BY:FWAMBA NC FWAMBA..THE CONSTITUTION UNDER ATTACK

MR PRESIDENT,THE NEW CONSTITUTION IS UNDER ATTACK. By Fwamba NC Fwamba.................................................................... When we campaigned, voted and promulgated the constitution on 27th August 2010, president Kibaki and other government officials took fresh oath of office. Unlike the rest of the leaders, protection of the constitution was part of the presidential oath and responsibility. That is why he holds an extra burden of ensuring that our constitution is adhered to at all times. The walk to attaining the constitution was rough in the history of this country and therefore it was a sigh of relief to majority of Kenyans especially those who suffered under Kanu’s monolithic dictatorship. Our constitution is not yet one year old and there appears to be serious confusion caused by various interpretations of the law by diverse individuals and non governmental organizations. The constitution Implementation Commission which is entrusted with overseeing the process of implementing the constitution appears not left behind in the creation of this confusion. Every time the chair of the commission speaks, it vividly comes out that he is trying to express his personal opinion as opposed to making utterances that are reflective of the constitution and the mandate of the CIC. In the recent past, there has been a spirited campaign through the media with people lobbying for their preferred candidates to take up the position of the Attorney General. Most notable is Professor Makau Mutua’s article in the Sunday nation 24th July 2011.Professor Mutua, a man with enviable academic credentials in law decided to give his opinion on the basis of his preferences at the expense of making true references to the constitution. Professor Mutua presented the cv of his preferred candidate to the wrong audience. Article 33 of the constitution provides for freedom of expression. Section 2 of the article 33 of the constitution also states that freedom of expression does not extend to propaganda. The article reminds me of a phrase that the ‘right to be heard does not necessarily include the right to be taken serious’. In his piece, Prof Mutua wants the current Attorney General to be out of office with Godspeed which I consider a good idea but unnecessary. Unnecessary because the constitution already provides for the same; that Wako’s tenure officially expires on 27th of August and thus its expected that by the deadline, we will be having a new Attorney General to help speed up the reform process as provided for in the constitution. Prof Mutua with disregard to the constitution has abrogated himself the role of determining the procedure, short listing and finally selecting the person he thinks is best suited to be that Attorney General. He has gone ahead and even suggested that president Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga follow his procedure and eventually appoint Prof Mutua’s choice. That is ridiculous. It’s ridiculous in the sense that the constitution is already very clear on the requirements and procedure of appointing the Attorney General. What Prof Mutua should do is to advise his preferred candidate to present her CV to the appointing authority. The leadership of this country was elected based on people’s judgment and the powers given to any leader by the constitution cannot be usurped by mobs or people with vested interests. Article 156 section 2 of the constitution clearly states the process of appointing the Attorney General. The article states ‘the Attorney General shall be nominated by the president and with the approval of the national assembly, appointed by the president’. It’s our constitution that gives the president and the national assembly the role of appointing the Attorney General and that must be respected unless if we are advocates of anarchy. I am surprised that well trained lawyers want to push us into violating the constitution instead of playing a cardinal role in providing accurate constitutional civic education to correctly help ordinary Kenyans in interpretation and understanding of the same. The opinion leaders might be having diverse interests and wishes. It must be recognized that the national assembly was given a role in the appointing process because the members of parliament represent the electorate and the general Kenyan population. No one else can purport to be a more legitimate people’s representative than the parliamentarians who have direct mandate from the masses. Recently another debate came up from the same clique that the Attorney General should be a woman. I have gone through the constitution many times and I have not come across such a provision. They appear to be relying on the principle of having at least one third of every institution represented by women. This notion appears to be totally misguided because the Attorney General’s office only has one person and therefore the issue of gender doesn’t arise. Gender activists and other foreign interests have been in arms in advocating for this kind of arrangement. The person to be appointed the AG should be either gender as long as the person has integrity and with the best qualifications in respect to the constitutional requirements. The Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution, the Civil Society, legal scholars and all other stake holders should try as much as they can to help Kenyans in understanding the law instead of taking advantage of their credentials to mislead Kenyans. We also need to delink the process from the interests of international non governmental organisations whose interests are not necessarily in tandem with the ordinary Kenyan citizenry. The appointment of the Attorney General should be done according to the constitution because the constitution serves all of us as opposed to the NGOs that serve sectarian interests. It’s important that we uphold the rule of law under which sometimes we gain and sometimes loose so that others gain. That is what happens in a democracy. If we don’t adopt this principle, the country might start falling victim to a new dictatorship; a dictatorship of some egocentric civil society functionaries. Fwamba NC Fwamba Box 41046-00100 Nairobi +254721779445

BY:FWAMBA NC FWAMBA.HOW THE G7 IS WORKING TOWARDS SELF DEFEAT

By Fwamba NC Fwamba ................................................................................... If they don’t genuinely work together with a common ideology beyond just a mere intention of defeating Raila, the G7 alliance might be headed for more challenging times ahead. Having witnessed the debacle of the 2007 politics, the leaders of the movement should avoid mistakes that were made by both the ODM and President Kibaki’s PNU campaign teams. After the 2005 referendum, the leaders of the Orange camp decided to move into full swing campaign mode without first defining the structural leadership of the movement. Towards the end of 2006, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka was feted as the Orange group’s most favourite candidate according to the opinion polls. The then would be flag bearer Raila Odinga featured at a paltry rating of about 3 percent. It was unforeseeable that Raila was interested in the Presidency at that time. The political pundits opined that Raila was unelectable and therefore was only going to re-play his 2002 election role; that of a king maker. The Orange group traversed the whole country preaching and swearing about their undying unity and the leadership pledging to die for one another. They kept that gospel alive through defining politics along ethnic interests. The ethnic blocks that identified themselves with the Orange team were made to believe that political salvation was on the way and it was coming only if they elected one of their own to the presidency. The campaign was made easy through an anti Kikuyu wedge politics. The regions identified themselves with the Orange leadership after being convinced that one of their own was going to be the flag bearer and the eventual victor against President Mwai Kibaki. The Orange followers were therefore balkanized along tribal lines with each group believing that the person from their tribe was going to be the next president. The campaign was different from the 2002 one where the opposition had identified Moi as the problem; thus it was not that hard because majority of Kenyans were fed up with Moi leadership. In 2002, the opposition had survived a potential stalemate when Raila endorsed Kibaki publicly. The move was aimed at ensuring that Moi’s preferred successor; Uhuru Kenyatta lost election.Raila’s endorsement of Kibaki had to do with more interest in Uhuru’s loss than in Kibaki’s victory. The unity of the opposition was the only way to defeat Moi’s preferred candidate. The move was based on the lessons of the 1992 and 1997 where multiple opposition candidature had caused Moi to win and rule with minority victories. The 2007 unity of the Orange party became at stake when it became evident that Raila was no longer interested in playing the Kingmaker. He wanted to be the King himself. This happened when many pundits had already pointed out that Kalonzo was the most preferred Orange flag bearer. Since the Orange campaign had been defined by ethnic balkanization, the Kamba community where Kalonzo comes from was confident that one of their own with Raila’s endorsement was the undisputable Kibaki successor .The Luhya under Mudavadi hoped for the same. When Raila’s bid for the presidency became more pronounced, the Kamba community and Kalonzo felt betrayed. They had all banked on a Raila endorsement. For that reason, the orange party had to split and thus become weak. It was good riddance for the Raila group when Kalonzo parted with the team because they had started viewing him as an obstacle to a Raila presidency. Kalonzo had to run for presidency because he believed that the opinion polls had indicated he was the favourite candidate for the orange group while Raila believed that he was the leader of the group and there was no way he was going to play a second fiddle. In the 2007 campaigns Raila enjoyed the popularity that he may never enjoy again in his lifetime. He and his group had high confidence levels that he was going to win. The Raila Orange group (now ODM) downplayed the fact that Kalonzo’s departure had fatally destroyed their chance to defeat President Kibaki. While the Orange group split, President Kibaki’s group was making their own blunders. The Kibaki campaign was disorganized all through and lacked leadership. It appeared directionless and remained poor in strategy. The biggest mistake the Kibaki campaign made was living with a notion that Raila was unelectable. They appeared content that Raila was not going to have any numerical strength enough to pose threat to the president’s bid to serve for a second term. The campaign went on without a political party structure. The campaign lived with a notion that there was no need to invest in strategy because the election was going to be a walk over. This reluctance almost made the president party-less until when PNU was formed two months to the general election. The late formation of the President’s party had repercussions because this was a totally new brand that had to be marketed on a crush program. It’s obvious that if either side avoided such mistakes, the clarity of the margin of victory of the 2007 election would have been seen and thus we wouldn’t have had the Post Election violence. The G7 alliance appears to be capable of garnering the support of the people. However; it appears that the G7 alliance is becoming more pronounced in combining the 2007 mistakes of the Orange group and PNU. Instead of taking advantage of the disintegration of ODM, they are busy undermining each other. Everyone is trying to outsmart another while playing with some hidden cards under the table. The group leadership should avoid eminent crisis. For them to hold together; mutual respect needs to prevail. Every vote counts and supporters of every candidate need to be respected. There must be clear appreciation of the fact that every vote counts and without that vote, defeat is on the way. The internal wedge politics by treating others as inferior partners will only give victory to Raila.Most importantly, the group needs to look for a formula of making the structure of leadership operational so that there will be no cry of foul play and short-changing at the last minute; that may likely lead to fall outs. The supporters of every leader need to know their position in advance; be explained to so that the feelings of betrayal do not arise. There must be a formula of accommodating most if not all the interests. The group also needs to define a political ideology beyond just opposing and stopping a Raila presidency. That can only happen in an organized environment. The group can only survive if they cement a modus operandi that is selfless. Sentiments that appear selfish will only work towards the disintegration of the group. If this trust is not established now, relying on a run off as a way of ensuring the defeat of Raila might not be the case since disintegration of the group after the first vote may not be ruled out. On the recent opinion polls that were released by a Nairobi based firm; the Strategic Research, I find it legitimate to ask why the polls were held, in whose interests were they held and at whose expense. On whether the results were skewed to favour a certain pattern or individual is a different story altogether. While I also question the method used to arrive at the 35 counties that were sampled in the survey, it’s important that the G7 alliance look at it as a warning sign and put their house in order. Politics is dynamic and their continued disorganisation may only give more ammunition to their disgraced opponent. The other most likely situation is that another force with a defined ideology might easily take advantage of the confusion and arise to defeat the established candidates. What the new group will only need is to establish a voter friendly form of wedge politics; the politics of ‘us vs them’. Fwamba NC Fwamba +254721779445 Box 41046;Nairobi.

TAXATION: HON. EUGENE WAMALWA MUST REDEEM HIMSELF FROM THIS SORDID MESS.

H.L Mencken once opined that "a good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar." It is on the basis of this assertion that I choose to address Honorable Eugene Wamalwa. I choose him among his ilk for the reason that he epitomizes all that is youthful. He has even anchored his campaign for the highest political office in this land on the plank of transformative leadership. However he has chosen to spend thousands of man hours digging through the new constitution in search of any "faithless and slippery" word that he can hang on not to pay taxes. To date his search has come to naught. Unaccustomed to taking defeat graciously Eugene Wamalwa has held numerous press briefings to viciously curse the new constitution for obliterating his tactical advantage over the national interest. Grapevine has it that he fervently wishes to grab hold of and nail to the mast clause 3 of article 210. In his estimation it contains "crude" words that have literally snatched from him and his ilk the “honorable entitlement” to huge untaxed allowances. In what can only be described as a "monstrous intimacy" Eugene Wamalwa and other idolaters of totalitarianism are planning to display the grandeur of their political power by misdirecting their flak at the Prime Minister. They are now planning to censure the PM of reminding them the obvious: that the pre-referendum pact that saw them overwhelmingly vote for the new constitution was merely a "gentleman`s agreement" which has no place in the new constitution. Of major concern to the electorate is that even as honorable Eugene Wamalwa alongside a horde of other watermelons went around the country to campaign for the new constitution last year it is now emerging that he had not thoroughly read the provisions of the new constitution. Yet he claims to be among the crème de la crème in the society! This is why he has the gall to say that he was misled by the PM. However, the issue of being misled is neither here nor there. What is important is that the new constitution is now in place and Eugene has no choice but to demonstrate his unquestionable faith in the country`s constitution. But that is not what is happening. Instead each passing day we have seen Eugene Wamalwa dine and wine with the saboteurs of the new constitution. My question to him is this: How can he seek to lead a nation whose constitution he does not value nor understand? Isn`t he, in the words of Adlai Stevenson, "the kind of a politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation." I wish to remind him that before he makes a sordid mess of himself he must appreciate the fact that although moving a vote of no confidence against a leader of the PMs stature is the standard practice in many democracies around the world, responsible legislators use this arsenal only with a view to checking on executive misconduct, or its effect, especially if the official`s unbecoming behavior subverts the structure of government or undermines the integrity of the office or the Constitution itself. Certainly being reminded of the constitutional requirement to pay taxes does not in any way go against the letter and spirit of the new constitution which the PM swore to uphold. In this regard the attempt at censoring the PM is not only ill advised but is also indicative of the new heights of absurdities that he is engrossed in. He comes out as a politician who will readily invoke this power on account of not liking the PMs nose! Eugene Wamalwa must understand that the PM is simply supervising the implementation of the new constitution as per its letter and spirit. I thought that it would have been the failure on the PMs part not to jealously guard the new constitution against desecration that would have engendered a vote of no confidence against him and not the other way round. Moving a vote of no confidence against the PM based on pure lies will most certainly prove counter-productive. My unsolicited advice to honorable Eugene Wamalwa is that he must earnestly guard himself against fading to irrelevance. He must begin to redeem his image by paying his taxes now or choose to be a burglar. Whatever option he chooses I can assure him of one thing-the debt clock continues to tick each passing day.

By Fwamba NC Fwamba:WHY WAMALWA IS THE NATION’S GREATEST HOPE.

In Kenya’s political history, Saboti Member of Parliament, Eugene Wamalwa appears to occupy a unique space never occupied by anybody else before. Eugene Wamalwa has risen to national prominence at an early age unlike other great political icons from the Luhya nation. His current political status is akin to that which was enjoyed by Masinde Muliro shortly before the latter’s death in 1991 .At the time the latter who served as the interim Vice Chairman of FORD, was the key pillar that was to determine the reconciliation between the FORD factions; one that was led by Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and the other that was led by Kenneth Matiba. The Luhya nation had hope in Muliro whom they totally identified with despite the fact that Muliro was not even a member of parliament. The Luhya nation believed that Muliro represented their aspirations in a process of determining and bringing political reforms in Kenya. Eugene’s rapid political rise can be compared to Masinde Muliro’s inspirational leadership which overshadowed the influence of people like Elijah Mwangale; the then powerful cabinet minister in Moi’s government. The overwhelming support Eugene enjoys is also similar in mannerism to the one that his elder brother and former Vice president Michael Kijana Wamalwa had shortly before the latter’s demise. By the time the former Vice President passed on, he had built a rich political career over a long period of time that could be traced back from the 1970s.Kijana Wamalwa had had a lot of ups and downs in his political life including frustrations that were deliberately brought against him by the Moi government. Kijana Wamalwa would have been the default successor to the Kibaki’s presidency had he been alive today. The late Vice President was a charismatic leader at the national level. He had also reached a level of full acceptance by the Luhya nation as their democratically endorsed de facto leader. The Luhya nation is currently the second biggest political block in the country after the Kikuyu ethnic block. For that reason, it’s easy to present a presidential candidate and with the support of other like minded political blocks can win the presidency so easily if the elections were held in accordance with the new constitution. The presidential candidate can only manage to get this support if the people at the grassroots understand this mathematics and potential. Going by the recently concluded By elections in Ikolomani constituency and Kimilili north ward, the people of western province appear to have finally decided to have their hope and political future espoused in a Eugene Wamalwa Presidency. In the two By-elections, people overwhelmingly voted for the New Ford Kenya candidates; the party identified with Eugene Wamalwa. Indeed, during the campaigns, the leadership of the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) vividly pointed out that the by elections were a rehearsal for the 2012 general elections.Dr.Boni Khalwale of New Ford Kenya won with over 54 percent of the vote in an election ODM had strongly and openly believed in own victory during the campaigns. The 23rd May By election results; as a rehearsal to the 2012 elections showed that the western province voters now identify themselves with Eugene as the symbol of Luhya unity and as a person the people need to coalesce around for future national political endeavours. Eugene, unlike the previous icons Masinde Muliro and Wamalwa Kijana, has managed to get this recognition at a much younger age. The recognition is timely because it has come at the moment when the whole world is advocating for young leadership. The Barrack Obama victory in the US’s 2008 presidential race changed the world. It’s Euphoric all over the world that the leaders whose age is below fifty are much more preferred in democratic elections than their older competitors. The situation and the age rhetoric has become so pronounced everywhere in the country. Kenyans are very keen on electing a young president. It’s a good coincidence for the younger Wamalwa that he is within this age bracket. Majority of Kenyan voters with time have started to notice what Jimmy Kibaki saw earlier than anybody else. The president’s son was the first prominent figure to publicly declare support for Eugene’s bid for the top seat. It was something that was with time adopted by many people. As time goes by, Eugene has continued to receive endorsements from different prominent people. Former Ford Kenya leader Musikari Kombo realised that Eugene was the people’s preference and decided to officially endorse the latter.Kombo’s selfless move was unexpected since many people tend to cling on opportunities even when the utility of the same belong somewhere else. The Tononoka rally and others that Eugene Wamalwa has addressed have demonstrated beyond doubt that his growing popularity is evident in all parts of Kenya. 19th of March 2011, was very significant in Eugene’s bid for the presidency when he officially received the endorsement of New Ford Kenya Party Leader and Minister for Housing Soita Shitanda. It is worthy noting that Shitanda is the only non-ODM minister from western province. Apart from that, Soita Shitanda hails from Kakamega; the second most populated county in Kenya after Nairobi and the most populated county in western province .Ikolomani too where New Ford Kenya triumphed against ODM in the by election is also in the populous Kakamega county. The indications are already rife that Shitanda intends to run for the County’s Governor Position while Khalwale is going for the senate of the same county. In Luhya land, Eugene and New Ford Kenya following is solidly in Kakamega, TransNzoia, Bungoma and Busia Counties. The same influence is rearing its head in Vihiga County. Even though the New Ford Kenya presidential candidate enjoys fanatical following in other parts of the country, this support cannot be taken for granted for without which his candidature will be like a house built on quicksand. This support is a case of ‘charity begins at home’ G7 is an opportunity and a dream for the future of Kenya. Its conglomeration of youthful leadership presents a prospect for real change in Kenya that will usher in a new era of leadership. It is a leadership that is privy to the current world developmental trends in information technology and modernity. It’s a leadership that represents the future aspirations of this country. The progressive young people of Kenya have a future and space in this political outfit. It’s under the coalition of this group that majority of the Kenyan youth will find space to grow politically. It’s under this coalition that the young leadership at different levels will seek elective positions in different parts of the country. In such a team, Eugene Wamalwa is in the right political direction and 2012 will be evidence enough to this effect. FWAMBA NC FWAMBA is a NEC Member of New Ford Kenya The views expressed herein are personal and do not necessarily represent the party’s position

By Dr.Hon.Shem Ochuodho:Are We Making Chelagat Simply a Flower Girl?

Friends allow me to share with you this opinion written by Dr.Hon.Shem Ochuodho-Former MP for Rangwe.Currently based in Southern Sudan.................................................................... ... Comrades, It is very sad that the nation we have treats patriots like Hon. Chelagat (and a host of... others like her) the way it has - and continues to. While on the one hand it is good senior State Officers (for whatever reason) reach out to her aid, I also loathe her being used as a Flower Girl. Why do I say this? Sample the following:- 1) Among those who went to see her are Fred Gumo! When did he see the light? And where was Njonjo (another Flower Boy) by the way? In the same mail (and Wakili Omwenga confirms - Ndugu I don't expect you to go with the crowd without being critical) - he alongside Moi are quoted to have been the root cause of Hon. Chelagat's tribulations. He is now ODM damu, and yet to explain or apologize to Kenyans for the numerous ills committed (in his name/under his watch as AG). 2) What Chelagat and the ilk need is more than hospital bills and photo sessions. What they need is a National Heroes/Heroines Fund. The only Motion as an MP I was ever allowed/able to move (after being 'de-whipped') was on the Heroes' Fund. Yet other than Orengo, all the others I see with Chelagat vehemently opposed the Motion - not because it was a bad one, but for extraneous reasons. KANU/NDP defeated the motion. The Hansard reports are there, and are public documents, for anyone doubting. 3) As Members of the 'Ngei Intervention Committee', we were ostracized by some. But Ngei's (God rest his soul in peace) may be neither here nor there. While working at KPC, one of the things I did (under provisions of policies of the State Corporation and with approval of the Board) was to do a road leading to Mzee Achieng' Oneko's home (murram) and rehabilitate Mzee Bildad Kaggia's House and a road to the same (+ engaging her daughter as a Casual). The same people now seeing/helping Chelagat called me all manner of names: they only retreated when I went public, stood ground and said I they deserved even better and I would do it again given a chance. When Bildad died, the same were at the forefront at his funeral. Crocodile tears? Again, the only person I would exonerate is Orengo: together with him and Hon. Alfred Nderitu (or was it Hon. Moses Muihia?), away from the media glare, we were the only MPs who attended his beloved wife's funeral - that's when we noticed he had no good road/path to his home and the house was falling! On Oneko: some of the same people who castigated me, I hear now when they travel from Suba/Mbita to Nairobi/Kisumu, they use first the ferry Tuju Raphael introduced, then off onto the road we did to connect to Busia/Kisumu Road. What mockery! Am glad Hon. Chelagat is being helped while she is still alive. Personally, I wish her quick recovery. And am glad she believes NONE of the existing parties has an ideology worth crediting even when surrounded by ODM maestros. I call that standing with head high even under such circumstances as hers. She reminded me also of once when about 10 of us MPs visited Bildad in hospital - when we offered him a few coins to help buy 'bread, soda, etc', he declined. His last words I still remember vividly in his trademark voice: "Don't worry, Son, I'll be okay". We had to leave it to the nurses and relatives to buy him milk, etc. He (like Chelagat) lived with integrity even up to his bed-rest. Chelagat, like other heroes and heroines, are more than being used as Flower Girls. Best rgrds, Shem

PRESIDENT KIBAKI`S INACTION ON CORRUPTION IS A HUGE BLOT ON HIS LEGACY.

The implementation of the Kenya Education Sector Support Program (KESSP) was seen as a final bright star falling into alignment. However, nine years down the line, this program is on the verge of collapse. Close to 4.6 billion of the total money injected into KESSP has been embezzled. Yet the government is desperately and frantically engaged in semantics in a bid to downplay the enormity of this embezzlement. What the public is hearing is that this money has been misappropriated. However, there is a huge gulf in terms of meaning between embezzlement and misappropriation. The latter may occur due to unauthorized and unregulated virement. On the other hand, embezzlement is outright theft of public finances. So far all indications are that this is an outright act of embezzlement. In fact a few individuals are set to appear in court for theft. However the money that these individuals are alleged to have stolen is less than two hundred million. The million dollar question is where is the rest of the over four billion shillings? There can only be two plausible explanations. First it could be that though the money was allocated to the Ministry of Basic Education, treasury did not release all of it. This explains why Professor Ongeri has requested parliament to give him more time to reconcile figures. He probably has a point given that treasury has of late been a target of unrelenting opprobrium especially from the Ministry of lands for allegedly sitting pretty on money meant for the resettlement of IDPS. Treasury has on the other hand insisted that it had duly released all the funds. To date, intrigues still surround these funds. Given this history with treasury it is only after Professor Ongeri reconciles the figures that the public can determine the whereabouts of the unaccounted billions. The second explanation is that a few bureaucrats in the Ministry of Basic Education are being used as a smokescreen to conceal the real faces behind the four billion scam. Obviously the real culprits are people high up in the citadel of political power. They probably need these billions to put in place effective political campaign machinery that will shake all the four corners of the country. KESSP thus became a perfect conduit pipe to harness the necessary billions. This could explain why Professor Ongeri is unshaken even as the public is exposed to the damning audit report. Later he had the gall to furiously spin strange tales in parliament. He even indicted the public for demanding for his immediate resignation. In the opinion of Professor Ongeri anyone remotely associating him with this scam must be too benighted, uncomprehending or completely misinformed. It is hardly surprising that he imagines that calls for his resignation are an “orchestrated evil scheme” to bring him down politically. To this end, he has sought parliament’s protection! According to Professor Ongeri the fact that his name is not mentioned anywhere in the audit report is enough for him to be vindicated. But there is something in his demeanor that savors of deceit. His utterances are indicative of a minister shirking responsibility. He must be reminded that as the substantive minister, he is the chief custodian of public funds in the ministry of Basic Education. He has the responsibility of ensuring that any public finances including debts incurred by the Government on behalf of the Kenyan people is managed and administered in a transparent and accountable manner. In this regard, I implore parliament not to take seriously Ongeri`s rhetoric for in so doing parliament will only be sanctifying the depths of his errors and imagine (as he has done) that there are hidden motives in the public`s call for his resignation. Contrary to what Ongeri believes, this insidious scheme threatens to bring down (not him), but the future of millions of the poor Kenyan children and the future of the country as a whole. His denial reminds me an Igbo saying that states that “a rock behind the sea does not hear rainfall even if it rains torrentially.” This is because such a rock is always wet to notice the rain. Like this rock, Professor Ongeri is absolutely drenched in the FPE scam. No matter the torrential outpouring of complaints from the public, he is simply tone deaf. Finally, the true picture on graft among public officers would be incomplete if President Kibaki`s nine year presidency that has been punctuated by stunning inaction is omitted. The only time he seemed active was last year when he suddenly found the voice to denounce the PM`s suspension of professor Ongeri and William Ruto over corruption allegations. Later on he gave a fiery speech in parliament whose unmistakable intention was to lambast the PM. Furthermore, reports that President Kibaki is keen to have suspended Higher Education Minister William Ruto back in the Cabinet despite the fact that he was acquitted on frivolous grounds is indicative of the fact that President Kibaki is least interested in converting his rhetoric on graft into action. President Kibaki must know that his inaction on corruption is a huge blot in his nine year legacy. It is high time he took notice of the public discontent with the state of affairs and took the necessary action against corrupt public officers.

LET US NOT USE THE OLD CONSTITUTION AS A CONDUIT FOR CONVEYING OUR EVIL INTENTS INTO THE NEW CONSTITUION.

Barring the court case, the budget is going to be read to parliament this week. This is besides the fact that there has been no appropriation bill under consideration, no debate on the floor of the house. Yet buried deep in the Finance Minister`s response to the brisk criticism of his unwillingness or purported inability to live up to the provisions of the new constitution is his characteristic haughtiness. Never mind that this haughtiness is coming from a presidential hopeful! Besides his failure to present an appropriation bill to the August House he has previously never met any deadline in the presentation of annual or supplementary budgetary estimates. Even worse is the fact that there has always been a glaring “mistake” in the same estimates. Yet he has the gall to tell us that the implementation of budgetary accounting and public management reform takes time. He also mumbled something to the effect that there is need of training and the necessity of a cultural change before meeting the constitutional requirement on public finances as entailed in the new constitution. This is hubris. First, I have examined the chapter on public finances with a fine- toothed comb and suffice to say that there is nowhere where it envisages that one can anchor his indolence in the old constitution while implementing the new constitution. Secondly, it is inexcusable for the finance minister to quote time constraints when we know too well that the Ministry of Finance is inundated with the best economists and software that can shorten the budget making exercise to just a fraction of the analogue years. It therefore goes without saying that by choosing to present the annual appropriations at his convenience, the minister is in fact rubbishing article 221 of the new constitution which makes it explicitly clear that for the envisaged scrutiny to take place, the Cabinet Secretary (Now the Minister for Finance) has to submit to the August House estimates of the revenue and expenditure of the national government for the prospective financial year at least two months before the end of the financial year. By extension, he has flouted the entire chapter on public finances which substantially extends the legislatures` right regarding scrutiny of annual appropriations. It seems to me that the minister is unhappy that Parliament has a right to fuller and more relevant information; the kind of information that bestows upon it real strategic steering power. His failure is thus not informed by the constraints of time but rather by the fear of the legislature exercising power over the purse. He knows as much that this power over the purse is a complete and effectual weapon with which legislators can obtain a redress of every grievance, and carry into effect every just and salutary measure. The minister fears the fact that there is an elephant in the budget detail revolving around projected government expenditure. In fact when parliament indicated that it will give him the leeway to flout the provisions of the chapter on public finances, he breathed a sigh of relief. He took it as the triumph of his desires over the national and county interests. He had simply managed to trick the legislature into believing that any roadblock to the presentation of the budget to the August House or the unnecessary delay in the adoption of the budget will lead to delays in their salaries, hence the urgency to have the budget adopted in the blink of an eye. Unbeknown to many such a scenario is aptly provided for in article 222(1, 2a, b and c) of the new constitution. By abdicating a role so sacrosanct legislators have indicated their willingness to opening wide the sluice-gates of corruption in the budgeting process. This is because even though the planning and programming stage of the budgetary process does not entail handling of the actual money flow, it constitutes part of the budgetary corruption process that manifests itself in the actual payments or transfers of money at the budget execution stage. It therefore goes without saying that if the preliminary stages are poorly executed, the danger of cascading corruption opportunities become real. But then in a sense, our inebriate parliament has been in a pro-forma session all year. Beyond a few ho-hum pieces of legislation—legislators could have taken a nine month holiday at the sun and sin resort and the country would be none the worse. Although we know that the most pressing issue facing our country is the runaway inflation and the staggering high cost of living occasioned by corruption and poor governance parliament is simply not embarrassed to set a new standard for dereliction of duty. TOME FRANCIS, http://kenyapatrioticviewpoint.blogspot.com

MIGUNA’S BEHAVIOUR DOES NOT BEFIT A PERSON OF HIS CALIBRE.

BY FWAMBA NC FWAMBA ................................................................................. Miguna Miguna’s recent article in the star dated April 26th 2011 and his previous conduct on a national TV when he was invited for debate with Prof Peter Kagwanja exposes a man full of sycophancy that in the name of trying to impress his master is hell bent on engaging in personal attacks without substance. I find it a serious disgrace that the taxpayer’s money is spent to cater for salaries of such people. I am yet to find out what exactly the value of Miguna’s position is in government and in effect to ordinary Kenyans. In his article he used over two thousand words trying to belittle Prof.Kagwanja’s intellectual and academic credentials. It is not forgotten that his perfection in abusing people is what defines what Miguna’s personal credentials are. He is no different from those Kanu sycophants who wanted Karl Marx arrested since some supposed opponents of the Moi regime were said to subscribe to the supposedly corrupt teachings of Karl Marx. He is one person who is not open to criticism of his master or himself. Any criticism of Raila will always be met with abuses, mockery and ridicule from the self righteous Miguna Miguna who has in all his articles personalised the second liberation struggle to look like it was his invention and personal masterpiece. While he keeps on boasting of his reform credentials equating himself to the likes of James Orengo, Raila Odinga and playing superior to the likes of Wafula Buke, it is yet to be established whether Miguna used the second liberation struggle for the sake of Kenyans. If Miguna is not an opportunist, then the meaning of the word must have changed. His self imposed exile in Canada in the wake of dissent against Moi within the student fraternity during the Mwakenya days speaks volumes about the real character of this man. Majority of Kenyans opted to remain here and face Moi head on to push for political reforms, the time during which Miguna and his ilk were enjoying life abroad and continuing with their education while their comrades in Kenya were rotting in prison .Tito Adungosi and many others who stood against Moi never made it to come out of prison alive. To Miguna, anyone who does not agree with him is wrong and anti reforms; that is an accusation he has levelled against everyone including Tito Adungosi who is not even alive to defend himself. Even after the enactment of the new constitution he is still obsessed with the past and has not appreciated that Kenya’s hope lies in the future and not the past. After staying in ‘exile’ for over 20 years, Miguna decided to come back but has remained in utopia ever since. Going through Miguna’s writings gives one an impression of him living 20 years behind the Kenyan political calendar. He seems to have forgotten that Kenya moved on while he was away. Many things happened then for us to be where we are and Miguna should give Kenyans a break and stop hallucinating that his being in self imposed exile is what gave Kenyans the new constitution. If he doesn’t know his role in this then I have to remind him that he is an opportunist who stayed away for self preservation and pursuit of his own happiness when Moi was butchering people only to come back after the war has been won to claim victory in a war which he never participated. He has become one of the major beneficiaries of the blood of our brothers and sisters who died in the struggle; occupying a senior government position for which he never fought. His attack on the people who endured Moi’s repressive regime is a sign of inherent feeling of guilt that he doesn’t want to publicly admit. His supposed participation in the second liberation struggle is a make believe created by him to justify his occupancy of the office he holds because his inner feelings are real as opposed to the hogwash he writes for the consumption of young Kenyans who are not privy to the true history of this country. Miguna is a man desperate to create a false space for himself in the history of this country which in real sense is either non existent or very minimal if any. He has lied to the people until he even believes his own lies. His behaviour is alike to that of the character Ivan Alexandrovich Hlestakov in Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector who after realising that he had been mistaken for an Inspector General, lies to the town’s leadership that he is actually one to an extend of believing his own lies. Miguna’s arrogance and belligerent behaviour in itself explains something about his character. It’s a strategy of trying to conceal his personal weaknesses and as such he will go to any extend of maligning people and intimidating others who may potentially expose him in character and real abilities as opposed to the false image of himself that he tries to create. To avoid reasoning and deviate from the subject of criticism, Miguna chooses to provoke the critics of Raila into personal fights that involve sharp razored war of words. That he has succeeded in making himself a Raila shield and spear at the same time. During Moi’s time, that was the work of sycophants. It sounds so unprogressive in Kenya today that sycophants are now officially employed and live on the taxpayers money.Miguna’s responsibilities sound more relevant at the ODM headquarters than at the Prime Minister’s office where non partisan interests are supposed to be pursued as opposed to the kind of assignments Miguna appears to busy himself with at the Prime Minister’s office. Another option is that such a person should earn a salary from Raila’s pocket and not from the Kenyan tax payer. In these difficult economic times, it will be helpful that when the two principals consider reducing the size of the cabinet; such obsolete positions like that of Miguna whose job description and mandate appears to be mainly abusing Raila critics through the media, should be done away with. On his attack on Prof Kagwanja he appears more focussed on justifying his fat pay check and government privileges that he enjoys as a state officer than articulating the truth. He refuses to acknowledge the fact that he and his ODM bandwagon supported the enactment of the new constitution because they had no choice. He refuses to acknowledge that it was Prof.Kagwanja’s team that triumphed at Naivasha and the ODM group only supported the constitution to avoid embarrassment at the referendum. It is a known fact that the ODM group wanted federalism to be entrenched in the constitution while the PNU team wanted the two tier system that was eventually adopted. The ODM team wanted a position of an executive Prime Minister as opposed to the PNU group which wanted one centre of power.Miguna is still suffering from the frustration of their failed attempt to create two centres of power in the constitution. Miguna also wants us to believe that his vote made us succeed at the referendum. During the referendum campaigns, the ODM group under the leadership of Miguna and others; were more interested in trying to force the success of the referendum to look like a result of Raila’s sole efforts while the PNU team under Prof. Kagwanja was more interested in ensuring that we got enough votes to not only win but win convincingly. Its through Prof.Kagwanja’s strong lobbying skills that we were able to convert the whole of central province which had earlier been prejudiced against the constitution because of the conduct of the likes of Miguna. I am right to say that without PNU and Prof. Kagwanja, the new constitution would have become a cropper; something Miguna being an alien to truth and a compatriot of falsehoods will obviously deny. In his article he appears like a man trying to get an escape route from that failure by instead pointing at those who succeeded against his team as failures. Even with their failing political mathemaics, Miguna still insists that his master is poised for political victory come 2012.It reminds me of those pupils in the village primary schools who took advantage of their illiterate parents to lie about their academic performance at school. When such pupils performed poorly and tailed in class they lied to their parents that they beat everyone in class. A chicken was then slaughtered to celebrate the academic ‘achievements’ of someone who had managed to be number forty out of forty pupils in class. The pupil took advantage of the illiteracy of his parents to get a gift that he least deserved. Those are the tactics Miguna has always used in his attack articles; expecting that Kenyans will not realise his cheap tricks. While trying to help the Prime Minister by advising him on ‘coalition matters’, Miguna’s sycophancy , rather than win, can only scare away Raila’s potential voters when people contemplate a government where someone of his temperament will be the one calling the shots. He is a bully good enough to win the Prime Minister more enemies than friends. In this time and age Kenyans have no love lost between them and political sycophants and opportunists of the Miguna type. Fwamba NC Fwamba +254721779445 National Convenor Kenya Young Voters Alliance

WHY I WILL NAME MY SON "INFLATION WANJALA."

My friends laughed uncontrollably when I told them that I intend to name the child who is soon to replace my acting last born, “Inflation Wanjala.” They wondered why I objected to the many funky European names that they had suggested. Some said that if I insisted on the name, then I will be stark, staring bonkers. To their utter consternation, I stuck to my guns. You see, “Wanjala is a luhya name meaning “hunger.” The reason why I chose this name is because it collocates with “inflation” and the two effectively capture the historical significance of this period. When “Inflation Wanjala” comes of age and demands to know why I chose such a name for him, I will tell him that he was born when millions of Kenyans bore the brunt of a voodoo economy. I will tell him that he is a living testimony of a dangerous trend that emerged in the country. This was a time when our country was experiencing a growing pattern of chronic artificial inflation in the months leading to the 2012 general election. Even though my knowledge in matters economics may be fuzzy, trust me to demonstrate to him, a link between inflation and general elections in Kenya. I know for sure that in the preceding electioneering years, inflation was always a dominant variable. It came in different styles and sizes and severely affected public and private economic planning. I will remember to tell him that a coterie had engendered a pervasive and sustained rise in the aggregate level of prices of essential products and services. The cost of living spiraled to over two hundred percent while salaries remained at an all time low. I had to walk up to twenty kilometers each day to and from my work station because the commuter fee had more than doubled. Never mind that like millions of other helpless Kenyans I considered breakfast and lunch mere luxuries. I will tell him that the mysterious fat cats (coterie) had a hidden paw and the movement of a snake. They were criminals who used their intellect to defy the law. They surrounded themselves with the Harvard legalese. They even baffled criminal investigators and caused them constant despair; for when they reached the scene of the crime, the fat cats were simply not there. Not even their footsteps could be traced. Theirs was suavity and deceitfulness par excellence. Simply put, these were the true Napoleons of corruption, the crème de la crème. So powerful were they that they even engendered panic and fear among those tasked with regulating the energy sector. All that the subservient regulators could do was wag their tails and quote non-existent increases in the price of crude oil at the global market and piracy as reasons for the skyrocketing oil prices in the country. None of them could explain why oil prices in other non-oil producing countries were much lower than in Kenya. Like the proverbial cat and mice, the legislature animatedly talked of the need to bell these wily fat cats but none of them (legislators) was willing or courageous enough to take up that noble task. None of them stood his ground to save Kenya from the litany of grand scams in the oil industry. The executive too seemed incapable of directing its attention to the seriousness of these criminal depredations and at worst they seemed to be prisoners of the small coterie who ruled in their name. Buoyed by a contingent of hungry policemen at their disposal, this coterie cared less of the possibility of a social implosion. After all, they could deploy the police force to arrest the dying men and women whose groans disturbed their comfort zones. All the while, the coterie executed the most base and abominable economic crimes over millions of their fellow citizens. The economy at large toiled for rapine. The civil servant, teacher, policeman, doctor and all other laborers did sweat, not for their own benefit, but for the luxury and rapacity of the fat cats of depredation. Ours was a country where forty millions Kenyans, gifted by Providence with the ordinary endowments of humanity, groaned under the weight of an artificial inflation. I will tell “Inflation Wanjala” that his name ought to be a constant reminder to him and to his generation of the folly of letting a coterie whose good fortune springs from the calamities of its citizenry and whose aggrandizement grows out of the miseries of their fellow humankind to take charge of their collective destiny.

MY EASTER SUPPLICATION: GOD, DELIVER US FROM THESE NAPOLEONS OF ECONOMIC CRIMES.

As far as I can remember, “inflation” has always visited Kenyans in the months leading to any general election. Unlike in other economies, ours is always an artificial one. It is perhaps the artificiality of this inflation that is making the government to cleverly substitute the term “inflation” with “high costs of living.” Buoyed by the confusion between financial straits and high costs of living and the resultant conceptual chaos, the government can only be economical with truth. The Government will never admit that there is an inflation induced by a coterie. This is because feeding an ignorant public that is reeling from the effects of an artificial inflation with truth is akin to rabble rousing. Instead, a “sensible government” such as ours, will adopt half-hearted measures of addressing the plight of its citizenry while all the while it will be busy doing its best to cover up the muck left in the wake of a coterie that is manipulating the oil industry for purposes of financing the 2012 political campaigns. Besides, given that this is a grand scale pillaging, it only seems plausible to opine that some ambitious elements in the echelons of government are part and parcel of this coterie. Seen from this perspective, it becomes easier for one to begin to fathom why this coterie seems to have hidden paws. As far as they are concerned no one will demonstrate a link between them and the huge drug hauls, oil scandals or even the containers full of bloody gold from the Democratic Republic of Congo to name but a few. If the above is indeed the case, then we can begin to understand why this coterie remains an enigma. We will begin to understand why this coterie continues to baffle criminal investigators causing them constant despair. We will also begin to understand why when the criminal investigators reach the scenes of crime, not even the footsteps of this coterie can be traced. Simply put, these are the latter days Napoleons of corruption, the crème de la crème. And true to the meaning of the phrase “Napoleons of corruption”, they have caused seismic panic among those tasked with regulating the energy sector. All that the subservient energy regulators can do is to wag their tails in the presence of this coterie. The statements issued by the regulators in justifying the high oil prices are as clear as mud. It is not surprising to hear them quote increases in the price of crude oil at the global market as well as piracy as reasons behind the skyrocketing oil prices in the country. Interestingly, none of them can explain why oil prices in other non-oil producing countries are much lower than in Kenya. At best theirs can only pass as a maundering prose or a mystic mumbo jumbo. The energy regulators are not alone. We have heard the legislature animatedly talk about stopping this coterie. But like the proverbial cat and mice none of them is willing or courageous enough to bell these fat cats. Indeed, none of them has so far stood his ground to save Kenya from the litany of grand scams. The executive too seems incapable of directing its attention to the seriousness of these criminal depredations and at worst it (executive) seems to be a prisoner of this coterie that is ruling in their name. Buoyed by the presence of a hungry and malnourished police force, this coterie cares less of the possibility of a social implosion. After all, they can deploy the police force to arrest the dying men and women should their groans as much as disturb their comfort zones. So, perhaps we should just resign ourselves to the fact that this coterie will continue unabated executing the most base and abominable economic crimes over millions of Kenyans. May be the pain will be mollified if we just learnt to accept the fact that the economy at large will continue to toil for rapine. The civil servant, teacher, policeman, doctor and all other laborers will continue to sweat, not for their own benefit, but for the luxury and rapacity of these fat cats of depredation. Yes, we groan under the weight of this coterie but still, out of our own volition, we bent our backs for them to ride on. Ours is a typical voodoo economy where forty millions Kenyans, gifted by Providence with the ordinary endowments of humanity, voluntarily bent their backs to be mounted. Yes, ours is a country where the good fortune of a coterie springs from the calamities of the citizenry. It is a country where a coterie`s aggrandizement grows out of the miseries of their fellow humankind. And because we are a notoriously religious nation the best we can do is to ceaselessly pray so that God can save us from ourselves.

HON. EUGENE WAMALWA CAN ONLY BE A CHEER LEADER IN NEW FORD KENYA.

After last Saturday`s rally at Posta grounds in Bungoma, Eugene Wamalwa finally made good his threat of ditching Ford Kenya. Propped by honorable Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, he just fell short of revealing his new political party. Grapevine has it that he intends to sojourn in New Ford Kenya where a hero’s welcome awaits him. I must admit that this sounds too good an offer. Yet, we are warned that when the offer is too good, one must think twice lest his celebrations are quickly drowned out by the Devil that is in the details. To begin with, Eugene has to convince the populace of Kakamega County that he was not part of the political elites that hounded the likes of Soita Shitanda and Bonny Khalwale out of Ford Kenya in the months leading to the 2007 general election. I have a hunch that the latter have never gotten over the 2007 sour grapes and they may just be looking for an opportunity to revenge. Remember that revenge is a dish best served cold. Outwardly, they may put on charming smiles while they are really hurting inside. Even if perchance the officials of the New Ford Kenya bear no grudge against Eugene, I am not sure that they will be so desperate as to agree to give him more prominence over themselves. There is also a growing perception among the electorate that Eugene is a quitter. This term carries with it a negative connotation in that quitters are known to be driven by their short term political interests as opposed to the general good of the electorate. Unlike his elder brother, the late Vice President Wamalwa Kijana, Eugene`s behavior is a testament of a man who is impatient with himself. When he failed to secure the Ford Kenya ticket as the parliamentary candidate during a by-election in Saboti constituency that was occasioned by the demise of his brother, he quit Ford Kenya for Republican Party of Kenya (RPK) where he unsuccessfully launched his maiden contest. In 2007, he quietly returned to Ford Kenya. He succeeded in taking the Saboti Parliamentary seat on a PNU coalition ticket. Four years later, realizing that he cannot competitively secure Ford Kenya`s nomination as a presidential candidate, he has again decided to jump ship. However, because of his penchant for quitting parties especially in the face of competition, the electorate`s trust in Eugene is diminishing by the day. Eugene Wamalwa will thus have an uphill task convincing the Bukusu populace to cross over from Ford Kenya to New Ford Kenya. Consequently, it does not make sense for Eugene to join New Ford Kenya when his presence in that party will not add any value. Clearly, there is very little he can do to enhance New Ford Kenya`s popularity. At most, Eugene will only be regarded as New Ford Kenya`s cheer leader. The only guarantee he will have of not being trampled upon is if he does not allow his ambition to be in direct conflict with the political ambitions of the “owners” of New Ford Kenya. Eugene may find solace in Chinua Achebe`s “A Man of The People” by saying that he is not a fool to spit out the juicy morsel that good fortune has put in his mouth. But to the electorate, he is simply a man who does not mind riding on the misfortunes of some of the Ocampo six. Besides, there is a perception in the public domain that some of Ocampo six are barons of impunity therefore any politician who intends to be a presidential aspirant associating with them runs the risk of being seen as part and parcel of the evil axis that the electorate wants to get rid of. As the saying goes, “if one walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then, he must surely be duck.” But of more concern now to Eugene is the theory gaining currency that he is not his own man. Pundits opine that by being publicly propped by people with questionable characters to the presidency, Eugene seems to be reclining to the fact that even as a president he will be a true regent or a prisoner to forces of impunity. No idea is as repulsive as this for an electorate that is yearning for positive change.

LET NOT IMPUNITY SMOTHER THE NEW CONSTITUTION.

Today, I speak of those great patriots present and those departed, who little impressed by the audacity of the barbarians gallantly fought for the second liberation of this country regardless of their stations in life. Many among them were maimed in the struggle for the expansion of the democratic space. When death reaped one defender after the next, there was none among them who through cowardice refused to fill the gap. I salute them all. For all those patriots departed, I know that you must be tossing and turning in your graves in impatient anger like a blood-pudding seething over a fire. You must be cursing at the site of political madness in the form of violent debauchery. I know that it pains you to see some callous individuals want to reduce Kenya to a collection of tribes and not a united Nation as you had earlier envisaged. You must be holding us in contempt as you witness the bile and treachery by some in our midst who are busy enticing our brothers and sisters to dance themselves lame to the drums of phantom wars. You must be appalled that these individuals want to cling on the president`s coat in the hope that he will not oblige them to step aside from their lofty political portfolios. These individuals still imagine that on the balance of scale, the word of the president is still greater than the very constitution that he swore to protect. We see them in political rallies talking tough and throwing tantrums at their imaginary political foes. Their words are like sugar coated poisonous pills. When wholesomely and unquestioningly swallowed these words have the effect of creating bovine obedience in us so that we do not demand of their resignation in light of the grievous charges preferred against them. You must be seething with anger that we conscripted individuals who were part and parcel of the undemocratic, illiberal and repressive political regimes to usher in the new political dispensation. I now must admit that this was but a mere historical accident. In our excitement we threw caution in the wind and completely forgot that like obligate anaerobes these individuals would never appreciate the fresh political air blowing across the country. We completely forgot that because they are scions of the old political order they can only thrive in mischief. Indeed, they have employed all the dirty tricks in their odious book to cover each other`s muck. All they are good at is staying deep down under the rabbit`s fur. They have deliberately refrained from any kind of direct ideological challenge to the status quo. They prefer politics of appeasement and aggrandizement to the principles of democracy as enshrined in our constitution. Take for instance those who have been quick at flaunting the term “sovereignty” as a smokescreen to avoiding justice. They have displayed vigor in seeking for a deferral and possibly a referral at a later date but they have largely been unwilling in demanding that the same suspects resign from their public offices in line with the requirement of our new constitution. The huge pot holes in their reasoning cannot be gainsaid. It is amazing at how they can conveniently forget that under the new constitution, a precedent has already been set. We have seen honorable Moses Wetang`ula, Henry Kosgei and William Ruto resign from their portfolios under circumstances less grievous. Any exception to this constitutional requirement is not only a case of double standards but an act of impunity as well. I can see you shedding tears of despondency because our motherland is being treated to the verbal wallop of some sycophantic leaders. That the verbal hemorrhage of our leaders is too stupendous is an indication of the extent they are willing to go in propping up impunity. Indeed, some leaders have been heard saying that should one of the suspects be ineligible to contest the presidency come 2012 owing to The Hague trials then the presidential election must be postponed. This is balderdash. To them, it matters less if the said suspect is found guilty as charged. They want to make us believe that the country will not move forward for the period such a person would be incarceration. Does it mean that such a person is more important than the sum total of all Kenyans? My fellow patriotic Kenyans, I take it that you are sincere, honest and brave enough to render a verdict according to your convictions, beyond the shadow of a reasonable doubt. To our departed patriots, let me assuage your feelings. We owe you the duty of safeguarding the well being of this great Nation. I assure you that the seeds of patriotism that you sow in us have germinated and we shall faithfully water them to fruition. Like Emma Goldman, we dare say that “We are but the atoms in the incessant human struggle towards the light that shines in the darkness—the Ideal of economic, political and spiritual liberation of mankind!” We shall surely have a victory for truth and justice over those standing in the way of our new constitutional order.

MASS ACTION USED AS A POTENT TOOL FOR DEMOCRATISATION AND NOT FOR MURDER AND PLUNDER.

Those of us who played a crucial role in the expansion of the democratic space in this country know very well that there is a huge gulf in terms of meaning between mass action on the one hand and mass murder and plunder on the other. We all know that these terms are not synonymous as some people want us to believe. Harping on such thinking does not only expose one`s ignorance but also insults the intelligence of true patriots. To true patriots, mass action has never been a call for citizens to take arms and rise against their fellow citizens. Mass action was and remains to be a potent tool used to force political regimes that are out of touch with the social and political realities of the day to wake up and smell the coffee. History is rich with examples of how mass action has been used in the liberation struggle the world over. In Kenya for example, it was largely responsible for the repeal of section 2A of the Kenya constitution in the early 1990s. History also attests to the fact that individuals who are seemingly clothed in democratic garments and who were previously part of the impunity that was routed during the second liberation of this country do not understand what mass action means. For how can they understand mass action when they have all along stayed deep down under the rabbit`s fur? These are individuals who have nervously refrained from any kind of direct ideological challenge to the status quo. They have instead preferred politics of appeasement, aggrandizement and abandonment of the principle of democracy. To them, those of us who are incessant atoms of positive change are to be met with violence and mercilessly crushed to submission. As part of the historical accident, some of those who helped perpetuate the undemocratic, illiberal, authoritarian and repressive political regime(s) were conscripted as change agents in the new political dispensation. However, it is said that old habits die hard. The same individuals found themselves suffocating under a bout of fresh air. For them to remain politically relevant they had to quickly find some form of mischief. The 2007 presidential election provided them with the much needed opportunity to unleash the terror that was part of their DNA. Since they were in two opposing political camps, each one thought that he had an opportunity to outdo the other. They both employed all the dirty tricks in the book to vanquish each other in order to sustain their selfish desires. Unfortunately, it is the electorate across the political divide that became the poor victims of their vicious war. These individuals discovered too late that as scions of a nearly dismembered political system their chances of survival lay in their coalescing together. Indeed, they gravitated towards each other. But for the reunification to be complete they had to shop around for a sacrificial lamb upon which to direct their ire. They found the target of their misplaced anger in the PM. They have continually blamed the PM for being the architect of all their real and imaginary woes. Without any iota of evidence they have alleged that the PM double crossed them by colluding with the Waki commission, Ocampo, Obama (read as USA), France and even UK to fix them politically. They have since vowed to also vanquish him politically. Perhaps these individuals imagine that we suffer from memory lapses. They think that we cannot recall that at the time when the International Community stepped up pressure to bring to an end this cycle of violence and impunity the same individuals successfully rallied legislators in parliament to twice reject attempts at establishing a local judicial mechanism to try the perpetrators of the 2007 PEV. Then they said “We should not be Vague. Let us go to Hague.” Their wish was granted. They are now belatedly crying that Kenya is a sovereign state and that submitting to the Hague is akin to inviting back the colonizer. I dare say that this is balderdash. These individuals must be told in no uncertain terms that any attempts to take this country to the political doldrums will be met with the full force of the law. It is therefore incumbent upon them to desist from whipping the emotions among their ethnic bases as this will further prove their culpability of the accusations leveled against them. They must know that ICC is a credible international court that will never grasp at shadows. It is also imprudent for these individuals to allow their political sycophants to issue remarks that have the potential to incite the public. What else can one make of the statement by one MP that parliament will be forced to postpone the 2012 elections should one of the suspects not be eligible to contest the presidency come 2012 courtesy of the pending cases at the ICC? What if the said person is found guilty? Will his incarceration be the reason for the country being held at ransom? Does it mean that such an individual is more important than the sum total of all Kenyans? This is the height of political extremism. We cannot allow it to begin to show its ugly face again. As the conscientious public we expect that those on whose behalf such remarks have been made to come not only to distance themselves from such recklessness but to also condemn it as well. Unfortunately, such incidents provide more reasons why the Hague process must go forth unhindered.

KALONZO`S GRATUITOUS PROPHESY KEEPS HIM WAGGING HOPEFUL.

So Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has said that come 2012, he will be in state house. Of course, not as comptroller or those other jobs whose occupiers have to constantly contend with the slaps, insults and tantrums from the most powerful woman found therein. No. He will be there as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Kenya. This is to say that he will be the fourth President of the Republic of Kenya. When he missed the presidency in 2007 by a wide margin, he embarked on a journey to endear himself to President Kibaki with a view to scoring crucial points in the ensuing succession politics. Noting Kalonzo`s loyalty, President Kibaki never hesitated to appoint him his chief errand boy. And true to his calling, Kalonzo has unquestioningly and faithfully run errands for President Kibaki sometimes at the risk of even Kalonzo`s own political supporters interpreting his behavior as consistently and dangerously taking a sycophantic slant. Kalonzo has remained unbothered by such criticism. This is because he has always seen himself as sufficiently philanthropic as is demonstrated in his tireless work in aid of the Ocampo six. At the international level, he has undoubtedly cut a niche for himself as a master of shuttle diplomacy. Even though his efforts are yet to bear any fruits, we cannot begrudge him. Of course, we all know how Uncle Sam and the rest of the big boys dislike those who want to flaunt their diplomatic prowess in their faces. Nevertheless, suffice it to say that Kalonzo`s has demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that he can die for his “brother” and in politics such gestures rarely go unrewarded. Given that those who have been summoned by the ICC will not be in position to have their names on the 2012 presidential ballot, it is incumbent upon the orphaned political turfs to look around for an heir apparent. I imagine that the VPs soothing dirges will neither be unfamiliar nor unacceptable to them. Surely, he will not be accused of shedding more tears than the bereaved. It is only ingrates and those with short memory spans who cannot reciprocate such a kind gesture. Kenyans are nowhere near such a description. This is why the VP is wagging hopeful that he will bag all the votes in these orphaned turfs. That is understandable. After all, in Africa don`t we say that “If death were not there, how else would the inheritor get his riches”? But philanthropy is not the only quality that the VP has. The VPs religiosity stands unrivalled. It is no secret that the VP communicates with the gods in mediums completely out of the range of the ordinary minds. Given that Kenyans are notoriously religious he is sure to get votes from a huge chunk of the electorate. I guess you recall when he prophetically said in 2007 that he will pass in their midst and none will see him? The strange thing is that the prophecy never came to be. But none of us had the guts to question the gods` mouthpiece. May be the gods had some beef with the VP and that is why the prophecy was temporarily frozen. Who knows, may be the ice has since thawed and the VP will soon be matching to state house unseen as earlier prophesied. Perhaps this explains why the VP is re-energized and has even found time amid a tight shuttle diplomacy schedule to dust and adorn his prophetic regalia and traverse parts of the country prophesying that “his 2012 miraculous match to state house is unstoppable.” But perhaps like me, when time is ripe you may find solace in the words of George Elliot (1819-1890) who said that “among all forms of mistakes, prophecy is the most gratuitous.” You see, with prophecy it is never important whether the prophet has none of the gentleman`s instincts when strutting about its fulfillment.

THE ART OF WRESTLING A PIG IN A MUDDY POOL.

Over the last couple of weeks, the public, herein referred to as the audience, has been treated to a never ending contest titled “The art of wrestling a pig in a muddy pool.” For one to be eligible to participate in this contest one needs to sign a consent form indicating that he is an adult of sound mind and that he has entered the contest on his own volition. The theatre of this absurdity is the expansive fields of the country called “Nyake” which is littered with countless barnyards. Note that some of the barnyards have a striking semblance with Kenyan political parties. These barnyards have hostile and squeaky pigs lurking therein. They are the kind of pigs that would make a mockery of the pigs in George Orwell`s “Animal Farm.” The common denominator among these pigs is that they have a penchant for muddy streams and piggy political adventure. The squeaking gets even louder as these pigs break the perimeter fence and stray into neighboring barnyards where they mingle with those that have similar orientations. They can be seen darting across the expansive fields in search of muddy pools where they taunt humans for a muddy contest. The rules of this contest are fairly simple. Rule number one is that the prospective human participant must be willing to enjoy the muddy fight at least as much as the pig would. The longer the muddy contest the merrier it is for the pigs. Rule number two states that for purposes of ensuring the longevity of the muddy contest, the prospective participant must not carry the detergent known as “Kibunja” into the muddy pools for the pigs know too well that “Kibunja`s” pungent smell is not good for their snorting and will thus bring the muddy contest to a premature end. Rule number three is that the audience, will measure your success not only in terms of how fast you scoop mud to smear the muddy pigs but also how clever you are to avoid the pigs muddying you. Quite a task, huh! Rule number four is that the participant must ensure that he has plenty of time to have a good muddy shower and a hearty laugh at himself. Perhaps the participant may just be in time to discover the fact that mud purifies the pig`s emotions. Call it some sought of a piggy catharsis. In this regard, the participant is specifically warned not to be surprised if the pigs soak him thoroughly in mud. Neither should the participant be surprised if the pigs squeal, or play dirty, or run amok or even run around in circles, small and large, tirelessly. The good thing is that the participant will perhaps just be on right course to discover the import of the old age aphorisms that “When you fight with a pig you both get dirty and that the pig likes it” or that “you got to have a swine to show you where the truffles are.” The trickier part is that the participant is also strongly advised to be kind and gentle. Otherwise 'the audience' will judge him and not the pigs. They already feel sorry for the pigs for wallowing in the mud, even before the contest starts. So you have to enter the muddy pool with caution - if at all. It will also be worthwhile for the willing participant to remember that these pigs may be hurting inside, sometimes somewhere quite deep and painful...this explains why sometimes they squeak without knowing it. After the muddying experience rule number five comes in handy. It states that when the pigs taunt you to come back for more mud wrestling contests- (as they are wont to) - make sure it is you who decides whether to 'go back for more' – and not the pigs because they (pigs) have absolutely nothing to lose.

CONCENTRATION OF MEDIA OUTLETS IN THE HANDS OF A FEW WILY POLITICIANS IS INIMICAL TO FREE EXPRESSION.

Thomas Jefferson once said that, "the only security of all is in a free press.” He further opined that “the force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure." The import of this avowal cannot be gainsaid. We are all witnesses to what is transpiring in the Arab world, where two political regimes have already been disposed of by popular uprisings fuelled by the powerful mass media. Many other political regimes in the region are standing on political quick sand. It is only a matter of time before they are relegated to political Siberia thanks to the catalytic nature of the liberal media. African dictators are having their worst nightmare on how to contain this roguish foe. Many of them will elect not to encourage the freedom of the mass media for fear of the resultant political agitation. They will thus use every trick in the book to gag the liberal media. This may not be done overtly due to fear of international condemnations. In order to accomplish this objective without causing a furore, many heads of states and their ideological heirs will ensure that media outlets are highly concentrated and dominated by a clique of politicians and conglomerates whose ideological leanings are not a threat to the political establishments of the day. The intent will be to ensure that the listenership, viewership and readership of these outlets is widely dispersed and, in the words of T.S. Elliot, “like foxes that have an interest in prolonging the lives of poultry”, they will ensure that only opinions favorable to their political cause will be churned out to the unsuspecting public while all other opinions will be repressed. This view may look farfetched; however, the reality is that it is happening in Kenya. Mergers and acquisitions of media outlets by politicians either directly or through proxy is on the rise. The effect of these mergers and acquisitions has been that these newly acquired or merging media outlets have become captives to political interests. Scribes on the payroll of these media outlets are crying foul that viewpoint discrimination through discreet outlawing of opinion that is not in the best interest of the media owners is on the increase. They lament that most of their opinions do not see the light of the day or are edited beyond recognition especially if such scribes have unearthed potentially damaging information concerning certain politicians who are either friends of media owners or part owners of the media house(s) that these scribes work for. Moreover, editorial values are rarely subject to detailed exegesis in the Editorial Guidelines. From the foregoing, it can only be concluded that monopolistic control of the media market by wily individuals is likely to lead to the shrinking of the democratic space in the country. This is of course sweet music to the ears of despotic heads of states. Such leaders will not hesitate to facilitate an increase in concentration of media outlets in the hands of a few wily individuals and subsequently reduce the overall quality and diversity of information communicated through major media channels. Ultimately, this gives rise to a poorly-informed public, which is restricted to an array of biased media. Such media will be out to offer information that does not jeopardize the political interests of the incumbent and his or her ideological heirs. In his book titled “Human Liberty and Freedom of Speech” Edwin Baker opines that “media freedom must be that which is geared towards the creation and maintenance of a healthy democracy in which all citizens would flourish.” Media concentration that is an antithesis to media freedom is therefore sociologically detrimental and dangerous to any civilized society.

THE SANCTITY OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION HAS NOTHING IN COMMON WITH POPULARITY CONTESTS.

I must confess that I was disappointed by honorable Uhuru Kenyatta`s reaction when the House Speaker ruled that president Kibaki`s nominations were unconstitutional. Uhuru was far from the vibrant, colorful and respectable gentleman that I have known and respected for so many years. In fact, I tried hard to convince myself that the man before the cameras was but his caricature. Staring into the cameras in so threatening a manner, he threw his hands in the air, waxing lyrical about the speaker and the PM berating the president. His speech was punctuated with heavy heaving that was in itself an indication that he felt more than half-disposed to revenge. The scene was akin to that of contending professional boxers who consumed by anger, they wish to immediately beat senseless their opponents during the weigh-in and press briefing session prior to the bout. It is no wonder that my four year old daughter cringed every time Uhuru clenched his fist and hit the table so hard. It is incomprehensible that a man who grew up in the most decent and sophisticated places in the world, tutored by the best instructors on public discourses and anger management could so shamelessly allow himself to be consumed with anger to the extent of becoming incoherent. This is why he does not see the difference between the sanctity of the new constitution and popularity contests. I dare say that it is incomprehensible for Uhuru who even in the face of the most trying moments of his life has always managed to get his act together to allow himself to be so ruffled by the speaker`s ruling. But then, what exactly did Uhuru mean when he mumbled something about the new constitution giving the president a carte blanche to nominate those he deems fit? If what he alluded meant the president, thinking within the box rather than outside the box then I must confess that Uhuru got the intent and objectives of the new constitution wrong. This is because thinking within the box is less challenging and is expedient to one's own short-term interest or political survival, but Uhuru ought to know that this is the very culture that Kenyans have decried. It is this culture that took this nation to the dogs. Unfortunately, Uhuru and many of his ilk were tutored in the same culture. This is why it is unsurprising that they still have the perception that even with the new constitution political leaders can always play the Russian roulette with the lives of Kenyans. To such politicians nothing will change for the better in our country, except for the lives of the few wily politicians, more so, those born with silver spoons in their mouths and those who are always privileged enough to enjoy the trappings of power. These are politicians who have the tendency of thinking that they own the country. Fortunately, none other than president Kibaki himself went to the streets to fight against this culture during the second liberation of this country. I therefore have no doubt whatsoever that the president took the speaker`s ruling with a stride. The unfortunate culture aside, I am still left wondering why Uhuru was behaving like the proverbial mourner who sheds more tears than the bereaved. Given that it is not his nominees that were rejected, I am still looking for a clue on why he seemed so rattled by the speaker`s ruling that he became incapable of conducting himself with decorum. May be I am stretching my imagination a bit far, but bear with me for entertaining the thought that perhaps Uhuru had a hand in picking those who successfully made it to the disgraced list of nominees. Perhaps, this had everything to do with a pre-determined ruling in favour of the Ocampo six were the UN Security Council to grant us the plea for a deferral and later a referral based on the understanding that Kenya had established a “credible Judicial mechanism.”

CULTURE OF IMPUNITY MAKES RECURRENCE OF PEV A REALITY.

A section of legislators have been fast and furious in accusing Prime Minister Raila Odinga of incitement over remarks he recently made that the country may experience a worse round of electioneering related violence if the perpetrators of the 2007-2008 PEV are not prosecuted. These legislators have demonstrated a penchant for quoting the PM out of context in order to paint to the public and the International Community an unfavorable picture of him. It would be a great disservice to the nation if these extremes of flippancy were to go unchallenged. In order to appreciate the circumstances under which the PM made these remarks, I wish to draw the attention of these legislators` to findings of a research titled “Reaping the whirlwinds? The Socio-Economic implications of the 2008 post Election Violence” carried out in August 2010 by The Kenya for Peace with Truth and Justice (KPTJ). Therein are research findings that show that three quarters of Kenyans in the Rift Valley consider recurrence of ethnically motivated PEV as likely. It opines that about 40 percent of the respondents plan to relocate temporarily while fifteen percent plan to migrate permanently. All the respondents agree that bad politics and the Government`s inability to deliver justice to the victims of PEV is likely to fuel another round of ethnically motivated PEV. Studies undertaken by other bodies such as Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation (KNDR) Monitoring Project, leading researchers such Synovate and Infotrak as well as a host of other civil society organizations have made similar observations within the same period. Of much significance is the fact that these findings dovetail with findings of the Independent Review Committee (IREC) and the Commission of Inquiry into PEV (CIPEV). IREC recommended institutional reforms while CIPEV recommended that in order to tackle the culture of impunity and to prevent future recurrence of PEV there must be investigations and prosecutions of the perpetrators of the 2007 PEV. However three years down the line, these reports seem to have found their way into the shredder. Implementation of these reports has been so much politicized. Currently there are many personal, political and even ethnic considerations surrounding the debate on the establishment of a credible local judicial mechanism to prosecute the suspects bearing the greatest responsibility over the 2007 PEV. The country is increasingly being treated to ethnic political dynamics that are clearly aimed at subverting justice. Already some legislators are unreasonably and callously trying to push the country out of the Rome Statute as a way of expressing solidarity with those indicted. This is impunity par excellence. The amended Set of Principles for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights through Action to combat Impunity submitted to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on 8 February 2005 defines impunity as: “the impossibility, de jure or de facto, of bringing the perpetrators of violations to account – whether in criminal, civil, administrative or disciplinary proceedings – since they are not subject to any inquiry that might lead to their being accused, arrested, tried and, if found guilty, sentenced to appropriate penalties, and to making reparations to their victims.” Moreover, the First Principle of the same document opines that “Impunity arises from a failure by States to meet their obligations to investigate violations; to take appropriate measures in respect of the perpetrators, particularly in the area of justice, by ensuring that those suspected of criminal responsibility are prosecuted, tried and duly punished; to provide victims with effective remedies and to ensure that they receive reparation for the injuries suffered; to ensure the inalienable right to know the truth about violations; and to take other necessary steps to prevent a recurrence of violations.” Going by the above, suffice to say that impunity has taken a permanent abode in Kenya. Given the altercations surrounding the president`s nominations particularly into the judicial service commission, there is little doubt that Kenya has failed to put in place credible judicial mechanisms to oversee the delivery of justice. In spite of this, forces within Government are active in seeking referral, which has now been replaced with deferral of cases against the Ocampo six. Besides there has been a deliberate attempt by a section of the Government to incite other African countries (vide shuttle diplomacy) to pull en masse out of ICC. Given that there those in government who can be so bold in rallying other countries to support our culture of impunity it can only be that there are individuals who are prepared to go to extreme ends to defeat justice even if it means reverting to chaos. These are the circumstances that forced the PM to speak out his fears over attempts by some individuals to forestall justice. It is therefore an act of hypocrisy for a section of legislators to demand that the PM cites intelligence reports to back claims of recurrence of PEV in 2012. Curiously the same legislators have been quick to point out (without any iota of evidence) that the prosecution of those bearing greatest responsibility in the 2007-2008 PEV will be a serious threat to national peace and security. It can only be that those castigating the PM over his remarks are predictably malicious as is attested by their fantastic misrepresentation of facts. Hidden behind their flippant remarks is a formidable façade to pamper impunity. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA.

JUDICIARY MUST "LIFT THE CORPORATE VEIL" TO RECOVER STOLEN PUBLIC FUNDS AND PROPERTY.

In legal law and jurisprudence there exist three theories of legal personality: the realist, fiction and objective theories. But, it is the fiction personality theory that is quite controversial. Here, non-human or artificial bodies’ (such as companies) maybe legal entities through the fiction that human beings provide the mind and soul (corpus and animus). It therefore follows that companies have a legal identity as well as the right to own property. Companies can also sue as well as be sued in a court of law. However, such legal entities cannot be physically present in a court of law for offences committed. Besides, such entities cannot be accused of perjury. Furthermore, unless it is through liquidation or winding up, they cannot be punished by death nor can they be subject to corporate punishment. Given the above limitations Kenya has witnessed a worrying trend where wily individuals use companies as their alter ego. Here, a company is deliberately used to provide a legal shield for the wily individuals operating the company for their selfish intents. Such companies (some of which seem to enjoy protection from the political establishments of the day) have often gone under just before or soon after the respective political regimes come to an end. These conniving individuals hide behind “the limited liability” (which is metaphorically referred to as the “corporate veil”) whenever they are called upon to account for their mischief. However, this protection may be pierced and personal liability imposed by the courts of law when a wily shareholder operates the company as an “alter ego” for wrongful purposes. It must be underscored that this veil is not in itself an absolute shield. According to Wikipedia “piercing the corporate veil” is a legal decision to treat the rights or duties of a company as the rights or liabilities of its shareholders or directors. Usually a company is treated as a separate legal person, which is solely responsible for the debts it incurs and the sole beneficiary of the credit it is owed. Common law countries usually uphold this principle of separate personhood, but in exceptional situations courts of law may "pierce" or "lift" the corporate veil. This doctrine is used by the courts to ignore the corporate status of a group of stockholders, officers, and directors of a corporation in reference to their limited liability so that they may be held personally liable for their actions when they have acted fraudulently or unjustly. In order to have a better understanding of what “piercing the veil of a company” entails, let us take the example of a business man who leaves his job upon signing a contract forbidding him from competing with the company he has just left for a period of time. If he goes ahead to set up a company which competes with his former company, technically it would be the company and not the person competing. However, it is likely that a court of law would say that the new company was just a "sham", a "fraud" and would therefore allow the old company to sue the man for breach of contract. A court of law would thus look beyond the legal fiction to the reality of the situation. Several courts have determined that the alter ego doctrine can be applied to Limited Liability Companies. In the US for instance, in Kaycee Land & Livestock versus Flahive, (2002), the Wyoming Supreme Court held that the equitable doctrine of piercing the veil was an available remedy under the Wyoming Limited Liability Company Act. In the UK, the corporate veil was lifted in the case between Gencor versus Dalby, because the company was the "alter ego" of the defendant. From the foregoing, despite the terminology used that makes it appear as though a shareholder's limited liability emanates from the view that a company is a separate legal entity, the reality is that the entity status of companies has almost nothing to do with shareholder limited liability. “Piercing the corporate veil” is therefore the only means of breaking down a wily individual`s protection. This is mostly done when such a company is the wily shareholder`s “alter ego” and is a sham or façade used to evade creditors or to defraud the public. Given the soaring corruption cases in Kenya revolving around limited liability companies, it is the public`s expectation that the Kenyan courts would rise to the occasion by “lifting the corporate veil” to expose the real fraudsters. It would make a lot of social and economic sense if a company is barred from being the alter ego of the principal corporate.

VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE AGAINST PM PREMISED ON WRONG REASONS.

The political marriage of convenience between certain legislators and their hitherto political nemeses has undeniably given them the numerical strength in the tenth Parliament. However, it is the manner in which these legislators intend to use their new found pact that is very much disconcerting. First they threatened to impeach the House Speaker should his ruling regarding the constitutionality of the president`s controversial nominations go against their grains. Later own they threatened to pull out of the coalition government that they rightly accused of working at cross-purposes. On Friday last week, some legislators threatened to move a vote of no confidence against the PM for allegedly challenging the President`s “unfettered powers.” While I acknowledge that moving a vote of no confidence against a leader of the PMs stature is the standard practice in many democracies around the world, I am also acutely aware of the fact that responsible Parliaments use this arsenal only with a view to checking on executive misconduct, or its effect, especially if the official`s unbecoming behavior subverts the structure of government or undermines the integrity of the office or the Constitution itself. In other words a vote of no confidence is only used if there is sufficient proof that a government official is behaving in a manner grossly incompatible with the proper function and purpose of the office. Secondly, it can also come in handy if such an official employs the power of his or her office for an improper purpose or for personal gain. In Kenya such a threshold is seemingly non-existent. It may well be that a section of the political divide may invoke this power simply because they do not like one`s nose. This lacuna may seriously undermine the integrity of the office of the PM. Article 4(b) of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, 2008, states that “the office of the Prime Minister shall become vacant if the National Assembly passes a resolution which is supported by a majority of all the members of the National Assembly, excluding the ex-officio members, and of which not less than seven days notice has been given, declaring that the National Assembly has no confidence in the Prime Minister.” From the foregoing it is apparent that the grounds for the vote of no confidence are conspicuously missing hence leaving this crude weapon to become a matter of political expediency. Unfortunately, I can only compare the above scenario to that of monkey holding a loaded gun. In my view, the Prime Minister is simply supervising the implementation of the new constitution as per its letter and spirit. It is his constitutional duty to reject any underhand deals that may jeopardize cohesiveness in our diverse ethnic society. I thought that it would have been the failure on his part not to jealously guard the new constitution against desecration that would have engendered a vote of no confidence against him and not the other way round. Moving a vote of no confidence against the PM based on seeming realities constructed on pure lies will most certainly prove counter-productive. In any case, those bent on exploiting this provision must know that the Judiciary, the Constitution Implementation Commission (CIC), the LSK, civil society and the public at large have all declared the nomination exercise unconstitutional. Thus, if parliament wanted to badly move a censure motion it is the President and not the PM who should be the victim of such a censure. At this juncture, it is important to remind those legislators deluding themselves that in the event of a vote of no confidence against the PM, the president can then move forth to form a Government of National Unity and continue to govern as though nothing happened. Such a move would be tantamount to formation of a government through a serious fraud since we have not forgotten the fact that there was no clear winner in the 2007 presidential elections. Furthermore such an illegality is likely to further heighten the tensions in the country. Lastly our legislators must know that the reason why the country at large is protesting these unilateral nominations is because they do not pass the credibility test to warrant the Kenya Government to convince the UN Security Council for either a referral or deferral of the ICC cases against the six Kenyans. I therefore implore legislators to allow reason to prevail. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA.