SPEAKING MY MIND
During the 2007 campaigns, I accompanied Martin Wanyonyi to the then New Ford Kenya offices in Woodley estate where he introduced me to Captain Charles Masinde; the founder and Secretary General of the party. It was such an opportune moment for me because I was involved in the presidential youth campaign but had no footing in any political party. Captain Masinde requested me to represent the youth in the Kibaki presidential campaign; a campaign in which I was already one of the 17 man team. I quickly accepted the offer and had a letter of introduction signed by captain Masinde.The letter included my name, Patrick Kokonya,Dr.Ken Orengo,George Nyongesa and Martin Nkari as the bona fide youth representing New Ford Kenya in the national campaigns of president Mwai Kibaki. I had given the names to captain Masinde because the listed people are the ones I had worked together with as we joined the presidential campaign using our own means.
After the elections I continued acting as the youth leader of the party. Many people expected political rewards through their parties or directly through the recognition of having participated in the president’s youth campaign. It must be noted that out of the 17 youth leaders who campaigned for the president, only one occupies a position acquired because of the role played. The rest of us were given ‘half loaf theory’ kind of excuses and we decided to content with what we do in our own lives. I continued with my own life doing and improving on what I always do; political consultancy, design, research and other income generating activities. God has been kind to me and I think I have managed to make progress in my own small way. All this time, I have however remained committed to New Ford Kenya and tried as much as I can make the party relevant in anywhere I have foothold.
Captain Charles Masinde had reached out to a number of his friends too to join the party. One among them was one Col.Muema whom he managed to employ as the party’s Executive Director.
Sometime in late 2008, captain Masinde travelled out of the country. The political parties act of 2007 required parties to register under the newly established structures where the parties were to be registered under the registrar of political parties as opposed to the previous arrangement where the parties were registered at the registrar of societies.
I received a call from Hon Soita Shitanda who told me that there is something we needed to work on as a party. He asked me to meet him together with my colleagues to do the party work as we continued waiting for space to open up in government for us. I immediately contacted Ken Orengo and Martin Nkari. The following morning, we met the minister. In the meeting we were joined by Dr.Boni Khalwale,Kirwa Tirop,Swaleh Abdile and Benjamin Muema.The main agenda of the meeting was to carry out recruitment of the party members so that we comply with the then newly established political parties act.
Nkari,Orengo,Muema and myself used Dr.Boni Khalwale’s office at continental house to work out modalities of registration. Just like many other parties, no practical recruitment was done. We met every morning to as late as 10 pm every day to work out lists for party memberships (a story of its own).
We prepared party lists for all the 210 constituencies. At that time, a case had been instituted at an Eldoret court stopping Hon.Soita Shitanda(Party Leader),Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi(Chairman),Captain Charles Masinde (Secretary General), and Dr.Boni Khalwale(Organizing Secretary) from holding elections or acting on behalf of new Ford Kenya until certain matters were sorted out. For that reason, the said officials were to stay out of party leadership for the sake of the registration process, so that they could reclaim their positions once the court case was over.
During the development of this situation, Captain Masinde was still out of the country and I was made to believe that he had been informed about his temporary removal from his position of the Secretary General for the reason aforementioned.
In the constitution the position of party chairman was abolished.
Councillor Edward Indai was brought in on behalf of Hon.Soita Shitanda to become the registered Party Leader.Prof.Ruth Oniang’o and Tirop Kirwa became Deputy party leaders.Col.Muema who had initially been employed by captain Masinde as the party’s executive director became the secretary general claiming that he was standing in for his friend.Dr.Kituyi never sent anyone to stand in for him or on his behalf. William Ntoina was made Organizing secretary. Other names were proposed by Hon Shitanda,Dr.Khalwale ,Muema and myself.I became the Deputy Director of elections ,Orengo became deputy treasurer while Martin Nkari became the legal and constitutional affairs secretary. Orengo and I were asked to content with deputising positions because the minister intended to get us employment opportunities. This was towards Christmas time of 2008 and Hon Shitanda was sick at the time. We kept on visiting him at the Nairobi hospital to brief him on the progress of the registration. He kept on encouraging me that he intended to allow us run the party and grow politically. He has always had good intentions. In this arrangement,Muema secretly sneaked in his wife as one of the 28 NEC members. We were in a hurry and we never noticed or bothered to know if that was the case. Dr.Khalwale and Hon.Shitanda remained party Nec Members by virtue of being the only party sponsored members of parliament. They are NEC members because of the provision of the party’s constitution.
The case against Masinde,Khalwale,Kituyi and Shitanda was won by the party. After that I kept on requesting the minister to restructure the party to its original form so as to make it more effective.
The party has had so many issues but we have chosen to remain mum so as to maintain the dignity of the party. All this time, I have been patient enough to pursue diplomatic means to internally deal with the party affairs.
In 2009, the party started receiving money from the political parties’ fund. We never held and we have never held any party meeting whether NEC or otherwise to approve any expenditure or any activity. The Secretary General and one of the deputy party leaders secretly made themselves signatories to the account and thus recipients of the political parties’ fund. NEW FORD KENYA HAS NEVER HELD EVEN A SINGLE NEC MEETING SINCE 2008.
After trying to sort out the matter diplomatically for a very long time, we resorted to address it directly through the authorities. Early this year; we approached the registrar of political parties to furnish us with party records. We were shocked to find that the party has been receiving funds, yet there is no sign of any party based discussion or approvals on how the monies are spent. While at the registrar’s office, I received a call from Hon.Shitanda who asked me to see him over the matter the following day. I complied. I met the minister and informed him about misshapenness in the party including the secretary general allocating himself a salary as the executive director of the party. It sounded like the minister wasn’t aware of most of the issues I was raising with him. He promised to intervene. After some time, no progress was seen. The minister got too busy with the Ikolomani by elections and thus didn’t have much time. We decided to address the matter to Kenya Anti Corruption Commission .The KACC referred us back to the registrar of political parties. The reports indicated that the party was paying rent. The reality is that the Woodley office had been closed for over a year. In a nutshell, the party had no official address although according to the registrar, the records indicated that the New Ford Kenya headquarters were situated at Woodley,Kikombe House.The Kikombe House rent was paid from contributions of Captain Masinde,Hon Shitanda and Hon Khalwale, even when the party had started getting funding from the political parties fund. Apparently Hon.Shitanda had been put in the dark about most of the party finances and opportunities.
The registrar asked us to formally ask her office about our party headquarters. We thought of presenting the case to the tribunal but considered the consequences and therefore chose to trust the registrar of political parties to handle the matter. A few days after the Ikolomani by elections I raised the same matter with Boni.Boni didn’t believe that the party didn’t have offices. This is something I tried to avoid telling the new team that joined the party. I didn’t want Eugene’s team to be discouraged, thus I kept this between myself,Soita,Khalwale,Kirwa,Ken Orengo and Martin Nkari.Boni insisted to me that we have a fully furnished office. This was based on the information given to him by Hon Shitanda.When he asked Shitanda about the office, the minister told him that Muema had told him that there was an office. Apparently, Hon Shitanda had never seen the offices himself. He had just been told. When more questions were asked, it emerged that the said office is located in Ngara on a fourth floor of some building. It is evident that someone had rushed to put up an office in Ngara after I raised the matter with the registrar.
I continued to pursue the matter with the registrar but she seemed not serious in dealing with the matter. It was so evident that so many rules had been flouted. The final returns of the financial report from the party can not be said to credible when the party never approved expenditure in the first place. We raised the matter with the bank with a letter from the party treasurer Swaleh Abdille attached. We kept these matters private because we wanted to safeguard the integrity of the party never wished an individual’s mistakes to tarnish the name of the party. We requested for the funding of the party to be put on hold until the matters are sorted out or at least until the party executive is convened to deal with the matters. The registrar agreed but seemingly, no action was taken to ensure this is done even after promising to convene the New Ford Kenya NEC herself in her office. She never acted for the reasons best known to her.
Trying to matters in order I decided to share this predicament with the new entrants to the party. I shared with my friends Kizito Temba,Jack Wamboka,Yvonne Khamati in a confidential way.It was important because they were part of the main team that had decamped from Ford Kenya and I also considered my social and political background I have with them. I never gave a clear answer to anyone about the party headquarters or party affairs because I never wanted to expose the weaknesses of the party propagated by an individual.
I remember being asked by Hon Eugene Wamalwa and Hon. Akaranga about the party offices. I chose to dodge the question.
The secretary general falsely and deliberately interpreted that I had a personal difference with him, which is not the case. For that kind of assumption, the minister called to reconcile us after the CMD elections that saw Kirwa disagree with the secretary general over the same kind of issues. The ‘reconciliation’ was meaningless because the secretary general resolved to avoid passing any information that was meant for the party to myself and other leaders who are against his way of doing things. In the recent meeting, which was supposedly meant to review the party constitution, he decided to keep in the dark and hold the meeting without my knowledge. He has done this for some time since Eugene and the group joined NFK.On the 9th, I got wind that there was an NFK ‘NEC’ meeting which I wasn’t invited. I went there with about 25 of my friends. I was assaulted by hired goons under the instructions of Muema.On the same day, a direct threat was made to my life and I have reported to the police. The decisions I made and the decisions we are making on this matter and the decisions we are going to make are informed by this background. Being assaulted on that day was a culmination of events and not a one day issue. I have chosen to take an informative approach than a radical approach. I will do so whenever there will be need. This is just a summary of the events.
I am still contemplating my next action and I ask for your prayers to help me make the right decision. I am still consulting and listening to my friends.You are some of the friends. Let me hear from you.
Fwamba NC Fwamba
During the 2007 campaigns, I accompanied Martin Wanyonyi to the then New Ford Kenya offices in Woodley estate where he introduced me to Captain Charles Masinde; the founder and Secretary General of the party. It was such an opportune moment for me because I was involved in the presidential youth campaign but had no footing in any political party. Captain Masinde requested me to represent the youth in the Kibaki presidential campaign; a campaign in which I was already one of the 17 man team. I quickly accepted the offer and had a letter of introduction signed by captain Masinde.The letter included my name, Patrick Kokonya,Dr.Ken Orengo,George Nyongesa and Martin Nkari as the bona fide youth representing New Ford Kenya in the national campaigns of president Mwai Kibaki. I had given the names to captain Masinde because the listed people are the ones I had worked together with as we joined the presidential campaign using our own means.
After the elections I continued acting as the youth leader of the party. Many people expected political rewards through their parties or directly through the recognition of having participated in the president’s youth campaign. It must be noted that out of the 17 youth leaders who campaigned for the president, only one occupies a position acquired because of the role played. The rest of us were given ‘half loaf theory’ kind of excuses and we decided to content with what we do in our own lives. I continued with my own life doing and improving on what I always do; political consultancy, design, research and other income generating activities. God has been kind to me and I think I have managed to make progress in my own small way. All this time, I have however remained committed to New Ford Kenya and tried as much as I can make the party relevant in anywhere I have foothold.
Captain Charles Masinde had reached out to a number of his friends too to join the party. One among them was one Col.Muema whom he managed to employ as the party’s Executive Director.
Sometime in late 2008, captain Masinde travelled out of the country. The political parties act of 2007 required parties to register under the newly established structures where the parties were to be registered under the registrar of political parties as opposed to the previous arrangement where the parties were registered at the registrar of societies.
I received a call from Hon Soita Shitanda who told me that there is something we needed to work on as a party. He asked me to meet him together with my colleagues to do the party work as we continued waiting for space to open up in government for us. I immediately contacted Ken Orengo and Martin Nkari. The following morning, we met the minister. In the meeting we were joined by Dr.Boni Khalwale,Kirwa Tirop,Swaleh Abdile and Benjamin Muema.The main agenda of the meeting was to carry out recruitment of the party members so that we comply with the then newly established political parties act.
Nkari,Orengo,Muema and myself used Dr.Boni Khalwale’s office at continental house to work out modalities of registration. Just like many other parties, no practical recruitment was done. We met every morning to as late as 10 pm every day to work out lists for party memberships (a story of its own).
We prepared party lists for all the 210 constituencies. At that time, a case had been instituted at an Eldoret court stopping Hon.Soita Shitanda(Party Leader),Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi(Chairman),Captain Charles Masinde (Secretary General), and Dr.Boni Khalwale(Organizing Secretary) from holding elections or acting on behalf of new Ford Kenya until certain matters were sorted out. For that reason, the said officials were to stay out of party leadership for the sake of the registration process, so that they could reclaim their positions once the court case was over.
During the development of this situation, Captain Masinde was still out of the country and I was made to believe that he had been informed about his temporary removal from his position of the Secretary General for the reason aforementioned.
In the constitution the position of party chairman was abolished.
Councillor Edward Indai was brought in on behalf of Hon.Soita Shitanda to become the registered Party Leader.Prof.Ruth Oniang’o and Tirop Kirwa became Deputy party leaders.Col.Muema who had initially been employed by captain Masinde as the party’s executive director became the secretary general claiming that he was standing in for his friend.Dr.Kituyi never sent anyone to stand in for him or on his behalf. William Ntoina was made Organizing secretary. Other names were proposed by Hon Shitanda,Dr.Khalwale ,Muema and myself.I became the Deputy Director of elections ,Orengo became deputy treasurer while Martin Nkari became the legal and constitutional affairs secretary. Orengo and I were asked to content with deputising positions because the minister intended to get us employment opportunities. This was towards Christmas time of 2008 and Hon Shitanda was sick at the time. We kept on visiting him at the Nairobi hospital to brief him on the progress of the registration. He kept on encouraging me that he intended to allow us run the party and grow politically. He has always had good intentions. In this arrangement,Muema secretly sneaked in his wife as one of the 28 NEC members. We were in a hurry and we never noticed or bothered to know if that was the case. Dr.Khalwale and Hon.Shitanda remained party Nec Members by virtue of being the only party sponsored members of parliament. They are NEC members because of the provision of the party’s constitution.
The case against Masinde,Khalwale,Kituyi and Shitanda was won by the party. After that I kept on requesting the minister to restructure the party to its original form so as to make it more effective.
The party has had so many issues but we have chosen to remain mum so as to maintain the dignity of the party. All this time, I have been patient enough to pursue diplomatic means to internally deal with the party affairs.
In 2009, the party started receiving money from the political parties’ fund. We never held and we have never held any party meeting whether NEC or otherwise to approve any expenditure or any activity. The Secretary General and one of the deputy party leaders secretly made themselves signatories to the account and thus recipients of the political parties’ fund. NEW FORD KENYA HAS NEVER HELD EVEN A SINGLE NEC MEETING SINCE 2008.
After trying to sort out the matter diplomatically for a very long time, we resorted to address it directly through the authorities. Early this year; we approached the registrar of political parties to furnish us with party records. We were shocked to find that the party has been receiving funds, yet there is no sign of any party based discussion or approvals on how the monies are spent. While at the registrar’s office, I received a call from Hon.Shitanda who asked me to see him over the matter the following day. I complied. I met the minister and informed him about misshapenness in the party including the secretary general allocating himself a salary as the executive director of the party. It sounded like the minister wasn’t aware of most of the issues I was raising with him. He promised to intervene. After some time, no progress was seen. The minister got too busy with the Ikolomani by elections and thus didn’t have much time. We decided to address the matter to Kenya Anti Corruption Commission .The KACC referred us back to the registrar of political parties. The reports indicated that the party was paying rent. The reality is that the Woodley office had been closed for over a year. In a nutshell, the party had no official address although according to the registrar, the records indicated that the New Ford Kenya headquarters were situated at Woodley,Kikombe House.The Kikombe House rent was paid from contributions of Captain Masinde,Hon Shitanda and Hon Khalwale, even when the party had started getting funding from the political parties fund. Apparently Hon.Shitanda had been put in the dark about most of the party finances and opportunities.
The registrar asked us to formally ask her office about our party headquarters. We thought of presenting the case to the tribunal but considered the consequences and therefore chose to trust the registrar of political parties to handle the matter. A few days after the Ikolomani by elections I raised the same matter with Boni.Boni didn’t believe that the party didn’t have offices. This is something I tried to avoid telling the new team that joined the party. I didn’t want Eugene’s team to be discouraged, thus I kept this between myself,Soita,Khalwale,Kirwa,Ken Orengo and Martin Nkari.Boni insisted to me that we have a fully furnished office. This was based on the information given to him by Hon Shitanda.When he asked Shitanda about the office, the minister told him that Muema had told him that there was an office. Apparently, Hon Shitanda had never seen the offices himself. He had just been told. When more questions were asked, it emerged that the said office is located in Ngara on a fourth floor of some building. It is evident that someone had rushed to put up an office in Ngara after I raised the matter with the registrar.
I continued to pursue the matter with the registrar but she seemed not serious in dealing with the matter. It was so evident that so many rules had been flouted. The final returns of the financial report from the party can not be said to credible when the party never approved expenditure in the first place. We raised the matter with the bank with a letter from the party treasurer Swaleh Abdille attached. We kept these matters private because we wanted to safeguard the integrity of the party never wished an individual’s mistakes to tarnish the name of the party. We requested for the funding of the party to be put on hold until the matters are sorted out or at least until the party executive is convened to deal with the matters. The registrar agreed but seemingly, no action was taken to ensure this is done even after promising to convene the New Ford Kenya NEC herself in her office. She never acted for the reasons best known to her.
Trying to matters in order I decided to share this predicament with the new entrants to the party. I shared with my friends Kizito Temba,Jack Wamboka,Yvonne Khamati in a confidential way.It was important because they were part of the main team that had decamped from Ford Kenya and I also considered my social and political background I have with them. I never gave a clear answer to anyone about the party headquarters or party affairs because I never wanted to expose the weaknesses of the party propagated by an individual.
I remember being asked by Hon Eugene Wamalwa and Hon. Akaranga about the party offices. I chose to dodge the question.
The secretary general falsely and deliberately interpreted that I had a personal difference with him, which is not the case. For that kind of assumption, the minister called to reconcile us after the CMD elections that saw Kirwa disagree with the secretary general over the same kind of issues. The ‘reconciliation’ was meaningless because the secretary general resolved to avoid passing any information that was meant for the party to myself and other leaders who are against his way of doing things. In the recent meeting, which was supposedly meant to review the party constitution, he decided to keep in the dark and hold the meeting without my knowledge. He has done this for some time since Eugene and the group joined NFK.On the 9th, I got wind that there was an NFK ‘NEC’ meeting which I wasn’t invited. I went there with about 25 of my friends. I was assaulted by hired goons under the instructions of Muema.On the same day, a direct threat was made to my life and I have reported to the police. The decisions I made and the decisions we are making on this matter and the decisions we are going to make are informed by this background. Being assaulted on that day was a culmination of events and not a one day issue. I have chosen to take an informative approach than a radical approach. I will do so whenever there will be need. This is just a summary of the events.
I am still contemplating my next action and I ask for your prayers to help me make the right decision. I am still consulting and listening to my friends.You are some of the friends. Let me hear from you.
Fwamba NC Fwamba
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