Kenyans will never learn! Here are the ingredients of post election violence

Lessons from the party nominations

Kenyan politics are made from stuff that can make the most dramatic soap operas and make the masters of all soaps, the Mexicans, proud, but the only tragedy with this political drama is, the precision at which they so predictably turn tragic.

Last week I witnessed a gang of men knock out three canines from a young lad who had allegedly fled with campaign money which had been dished out by a politician. 

The incident happened near Kangemi where, as has been the custom when big shot politicians come calling and hunting for votes, youths, market women, street children and people of all walks the streets of life line up for the windfall that will be dished out and not for the unending promises that politicians make.

Now, this lad happened to be so near to the campaign trucks and when that time came, he was among the ones who grabbed wads of notes from the grubby fingers of campaign mandarins, and as predicted, made a mad dash that could have made David Rudisha proud.

Drama unfolded when a 500 strong army of hungry youths and market women descended on him, eager to get something from the fall, and man! It was a sight to behold as people rushed, bashed, jostled for space and outran each other in hot pursuit of the money laden guy.

Tragedy strikes

After about ten minutes of the gold rush, the fleeing guy’s journey was cut short by one sweep that knocked him to the ground and within no time, he had been relieved of all the money.

The tattered notes, some torn in half and others into minute pieces were strewn all over the place, perhaps to serve as a reminder to the locals of their greed for money, and just for the record, I saw a guy gobble up a wad of notes into his mouth.

Worried man

I was a worried man. Worried because I expected that at this day and age people should act with a certain degree of civility. Who knows, if they lined up and shared the cash in a civilized way, maybe everyone could have gotten something to take home and no money could have been wasted. But then I realized it the same Kenyans who are dirt poor and can’t wait to lay their hands on the money, some just to feed themselves.

I am not about to preach civility to Kenyans, because I know will fair badly off. But it’s time we changed our archaic and barbaric ways as far as political campaigns are concerned.

At about the same time, just when I was chatting with a heavily inebriated youth who was weak enough not to fight for the windfall, tragedy stroke.

There were cries and shrieks but one particular horrific wail signaled danger.

A man’s eye had been gorged out, and three of his front teeth knocked off. Reason, he breached a contract.

On getting closer, I realize he is the same man who bolted with campaign cash. It was a plan, I learn, by a group of youth to run away with the cash and the man made a fatal error when he fell, denying the others their lion’s share of the loot. And that was the price to pay.

Now this is the tragedy

Every five years, Kenyans live in peace, tolerate each other and work together regardless of their tribes and political affiliations, but come electioneering period, and they turn against each other, thanks to politicians who successfully divide them along tribal lines and feed them with stolen cash.

Most people get a smattering amount of this campaign money, some getting as little as KShs 20, money that cannot even buy a packet of milk!

The party nominations came around last Thursday and anyone who witnessed the tragic drama can bear with me that violence, voter bribery, mass importation of voters and sheer anarchy ruled the exercise, shaming Kenya as a democracy.

Two pence

If what we saw in the sham party nominations was a sneak preview of the general elections, we better be prepared for more anguish, more pain, more internally displaced persons, more bloodshed, courtesy of we Kenyans for allowing the politicians to use us.

When politicians use money to control our minds, when the police will be caught unawares again, we are poised to have the mother of all post election violence!

I rest my case!

Politically Incorrect!

 Politically incorrect

That Martha Wangari Karua, a presidential hopeful is worth only Sh.56 million is not only ridiculously unbelievable but also treacherous.

In a country where what you have and not what you can do is the only thing that matters, her confession yesterday  can only boost her political career and also prove to her doubting critics that her level of integrity as a leader is unrivalled.

56 million shillings is a lot of money by certain standards, but that coming from a presidential aspirant raises some questions as most Kenyans believe only the filthily rich can govern.

Just last week, The National Alliance, a political party that sponsors Deputy Prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta for presidency declared that it will use 13 billion shillings only to campaign for the next two months.

What is most appalling is that Kenyans cannot stand up and ask where they got all this money, but they will, in their usual characteristic fashion, worship the money and the leaders and forget about the modest and sincere leaders who have not stolen our money, leaders like Martha Karua.

Yesterday I met a friend who was complaining that every time she withdraws cash from her bank ATM, a cool 300 shillings disappears.

Her position was that a presidential front liner, who is among the majority shareholders in the said bank, might be robbing her hard earned money to campaign.

That aside, Kenyans might have gotten their answer in the form of Martha Karua.

If her figures are true, which I presume are, she is a person of modest means and there is general comfort in knowing that we can for once break from the power mandarins featuring the same names since independence, Names like Kenyatta, Odinga, Mudavadi, Moi have been circulated and regurgitated for the last half of a century, that s why Kenya will never move forward as these cronies are after safeguarding what their fathers had stolen in subsequent regimes.

Uhuru Kenyatta was estimated to be worth 56 billion shillings by the Forbe’s magazine.

It is completely clear that he is not after leading this country to greener pastures but to safeguard certain interests. What will a salary of 4 million that he will earn as president do to his fat wallet and treacherously deep pockets, anyway?

It is common knowledge that a Karua presidency will deliver the goods, at least for the dirt poor of this country whose interests have never been represented. They have only been raped by one regime after the other, they have been used, misused and abused, and they have witnessed stinking corruption, high levels of crime, murders, violence and have been made to kill each other after being divided along tribal lines by the so called leaders.

Now let’s look at the figures.

Martha Karua has represented Gichugu constituency for the last 20 years.  Let’s assume she earned a cumulated salary of KES 1 million per month. That amounts to a cool 12 million in one year.

Let’s multiply 12 million with the twenty years she has been in parliament. What do we have? 240 million shillings.

Factor in the lavish lifestyles that MPs live and the figure of 56 million in fixed assets, including a home and two vehicles, looks more than convincing.

That said; can all those doubting the figures stand up? And shut up!

That implies that we can now exempt Hon. Karua from corruption, thieffery, and misappropriation of funds. That’s the best measure on integrity.

Now let’s have a look at his rivals.

Peter Kenneth

Kenneth is a Member of Parliament representing Gatanga constituency in Murang’a County.

His history is scarce and scattered. He has been in parliament for the last ten years; he had a short stint heading the Kenya Football Federation and the Kenya Reinsurance.

Kenneth is a proud owner of three choppers each costing a staggering 300 million shillings, making him a big fish.

In simple terms, three choppers cost a whooping 900 million shillings, or rather five times what Matha Karua has earned for the entire 20 years she has been in parliament.

Peter kenneth is filthily wealthy. With all due respect, Kenyans might want to know just how you acquired the wealth, so be the gentleman you are and declare your wealth. I rest my case!

Of Fake degrees in a fake country

Of fake degree papers and drama kings

Starehe MP Bishop Dr. Margeret Wanjiru is a distraught woman.

In a span of one short month she has seen her political star dim in never seen before speeds, thanks solely to her degree papers that someone somewhere decided were not in order.

Over the last month, the good bishop has faced the toughest time of her short political career. Leave alone being declared illegitimately elected in 2007 and trouncing her competitors only to silence them with a landslide win in the by elections, this time she has been barred from contesting the Nairobi gubernatorial seat, at least on an ODM ticket, after her degree certificates were found to be defective.

Even if that might be true, at least if reports from the Commission on higher education are anything to go by, this begs the question, just why this late?

The party could have vetted her a long time ago and declared her unfit to run! Here, as someone whispered to me, political games have been played, and as Kenyans are wont to say, Money has been poured!

Although an impeccable source privy to her academic documents insinuated that she got her Master’s degree way before her undergraduate degree, something that is alien in the academic world, there is certainly more than meets the eye.

Bishop Wanjiru, in her televised rebuttal said she is a proud owner of five degree papers, 2 academic and three honorary, but claims abound that the theological colleges she attended abroad are not authorized to confer degrees.

Day of Reckoning

Last Tuesday, the Orange Democratic Movement, a vessel that the bishop had chosen to steer her to the governor’s seat, disqualified her from contesting, leaving his rival and business manager Evans Kidero, to clinch the party nomination  unrivalled.

That was her day of reckoning, the day she saw her political ambitions go down the drain in a flash.

It is not clear whether the bishop is vying for any other elective post.

Clifford Waititu the drama king

Ferdinand Waititu is made of sterner stuff. He has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.

At one time, he was arrested for fanning hate speech in Kayole, Embakasi after he ordered all maasai’s to vacate the area, only to defend himself by making one of the most freakiest excuses.

He said that he was telling his Maasai friends that, “Masaa hii hii wanaenda” loosely translated to mean “my friends are leaving immediately’ and as expected tye toothless dog that is the National Cohesion and Integration Commission bought that!

In his latest installment of political drama, he has been on the spotlight, this time over his degree papers.

The papers are said to bear the names, Clifford Waititu, while his ID has Ferdinand Waititu as his name. Fortunately, Waititu has survived all this and even went ahead to stun his political rival for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat, the moneyed business magnate and self made billionaire, Jimnah Mbaru, who had been touted to have three top of the range campaign tracks, had erected three billboards at strategic place3s and went on to lost The national alliance ticket to Waititu, who has fashioned himself as a man of the people.

My two pence on this, there comes a time when the truth has to set you free.

I rest my case!

What an Uhuru-Ruto presidency means to Kenyans

-->

What an Uhuru-Ruto presidency means to Kenyans

The proverbial two horse race in Kenyan politics has now taken shape and no one can deny that the battle lines have been drawn between Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka on one side and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyata and Eldoret North MP William Ruto on the other.

Yours truly looks into what an Uhuruto president will bring to Kenyans now that they remain the only competition for Raila Amollo Odinga and company, and constitute one of the two horses in the race to assume the tenancy of the vacant house on the hill.

Uhuruto and The Hague

Uhuru and Ruto have become synonymous with the International Criminal Court, thanks to their case; a mention of their name stirs memories of the post election violence.

Truth be told, no one will like a situation where his or her president, and his deputy, leave office from time to time to attend to hearings at the ICC, if at all they hearken to the call.

Two scenarios

There will be two most likely scenarios come March 5 or 6. Scenario one will be, Uhuru and Ruto are finally elected to state house and the duo, in their characteristic aura of impunity dismiss the ICC as a white man’s court as they have done time and again and defy orders to attend court, making Kenya to be declared a pariah state by the international community and most importantly, donor countries.

Uhuru and Ruto are facing the worst ever charges in the world, crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Hague

This is the biggest hurdle to their quest for presidency and just in case they make it, it is certain they will not honor their pledges to appear for hearing. Kenya will be a failed state if it has not achieved that already.

Here is why.

Poor Country

Kenya is a poor country which depends on donors to pay the most basic of her bills. From the unbelievably high MPs salaries to those of striking nurses and teachers, to paying ghost workers and imposters in the police force, we literally beg to even feed our population.

Such donors like the US and the UK, Norway, Germany, Japan, France, and Canada have already expressed their dislike for the impunity that is rife in Kenya and have vowed to withdraw their aid and slap Kenya with sanctions.

Secondly, Uhuru and Ruto will be banned from travelling to all those countries where they could sell Kenya’s agenda and though the incumbent Mwai Kibaki had moved east, the bulk of our aid comes from the US and the UK.

Greedy hyenas

Thirdly, rebel groups, extortionists and secessionists groups will come out in broad daylight in a bold move and take advantage of the failed state and wreak havoc in a country that has struggled to secure its people even when peace is abundant. Look at the Tana Delta and Baragoi, look at Garrisa and Eastleigh where explosive devices are hurled at will to hapless Kenyans when we have a functioning government.

Chinkororo, Mombasa Republican Council, the Mungiki, Bagdad boys and a myriad of other unlawful groupings will rear their ugly heads, slumping the country to unprecedented levels of anarchy, Democratic Republic of Congo style.

Arson, terror, assassination, murder, and theft will be the order of the day.

Joblessness.

Most youth, 75 per cent of them are largely unemployed. These are bad statistics for a sanctioned state whose leaders seeking political office have done nothing to address the situation.

The youth who make up more than 70 per cent of the adult population will surely rise against this.

While a laborer in the United States earns $8 (KSHS 868) per hour, a Kenyan equivalent earns Kshs 300 per day. In other democracies these youths will be classified as jobless because the amount cannot feed them leave alone sustain them, thus rendering them hand to mouth laborers.

A rebellion is likely to happen as these youths protest against being used while their leaders continue to steal millions.

Nurses, doctors, teachers, hoteliers, masons, drivers, pilots and people from each and every trade and profession will down their tools leading to the mother and father of all rebellions, and ultimately, a civil coup that will bundle the ineffective leaders out of office.

Impunity

Who will obey the constitution when the top leaders break laws at will and run away with it? Free press will be gagged; political assassinations will be order if the day, opposing forces will be killed for game and Kenya, following in DRC’s footsteps when all communities will rise against each other citing generational injustices over national resources, land, etc

Scenario two

Kenyans will use their heads not their hearts this time round and vote in worthy leaders and avoid all the above, for a peaceful, visionary and productive Kenya that will unite its citizen to steer the country into the next level.

At this point, I borrow a quote from squealer, a character in the book, “Animal farm” who always used this phrase to convince animals showing signs of opposition towards the rule and justification of the pigs, and I quote thus, “Or do you want man to come back and rule us?”

Obviously no one wanted man to reclaim his farm and the answer was a No.

Squealer could always win after posing the question.

And I ask, do we want a failed state?

We do not want a failed state, do we?

Why Raila will win the elections...

www.facebook.com/amoxers -->

Why Raila will win the elections!

You may contest this if you like, but Prime Minister Raila Odinga will win the next elections with a landslide.

Here is why

Raila Odinga is a known political schemer. His biography, Raila Odinga, an enigma in Kenyan politics describes him as a man who is always at the right place at the right time and a man with a thick skin.

He has always made the right political choices contrary to what many might think. Look at 1998, he awed both friend and foe when his commandeered his party to merge with Kanu, something that was unthinkable but bore fruits for the Siaya born man.

In 2002, he again joined the winning side. He supported President Mwai Kibaki whose Rainbow party was reeling in mixed fortunes after crafting a winning coalition and Raila had no option but to obey the adage, “if you cannot beat them, join them”.

Methinks Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta is in a similar fix after seeing Raila craft a winning formula and now wishes he can join him, but thanks to his tribalistic supporters, he just can’t do that.

Raila realized he could not beat kibaki’s team in 2002 and that is probably why, minutes later after crafting a deal at the Serena hotel, he joined president Kibaki at the nearby Uhuru Park, where the man from Othaya was haranguing a mammoth crowd and made the shocking revelation that he had joined them.

That pronouncement marked the start of a political fairly tale that saw Raila and Kibaki sign an MOU on power sharing, a deal that went sour sooner than later.

The Coalition aftermath

Raila is said to have claimed he had been shortchanged by a cunning Kibaki and opted out.

It was a revamped Raila who led a massive successful campaign against the draft constitution and it was the same Raila who crafted the Orange Democratic Movement party that was riding high after winning a referendum against Kibaki and the government.

Raila proceeded to stage a concerted challenge to the incumbent president Mwai Kibaki in the 2007 vote.

An enigma in politics?

But wait! There is one thing with this Raila. There are hushed woes about his conduct if he clinches real power, and questions arise about his dictatorial tendencies, and how is fanatical supporters behave in an uncouth if not barbaric, manner.

Then there is this one thing that most people do not know. This man’s name has been involved in heartbreaking scandals which fleeced Kenyan taxpayers of their money in broad daylight.

How did he acquire the Kisumu molasses plant? How about Spectre international? And how did he mint millions from just politics?

Miguna Miguna in his tell all book, peeling back the mask, he describes Raila Odinga as a man who was painfully broke in the 90’s, but whose fortunes hit hundredfold when he was elected mp.

And why has he appointed his siblings, cousins, in laws, and relatives to high flying power dockets? Doesn’t that shout nepotism of the highest order? Just what might happen if he becomes president?

Just asking.

Miguna tells us of a Raila whose sole job was to hop from one club to the other after the bungled elections, which he believed he won and clung with that come what may, as Kenya burnt. He came out as a man who was greedy of power and who could not afford to lose at whatever costs.

Worrying point

This is a worrying point considering that the man is still seeking the tenancy of the miraculous house on the hill which his predecessor, his Excellency Mwai Kibaki, also vowed to rather die than accept defeat.

The question is, now that this is the only real chance for Raila to ascend to State house considering he is in his sunset years, will he ever accept defeat in case one comes his way soon after the water shed march 4 elections?

Or will he again lay claims of winning and let loose his archaic gang of hooligans to terrorize Kenyans again akin to the 2007 tragic drama? But before you lay a finger on Raila Odinga, look at his “worth competitors” as an ODM allied Mp was heard calling the Jubilee coalition.

They are disorganized, hapless, hopeless ad helpless and when they go head to head with Raila in terms of scandals and controversies, they outdo him! Making them even more worthless than their nemesis. Look at the Hague affair that haunts them day and night?

Now back to the winning business of the day.

Raila Amollo Odinga will win the next general elections whether you like or not. Look at his house, cord is so organized that it is sending cold shivers down the spines of Jubilee architects and strategists.

And the opinion polls? Wait, an old man told yours truly that, “Though ragingly insane, a mad man will always speak some truth”. My two pence…..All the opinions polls might have been doctored or something, but at least there must be some truth in that.

Raila remains the man to beat if elections can be held today, or tomorrow, or next week. Period!

Party hopping and Arsenal fans

Most Kenyans who could have opted for another coalition like the jubilee, which can only come second even in a race where it is the only contestant, have defected in their thousands to the winning house that is cord. No one wants to be associated with a loss, or with a losing team, save for the extremely fanatical and emotional Arsenal fans who have come to accept defeat as a way of life. No offence please.

Let’s look at it this way. After any elections have you ever asked a voter who he or she has voted for. And what was the answer? Do not answer that.

The reason why no one will expose his or her choice is that no one wants to be associated with failure.

What about after the results have been released? Everyone claims to have supported and voted for the winning lot, and who voted for the losers? Food for thought.

The Jubilee Alliance

The Jubilee alliance headed by former president Jommo Kenyatta’s scion, Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto, was seen as the only outfit that could have given the tale telling Cord outfit a run for their money, but who has time to listen to suspects trying to woo the voters when they have grave cases at the international criminal court while we can listen to good old “vitendawilis” (sayings)?

A massive population of voters have ran out of the Jubilee coalition, to join Cord and with that we go back to where we started, Raila and Kalonzo will have a very smooth ride all the way to the revered house on the hill. Enough said!