in court to prove himself innocent of various corruption charges facing him in the domestic scene.

Lastly, we know what the first free Kenyan regime did to entrench public hoodwinking, land grabbing, and official corruption. The son of the then father-of-the-nation has not even hinted that he knows some wrongs were done and need to be undone. His family's vast estate (most of it unaccountable) spreads all over the prime parts of the country while the poor and landless live in squalor. IDPs still struggle for space to erect canvas structures in the camps without hygienic infrastructure.

We desperately need a third force in our political trajectory to deviate us from the current course, for surely it is a course towards self destruction or stagnation at best. We need to refuse the politicians-engineered notions of ethnic confrontation when it comes to election time and go to the polls with nation-hood at heart. We need to all agree that it is our time as Kenyans to eat and for our politicians to stop eating- and wherever possible to have returned to us what had been taken. Did anyone hear the government is giving Ksh10,000 to IDPs who have been homeless for the last four years? Is that not a slap in the face?-me asks? And with those few remarks, I rest my case.

Hear Ye All Kenyans of Goodwill

As the sand dunes that are Kenyan political elites continue to shift and surf the desert landscape that the Kenyan political scene is,- merging here, separating there, changing shapes, sizes and directions, we, the citizens ought to shake ourselves from the reverie of yesteryear's promise of a new dawn after the promulgation of the new Constitution.
This is my bugle blast Kenyans, 'Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war…' Our land has been plundered and sacked by these gentry now arranging and re-arranging themselves for the next round of looting. It's time we put our feet firmly on our beloved motherland and weeded out the vampires. We need to separate the few good men and women from the 'honourable' chaff and hand them the mantle of national leadership.
Let us all united disregard our ethnic backgrounds and gauge each and every aspirant per their individual 'pluses and minuses'-Thieves from our own backyards rob us the same as they rob our distant neighbours.
The Constitution gave us the hope of a new beginning and it is the time we put it to test. Let us not forget what our politicians have been doing all along. They have created, crafted and perfected the art of national plunder never before seen; The grabbing of land originally meant for repatriation to the colonial IDPs in the 60s thru the 70s, grabbing of public land throughout the the three administrations, ethnic cleansing by the 'nyayo error', goldenberg and 'anglo fleecing' rip-offs, parliamentary blackmail and extortions in the form of refusing to pay taxes while raising their own pay packages, and many others which have been given publicity blackouts.
Any politician who has touched even a hair of the marginalized (and that is all of us) by- being involved in corrupt deals, or being tainted by the last three administrations' malfeasance should be ejected and lined up for due legal scrutiny.
Let us all united shout from the roof tops and mountain tops that impunity, even by our own sons and daughters has no place in the new Kenya.

....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.