The 11 cardinal principles on analysing draft

This article was published in the capital fm constitutional Blog. Check it out


http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Eblog/view/Safeguarding-the-review-process.html

This constitution review: How not to lose it

The Constitution of Kenya Review Act 2008 created a Committee of Experts (CoE) as a key organ in the review process. The CoE, though not expressly mandated, was expected to exhaustively consult with all stakeholders and get views on the process and content of the constitution before the production of a draft.

The spirit of the law also required them to conduct civic education every step of the way. So far, the CoE has abandoned civic education (and opts to stick to the 30 day expressly provided for in the law) and has made a joke of consultations. In so doing, the CoE has consolidated negativity against it from the political class, the civil society and the religious sector. BUT IT MUST BE SEEN THAT THE CoE CAN ARGUE, CORRECTLY, THAT IT ACTED WITHIN THE LAW!

There is therefore a great possibility that when the bill is published, even as we wait for parliament to debate it, there will be alot of negative publicity about it and this may lead to the formenting of attitude against the bill.

We ask that all campaign for a Yes-Yes referendum (even if this means changing the law) and this means as follows: We have two otherwise identical drafts;

• One espousing the Presidential system of Government
• The other the Parliamentary system of Government

Voters then will vote YES for the one they want to have. If one voter choses one, (s)he votes YES. If another voter choses the other, (s)he votes YES - hence the YES-YES referendum!

Of course there are arguments against this: who said this is the single most critical issue? Can we mix an issue referendum with the constitutional referendum? Where has this ever happened before? etc etc . But what alternative do you offer? The present constitution? Thats what the CKR Act does.

But let the truth be told...

IF WE GO TO THE REFERENDUM WITH A YES/NO VOTE ON A SINGLE DRAFT, IT WILL MEAN THAT A NO! VOTE FOR THE PROPOSED DRAFT IS A YES! VOTE FOR THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION

NANI ANATAKA KURUDIA KUVAA MATAMBARA KAMA KUNA UWEZEKANO WA KUVAA VASI JIPYA?

The least we can bargain for (God forbid!) is having the contentious issues removed from the draft to be taken for the referendum (and passed later after further consultations) Kenyans must have a new framework. Let not the rotten pieces be put in the same pot with the clean and healthy others. SO GOD HELP KENYA!

Positions
1. A new constitution is overdue; we can not afford another failure
2. Politicians want a Yes/no referendum so as to shoot down the process ...actually politicians want a YES/NO referendum so that they can plan 2012
3. We have to safeguard the gains we have made so far in the 2 decades of advocacy
4. CoE has not consulted enough and has consolidated negativity against its action
5. We must get it right this time; we have been at it for 2 decades


Click on the link below to join this advocacy cause on facebook

http://www.causes.com/causes/374669

coffee with kofi

wanna take some coffee with kofi anan?

this is what you would most likely discuss:

1. the government is not committed to a reform agenda (whether 1 or 4)
2. the gang that is in leadership is comfortable with status quo...kibaki and raila are such buddies they traverse the countryside like collossusses(sic)
3. nobody wants a new constitution; its design is such that it may make the presidency weak and hence unattractive (honestly kofi, can you imagine raila as a ceremonial president?)
4. agenda 4 is not attractive to politics, and we are a political people, so can we make it a political contest instead of being real work?
5. this icc will work for kibaki and raila...you see, they negotiated themselves out of the envelope and you know that...so it will assist them sort out a few of their enemies and clip the wings of more ambitious fellows
6. kalonzo...ah! forget kalonzo, he stands for nothing, not even himself for he has not even defined that...
7. the idps were shortchanged, their money took long to come, it was too little, and it was stolen before it got to them, and nobody seems to know where to take them
8. police reforms? what's that? yes, ali is gone to post letters, if that can be called reforms
9. but kofi, who has sent you? to whom do you REALLY report?

oh, my coffee is cold

what a way to start a week!

TJRC, tribunal, special court oooh hooo!

Sometimes i think it would have been a better country if there was a way of having the citizenship of kibaki and raila (complete with their hangers on and their mis-advisors and collaborators and all) to Kenya recanted.

Limousines

the rejection by kibaki of the limousines is a good development, albeit too little too late.

lets not dampen the gesture, lets encourage it, and as we do, we remind bwana kibaki that his fleet as is is still too huge, and the cost for maintenance is prohibitive. he can do more, he can sell some of them for public good

the waste of national resources on running the affairs of individuals and offices that could use lesser strenuous resources is endemic in this country

consider a situation where in some countries ministers have no elaborate security detail because since they are public servants, they are under no threat from anybody.

those kenyan ministers who are resisting the move are petty and wasteful. kibaki and raila, in restructuring the cabinet to fit the 24 number proposed by the ag (i hope it is not a "reformist" prank), can consider removing them from office.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

come to think of it, i took my 1290cc limousine out this last week end, 170 kms out of nairobi and back, and spend about shs 1,500 on fuel! this means that i spend slightly below kshs 5 on fuel per kilometer! ... i deliberately will not say anything about tear and wear or the body work... but...does the government want to borrow it for official functions?

The civil society today

Until 2002, everybody was all praises for the civil society and its work...of course even the people who fought it, knew that they had no point, because the movement towards democratisation of kenya was on top gear.

After that, and until today, we as a society are stuck with the 2002 image and euphoria.

For starters, the failure of the kibaki first administration, the bedevilled MOU, the fruit wars of 2005 and the polarisation of the country were made even more poignant by the fact that it was seen that civil society had been divided along ethnic and other lines and inevitably had taken partisan positions.

the pre-2002 civil society leaders were protangonists in public and therefore the line between reformist and non-reformist was obliterated, and since these people had been perceived as the leaders of the civil society, the leaders of the reform agenda, a harsh judgement was passed on civil society: that it comprises of, at the best, self seekers

the most tragic thing about this has been that there are two views that have never left the table: that the civil society post-2002 was weakened, and that the civil society is not providing leadership on national discourse. this view has constantly been propangated by the media, the political leadership and some elements in the general populace.

the fact that the civil society today faces a country which no longer has faith in any institution is not contested, neither is the fact that some soul searching is necessary for all of us, the civil society included.

the civil society, its methodology in advocacy, its engagement with the larger society and its engagement with the political leadership and the media has changed, greately so.

I think therefore that this is the genesis of the problem ... that people do not understand the "new" civil society and its ethos, that the leaders of the "new" civil society are not those of yesterday, and therefore that you can not use the yardsticks of yesterday to measure today.

face it: people, viewpoints, institutions and processes change. one must appreciate change before proceeding to make highfalutin pronouncements.

today for instance, we face the fastest clawing back of democratic gains made so far...some say it is a conspiracy of the ruling elite, others say it is a failure by the middle class... i think it is neither; it indeed is fermenting of dissent that is being catalysed


may we avoid stasis as this is an incurable a malady as there can be.

How to make a new constitution in Kenya today

A new constitution, a new social contract for the people of Kenya and its leaders should be developed as soon as possible and guarded against an impending overthrow by parliament.

Parliamentarians have taken their role of lawmaking a notch higher and are proposing themselves as a "Constituent Assembly" through the provisions of the Constitution of Kenya Review Act 2008. This is unlawful and is prone to legal challenge. The civil society and religious groups and other actors have pointed at this misnomer since the Act was put in place in December 08 but to date, even in the Kenya Statute [Miscellaneous Amendment] Bill 2009, the intent to disenfranchise Kenyans is rife.

Parliamentarians are Kenyans, but they are elected for parliamentary function and not for constitution making. If, as is the case today, they make a law that ensures that they are the ones - and only ones - to be the clearing house of the new constitution for Kenya, this is unacceptable. Likewise, the political party sideshows of "minimum" and "comprehensive" reforms are time-wasting pranks that show the lack of leadership in this country. We need a new constitution, not political grandstanding.

It is a torturous road towards a new constitution, and we have made good steps so far as a nation. We should neither lose hope nor accept disenfranchisement. We require the MPs to amend the Miscellaneous Amendment Bill to reflect the following:

1. That the Reference Group be expanded to include the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) and other groups (such as parliamentary political party representatives) as may be necessary after review of the proposals made - as substantive members, and the Committee of Experts [CoE] - as ex-official.

2. That this group be renamed Council of Reference and be given a substantive role in the constitution making process. As it is, it is at the mercy of the CoE in terms of convening and it has no role as such.

3. That the non-consensus issues be debated by the Council of Reference and passed for adoption by parliament

4. That parliament, since it will be represented in the Council of Reference by the PSC and other parliamentarians, will have no role in proposing further amendments to the Draft Constitution before it is published by the AG. However, where parliament has proposals, these will be processed and consensus build on them by the Council of Reference.

5. That where consensus is developed on issues, these be input in the draft to go for a national YES referendum. This will be a document WITHOUT contentious issues, a document that contains all issues that Kenyans agree on - it will contain what has been popularly known as the 80% good provisions!

6. That where there is lack of consensus on an issue, this issue be put aside framed into a question for an issue-referendum {YES/NO}. This will mean that the majority vote on the issue is the decision to be upheld. If this does not happen, further consensus can be built on them even after the referendum on the main document has passed.

7. That a specific timeframe (at most 2 years) for resolution of these non-consensus issues be set and adhered to. In this time of renegotiation, Kenyans will be enjoying a new {though incomplete} constitution - which is FAR MUCH better than the tattered one we have now.

This is the ONLY way of ensuring that we have a new constitutional framework and that we do not have disagreements leading to a useless document, hence a political campaign for a NO vote that will have no other role but to divide Kenyans the more.

Let nobody call these Minumum Reforms, for it is not. This is a progressive way of achieving comprehensive reforms.

Migingo yawa!

"the island is in Kenya, but the waters are in uganda"



I do not think it is wise to continue with the sentence up to the slur on the lakeside Kenyan Luo, for i feel it is too demeaning...or really it may have been the political statement that hon museveni was making? fishy business!



Consider that 160million shillings, half of which was contributed by you, the Kenyan tax payer, is being used for the survey. And now there is a presidential joke about it.



Consider that museveni and kibaki have twice met over the island, and each time, there has been political ill will from uganda.



then ask the questions

1. whose ploy was it that the migingo island became a political issue?


2. what interest does uganda have on the island?


3. if museveni knew that the island was in Kenya, why did he order a flag to fly on the island? he readily could have had a buoy anchored nearby and floating on the waters flying a ugandan flag!


4. what political mileage kibaki got/didn't get from the migingo saga?


5. what political mileage raila got/didn't get from it?

in museveni's latest utterance, apart from the ethnic slur, or because of it, we are made aware that all this bickering has been a side issue, a side kick from the more pressing matters of the day. so what happened when we were talking of migingo?

1. the ugandan flag was flying in a part of kenyan territory (migingo!)
2. the democratic space was constricted by the state. there have been several cases of people and groups denied - on grounds of security - the space to hold public meetings


3. discussions on extra judicial killings have gone to the back burner


4. the Kenyan parliament has gained ground on all other arms of government and has rode rough shod on the electorate and we, indeed, face a likelihood of parliamentary dictatorship


5. the economic crunch hit Kenya, and we are still reeling in confusion


6. mungiki reared its ugly head and many Kenyans now lie dead in shallow graves


7. kilanguni happened, and we missed the point when we concentrated on raila and kibaki and forgot about ourselves -the tax payers


8. the attendance to and presentation at the akiwumi commission has gone on a low key...and there is the possibility of maintaining status quo at the least or mps salaries being increased


9. kibaki appointed judges alone, sending karua into a paroxysm and sending signals of his unrelenting belief in the all powerful presidency


10. maize maize maize stolen stolen stolen and contaminated consignment released to public


11. the constitutional debate died, with committee of experts grounded and a non-reformer appointed to the ministry


12. the treasury thieves outsmarted parliament on about 15 billion irregularity
13. etc

today, 80 million poorer, Kenya -the people of- are abused by a despotic leader of a neighbouring nation and the said Kenyan leaders see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil

migingo yawa!

the speaker

the speaker...

omwana wa ingo aka kenneth marende has done us proud...


he has proved, perceptually or otherwise that he is neither odm nor pnu; like me, he is a kenyan - period!

what a mesmerising position! imagine being called the speaker ( the person who speaks...assumably when all others are quiet)

he, in unswerving dignity, talked the kalonzo's and the raila's to silence, he decided that government (read executive authority) can go take a rope and hang on the nearest tree, but the house in which he speaks, must have a way to conduct business!

and that is the beauty of knowing your job. he spoke, and all was put to rest. forget that it is temporal, just consider the largess that he exhibited, consider the ground that he broke.

1. he showed that parliament may refuse to be government (regardless of the fact that it is an integral arm of the same)
2. he, for once in the history of the coalition government, made all of us see raila and kibaki as totally unimportant in our lives
3. he demystified the authority of the executive ... the all powerful executive was reduced to second fiddle
4. he, unlike the so called principals, got support from all sides of the house

or is it that the deal had to be brokered because mps do not want to go home? (the house without a leader of the HBC would have adjourned for six months...by the time these people got back to sit, inflation would have hit the roof, all prices and especially those of essential commodities would have sky-rocketed and public anger would see us march to the august hse and set it on an august blaze!)

kenyans need to seize this moment and remove the raila's and the kibaki's from their lives. by the way, these guys are just apologists from high flying thieves, themselves complicit and thus inextricably compromised; and hence unable to lead us to any prosperity except the rotten slime of convoluted corruption.

any other man or woman ready to stand up for the counting?

those that participated in the sex boycott are already standing...the rest of you are what kenya does not need...liabilities!

bure kabisa!

migingo

You are sure i have tried not to write anything for the last 31 days.

I was dry and tired of the country turned butchery...of the country at peace turned to a country at war, both with the word and the sword

I am told people in Kirinyaga are killing each other apparently because they are suspected to be mungiki or mungiki haters...

But i wrote here today because of Migingo.

And surely, Migingo's is an amazing affair! Can you imagine a government allowing another government to hoist a flag of a different sovereignity in its land, alow the soldiers of that other country to tax and harras its own citizens and generally to run the affairs of that place?

That government that allows such incredulity is not a government!

And now we are being wooed to think diplomacy? Goodness gracious! What diplomacy? What is the diplomacy of forceful and armed territorial occupation?

Sisi sio wajinga!

Migingo has been sold to Uganda? Ask Kibaki why he is quiet if this is not a rumour!

This is another way of privatisation!

ASSASSINATIONS

If anybody in this country of ours called Kenya really wants to kill you, my dear reader, and they have no way of going about it, and especially if that person can access a gun or that person is in the employ of one of these indisciplined forces that we support with our taxes, they just brand you Mungiki and poof! you are gone.

Kingara Kamau and GPO Oulu were thus labeled and executed. Thursday 5th March 09 at around 6.30pm on Mamlaka Rd/Statehouse rd, Nairobi

Why were they labeled thus?
They had given extensive reports to Prof Alston the UN Special Rapporteur and were finalising a more extensive report on their findings on the extra-judicial killings of alleged Mungiki by police. They were also mobilising for a meeting of the widows of the hitherto executed youngmen in an effort to advocate for the end of the macabre murders.

Who killed them?
Grow up! How do you expect the police to know? It could be anybody!

Note:
A University of Nairobi student, carrying the book he was reading in the library, was judged as a threat to state security in the aftermath of the execution and, likewise, murdered.

Question:
Now, where are we at as a nation?

Answer:
We are trying all we can to ensure the grand collission survives to 2012; we are ensuring that the vision 2030 is realised; we are undertaking police reforms; we are creating a new constitution; we are increasing the wealth creation /economic growth index

Question
How?

Answer
By eliminating people who tell the truth to us and to the world. People who spent their lives fighting for the rights of others.

Lable?
Enemies of development. Idlers. Thugs. Adherents to criminal gangs.

MORAL OF THE STORY
Be a dead banana: hear no evil, see no evil, tell of no evil and you shall be safe.

Front Door Colonialists

I have argued here before, and I hereby do, that the problems facing this our country are of a political nature. This is not space science and I am sure you know this already. So what's the point of my rhetoric?

There is the english proverb that goes on about a forest and trees. I do not know which way it goes in reference to confused people who harp on unimportant ideas - whether they are in the forest or they have missed it for the trees. But one thing is certain to me, Kenya has one huge forest peopled by trees of problems: there is a tree each for the stolen maize, the unaffordable maize flour, the IDPs still in the camps, the siphoned fuel, the extrajudicial killings, the negligence leading to deaths by fire, the lost parliament, the dead parliamentarians, the inept and corrupt principals, the idle youth, the cordless accord, the theft of tax monies, the killed new constitution making process etc etc etc....trees trees and trees. So where is the forest?

It must have been Saturday 28th when honour less beth mugo called Prof Alston a colonialist using the backdoor (i.e UN status and responsibility) to colonise Kenya (i.e to ask for the resignation of people -smiling wako and arrogant ali - who have abetted the killing of over 500 youths in the name of Mungiki extermination.)

I do not know whether Prof Alston's ten day visit brought a forest or the trees. Why did Kiraithe react so energetically, to the extent of identifying Commissioner Hassan of KNCHR as the enemy? Why are our politicians reacting to the findings as if Alston came from outer space? Haven't we had these reports here for so long? has the civil society not published these reports before? Is is in doubt that ali, wako, the perpetrators of PEV, the maize and oil thieves etc should go home? Is it in doubt that raila and kibaki have failed?

We can deal with back door colonialists as a people, but, we must admit, we have been unable to deal with front door colonialists.

So who are the front door colonialists? kibaki, raila, ministers, mps, police, attorney general, local government councils, all anti-land reform crusaders, all anti new constitution crusaders (note: those politicians shouting for a new constitution are the first to put bottlenecks to its realisation!), all thieves (legitimate or otherwise) of public resources etc.

So who are the colonised: the Kenyan Public!

How then do we deal with front door colonialists?

REMOVE THEM FROM OFFICE!

We do not need a president or prime minister complete with 42 significant others and over fifty insignificant others plus over one hundred attendants and about five hundred hangers on in this country who are feeding on our taxes, stealing us blind, confounding our attempts at legal redress, dictating that we be amnesic and that we see god (salvation) in them! no.

imagine these people who are our problem are just below one thousand!

How cowardly we are as a nation, that thirty five million people are made so very miserable by so few confabulating noise makers!

Solution?

some lessons:

France: Revolution! The people forced the king and the royalty to step aside

Sierra Leone: Paraded and shot. Anarchy spread (wrong way)

Uganda: A "benevolent" dictator did them good with extermination of a few before he turned into a psychopath and turned against the people (wrong way)

Serbia: Revolution! People organised and threw milosevic and his entourage out

WHAT KENYANS NEED TO DO

Make Kenya unsuitable for living by these Front Door Colonialists!

1. Media to stop covering their none sense
2. mps to be prevented from holding rallies at home or elsewhere
3. Kenyans to stop paying taxes en mass
4. popular confiscation of proceeds from ill-gotten wealth (invade houses of mps etc)
5. armed forces to be educated to join other Kenyans
6. call for popular elections - current and past (elected or otherwise) office holders not eligible
7. people to promulgate their own new constitution

Do we have the mettle to do this?

YES!

This requires a great deal of organising, alot of logistics, but it can be done. This is the only way!

Mbunge La Mwananchi under threat from Government

Comrades,

In solidarity with Mbunge, it is clear that the police are trying to break Mbunge. We should not give them an opportunity to.

Whereas I agree with Onyango Oloo and Muthoni Wanyeki, - who have elsewhere elaborately given many good lessons and raised concerns on the matter of organising; of exercising caution; of diligence and keeping their cool in the face of bare aggression from the state; of avoiding singular pseudo-heroism stunts; I am afraid the charges against Gacheke and 22 others [arrested in Kiamaiko at a tea kiosk, held and later charged with belonging to an illegal sect -mungiki] is a continuation of the "arrest and kill all young (and more often Kikuyu) persons and bury them at night" scenario so practiced since the octogenarian then Minister for Internal Security, one John Michuki declared that we will be hearing "burials here and burials there".

It has nothing to do with strategy of Mbunge la Mwananchi (since taking tea - in a group or otherwise-has never been a criminal activity)I think we should more focus on the grand idea of the government, of the NSIS and all: to break Mbunge.

We should, on recognising the unique place of Mbunge in the organisation of the civil society, seek to strengthen it, to create opportunities that enable Mbunge members to do their work in the best way, to equip them with skills, not to tame them, but to help them organise and organise effectively.There are very many hard lessons there (in Mbunge) and alot of anger and alot of dissatisfaction, and so many hungers.

If there is anything a person of conscience can lose very very fast in this country, it is their temper. And it is hard to cry alone in the bedroom - for those who have such. We are lax at organising, and at collectivising our voice, and at bringing ourselves to think together.

I have attended several meetings called by the civil society, some of them planning meetings, but there are two distinct voices there:

1. Some people feel the civil society likes and thrives on meetings and meetings, that in these meetings people theorise and never act.
2. Some people feel that meetings are important to consolidate ideas, get buy in, and mobilise the people and the space.

Both voices are right, but the trick is in balancing the two, not in demonising either (as has been the case usually) and NOT in having one and disregarding the other.

xxxxx

Some lesson from Nigeria:

During the chaos in Nigeria as captured in Wole Soyinka's You Must Set off at Dawn under the chapter "Uncivil Wars: The Third Force and Mid -West Incursion" there was alot of political machinations ala present day Kenya. On January 16th 1966, Wole Soyinka was so annoyed at the sham elections and with the fact of Ladoke Akintola's of NNDP and NCNC's "un-grand"coalition to take over government in the huge Western Africa Country, that he, SINGLE-HANDEDLY, raided the national radio and exchanged the tape containing his own taped speech with that of the "president's acceptance speech". His vehement speech against what he saw as "political thuggery" was broadcast on national radio! And by the time it was being noticed and he was being sought for, he was headed for the nearest border.

xxxxxx

But was he working alone ? NO! He was working with insiders and outsiders, most of them blinds (the guy who took him to the radio station -and instructed at gunpoint to take off after 30 mins if Soyinka did not return - only knew what Soyinka was doing when he heard the national broadcast!) But the movement knew, everybody knew what they HAD to know, not everything; and it consisted of all and sundry, from border guards to taxi drivers to orderlies in offices to operators of machines to high ranking executives...

And this is the lesson we must learn: That people have various uses, capacities and personalities. Let the movement for a free and democratically governed Kenya use them, but let us never seek homogeneity! We can never be the same, yet we must organise and be organised.

The take over of our social movements, of the space for action by politicians through plagiarism (remember 'bado mapambano') infiltration, use of co-option, use of divisive politics and the use of terror MUST be resisted.

WE MUST BE ALIVE TO FIGHT TOMORROW, BUT IF WE DIE, WE MUST DIE FIGHTING A GOOD FIGHT

Some people have no EARS

As a youngman, my mother used to send me to stiches when at times she got so annoyed with our misdoings and after beating us to crying (we loved to be beaten, it was a show of love...actually sometimes we went out looking for a beating)...anyway my mother used to say "some people have no ears" and i would halt my tears and burst out laughing...i could not imagine a person without ears, not really about hearing, but about the shape of that person's head...

i mean really, imagine someone without ears...closer home, think about Matakwei and the earless of Mt Elgon...and you would know the absurdity of that phrase and the pain of not having ears.

but I am telling you that the people running this country have no ears for hearing.

consider this, ICPC, CRECO Membership, KNCHR, FIDA, IRF and many other civic society actors said: ammend that law on the tribunal before it is debated; amend it so that it can be acceptable; ammend it to remove the amnesty clause and to protect it from legal challenge, ammend it and take some time to build consensus and ensure that it is not shot down, please ammend it so that it can get a national buy-in; don't rush it because you will fall in the six month trap....

they refused to listen, they went ahead, and fell into the pit...one karua called it collective responsibility...i don't know what that means, but it is a nice way to fail

come to think of it, have these guys failed, or as a people are we just myopic and unable to see the forest for the trees (whatever!)?

I think kibaki and raila wanted the local tribunal to fail -LEGALLY-so that they may get some let up on the pressure to perform and to deal with issues of AGENDA 4 and especially the constitution and matters of impunity. they prayed for the tribunal to fail because they know if kofi anan gives the letter to Moreno, he will take a lot of time to get his act together and therefore the coalition government (that facilitates their collective stealing from the public coffers) survives much longer...after all, it is clear, and there is a bill and the hansard as PROOF, that they tried; it is the mps who are rogue

and the mps, what did they want? they wanted the local tribunal to fail, not to be instituted here, some for the reasons same as those for kibaki and raila, and others for the reason that since they suspect they are in the list (or may be adversely mentioned in the proceedings) they don't have to go to the expense of hiring lawyers...and after all it would all be very messy considering the competition they faced in the last elections: anything that threatens their five year term is an enemy...

so, my mother should know i am not laughing when i am saying this, am really angry and i now know what it means not to have ears(for hearing)...

Kenyans, i pray that we locate the leaders' ears (not for hearing) and pinch them; it is only that their ears (for hearing) can be activated

kianyaga perspective

This is a report

a friend of mine who comes from Kianyaga and goes by the name chomba njeru (literally, his name means european white) called me this morning to tell me his take on the coalition government ...i must admit i was taken aback that he, actually, was reporting this collusion government to me!

said he: I am really annoyed that people have spent about a year, 365 days of the sun rising and setting, trying to discuss the goings on in the coalition government! these talking kenyans are idlers, liars, ignominous characters, charlatans, useless ... (i have edited some epithets for purposes of maintaining the decorum of this blogg)

said i:

said he: i can describe what this coalition government is doing in one word:

ũvĩsĩ

said i: okay george ... oops chomba njeru, i will blogg it.

I donot seem to know what ũvĩsĩ means, (since i actually have no links with Kianyanga except by the virtue of the fact that i know his ancestors, as teenagers, got lost [and so settled] in the land of many ridges when my ancestors send them to follow the ameru to recover some nzavĩ seeds they were given by my ancestors)

but i am sure this person, like many more people around the country, is annoyed at the charade of arrogance the government is parading

the question is; how much longer can this pent up energy be held in the breasts of the people of this country? aren't we an active volcano momentarily subsided by the lie of two hyenas (complete with squadrons of hangers on) agreeing to live in the same house?

citizen,
put your ears on the ground, and lets talk, not about the Kenya we want, but about how to get, unnoticed, beyond the hut housing the two hyenas and their hangers on, and go to the rivers of plenty beyond.

aluta continua

why, why why debate on the kenya we want? WHY?

why belabour the issues of the Kenya we want? come on people, stop using all that tax funds and just listen


Ask yourself, what does raila or kibaki want to hear that will make them better leaders? what don't the people of kenya know and what haven't they said? what new thing/idea will come out of all this? what new thing will moi say? isn't this a circus?

we should be bold and tell our said leaders: you guys talked from 2004 to mid 2008 about things that made us hate and kill one another.

NOW IT IS TIME TO WORK, STOP ENCOURAGING TALKING AS A THERAPEUTIC METHOD OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTROL: act Act ACt ACT! Do something, don't say something!


the problem in Kenya can be sorted this way:

1. raila and kibaki become national leaders- not people captured by party, cronies and family
2. avert threat of famine and drought. arrest maize theives and oil merchants and try them
3. end impunity by making a new constitution (in it ensure all rights, devolve power, and institute accountability)
4. conduct new elections to get new leaders: ALL CURRENT mps BE BARRED
5. retrain the police and throw out the current top leadership they have
6. arrest those perpetrators of violence as identified by Waki and try them now!
7. harvest and store water (pump it from the sea if need be) and irrigate the country
8. promote -in all ways- sustainability in education, farming and industry
9. Dont just sit or stand there talking, do something! walk the talk or shut up!
10. stop this circus of good, meaningless and unimplementable meetings' resolutions

now that is OUR Kenya.

can i hear AMEN?

TRIBUNAL HERE WE COME

THIS OURS IS NOT, I REPEAT, ISN'T A PARLIAMENT TO JOKE ABOUT WITH. IT IS SO SERIOUS THAT I AM LOST FOR WORDS.

Sample this:

They assented to the national accord, hence untill there is a constitutional ammendmend, they are bound by it.

but you see, there are certain interests to take care of, so what do they do? (and here i only talk of the latest since in other posts i have discussed their abilities)

The committee on administartion of justice (it could be wako or mojca!) drafts a bill on the tribunal and has it stamped SECRET!... pls dont faint!

and what are its secret provisions?

1. 3A. (1) ...establish a Special Tribunal to prosecute persons bearing the greatest responsible (sic) for the post election violence...

even if I do not go further, let me tell you what this means

• A mechanism for identifying these persons has to be set up, and it will define 'greatest responsibility'
• this definition MUST ensure that the waki envelopoe can be questioned hence arrests/trials selectively done
• The coalition MUST not be threatened by this tribunal

2. the provision for presidential clemency (section 27 -prerogative of mercy) the ag's nolle proseque are left intact.

many more contradictions ....

so?

there are Kamukunjis by parliament ahead of official sitting to buy in the support of all mps to the new legislation.

overall meaning: we will have a CIRCUS named a tribunal.

obvious meaning: NONE of our excellent mps will be embarrased beyond repair and so we will have "peace"

meanwhile: Kenya starves, mps eat all national maize reserves and drink oil as desert, teachers are not paid and hence no work, our kids become vagabonds as parents are busy at work or loafing, more thieves buy big cars... our sovereignity of scandals is cemented!

WE NEED TO #^&*%)*(^&***+_ THESE mp PEOPLE

Kenya yetu

Kimunya!#*x+=!?^!#<&>$!??!!

Strike with Teachers

Teachers burn the effigy of Ibrahim Hussein the Chair of TSC in this picture from the EA Standard

The TEACHERS Strike!

1 week later.

Over 200,000 Teachers not in class, millions of Children at home

The TSC has obtained orders from one Justice Mukunya not to pay teachers...

The media has given the teacher's strike peripheral coverage... and decided to glorify the thieves and their thievery (oh how soon we forget!)

The honourless minister complete with his cabinet friends say we pay in 25 months ( meaning this is different from two+years), take it or leave it or we fire you or we replace you or ...

We are a country of an indifferent culture.

Imagine about kshs 22 Billion gain by two or three of our leaders in the last one month through OIL related corruption…

Join me to demand kshs17 Billion for 240,000 teachers to be paid in one year!

ELIMU ni MAISHA kwa JAMII.com

********************************************************************************

Mkenya,

Kenya has become a "leader kill led society" where such phrases as "leader drink oil" "leader steal all maize" "leader don't pay tax" ' leader deny all knowledge of any wrong done" "leader this evil, leader that rape, leader that murder" are as regular as the setting and rising of the sun

***

A friend of mine called Peter asked me yesterday, "kawive, you go to these forums, i see you and others talking about rights...can you go and ask kibaki, forget about raila, ask kibaki, 'how does a man with dirty hands wash dirty clothes?' "

I promised to ask. Any takers?

engagement on the reform process

Kenyans,

We have watched helplessly as the MPs have passed poisonous legislation: the Communication Amendment Act 2008, the Constitution of Kenya Review Act 2008, among others. This is a dangerous precedent, but it is being done with impunity, and at the core of the belief by MPs is that they are doing the necessary. They believe that the Civil Society for instance have no genuine desire to have a new constitution, and that they (MPs) should be the ones to save this country from the fruitless two decade campaign while ensuring the media is quiet and not too nosy on the goings on. It is a disease called "self-righteous ignominy", and when it catches a group which has power to harm, it is lethal. Parliament is sick.

The key strategy for MPS is: lock the rest out, and go on and on and on. It does not matter that they are fomenting rebellion, no, because whether they do this or not, they are unsure whether they would be re-elected. They will, I prophesy, do all they can to ensure that the people elected…ooops…selected to work in the various commissions are their cronies, their puppets, their mbois and ngaos.

The civil society must adopt a multi-faceted approach to engagement in the reform process. A key strategy would be to interest leaders in the civil society sector to apply for positions advertised as a consequence of the legal provisions passed recently and those that will be advertised later. These include:

1. The Committee of Experts for the Constitutional Review (deadline of applications 26th Jan 09)
2. The Interim Independent Electoral Commission (deadline of application 30th Jan 09)
3. The Interim Independent Boundaries commission (deadline of application 30th Jan 09)
4. The Interim Independent Constitutional Dispute Resolution Court (deadline of application 30th Jan 09)
5. The National Integration Commission
6. The Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission

It is true that some of the provisions in the documents constituting these commissions are horrendous and indeed unacceptable. It is also true that the civil society needs to engage meaningfully at all steps of the way to ensure that the insolence of our MPs does not become the national curse.

In this view therefore, I suggest that qualified people apply for these positions so that the Civil Society (religious, secular as well as the academia) can do the best inside the parliamentary platform as other players on the other hand file petitions, seek court actions and campaign against the offending provisions.

Names that come to mind of people who qualify for these positions are legion, since the civil society sector has many intelligentsia working for or associated with it.

I am sure the civil society can support its people by giving them the necessary backing, support and lobbying effective for them to work in a people friendly way in the various commissions and committees. This way, the gains we have made as a struggling democracy will be concretized, safeguarded and progress made in the consolidation of the ethos of

A TRUE AFRICAN DEMOCRACY.

I urge them to apply for the various appointments if they have not yet done so. This will help us define and manage the reform agenda since otherwise the Civil Society would, in our opinion, have little if at all any influence in the working of the various organs.


WE MUST ENGAGE THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE KNOWING THAT WE ARE WORKING WITH A CARTEL OF INSATIABLE BUSINESS MINDED OGRES WHO ARE POSTURING AS OUR LEADERS.

Lord Hear Us.

we are, indeed, a sovereign people

I am serious about this issue of our sovereignity...i do not mean as part of the british empire, but as a people, the Kenyans, ourselves, me included.

We are sovereign!

allow me to demonstrate.

it is only in a sovereign people's nation where we licence what one Professor of the University of Nairobi calls "ethno bureaucratic cronyism"...pls get a dictionary if you are like me...but i am informed it means "people from the leader's tribe/ethnic group aided by the leader to joining the governement bureaucracy so that they can steal and be protected by the leader and they forever be faithful to defend the interests of the leader so that more of the leaders's tribe can eat" phew!

it is only in a sovereign people's nation that we allow our economy to grow through rumours, ooh six percent...oooh seven percent...oooh expected four percent...whereas we, the people, are getting poorer by the day but our roads are continously littered with new cars and new buildings are springing up all over the place (watu wanatoa pesa wapi? au mimi ndio mjinga?)

it is only here that we breed a certain category of people that can easily be called experienced public thieves, unashamed, unabashed, and regular

it is only in this country that we can allocate maize to the national millers to produce cheap flour for us starving people and then allow a few politicians to take it and sell it to other countries

it is only here where we can say there is equitable distribution of resources when we have every mp in government and almost all ethnic communities represented in government appointments...i mean, our argument is simple... what these mps and ministers and assistants and ps'es and board members earn is ours, hawa ni watoto wetu

it is only in this sovereign nation that we have a government of matambara, yaani patchwork: very effective indeed!

it is only here where you can cause people to fight and after afew (just above a thousand) of them die and a few (five only) hundred thousands are displaced you call for calm and get a motorcade and have your fellow fiends...oops friends!...in cabinet.

it is only here, in this soverign nation that it people rummage in dumpsites to get leftovers for thier dinner (no, dinner is not the word...i need education here...what do we call a bite of a rotten something you get after having gone hungry for days?)

it is only here that when half the people are starving, we marvel when a hundred thousand bags (kidogo sana hio!) of maize disappear in thin air and we clap whenever we see our mp or another thief driving a new car

it is only in this nation where some people elected to legislate want to be the sole participants in the constitution review process...since, of course, they are cleverer than all of the rest put together! indeed that being why they were elected in the first place

it is only in this our sovereign nation where we have a parliament that is so careful it can create and pass a law (the constitution of kenya review act 2008) with a schedule meant for consultations with the people substantively provided for (section 31) but deleted from the law

it is here where we have a parliament so keen on disenfranchising its people that it muzzles the media with impunity then its members start a "i do not know/it wasn't me campaign" complete with party trapdoors

it is only in a sovereign people's nation where we are happy to swim in whirlpools of scandals all of which sink only a few billions of shillings (kidogo sana hio...the last only had 7billions)

there is no other place except this sovereign people's nation where you can find a deffective national accord lasting seven months only for somebody to realise there is no mechanism for dispute resolution and then putting together a bunch of ten old men ...it does not matter at all that women are the majority people or the youths have much more at stake ... to look after the affairs of the collussion government



I am sure i have convinced you that we indeed are a nation of sovereign people.


ps.
i do not know what God is thinking, but it rained today across the country, just a week after all the season's crops had withered in the hostile sun.

Kenya's Midlife Crisis - part 2

Mzalendo,
I promised, on Dec 17th that i will delve into how Kenya came to where it is; in a midlife crisis.

Later, I sought to define mid-life crisis as follows: "A suspension in time and space, movement in a cage, being beaten with blunt objects so that even when you feel pain, you look whole"

In this window, I would like to take us through the journey to the present.

No I wont go to the gorry details of how the independence dream of Uhuru na Mashamba was turned to hakuna vya bure(as if people had not fought the British, shed blood and died and were holed up in the caves all over the forests of Kenya) and conveniently shaped into uhuru na kazi.

Indeed i will be so kind as to not even bore you with the story of the changing the constitution to entrench an imperial presideny, nor will i bore you with stuff such as the fact that Mau Mau was termed by the emergent leaders as a disease and that more Mau Mau fighters were killed by the Kenyan government in two years than the British had killed in ten years (since of course, there are no records! only stories of people generally refered to as demented)

I will be very careful not to bore you with the cannonisation of kanu (no pun intented) and the subsequent truth of detention for KPU people or the assassination of Mboya or even with the details of the man whose body was found by a Maasai herder in 1975 for holding such funny ideas as land redistribution to the poor or the nonfactual nonesense of ten million beggars and ten millionaires. I will not do this because I am sure you wont grow fat if know who killed JM Kariuki

I will avoid telling you about the story of the passing cloud that was moi which later became a cloud full of terror rain that reigned supreme after the aborted coup de tat of 1982.

I promise to restrain myself from detailing the doings of the dejure kanu state. It's not important for me to tell you that University dons, students, and other people of conscience were arrested, detained, killed, hounded out of the country, and tortured to confess to being in mwakenya(a totally bad movement i must agree)and that with judges denied security of tenure, these people were convicted at nights and sentenced to life imprisonment or death for such crimes as treason. I am sure its not important to mention a few names such as Maina wa Kinyati and many others

No, I will not bother to tell you about the political heat generated at the close of the 80's and opening of the 90's by such people as Kenneth Matiba, Oginga Odinga and others. They were tortured, yes, and some have yet to recover, but it is not important to say. I will not tell you that the "mugumo and razor blade" metaphor man aka kibaki, was a moi operative, financed to divide the opposition then with his division party since you can easily inform me that this is not news.

I would have wanted to tell you that the repeal of section 2A and the consequent multi-party democracy was indeed the genesis of what came to be called tribal clashes and that after the commission by akiwumi, the clashes were found to be just insignificant disturbances in the provinces and therefore the report was shelved...valueless... But i will not tell you because it is not important.

I intend to ensure that you are not bored by the events prior to the elections of 1997. It would be pointless and irresponsible of me to point out that there was a statehouse (moihouse call) that made kibaki, raila, ngilu and their entourage leave the Ufungamano hall just when the Ufungamano led constitutional initiative was convening as a Constituent Assembly to give Kenya a new constitution. So i wont tell you at all.

Neither will i bother with such triffles as the fact of a refurbished kanu outfit we celebrated as reformists after the 2003 elections only for us to be shocked and chocked with the tall tell of an mou (i will give you twenty cents if you have ever seen it) and the collapse of governance. Such silly details as the fact the ministers walked out of Bomas when it seemed like the people would want to exercise real power will never find a place in my writing.

It is insignificant and careless indeed to talk about smiley wako's efforts -at the bidding of his masters - to ensure that we did not have a new constitution...he is indeed a good man who was given one instruction by two opposing sides "make it so bad that it will be impossible to sell bananas even if we have the exchequer and so lethal that it can be taken to the orange market only at night".

I will not tell you that there has been an offensive against young male people who are unemployed; that they have been killed with impunity over the time since michuki first gave such orders - it is not true!

It is totally unacceptable for me to say that there was a crisis over the elections of Dec 27th 2007. Which crisis? So i won't say it. There were only a few hundred thousands displaced and slightly over one thousand killed. A mere triffle. I will dare not tell you that the important thing is that kibaki has a motorcade (complete with outriders) and his hench people in posh jobs; that raila has a motorcade(complete with outriders) and his spanner people are in posh jobs; that kalonzo has a motorcade (complete with outriders)and his bootlickers are in posh postings. I will not tell you because it is useless for me to say such useless things.

Noting that you are busy, i will resist from telling you such rumours as there are people in IDP camps or even that they were allocated kshs10,000 at some point but most got only a fraction of that, or even such nonesense as the fact that we may not get a new and people centred constitution any time soon or even such debased talk such as the fact media bill is meant to ensure that the media is sing-songing the establishment or it is Artured! No, i know you have better things to do with your time.

I will avoid telling you that there will be worse to come or that the country may be in a worse crisis very soon because it is entirely not true - and i will be the last person to peddle rumours.

SO HELP ME GOD, so that i do not tell you all this nonesense but concentrate on the useful things....

media bill is law, and kenya is a nation

Wakenya MPO?

Mwaka mpya huu ni mwaka wa reforms. I am sorry i got so caught up in the mid-life crisis thing that i forgot to tell you that the first reforms will be reformations (read as negation/clawback) of the progressive reforms so far had.

I have in the last so many days listened with heightened consternation and anger at the unfolding of events in Kenya.

the media bill ... ooops law! is very very good. I mean, can it be bad when a good, fatherly, laid back, almost passive, peaceloving president signs it himself? Hell no!

It is good for only one reason: If you are in government and well connected, you can go to Koinange, you can take some little billions from central bank, you can ensure about a few tanks dock in mombasa, you can invite arturs four times, you can avoid to pay taxes, you can sleep during the day and again at night, you can vomit on anybody's shoes, you can order these small noisemakers to be shot on sight, you can kill, plunder and maim...and none of it will ever be broadcast, written about or whispered - nothing will be said because that would be tantamount to a security threat.

Which person who is in government would not sign such a bill into law?

Aiiiyaiii, is this blog part of media?


I am finished!