RAILA AND RUTO ON AN EPIC WAR OF REPUTATION.

Dear Sir/Madam, I dare say that there is no love lost between William Ruto and Raila Odinga. They were and are still allies out of convenience. And, there is no denying that both have so much in common. Retired president Moi still writhes in anger at their combinatorial analysis that rendered his 2002 presidential choice kaput. Some analysts opine that both Ruto and Raila bear the terseness and calculated simplicity that they use to dumbfound friend and foe alike. Others view them as a bullies of the Left Bank who are always ready to twist the milksop`s arm. Both have rarely stayed in a party to fight a war to its logical conclusion. As many have extolled them as they have besmirched them. For those who extol them, they view them as bullfighters par excellence whose forays many would dare not venture. Knowing them, many would be least startled that they have now locked horns or so it appears. But before they hastily shout “aluta continua”, it would be prudent that both Raila and Ruto take the counsel of Ernest Hemingway. He said that “Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left in the fighter`s honor.” That both Ruto and Raila are literally bullfighters is not in doubt. That both have intricate moves and prowess that they employ in vanquishing their foes is still not in doubt. If indeed they are on a warpath to attain the top honors then theirs is a mouth-watering war of reputation. I am calling it a war because it is a series of battles. Thomas Green etal opine that, “Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you slip, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.” So what are the battle fronts that make up this war of reputation? You will agree with me that these would be based on their individual stance on issues of national and international import, their respective coterie and lastly their abilities to transcend ethnic and age barriers. Ruto has frantically albeit unsuccessfully, tried wrecking havoc on Raila`s reputation on Post Election Violence and Mau respectively but public and international opinion has in both instances favored the latter. Raila on his part has successfully portrayed himself as a selfless leader who will risk losing his political clout if only to place himself at the service of the nation and indeed the world! His articulation of issues of import has earned him political enemies as well as both local and international accolades. Many have likened him to the proverbial lizard that sought to jump from the highest Iroko tree to fall flat on its belly and survive to tell the tale. As to one`s coterie, it has been said that if one walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then one must be a duck. Whereas it is difficult to pinpoint exactly Raila`s coterie, the same cannot be said of Ruto who has signaled to all and sundry that he doesn`t mind working with the YK92 retread! I hold it that Ruto cannot hope to amass political capital with dubious characters that even the most naïve among us would have no iota of doubt, that given chance, they can only spend our country into oblivion. I put it that in such company Ruto stands to gather personal embarrassment than popularity. On transcending the ethnic and age barrier, Ruto satiates himself in the company of ethno-centric youthful legislators who have nothing in common with Kenyans who are just smarting from the disastrous effects of PEV. These are the political barkers with no political idealism of whatever persuasion. Raila on the other hand is tirelessly working to endear himself to this disappointed and disillusioned youthful voting block. From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that Ruto needs to change tact. And he must do it quickly. As Richard Bentley said in reference to Alexander Popes, “I hold it as certain that no man was ever written out of reputation but by himself.” TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY. http://twitter.com/tomefrancis

MOURNING THE DEARTH OF SOUND LEGISLATION COURTESY OF POLITICAL BARKERS.

Dear Sir/madam, Many of those who were incarcerated by the Kenyatta and Moi regimes respectively confided that they drew their inspiration from Thoreau. When Thoreau was placed in prison for ostensibly refusing to pay taxes, he was visited by Ralph Waldo Emerson who asked, “Thoreau, what are you doing in jail?” To which Thoreau replied, “Ralph, what are you doing outside, when honest people are in jail for their ideals?” This is the budding spirit of liberation that characterized yesterday`s youthful patriots who sacrificed everything including their valuable lives and those of their families to make a better Kenya for everyone. They believed that they were the atoms in the incessant human struggle towards the light that shines in the darkness—the Ideal of economic, political and spiritual liberation of Kenyans from all walks of life. They believed that not even in their demise, would the seeds of liberation they had painstakingly planted and watered, wither. The torture chambers could not just contain their budding youthful spirits. Unfortunately, today, a huge chunk of youths have in so startling a manner departed from the philosophy of those who gallantly fought to have us enjoy some of the freedoms we enjoy today. Going by what transpires in the tenth parliament, youthfulness is no longer in the fore front of the liberation struggle. The liberation struggle has been given a wide berth. Neither do they care to e on the right side of history. Instead, politics of deceit and ethnicity is the order of the day. They will rarely hesitate to adapt the facts to fit the selfish cause for which they care. Yes, youthfulness has become an age of credulity. Many a youthful legislators are totally inept. They are phoney. Is not evident that the Kenyan parliament is increasingly becoming a precinct of cerelac and youthful legislators some of whom are evidently suffering from petrified adolescence? They elect to permanently engage in gross-out sessions wherever they go. Rather than engage in sound legislation in parliament, they falsely think that the ability to badmouth government and personalities is a mark of true leadership and valor. In fact, they will oppose sound legislative pieces if only to settle political scores. Be ware, this is the crop of new political leaders that are taking over this country with a storm. So disgusting are they that at times I am on the verge of dispensing with the paragon of civility and shouting at them “Hark ye, friends, have you got padlocks on your (***) that you should sh-te through your teeth?” What is more worrying is the fact that some of the political kingpins desperately need these scrubs to advance their selfish political interests. However, the danger is that the same political kingpins risk their minds being contaminated. That they stand shilly shally on issues of national importance lends credence to fact that they constantly imbibe vile while in the company of these BARKERS. I for one cannot believe that love of one's country lies in blindness to its social faults, in deafness to its social discords or in not articulating its social wrongs. Neither can I believe that the mere accident of one being elected to parliament gives one a carte blanche to purvey falsehoods, inanities and vitriol most foul. I know many people (I am one of them) who love Kenya with deeper passion and greater intensity than many of the current youthful legislators whose patriotism manifests itself in pulling, kicking, and insulting the fabric of our society. I rightly think that now more than ever before the conscientious public is duty bound to bawl out these political BARKERS. This is because if this trend is left unchecked, then there is real danger that this country will inevitably suffer from the dearth of sound legislation. This is the worst form of impotency that any country can suffer from. It is for this reason that I wholly support the architects of the draft constitution for including a clause that empowers the electorate to recall any political saunterer. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.

THE BATTLE OF OPINIONS AND THE PROSELYTIZATION OF POLITICAL TOURISM AND PERFIDY.

Dear Sir/Madam, Politicians have once more proved that they have nothing to offer anybody except their own confusion. In the words of Antonin Artaud, “If confusion is the sign of times, I see at the root of this confusion, a rupture between things and words, and between things and signs that are their representation.” What can one say when a government function to promote tourism in the North Rift ends up being a forum to proselytize political tourism and political perfidy? Three cabinet ministers led a brigade of Rift Valley legislators on a journey to promote a political circuit in the area. The government in which they all serve was turned into a common enemy, nay, a curse, and speaker after speaker “justifiably” directed his arsenal against this “terrible curse.” In a desperate attempt to craft a regional alliance, they all dispensed with the paragon of civility. Lyrical waxing legislators went straight for the government`s jugular. They said it loud and clear that they themselves were the only “transformative leaders” that this country badly needs. However, their verbal snafus and preposterous sound bytes was the only visible sign of their ‘competence and efficiency.” This is ad nauseum. Why? Because we would be naïve as a country were we to allow individuals with skeletons in their closets to use alliances to sanitize their dark past. We have not forgotten how the YK92 architects literally bled this country and left it for dead. A good number of those shouting from the roof tops of the need for transformational leadership are themselves devoid of any iota of political idealism of whatever persuasion. All they want is to get to the helm of leadership so that they can evenly cover their muck. We cannot allow this country to sink to unbelievably low levels as a democracy courtesy of political leaders who incessantly reduce issues of national importance like the conservation of Mau, the constitution and retribution to macho sparring. Their failure to appreciate the fact that this nation can prosper faster through a genuine and deliberate effort rather than seeking to lead on the platform of tribal alliances bespeaks volumes of the content in them. It is abundantly clear that should leaders refuse to learn from the past and ignore lessons from the country`s mistakes then they shall simply be leading this country in to a more tumultuous future covered with the deceptive warmth of their ignorance. I must confess that like many others who attended the Kapenguria rally, I found it preposterous that cabinet ministers should suddenly depart from the principle of collective cabinet responsibility in so startling a way. If indeed these ministers are dog tired of serving in this Government as they want the electorate to believe, then they must resign. Yes, let them resign or be sacked so that they can have a carte blanche to criticize the government from the comforts of the backbench. After all, there is no indispensable man. The Government will not collapse and go to pieces if anyone of the gentlemen who are seeking to be entrusted with its guidance should resign. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY. http://twitter.com/tomefrancis

RETIRED PRESIDENT MOI MUST NOT TALK SENSELESS AND WRITE HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION.

Dear Sir/Madam, I must admit that I have never seen the wisdom in the leading media houses affording retired president Moi acres of space to comment on socio-economic and political issues affecting this country. The media must realize that Moi will never ever tire of media attention. He will gloat. Believe me you, he will blubber. The media knows this weakness. It also knows too well that it is a mistake to keep on haunting him out of his peaceful retirement. What is not clear though is why they (Media) have kept on accosting him in his retirement. Why increasingly let the man blubber himself out of any iota of reputation? It is not hard to tell. The media is affording him acres of coverage perhaps with a view to making him believe that at 85, his mind is far much better than anyone`s else. To the mainstream media, it is sweet music to hear Moi say that in his reasoned opinion, the excision of the Mau complex for tea farming is the only novel idea for conservation of our water towers! According to the senior Moi, the on going Mau conservation effort is bound to fail ostensibly because the Government is holding the wrong side of the stick. You see after many years of his word being above reproach, he still thinks the government of the day is made up of idiots. This is because it is expressing reasoned opinions which are different from his. After all, he is an expert. Yes, an expert who has made all the mistakes that could possibly be made in his 24 year reign. This is the repertoire of wisdom that characterized Moi`s 24 year executive fiat. This the wisdom that he employed in the creation of today`s Mau executive squatters: To establish lush tea estates in this water tower. Today, he must be wondering why the Government of the day is unwilling to “fuata nyayo.” Why is the government unwilling to drink from his pond of wisdom? To keep the story short, the senior Moi is simply asking the Government to allow him continue his tea business in Mau. As far as he is concerned, it is the Government`s headache to deal with the illegal Mau evictees as long as his lush tea farm is untouched. Herein lies the trap; if Moi stays put, so will his coterie. The conservation exercise will definitely have flopped. Obnoxious as this may sound, yet it is a testament to the fact that his opposition (as well as that of many others) to the Mau evictions was not about the welfare of the hapless and helpless illegal settlers but for his own selfish interests. The bitter truth is that the illegal Mau evictees are but mere pawns for the peers of the realm. Moi and his coterie literally “imported” gullible Kenyans from Kericho, Bomet and Baringo and put them in the Mau to act as a shield against any future threats of evictions from successive regimes. That is why today, they troop back to their ethnic enclave and make the loudest noise from the roof tops to scare away the Government of the day from undoing their ecological plunder. This clever ploy about tea farms conserving the water tower is only aimed at spreading confusion so as to ensure that the Government of the day is kept off balance. They do not want to let the ruts get deeper than they already are. My exhortation to the government is that it must never allow itself to be derailed from this noble conservation exercise. Instead it must do everything in its power to get rid of this wicked form of opportunism and propaganda in our midst. As for retired president Moi, let him take counsel in the words of Oliver Cromwell, “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken” on this noble conservation exercise. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY. http://twitter.com/tomefrancis

COLLECTIVE CABINET RESPONSIBILITY KEY TO IMPLEMENTATION OF CRUCIAL AGENDA FOUR.

Dear Sir/Madam, One of the most fundamental questions that the cabinet and by extension, the entire country is grappling with is whether Parliamentary Watchdog Committees are overstepping their mandate through their constant erection of roadblocks on the path to implementation of government policy. The Prime Minister thinks that an overbearing parliamentary watchdog is an impediment to the proper functioning of the cabinet, so do a host of other cabinet Ministers. However, the speaker and members of parliament think otherwise. They opine that it is rather the disjointed cabinet and the political intrigues surrounding it coupled with its expediency and ineptitude that has naturally inspired the parliamentary Watchdogs to fill the resultant void. I entirely agree with the speaker of the National Assembly. Suffice to say that Cabinet Ministers have totally forgotten the import of collective responsibility as a cabinet. In fact, cabinet has become the biggest stumbling block to the government`s reform agenda. The term collective cabinet responsibility is akin to hybrid seeds planted in unhealthy soils to the majority of cabinet ministers. Collective ministerial responsibility entails three principles: the confidence rule, cabinet solidarity, and cabinet confidentiality. These principles help ensure that the cabinet pursues a policy consistent with the priorities of the country. In our Coalition Government, the president and the PM form the Cabinet by appointing members of Parliament as ministers to direct government ministries. The president, the PM and cabinet ministers thus propose laws that become the basis for public policy. The confidence rule is obvious. Without the cabinet having confidence in each other, then the import of having a cabinet ceases. Let me therefore dwell in detail on the remaining two principles. Perhaps the most fundamental pillar of collective ministerial responsibility is cabinet solidarity. Here the cabinet ensures a unified stance in everything it pursues. Granted, cabinet ministers can disagree but only in the privacy of the Cabinet. However, once a decision is made, they must loyally support and defend the government’s position or resign. Moreover, individual cabinet ministers must not announce new policy or changes in policy without the Cabinet’s approval. They must carry out cabinet-approved policies with respect to their own ministries, whether or not they agree with such policies. Finally, they are expected to vote with the government always. The President and the Prime Minister must always therefore enforce cabinet solidarity. In the event that dissenting voices emerge from the cabinet, then the President in consultation with the PM can ask ministers to resign. In case they refuse to resign then the president can sack them. The the other important aspect of the cabinet that is part and parcel of collective cabinet responsibility is confidentiality. Ministers swear an oath to protect cabinet secrecy. Documents used to support cabinet decision-making are highly confidential, and any public servant who discloses cabinet secrets can be imprisoned. However, of late, things have gone haywire. Non adherence to the policy of collective responsibility has seriously undermined the working of the cabinet. Very little or none of cabinet solidarity, confidence and confidentiality have been seen. Cabinet secrets and documents have increasingly found their way to the public domain. Obviously, some disgruntled elements within the cabinet are behind this leakage. The division in the cabinet has reached parliament with every minister with political clout manipulating legislation for his or her own ulterior motives. Take the stand off between the PM and his erstwhile ally William Ruto, the Minister for Agriculture; there differences have spiraled into parliament with a section of the latter`s supporters threatening to move a censure motion to settle political scores with the former over the Mau eviction saga. This country decries a weak cabinet. This is because a fragile cabinet can never deliver the crucial agenda four reforms that the country urgently requires. It is time that the cabinet owned up to its mistakes and agrees to give this country a new beginning. For in the words of Cardinal de Retz (1617-1679), “The man who can own up to his error is greater than he who merely knows how to avoid making it.” TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.

SHADES OF POLITICAL SIN AND THE DEARTH OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP.

Dear Sir/Madam, We saw them jostle for space on the “high table.” And from this high table, vitriol flew high left, right and centre as if the speakers were competing to see whose vitriol would tickle the most. Vitriol kept flying high even from unlikely quarters like the Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta. And to think that he could even quote the Holy Bible to wash the vitriol down our throats! Evidently, the poignant atmosphere in the circus of a fundraiser was punctuated by cheap bursts of prolonged laughter from all those gathered. The unmistaken message of such laughter was to make those in attendance realize one`s presence. Honorable Najib Balala, the cocky Mvita MP and the self styled Minister for political tourism capped it all by stating that those on the high table were the future of this country. In other words, those not on the high table, even though they were present in the fundraiser, they were not part of the future! Among those present in the fundraiser but not on the high table were the likes of Honorable Eugene Wamalwa, the Saboti MP who many across the political divide thought that he epitomized transformational leadership. However, going by Balala`s sentiments, then the youthful Wamalwa is apparently, not part of the future political leadership of this country. I thought that he got the drift, but no, like the rest in the crowd, his laughter and clapping told a different story. So what became of his budding presidential ambitions? Has his new found company dissuaded him from pursuing his ambition? I know that I have no right telling him who to walk with, for deep down in my heart, I know that like the iconic Nelson Mandela`s rejoinder to Bill Clinton, he will quip: “let me choose my friends as you choose your enemies.” But I will not tire for I will find solace in the aphorism of the erstwhile Kimilili MP, “if one walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then he must be a duck!” Through Wamalwa`s body language we now know his bosom friends. Has he not been spotted from time to time snuggling in the company of the same youthful political laggards, opportunists and slanderers who are busy casting their ethno-political net wide and far? Their political intrigues and the display of expediency coupled with sheer ineptitude among these political laggards, nay “transformational leaders” threatens to vanquish the very future that they are preaching to the youth. Could it be that they take advantage of the youth being the age of credulity? Someone needs to tell Honorable Wamalwa pretty fast that if he does not re-examine his conscience, his well guarded personality and his razor sharp brain risks decomposing in the company of trivial personalities. It is not surprising that of late, his rhetoric is increasingly portraying him as having completely nothing in common with the youth nor does he currently have a wee bit of understanding of the youthful generation that he purports to be the voice of. He leaves us with so many questions unanswered. How can he be part of those telling the youth that the Government of the day must reward cheats who invaded the Mau Complex and in the same breath promise them a brighter future under his watchful custody! Why is he part of a clique that has become a stumbling block in the Mau Complex conservation efforts? How can he be part of those whose Solomonic wisdom is to rise to the helm of this country`s political leadership through tribal alliances? How can he be in communion with a clique harping on transformational leadership even though their actions and inactions portray them as bullies and opportunists who are pennywise but pound foolish? Just who will be the gad fly to sting honorable Wamalwa back to reality? TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.

VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE AGAINST PM PREMISED ON WRONG POLITICAL JUDGEMENT.

Dear Sir/Madam, A fortnight ago, honorable Joshua Kuttuny reminded all and sundry that Rift Valley legislators have numerical strength in the tenth Parliament and could therefore “do something.” It now emerges that “the something” he was referring to was a vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister. This is the standard practice in many democracies around the globe. Parliament uses this arsenal with a view to checking on executive misconduct, or its effect, especially if the official`s unbecoming behavior subverts the structure of government or undermines the integrity of the office or the Constitution itself. So if there is sufficient proof that a government official is behaving in a manner grossly incompatible with the proper function and purpose of the office or that he employs the power of his office for an improper purpose or for personal gain, then a vote of no confidence comes in handy. In Kenya such a threshold is seemingly non-existent. It may well be that a section of the political divide may invoke this power simply because they do not like one`s nose. This lacuna may seriously undermine the integrity of the office of the PM. For instance, a look at section 4b of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, 2008, states that “the office of the Prime Minister shall become vacant if the National Assembly passes a resolution which is supported by a majority of all the members of the National Assembly, excluding the ex-officio members, and of which not less than seven days notice has been given, declaring that the National Assembly has no confidence in the Prime Minister.” From the foregoing it is apparent that the grounds for the vote of no confidence are conspicuously missing hence leaving this crude weapon to become a matter of political judgment. I bet this is akin to a demented old sucker monkey holding a loaded gun. But how honest are the politicians behind this vote of no confidence? You see, the Prime Minister is simply supervising the implementation of that which the cabinet and parliament agreed to. I thought that it would have been the failure on his part to implement the government`s decision that would have engendered a vote of no confidence against him and not the other way round. Moving a vote of no confidence against the PM based on a reality constructed on pure lies will most certainly prove counter-productive. Those bent on exploiting this provision must know that since the Mau eviction exercise has the blessings of the entire Parliament and Cabinet, then the vote of no confidence must be against the Parliament and the Cabinet. In other words, they must move a motion that seeks the entire Government to resign, or seek a parliamentary dissolution and request a general election. Which Member of Parliament is ready to shoot himself in the foot now? Yep, you guessed it right. Not one among them will dare do that. Our legislators must re-examine their conscience. They must know that the reason why the eviction process is going against the United Nation`s conventions on human rights, is because of sabotage by the line ministries and not as a result of the gross incompetence of the PM. We are aware of the fact that the PM does not have the powers to dismiss the ministers responsible and the president has not shown any indication that he is about to do that. The vote of no confidence must be moved against the saboteurs of Government`s noble plan. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.

NEO-KU KLUX KLAN ARCHITECTS FIND A SAFE HAVEN IN THE MAU EVICTIONS.

Dear Sir/Madam, In the words of John Adams, “facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, or our inclination or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” I cannot agree more with these words of wisdom. For sometime the country has expressed outrage at the idea of some self seeking politicians crafting ethnic alliances to propel them to the helm of the country`s political leadership. Every other time the said political leaders vehemently denied it. But if one cared to scratch up on their rhetoric one would surely see the blatant insult of betrayal of our common good as a country. If you ever had doubted this then the Mau evictions saga lends credence to these banality. It behooves the intelligence of many that despite the Government, the civil society and the mainstream media explaining with intermittent patience the catastrophic effect of not conserving the country`s largest water tower there are those who are playing politics with the country`s lifeline. This continued malfeasance and dishonesty is a stark testament of politicians bereft of any iota of morality. That is why they have ganged up to construct a reality based on lies. In fact, tale tellers have it that they are even ferrying people from elsewhere to camp on the fringes of the Mau to give an impression to the whole world of the worst form of a government sponsored humanitarian crisis. And from the look of things they are really riding high on a carefully orchestrated political rollercoaster. Even though they have constantly had their snouts bashed by the right thinking public they are not just ready to give up their deceit. They are the men and women of “great common sense and good taste.” They are not so much interested in being on the right side of history but would rather let opportunism drive them to boring ordinariness in their quest to ascend to the helm of the country`s political leadership in 2012. You have witnessed them snuggle in the guise of a fundraiser. And I also hear that that there are a series of rallies lined up just to denounce the evictions and to slander and vilify their perceived political nemesis. Going back to the fundraiser, I must not hesitate to point out that there is nothing wrong in organizing for a fundraiser to help genuine evictees. However, there is everything wrong in using the fundraiser as a perfect smokescreen for the launching of a neo Ku Klux Klan (commonly referred to as triple K alliance). Much as I am encouraged by their sudden bout of philanthropy, I am still struggling very hard to understand why majority of the organizers of this fundraiser never shed a single tear for the victims of the Post Election Violence who are to date landless and homeless. Didn`t they not have children, women and the octogenarians sleeping in the biting cold? Did the organizers of this fundraiser demand for humane treatment of the IDPs as they are now doing for the Mau Complex illegal settlers? The Mau evictees and the IDPs aside, do these politicians give a hoot to the startling statistics of the landless and homeless in all the four corners of Kenya? Not even a cent has ever been extended to them. Did I hear someone shout subterfuge? It is the duty of the mainstream media to make these facts stubborn. The media must continually air drop these facts in the current stream of the public`s conscience. Never must the public be oblivious to the history of the degazetment and systematic excision of the Mau complex and the political machination behind the importation of a human shield to protect the politically correct land lords of the Mau complex. If anything it is the yesterday`s oligarchy that must be prosecuted and forced to compensate the illegal settlers of the Mau. It is time they stopped politicking and faced the reality. Most importantly, the intensifying rhetoric on the Mau eviction exercise must cease. This is because it does not bode well with the post election violence (PEV) conciliatory climate especially in the expansive Rift Valley region. In this rhetoric is a veneer of retaliatory attacks aimed at purging of the Rift Valley off “other ethnic communities.” They want to once more rouse the dreaded monster of negative ethnicity. Political leaders must understand that fear mongering in the guise of political supremacy battles is far from being patriotic. If they really want the public to believe that parliament and cabinet had agreed on compensating or giving alternative land to the illegal settlers, then, why not urgently convene a cabinet meeting and thrush out misunderstandings on the eviction exercise rather than engage in the protracted poisonous rhetoric? As for the MPs, isn`t the floor of the August House where they are supposed to put the government to task for reneging on such a substantive agreement? Or are they permanently incapable of making sense on the floor of the House? I suspect that the reason why these politicians do not want to engage in reasonable discourses on the floor of the August House is because they know that they are simply politicisizing that which they themselves participated in legislating. Kenyans are increasingly dismayed especially by the preposterous behavior of Cabinet ministers who overstep acknowledged protocol of collective responsibility to criticize the policies and decisions ratified in cabinet meetings. This only lends credence to their sinister motives. The two principals must crack the whip now before it is too late. Now than ever before, the country desires President Kibaki`s silence to be broken, at least on the Mau issue. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.

BY BENSON MAISORI:What I think of the Concluded National Youth Forum

For those of us who have read Chinua Achebe's Things fall apart, you will agree with that Ibo's saying that if you see a tod hopping in broad daylight then behind it there must be a snake chasing after it. A few days before the National Youth Forum descended on Nairobi swearing under their breath to teach the current political class a lesson they will never forget, I had submitted here that whatever they were going to discuss was in vain. I said it would be in vain not because I am a pessimist but because, already I could correctly guess what it is that the forum would say. I knew that the forum would begin by introductions of those in attendance, ostensibly to prove to the world that the forum was not only national but that it also comprised of people who were respected leaders from wherever they came from. Then the programme would be read and prayers said. Then various speakers would be invited to speak on various topics and of course as if cut from the same piece of cloth they would repeatedly curse the current political leaders, shout at the top of their voices how those leaders have failed young people and then proceed to vow that come the next elections young people were going to vote them out and bring to power leaders who were credible, accountable, corruption free, morally upright and leaders who cared about the plight of young people. After the declarations the young people would then be led into adopting resolutions arrived at and warned that this time round the resolutions were not going to be left gathering dust on shelves of NGOs offices. Above all young people would be asked never to be violent because violence is the worst enemy! After the meeting people would be reimbursed their transport expenses to go back to their homes as they hope to be called again. Of course that will be the end of the story. The next time there is such a meeting another group of ''leaders'' will be called to attend and make the same declarations. How true these predictions came to pass! That is why I could very easily understand the frustrations that people led by Sande Oyolo had before resolving to disrupting the forum. But what shocked me most was when the members of the diplomatic coup arrived led by non other than Michael Rannenberger, a man I admire for his courage against the hostile politicians of our country. Of course I am aware that the reason the ambassador is normally bitter with the coalition government is not because he really cares for Kenyans but because the coalition government has decided to play hard ball against USA investment interests such as the Oil drilling in Isiolo. The entrance of the US ambassador elicited excitement which quickly reminded me that the interests of the people I was representing were at risk. Of course several young people who asked the ambassadors questions did so out of an innocent mind not really knowing what was at stake. They thought that the ambassadors were really interested in helping solve the problems of young people in Kenya. Some even attempted to ''inform'' the ambassadors what problems the young people were going through! Little did they know that those ambassadors know those problems more than we even know. They know that they are part and parcel of the problem. In fact one person who to me asked a critical question was the gentleman from Mandera who told the British High Commissioner, Rob Maclare to his face that the problems being faced in Mandera were a creation of the British colonialists. I felt like jumping up! Those are the kind of young men we need in this country. If we get about ten of them then we can begin talking of liberation. It is my humble submission that young people did not achieve anything worth talking of. I remember us endorsing some resolutions such as that ''from now onwards young people shall participate actively in politics at all levels!'' At some point I even told the man who was seated next to me that we did not have to spend all our time and money just to come and make such an obvious declaration. After all, this is something we have always shouted around. But my greatest interesting moment was when one of the conveners (who seemed to understand why we were there) asked the US ambassador whether the US was going to assist young people in rolling down to the villages to take to the people the same message that had been arrived at while in this forum. I quickly asked myself what type of assistance the young people required in order to go to Nyamtiro village where I come from to tell my people that it was important to participate in politics or constitutional matters. I asked myself why they had never asked me to assist them but the anxious and serious look on their faces told me that the assistance that they were talking about was different. Of course the ambassador agreed to ''assist'' and I saw the sigh of relief on their faces. It was accompanied by a round of applauding claps. Back to my argument. We must begin to ask ourselves whether this is really what we need. We must ask ourselves whether the change we seek is the same for all of us. We must ask ourselves whether the motives in the song of change we have joined is the same and whether those motives are inspired by the sincere need to liberate us from the our captivity. We must ask ourselves whether we are all faced by the same enemy and whether the methodology we talk of in our bid to confront the enemy is agreeable and workable across the board. Our country is faced with serious challenges that must be confronted now or we shall all sink. Boardroom forums that continue to enrich a few people are constructing sliding terrains for our country. As I have always said, we need sincere diagnosis of the malady that threatens to sink us. When we do this we shall then be able to identify correctly the therapeutic and prophylactic measures that shall pull us from drifting into the sweltering morass of political quagmire and eons of socio-economic ''Mal aire''! Posted by MAISORI BENSON at 4:00 AM http://maisori.blogspot.com/2009/11/for-those-of-us-who-have-read-chinua.html

THE MAU ULTIMATUM: THE CITIZENRY MUST DENOUNCE ETHNO-POLITICAL SHENANIGANS.

Dear Sir/Madam, “Conscience ought to be a mirror before which one pinches himself.” Today, this aphorism would mesh well in any other society but Kenya. Majority of our politicians are made of a different mettle. To them “conscience” at the very least, must be expunged from the Kenyan political dictionary. This is what Taban Lo Liyong would term as “lexicographicide”. Our politicians are very comfortable purveying untruths; they seek to obfuscate Kenya`s legitimate rights to a conducive socio-economic and political environment. I keep on hoping that there will be a small secret voice that will just whisper in their conscience, “You are a fraud”. How they spin lies ad infinitum without butting their eyelids is just amazing! But that is not all. Any conscientious person seen to be an obstacle in their quest to advance their selfish interests must also be thoroughly slandered. In the words of Lillian Hellman “truth made you a traitor as it often does in a time of scoundrels.” Her words lend a sharp poignancy and insight in the Kenyan political landscape. Admittedly, our politicians have robbed off politics any decency. Deceit is the new buzzword. For instance, after the KTN expose’, no one can believe the claptrap being bandied around about the Prime Minister having issued a directive to purge the evictees off the fringes of the Mau Complex in the ungodly hours of the night. This is another of the so many and not so well crafted lies that keep on flying- apart before the right thinking public. The unfortunate thing about lying is that you have to tenaciously, viscerally and perhaps unflinchingly, manufacture in quick succession, three times the lies you spewed yesterday to give them some semblance of truth today. In their desperation to lie they pay no attention to the rules of logic that would otherwise guard them against pitfalls. It is precisely at this unguarded moment that the “liar” in them shines as bright as the equatorial midday. Political corruption, patronage and impunity are instruments that perfect their political con game. That is why even with the melodrama that ranged from the sublime of the legislators` crocodile tears to the ridiculous personality-slandering, the public has finally learnt to spot their shenanigans. The bitter truth is that the illegal Mau settlers are only but mere pawns for the peers of the realm in the Mau Complex saga. This is because after annexing huge chunks of land in the Mau complex, they came up with ethnic mischief which sought to literally “import” gullible Kenyans from Kericho, Bomet and Baringo and put them in the Mau to act as an ethnic shield against any future threats of evictions from successive regimes. Anytime eviction talk is rife, the “Real landlords” of the Mau Complex troop en masse to their ethnic enclave. We must, as a peace loving nation, denounce these political shenanigans. They have brought nothing but dishonor and disrepute to our country. There must be no room for this political perfidy. It is not lost to all that the combined acreage of the illegal settlers is a trifling compared to the over 50,000 acres of land in the hands of the “real encroachers” whose names are in the” who is who” list of Kenyan politics. With this fact in mind you can then begin to appreciate the real fear behind the façade of the Mau aristocrats if perchance this human shield was to be removed. It is time that these plunderers faced the consequences of their sins of commission and omission. That is why I find their “Two Weeks Ultimatum Talk” quite unpalatable. This melodrama is a stark testament to political irrationality. The country can no longer afford to expose Kenyans to this inanity and ethno-political overtones. Unless they issued this ultimatum against themselves then they have no moral authority to purport to speak for a people they themselves have subjected to deceit for decades. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.

AMERICAN AMBASSADOR SHOULD STOP IMPOSING ‘YOUTH LEADERS'

It is imperative and the wish of majority of Kenyans especially the youth to see a better future for our country. We want a nation free from corruption, free from impunity and free from bad and immoral leadership. The mentioned characteristics have epitomized Kenyan political leadership for a long time. We as Kenyans are duty bound to protect the future of this country through creating an opportunity for transformative leadership. Those who already hold power are hell-bent to cling onto it and hand over to the heirs of their choice. This culture of attempts by leaders handing over to certain people of their choice has hurt Kenya since the days of colonialism. It is this method of nurturing leadership that we have most times ended up being led by wrong people whose duty has always been to continue with the legacy of their predecessors. Currently, Kenya is going through tough times which call for leaders with a strong background and a good understanding of the needs for our country. This is the time that the young generation is challenged with a responsibility of nurturing a leadership that will transform this country into a well established economy for the future generations. this has become the greatest challenge for this generation and I appreciate the fact that many initiatives have come up to try and right what has been made wrong by our leaders who happened to hold the reigns of power in the past. It is laudable that even the international community is concerned about the future of Kenya and has thus decided to get involved in trying to take part in some of the processes that can help Kenya rid itself of bad leadership. However the most regrettable part is that the people who intend to help in the name of foreign support are doing worse that the bad leaders that we already have by trying to patronize the processes of change. It is a reflection of colonial mentality that some foreign ambassadors are trying to own the Kenyan youth by imposing what they imagine can be the leadership of the youth. They have entered into the fray of misusing the name of the youth to achieve their own selfish goals which are yet to be defined. They are now looking for the youth who are ready to be used without any question to implement what appears to be a foreign agenda. The hope that they could help the Kenyan youth overcome the political challenges has become a pipe dream. The foreign envoys especially the American embassy has decided to fall into ordinary Kenyan politics of gossip, cronyism, tribalism and sabotage as a way of showing their bosses in the US that they are working. They are spending millions of money in this country on what they claim to be pro reform projects by organizing bogus youth meetings to impress their political powers that they are working in the interest of bringing political reforms. So far, the Kenyan youth seem not to have any sincere friend, since while the current government officials are using the Kenya youth name to advance the culture of tokenism by pretending to be appeasing the youth through small institutional tokens like the kazi kwa vijana project and the youth enterprise development fund, the foreign embassies are using the name of the Kenyan youth in justifying their expenditures on what they claim to reforms on the interest of African governments whereby Kenya is included in this group. The same embassies have decided to use the money to impose people who know little about political leadership. It’s noticeable that the agenda of the US in this country is not to nurture true leadership, but to create supposed projects for supposed reforms without well intended result. its time for the Kenyan youth to have their own time to identify leaders and not American appointed projects sitting in hotels under American ambassador’s sponsorship and masquerading as leaders of the youth. Those gatherings are for programme officers of NGOs who are driven by the thirst for donor money and know little about political transformation in Kenya . Kenyan youth need support to work towards realization for true change; we don’t need donor sponsored circuses claiming to be representing us. Kenyan youths already know their leaders and are not ready for any impositions driven by greed for donor funds whose full agenda is yet to be established. Foreigners are welcome to help us but they are not welcome to impose political novices into what is supposed to be youth leadership. I support president Obama’s Policy of helping democratically challenged countries like Kenya to advance reforms, but we refuse any imposition of leaders on the Kenyan youth. FWAMBA NC FWAMBA Box 1176 , BUNGOMA, +254721779445

IS THERE SABOTAGE IN THE MAU COMPLEX EVICTIONS?

Dear Sir/Madam, Apparently no one can compute the “unestimated sum of human suffering that the Mau complex evictees are undergoing. It looks as if the Government is cold hearted and callous towards its own people or that it seriously underestimated the humanitarian crisis that was likely to emerge. Still it may be that some politicians are out to create the impression that the Government never cared to plan for the evictions at all. I find it difficult to believe that the Government can become a savage to its own people. Going by the sentiments of the chairperson of The Mau Task Force, the Ministries of water, security and special programmes ought to have been on the ground complimenting the eviction exercise. But they are conspicuously missing in action. So to me the only plausible reason would that the exercise has been reduced to a political ping pong with a view to using the illegal settlers as a smokescreen. Any Tom, Dick and Harry knows that this exercise bears all the hallmarks of political sabotage. But is this sabotage is likely to affect the country more than the individual(s) targeted? Social and economic prospects are more at risk than an individual`s political ambitions. A section of Rift Valley legislators, believe that the PM is out to create a humanitarian crisis to gain a global platform in Copenhagen climate talks. At the moment there is a barrage of condemnation and vitriol most foul leveled against the person of the PM. In fact it has now belatedly dawned on a section of the Rift Valley MPs that the PM is a pretender to the throne! This reaction was not unexpected since the issue was bound to bring about the shifting political alliances. You see, politicians like love and hatred, are two sides of the same coin. I do not think the PM is so naïve as to connive to drive illegal settlers from the forest and to become mince meat to his political archenemies. He cannot be so naïve as to loose such a huge and vital voting block in the Rift Valley! That is why I smell a rat. Could it be that there is sabotage? Taletellers allege that a section of the Rift valley legislators are out to deride the eviction exercise and make it appear the worst form of a humanitarian crisis ever witnessed in Kenya. In fact, in their own words, the 2007 post election IDP crisis will be pale a shadow compared to it! That is why they have gone ahead to tell “their” people not to move an inch from the perimeter fence of the Mau complex in order to proclaim to the whole world how wicked the government is to their people! Is it not pretentious for the MPs to raise the issue of compensation for a people who acquired the forest land illegally? Illegal settlers have over time been evicted in Mt. Kenya, Mt.Elgon and Embobut in Marakwet without compensation. The thinking seems to be that since the government is buying land for the internally displaced victims of post election violence so must it buy land for the illegal settlers evicted from the Mau forest. But what these politicians are not telling us is that they are the very ones who allowed these people into the forest to act as a shield against themselves and those who bought illegal land from their dubious companies. Alluding to compensation will be akin to legitimizing a wrong. We must not allow politicians to institutionalize this problem because in the words of Nikki Giovanni (1943), a US activist, writer and educationist “once you institutionalize a problem, then you do not intent to solve it.” However, it is the melodrama surrounding the MPs that has pundits pondering. To some it is first aimed sanitizing the cyclic post election violence in the region and secondly to force the Government to abandon the noble rehabilitation of the country`s forest cover. If indeed this is the reality then it is quite repulsive and unacceptable. The country must not give into this mind numbing political gimmicks. It is unimaginable, obnoxious, cold and callous for the” real Land Lords” of the Mau complex to use the hapless illegal settlers as a smokescreen to perpetuate their selfish interests. This noble eviction exercise must continue for to sabotage it, or to fritter will bring upon us all the reproaches of the after time. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.

SIMPLIFIED CURRICULA: CONTRADICTORY DIRECTIVES ARE A POINTER TO LACK OF CONSULTATION.

Dear Sir/Madam, Recent reports from sections of the media that KNEC and KIE have issued contradictory directives with regard to the implementation of the simplified mathematics and science curricula, is a testament to the deep seated problems ailing the education system in Kenya: lack of both a solid research base and consultation. Whereas KIE insists that the package is optional for students, KNEC has made it mandatory for schools to only take one of the packages. This confusion paints a very bad picture of the two organs that are supposed to compliment each other. They seem not to realize that the problem associated with the development, operation and improvement of any educational system must be based on extensive and systematic applications of knowledge. Moreover it must be an all inclusive and participatory process. But in Kenya this seems to be far from the truth. The left hand hardly knows what the right hand is up to. Much as we hope that the confusion will be done away with, I still have a problem with this general science “thing”. It is ostensibly formulated for students whose interest and aptitude is not in pursuing courses that require high competence in pure sciences. Prima facie, this sounds a great policy directive. However, the devil lies in the details. A good curriculum ought not to be discriminative and must play a significant role in human resource development and placement. But looking at it from all angles, this curriculum bears the hallmarks of the Government`s discrimination against the less fortunate members in the country. Why do I say so? This is because it is a known fact that performance in examinations differ in such a way that students from the higher socio-economic schools demonstrate a higher performance. Obviously the educational production process in such schools enjoys sufficient resources. Since the dregs (and who constitute the majority) of the society do not have access to such schools, they have to pursue their education in ill equipped village schools that can only offer general science curricula. In my opinion it appears as if the Government is admitting its failure in addressing issues relating to access, equity and quality of education across the social divide as was promised in the Sessional paper no.1 of 2005. Under a targeted programme the Government was supposed to rehabilitate and provide laboratory equipment in schools in the rural and marginalized areas in a bid to address regional disparities. Admittedly, the programme is a cropper. Consequently, the Government seems to be suggesting that students from disadvantaged schools will never become engineers and doctors, and by all indications, it will be sending a strong message to the public that students from disadvantaged schools are lesser citizens than their counterparts. It is precisely because of the threat to validity and equity that saw the Government phase out such a similar curriculum in the nineties. Then we used to have pure and biological sciences. Much as we all agree that the acute inequalities in schools in the country have over the years made it impossible for the construction of a consistent, reliable and valid performance measurement, but should that be a ground for the entrenching of a discriminatory and retrogressive curriculum change? Certainly not. Two wrongs do not make a right. I am extremely afraid that the complacency now setting in is both foolish and dangerous. What good will it do to a learner/teacher whose interest is in learning/teaching pure sciences or pure mathematics but who is forced by the school management due to unavailability of resources to only learn/teach the general sciences or simplified mathematics? From the foregoing, the question shouldn’t be whether the Government can afford to do more to promote social mobility. It should be whether Government can afford not to. And the answer is no. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA.

PARTY STALWARTS AGAINST REAL DEVOLUTION BESMIRCH PUBLIC INTELLECT.

Dear Sir/Madam, The makers of our constitution at the time of our country`s independence did not intend to preserve an unchanging society, but instead meant the constitution to invariably adapt to the needs of our dynamic society. Even though the independence constitution gave the president a carte blanche to run the nation as he deemed fit, experience has shown that such unfettered powers are often misused. The president like a deity became omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. There are many among us today who bear the scars of this tyranny. In fact the protracted fight for the second liberation was informed by the dictatorial tendencies that the right thinking public saw in the leadership of president Moi and his predecessor. Devolvement of the powers vested in the presidency and its usual appurtenances was then the buzz word. Apparently when president Kibaki came to the helm of leadership, those close to the pedestal of power changed tact. They wanted to maintain the status quo. Even after the post election violence, they do not want to hear anything about a constitutional dispensation that cuts a swath through the imperial presidency. They prophetically harp on the existence of a constitutional crisis if executive power is shared between the presidency and the Prime Minister (Parliament). This pretence besmirches the intellect of Kenyans. Our reaction to these inanities is not amusement but bafflement, verging on rage. These can only be politicians who are out to have Kenya stop being a democracy in any meaningful sense. That is why they are too busy furthering their selfish interests at the country`s expense. In the words of Barry Goldwater, a 1964 Republican Party candidate, “Those who seek absolute power even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed.” Rather than think of that which is best suited for the country they are busy throwing spanners in the works of the constitutional making process. And their best arsenal is of course to impiously force the country in to a horrendous political ping pong. It is this execrable behavior that engendered the hostilities that plunged this country in to a near holocaust. Yet the same politicians unashamedly elect to deliberately ignore this fact. Mao Tse Tung (1893-1976) said that “Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.” There is a very thin line between the two so much so that it only requires the snafus and preposterous verboten to trigger an unprecedented bloodletting. Of course you and I know that our politicians have plenty of these in stock. Sad as it is, they have already set the tempo. And our hopes of having a new constitutional dispensation can only dissipate. Should we stand aside helplessly, gnashing our teeth, as a section of our politicians line up to deride the efforts of the Committee of Experts (CoE) just as they did with Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC) in 2005? We cannot allow this to happen again. It is first and foremost our peace as a country that is at stake. Secondly it is our tax billions that will yet again go to waste. My exhortation to patriotic Kenyans is this: We must stand up and say no to these political machinations. So don't just sit there moaning about how the country's going to the dogs. Sign up and let's kick some ass. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.

THE QUEST FOR A LOCAL TRIBUNAL RUINED BY THE EXECUTIVE`S HOCUS POCUS.

Dear Sir/Madam, What is this much hyped Ministers` and Assistant Ministers` Grand Retreat? Could it be that it is the Grand Coalition`s way of retreating from tackling the sizzling Imanyara Bill? Honorable Imanyara believes it is sabotage. So do I. This is because this government had plenty of time to organize for bonding sessions during the just concluded recess. Now that parliament has reconvened and with its in tray full with extremely urgent legislation, the executive sees this as a perfect opportunity for “them” to gobble chicken and chicanery in Mombasa. Weirdly unfamiliar it may be, but certainly not entirely unexpected. Eugene McCarthy (1916-2005), once a US senator said that “politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think that it is important”. I cannot agree more with him. This is because after many days of indecision, discussion and procrastination, there seems to be no glimmer of hope that Kenya`s Parliament will be sufficiently philanthropic as to establish a local tribunal to complement the ICC. With their eyes ravenously focused on 2012 it is hardly surprising that political machinations have yet again started overriding the national interests. They have no doubt adopted the “see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil” stance. Using this lenses, it becomes crystal clear to all and sundry that the executive`s bonding session is all about its collective desire to evenly cover its muck. In their quest to ascend to the helm of the country`s leadership they conveniently forget that the price of greatness is responsibility and not irresponsibility. Their body language is reminiscent of the then US president Ronald Reagan who unable to deal with the biting deficit quipped “I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.” Like Reagan our politicians scamper at the sight of impunity while fervently hoping that it (impunity) is big enough to take care of itself! And with this kind of obnoxious attitude I have no iota of doubt that Kenya shall continue to greatly suffer the consequences of the criminalization of politics in the successive electioneering periods courtesy of the verbal snafus and preposterous sound bytes of the high and mighty. They care less whether their mumbo-jumbo can engender a holocaust. That is why at one time they blubber “Don`t be vague, go to Hague.” And in quick succession, they mumble about the establishment of a “local tribunal” then to “Reconciliation without Truth and Justice.” Putting their foot in their mouth or goofing as is commonly known is ostensibly our politicians` way of life. Admittedly many of them just bungle up to gain publicity. (But this not to say that there are those among them who are permanently incapable of speaking sense). They unashamedly engage in hocus-pocus while fervently hoping that the resultant avalanche of confusion will snuff out the nation`s quest for justice. They have conveniently forgotten that it is their unrepentant mood that has over the years resulted in the institutionalization of impunity. However, for the victims of post election violence, know thee that all is not lost. The wheels of justice may appear to be slow but they shall surely catch up with these Lords of impunity. They may desperately attempt to cover their nakedness with “sovereignty” but not for long. This is because the will of the over 40 million Kenyans shall ultimately triumph. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.

ETHNIC IDIOSYNCRACY THE BANE OF OUR NATIONHOOD.

Dear Sir/Madam, In 1941, Jesse Jackson in appreciating the diversity of the American society said that “America is not a blanket woven from one thread, one color, and one cloth”. He opined that it was the conscious harnessing of unity in its diversity that ought to be the pillar of its strength. This conscious effort bore fruit. And the results are there for all to see today. In Kenya the thought of harnessing this diversity is akin to planting hybrid seeds in unhealthy soils. And the odious reality is that ethnicity and nationhood have become archenemies. Ethnic interests are always in dissonance with nationhood. Kenya like a nuclear tinder box only requires a splint from self seeking politicians for the unimaginable holocaust to happen. And we have such politicians in plenty judging from their irresponsible utterances. They cling to the most fallacious conviction that what is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander. Their socialization is greatly influenced by the thinking that no other person other than that from their ethnic group is fit to take the mantle of leadership in this country because they imagine that the “other” ethnic group poses a threat in their scramble for the valuable but limited resources available in this country. For them the Golden Rule, or ethic of reciprocity is twaddle. In the public limelight such politicians will pass for our average nationalists but in the comforts of their ethnic conclaves they are shockingly different. That is why I thought that my mind was playing on me some dirty trick when sections of the media reported that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for finance honorable Uhuru Kenyatta had ostensibly appealed to his central Kenya counterparts to unite and support one of their own if their dream of ascending to the helm of leadership of this country was to materialize. In my view, this rhetoric is admittedly the most consequential of honorable Uhuru Kenyatta`s ephemeral ambition. Many have always thought of him as a transformational leader. It therefore behooves many conscientious Kenyans that he can talk about national healing and reconciliation and in the same breath embellish the hydra of negative ethnicity. As for the people, we have failed to wipe of those foolish grins off our faces. Why for instance should we decry the negative effects of ethnicity but dance ourselves lame when our so called leaders invoke the hydra of negative ethnicity? In any case, it is doubtable that such leaders want to use this ethnic platform to advance the interest of “their people”. It can only be that they want to ride on the back of negative ethnicity to access raw power so that they can advance their own selfish interests. We must come to the realization that we have a Hobson`s choice if we are to built a nation that all of us are to be proud of. And that is to rid this country of this hydra of negative ethnicity. One such effort has began with a facebook group known as “You don`t have to be from my tribe to be my President”. The founder members found it necessary to use this forum to bridge the ethnic gap in order to foster a tolerant and a more cohesive nation. It is upon us to extend our unequivocal welcome to everyone interested in the struggle to kill this hydra of negative ethnicity. Like Jesse Jackson, I dare say that Kenya is not woven from one thread, one color, and one cloth. But with a wee bit of understanding and a little more patience and tenderness towards each other, this blanket can afford all of us some warmth. The time to act is now. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.

THE POWERFUL SYMBOLISM IN OCAMPO`S NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK TOUR.

Dear Sir/Madam, Ocampo`s tour to Nairobi National Park accompanied by the Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo who also doubled up as his cicerone; elicited varied reactions from the fourth estate and by extension, the public. For a moment I too thought that the Government had elected to give sop to Ceberius to secure a nod for the local trial of the Lords of Impunity behind the 2007 Post Election Violence (PEV). I waited with abated breath for the usual theatrics. I am certain that like me there are many others who shared this misgiving. Worry no more. Belatedly, the reality of his tour to the park hit me like a thunderbolt. How could I have failed to unravel the powerful symbolism in this tour? You see, Ocampo has spent a good part of his professional life taming individuals who know nothing other than the law of the jungle. A Busman`s tour to a park where beasts of the jungle are tamed enabled him not only to horn his skills in taming them but also inspired him into buckling his armor in readiness to tame the real Kenyan Lords of the jungle; read the perpetrators of the 2007 horrendous Post Election Violence(PEV). And sure enough, it was hot on the heels of his tour to the Nairobi National Park that his verbatim and body language caused hemi cranial headaches to many a suspect. He left no doubt that he had his hands firm on the plough. This is after he invoked Article 15 of the Rome Statute seeking ICC`s permission to commence investigations and prosecutions of crimes against humanity committed during PEV in Kenya. What this means is that Kenya`s case is almost certainly hermetically sealed. Sovereignty or not, the country will most certainly kowtow to ICC`s demands for the arrests of these suspects if and when need arises. As for those who have been trotting from region to region purveying piles of hogwash about ICC`s inability to dispose timely justice, Ocampo has nailed your lies to the counter. Indeed Hague will not be vague. A rude shock awaits you in a jiffy. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.

COOPERATION WITH ICC: THIS MUMBO-JUMBO SOVEREIGNTY BALDERDASH MUST CEASE.

Dear Sir/Madam, Perhaps the missile code named Grand Coalition Government (GCG) auto –destructed itself after its much hyped failed launch. It set out to navigate the judicial path of Post Election Violence (PEV) and implement essential reforms commonly referred to as “agenda four” with more bravado than common sense. Now everything is at a stand still yet the clock is fast ticking. All indications are that we are heading into a Cimmerian darkness. Even though the Grand Coalition Government keeps on reassuring Kenyans that it is committed to fighting impunity, one cannot fail to see impunity`s usual appurtenances. Kenyans are now dog tired of this ridiculous jiggery- pokery going behind their backs. Everyone right from the government functionaries seems to have been given a carte blanche to speak as he or she desires to. And the result is there for everyone to see. An avalanche of confusion seems to be suffocating the GCG`s operations. That is why Kenya`s foreign affairs Permanent Secretary; Thuita Mwangi easily adopted a very blinkered attitude of the conscientious public and then belligerently arrogated himself the power to pen down balderdash in one of the leading local dailies on the eve of the ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo`s visit in the country. In fact, Thuita only stopped short of declaring Ocampo a persona non grata in this country. This is obviously a case of engaging in a two penny theatrics on issues touching on the heartbeat of the nation. The two principals on reading the mood of the public ostensibly castigated Thuita for the impermissible conduct. Yet, a day later when the two met the ICC prosecutor, their body language was no different from Thuita`s. Beneath their well coded diplomatic verbiage was a tacit message to Ocampo and by extension the international community that Kenya was a sovereign state able to deal with its own internal problems without external interference. Now this is ad hominem par excellence. Like Thuita the two principals must be told that anybody perceived to be standing in the way of justice is an enemy of public conscience. Thinking of using a special wing of the high court that reeks with impunity to try suspected perpetrators of PEV is ad nauseum. It will be chimerical. This will be chicanery most foul. It will no doubt be interpreted by the post election victims as an attempt to defenestrate justice and pamper the afreet of impunity. The time for bread and circuses is out. The two principals seem to working at cross purposes with the conscientious public. We must stop behaving as though we are a people suffering from borderline personality disorder. Parliament made a resounding decision. “Let us not be vague, let us go to Hague”. So be it. This genie of impunity that keeps on rearing its ugly head ad infinitum must be put back in the bottle once and for all. Why backpedal and embellish incendiarism? It will be in our best interest as a country if we ceased beguiling ourselves with abrogation talk. Such talks will amount to nothing because ICC has no abandonment option. Kenya is now ICC`s captive customer. My exhortation to his Excellency the President and the right honorable Prime Minister is not to allow our beloved country to be held captive by the mumbo-jumbo sovereignty balderdash. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.

POSTED BY GEORGE NYONGESA:Kenya grassroots message to welcome Mr. Ocampo!..... BY:BUNGE LA MWANANCHI.

__________________________________________________________________ Kenya grassroots message to welcome Mr. Ocampo! On November 2, 2009, grassroots leaders drawn from the countrywide networks of Bunge la Mwananchi met and developed the following position on the debate of holding to account post election violence (PEV) perpetrators: Read more... Kenya grassroots message to welcome Mr. Ocampo! Tuesday, 03 November 2009 13:12 Bunge La Mwananchi Secretariat E-mail Print PDF BUNGE LA MWANANCHI www.bungelamwananchi.org __________________________________________________________________ Kenya grassroots message to welcome Mr. Ocampo! On November 2, 2009, grassroots leaders drawn from the countrywide networks of Bunge la Mwananchi met and developed the following position on the debate of holding to account post election violence (PEV) perpetrators: THAT: 1. Remembering that the innocent lives of 1,300 Kenyans were lost, unknown numbers sustained gross injuries and billions of property was destroyed as result of violence that ensued following botched elections; 2. Noting that prior to the announcement of election results, in spite of politicians’ tribal war crusades, grassroots Kenyans who bore the huge brunt of PEV had conducted themselves in a responsible and peaceful manner; 3. Emphasizing that PEV was a war of the ruling class, on the one hand led by President Mwai Kibaki and on the other by Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, and that the grassroots Kenyan were victims who were manipulated through messages of ethnic consciousness, bribery, propaganda and populism; 4. Insisting that had President Mwai Kibaki conducted himself in a manner respecting the rule of law and respecting public institutions prior to the exercise of general elections and likewise respecting the electoral law and sanctity of human life, the disgrace on ballot democracy and the loss of lives was wholly avoidable; 5. Maintaining that had Prime Minister Raila Odinga acted as a statesman, after the disputed elections results, he would not have pursued power at all costs, would not have incited his supporters into uncoordinated mass actions and consequently no one would have been lynched, no life would have been lost and no property would have been destroyed; 6. Mindful of the lack of political willingness in the Grand Coalition Government to implement the National Accord’s Agenda of inter alia restoration of people’s liberty, compensating and resettlement of IDPs, comprehensive electoral laws, police and judiciary reforms and addressing general poverty and lack of employment among youth; 7. Appreciating and echoing the attention of the International Community (the US, the EU and the UN) in pressurizing the Coalition Government to urgently effect meaningful reforms and by extension welcoming the importance of the planned visit by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, we wish to state as follows: i) That the PEV was a class war between the ruling class- rich and powerful- into which the unsuspecting poor and powerless were drawn and inhumanely treated as mere collateral damage; ii) That it beats sociological imagination to exonerate President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga from the damning facts of the PEV: Raila Odinga called for mass action that turned violent amongst innocent Kenyans and Mwai Kibaki deployed the Kenya Police who shot and killed protestors; and therefore the ICC prosecutor must not disappoint the poor victims of PEV by not holding the President and the Prime Minister accountable for their actions, inactions, commissions and omissions. iii) That the coalition partners - President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga are direct beneficiaries of the PEV, now most interested in protecting their PEV war Generals and least interested in ensuring justice for the poor victims of PEV. iv) That there are thousands of internally displaced persons who were irregularly forced out of camps and are still homeless, hungry and cold with inadequate respite from the Coalition Government. v) That several victims of police shooting are still nursing gross wounds at home without medication and some still have bullets lodged in their bodies. vi) That the indictment and trial of PEV perpetrators is a reassurance and a signal by the Global Family to the majority of grassroots Kenyans that the culture of impunity and irresponsible leadership has no place in our world today. vii) That for restoration of people’s interest in democracy, elections and governance, and further to expedite the reform agenda in Kenya, it is extremely important that high profile PEV perpetrators are indicted, arrested and tried outside Kenya. viii) That we support both a Local Tribunal to try the small perpetrators of PEV such as politicians’ hirelings who raped, looted and torched property; and the Hague option for the rich, powerful and high profile perpetrators who planned and financed PEV. ix) That we are keenly watching Mr Ocampo and are interested that justice is not only done but seen to be done. Notes for Editor: BUNGE LA MWANANCHI is a nationwide movement that mobilizes and organizes grassroots Kenyans around their felt socio-economic challenges to dialogue and strategize for bottom up political change. Bunge la Mwananchi is also a member of National Civil Society Congress (NCSC). THIS STATEMENT IS DATED AND SIGNED ON THIS MONDAY 2ND NOVEMBER 2009

KEJUDE(CHAMA): THOSE WHO BLOCKED FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS SHOULD BE HELD CRIMINALLY ACCOUNTABLE ALONGSIDE THOSE WHO CAUSED THE POST ELECTION MAYHEM

Kenyans for Justice and Development welcome ICC Prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo’s intervention towards helping us find justice for the chaos of early 2008. The ICC’s intervention is a major step towards holding criminally accountable all those who masterminded and executed the 2007/2008 pre and post election mayhem. We concede that Kenya ’s weak legal framework, compromised judiciary, an unprofessional police force, lack of a credible witness protection mechanism, the total lack of political will to hold to account the culpable, and the presence of armed militia in some regions all point to the obvious lack of local capacity to deal with the problem unaided. In view of the above, we urge that Mr. Ocampo does the following: (i) He issues open warrants to enable Kenyans know who are being investigated, so that the suspects can vacate office and not interfere with the investigations and that the ICC process proceeds with the speed he has always pledged. (ii) He publicly supports the Imanyara Bill that is seeking to set up a local tribunal meeting international standards to deal with the many ordinary people who took part in the mayhem, as part of the three tier approach to dealing with the post election violence. Given their mandate is restricted to the conduct of hostilities not their causes, we are aware of the limitations faced by both the ICC and local tribunal in ensuring holistic justice. For justice to be done and be seen to be done by all we must bring in a causal effect to the Post Election Violence scenario. Those who masterminded the mayhem should be held criminally accountable simultaneously with those having a causal link to the mayhem. It is most important that those who blocked reforms and did things that in a causal nature set the country on a war footing must also be held liable for their actions. The people who blocked the constituting of an impartial ECK; rejected the 50% + 1 threshold for electing the president; used inciting language on the campaign trail; tampered with the election results after the peaceful voting; and those who hurriedly swore in Mr. Mwai Kibaki as the President to irregularly legalize the contested results must all have their feet held to the fire. This also includes sections of the media that participated in fanning the fires of conflict during the imbroglio. Consequently, we demand that President Kibaki, Premier Odinga and their Cabinet do the following: i) That they must immediately be put in place an independent and impartial mechanism, running parallel to the ICC process, to hold to account this category of people for their causal roles in the mayhem so that justice is done to all players. ii) That they stop deceiving Kenyans that they are “on top of things” in relation to sorting out the Post Election Violence issues, and let the international community whenever it deems fit , in the principle of being “our brothers keeper”, remind them of their failures. iii) That they give victims from all ethnic groups the chance to be heard since up until now only the voices of the perpetrators have been heard. iv) That they guard against the negative ethnicity that is threatening to hijack and subvert the justice process by ignoring minority victims – those moderates who were victimized by their own communities for shielding those targeted, and those whose communities were not prominent players in the mayhem. To achieve true reconciliation as a country, we must hold criminally liable both those who frustrated a fair electoral process and stole the elections, and those who masterminded and executed the mayhem. In proceeding this way, we will strike a body blow against the culture of impunity and give Kenyans a sense of equity before the law, and make Justice our shield and defender. Signed: Neto Agostinho National Convener, KEJUDE. Date: November 4, 2009............................. POSTED BY OKIYA OMTATAH OKOITI.