STIRRING IN THE SLUMS

By Barney Jopson 2365 words 23 July 2009 (c) 2009 The Financial Times Limited. All rights reserved One by one, complying hesitantly with the odd request of their visitor, the 20 young men get up from the ridge of grass that forms an amphitheatre at the centre of their slum and sing the Kenyan national anthem. As its Swahili words begin to flow they praise bonds of unity, the shield of justice and the virtues of service. But the soaring sentiments jar cruelly with the reality of the singers' lives. Before the paean to the "glory of Kenya" as the "fruit of our labour" has left their thoughts, they are asked to say what they do. "Hustler," answers one. "Super idler," says another. "Minibus tout, without a minibus," says a third. Fifteen of the 20 are unemployed. The men from Nairobi's Kawangware slum represent the five biggest tribes of Kenya. They are united in agreeing that their biggest problem is a lack of income and that the blame for their predicament lies in one place: the country's failing multi-tribal coalition government. The power-sharing government was formed in February last year to end a post-election wave of intercommunal violence that killed 1,100 people, displaced more than 300,000 and shattered Kenya's reputation as a haven of stability in a rough neighbourhood. US President Barack Obama's paternal homeland plays a crucial role as east Africa's manufacturing base and a transport hub for a vast region: Uganda, Rwanda, eastern Congo and southern Sudan all rely on its road and rail links and its port at Mombasa for access to the rest of the world. Kenya is home to the biggest United Nations offices in Africa and is the base for agencies doing aid and development work across one of world's most troubled, conflict-prone zones. Kenya's leaders signed up last year to an ambitious reform agenda that promised the most dramatic transformation of the country since the end of colonialism in 1963 by tackling the underlying causes of the crisis: land disputes, inequality and a skewed distribution of political power. Instead, the government has been paralysed by corruption, in-fighting and a poisonous lack of goodwill - as even some of its own more straight-talking members admit. "The coalition is dysfunctional," says James Orengo, lands minister. "If it had committed to a clear vision and agreed on structures for decision-making, then all these problems would not be there." George Nyongesa, the visiting political activist who was urging the 20 young men on, says he asked them to sing the anthem to hammer home a point: "That there is a complete contradiction between the founding ideals of Kenya and the present operation of our politics." Eighteen months ago, slum residents like those gathering to listen to Mr Nyongesa - a community organiser from a group called the People's Parliament - were hacking each other to death in the inter-ethnic violence sparked by a disputed outcome to the election. Now, popular anger at the failings of the cross-tribe government appears, with a degree of irony, to be prompting some of Kenya's urban poor to question the role of ethnicity in politics. This is not to say that tribal affiliations themselves are dying away: they remain rooted in language, customs and neighbourhood support networks. Those bonds are at their strongest in rural areas. Even in the most deprived areas of the capital - many of which abruptly segregated during last year's violence - citizens are becoming more united by their loathing of the government than they are divided along tribal lines. Unscrupulous demagogues could still whip up ethnic animosity. But equally, the popular discontent could be harnessed to build a political reform movement that transcends tribes. David Njogu, one of the young Kawangware men, offers a blanket indictment of the government that owes nothing to his ethnicity or theirs. "They're not performing. Just looking after their own stuff. Not looking at the basic things we need," he says. "This country has a lot of money but we don't see it. This is the time for the youth to rise up." John Githongo, a top anticorruption official turned whistleblower, says it is too early to talk of class "solidarity" but notes: "Right now, what we have is a growing awareness: it is inarticulate, could be violent, disorganised and anarchic. There is no template for what's happening in Kenya." If the sentiments are allowed to smoulder without structure, they could explode into violence just as gruesome as last year's. If they are organised into a political force, they could make the 2012 presidential election the one in which a cabal of leaders, some with their political roots stretching back to the independence struggle, are ejected from power. To explain the context, Mr Nyongesa points to a dilapidated minibus that honks at a stray goat before swerving close to a row of roadside kiosks. Across its front are emblazoned the words: "Our problem, Kiraka." Kiraka is a term derived from the names of the three men, each from a different tribe, who were rival presidential candidates in the 2007 election and are now united in power - Mwai Kibaki, the president; Raila Odinga, prime minister; and Kalonzo Musyoka, vice-president. But the word doubles up as a derogatory play on the Swahili for patch. "The cloth is torn so you bring a patch," says Mr Nyongesa. "They are the old patch, hanging on. What we need are new clothes." This is not the first time in Kenya that a government's performance has generated huge popular discontent. But several factors make the country different today, not least that Kenyans are better informed and enjoy more political freedom than in the past. Moreover, the cabinet for the first time explicitly accommodates all of the biggest tribes. This undermines an assumption that has been a linchpin of post-colonial politics in Africa: that the poor will back a member of their own tribe seeking power because patronage will repay the community. "We've always said, 'my man will win and he'll give me a job, I'll have food, I can pay rent, I can take my child to school'," says Mr Nyongesa. "But now all tribes are in the ruling class and it's not brought any relief on our side." Mr Githongo says the coalition "has been sadly helpful" in showing that "the ruling class becomes a tribe once they ascend to power, and it is a tribe that guards what it has jealously and accumulates corruptly with a voraciousness born of impunity". Helping to raise the potency of the divide is growing resentment at politicians who have manipulated Kenyans over the course of decades by stirring "us versus them" tribal hatreds. "When the youth went into the streets they were shot, killed, used by the politicians," says Mr Njogu, the young man in the slum. "We have learnt that these guys are going to psych us to fight. Then they just go off and leave us. So it is better to be together against them." Mwalimu Mati, head of the Mars Group, an anti-corruption organisation, says: "A lot of the youth are waiting for someone to tell them the next big idea. What is the plan? Sometimes it can be a criminal enterprise, sometimes religion, sometimes a political movement." It could also even bring the ethnic militias, who played such a strong role in last year's violence, back to the forefront. An illegal gang called Mungiki, which has harnessed the disillusionment of young men in Mr Kibaki's Kikuyu community, is running extortion rackets and bullying members of its own tribe into compliance. Other ethnic militias have proliferated across the country. Ngunjiri Wambugu from the Kikuyus for Change activist group says: "Violence is usually the output of a lack of dialogue. The issue is, can we have a non-violent confrontation with the political leaders?" To make that possible, his organisation is working with others from the Kalenjin, Luo and Kamba communities to turn shared anti-government feelings into a constructive political force. Mr Nyongesa, who is trying to do similar things with the People's Parliament, says that if the grievances of the urban poor are to play a part in 2012, they need a leader who can transcend tribalism. "People still ask me: who will be our Obama?" he says. "I say: it's up to you to identify him." A movement would also need a set of values linked to basic livelihood issues. But Mr Mati worries about the emergence of a demagogue: "You could dupe the population into a massive vote by promising unga [maize flour] at Ks20 [$26 US cents, 16p, 18 eurocents] per kilogram and then do what you like." Sceptics say any attempt to build a political structure around signs of class identity will quickly reveal that the sentiment is shallow and not wired into people's instincts in the way notions of the tribe are after decades of conditioning by politicians. "If there's a crunch and confrontation my guess is that the more important rallying point will be ethnicity rather than class - at this time," says Maina Kiai, former head of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. He believes that the most significant socioeconomic divisions will turn out to be within ethnic groups rather than across them. "They will fight each other, but also say 'Let's get something to eat'. So you'll see looting and people crossing from the slums into the wealthiest neighbourhoods." Renewed violence could be triggered at any day by a crisis in the coalition, be it over land reform, a new constitution or prosecuting the masterminds of the post-election clashes at the International Criminal Court. In rural areas such as the Rift Valley - where the violence was at its worst, grievances remain intense on all sides and tribal militias are rearming - it is hard to imagine a coalition of the downtrodden. But it is the Kikuyu youth - including those in groups such as Mungiki - who are likely to have a decisive impact on Kenya's future, because last year's crisis was as much about anger over their tribe's perceived monopoly on power and wealth as it was about a rigged election. If they ditch their own tribal elite to join forces with other poor young men that will mark a turning point for Kenyan politics. If they buy into one of their community's most powerful narratives - that Kikuyu survival is being threatened by every other tribe - then little will change. The actions of the president's closest Kikuyu allies, the so-called Mount Kenya mafia, suggest they perceive the grassroots threat, but are also digging deep into their ethnic bunker. Jimmy Kibaki, the president's 46-year-old son, was recently dispatched to talk about "we, the youth" and position himself as a leader of the disenfranchised poor. He was greeted with derision by youth groups. Mr Nyongesa says he and People's Parliament members have been harassed by the authorities ahead of public meetings. Non-Kikuyus complain of being stripped out of the upper echelons of the police and the army in anticipation of another conflagration. These are reminders that any bottom-up movement that gains traction is likely to be met by the full force of the state. But the young slum dwellers of Kawangware who sang the national anthem in the rain know they have one big advantage. "There are two tribes, the rich and the poor, and we the poor have the numbers," says Sam Onchwari, an underemployed barber. "It's the numbers that can put pressure on the government, and we have more than enough." Coalition 'intrigues' convert presidential loyalist into political rival During the crisis last year that saw Kenya pushed to the brink of civil war President Mwai Kibaki could count on no more fierce an ally or tougher negotiator than Martha Karua. The former magistrate was at the tally centre defending the integrity of an election her party was accused of stealing, and then at the negotiating table securing the most powerful jobs in the coalition for its ministers. So when, this April, the 51-year-old said she was ditching Mr Kibaki - a fellow member of the Kikuyu tribe, Kenya's largest - and quitting in disgust as justice minister, her about-turn shocked the country. To Kenyans her resignation confirmed that power-sharing was not working. Ms Karua is now trying to capitalise on their discontent and position herself for the 2012 presidential election in which she is likely to run on a reform ticket. The coalition is inefficient and riddled with rivalries, she says. It is "a system where you are given the work minus the support to do it, where there are intrigues and you are being undermined continuously after you are given a job to do," she tells the FT. Citing her thwarted efforts to tackle police death squads, an ineffective judiciary and corruption within the coalition, she says: "I think the nexus in all of them is impunity . . . The unwillingness to change anything." She attributes the inertia to the self-interest of ministers. "If you have people who feel exposed by reforms they are going to fight them. There are those who feel the police reforms are going to expose the wrong things they have done previously. There are those who feel the fight against impunity will find them, whether it's with regard to violence or corruption." Mr Kibaki and Raila Odinga, prime minister - foes in the 2007 election - are equally to blame for the lack of action, she says. She also rejects the idea that the coalition has been paralysed by in-fighting between their parties, describing it as a "clever ploy" used as a decoy by both sides. Yet in spite of her damning assessment of the coalition, she has "no regrets" about her role in creating it. "I stood up at [the tally centre] for what is right, for me and my country, not just for the president," she says. Reply to Your PostDelete Post Post #2 Philo Ikonya wrote2 hours ago I like this article for many reasons. One, George Nyongesa is a real Mbunge who is not waiting for some cheap mirage of change.. not at all. And it brings us back to our young people and their pain. And how we have let them down. Our principals appreciation of their plight, our parliamentarians and our other classes of those who have and ( have not earned and are not paying taxes) is very poor. They do not see it as something immediate that needs to be put in the ICU. I remember my pain as a youth, the feeling of being trapped in a village life that so contrasted with my school life ... going to school was a reason to be slightly more comfortable...and very in some years when i got a scholarship. This PAIN IS REVOLUTION fuel. I want to see a Kenyan society where an MP works and pays taxes and does not indulge in all manner of businesses. I know that salaries must slashed but that is not all, opportunities must be created for the young to rise and be in charge. And it is not only the youth in trouble. It is the whole country. I have just called a person i know who cooks well ( I had a contact for him) and he told me he was just on the road walking from one of our slums to see if something would happen to him on the road. My call is what happened. This is an old man. I can only call a few people, help one girl to fetch water, once... but this nation must allow its brains in planning to take over and lead the way...we have learnt; it is not about tribes, it is about a system that allows some to move ahead, far too ahead and ties the rest of us down! Bunge La Mwananchi, Wananchi Pamoja!

UNITED FRONT FOR CHANGE

Considering the existing void in Kenyan leadership and the irresponsibility of those given power to run this country through the national accord and reconciliation act, and the suffering of Kenyan people as a consequence of the failed leadership of the grand coalition, we the people of Kenya with the interest of the people of the republic of Kenya in an initiative by the Bunge la Mwananchi social movement on this 22nd day of July 2009,gathered here at the professional centre do endorse the formation of the United Front for Change. The following discussions led to the endorsement of the formation of the movement: Present: NAME JACOB ODIPO RICHARD GITONGA RAHMA WAKO RUTH MUMBI JOYCE WAIRIMU FWAMBA NC FWAMBA EDRA MBATHA PETER MURIUKI DIANA WAITUIKA PHILO IKONYA JULIUS OKOTH BRADLEY E OUNA DUNCAN KONYANDO PATRICK OBARA HASSAN SAGWE AOL PAUL FRANCIS W MURABULA JOSEPHAT M WAEMA WAMBUI MOSES KENETH KIRIMI GACHEKE GACHIHI JOHN NJERU KHAKASA MARAKALU CLEMENTINAH MBITHE SOPHIE DOLA MBUGUA KABA ERICKSON M MOKAYA ZARINA PATEL MARTIN OTIENO JOSEPH CHITERI DINAH AWUOR AGAI KELI MUSYOKA HENRY EKAL SAMSON OJIAYO CLLR.ORIARO LEONARD STEVEN JUMA MARK PAUL United front for change is a national initiative of Bunge la Mwananchi that is dedicated to marshal all Kenyans, currently dissatisfied with the way our country is being run to agitate for genuine change. What brings us together to push for change(summary-topics discussed)  Need to shape the destiny of the Kenyan people  Recognition of shared values and experiences  Recognition of both individual and collective capacities and strength  Concerns for the future of our nation, our children and the generations to come.  Opportunities to bring about change  Vision for Kenya’s destiny  Mechanisms for realizing the destiny  Challenges on the road to the destiny  Preparedness and determination to face and tackle the challenges  Strategies for the movement for change  Rallying calls and slogan for change.  Courage togetherness and determination define our strength. The meeting was held at the professional centre a presentation from Prof John Stephens Mayienga.the meeting was moderated by Cllr Leonard Oriaro. After the presentation participants agreed that: The current Kenyan political leadership has totally failed to govern this nation thus the reason for the new leadership to emerge and restore hope to Kenyans .apathy, disillusionment and hopelessness of the people has been made worse by the culture of impunity, and lack of government will to serve the Kenyan people in the right way. It was noted that the political leadership has failed this country at different stages, hence the need to revive hope, service and power to the people through organized leadership and real democracy instead of the dictatorship of an oligarchy. There is need to make sure that we achieve genuine change now and not the rotational change as it has always been. The people through Bunge la Mwananchi all over the republic must come together and reclaim the glory of our nation which was the dream that our true heroes, the freedom fighters worked for. It’s a duty of the Kenyan people regardless of their gender, age, religion, ethnicity or race to come together and publicly make a proclamation and pronouncement of their destiny and the time is now. It’s our duty and responsibility to sensitize and mobilize the people towards this goal for the time to save our country is now not later. Bunge la Mwananchi and other networks for change should steer the true agenda of change through information distribution to their networks for the need to dedicate ourselves to this duty.bunge la Mwananchi must formulate working mechanisms for realization of the destiny of the Kenyan people before we enter the category of the failed state whose characteristics we somehow already have i.e. having two cabinets in one. We have a cabinet that can’t agree on anything. We therefore in summary make a declaration, a clear and strong message to the Kenyan government of the day and accomplices that their days are numbered and time is up. Its time for genuine change-power must revert back to the people in line with the common man’s agenda. Now is the time. As we agree on the formation of this movement, we are therefore setting up strategies and mechanisms of publicly launching the united front for change. We will update you and invite you to the launch. United front for change is an all inclusive movement with horizontal leadership and accommodates all Kenyans and organizations that are dedicated to change. Kenya mpya POWER TO THE PEOPLE Wananchi Pamoja

ದಿ ಯೂತ್ MOVEMENT ಇನ್ KENYA

THE YOUTH MOVEMENT IN KENYA Due to the existing political dilemma in Kenya, a number of lobbies have come up with an aim of tring to right the situation. Most of the groups are either youth based or defined as perpetuating the youth agenda. Some groups seem to be gaining influence at the grassroots while others that target the middleclass youth have made an impact through the cyber space. Such groups include the following: Bunge la Mwananchi-an independent organic socio-political movement whose majority membership is youth. Formerly based in Nairobi but now has spread to slums and in provincial parts of the country.Bunge la Mwananchi organizes open air fora that focus on topical issues in public parks, markets and other strategic places. The main group meets at the Jeevanjee gardens in Nairobi daily. Their goal is to discuss on how an alternative Kenyan parliament should be. The fora are currently present in over fifty big towns in Kenya including Nairobi, Mombassa, Eldoret, Nakuru, Limuru, Busia, Kisumu, Bungoma, Naivasha among others. Kikuyus for change-A group of youths based in the central province .its members are found in other parts of Kenya. The group tries to alienate itself from the exclusive politics practiced by the older generation from their tribe which has made it create enmity with other Kenyan tribes. Their core-purpose is drive towards unity and co-existence with other Kenyan communities and also strives for the leadership mantle to go the youth. this is because the political leadership in central Kenya has always been dominated by a few individuals and their families. The group intends to work and ensure that every person regardless of his or her economic background can be chosen to lead so long as he or she represents the interests of the people. It is some kind of a resistance movement against the kikuyu plutocracy. Simama Kenya-an initiative of jimmy Kibaki the son of Kenya’s current president mr.mwai Kibaki.its an organization led by jimmy together with Mutito legislator Kiema Kilonzo and political activist Tony gachoka.they claim their intention to be bringing together all the youth from all levels of the economic divide in order to bring about development and exploit all economic potential. Tony Gachoka argues that they want to bring change and the organization welcomes all young people. while jimmy Kibaki admits that he is not a youth, he says that he wants to mobilize the Kenyan youth through this initiative and that he is ding this because he cares for the Kenyan youth with the slogan round hii si mchezo (no jokes this time round).critics say that it’s the conspiracy of the Kenyan oligarchy to retain power through masquerading as the protectors of the youth. The critics say that jimmy Kibaki is an agent of confusion whose aim is to make sure that the real change agitated by various youth groups doesn’t realize the real fruits of their work. The critics believe jimmy is the messenger of the Kenyan ruling class conservatives who believe in political status quo.infact they are discouraging the Kenyan youth from joining this movement claiming that jimmy is trying to ensure president Kibaki’s third term as president through making sure an Uhuru like project wins the 2012 presidential race through ensuring that the youth vote is divided or mobilized to vote for the Kibaki project. National youth convention-an initiative of the youth agenda, a renowned non profit making youth based organization in Kenya. The national youth convention came together through mobilization of young leaders at the grassroots to form a national outfit. The NYC meets yearly to review progress of the previous year resolutions. It’s a donor funded movement whose aim is to ensure the youth take over leadership of this country with a serious reform and ideological agenda. It’s an initiative that operates jointly with another leadership training programme (PLDP) which is also run by the youth agenda. The group ensures a presence through taking part in radio and TV programmes and daily internet interactive sessions through blogging and exchange of ideas through emails. Nyanza youth forum/coalition-It’s a regional based youth movement working on enlightening people especially the youth on the need to elect new and youthful leadership. It also targets other regional based groups whose intention is to ensure new leadership, reform agenda and regional peace in the region of its operation which is the lower Middle Western part of Kenya. National youth council: this group has a special focus on the implementation of the national youth policy to address the problems of unemployment and job creation among the Kenya youth. the group is currently lobbying with various members of parliament and cabinet ministers to pass a bill that will enact formation of the council with the same name to exist within the government youth affairs structure. The group is also focusing on enactment of the new constitution which has special emphasis on youth empowerment and addressing the agenda four as a whole. Kenya Network of Grassroots Organizations (KENGO): This is a group whose platform is based on a coalition of grassroots organizations in different parts of the country. the purpose of this group is coalesce all youth organizations to achieve a common agenda that will drive young people toward attaining good governance and taking charge of their own destiny. Y-10: this is a youth group which am yet to find more details about. They have had several appearances in press conferences asking the government to address the issue of unemployment and condemned the presence of alleged poisonous maize in the country. They have also addressed a number of press conferences calling for the resignation of the prime minister. I surely don’t know their full agenda as for now. National youth movement: an initiative of the national constitution executive council. Its agenda was to mobilize youths to pursue a common agenda in achieves reforms. Its presence at the grassroots is currently limited. National youth parliament: the group worked as a model of what would be a supposed parliament if run by the youth. It used to be active some years back. Nb: the mention groups are the ones whose presence is felt at the grassroots. However other groups which are primarily known to academically enlightened and urban youth do exist. These are groups mainly known to those people who use internet regularly. to name but a few, they include: the new vision group, young Kenyans for change, Kenyans for change, Kenya Voters Alliance(an initiative a group of former university student leaders), citizens against violence, western province young professionals association, bidii Africa among others. These are platforms of sharing ideas among the youth especially those working in offices where the main mode of keeping in touch through communication is through internet via Google or yahoo groups, blogging, or social networks like facebook, my space, twiter or flixter. FWAMBA NC FWAMBA

ಬುನ್ಗೆ ಲ ಮ್ವನಂಚಿ ಲೆಅದೆರ್ಸ್ ಅರ್ರೆಸ್ತೆದ್ ಇನ್ LIMURU

Good evening, Breaking news - 50 people have been arrested in Limuru area where they had gathered to attend a public meeting of area youth to discuss community issues such as Kazi kwa Vijana initiative and the CDF and LATF devolved funds. It is not clear why they have been arrested but the group, including Bunge la Mwananchi leader George Nyongesa , Sheikh Ramadhan and Livingstone Ngugi, are currently being held at Tigoni police station. The area residents had gathered under the banner of Bunge la Mwananchi earlier this afternoon to understand and perform a social audit of their local issues - such as the role and application of CDF and LATF in area development. Although the area authorities had been duly notified of today’s planned community meeting, no sooner had people gathered than the police arrested them. They were bundled into waiting police vehicles and taken to Tigoni police station where they are being held but are yet to be booked. We will continue to update you as more information becomes available. In the meantime, your support in solidarity with these Bunge la Mwananchi members will be much appreciated. Please circulate this information to your networks and continue to give your support in any other way you are able to. A number of human rights defenders including Kelly Musyoka nad others have left for Tigoni to get more details and give solidarity to our comrades.So far,Tom Kagwe of KHCR is looking for lawyers who will be there in a while to know the details of what they are being charged with.All comrades who have means are encouraged to go to Tigoni to give solidarity to our colleagues..just like we have always done before.They government must know that this country rightfully belongs to all of us and we have rights. It must be too noted that last week,bunge la mwananchi chief whip,Patrick Kamotho was arrested and assaulted by the police who later charged him with incitment in circumstances better known to the police. FWAMBA NC FWAMBA

ತ್ರೆಅತ್ಸ್ ಅಗೈನ್ಸ್ಟ್ BUNGE ಲ ಮ್ವನಂಚಿ ಲೆಅದೆರ್ಸ್ ಇನ್ LIMURU

From: Livingstone Kiniaru Subject: Threat on Bunge la Mwananchi Limuru To: grnyongesa@yahoo. com Date: Sunday, July 19, 2009, 7:18 AM Dear Comrades, Since we alerted the government through the area Chief that we are planning to have a public meeting for young people to discuss: 1. Kazi kwa Vijana, 2. LATIF, CDF, the administration has been harassing our members. The Chief told us that we cannot go on with the meeting because the government sees that meeting us likely to incite young people in the area. The Chief went ahead to print posters and hired some goons to pin the posters that say the meeting has been cancelled and people should stay away. We also decided to go round from house to house telling people that the meeting is on and we should come out in large numbers. Seeing our determination the District Officer entered the mix. Our comrade, Master Samson Mwaura aka the Prince Och (the Movement's Secretary) was called on July 18th 2009 on 20:25hrs by number 0722-995 298 and the caller identified himself as Mr. Kang'ethe the D.O of Limuru. In his own words he said " young man I've your number, am sending you and to therest with a warning to stop the meeting or else there will be consequences" ...."yes I mean the youth meeting should not take place or we shall face consequences" . We told him our meeting is for the public interest. We are going to educate the public on CDF, Latif and development knowldge. He responded by telling he shall not allow "siasa za propaganda to happen in his area". Some of our people are getting scared and we need support to reassure people it is their right to meet and discuss their life. Limuru is not enlightened like Nairobi and here the Chief and the DO have so much power and they collaborate with bad leaders to oppress people peaceful. We want to stop this! I will inform how things go later. Livingstone Ngugi COnvenor, Bunge la Mwananchi Limuuru 0723754752

ತ್ರೆಅತ್ಸ್ ಅಗೈನ್ಸ್ಟ್ BUNGE ಲ ಮ್ವನಂಚಿ ಲೆಅದೆರ್ಸ್ ಇನ್ LIMURU

From: Livingstone Kiniaru Subject: Threat on Bunge la Mwananchi Limuru To: grnyongesa@yahoo. com Date: Sunday, July 19, 2009, 7:18 AM Dear Comrades, Since we alerted the government through the area Chief that we are planning to have a public meeting for young people to discuss: 1. Kazi kwa Vijana, 2. LATIF, CDF, the administration has been harassing our members. The Chief told us that we cannot go on with the meeting because the government sees that meeting us likely to incite young people in the area. The Chief went ahead to print posters and hired some goons to pin the posters that say the meeting has been cancelled and people should stay away. We also decided to go round from house to house telling people that the meeting is on and we should come out in large numbers. Seeing our determination the District Officer entered the mix. Our comrade, Master Samson Mwaura aka the Prince Och (the Movement's Secretary) was called on July 18th 2009 on 20:25hrs by number 0722-995 298 and the caller identified himself as Mr. Kang'ethe the D.O of Limuru. In his own words he said " young man I've your number, am sending you and to therest with a warning to stop the meeting or else there will be consequences" ...."yes I mean the youth meeting should not take place or we shall face consequences" . We told him our meeting is for the public interest. We are going to educate the public on CDF, Latif and development knowldge. He responded by telling he shall not allow "siasa za propaganda to happen in his area". Some of our people are getting scared and we need support to reassure people it is their right to meet and discuss their life. Limuru is not enlightened like Nairobi and here the Chief and the DO have so much power and they collaborate with bad leaders to oppress people peaceful. We want to stop this! I will inform how things go later. Livingstone Ngugi COnvenor, Bunge la Mwananchi Limuuru 0723754752

IN SOLIDARITY WITH MWANGI AND ORINA...ORIGINALLY POSTED BY PARTNERSHIP FOR CHANGE

NYC Re: Bonniface Mwangi has been arrested (Breaking News) Tuesday, June 2, 2009 12:14 AM From: "Emmanuel Dennis" Add sender to Contacts To: nyciv@googlegroups.com Mwaniki and all, Bonniface and Eric Orina, were seriously beaten up by the Police, Intervention was called in and they were taken to Kenyatta National Hospital for treatment. They were scheduled to appear before the Chief Magistrates Court this morning with charges of causing a disturbance. I agree with Mwaniki that we need to be very tactical in agitating for the change that we seek. Non Violence is most definitely the way to go. Now that we know the system is not joking and will stop at nothing to break our limbs and even kill us. We got to be more smarter which we are. We will defeat them. Change is coming to Kenya and it is coming very fast. We all need to be there and enjoy that change. So we got to be cautious. But.... The struggle MUST Continue. ED On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 8:31 AM, Mwaniki Mageria wrote: I’m saddened to hear of this. Bonny is my friend. I’ve tried his phone and that of his wife to no avail. We must find other avenues to get the point across without exposing ourselves to injury and being singled out. It’s not a Bonny problem… its OUR problem. We must devise a better way. When we do it this way even the people we are trying to speak for cannot take us seriously. We must engage as Mars Group has - mpaka they are invited for a round table meeting. That’s the level we need to achieve to get their attention and respect. ED when can we meet? Mwaniki From: nyciv@googlegroups.com [mailto:nyciv@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Emmanuel Dennis Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 5:35 PM To: nyciv Subject: NYC Bonniface Mwangi has been arrested (Breaking News) Dear Comrades, I would like to bring to your attention the arrest of Bonniface Mwangi after staging a protest at the President over the escalating levels of impunity in government and lack of leadership as he read his Madaraka Day Speech earlier today at Nyayo Stadium. Just this morning he was on Kiss 100 Breakfast Show and was asking Kenyans to go to Nyayo Stadium and tell off the Political class on the issues that have been affecting Kenyans since the Grand Coalition Government came to Power. Bonny had his Facebook profile disabled for over two weeks in what is now famously known as a very straight talk profile update messages that purely touch on the issues of governance and the need for urgent change of the political class in Kenya. It is beleived that some Governement machinery may have een behind his profile being dissabled. Bonny is now being held at Langata Police Station at the instructions of the Provincial Police Boss. This is an appeal for all of us to make alot of noice for the unconditional release of a comrade in the struggle to liberate this country. Bonface is currently working on the project Picha Mtaani depicting the effects of the Post election violence. He is also known for most of the Pictures seen at the "Kenya is Burning" Exhibition at the Go down Arts Centre. After being the very first nominee of the CNN Africa Photojournalist of the Year Award, Bonny decided to quit and join in the proffession of Activism for the poor Kenyans who are suffering from misrule of the Kibaki's dictatorial and impunious regime. We at the National Youth Convention are following up on the matter and seek to request for your intervention in whatever way you can in order to secure his release. We condemn his arrest as it is politically motivated, a gagging of the freedoms of expression, association, assembly and fundamental human rights as secured in the Kenyan constitution. It should also be noted that his arrest is in line with the directives by this governement to harrass young and upcoming Leaders who have the power to mobilise masses. This governement is thus hell bent to finish young leaders in its quest to continue ruling Kenya with impunity. We will keep you updated on the developments. Emmanuel Dennis Convener NYC

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DOCUMENTED ON 20TH MAY 2009

Dear Comrades This is not necessarily to beg for any attention but yesterday I received a phone call at 3.36 PM from Billy ;Simon Mbugua’s bodyguard. The content? That I had written something on facebook that offended his boss and I was 'spoiling his work’. The writing was about the members of parliament who are usually bribed to vote in a certain way in favour of corrupt ministers. It was in reference to what the member of parliament had said the previous day as I watched news on TV.I had made it known that the MP was admitting his own deeds. It was about the maize issue, typing errors and the MPs for hire. On the same issue I was supported by. James Wamusa Kariuki who is an internet activist. He used more adjectives in his description of the MPs for hire. So in the phone call I was asked to confirm if I was the one who had written the comments which I said yes. I told him I was pointing the issue out without any malice. He then told me that for me to be safe then I should produce Wamusa so that they’ deal with him’. The guy insisted that we meet. I told him I was not in a position to meet him because I was held up in Hurlingam (though that was not where I was).after a few minutes the guy called me and told me that he had driven to Hurlingam and he wanted us to meet. after a while, a lady(Rosemary, Simon's Secretary-who is my friend on facebook)who had been near them when they were coming to meet me in Hurlingam told me I shouldn’t have written that stuff, that she was afraid of what would happen to me. So I avoided meeting the guy and told him that I was in someone's home and wouldn’t manage to meet him then. I then called the lady and asked her what the guys wanted. She told me she didn’t know .The guy called. At 5.03 pm, the guy told me I was lucky, because the time of the assignment had elapsed and he insisted that we should meet. I told him we meet the following day (today) but I must produce Wamusa.I told him I only know Wamusa on facebook.That I don’t know him in person. I talked to a number of friends. Sent a sms to Philo Ikonya, Mwalimu Mati, George Nyongesa, and Absalom Matende And Mwangi Mukami and other people I consider friends. I have made many phone calls most of whom have responded with concern. . Wamusa advised that we report to the police first something Philo endorsed when I sought her advice. I tried to get in touch with Wamusa and today we recorded a statement with the CID.OB NO.24/20/05 entered at the Kasarani police station. The DCIO said that he is going to do investigations based on the information I had provided. As I write there is a friend of mine called Benson Bii who has just called me and told me that Billy was in company of five other unknown guys and they were so angry and were looking for me. He has told me that I should talk to the guys so that I am safe. He has called me with caution and concern. This evening I consulted several people who advised me that I shouldn’t hold this private. I too called the KNCHR vice chairman Hassan Omar Hassan. They told me I should scream loud. I had previously shared this story with just a few people but now I have even shared it on facebook. Am screaming, screaming loud but still against bad governance, corruption, impunity and still wants the Waki report implemented now. I aint a coward, but its important for you to know this…I guess. If anything happens to me ask Simon Mbugua and/or Richard Mugwae (central OCPD who threatened me earlier when we were arrested with Philo when we protested over food prices and the maize scandal. Fwamba NC Fwamba0721779445

http://www.ydinlehti.fi/ydinjutut/kenia-el%C3%A4%C3%A4-ihmisoikeuksien-pime%C3%A4%C3%A4-kautta

Kenia elää ihmisoikeuksien pimeää kautta PHILO IKONYA 15/05/2009 Väkivalta ja valtioterrori on ajanut kansalaisyhteiskunnan ahtaalle Keniassa. Aktivistit eivät enää vain kamppaile oikeuksista, vaan yrittävät rakentaa niiden kulttuuria kokonaan uudelleen, kertoo Philo Ikonya. Pian sen jälkeen kun kaksi ihmisoikeusaktivistia tapettiin vähäliikenteisellä nairobilaisella kadulla, aivan State House Roadilla sijaitsevan ylioppilasasuntola numero kymmenen ulkopuolella, tekstiviestit alkoivat lentää puhelimesta toiseen. Eräs naispuolinen aktivisti kirjoitti minulle: – Philo, huomaan nyt, että en ole ennen nähnyt asioita juuri sellaisina kuin ne ovat. En uskonut, että elämme näin pimeää aikaa. En voi uskoa mitä juuri tapahtui. Jos katoan tänään, tiedät kuka minut on vienyt. Salamurhien tarkoituksena oli tuhota koko kansalaisyhteiskunta pelolla. Kauhun halvaannuttamat ovat kykenemättömiä ilmaisemaan mielipiteitään tai järjestämään tapahtumia. Tämä on pimeä aika Kenian aktivisteille. Aktivistit valtion silmätikkuna Kun aloimme vaatia maatamme takaisin viime vuoden äänestyksen jälkeiseltä väkivallalta, emme osanneet arvanneet laittavamme myös oman elämämme likoon ihmisoikeusaktivisteina. Mutta näin tapahtui ja se on totta. Kenia ei ole valmis ymmärtämään soihdunkantajia, jotka puolustavat totuutta, eivätkä kauhistuttavat asiat ole menossa pois. Kamontho Githinji on nuori mies, joka ei ole nukkunut omassa talossaan kuukausiin. Hän asuu Muthurwan naapuristossa, jossa hän ajaa yhteisön oikeuksia aina terveydenhuollosta kokoontumisenvapauteen. Hän ei ole painanut päätään tyynyyn samassa talossa neljään kuukauteen. Hän liikkuu talosta taloon, joskus vieraillen ystäviensä luona ja joskus äitinsä talonssa, sillä hän tietää että häntä tarkkaillaan. Githinji on saanut uhkauksia monissa eri muodoissa. Hänen oma kännykkänsä, jota hän tarvitsee niin kovasti, on myös hänen pahin vihollisensa. Siihen tulee koko ajan puheluita, joiden tarkoituksena on vain ilmoittaa, että hänen olinpaikkansa kyllä tiedetään. Tästä huolimatta hän ei tule lopettamaan. Githinji on juuri se henkilö, joka kutsui kokoon mielenosoituksen maissinvientiä vastaan aikana, jolloin ainakin kymmenen miljoonaa kenialaista elää nälänhädän uhan alla. Kutsu oli hyvä, ja Fwamba N.C. Fwamba ja minä liityimme hänen seuraansa. Meidät pidätettiin, ja poliisin pahoinpitelyn jälkeen päädyin sairaalaan. Tämän jälkeen meidät vietiin oikeussaliin, jonka jälkeen meillä kolmella on yhteensä ainakin viisi syytettä. Meitä syytetään rikoksista tasavaltaa vastaan, ja pidätysmääräyksissä puhutaan aina laittomista kokoontumista. Pinnan alla toivo muutoksesta Muistan sen illan, kun Fwamba päästettiin sairaalaan. Hän lähti sieltä kotiin koska hän ei ollut halunnut kertoa nuorelle vaimolleen, jonka kanssa hänellä on pieni lapsi, että hänet oli pidätetty ja kuinka hänet vietäisiin sieltä vankilaan. Hän lähetti monille meistä tekstiviestejä ja kertoi suurista peloista, sillä hän oli varma, että häntä seurattiin jopa julkisissa kulkuvälineissä. Hän pystyi erottamaan tummapukuisia miehiä, jotka aina silloin tällöin seurasivat hänen jalanjälkiään kaupungin halki. Heihin viittaaminenkin oli kauheaa, koska viimeksi aktivistit, jotka puhuivat pukumiehistä, tapettiin. Ennen kuin asiat olivat näin pahasti, Kamotho, George Nyongesa, Fwamba ja minä puhuimme eri alojen ihmisille maastamme ja muutoksen tarpeesta poliittisissa piireissä. Menimme juniin, jotka vievät ihmisiä esikaupunkeihin, ja puhuimme muille matkustajille korruption sietämättömyydestä. Samalla keräsimme rahaa ostaaksemme maissia niille, jotka nääntyivät kaduilla tai kuivuudesta kärsivän Kenian alueilla. Yhtenä viikonloppuna arvioimme, että olimme puhuneet 800 ihmiselle, joista osa oli pysähtynyt vain ilmaisemaan iloaan, eivätkä edes kysyneet mitään. He vain sanoivat olevansa kyllästyneitä ja kysyivät mitä voisivat tehdä. Ei olekaan ihme, että meidän kimppuumme käytiin niin pahasti. Maailmanvallankumous ei ole koskaan kaukana ihmisten huulilta. Puhuessamme heidän kansssaan se mainittiin uudelleen ja uudelleen. Keniassa on aktivisteja, joista jotkut johtavat ihmisoikeus- tai muita järjestöjä, joiden agendat ovat joskus samankaltaisia. Samwei Muhochi johtaa International Medical Legal Unit -järjestöä ja pitää mielessään että aktivistit tarvitsevat tukea. Hänen järjestönsä todellakin maksoi takuumme joka kerta, kun meidät pidätettiin. Ei ole yllättävää, että hänestä tuli uhkausten kohde. Tästä huolimatta myös on olemassa muita ihmisoikeuksia puolustavia järjestöjä, joiden mielestä muut aktivistit ovat harmittavia. Ne eivät näytä oppivan, että solidaarisuus on avain alistavista ajoista ylitsepääsemiseen. Luomassa yhteiskuntaa uudelleen Ann Njogu, Centre for Rights Education Awareness -järjestön johtaja ja perustaja on toinen dynaaminen aktivisti. Hän myös on saanut monia uhkauksia ja on huomattavan rohkea uskaltaessaan puhua selkeästi asioista, joista korruptoituneet tahot haluavat ainoastaan vaieta. Ihmisoikeusaktivistit, jotka ammuttiin, ja muut joita uhkaillaan, tuomittiin lopullisesti heidän tehtyään työtä YK:n erikoisraportoija Philip Alsonin laatiman raportin eteen. Siinä kerrottiin tuhansista laittomista kuolemista ja katoamisista, joiden olemassaolosta poliisit eivät halua edes kuulla. Kaiken tämän vahvistavat tutkijat ja ihmisoikeusjärjestöt ja jopa poliisista eronneet todistajat. Poliisikomissaari Ali sanoi, että raportoija oli tehnyt huonoa työtä ja laittoi raporttiinsa asioita, jotka olivat olemassa vain hänen mielikuvituksessaan. Kenian armeija, joka mainitaan raportissa Elgon-vuorella tapahtuneiden puolisotilaallisten joukkojen toteuttamien tappojen yhteydessä, on myös kieltänyt raportin löytöjen olevan totta. Hallitus sanoo Philip Astonin kuvittelevan kaiken. Tämän kahtiajaon keskellä väkivallan kieltäminen ja aktivistien haukkuminen valehtelijoiksi tai ihmisiksi, jotka haluavat tulla länsimaisten kehitysyhteistyötahojen ja palkintojen antajien huomaamiksi, asettaa kenialaiset aktivistit vaikean asemaan. Mutta pahinta on, että aktivistit eivät ole keskenään yhtä mieltä solidaarisuudesta tai tavoista suojellaa toisiaan. Tämä tekee heidät haavoittuviksi ja pelko jättää kansalaistoimijat heikoiksi. Siksi tämä on urheiden hetki: urheiden ihmisten ei pidä keskittyä vain omaan työhönsä, vaan rakentaa koko kansalaisyhteiskunnalle mahdollisuudet luoda itsensä uudelleen. Philo Ikonya on Kenian PEN:n puheenjohtaja. 2009/2

LOOTOCRACY

THE SEX BOYCOTT:A REVOLUTION IN THE MAKING

The sex boycott as called by a caucus of women leaders called G10 is over. I have read and heard all kinds of reactions both positive and negative from both male and female members of the Kenyan society. These reactions have really made me discover how strategic and important the sex boycott was because the pronouncements by various people have made it so much highlighted in most if not all households, the media and in general areas of social interaction including churches, bars and conferences.. Am so surprised the way some individuals have been making unfounded arguments including claims that the sex boycott is bait for donor funding for some NGOs. In my own understanding, these organizations have always been funded for many years even when they had not called for the sex boycott. In my opinion, these critics are shallow minds who don’t happen to analyze matters from’ the bigger picture’ point of view. Others have insinuated that the women leaders are not married and that kind of crap thus trivializing the whole matter. I have no permission from Ann to write this but I know she is the wife to Mr. Leonard Njogu whom I know. Even those whom the critics accuse of not having husbands had never before publicly declared to you that they were on a sex boycott…but this isn’t my intention for I don’t want to respond to trivialities. This has made G10 to be pacesetter for reforms and it’s an opportunity for me and you too to encourage and even join them. This discussion is what has eventually provoked Kenyans in all households to ask themselves why the boycott was called. It was a protest against bad leadership and endless wrangles between the two forces of the coalition PNU and ODM under the supervision of their respective principals. According to me whoever came up with the idea had a very creative mind.thogh sex is such a sacred, secret and silent word, its one thing that people always talk and think about especially those who share intimacy. The one week boycott was a sure way of encompassing everyone since most of the sexually active individuals especially married couples are the middle age who have a duty and ability to bring change to the country. Truth be said, most of these people will have sex at several times a week. Thus seven days is long enough for a man to know that he is missing something important. It’s true that there are men in this country who don’t care about the state of our nation and the difficulties our country is going through because of bad leadership. They are beneficiaries of all comforts including enjoying all privileges in company of their spouses. I want to believe that by calling for sex boycott, the g10 were in solidarity with many other people, who by virtue of circumstances are not able to have such opportunities. It’s just like fasting in solidarity with the hungry. You can easily think of those internally displaced persons (IDPs) who do not have that comfort of enjoying conjugal rights with their spouses because of space and lack of privacy. Think of those people who are sexually incapacitated due to inability to afford medication. Think of those people who are too hungry in this country and have no energy to indulge in sexual pleasure. So if you didn’t have sex the whole of last week, then you can easily imagine what other couples with the aforementioned problems go through. It’s good enough for you to stand today and demand that every Kenyan man is in a position to enjoy life the way you do. As Kenyan men, we need to stand and demand for justice to all. This will maybe make us maybe look worthy before our women. It’s therefore a call all of us should heed and advance and stop looking at it as a sex issue parse but as an issue that culminates into us awaking ourselves and being able to address all evils and poverty of leadership in our midst. All these problems if well analyzed are directly linked to the wrangles in the coalition government. Am sure that once there is order in government, then all government activities will run well and progressively. So I believe the so called youth are the bedrock that can force real political orders in any state, the sex boycott is a direct call upon them to rise up and do something. I know in general circumstances, a man who doesn’t provide is harshly judged by the society, and so is the man who sees many things wrong happening in the country and he does nothing about it. He really deserves to be taken to task to do a duty of showing or taking part in telling leaders to behave lest he doesn’t deserve any privilege….And women having taken the to the forefront while men were sleeping need to be lauded, for that is a serious way of waking up the good for nothing men. Am quite sure that if men decided to get out and do what the women said then it will be easy for us to go to them and say….yes now I have played my role in the society. I have made my contribution….hey I deserve to be treated like a man. if we are men enough, let us take that challenge from women, don’t sit on the sidewalk and just criticize or be creative enough to come up with all kinds of ideas that can keep us enlightened and encouraged to feel and work towards implementing the required reforms in this country which can help us ensure good governance and corruption free society. It is the same creative minds that will rid us off bad leadership. I do encourage the G10 because am sure if Kenyans focused seriously on the significance of this boycott, it’s the same that will make Kenyan men rise up to defend this country and save her from political hyenas. AND since Kibaki and Raila have not yet found a common ground of working in the interest of Kenyans, I think now, we need another boycott. Its time for t reactionary critics to be creative enough and come up with an idea FWAMBA NC FWAMBA BOX 41046-00100 0736170218/0721779445 http://kenyayoungvotersalliance.blogspot.Com

A LEADER OTHER THAN KIBAKI OR RAILA COULD BE A SOLUTION TO THE KENYAN EQUATION

Kenyans who hold various leadership opportunities hold responsibility in putting back our country to the right course. The grand coalition government has reduced itself to playing the role of having meetings whose only purposes are to discuss on how to work together without wrangles. While ODM side seems to favour the national accord as the basis of the guidelines of the function of the government, the PNU side is determined to keep on defining government as per the provision in the constitution of Kenya before the 2008 national accord. PNU appears to be of little respect for the national accord which got entrenched in our constitution after the agreements between the two principals on behalf of their parties after the post election violence. So far it has attested that it will be so hard for anything of great benefit to the ordinary citizen that will be implemented jointly by both sides of the coalition. Going by the sequence of events especially the public declaration by the Prime Minister that he had been pushed so much to an extend of supporting a snap election which he had opposed earlier are a pointer of worsening situation between the two sides of the coalition. While demanding to be the leader of government business and chairman of house business committee the Prime Minister declared that his interpretation of the national reconciliation act was that he was Prime Minister both in and outside parliament while PNU side claimed that the premier’s responsibilities were limited on prefecting ministries and to quote one of them that the parliament is not a ministry. It clearly shows that while most of Raila’s political lieutenants have no love lost for Kibaki, the PNU diehards appear to have contempt of the Prime Minister that it will really take a fool to imagine that Raila’s supervision of ministries is not limited to those that are headed by ODM ministers. It is so much noticeable that the Prime Minister who is supposedly the coordinator and supervisor of all ministries, deserves respect from the ministers whether PNU or ODM given that he is supposedly their boss. Most of the PNU ministers have never hidden their contempt for the Prime Minister recalling the comments made by some of them when the Prime Minister complained about shoddy reception when he visited Mombassa some time last month. Some of the public pronouncements made by the Prime Minister are so disturbing given the continued hypocrisy that we have one government in place. It was so sad for the Prime Minister to publicly abuse the president that he was running the government primitively. That was the final impression that things in the coalition are headed for a collitssion. Impunity has become part of life in Kenya that even leaders are not responsible enough to tame their tongues when making public pronouncements. The kazi kwa vijana initiative by the government should be lauded. It’s such a bright idea that leaders have come to realize that the future of the nation can only be invested in the young people. As a sign of good gesture, let it not just target the youth on lower cadre jobs but also focus on appointment of the young people in positions of policy making as was promised by both Raila and Kibaki during the presidential campaigns. However Kenyans must read signs of times and know that given the kind of political leadership we have it will be so hard to implement some of the great ideas drafted by the policy makers. This is because of the difficult in fighting corruption given the divisions in political leadership which will as well lead to inefficiency in a number of government departments. The squabbles will definitely slow our economic growth and lead to increase in crime as the trend has already shown. It is in the same futility that reforms that favour ordinary citizens will never be implemented under this coalition government. This administration might only be remembered for presiding over the five years of peace and suffering because apart from bringing peace among Kenyan communities the coalition government will be remembered for presiding over the suffering of Kenyans in the name of fighting for and over power. Kenyans are so desperate that they want someone sane, daring and intelligent enough to show us the way out. This is why I don’t find anything wrong with Kenyans calling for early elections to elect a government that has peoples mandate. That according to me was the kind of leadership ever required from the church leaders and it was long over due. The elections will save us from the five wasted years of peace and suffering. It’s this kind of scenario that I find speaker Kenneth Marende’s ruling about the house business committee in parliament palatable. Marende’s ruling showed that what Kenya needs first is good and responsible leaders. It also showed that most legal experts have corrupted the law and they only interpret it to suit their own political aspirations or those of their masters. it is the kind of leadership lacking in majority of Kenyans in using their positions for the sake of the country instead of being held at ransom by the squabbles between Raila and Kibaki.this is the aspect of leadership that is lacking in the civil society whose only role has been reduced to addressing press conferences and justifying donor funding while living in their own world thinking that workshops in big hotels and press conferences will ever bring change in this country. That will only bring change in the lives of the owners of those organizations. Let all people in all sectors rise up and make their voices heard up to the grassroots. It too sounded ridiculous but I found it somehow encouraging when some women leaders introduced the sex boycott as a way to compel Kibaki and Raila to take the country to the right direction. Being a man of course I don’t support this move but I think it’s laudable because it makes people talk. To me it was a way to reach out to the masses. Remember, it’s over a month now since the cabinet met. Unlike in the past, both Kibaki and Raila and other senior government officials snubbed the Labour Day celebrations. labour day celebrates the working population of our nation thus represents the productivity sector. It’s foolhardy to continue believing that the two gentlemen can solve any of Kenya problems apart from keeping us peaceful and non violent. People who serve much unknown leadership sectors might be the ones to save this country and not necessarily Kibaki and Raila or your common people addressing the press conference saying ‘way forward’. What these people only need is the attention and an ear. Maybe our media is giving too much attention to people who are no longer relevant as far as real reforms are concerned. We need to just learn a few tricks from Marende and all of us will discover how we can use our opportunities and wisdom to make to our nation shine at this hour of need. You may be the one holding the key to this quagmire. Just act and you might be the ultimate savior. FWAMBA NC FWAMBA BOX 41046, 00100 0736170218/07217794 45 http://kenyayoungvo tersalliance. blogspot. com http://fwambancfwam ba.blogspot. com http://fwambancfwam ba.wordpress. com

The appetite of a notorious expansionist: Danzig for Hitler, Migingo for Museveni?

The border crisis between Kenya and Uganda is a reminder of some of the historical facts related to both ancient and modern conquests. History has proved that border disputes or the urge for territorial expansion is no new thing. The appetite of all political expansionists has always appeared insatatiable.that is why inasmuch as the Kenyan and Ugandan governments are looking for the surveyors to ascertain the real borders in Lake Victoria; Ugandan troops are busy shifting the Kenya Uganda border beacons in west Pokot.this behavior by the Ugandan government could be a time bomb for Kenya. The behavior exhibited by the Ugandan troops is a very high level of provocation. If in Migingo they were using survey maps as an excuse, then what is their excuse for invading Kenyans borders in the north. If we look at the Norman conquests of England in AD 1066 by duke William of Normandy, and Adolf Hitler’s attempts to conquer the whole of Europe in precedence to world war two, then we can easily guess what kind of person president Museveni is given his stay in power on the Ugandan presidency, presiding over and ‘winning’, flawed presidential elections, appointing his close family relatives to senior political offices in the country and his behavior on the border points exhibit someone with insatiable appetitive for power with expansionist tendencies. The Norman conquest of England took place in 1066. At the beginning of 1066, the Anglo Saxon ruler of England, Edward the Confessor was on his deathbed. Since he had no children, there was no direct heir to the throne and he had not publicly designated any heir to succeed him. (Read) the confusion in the grand coalition after a failed electoral process where there was no clearly or generally accepted winner) After Edward the Confessor died on January 5th, 1066, he was succeeded by Harold Godwinson, whose sister was married to Edward the Confessor. He claimed that Edward the Confessor had anointed him the successor on his deathbed in the presence of the queen. Since Harold Godwinson was a powerful lord in the country, he soon received the approval of the Witan, the decision making body who could decide who would be king. This was resented by William of Normandy (a region in Northern France today). He was distantly related to Edward the Confessor and claimed that Edward the Confessor had promised him the throne of England on his death. Duke William had readied himself to invade England which included parts of France like Brittany and Flanders. Duke William and his army crossed the English Channel and landed in England on September 28, 1066 A.D. On hearing the news of the Norman army landing on the English coast, Harold Godwinson marched south with his army to battle the Norman invaders. He halted briefly at London, to gather more people. This was a strategic mistake as his army was tired and could not match the Norman invaders at the battle of Hastings. King Harald of Norway (commonly known as Harald Hardrada) was one of the many claimants to the throne of England. He believed he had a right to the throne of England based on a treaty between the King of Norway and one of earlier Kings of England. In early September 1066, Harald invaded northern England with a fleet of 300 ships and about 15000 men. He was assisted by the estranged and exiled brother of Harold Godwinson, Tostig Godwinson. Initially the Norwegian invaders were successful and were able to capture the city of York. The army of Harold Godwinson was rushed to the north of the country to battle the invaders. A fierce battle took place at Stamford Bridge on 16th September 1066, and the Norwegian invaders suffered a crushing defeat. King Harald of Norway was killed in the battle. Out of the 300 ships that had reached England, only 24 could return with the injured warriors. Though the English army was victorious in the battle of Stamford Bridge, it also suffered losses. It was in a battered and weakened state which adversely affected its capacity to repel the Norman invasion of England The Norman story informs me that Museveni might have been planning to invade Kenya for some time and he seems to be well prepared for the war. Given his stubbornness you never know which other parts of Kenya he is soon going to either quietly invade or claim that they belong to his country. History has proved that expansionists will use flimsiest of excuses to intrude other states including use of gangster diplomacy. It’s widely believed that those people who gained power by the guerilla operations have little regard for human life and going to war to them is no big deal as long as its aimed at satisfying their urge to expand territory. Its has even been alleged before that Museveni is a believer in Mao Tse Tung’s ideas including the belief that power comes through a barrel of a gun . The scenario also replicates the tricks Hitler used against his neighboring countries in 1938 with an intention of being able to have political grip of the whole of Europe through military conquest. By the beginning of 1939, Adolf Hitler had become so bold that he tried to steal two separate neighboring territories at the same time. While he was focusing on taking Czechoslovakia, he was also pressuring Poland to give him the former German city of Danzig located on the Baltic Sea. And he wanted the Poles to permit construction of a new super highway and railroad stretching from Germany through Polish territory into East Prussia. The territory in question was known as the Polish Corridor, a narrow strip of land which gave Poland access to the sea and cut off East Prussia from the rest of Germany. Poland had been granted this sea corridor after World War I by the Treaty of Versailles, which also designated Danzig as a Free City operating under the supervision of the League of Nations. Making matters worse, Poland's military leaders had connived with Hitler to steal a small piece of Czechoslovakia back in October 1938. Thus they were more susceptible to being pressured by the Nazis into some kind of agreement concerning Danzig and the Polish Corridor. Hitler and Nazi Foreign Minister Ribbentrop held several meetings with Poland's Ambassador to Germany, Josef Lipski, and with the Polish Foreign Minister, Józef Beck. But the Poles said they had absolutely no interest in compromising with Hitler and bluntly informed the Nazis in late November 1938 that any attempt by Germany to grab Danzig "must inevitably lead to conflict." Thus far, all of Hitler's conquests had resulted from his successful use of gangster diplomacy. But now, for the first time in his career, Hitler had encountered an opponent that would not give in. Hitler responded to Poland's defiance by ordering his generals to prepare to take Danzig "by surprise." Meanwhile, Hitler had managed to annex what remained of Czechoslovakia. But it had been a costly move on his part. Outraged public opinion in England resulted in a tough stance taken by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and a firm declaration on March 31, 1939, that Britain, with the backing of France, would fight to save Poland. In May 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov gave a speech hinting that the Western Allies should get busy and talk to Moscow soon or there might be some kind of agreement forthcoming between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Although Hitler had repeatedly professed his own hatred of the Communists, he decided to pursue a non-aggression pact with Stalin to avoid the possibility of having to fight a war on two fronts at the same time. Hitler's master plan was to crush Poland with lightning speed, then turn westward and knock out France and England. It was therefore necessary for the Soviet Union to remain neutral, otherwise Germany might have to fight the Allies in the west and the Russians in the east. After the Western Allies were knocked out, Hitler intended to turn his armies eastward and wage his long-awaited battle for Lebensraum against Stalin's Red Army. In addition to this, Chamberlain made a series of diplomatic blunders that allowed Hitler and Ribbentrop to gain momentum. Chamberlain's negotiators didn't even arrive in Moscow until August 11. By that time, the Nazis had been hard at work laying the groundwork for a Nazi-Soviet pact. Once again the Soviets responded kindly and agreed to see Ribbentrop on the 23rd to seal the actual agreement. The two Foreign Ministers, Ribbentrop and Molotov, thus signed the Nazi-Soviet Non Aggression Pact in a ceremony at the Kremlin building attended by Stalin himself. Hitler had now gotten what he wanted. He would not have to fight a war on two fronts. And Stalin got what he wanted. According to a secret protocol attached to the pact, Stalin was granted a free hand in Eastern Europe to steal back several areas lost to Russia at the end of World War I, including the countries of Latvia, Estonia and Finland, the province of Bessarabia in Romania, and the entire eastern portion of Poland. Hitler was quite willing to be this generous to Stalin, knowing all along that he intended to destroy the Soviet Union in the not-too-distant future. The Nazi-Soviet Pact sealed the fate of Poland, a country that was geographically isolated from its Western Allies, thus making direct military aid nearly impossible. Poland's only hope for survival would have been an alliance with its next door neighbor, the Soviets. The news that these two cynical, ruthless men, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, had made a pact with each other shocked the world. Everyone knew what it meant - that a new world war was all but certain now. All that remained was for the Führer to say when. These are the same characteristics that defined Alexander the great’s conquest between 334BC until his death in 323BC.the more he conquered the more he wanted to conquer. Hitler’s tricks about interfering with other states territorial sovereignty is no different from what now appears to be Museveni’s well planned interference with the sovereignty of his neighbors considering the recent squabbles with the democratic republic of Congo over the lake Albert boundaries,kenyas Migingo island and now the west Pokot beacons. Given these historical scenarios which are only but examples we seem to be faced by a more serious problem than we may imagine as Kenyan citizens. it indicates that any form of military provocation is usually well preplanned by the aggressor and that the aggressed in most cases is found unawares or ill prepared and also that other neighboring states will easily realize the weakness of the assaulted nation and also attempt to take advantage and try to annex that land. In conclusion it is advisable that Kenya ceases to continue entertaining Museveni diplomacy and embark or securing our borders more aggressively lest we might end up just getting invaded by other neighboring states who might easily think that we are easily beatable. I therefore beseech thee the commander in chief and president of this country to act over Migingo and Pokot west in the earliest opportune moment to regain the pride of our nation.Museveni might be buying time as he prepares for assault with an intention to have personal whims to decide what part of Kenya belongs to Uganda and what does not. If Kenya doesn’t take action, this Ugandan president might easily claim just like his country’s former despot Iddi Amin that, Uganda extends up to Naivasha. FWAMBA NC FWAMBA

IS THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROCESS THE ONLY REMEDY TO THE KENYAN POLITICAL QUAGMIRE

'IS THE CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW OUR ONLY REMEDY The constitutional review has been a song sang since early 90s by majority of Kenyans under the leadership of a number of civil society organizations like the National Constitutional Executive Council. Activities of such organizations helped us attain an awareness level to most of Kenyans on the importance of reforms through constitutional review. However it’s unfortunate that it’s almost two decades since the introduction of multipartyism whose campaign was spearheaded by a number of the current people in government. The constitutional review process has instead become a serious impediment to any reforms in this country because Kenyans have been made to believe that real change can only come through a constitutional review. this has also given opportunity to those who are anti reforms to have a clear picture of what would stand on their way in maintain the status quo.therefore the anti reform forces who are beneficiaries of corruption which includes irregular land allocations to use all their energies and positions of power to ensure there are no reforms that might interfere with their comfort. It’s also notable that most of those who agitated for change while in opposition changed their language immediately they got opportunities to serve in government. It’s a known fact too that a number of non governmental organizations exist on the sole reason of pursuing constitutional changes in the country and the general feeling is that they will be rendered insignificant once the we have a new constitution. Given these circumstances, Kenyans need to redefine a new way of implementing reforms or rather having a new constitution without involving the usual stakeholders who have been squabbling over the way to the reforms. If we still believe that reforms can only be achieved through constitutional review then we need to have different players other than politicians or those with vested interests. It has been a daunting task for Kenyans who even went on to believe that by voting in pro reform leaders into parliament, it was going to be easier to have a people driven constitution which was eventually a proven futility citing examples of Prof Kivutha Kibwana’s days in parliament and the current presence of the likes of Mutava Musyimi and others. It’s therefore evident that all Kenyans in positions of leadership are obstacles to constitutional change in Kenya. This is the same cause of our inability to attain this long fought potential historic achievement in 2005 when we went to the referendum because of tension and vested interest s by leaders from different sectors of political and civil society leadership. In the same vain was the national accord that was signed by the President and the Prime Minister in order to halt clashes that resulted fro a disputed presidential election. For the same reasons of the process driven by a political class, the Serena talks went into disarray immediately the agenda on power sharing was cleared. Agenda four which had a lot to do with the reforms is now being treated as a minor issue by the same political class that agreed on power sharing. It’s for this reason that I believe that our political class will never address issues on agenda four. This is the reason as to why some people have decided to agitate for piecemeal reforms which have still been rendered useless because of legal arguments based on current constitutional references. It is therefore imperative that we have a radical approach on the process or else we will never have a new constitution in this country and that means we will never be able to address reforms in this country whose implementation is based on constitutional interpretation. When NARC government took reigns of power from Moi, Kenyans were very optimistic and Kibaki who those days seemed to still care about his reputation as the hope for change, created a number of commissions which included the Ndung’u commission on land that produced the report which can now only be termed as having been a public relations exercise. It has since been a nightmare to implement because there is no mandatory constitutional obligation for its implementation. So it can authoritatively be argued that in a way the constitutional review process has in itself been an obstacle to reforms in this country. The same forces that have been ensuring that we don’t get a new constitution are still very influential in the country. Therefore if we divorced the constitution from the political class, it may be easier for us to achieve change or alternatively, Kenyans have a duty to think of another way of achieving change other than the constitution. It’s mind boggling conscientiousness to every progressive force in this country. Changing the process or the method is the only right direction we must take to achieve change. FWAMBA NC FWAMBA BOX 41046, Nairobi 0736170218 http://kenyayoungvotersalliance.blogspot.com http://fwambancfwamba.wordpress.com http://fwambancfwamba.blogspot.com

WE MUST STOP THIS THEFT...WRITTEN BY OKIYA OKOITI OMTATAH

A summary of issues raised in Petition No. 769 of 2008 asking the Nairobi High Court to scrap the Parliamentary Service Commission and recover public resources it has squandered on MPs. |Executive Summary | Overview | The Unconstitutional Powers of the PSC | Prayers to Stop Looting by MPs | | Other Discriminatory Practices | General Questions About Our MPs? | Kenya is a Republic | An Appeal to Patriotic Kenyans | 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Constitution of Kenya is the supreme Law of the Republic. It prevails over and voids any law that is inconsistent with it, to the extent of the inconsistency. This basic constitutional principle was quietly ousted in 1999 with the coming into force of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act that created the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC). Members of Parliament (MPs) designed the 1999 Amendment Act to disable many important constitutional provisions that created an institutional framework of democratic controls, checks and balances anchored on the principle of separation of powers between the Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary. The law states categorically that it is superior to the Constitution, and where there is inconsistency between the two, it prevails. Hence, in its effect, the 1999 amendment overthrows the Constitution and elevates the PSC to another arm of government, or worse still, to a parallel government. Thus the PSC operates outside all counterbalancing constitutional controls. Under the guise of catering for the welfare of parliamentarians, the PSC has used its vast powers to pay parliamentarians unreasonable salaries and allowances, which it charges directly to the Consolidated Fund, unchallenged. Other than being a big drain on the Exchequer, the huge sums of money paid to MPs have bastardised politics to a point where Parliament is no longer the place where representatives serve the interests of society but a place to accumulate illicit wealth. It is for this reason that the contest for political power has become expensive, vicious and violent. Parliament is also increasingly becoming host to individuals with criminal records! In light of the above, a group of Kenyans have petitioned the High Court in Nairobi, seeking orders to have the PSC declared unconstitutional along with the law that created it. Further, they want the High Court to recover all the money and other resources the PSC has squandered on Parliamentarians since 2003. This case challenges the culture of impunity that is destroying Kenya. It is therefore important that as many citizens as possible enjoin in the case as petitioners, and also contribute resources, including their time and skills, to explain to Kenyans countrywide the illegalities perpetrated against them. This undertaking will prepare and strengthen Kenyans collectively to demand an end to impunity and enforce new leadership values. 2.0 OVERVIEW On Wednesday, December 10, 2008, seventeen (17) Kenyans filed High Court Petition No. 769 of 2008, at the Nairobi Law Courts, requesting that the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) be scrapped for violating the Constitution of the Republic of Kenya, and for flouting the republican ethics that prohibit public officials from using their offices for unjust enrichment and other forms of personal gain. 2.1 Background The hefty salaries and allowances paid to MPs through the PSC since 2003, and their refusal to pay taxes on the allowances, are merely the tiny ears of a submerged hippopotamus. The real monster is that Parliament, which is the official watchdog of our resources, has become the place for organised looting of those resources! Through the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act No. 3 of 1999 that created the PSC, MPs disabled Section 48 of the Constitution which requires the President to assent to any Bill that increases taxation or charges expenditure on the Consolidated Fund (into which all revenues raised and received by the Government are paid before they are allocated in the budget). This self-serving law now allows MPs to charge their expenses directly to the Consolidated Fund without resort to any other authority. Charging the budget of the Parliamentary Service directly to the Consolidated Fund has completely undermined Parliament’s watchdog role. To make it worse, the PSC does not even table its budget estimates for debate in the House, where a conscientious MP may raise objections in the public interest. The PSC simply informs the Minister for Finance about its budget for the incoming year and the charge on the Consolidated Fund becomes a mere formality. Further, by disabling Section 48, not only are MPs free to dip their hands, unchallenged, into the public till for self-gain, they also have the power to tax Kenyans without recourse to any other authority. The only checks and balances that our legislators now have are their level of greed and their bank balances. Only these determine whether they loot more! The MPs also disabled Section 107(1) of the Constitution to give themselves, through the PSC, the power to hire and fire public servants without recourse to the Public Service Commission. MPs have thus influenced employment of their friends (including girlfriends and boyfriends), relatives, campaign managers and hangers-on, in the well-paying Parliamentary Service without regard to qualifications! 2.2 The History of the problem On November 4, 1998, the then MP for Alego/Usonga, Hon. Peter Oloo Aringo, moved a motion that: “In order to promote and consolidate the dignity, independence and supremacy of Parliament, this House urges the Government to take immediate steps, including the introduction of any necessary constitutional amendments, to establish a Parliamentary Service Commission which shall be directly responsible to the National Assembly.” The basis for this motion, and subsequent constitutional amendment, was that there was need to strengthen and empower Parliament to have the independence necessary to undertake its functions free from control and manipulation by the Executive. Hence, the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act No. 3 of 1999, which amended Section 45 of the Constitution, became law upon presidential assent on November 17 and became operational on November 19, 1999. It established the Parliamentary Service and the PSC – distinct from the Public Service Commission and the Judicial Service Commission. 3.0 THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL POWERS OF THE PSC The principle of separation of powers is entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic of Kenya. This principle dictates that the three arms of Government – the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary – do not interfere with each other, save to the extent that they act as institutional controls, checks and balances on each other. It is a total violation of the principle of separation of powers for MPs to take on the powers of the Executive to determine their salaries and allowances. Judges do not set their salaries and allowances. The President’s salary and allowances are set by Parliament, not the Executive. For proper checks and balances, the Executive must set the salaries and allowances of MPs as it used to do. MPs designed the PSC to subordinate the other three arms of Government and thus operate outside the institutional framework of controls, checks and balances provided for in the Constitution. The PSC operates as an employer, a trade union and an industrial court all in one. This has left Kenyans with no way of restraining MPs from adjusting their emoluments whenever they desire to do so. Remember also that Kenyans cannot recall non-performing MPs. By operating outside the constitutional framework of controls, checks and balances, the PSC has in effect become the “Other Government” of Kenya since it can increase the tax burden on citizens, charge the Consolidated Fund at will, and even borrow from and lend money to third parties. Citizens understand now how these powers have been abused and misused. The petitioners are seeking High Court orders declaring the PSC unconstitutional for having been established and for operating in contravention of the Constitution of Kenya, and for abridging the principle of separation of powers that promotes good governance. 4.0 PRAYERS TO STOP LOOTING BY MPS Since 2000, MPs have used the PSC to arbitrarily increase their salaries and allowances. They have also altered how they qualify for some allowances. For example, they changed their transport allowance from being mileage-based to a flat rate. This means that the MP for Starehe Constituency, which hosts Parliament buildings, earns the same transport allowance as the MP for Mandera Central Constituency, some 1000kms from the City! 4.1 Kshs 5,000 Sitting Allowance Members of Parliament are paid a sitting allowance of Kshs. 5,000 purportedly as an incentive to attend Parliamentary sessions. The National Assembly sits four times in a week (once on Tuesdays and Thursdays and twice on Wednesdays). Each MP therefore earns Kshs. 20,000 per week, translating to Kshs. 80,000 per month, for doing what s/he is already paid a salary to do. Further, MPs earn hefty allowances every time they participate in sessions of Standing or ad-hoc Committees; every time they travel on national business; and whenever they work over-time, or when Parliament is not in session. Since the mandate of MPs requires them to transact their business in the House, this payment is both immoral and illegal. The petitioners are seeking High Court orders to stop this anomaly, and further give order to recover all the moneys paid as sitting allowances to all MPs since 2003. 4.2 Kshs. 1.5 million “Winding-Up” Allowance The PSC approved and paid Kshs. 1.5 million “Winding-Up” Allowance to each MP in the 9th Parliament, calculated at the rate of Kshs. 300,000 per year for the 5-year term served. This is illegal since the contract term of the MPs was expiring not being terminated. Furthermore, about 35% of the MPs were elected back into the 10th Parliament from the 9th Parliament. Does it mean re-elected MPs will keep being paid to “wind-up” every time their terms end? Are MPs being bribed here, too, so that they go home after losing an election? The petitioners are asking the High Court to stop this allowance, and to order recovery of all the moneys paid out as winding-up allowances to all members of the 9th Parliament. 4.3 Kshs. 3.3 Million Duty-free Vehicles At the beginning of each five-year Parliamentary term, the PSC gives a Kshs. 3.3 million motor vehicle purchase grant to each MP, as well as the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Vice-President, Ministers and Assistant Ministers. The PSC also gives each MP a car maintenance allowance of Kshs. 900,000 per year. For all intents and purposes, these vehicles belong to MPs. In deed, they possess private number plates, and are not surrendered back to the public/Government at the end of the parliamentary term. In any case, why would a top range vehicle costing Kshs. 3.3 million require such a hefty maintenance allowance even when it is brand new? And why would that amount remain uniform over the five years? To make matters worse, there is evidence that not all MPs use the money to purchase vehicles. Some MPs use the money for other purposes, but still claim the Kshs. 900,000 maintenance allowance. This is fraud, a crime in Kenyan law! Other than the maintenance allowance being illegal and immoral, items purchased using public money for official purposes must remain the property of the public. The petitioners are asking the High Court to order that the motor vehicles be identified as public/Government property by being fitted with GK number plates as is required by law. It should order that MPs surrender the vehicles at the end of each parliamentary term since they are public property. MPs from the 9th Parliament must surrender the vehicles purchased for them immediately. 4.4 Self-Exemption of MPs from the payment of income tax It is a fundamental duty of every citizen to pay tax. Payment of tax is based on one’s ability not status. The self-exemption of MPs from payment of tax on the Kshs.600,000 allowance they receive every month, and which is irregularly conferred under the National Assembly Remuneration Act (cap 5), is illegal. By exempting themselves from paying taxes on their allowances, MPs have abused Parliament’s legislative power and made rules that are discriminative. By conferring upon themselves benefits and advantages not available to other Kenyans, including public servants, MPs have breached the principles upon which taxation is based. Parliament has no constitutional powers to confer upon its members privileges and advantages that are not enjoyable by their electors and the general citizenry. If each MP in the 10th Parliament paid tax on both their salaries and allowances as other Kenyans do, the Government would raise more than Kshs. 3 billion which is more than what we require to resettle post-election violence Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Remember, the IDPs are still suffering one year after the post-election violence. The same money could also help in subsidising the price of maize flour (unga) for thousands of starving Kenyans around the country. The money could also subsidise agricultural inputs and thus aid in assuring food security, or better still, subsidise secondary school education. The petitioners are asking the High Court to declare that the law exempting MPs from taxation is unconstitutional, and to order MPs to pay all their taxes in full. 4.5 Stopping another PSC Tribunal Being Formed When Kenyans recently demonstrated against the taxation fraud by MPs, the Speaker of the National Assembly announced that another Tribunal would be appointed by the PSC to review the remuneration of MPs and deal with the issue of taxation. This is a self-serving action by beneficiaries of fraud. MPs should not be allowed to set conditions upon which they are taxed. Second, an entity put in place by self-interested parties cannot be expected to be independent and fair. For the reasons above, the petitioners want the court to stop the formation of such a Tribunal since it will simply be manipulated to justify the desires of MPs and the PSC. Further, because of the same argument, the report of the likewise appointed Cockar Commission that was used to astronomically raise MPs’ salaries should be nullified along with all the allowances the PSC made based on its recommendations since it was not an independent commission. As a matter of fact, most of the issues being petitioned were not contained in the recommendations of the Cockar report at all, but resulted from a commentary the PSC itself made on the Cockar Report! 5.0 OTHER DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES 5.1 Fraudulent and Sexist Pension Framework On December 31, 1999, the President assented to the Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Act, No.9 of 1999, amending the Parliamentary Pensions Act (Cap 196). It was backdated to July 1, 1994, as its commencement date. Among others, the Amendment Act raised the rate of accumulation of interest on contributions from 3% to 15%; raised the percentage of the sum deductible from payments of pensionable emoluments from 5% to 12.6%; doubled the amount payable annually as pension; removed limitations to a pensioner’ entitlement to commute up to one-quarter of his/her annual pension; and removed the requirement that to draw a pension, one had to have ceased completely being a member of the National Assembly, served for an aggregate of ten years and be aged at least 50 years of age. In effect, an MP can now draw a pension after attaining 40 years and serving a single term in Parliament; whether or not s/he is serving a second or subsequent term. The amended Act is also sexist to the extent that it allows widowers (husbands) of women MPs to keep their entitlements despite remarrying, while widows (wives) of male MPs lose theirs if they remarry! This is outrageously discriminative against women. 5.2 Fraudulent Mortgage Scheme MPs have also abused their legislative power and discriminated against other Kenyans by giving themselves a taxpayer-funded mortgage scheme at the very low 3% interest rate a year when other borrowers pay theirs at much higher rates! 6.0 IMPORTANT GENERAL QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR MPS? 6.1.0 Why should we pay non-performing MPs so much? Our MPs don’t deserve to be paid the high amounts they earn for the following reasons: 6.1.1 Persistent lack of quorum Generally, our MPs are non-performers, who over the years have set a very poor record in the region and internationally. This lack of serious commitment to their work, which plays out in the frequent quorum hitch (failure to raise only 30 out of 222 members!), results in very few bills being passed compared to other parliaments in the region and globally. 6.1.2 Failure to interrogate and audit the National Budget This laziness hurts the country most in their annual failure to interrogate the National Budget to avoid wastage and outright corruption, and to ensure that revenue is used to address national priorities. But year-in and year-out, MPs have approved the budget largely unexamined, yet the law requires them to do so, and we elect them to ensure that our taxes are well spent. For example, this year they approved a budget of Kshs. 759,814,501,933 after examining only 9 votes out of the 55 presented by the Finance Minister. Civil society has examined this year’s budget and found that our MPs would have saved the country Kshs. 200 billion that is being lost through wasteful spending and corruption, including multiple allocations and payments to Anglo-Leasing type projects. It is amazing that our MPs did not spot or object to these payments. Kenyans must not pay for waste and corruption. Further, whereas this budget came after the post-election violence that was largely fuelled by mass youth unemployment, acute rural and urban poverty, poor infrastructure, and widespread insecurity, the National Budget, like those before it, proposed to spend 85% on day-to-day Government expenditure and only 15% on development to improve the welfare of the public by supplying services like infrastructure, health, education, and security. Ideally, MPs should have demanded that Government tightens its long belt of luxuries and spends at least 60% of the Budget on development to address poverty and its causes. Thus MPs have failed over the years not only to properly examine the National Budget to safeguard our taxes, but also to ensure taxes are used to deal with national priorities such as creation of employment for the youth. 6.1.3 Failure to interrogate and audit the Public Debt Register Whereas, on average, 20% of our taxes revenue is spent annually on servicing the Public Debt, MPs have never asked the Executive to publish the Public Debt Register so that the taxpaying public can know what we are paying for. They have also never demanded that Parliament must approve Government borrowing and expenditure of borrowed funds. Civil society is of the opinion that if the MPs cleaned up our Public Debt Register to eliminate odious debts we could reduce our debt burden by at least 40%. 6.1.4 Making bad laws The MPs have become notorious for passing bad laws that have ended up being challenged in court. They include the law that created the PSC. The most recent example of their excesses is the Kenya Communications’ Amendment) Bill, 2008, which they passed to enable the Government gag the media. 6.2.0 Mismanagement of CDF A major reason the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is so blatantly mismanaged is that the CDF Act is another bad law our MPs made disregarding the constitutional principle of separation of powers. It is not the business of MPs to implement the laws they make; that’s the work of the Executive. Further, since the Controller and Auditor-General, who audits all Government expenditure including CDF reports to Parliament, it is not possible to hold MPs to account for mismanagement of CDF. They are, after all, passing a verdict on the evaluation of their work in their constituencies when they discuss and adopt the audit report. Ideally, MPs should not be in charge of the CDF. In India, for example, where the system works well, MPs work with their constituents to initiate projects to be funded but have no control on the allocated project funds or implementation of projects. 6.3.0 A Comparison of recent allocations to PSC and CDF The allocations for two consecutive financial years’ are indicated in the table below: Table 1: Comparison of Allocations for PSC and CDF FINANCIAL YEAR AMOUNTS IN KSHS PSC CDF 2007/2008 6,588,572,070.00 9,797,000,000.00 2008/2009 7,245,304,554.00 9,797,000,000.00 It is both outrageous and unacceptable that a country as poor as Kenya should spend Kshs 7.245 billion on 222 MPs, and Kshs 9.797 billion on 37 million citizens in a year. Do not forget that during the said period, Kenyans went through trauma caused by the post-election violence occasioned by the same politicians, which destroyed many livelihoods. Note also that in the two years, there was increase in the PSC allocation but not CDF. This shows where the real priorities of MPs lay: certainly not with the public they pretend to represent! Finally, do not forget the many cases of complaint against MPs on the use of CDF. MPs have used CDF corruptly; they have made their relatives, campaign managers and friends the ones in charge of CDF. Many of them have been sued by aggrieved members of the public because of corruption and for influencing allocation of CDF only to areas that support them! 6.4.0 Should MPs write the New Constitution? Given the very questionable, blatant, self-serving and recklessly arrogant manner the MPs conduct legislation, and misuse and abuse the power donated to them, it is frightening that the same MPs have abrogated themselves the veto power to oversee and direct the writing of Kenya’s much-awaited New Democratic Constitution. If their horrible legislative record and outright disregard for the rule of law are anything to go by, the MPs are the least qualified group of Kenyans to be entrusted with the onerous task of writing such an important document for the wellbeing of this and future generations. The sovereign people of Kenya should be allowed to monitor and oversee the entire process as a way of safeguarding their right to self-determination. 7.0 KENYA IS A REPUBLIC In their actions, the Petitioners are invoking the republican foundations of the Kenyan Nation. We are demanding that our leaders embrace the idea of governing the nation as a republic, with emphasis on liberty, rule of law, popular sovereignty and civic virtue practised by all citizens. Republicanism is about true representation in all spheres. Republicanism always stands in direct and firm opposition to any form of dictatorship, corruption, or tyranny. In a republic, elected representatives must use the power entrusted to them for the protection of the sovereign people, not their destruction. A republic is a government of laws, not of men. 8.0 AN APPEAL TO PATRIOTIC KENYANS Dear fellow Kenyan, You have a responsibility to ensure that our resources are put to correct use so that this and future generations can enjoy quality lives. Hence, we call upon you to join this case as a petitioner and be part of the rising army of patriots determined to resist oppression and political impunity, to stop the looting of our public coffers, and to fight for socio-economic justice. Jon and demand responsive, accountable and effective leadership. Help fight impunity and restore the people’s confidence in institutions of governance. Become a Petitioner today and demand a stop to the looting of public coffers and a refund to the taxpayer of the billions of shillings stolen so far. A better Kenya for all is possible!

R.I.P. GPO

VERSE 1 OF I Miss You Lyrics BY [DMX] I know that my savior lives And at the end, he will stand on this earth My flesh may be destroyed, yet from this body, I will see God Yes, I will see him for myself - and I long for that moment