After all the killings, security surely starts with me (Mr. President) then, YOU (Kenyan)-How ironical ?but True

I was appalled by a reckless statement I heard from a friend a week ago. It was as a result of a current media campaign by Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, where the good old president is quoted as saying, “security starts with me, and you”. Now to the disturbing part. My friend claimed, without batting an eyelid, that Mr. president has finally sold our souls (Kenyans) to the lowest bidder. According to him, matters of security were “hard” issues of “life and death’ that needed to be handled with the seriousness they deserve, and not kid gloves. His ruminations seem to have emanated from the recent show of our might only a fortnight ago.

Beaming on our T.V screens was a bubbly Mr. President, dignified as ever, telling Kenyans that the country was safe. How safe? A story for another day. But the Madaraka day celebrations did not falter in bringing us the entertainment. I remember wondering how many gallons of jet fuel the swift jets gracing the airspace of Nyayo stadium consumed on that single day, or the extent of damage their carbon fumes dealt our environment.

 What's more, armored vehicles including a new Land cruiser with high bullet proof clear glass chauffeured our president into the stadium, in style? As per the norm, the disciplined forces showcased their military might by doing the usual "marching around" in the stadium. This time round, they went a step ahead and crowned their moves with a scintillating dance that left many cracking their ribs. On the sidelines, a menacing armored vehicle was literally pulling the crowds. Most people were stunned to see that the President has fortified his security detail, while their own security situation remained uncertain. This very vehicle, with all its amazing extras like “bullet proof, bomb proof,” was what drew vitriol on the part of my friend, who thought that the president was declaring, albeit in an ironical way, that he is cognizant of the security breach in the country and therefore the need to protect himself before protecting his people, who voted him in to exactly do the opposite-PROTECT THEM FIRST.

What with a string of grenade attacks that have claimed the lives of so many Kenyans as the government simply remained inactive? What with the disastrous West Gate attack, the most magnanimous heinous attack on unarmed civilians on Kenyan soil? What about the government’s ineffectiveness and unsatisfactory management of the (aftermath of the) massacre, which happened at the heart of Nairobi, just a stone throw away from the President’s stool of power? What about the blame game that followed the killings? The security lapse was there for all to see. I could not help imagining what would happen if the said Al Shabaab Militiamen, in one of their brazen attacks, besieged a farflung hamlet away from the city. A total disaster-my friend would later blurt out, just about when my meandering stream of thought was about to leave that topic and think of “other” more important matters. But it wouldn’t, my security was everything I wanted.

 It was my peace of mind. I shuddered, the realization that we as Kenyans were among the most unsafe people in the world, perhaps even more insecure that our neighbors Somali, was spine tingling, no, -blood cuddling.

Then it happened. They struck the most unlikely of places-Mpeketoni in Lamu. “Very far, three days away from Nairobi by bus,” my friend would later tell me. They did their heinous and barbaric act, West Gate style. And they had all the time in this world to kill and maim with sheer abandon, at least the government was napping, they knew THAT! and ten slipped back into the thick cover of the nearby Boni forest. Leisurely, they could point their killer automatic riffles to a target, mostly men, and kill everything at their wake. They also destroyed property worth millions, had time to burn houses and shops and banks and hotels, and even kill some more on their way out. Their audacity was unheard of. Fresh fears emerged as residents claimed that they repeated their killing spree Monday night at a place called Poromoko, only that this new attack could not match their earlier attack, in terms of casualties.

 The attack only exposes the soft belly of our government, and simply brings the sad point home-Our intelligence, and police force were caught flatfooted, once again. A cool 8 months after the bloody WestGate massacre. This raises more questions than answers.

Now to the hard questions. Why Is the government napping on its job? Who is napping? Why didn’t IG Kimaiyo act immediately after being notified of the attack, just a couple of minutes later? Did some police officers know about the impending attack? What is the government doing to avert future attacks?

What is Ole Lenku still doing in the government? We are tired of his sdick antics especially on matters of life and death? He blubbered after West Gate, we spared him. Now it has happened again! The man is NOT up to the task! Why is the government doing the work of Red Cross? –Collecting dead bodies and promising to foot funeral expenses of the deceased? Till when will we live with this? We are tired of this inefficiency on the part of the government!(or, at least those people I talked to were dead tired of this government’s seemingly inability to contain a rag tag Somali militia-what will all that equipment, guns and tanks that we boast of, when will they be  put into some active use? What about the police choppers which could have extinguished the threat from above?

The questions keep ringing in my mind, in our minds…..its time something was done to restore normalcy and peace. A bird whispered to me that Mpeketoni residents have vowed to take up arms and guard themselves. What if everybody else did the same in the next few months? This is not incitement but the truth. Syria was once a peaceful nation, so were Iraq, Ukraine, Tunisia, and Somalia. If we get nothing but sheer talk and no action at all, PUSH will come to shove. Afterwards, our neighbors will not help but point to a bloody battlefield. I bet their words will be,” There once was a country: A story of Kenya.”

Finally, Baba Yao makes a stunning come back, but wait…..

2013 was a year of mixed fortunes, and misfortunes for one Cliford Ferdinard waititu, better known as Baba yao.

It was the year that he was defeated in the gubernatorial race, though he could leave elective politics with his head held high. He had given Hon. Evans kidero, and a host of other moneyed giants with their well oiled campaign machinery, a run for their money.

With his humble campaign give a ways, the man had managed to rally the low income earners of the city, the hoi polloi behind him. But a reality check on 5^th of March 2013 dashed his personal, and his supporters’ hopes of bigger things. He had been squarely defeated by his rival, ODM’s Evans kidero.

All seemed like it was not lost. He challenged this outcome in the corridors of justice, where he went ahead to lay a spirited claim that he won the elections.

After months of waiting for justice, a court ruling on that September day sealed his fate. Evans Kidero was duly elected as Nairobi governor, the courts ruled.

Tempers flared outside High Court. His supporters had been denied justice, so they claimed.

Not one to give up easily, old Waititu, flanked by his supporters took to the streets, protesting the court’s move to nullify his petition.

Glimmer of hope. Glimmer of hope. Waititu believed that one day, the courts will give him a chance to explain himself.

That glimmer of hope took time to finally arrive. But when it did, Waititu was at the center of the hullabaloo.

It was yesterday in the afternoon when the Court of appeal nullified kidero’s election.

Waititu and his army of supporters were present at the courts, as expected. And minutes after the shocking ruling, they bolted to City Hall, the official abode of the now ousted (and probably beleaguered) Hon. Kidero.

A cocktail of events took place there. The supporters could be heard causing chaos at the hitherto silent city Hall, where they tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to smoke out the stunned workers.

Kenyans on Twitter woke from their slumber. Another governor has seen dust, Kidero out, they shouted.

And Baba Yao was all smiles as he gave an animated TV interview on how justice is sweet.

But! It’s not over until it’s done. Though he was given a new lease of life to vie again, the same courts had earlier barred him from holding public office. A bird whispered to this writer that that also means he cannot seek political mandate. Or is a governor not a state officer?

“He is not fit to hold state office,” the judgment went.

Perhaps this explains the coy smile on his lips, and the muted celebrations on his part. Maybe he knows something that his supporters do not know. Will he run for political office?

Only time will tell.

 Photos: Capitalfm and courtesy

Lessons from illicit brew, and why the buck stops at a corrupt police force

Lessons from illicit brew, and why the buck stops at a corrupt police force

Corruption has been, and continues to be etched in our systems for so many years that it is legendary. As they say, it is in our DNA. Everywhere you turn, left, right and center, it’s the same narrative. Matatu drivers and conductors will part with a few hundreds of shillings in order to bend traffic rules,(and put the lives of commuters at stake). Police will arrest just about anybody and threaten to charge them for commiting an imagined (and sometimes nonexistent felony)so as to get food on their tables(They call  the chains(pingu)- legal tender), the city council askaris will collude with unscrupulous housing developers to sell them licenses to build high-rise buildings with the speed of lighting(and we complain when the same buildings collapse and kill our people) and these and more vile activities, akin to selling people's souls when they are unaware, continue daily unabated.

Consequently, terrorists, muggers, thieves, poachers,fraudsters and all sorts of nobodies thrive in such an environment. And you ask why there is insecurity in Kenya?

That explains the cacophony of grenade attacks, wanton killings of rhinos and elephants, bombs and fiery day light robberies that have been synonymous with the country since independence. They only seem to have gained momentum, half a century later.

But the worst came early last week. More than 100 people perished after drinking illicit brew in a number of counties. A spine tingling 35 people died in Embu County, previously famous for hunting down an equally beleaguered governor and kicking him out of office, while scores of others succumbed to the same brew in Makueni, Muranga and Kiambu Counties. The brew was believed to have been adulterated with the lethal methanol, thereby blinding and killing revelers in its wake.

This begs the question, what role do the provincial administration, particularly chiefs, play in the fight against illicit brew?

Yes, they should ensure that unscrupulous brewers do not unleash killer brews to unsuspecting members of the public.

How do they do that? Is there an enabling environment to ensure that this happens?Let me cut you the slack.

A person whispered to me that the chiefs and their law enforcing police officers are always bought out by the brewers through heavy bribes.

What they do is they enable the brewers do their job, of killing Kenyans especially in beer thirsty highlands of Central Kenya, a population whose affinity for the frothy liquid, and most of the times the hard liquors that leave them stinking like skunks,  is infinite.

So where do the chiefs carry the blame?

Instead of doing what they were retained to do, they, in cohorts with the bribe hungry police, routinely visit the brewers to collect their share. Regardless of the dangers involved, they simply let the money hungry brewers, who can go to any length to make a kill pout of what they sell disguised as alcohol-go on a rampage and kill at will.

People die, and newspapers carry the usual headlines. Ten Killed after drinking illicit brew in Kiambu, 16 blinded by lethal alcohol, scores dead, others blind after drinking lethal brew….bla bla bla. End of story.

But when more than a hundred can perish after drinking alcohol, and the sellers of the killer alcohol cannot be traced, then, that is when we realize the pain of a corrupt system.

People go on a screamer. rest the chiefs, kill the chiefs, fire the counter commanders, and start trading tirades and shifting blame more than they can blink.

The result is a mixture of shock and disbelief. How can a drink kill so many people in various places of the country at the same time? Was it timed? What was the motive? Whose fault was it? Who should be sacked? What went wrong?

The answer is within us. We have adopted corruption as part of our lives. We will shout ourselves hoarse chanting away corrupt leaders (who are still made from the same fabric as us) but when it’s our hour of reckoning, we are the first to unleash a bribe to a police officer to avoid arrest over some freaky felonies that we are well aware that we did not commit.

So did the chiefs have to go? Yes and No for obvious reasons, but the larger devil lies with us Kenyans, it is the corruption that is so deeply rooted in our bodies, minds and souls that we eat corruption, think corruption, travel corruption, drink corruption and talk ill of corruption as we pretend to all run away from corruption.

Where are the police in all this? You might ask. The answer is well known by almost everyone. This rare breed of law enforcers is the most corrupt ever. If reports by the anti corruption watchdog, Transparency International are anything to go by.  If there were awards from the most corrupt people in Kenya, they emerge tops, with no imaginable competition within reach.

But the overall prize for Africa goes to their Naija counterparts who are always in the payrolls of the infamous rag tag militia terrorizing the oil rich country of Nigeria, the Boko Haram. But there is a tragic relationship. Death is always around the corner.

Away from that, if we want to put our house in order, we must do something to the police to lower their affinity for what is not theirs.

Allow me to, with all due respect, acknowledge all our corrupt policemen and women for a good job well done. YOU KILLED MORE THAN 100 with illicit brew!!!!
Photos: Courtesy

Why the proposed Media Bill is ‘almost perfect’

Journalists in Nairobi protest against the proposed Media Bill./mapambano

The proposed media bill has not only appalled many but also cast doubts as to whether good state-press relations will ever find a footing in a country that preaches democracy and practices something else.

Leaders from every nook and cranny have poured vitriol on Members of the Kenyan parliament for passing what experts term as a “repressive and unconstitutional” law, which is alleged to strip any remaining freedom from the media.

A fortnight ago, former vice president Kalonzo Musyoka warned of a return to dictatorship if MPs keep alive their efforts to gag the press and silence the civil society, the only remaining critics of the present government.

Poured vitriol

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga echoed his sentiments, and called for a free press.

As deputy president William Ruto exudes confidence that the president will not sign the bill, all eyes now focus on the president, waiting to see if he will make good his promise.

President Kenyatta says he will not sign the bill before ironing out contentious issues with all stakeholders; a local daily quoted him as saying.

An expert privy to the contents of the contentious bill intimated that some parts are good as they will promote professionalism in the media industry, while other parts of the same bill remained vague and potentially punitive to media houses and journalists.

“The media should be left to self regulate themselves like other professions. For instance, lawyers have the Law Society of Kenya, teachers have the Teachers Service Commission, while doctors have the Medical Practitioners Board.” Says Mr. Kerich, an expert in media relations.

“I do not see why the media council should not be strengthened to regulate the press that is in line with international standards.’ Adds Mr.Kerich.

Trying sheep in a hyenas court

According to the proposed bill, the government will form a vague board that will regulate what the media reports, and unfortunately, no member of the said board is a journalist.

“This is ridiculous.  It is like trying sheep in a hyena’s court and expecting justice.” chided another expert.

The bill also proposed exorbitant fines for individual journalists who are caught on the wrong side of the law.

“Errant journalists will part with at least Shs 1 Million, same applies to the media houses,” Said Henry Onchoka, a media consultant.

The crime might be something as minor as “failing to separate facts from opinion,” he adds.

Onchoka says this will result to a suppressed media so fearful to report the happenings and risk going out of business due to such sanctions as heavy fines and threats to their reporters.

Journalists summoned

A fortnight ago, Kenyans reeled in shock after the government summoned two journalists for exposing and portraying the police as thieves.

Mohamed Ali and John Allan Namu of the Standard Group had aired CCTV footage allegedly showing Kenya Defence Forces soldiers carrying bulging white plastic bags bearing the logos of Nakumatt supermarket, as they tried to secure the Westgate Mall following an attack by the Somalia militant group Al Shabaab.

Interior cabinet secretary Joseph Ole Lenku was quoted as saying that the journalist duo acted as if they were glorifying the terrorists and vehemently denied the soldiers looted as claimed.

An army spokesperson reportedly said the security forces were carrying drinking water from the supermarket which was located inside the mall.

Lenku later admitted that some soldiers looted, and sure enough, a few were dismissed and arraigned in courts.

“A case in point is that if the media did not expose the rot at the Westgate, no one could ever know thus they must be allowed of their place as the fourth estate,” added the expert.

“This is vendetta; I believe the MPs are trying to silence the media after they have been portrayed as greedy and selfish since claiming a salary increment.

This is not how democracies work. They  (parliamentarians) are public officers and the public must know what their representatives are doing,” says Kerich.

Weed out quacks

“They should give media a chance to do their work, and I am still waiting to see how this works out because the politicians are also the guys who own the media houses.” Adds Onchoka.

“However, we must agree that the same bill seeks to streamline the profession and also to create more employment.  If those contentious issues are solved, I think we have a very good and realistic bill here,” says Onchoka.

The bill proposes that at least 60 per cent of the broadcast content be local, thereby reviving the sick horse that is the film industry.

Currently, local media houses have been feeding their audience on cheap and third rate films from Nigeria and Asia, building foreign economies while depriving the local industry of massive income.

“Kenya boasts of top notch film makers and actors who can even hold a candle to their Nigerian counterparts, and it is sad we knowingly sit on our film industry, a local gold mine,” a top rated film maker lamented.

“Just recently, the government introduced Uwezo fund which is aimed at empowering the youth, and even film makers were not left behind. A fund was introduced to support those making good local content and this is a very good move as it will create jobs in this sector,”

The new bill also seeks to license all practitioners in a bid to weed out quacks who have infested the industry like fleas.

According to a highly placed expert who wished not to be named, the media industry is now “full of fame hungry pretenders and quacks, and just a few professionals,” that is why the best journalists are still jobless while people who have never seen the inside of a media school now ’rule the airwaves.”

Or rather, which other profession do we find people just joining without any vetting?

“In Kenya, you just need to get famous, and you get that media job, that is why we have some very irresponsible scribes,” said Job Kiarie, a media practitioner.

“We must be able to shield our institutions from a rogue parliament or else we go back to the dark oppressive days when Kenyans had to look over their shoulders before saying anything.” Maintains Mr. Kerich.

*Names have been edited to protect the identities of the respondents.