Kibaki Shoots Himself In The Head

[adongo12345]

Adongo Ogony

I am almost beginning to feel sorry for our president. The man has been shooting himself in the foot for three good years. And now he lays the bullet right in his head. How sad.

I agree with those who say what is going on our country today is not a political tsunami for the tribalists in power, but actually their political Katrina. You remember the hurricane that exposed the underbelly of racism and human tragedy in New Orleans, right in the heart of America? Yap this Kibaki dance with the ghosts is pretty much in the Katrina mould. Everybody knew it was coming and those who should know better acted dump and now they are wailing in distress with dirt all over their faces.

The Kibaki regime has been a disaster in the making from day one. First Kibaki trashed his election partners soon after wining the presidency. That should have alerted us. We should have known that a general who abandons his top commanders after wining a war will sooner than later abandon the troops as well. We did nothing and stood around waiting for things to change.

We let Kibaki off the hook as he continued screwing up Narc, the coalition which we all supported and voted for. People said, well he is now the president let him run the government. Even veteran human rights activists made excuses for Kibaki claiming Kenyans are not interested in deals made behind closed doors. Never mind that we elected a team that came to us with an agenda for change and we were seeing the beginning of a one man rule surrounded with sycophants. Before we knew it the tribalists had closed in and started talking about protecting the “Kikuyu presidency”. They haven’t stopped since that time and now Kibaki is really a “Kikuyu president” trying to run a country called Kenya. It is not going to work and I am puzzled his entourage of advisors can’t see it coming.

The second blow from Kibaki to the Kenyan people was the failed war on corruption. Let me just ask a simple question. How many people know that there is some national anti-corruption team appointed by Kibaki and led by Rev. Musyimi which has not filed a single report of their work or even work-plan (assuming they have one) since it was formed? Yap we are paying the Musyimi committee members big money to carry out a fake war on corruption. I am in no mood to talk about the Ringera crew. I will leave that for another day. Of course Amos Wako is back as the A.G. Looking confused as ever trying to explain to Kenyans the legal implications of mass resignations from the Kibaki cabinet. Well I wish someone would tell Kibaki the political implications of what is unfolding around him.

In the war against corruption it is noteworthy that Kibaki has decided to scrap the Ethics and Governance department altogether after his own PS in that department John Githongo had to flee the country because the corruption gods in the Kibaki government were after him. Kenyans should be excused for having imagined that President Kibaki would find a replacement for John Githongo, instead of dismantling the department he headed. Heck forgive us for even imagining that Kibaki would go to bat for his PS and find out who was threatening him and why as he carried out duties assigned to him by the president. How telling it is in terms of who is winning in the war against corruption that today the president has no need for neither a PS assigned the task of fighting corruption nor even the department itself. Someone is surely winning in the war against corruption, but it is certainly not the Kenyan taxpayer. I think some cunning fox is guarding the chicken house. You know how dangerous that is for the chicken.

The final dagger in the Kibaki assault on Kenyans has been on the constitution. We all know what happened. Suffice is to say that finally good old humble Wanjiku took a walk to the voting booth and lined up for hours and told Kibaki and his cohorts to go to hell with their constitution. And what has Kibaki done in return? He is actually telling Wanjiku to go to hell and hence the stalemate.

Where do we go now? I will be the first to say we truly are in a new ground in the political history of the land. It is astonishing that people like Michuki still think it can be business as usual and that it is just a matter of some people needing bigger posts. No, Mr. Michuki, your government is in a state of political psychosis. The president is doing things that don’t make sense to anybody except him and his friends. Everything is falling apart around the president.

By the time I am writing this article 4 ministers and 20 assistant ministers appointed by Kibaki had declined to take their seats. I assume the president will go a head and swear in the remaining lot before he has nobody to swear in. But it really wouldn’t matter anymore. The big news in Kenya is not that President Kibaki has appointed his cabinet and swore them into office. The news is that nobody wants to be in that cabinet except for Kibaki’s cronies and regular sycophants who have no credibility with Kenyans.



I don’t know what Kibaki is going to tell Kenyans on Jamhuri Day. It is going to be the most tense Jamhuri Day since Kenyans attained independence. I am glad though that the ODM called off their Mombasa rally which Kibaki had illegally banned. Things are too tense to take risks and that was the right thing to do. By the way I think the ODM should find another way to raise funds for the victims of police violence in Mombasa and Kisumu during the referendum campaigns. The government is not going to do anything for them. And the rallies? They are coming like Kibaki has never seen before. He will have to declare a State of Emergency to find a place to hide from the masses.

Now let’s try to put a finger in this madness from State House and see if anybody can figure out whether there is a method to it.

I think the biggest problem with the Kibaki operatives is that they never have plan B on any of their endless schemes. They keep running into problems and then they try to crash their way through without sometimes pausing to move back a few steps and reorganize things. And then of course they are bewitched with their hatred for Raila which obliges some of them to literally jump into boiling water and try sitting tight to show Raila how tough they are. That is a silly and pretty dangerous thing to do just to show your toughness as they are soon going to learn the hard way.

It seems to me that when Kanu did not buy into the conspiracy to teach the LDP a lesson and things looked bleak with 24 hours to go for the cabinet announcement, Kibaki should have sobered up and changed course.

Instead they went a head and the president confronted the nation with a banana cabinet composed mainly with the same arrogant lot who have been preaching and screaming about protecting the “Kikuyu Presidency” for a while now. Then they sprinkled it with “soft” layers from other communities and thought Kenyans will swallow their tricks as they continue messing up the country. They were dead wrong.

Unfortunately as we will soon see, the Kibaki crew still has no plan B. Their thing will be to call individual leaders and coerce them into taking tea with Mzee at State House where they will be persuaded to take their positions. It is too late for that. Even if individual leaders wanted to they are scared of their constituents. That is where the game is. With the people, not the politicians and that is what Kibaki and his folks can’t grasp. The wananchi told them No, on November 21, 2005 and they still don’t get it. This is the problem we are having in the country. The Kibaki team do not understand that they cannot play the games Kenyatta played in 1966 to destroy the opposition party, Kenya Peoples Union (KPU) led by the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Bildad Kaggia. The conditions have changed beyond recognition. Even the Moi tricks of divide and rule are no longer viable.

Kibaki has only two options and the first one may close very soon.

The easiest option for President Kibaki to avoid a complete breakdown in his government that would trigger a national crisis is to hold an emergency meeting with the ODM leadership and all the major political parties represented in parliament. The purpose of that meeting should be to agree on a transitional government still led by Kibaki to run the country, facilitate the framework for completing the constitutional review process before elections preferably within one year. This is doable and will be acceptable to the Kenyan people when they can see practical targets for the government. For this to work tribal chauvinists in all parties, particularly the ones choking the presidency have to give Kenyans a break.

Option two is for the president to dissolve parliament and let Kenyans elect a new president and a new parliament with a clear agenda. If Kibaki feels confident that he still has the support of Kenyans this would be very good for him too because he will get a fresh mandate from the electorate. My guess is that if things don’t change drastically for the better, more and more Kenyans are going to be calling for snap elections.

In the meantime I would urge the ODM and other parties not willing to be conscripted in the anti people anti democratic makeshift regime at State House to open their own lines of communication and start dialogue without waiting for the president and his people. They will catch up.

National leaders like Kombo and Charity Ngilu who have been with Kibaki all along and who feel there is need for change should reach out directly to ODM and start working on how to put the agenda of ordinary Kenyans at the heart of national politics. Kenyans need to know that the government is committed to improving their quality of life and ushering in a new political order of good governance and accountability. It is ridiculous that the same people like John Michuki who squandered public resources openly in the referendum campaign are back at the same position to cover up the theft.

It is insane to expect Kenyans to accept Martha Karua as the new person to move the constitutional agenda forward when the same Martha Karua has been one of he hawks of the Wako Draft and one of the shameless peddlers of let’s protect the “Kikuyu Presidency” mantra. At least Prof. Kivutha Kibwana declined to be her deputy, I don’t know on what basis, may be he wants to be the one to lead the ministry.

We need the ODM and other leaders to start talking with Kenyans on what can be done instead of waiting for Kibaki to do this or do that. We have been waiting for two weeks and look where that got us.

I would also urge our national leaders to directly address the problem of tribalism. The Gikuyu elite in power have created a very dangerous situation and it is beginning to look like there is a battle between the Gikuyu community and the rest of the nation.

We know the ordinary fellow living in Kiambu has nothing to do with Njenga Karume’s special projects. I have never had much in common with Charles Njonjo but I think his idea of taking Raila and Uhuru for a walk in Kiambu wasn’t such a bad thing. I have been urging the ODM leadership to reach out directly to people within the Gikuyu/Meru communities. Ignore the noisy chauvinists and talk directly to the people. Whatever we do, there is urgent need to tone down the tribal overtones in the national dialogue.

The writer is a human rights activist.

[roughrider]

Thought provoking.

I think this is the last thing I read today before switching off my computer and going home. So that the quetions raised linger. Clearly we are sailing on unchartered waters. To me it serves to further expose the problems with our current constitution that need urgent correction.

I sense a concilliatory mood in Adongo writing - he even managed to refer to Kombo and Ngilu as 'national leaders' and perhaps this is the right approach.

But in all this we must deal firmly and fairly and NEVER for one second should basic principles be bent. And the most critical starting point is to declare that its all about Katiba and nothing else. Perhaps even snap elections become pointless if there is no Katiba basis and agenda for them.

[politicalmaniac]

Excellent expose as usual By Adongo

I dont know how the teetering tottering GOVT will make it once parliament reconvenes.

There is open hostility to this GOVT and right know I can tell you wnanainchi have realized they call the shots, Michuki's pronouncements not withstanding.

They said (DR CM) that MoU is dead. Its isnt.
They loudly proclaimed that LDP/FORD- should be prorogued. They still exist.

They said this GOVT is not collapsing!! Tell me onother one (lie)!

They agitated for Wako draft, it was rejected.

They claimed the radical judicial surgery would cure corruiption. It hasnt

They proclaimed, shamelessly, that the Kibaki presidency is a Kikuyu one, the wanainchi told them to get lost.

time and again they have failed to hold up public trust and now they are reaping the rewards- public derision!!

[adongo12345]

Folks

Looks like Kombo and Ngilu willl crawl their way back, which I am sure most of us expected. The tragedy for both of them is that they have already done immeasurable damage to Kibaki and to themselves should they go back.

Remember the Ngilu endless trips to State House during the referendum campaign. In the end she couldn't even win her own constituency. That is what scares the crap out of the likes of Ngilu. The support in their own backyard. Kombo has the same problem and he also has Kituyi breathing down his neck.

The Kibaki tribal math is out of wack. He has given up on the Luos. He can't get the Kalenjin or any other community in the Rift Valley, the Kambas have taken a hike food aid and all, the Luhyas are counting their loses, the Maasai's are gone, the coastal communities are out and so are the nationalities of NEP.

Remember the strategy for Kibaki was to pull in other "tribes" so as to undermine the ODM. It didn't work and like I said these folks have never known something called plan B.

Now is there any possibility for a Vote of No confidence in parliament? It will not happen any time soon. Of course you have heard about the MPs having all those debts blah blah. That is true. But at the end of the day the MPs are looking at being in parliament for the next two years or less versus being in parliament once the elections are held. Getting close to Kibaki under the present circumstances unless one comes from Kibaki's tribal base is almost suicidal to their long term political interests.

Everything will be determined by what hapenns on the ground. If Kenyans get impatient with Kibaki in the next six months or so and it becomes obvious that opposing Kibaki and the Gikuyu hegemony in the nation can win suppport from the Kenyan people the MPs will swallow hard and take their chances with the voters instead of being drowned in Kibaki's tribal vomit.

The real battle now is winning the hearts and minds of Kenyans and I for one do not envy the president's position.

Wembe ni ule ule.

Adongo

[miguna]

Adongo,

Good piece. But I am very reluctant to refer to Kombo & Ngilu as "national leaders" whom ODM should worry about. ODM should get down to work. Those interested will come knocking later. I am also not for the idea of "everyone" is welcome. Movements & parties cannot be for "everyone" merely because we want "national unity." And I not saying that this is your message (I'm only making an overal comment on this issue.) I would rather that those like Mwenje, Ndile, Mungatana et al are locked out permanently. Some people are iredeemable. In any event, they can belong to their partries & movements like the so-called "third progressive force" or other amalgams like that. On reflection, I don't think that there is even need for Kombo and Ngilu to be in the ODM. They can participate wit ODM on broad national issues such as the constitution or a vote of non-confidence. However, let each entity or party go to the polles seperately. If coalitions must be formed, then let those be done willingly and structurally. Any stop-gap measure will only beget a Kibaki replica...You can see where that has brought us.

Peace [unedited]
-Miguna-

[adongo12345]

Miguna

I think my reference to "Nationalist Kombo and Ngilu" was within the context of the coalition parties of Narc finally trying to be in touch even with their pretended contituents.

To the extent that Kombo and Ngilu could find some backbone to challenge their DP partners to come back to earth after the referendum lose, over which they are still in denial, I thought it would be a good move for these "political parties" to walk alongside the people as we confront the Kibaki monster. Obviously I was a little too optimistic.

But I think the battleground is going to be shifting every time Kenyans make decisive decisions. Like I have always said, there is no need for panic from the point of view of the Kenyan masses.

[job]

Youthful, eloquent & intelligent lawyer, Ababu Namwamba of LDP (ODM) is without doubt, ready to take on Budalangi MP Raphael Wanjala (Ford-K), in the next polls, which may possibly come sooner than anticipated.

Accounts from his fellow constituents indicate that despite the fact that some veterans are also eyeing the same party nomination, his candidacy has elicited the most interest of his people.

His over-the-phone address of an ODM Budalangi rally, during the recent referendum campaigns, from his temporary abode in Washington DC was overwhelmingly received positively.

On the national scene, the current crop of rich, greedy, yet washed-up (old) & obsolete leaders straddling the political landscape need urgent replacement by young, & nationalistic patriots. Here's a piece from Ababu,......................

*****************************
Should Kibaki be trusted ever again?
********************************

By Ababu Namwamba
---------------------------

What must be done?
That is the big Leninist question that we must confront.
The issue is no longer what Kibaki may or may not do. That disharmonious symphony of musical chairs played out this past week must be his last solo show.
Why, tell me good people, do we cede so much latitude to individuals whose exalted status and lavish lifestyles we bankroll with our sweat?

We elect a man into high office after three repeated pleas. We pay him in excess of Sh2 million a month, a litany of benefits and a princely retirement package to boot.
We place at his service the best our land has to offer.
We put our lives in his hands, our liberty at his mercy by permitting him absolute control over our instruments of state security. We give him our honour. And what does he offer in return? Superciliousness. Disdain for everything we stand for.

After two failed bids, a team of magnanimous Kenyans shelved their own ambitions to support his third shot. While he was in a wheelchair, incapable of personally seeking our mandate, we still voted for him.

When he dishonoured the deal with the very team that paved his way to power, we gave him another chance.
He gravely assaulted our fledgling democracy by raiding opposition benches, yet we only sighed.
But he took our goodwill for granted.
And so he went about resurrecting the virulent demons of tribalism and impunity, which we had confined to the cemetery of history in 2002.
Insults (pumbavu!) and arrogance followed. Then he attempted to ram down our throats some poor imitation of a constitution. We stopped him, but gave him yet another chance.

Victors who vanquished him so decisively at the referendum sent out a white dove of peace. He sent back a black hawk of belligerence.

"I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand," the late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat pointedly told the UN General Assembly in 1974. Kibaki did not just let the olive branch drop. He kicked it right out of our hand.

And so right now, we must take it that there is no legitimate government in Kenya.

As I wrote here last Sunday, Narc was a syndicate with four principal shareholders. On Wednesday, Kibaki illegitimately shoved out the majority shareholder — LDP.
With NPK and Ford-Kenya withdrawing their shares, the syndicate is as dead as a dodo.

Kibaki has lost the legitimacy to govern because the shares of his own party, DP are a minority that cannot sustain the syndicate.

Having cleverly prorogued the National Assembly to forestall adverse action, Kibaki must immediately sit down with all parliamentary parties to discuss the single agenda of an interim caretaker government.

That government should have a strict 21-month mandate to undertake only two tasks: enact a legitimate constitution and prepare democratic elections under the new constitutional dispensation.

Allegiance should be to Kenya and the task at hand, not to Kibaki.
After the ill-fated Narc odyssey, we must not risk another new regime under the current Constitution — even if it will be headed by Saint Peter.

The path to a new constitution must be backed by a clear legislative framework, and firmly rest on democratic tenets.

We need a National Constituent Assembly of deputies elected from districts, not constituencies, to edit parochial political baggage from the process.
Two deputies per district should give us a manageable and affordable 145 men and women of integrity to debate the draft constitution.

The drafting should be done by 15 legal experts nominated by major parliamentary parties based on their respective strength in the House.
Because we have already talked and staked enough, this stage must be purely technical.

The plethora of interest cliques, including civil society, religious groups and the Mutava Musyimi types must not be given any special preference.

Anyone desirous of direct participation must contest a seat in the Assembly. All candidates should run independent of political parties.
Deputies must be barred from contesting the first general election under the new constitution. The Assembly should have a strict 9-month life, followed by a plebiscite.

After enacting the legal framework, MPs must keep off the process, which will not require a parliamentary committee to supervise because it will function as a statutory incident.

Kibaki and his bungling cabal of ethnic court jesters should not have been trusted in 2002. They cannot be trusted today.

They must never be trusted again.

Ababu Namwamba.
currently in Washington DC.