Kibaki And Michuki Pushing The Nation Into Chaos

[adongo12345]

Adongo Ogony

I am beginning to get worried a bit as we approach the D-Day; Nov. 21, 2005. Anybody who has followed my regular interventions online and elsewhere knows I am the ultimate optimist. I trust my country and its people.

While some people have been saying the referendum clash would “tear the country a part”, my position has always been that here is no need to panic except for those who have been lying to the president that the country is behind his constitution. Of course President Kibaki doesn’t live in Mars so he must know what is happening out there.

However, I must admit that the reckless shootings and murder of citizens in Kisumu and now in Mombasa suggests to me that this increasingly banana government is now ready to unleash state instruments of terror as part of the campaign arsenal to impose the Wako Constitution on Kenyans. It will not work and my fear is that it could actually push the country into full fledged chaos and mayhem. The one they haven’t told you about when they were inventing those fake “coup plots”.

Let’s not mince words when we have swords on our throats. Kenyans will not take violence from the state lying down. They are being patient enough as it is, but one more push and this thing could explode. I am not kidding.




Those families and communities crying in Mombasa, in Butere and in Kisumu and I don’t know where else, over the gruesome murder of their loved ones by state agents, need more than excuses and bravado from the political leadership of the nation. Nobody should take the people of Kenya for granted. It can be dangerous. People can actually fight back. They have the capacity to do so, let’s not forget that for a second.

I warned Kenyans some time back that John Michuki is a dangerous man. He knows a thing or two about repressing the popular will of Kenyans. He worked with the colonialists against the Mau Mau nationalists. Those skills he mastered then are proving to be very useful to our new General in State House. The times and circumstances are completely different and that is what somebody has not figured out. Time is running out and I think, school will soon be over. But may be we are getting a head of ourselves.

Let’s start with the basics. What happened in Likoni? A full fledged rally by the Orange team was in progress at Caltex, Likoni. Everything was going on just fine with speeches and a reported crowd of over 10,000 citizens listening to their leaders.

Then kaboom,

Police Boss Wilfred Mbithi jumps to the podium just as Najib Balala, a prominent figure in the ODM was taking the microphone to invite ODM luminaries to address the crowd.. Officer Mbithi tells Balala the rally has been declared illegal and everybody has to disperse. I can imagine Balala looking at the man with bemused shock. I mean how on earth can any sensible police officer stop a peaceful rally of such magnitude right in the middle. Police crowd control 101 will tell you that is a dumb move.

Anyhow Balala himself in a statement published in Sunday Standard (Nov 13, 2005) says officer Mbithi was doing just fine until he got another order to clear the crowd. From all sources of information it now seems that General Michuki was the one directing operations probably from State House Mombasa where the big Kahuna himself, Mtukufu Rais was marooned dishing out goodies to get votes for the bananas.

According to Balala

Officer Mbithi went ballistics as soon as he received renewed pressure from above.

The result is four Kenyans are dead from police bullets. The number of the injured is not yet known but as I always say, the dead are often better off than the injured. They get to be buried in a matter of days. The injured will suffer and persevere for a while before they see their graves as the criminals behind their suffering go unpunished. Will they be compensated? We will talk about that later.

Now what did the state say about the murders in Likoni? The first public statement I read was by police spokesman Jaspher Ombati denying that anybody was shot.

“The officers never used live bullets, and so the question of someone having been shot at does not arise,” said Ombati.(Kenya Times Nov 12, 2005)

And then came the shocking and offensive statements from the so-called government spokesman, Dr. Alfred Mutua. According to Mutua the problem in Mombasa was from the Orange team.

Mutua is reported to have faxed a statement saying the victims of the violence “ were opponents of the Draft who tried to break into an armoury at a District Officer’s office to steal guns”. (Sunday Nation Nov 13, 2005).

This is a frightening statement from someone who speaks on behalf of the president or so we are told.

Is Mutua sure about this? What is his source of information? We want to hope that Mutua is not going on with the coup agenda by alleging that the “opponents of the Draft” are now trying to seize arms to further their cause. In Kisumu Police Commissioner Gen. Ali first announced to Kenyans that those who were shot were trying to attack a police station. Turned out that was a pack of lies. But let see what else comes from the horse’s (Mutua) mouth.

Dr Mutua in his statement also defended the police and told Kenyans how brave they were.

“We should be supporting our brave men and women in uniform and stop lawlessness, and should not vilify them for doing their jobs. The government has noted that all acts of violence in the ongoing campaigns period have involved Orange supporters. This, the government believes is as a result of orchestration of violence by the Orange team.”

This is just utter foolishness and someone should tell Dr. Mutua that he is treading on dangerous grounds. It is a crime against humanity to reduce the lives of citizens to be just enemy bodies that can be dispensed with at the whims of politicians. It is not the job of policemen to kill citizens on flimsy and even criminal grounds like we have seen in Kisumu.

The government should not make statements justifying murder of its citizens because by doing so it tells the people that their lives are not important to the government that is supposed to protect them. What happens if the citizens decide to defend themselves? Do we then accuse them of being coup plotters?

By the way, Mutua also claimed that 10,000 stones were thrown at the police before they opened fire in self defence. Does anybody know who invented this stone counting machine Mutua is using? It seems to have very precise numbers. Please Mr. Mutua don't take Kenyans to be fools.

Kenyans know what is happening and I think it is time to tell Michuki to slow down. The referendum will not be won with guns. It is too late for that kind intimidation to work in Kenya. Moi could have used it in December 2002 when he faced defeat but he was smart enough not to go that route. Kenyans know the consequences of using terror as a political tool in elections. We know what happened in 1992/3 so called tribal clashes when state terrorism was unleashed on the population to achieve political objectives. Michuki should not press his luck with Kenyans. Enough is enough already.

A few things have to be done right away. First the nonsense of banning Orange rallies have to be rescinded immediately or it will lead to chaos. Kenyans are not going back to pre 1997 when political rallies were held at the mercy of state agents. People are going to come out to attend their rallies and if the government tries to stop them things could turn ugly. Cooler heads have to prevail.

The closing rallies are critical to both teams. If Kibaki wants to hold his banana campaigns within the confines of State House, that is fine, but don’t shut down the whole country because the other side is attracting big crowds. These two teams should have security meetings with law enforcement, I hope they are still enforcing the law not orders from dubious places; anyhow hold meetings work security logistics let each side hold their final rallies and let’s hit the polls come Monday Nov 21, 2005 with no more grief.

Second police need to work with raia everywhere particularly on the Election Day to ensure a peaceful day of voting. Those who want to turn the police into the enemies of the people and vice versa are doing a great disservice to Kenyans and to the police force and they should be told to back off. If Kenyans were to go to the polls in a mood where they are at war with the police and the GSU units it won’t be pretty because people will go to the polls even if the army is standing at the door. Kenyans already know the tactic of the government, particularly in Orange areas, is to scare them away from the polls and they are going to come out in defiance. The better way is to let the police work with the citizens in a harmonious way on the voting day and stop playing political games with peoples lives.

My final word to Michuki is that he cannot win this thing single handedly with the police. The people of Kenya will determine the outcome of the referendum and not the guns. And all these people state agents are killing or confining to wheel chairs, someone is going to be held accountable much sooner than the killers imagine.

To my fellow Kenyans, I know the day is here and I know you will defend the nation with your vote. Don’t allow the cowards using guns to take your country away from you. Vote on Nov 21, 2005.

The writer is a human rights activist.

[aeichener]

I am worried about what might happen if the Constitutional Court calls off the referendum on 15th November; because at least one politician has threatened mass action (read: civil uprising) in this case.

www.timesnews.co.ke/13nov05/nwsstory/news2.html

A.

[miguna]

Kenya’s democracy under assault
By Malaki Mugemuke

TO say President Kibaki and his chorus of advisers sound extremely discordant would be a gross understament.

The choir - comprising Musikari Kombo, Simeon Nyachae, Kiraitu Murungi, John Michuki, Njenga Karume, Raphael Tuju, and Paul Muite, confounded the world when they interpreted as ‘seditious’ the analytical musings of Cabinet Ministers Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka.

What Raila and Musyoka were saying was simply that a flawed constitution, if forced on Kenyans, would ignite a forceful rejection by the people. Full stop.

But a deafening chorus from the sworn enemies of Raila and Kalonzo ensued. Kombo, Nyachae, Murungi, Michuki, Karume, Tuju, and camp bellowed false chants of alarm tailored to arouse Mount Kenya sentiments.

They charged that Raila and Kalonzo had hatched a scheme to overthrow Kibaki's government by force.

Now, this is not a simple charge, for treason despite our claims to democracy, is such a terrible offence only punishable by death.

But the choir did not stop there.

It went on to declare, in jarred bass and ear bruising alto, that henceforth, any agitation against the Wako Draft through mass protest would be "met by the full force of the law."

The declarations of the choir rang true almost immediately when, barely three days later, a rally in Kisumu provided the unpopular system with just what it needed: an opportunity to demonstrate its muscle.

What happened in Kisumu two weeks ago and in Mombasa last Saturday is plain murder of innocent citizens -- some of them school children -- by the government.

It is on record that the government ferried more than enough police to Kisumu, where four people were brutally murdered by police. We all know that the ‘Banana’ audience that ‘attended’ Information Minister Raphael Tuju’s rally was stage managed by the Kibaki choir of James Munyao, Martha Karua, Amos Kimunya and co.

In Kisumu, as the children were being executed, Karua, Munyao and Kimunya were updating their seniors over the phone on the operation.

With the death of four more people in Mombasa it is becoming clear that these massacres are unlikely to end soon.

The Kisumu and Mombasa incidents are a pointer to the brutality and ruthlessness of the Kibaki regime. It is no surprise that Kenyans have become wary -- and weary -- of the Kibaki regime and this mood is likely to continue into the foreseeable future.

Not surprisingly, the United States government has issued yet another advisory warning US citizens against travelling to Kenya.

Is it a mere inebriation with power that drives the Kibaki government? What confounds the world is the check with which these evil schemes and discordant chants are executed.

When the choir tells off foreign donors to “leave us alone, respect our sovereignty,” what they are saying is “let us lord corruption over our people.” Why then does the same government extend a begging hand to same donor government?

The administration has simply pauperized its citizens into starvation, overtaxing them to double its revenue base, then using its massive resources against the very people it should serve.

Starving people of food, like the government has done by shoving aside the development of arid regions is bad enough. But deliberately starving them of the right and the freedom to choose their own constitution is the height of dictatorship.

A coup can be described as a revolution which produces alterations in constitutional law when people's rights are threatened.

It does not take Raila or Kalonzo to make us angry enough to demand change. It only takes a bad government to turn citizens against itself.

Trumping up false accusations of sedition against such popular leaders when it is so obvious who is inciting the people against the government leaves even the casual observer infuriated.

Simply put, the Wako draft is flawed, illegitimate and illegal. It negated any gains made in Kenya’s quest for democratic governance. It muzzles all our aspirations and makes nonsense of all the work done at Bomas and all the way from 1992, when multi partyism was introduced.

To allege treason for the brave voices that question the legitimacy of the document is sheer hypocrisy. Pushing the unpopular document down the throats of Kenyans by pointing guns at them is not the way to go for a democratically elected government. It will only inspire more matyrs.

To reject a flawed constitution cannot be sedition. It cannot be treason. It is to speak the truth. It is to see reason in the sea of blinding greed and confusion that Kibaki’s evil team wants us to remain oblivious of. What the President and his choir are aiming to do by these accusations is to try to appear wiser than the law or truth of constitutional formation.

This, they can only do in darkened meeting rooms, and not in broad daylight. Out there in the light, in the Latin words of constitutional scholar Sidney Fisher, neminem oportet esse sapientorum legibus: (no man, out of his own private reason, can be wiser than the law, which is the perfection of reason.

One fundamental weakness of the Wako Draft is that it strengthens so much the autocracy of the imperial presidency as to make that the president essentially superior the constitution itself. To say the least, this is to betray the spirit of Wanjiku. It is to create a national cancer. It is to impose a heavy, immovable yoke on the people and the law itself.

History bears testimony that a constitution which springs out of a self-crowned ingenious crafter forcing his wishes onto the legitimate wishes of a people, and whose author thinks himself wiser than the law, is bound to perish in the immediate moment of its release. In France, such constitutions were tossed out in inevitable uprisings and popular revolutions.

They flopped like the Wako draft will, because their authors turned a deaf ear to truth and the loud lessons of history.

It is precisely these same truths and lessons that are being echoed by Raila and Kalonzo. The whole world, enlightened since the coming of democracy, knows this.

David Ochami, a Kenya Times journalist, recently echoed the same sentiments in an article musing about the origins of coup d'etats in Africa.

While the enlightened could clearly see that the author had no sinister intention, Kenyan authorities humiliated the reporter before the world’s press with a flimsy lie, that of inciting violence by expressing an opinion!

In Raila and Kalonzo's case, the choir has put the security forces on high alert and dispatched armed forces to execute school children and innocent people. They have unleashed the same force on women and citizens peacefully assembling on the streets to oppose the Wako Draft.

Kibaki and his henchmen will find the going very rough because forcing a flawed constitution with bullets down the throats of unarmed civilians citizens has a moral price to it.

Their scheme is fraught with unavoidable difficulties, and it leaves the people with only two choices: either to alter the difficulties or alter themselves to meet the difficulties.

This, then is the revolution a few people have been talking about when they talk of coups in the face of a rigging of a Wako Draft. And truth does not change simply because some people do not want to hear or believe it.

The ultimate power of a society is the people themselves, and if Kibaki and his choir thinks Kenyans are not enlightened enough to exercise control over the mention or hearing or musing of the truth about revolutions or coups, the remedy is not to suppress the truth from their thoughts and minds, but to inform their discretion through free flow of ideas.

Former South African President Mandela was just in Kenya recently, and met with President Kibaki and his confidants.

Did the team take even one moment to hear from the ultimate nationalist how he handled these bothersome issues in his own South Africa? The South African constitution, by all accounts, is hailed as an exemplary one.

Kibaki and the Choir have proved to be lacking in informed discourse and the necessary comportment which the security of this country so badly needs.

The art of constitution making involves certain truths and realities that the Choir is simply not equipped to handle. It cannot be right that a government responds to such a sensitive issue by reducing the debate to a simplistic duel between a president and an individual.

The current logic goes something like this: "Raila is bad and Kibaki is good. Because Raila is bad, he wants power through the back door; and because Kibaki is good, we want power for him through the front door.

Therefore, vote Yes so you give us the power of an imperial presidency to keep you from a bad Raila and to deliver you to a good Kibaki.

And if you refuse, you risk facing the full force of the law."

And the choir announces these edicts with a laughable gusto reminiscent of underdevelopment analyst Richard Sandbrook’s ‘personal rule’. In Sandbrooks’s rule the strongman ruler and his choir emerges and rules on the basis of material incentives, fear, personal loyalties, and use of armed force.

Personal rule as has been applied in Kenya in the last 40 years. It is being invoked by the Kibaki administration again. This is a sure road to underdevelopment, as the only access to economic development becomes loyalty to an imperial president and his choir.

The Kibaki Choir appears to have bitten more than they can chew.

They have proven their inability to governing a multi-ethnic country and have clearly lost the moral authority to play in the international political league.

[adongo12345]

Editorial (Sunday Standard Nov 12, 2005)

Police should say why they stopped a peaceful rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the clock inevitably ticking away to the referendum, the polarised political environment and inability of the police to contain violence is disturbing.

It is intriguing that, only days after the controversy that followed police shootings in Kisumu, a matter that is yet to be resolved, we are being confronted with more police killings in Mombasa.

Official police reports indicate that four people were shot dead by police on Friday and scores seriously injured.

But the Mombasa case raises even more questions. While the area OCPD says he cancelled the rally because it was not licensed, the Orange leaders who were scheduled to address the rally at Likoni say they had actually notified police as required by the law.

Besides, before the police ordered the Orange leaders out of the venue, firing into the crowd, there was no sign of violence. It can thus be safely argued that there was no threat to security, the only logical ground for possible cancellation of a campaign rally.

This puts police on the spotlight, especially in view of the pattern of events that led to the cancellation of the rally in Mombasa and the ensuing violence, and raises disturbing questions about our progress to democracy.

According to the 1997 constitutional amendments, famously known as the Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group amendments, one does not need to apply for a license to hold a political rally. All that one needs is notify police to provide security.

But, even supposing that police had reasonable security grounds to warrant the cancellation, it is still difficult to see any logic in firing into an otherwise peaceful crowd.

That action triggered a chain of events that led to the shooting of two people. It was illogical for police to wait until a crowd had gathered before declaring the rally illegal.

At that point there is no other way of explaining police behaviour than provocation and excitement; what it took to push a crowd into frantic irrationality.

This was clearly going to degenerate into chaos, a fact that we believe police, who obviously have been trained in crowd and riot control, know just too well. Which is why there are many unanswered questions: Is it possible that the police learnt too late that an illegal rally was taking place in Likoni? This is unlikely because the rally was a matter of public knowledge. Or did the OCPD — who says in a separate story that they had ‘instructions’ — receive directives to block the rally too late?

But there is also another reason for concern, especially with regard to police failure to respect the law and certain democratic tenets.

That this is an official campaign period for the referendum needs no belabouring.

The Electoral Commission of Kenya long said so and has even released campaign guidelines.

That means that contending groups are free to organise and mobilise the people.

With the country already polarised and questions of legitimacy being raised, it is crucial for the government not to appear to be muzzling opinion or even trying to force through the Draft Constitution.

While we would like to sympathise with police for the challenges they must be facing in this polarised environment, we strongly feel there is reason for concern in the way the force has been handling referendum rallies lately.

It is intriguing that police shot all the eight people so far killed in referendum violence.

This is worrying, especially when contrasted with the more violent 14-day riots that have been raging in France where no one has been killed.

Besides, police risk being accused of double standards. While police cannot explain why the Kisumu rally could not be cancelled when there were clear security concerns, they had to disrupt a peaceful rally in Mombasa citing a non-existent security threat.

This is not the way to go for a force that is struggling to reclaim public confidence. It is also unhealthy for a country that is nursing dreams for a mature democratic culture.

[adongo12345]

About the court case, it is too late now.

The Wananchi are going to decide this thing, one way or the other.

[adongo12345]

What is Koigi upto and what is the role of the KNCHR in this latest propaganda from State House?

www.timesnews.co.ke/14nov05/nwsstory/topstry.html

Can Maina Kiai, please tell Kenyans what he and his organisation knows if anything, about the arms being piled up by Bill Kerrow and others to arm the Orange Army? Now that Koigi has read publicly the contents of the alleged confidential letter from KNHCR to John Michuki can Mr. Kiai release the full contents of this letter if it exists so we know Koigi is not manipulating it for his tribal project?

If Koigi is manufacturing such serious allegations, could he be arrested immediately? And what is Michuki doing giving Koigi alleged confidential documents? If the government has details about people smuggling arms into the country to overthrow the same government, when are they going to arrest such people?

Why is Koigi who himself was arrested twice and charged with "fake coup attempts" been given the leading role by State House to champion the "coup propaganda" against the ODM? Is he some kind of authority on fake coup plots?

Anyway the struggle continues:
www.timesnews.co.ke/14nov05/nwsstory/news1.html

[aeichener]

adongo12345 said:

and what is the role of the KNCHR in this latest propaganda from State House?
(...)
the alleged confidential letter from KNHCR to John Michuki can Mr. Kiai release the full contents of this letter if it exists so we know Koigi is not manipulating it for his tribal project?

Ask Ory Okolloh. She is right there.

www.kenyanpundit.com

A.

[job]

Kenyans!, please brave police provocation of violence and bribery, turn out and vote with your conscience on November 21st, 2005.

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

The head of state seems to have scheduled his regional visits across the country based on his Orange rival's timetable. Much earlier scheduled Orange rallies are being jeopardized by the parallel invasion through campaign visits by the President, in what appears as a direct provocation of security concerns.

We recently saw President Kibaki trooping to the Coast despite earlier scheduled Orange campaigns there, and we now hear he is following Orange in Western Province, then subsequently back to Uhuru park, the same venue announced more than a month ago by the Orange team to host its last rally.

Is someone trying to unleash state terror and blame the Orange team for the resultant violence?

What a shame by the inept and idea-bereft team of Kibaki's handlers. These guys are only helping make Kibaki look mercilessly bad, desperately cruel and untrustworthy.

Painting his regime with blood from police brutality, and murder of civilians reminiscent of the bad days of former regimes will only help accentuate and amplify the soon to be heard calls of "Yote yawezekana bila Mwai" or "yote yawezekana bila DP"

Could this be the reason behind the refusal by the Banana secretariat to furnish foreign envoys with their campaign timetable? The Banana campaign, lacking in steam, now seems to be more keen on invading Orange campaigns by simultaneously sending the President to areas of Orange campaigns and literally stopping them on flimsy grounds, using the cheap ploy, "security concerns for the head of state".

How desperate can a government be that they disregard human rights and respect of value for human lives. In other words, a referendum win for Kibaki must be sought even if it means killing some people.

What a stroke of genius by the DP think tank, aided by their sycophant buddies in Ford-K, Ford-P and runaway KANU who have helped smear Kibaki's hands with Wananchi's blood.

I strongly urge the head of state to disregard such self destructive advice from his Security barons and show some compassion and respect for human lives at this crucial hour in the nation. Let him even pretend to condole with families of those killed and admonish reckless police decisions as a public relations gimmick of mercy.

Let the President directly avoid the invasion of Orange campaigns to save lives if that's possible, .......without imposing himself undue advantage perpetrated through state machinery.

Indirectly, all Orange rallies and campaigns in this last stretch of campaign blitz, hang in danger amidst police provocation of violence, permit cancellations, and replacement by pro-government YES rallies.

In just a matter of days, Wananchi will be thronging voting booths to cast votes in a historic and life changing referendum that will either consign the Wako draft to the dustbin with a NO vote, or make it Kenya's supreme law, with a YES vote.

Put differently, those who love the Wako draft,.. enough to make it our new constitution, will say YES, while those who fault it and sense it doesn't represent their wishes for change, will vote NO.

A YES vote may not necessarily mean endorsement of the Wako draft since there are those who may wish to vote so, purely on ethnic allegiance, or merely to register displeasure with the Orange campaign, or as support and sympathy to Kibaki's cause without considering self concerns.

A NO vote similarly may not mean plain displeasure with the Wako draft, but could be displeasure with characters close to Kibaki, displeasure with corruption, rejection for overt tribalism in government, as a payback for mutilation of Bomas draft, displeasure with state sponsored violence, or a statement of political warning to Kibaki ahead of the 2007 elections.

It is very clear, the NO voice is louder than the YES, with the Orange campaign looking poised for a clear victory.

The YES campaign adds more supporters to the Orange tally each time; Kiraitu opens his mouth to boast about the government's monopoly of instruments of violence, meaning guns, each time Michuki orders police to shoot to kill, and each time an innocent Kenyan is killed by police through a live bullet.

The government seems desperately set to do all, and use everything within its disposal, to turn things around, but it may just be a little too late. Their main tool is now centred under the direction of John Michuki, that is the police force.

In their latest show of disregard for human lives, they've murdered at least eight innocent souls, in Kisumu and Likoni, trying to intimidate potential voters away from Orange rallies and subsequently away from the voting booths.

Tribal delegations have been hosted and feasted at State House where they've been openly given cash. Districts have been curved out spontaneously for them, Universities instantly set up, Land arbitrarily allocated, Game Parks unilaterally de-gazetted and handed to locals, Councillors and chiefs promised pay raises, and the spectacle has continued.

Our head of State has become the chief of goodies and questionable promises, in his quest to avert imminent humiliation at the forthcoming referendum. Some of his promises for example to Amboseli residents, to Musikari Kombo, to the Provincial Administration, and to Councillors, smack of blatant deciept, whose impending folly, is visible even to a layman.

The President's security Chief, John Michuki on the other hand, has developed a penchant for ordering rival Orange rallies dispersed using live bullets, in other words, shoot-to-kill, kill-to- intimidate-and-scare, scare-to-keep-indoors.

Michuki believes he can keep Orange supporters holed indoors on scheduled campaign days and on the referendum day itself, through instilled fear of violence.

All deaths so far recorded are in predominantly NO (Orange) areas.

As the state sponsored violence proceeds, a pending matter in court may shape the very destiny of the referendum itself. Will the courts halt the referendum?

An eagerly awaited verdict on Tuesday, November 15th, 2005., will signify whether the government has more surprise in store for Kenyans. It will also illuminate the judiciary at full glare of the public, showing just how less independent it has re-evolved.

Many Kenyans having witnessed previous court decisions, skewed strongly in favour of the executive, believe that the judiciary will be merely waiting for an executive verdict passed over to them, just for the bench to make public, such decision.

Let's check this probability.

If the government has sufficient grounds to believe they have scared voters enough in the strong NO areas, just enough to limit voter turnout significantly, they may well go ahead and nod the judiciary to let the referendum proceed in their belief they can marshal enough votes, which can be complimented with rigging to secure a YES win.

If the government has gathered enough intelligence to confirm to them an impending significant NO victory, one not curable by augmented rigging, the executive may just as well order the bench to "pass" an order stopping the referendum altogether.

Either way, there is no good news for the government, neither is there good news for Kenyans, having undergone protracted battles to have a people based constitution passed for the last fifteen years.

In case the platform is set for the referendum to proceed, patriotic Kenyans who don't wish to see their country mortgaged to the hands of a tribal hegemony for ever, must be warned that the government may have gathered enough information to the effect that voter turnout will be sufficiently suppressed in strong NO areas and highly encouraged in strong YES areas.

This will be a big pointer to them that they actually need to act wisely, come out in numbers and actually VOTE. People must overcome fear and brave police provocation of violence, eat any bribe offered, turn out, que any long lines, and vote with conscience.

Councillors and Chiefs, ......it's been made simple for them. If they want to continue enjoying their pay raise, they have no option but vote NO. Civic councils and the Provincial Administration will be no more if the Wako draft is passed.

Any Kenyan wishing to see National Revenue shared through devolution to rural areas will vote NO. Any Kenyan wishing for shared executive power, will vote NO.

What matters is turnout in such areas where the government seems to be propagating and provoking violence. Will scared grandmas, grandpas, & mothers venture out to vote, against the thought of police firing live bullets?

Remember, a NO win still means a tough battle ahead to have a people desired constitution passed.

Let's watch.

Job.

[politicalmaniac]

Adongo and Job,

I have read your articles and indeed they do strike a sympathetic tone with both my intellect and heart.

At times I am extremely so dissolutioned and melancholic but these troughs are cancelled out with with 'highs' I get when I travel upcountry from my Pwani base.

Its just unbelievable how Kibaki is morphing into a veritable disaster right before our eyes. It is as if the fella is under some hallucinogenic or under the control of an evil agent. Come think of it my favorite evil 'genuis' is Blofield and SPECTRE (no relation to the Odinga firm) of the Bond series!!

I just hope NO vote is emphatic and after that, ODM can then leave the GOVT and educate the masses on their trights and responsibilities in readiness of the 2007 vote

[job]

The politics of tribes and the quest for high office
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Dominic Odipo

There are certain things that cannot or ought not be sold. There are certain things that ought to lie beyond money. For our country, such things include our wildlife, particularly those elements or sections of it which cannot readily be found elsewhere. Any progressive economist will tell you that, in the long term, it makes more sense to kill off our excess lions and leopards and bury them there rather than sell them off to Thailand, Costa Rica or Papua New Guinea.

"Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." That is how Jesus answered the devil after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. In the Gospel according to St. Matthew, the devil had come to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

Nations do not live by bread alone; certainly not by instant bread. They live or ought to live by the words that come from the mouth of God and by other intangibles which no money, not Thai, British or Nicaraguan, can buy. But this is the week of the referendum so we must return to the referendum.

One of the most important lessons we learn form history is that it teaches most of us nothing.

History is full of very powerful men who have done incredibly stupid things. It is full of kings, princes and despots who have exercised absolute power over their people for years and years while they were absolutely mad. There are numerous leaders that history throws up who could not lift a finger unless their wives said so.

Nicholas Romanov, the last emperor of Russia, was effectively controlled by his wife, the Tsarina, who was in turn controlled by a horse thief whom she believed to be a prophet. Some of the incredibly stupid policies which Rasputin, the horse thief, imposed on the Tsarina (who in turn imposed them on her husband) led directly to the Russian Revolution and the fall of the Russian empire. Domitian, one of the strangest of the Roman emperors, used to string Christians on poles around his compound and then set them on fire so that there would be light in his backyard at night.

Alexander of Macedon, whom we remember today as Alexander the Great, proclaimed himself a god even though he knew very well that neither himself nor his father Phillip had any pretensions to divinity.

For him, the myth of his divinity had very simple and direct applications. Very few of the armies which he confronted could hold their ground after learning that the opposing army was commanded by a god! History is full of lies, stupidities and myths from which, unfortunately, we tend to learn very little.

One of this country’s most enduring myths is that we have a majority tribe among us in the sense of, say, Rwanda or Zimbabwe. In fact, there is no such thing as a majority tribe in this country. A casual look at the reports produced by the Central Bureau of Statistics of the Ministry of Planning will quickly confirm this fact.

More that 80 per cent of the people of Zimbabwe spring from the Shona ethnic community. The next largest group, the Matabele, account for less than 20 per cent. In every sense of that word, the Shona are the majority tribe in that country. That is one of the reasons why removing President Robert Mugabe, a die-hard Shona, has turned out to be such a notoriously difficult exercise.

In Rwanda, more than 85 per cent of the people spring from the Hutu ethnic group. The Tsutsi, who now happen to be in power, account for no more than 15 per cent of the population. In every sense of that word, the Hutu are the majority tribe in that country.

If the tribal element remains at the centre of national governance in that country, as it appears likely to, then the Hutu are sure to take power somewhere down the line.

In this respect, this country is very, very fortunate. We are fortunate because we do not have a majority tribe a la Zimbabwe or Rwanda. The Kikuyu ethnic group, the largest in this country, accounts for just under 21 per cent. The next largest group, the Luhya, is only a point or so behind while the third, the Luo, is only another percentage point or so behind the Luhya. And then the fourth, the Kalenjin, is only another point or so behind the Luo.

In this sense, there are no Shonas or Hutus here.

There is no single ethnic community which accounts for even one quarter of the population. As Amilcar Cabral, the late revolutionary leader of Guinea Bissau would have put it; this is not only a vital political fact, but also an even more vital political factor.

When the Constitution of Kenya Review Commissioners criss-crossed this country seeking the views of the people, they discovered that there are, in fact, more than one hundred tribes in this country. Those tribes include one which inhabits the banks of the Tana River whose children the mighty crocodiles of that river do not eat.

They include another down the same river whose tribes-people never ever fight or violently assault another human being.

They of course include such other tribes as the Suba of South Nyanza, the Njemps of lake Baringo and the Ogiek of the Mau Forest.

As we embark on this final week of the referendum campaigns, it is vital for all of us to remember that this is a country of more than 100 tribes, none of which constitutes even one quarter of the population.

We need to remember that no single ethnic group in this country can win and hold political power on its own.

We need to remember that the constitution we shall be voting on next Monday is meant to capture the aspirations, fears and hopes of all the people of this country.

* The writer is a freelance journalist and consultant based in Nairobi

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We need more reports like this.

www.timesnews.co.ke/14nov05/editorials/comm1.html

We have some serious criminals out there and we are going to catch them? I am glad that even police officers are refusing to be used to kill Kenyans. We need to untangle these stories before they turn on the police officers who are talking. That Michuki man is a criminal.