Thinking SERIOUSLY about Security

[Onyango Oloo]

Reflections from Onyango Oloo on the Presidential Address on Mpeketoni


I think it is very important for Uhuru Kenyatta to remain President of KENYA.

Note where my emphasis lies.

It is not on “Uhuru”.

Or “Kenyatta”.

Or “remain”.

Or “President”.

It is on KENYA.

Let me try this again:

It is very important for Uhuru Kenyatta to remain President of KENYA.

In other words, NOT the Jubilee candidate.

Not the TNA leader.

Not the former MP for Gatundu South.

Uhuru’s televised address to the nation startled many:



Coming after Al Shabaab had officially and publicly owned up as the mastermind of the Mpeketoni outrage, the insinuation that CORD, and its leader Raila Odinga, somehow instigated the massacre reeked of malevolence and sinister motives.

Indeed,


George Nyongesa, a well known blogger and activist with close ties to CORD has already put up the following Facebook update:

Raila Odinga to be arrested anytime! That is why there is deployment of GSU in the following areas: Kisii, Kisumu, Bungoma, Busia, Mombasa; and here in Nairobi: Kibera, Mathare, Kariobangi, Kasarani. This is all stupid govt plan is as a result of fear ongoing "national salvation dialogue" rallies across the country. My position remains unchanged. I don't support this national dialogue thing with Jubilee. The stage is now properly set. They want to arrest Rt. Hon Raila Odinga. I have no problem with him being arrested but as our national anthem says: "let justice be our shield and defender", not our tribe, numbers, guns, pangas, or military etc. I am firmly supporting Raila Odinga's vision that another Kenya is possible, a better Kenya where citizens are peaceful, tolerant and united. A citizen that is empowered in pursuit of their dreams, aspirations, desires; and is growing in prosperity!

A few hours later he updated his status thus:

#‎RailaHateCampaign Riots against Raila Odinga happening now in the Nairobi CBD. Demonstration of government hired youth headed to Parliament Buildings right now. They intend to burn pictures of Raila Odinga and the flag of United States. Reliably informed the youth are being paid by money from highest office. #‎ScapegoatingOnRaila won't make insecurity go away. Let us deal with elephant in the room. It is difficult to govern modern State through propaganda.

On the same Facebook social media platform, activist and former Nairobi senatorial aspirant


Okiya Omtatah Okoiti

expresses the following sentiments:

The Government should immediately arrest and prosecute Raila Amolo Odinga if it has evidence of his involvement in the Mpeketoni massacre. Otherwise, it is uncouth and not befitting of a whole President and his Government machinery to idle about and trivialise the deaths of some 60+ innocent Kenyans by using the genocide as a propaganda tool against Raila. Ashindwe na sanamu zake! The life of every Kenyan is precious and must be protected. Where it is criminally taken, the Government must pursue and bring those responsible to book. There is no room for anybody to go payuka payukaring like they are high on weed!

Kenyans will soon find out if indeed Raila Odinga will begin his fourth major stint as a prisoner of the Kenyan National Security State.

It will therefore be idle for Onyango Oloo to engage in further speculation.

I wanted to focus on something else.

In his remarks, President Kenyatta admitted that the national security and disciplined forces had PRIOR KNOWLEDGE of the Mpeketoni attacks but CHOSE TO DO NOTHING about these warnings.

George Musamali, a security analyst, appeared on QTV two days ago to discuss the Mpeketoni attacks. He revealed that Lamu County is one of the most fortified and highly secured parts of the country. On March 25, 2014


Dr. Monica Juma, the Principal Secretary, Ministry of Defence on behalf of the Kenya Government took over the Anti-Terrorism Unit located at Kiboko Camp within the Kenya Navy base at Manda Bay from the US Ambassador to Kenya, Robert Godec. There is a GSU unit in Witu. There are police stations in Lamu County. Many of these security installations are within a 30 kilometre radius of the scene of the Mpeketoni attacks.

Why did it take hours for the government security apparatus to react, respond and send reinforcements to the victims and survivors who were being butchered mercilessly?

More poignantly, why did it take 19 hours for the government through the Interior cabinet secretary and eventually the President to react publicly?

A clue to the answer of the question last posed can be gleaned from the very first few words blurted out by Joseph Ole Lenku and President Uhuru Kenyatta.


Even before the cabinet secretary had left for Lamu County there was already a Jubilee determination that CORD was involved in the killings of the residents of Mpeketoni.

Given the admission of responsibility by Al Shabaab, are Kenyans to now assume that Raila Amolo Odinga is now one of the main Jemedaris of the Mujaheedin of Al Shabaab?

Is Senator Wetangula a trained suicide bomber?

Is former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka the Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri of Kenya?

Was the Tononoka Rally a recruitment drive for the CORD branch of Al Qaeda?

Do we have revealing photos, videos, screen shots, incriminating email messages and damning SMSes implicating Bonny Khalwale, Hassan Omar and nominated MP Mwaura in a nefarious criminal plot to overthrow the Jubilee regime by violent means? Have there been some undercover Jubilee moles tracking Elizabeth Ong'oro every time she visits the Ladies for a short call?

During the April 11, 2011 Uhuru Park Rally welcoming back Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto and Joshua arap Sang from their appearance at the International Criminal Court the amount of venom, vituperation and sheer mindless hate against the so called “One Dangerous Man” would have made a Chinese tourist to believe that Kenya had just been invaded personally by Osama Bin Laden in the full company of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Papa Doc, Idi Amin, Augusto Pinochet and Pol Pot.

But at that time, the Jubilee were merely expressing the sacrosanct, God-given constitutional and democratic rights guaranteeing freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, freedom of assembly and freedom of association.

President Uhuru Kenyatta spoke of “ethnic profiling” of a “certain community.”

I am writing these lines from the Weaver Room at the Silver Springs Hotel in Hurlingham owned by former President Mwai Kibaki. I am participating in a validation workshop organized by the Kenya Human Rights Commission to review a draft report on citizenship documentation and identification in Migori, Mandera and Wajir counties.

One of the resource people invited to give his input to the draft is


Senator Billow Kerrow (URP) from Mandera. In his remarks he stated that it is very difficult to be a representative of the Jubilee regime if one is from northern Kenya or any of the marginalized communities in the country. The Mandera Senator revealed that NIS chief Gen. Gichangi told him to his face that “ALL SOMALIS ARE SUSPECTS.” He narrated his own ordeals in securing Kenyan national identity papers for his daughter and son. He informed us that the SISTER of the


Industrialization and Enterprise Development Cabinet Secretary Aden Mohamed

was yesterday detained for hours just because of her Somali ethnic background. Senator Kerrow told us of how a SENATOR from Tana River County was caught up in a swoop in Eastliegh, not because he was a Somali but looked LIKE a Somali. Even after producing his credentials as a Senator plus other documentation those were arrested by the cops who dismissed them as “FAKE.” Senator Billow Kerrow then chuckled in remarking that he found President Kenyatta’s comments about “ethnic profiling” interesting in the light of the plight of the Somalis profiled during the three month screening process at the Kasarani Concentration Camp. Many people whose only crime is merely LOOKING LIKE Somalis have had to part with thousands of shillings in bribes to corrupt police officers. The senator remarked sardonically that were the late Osama bin Laden to show up at the JKIA, the expired Al Qaeda strong man would have been waved on and cheerfully welcomed to Kenya if he simply slipped a couple of US dollar bills into his passport.

The senator, who has a weekly weekend column with one of main newspapers, received scathing tweets from employees from the Presidency-Dennis Itumbi and Eric Ng’eno to be specific- denouncing him as the “Senator for Suspects.”

Another person who spoke at this workshop was called Prof. Fugich Waqo (from Marsabit) who is a lecturer from a university in the Nakuru area and has been a resident of Nakuru County for over twenty years. His home was raided by over 10 AP officers. When he produced his identification papers and inquired about why he was being harassed, the officer commanding the home invasion remarked that “Prof. Waqo, before you became a lecturer, you were born a “Waria” and therefore, a potential criminal.” Prof. Waqo is from the BORANA community.

In any case, where is the EVIDENCE that members of the Agikuyu are being profiled? Who is doing the screening?

On a broader note, I join other Kenyans in expressing my shock at the resurgence of dim witted KANU era thinking from those governors, parliamentarians and members of county assemblies who have been declaring fatwas purportedly “banning” certain politicians from venturing into certain counties. These echoes of “KANU zones” in the 21st Century coming AFTER the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution are simply blood curdling.

More seriously President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and the Jubilee regime should be reminded that theirs is the FIRST GOVERNMENT to be elected on the basis of the Kenya 2010 Constitution and therefore are duty bound to uphold the Bill of Rights and the rest of the provisions of that supreme law of the land. No one has given them a permit to pick and choose what aspects of the constitution should be implemented and which should be abrogated.


Lastly it should be noted that Kenyans are among the MOST POLITICALLY CONSCIOUS PEOPLE on this planet. They are certainly NOT as IGNORANT as large swathes of the American people who were so gullible as to buy the HOGWASH that George Bush was force feeding them as Republicans sold their snake oil about the so called “War Against Terror”.

Therefore, Jubilee has to do a lot better than relying on gossip, rumours, lies and half truths harvested from content free blogs and Facebook walls.

[ongwen]

We could as well be the first country that is attacked, a terror group claims responsibility, and rejects it telling the terrorists: 'it is not you, it is us.'

[Onyango Oloo]

Jun 18, 2014 15:44:48 GMT 3 ongwen said:

We could as well be the first country that is attacked, a terror group claims responsibility, and rejects it telling the terrorists: 'it is not you, it is us.'

Ndugu:

You can say that again!

[b6k]

Meanwhile back at the front. Like father like son?

[OtishOtish]

Another view:

blogs.ft.com/the-world/2014/06/kenyattas-political-manoeuvres-play-into-al-shabaabs-hands/

[jakaswanga]

Jun 18, 2014 13:09:29 GMT 3 Onyango Oloo said:

Reflections from Onyango Oloo on the Presidential Address on Mpeketoni


I think it is very important for Uhuru Kenyatta to remain President of KENYA.

Note where my emphasis lies.

It is not on “Uhuru”.

Or “Kenyatta”.

Or “remain”.

Or “President”.

It is on KENYA.

Let me try this again:

It is very important for Uhuru Kenyatta to remain President of KENYA.

In other words, NOT the Jubilee candidate.

Not the TNA leader.

Not the former MP for Gatundu South.

Uhuru’s televised address to the nation startled many:



Coming after Al Shabaab had officially and publicly owned up as the mastermind of the Mpeketoni outrage, the insinuation that CORD, and its leader Raila Odinga, somehow instigated the massacre reeked of malevolence and sinister motives.
.......................

On a broader note, I join other Kenyans in expressing my shock at the resurgence of dim witted KANU era thinking from those Governors, parliamentarians and members of county assemblies who have been declaring fatwas purportedly “banning” certain politicians from venturing into certain counties. These echoes of “KANU zones” in the 21st Century AFTER the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution are simply blood curdling.
More seriously President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and the Jubilee regime should be reminded that theirs is the FIRST GOVERNMENT to be elected on the basis of the Kenya Constitution and therefore are duty bound to uphold the Bill of Rights and the rest of the provisions of that supreme law of the land. No has given them a permit to pick and choose what aspects of the constitution should be implemented and which should be abrogated.

Lastly it should be noted that Kenyans are among the MOST POLITICALLY CONSCIOUS PEOPLE on this planet. They are certainly NOT as IGNORANT as large swathes of the American people who were so gullible as to buy the HOGWASH that George Bush was force feeding them as Republicans sold their snake oil about the so called “War Against Terror”. Therefore, Jubilee has to do a lot better than relying on gossip, rumours, lies and half truths harvested from content free blogs and Facebook walls

My original calculation, as I was confessing to Big Bad Boy b6kin the other thread by t2011, was that saner ideologues, most of them institutional remnants from the Kibaki era, would prevail upon Uhuru’s marauding court, to go for a ruling class parley. And I already defined the parameters of this parley as ‘’inclusive, joint looting of the treasury –and the tax payer!’’

In other words SabaSaba was most likely the angry grunt of Hogs not amused at how far their vacuum-sucker trunks are from the feeding trough as the rogue b6k once put it. I dreamt, memorised institutional wisdom and self-survival instincts would remind of how a fall-out with Raila ---after a sickly Kibaki was tricked into reneging on the famed MOU, triggered a chain of events that eventually led to a national concussion. At a tremendous cost to the ruling class. (Condoleezza Rice treated them with such contempt some African personalities in witness walked out of the room aghast, in shame.)

Further, institutional wisdom would inform, I supposed wrongly, that the adolescent greed and propensity to monopolise power within a narrow social base --which then was personified in the arrogance of youngsters Kiraitu Murungi and Chris Murungaru, if not tempered down with the forged wisdom of experience as Njenga Karume would later bring to bear on the Kibaki tenure, is a volatile one-way-ticket to a convulsion.

Listening to an irrational Mr. Kenyatta on Mpeketoni, I straightaway recognise my over optimism. Uhuru Kenyatta is obviously captive to a dread fear. And this primordial fear has corroded his senses, such that he has, by a mental reflex, incapacitated his intellect and relapsed into the Great defender of the Abagikuyu against the ready-made bogeyman or usual suspect..

In fact, in rejecting all rational analysis of the situation, denying facts, insisting on roping in the opposition for major blame, Uhuru Kenyatta is deliberately or instinctively mobilising an ethnocentric and radical Gikuyu nationalism. Look! We are under siege! Let us unite against this evil!

I think, from the perspective of political consciousness, that only a radicalised besieged Gikuyu nationalism can pretend to bridge, albeit temporarily –achieve a momentary ceasefire between what I will call the Matiba constituency and the Kibaki constituency.

We will remember that during the PEV crisis, the up-to-then mortal enemies within the house of Mumbi –The Mungiki outfit and the Gikuyu posh protected by the Michuki security apparatus, reached an arrangement to confront the perceived Luo evil. It is from this arrangement that Uhuru’s indictment at the ICC_Hague flowed.
But no sooner had Kibaki settled in power and things gotten back to normal for the House of Mumbi posh and elite, than they felt secure enough to wipe out the Mungiki who had collaborated with them when the Gikuyu nation faced doom (instigated by Ruto and Raila as the saying went).
When one looks at the roll-call of extra-judicial killings of Kenyan youth under the Michuki-Kibaki tandem, the over representation by the House Mumbi is a fact. Maina Njenga just escaped the other day … though who knows who really wanted to kill him!? And why?

How then, can Uhuru win back the trust (or at least propose a credible new alliance) of/with the dispensable, the disposable scum of Mount Kenya who suspect if not know they will be used and discarded by the own elite?

History has a ready answer. –The ideology of fascism. It has a pretense to the absolution of all contradictions within one homogeneous nation, under one strong leader. The myth of a people united as one.

Not feeling capable of building a Kenya-wide expansive social base [or diverse rainbow coalition] to sustain his embattled presidency; scared of rumours the USA gave Raila some viral mathematical data on the last elections –making Raila so confident Uhuruto’s legitimacy can be successfully undermined, the son of Jomo has run into the only safety net left for the ideologically bankrupt: blood loyalty.

The Muthamaki has spoken to his subjects. Outlined the challenge the nation faces. The House of Mumbi nation.

Onyango Oloo still sees in him the president of Kenya? Officially I do too. But my money is on his heart has divorced kenya is invested elsewhere. I am spreading my bets.

[Onyango Oloo]

I know that at least two people have posted versions of This story on this very thread. I am just reposting the FULL VERSION:


Kenyatta’s political manoeuvres play into al-Shabaab hands
Katrina Manson | Jun 17 17:45 | 5 comments | Share

The Kenyan military says it. The African Union says it. Even al-Shabaab says it. But President Uhuru Kenyatta not only refuses to say it; he actively denies it.

In a speech televised to the nation more than 40 hours after 49 of his countrymen were massacred in a terrorist attack on a coastal town, Mr Kenyatta has blamed not Islamist jihadis from al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-linked Somali militancy who claimed responsibility for the raid, but “local political networks”.

“The attack in Lamu was well-planned, orchestrated, and politically motivated ethnic violence against a Kenyan community, with the intention of profiling and evicting them for political reasons,” he said in the speech on Tuesday afternoon. “This therefore, was not an al-Shabaab terrorist attack.”

Few corroborate his view. Eyewitnesses, who say gunmen targeted men who could not recite the Islamic creed, are among those convinced it was indeed a terrorist attack. Western diplomats and security experts – who have heavily criticised the Kenyan government’s response to insecurity in recent months – say it is appalling the government is politicising the latest massacre rather than addressing the rising security crisis.

“We have a force of terrorists brazenly killing dozens of people and this government is only making things worse by sowing the seeds of national division and raising ethnic tension to the roof at a time it should be talking about national unity,” said a western diplomat.

Mr Kenyatta’s speech referenced “frenzied political rhetoric laced with ethnic profiling of some of Kenya’s communities and obvious acts of incitement to lawlessness and possible violence”, the day after his interior minister warned unnamed politicians for crossing “a red line” and inciting violence.

“The really worrying thing is that [the government] is taking advantage of this horrendous situation to make political capital out of it against [opposition leader] Raila [Odinga],” said one analyst.

The day before, Mr Odinga held an emotive rally on the coast, one of his traditional strongholds. He renewed his calls for “saba saba” – a highly charged historical reference to mass rallies, to take place against the government on July 7, and declared he was not afraid to be arrested. (Saba saba is Swahili for “seven seven” and refers to efforts to secure regime change 24 years ago).

Mr Odinga and Mr Kenyatta are old rivals. The pair went head to head in the presidential race last year. Mr Odinga believes he lost only because of rigging, claims not upheld in court. He believes the 2007 contest, when he was placed second to Mr Kenyatta’s predecessor president Mwai Kibaki, was also rigged. The fraught polls divided the country on ethnic lines and triggered mass ethnicised political violence. More than 1,100 people were killed, 600,000 fled their homes and the country narrowly averted civil war after Mr Odinga was made prime minister in a shaky power-sharing deal.

Mr Kenyatta, then a rising political star, was indicted by the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in stirring and financing the ethnic violence and still faces trial, a situation that enrages him and his coterie. Like the residents of the Mpeketoni town targeted in the coastal attack, Mr Kenyatta is a member of the dominant Kikuyu ethnic group. His father, the late president Jomo Kenyatta, gave the Mpeketoni coastal land – traditionally the home of Swahili Muslims – to Kikuyus who hail from central Kenya.

The reaction to the attacks is politicising existing ethnic tensions. “There is so much hate coming out — a lot of negative tribal energy is being churned out by politicians,” said one observer. “We’re going back to where we were six years ago and the president is not helping the situation.”

The government on Tuesday deployed paramilitaries to what it called “flashpoints” that could fall prey to an attack similar to that in Mpeketoni. Troops have been stationed not near Somalia but in ethnic strongholds that support Mr Odinga, a Luo – including in western Kenya and Nairobi’s largest slum. Isolated riots are already reported.

If al-Shabaab hoped its attacks on Kenya would destabilise the east African regional giant, it is at risk of succeeding in more ways than one.

For comments on this article by among other people, Raila Junior, please click on this link:

blogs.ft.com/the-world/2014/06/kenyattas-political-manoeuvres-play-into-al-shabaabs-hands/

[Onyango Oloo]

Raila Odinga's Press Statement:

www.nation.co.ke/blob/view/-/2353218/data/767722/-/g3yqos/-/Raila+Statemnt.pdf

[Onyango Oloo]

Joseph ole Lenku's warm welcome in Mpeketoni:

[b6k]

Sadly the retention of Ole Lenku is living proof that the tyranny of numbers cuts both ways. In order to maintain the said tyrannical advantage one is compelled to carry a lot of "dead weight", lest support from said dead weight's strongholds is lost. Ole Lenku and Omamo should've been dropped after the Westgate debacle and a cabinet reshuffle is long overdue...

Meanwhile one Ishmael Omondi was arrested in Kariakor, Nairobi for operating an Al Shabaab Twitter account. Insert Wanyee's false flag operations here...

[b6k]

Jun 18, 2014 23:31:21 GMT 3 jakaswanga said:

Not feeling capable of building a Kenya-wide expansive social base [or diverse rainbow coalition] to sustain his embattled presidency; scared of rumours the USA gave Raila some viral mathematical data on the last elections –making Raila so confident Uhuruto’s legitimacy can be successfully undermined, the son of Jomo has run into the only safety net left for the ideologically bankrupt: blood loyalty.

Methinks viral mathematical data of the last elections has been conceded albeit grudgingly by Raila and his powerful friends in New Rome. Possibly what he's come with in his new bag of tricks is viral mathematical data of the economic type. The scorn Uhuru is showing the west by symbolic moves such as dropping the imperial ceremonial Land Rover for a Land Cruiser from the east (if only Foton had a similar luxurious brand!) cannot go unpunished.

As for fascism then Muthamaki better get on with dismantling the constitution, much like Jomo senior did. Otherwise all he will end up doing is losing new support bases he has garnered under the devolution mold since the demise of CORD. He may win sympathy from the house of Mumbi with a fascist putzch but he definitely won't win general elections that way...

Oh, have you heard Tullow Oil have struck oil off the coast in Lamu? Hmmmmm...

[OtishOtish]

Jun 19, 2014 9:03:45 GMT 3 b6k said:

The scorn Uhuru is showing the west by symbolic moves such as dropping the imperial ceremonial Land Rover for a Land Cruiser from the east (if only Foton had a similar luxurious brand!) cannot go unpunished.

When I last checked, Land Rover was owned by Tata Motors (India), which is about to start producing the vehicles in China. That must be why the West is so upset---in addition to the fact that such symbolic moves keep leaders awake in Western capitals---and why the Eurobond roadshow has all been in cities in key Western countries. Serious scorn that must be punished.

[podp]

Jun 19, 2014 19:09:09 GMT 3 OtishOtish said:

Jun 19, 2014 9:03:45 GMT 3 b6k said:

The scorn Uhuru is showing the west by symbolic moves such as dropping the imperial ceremonial Land Rover for a Land Cruiser from the east (if only Foton had a similar luxurious brand!) cannot go unpunished.

When I last checked, Land Rover was owned by Tata Motors (India), which is about to start producing the vehicles in China. That must be why the West is so upset---in addition to the fact that such symbolic moves keep leaders awake in Western capitals---and why the Eurobond roadshow has all been in cities in key Western countries.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2657967/At-age-I-dont-lose-Pope-Francis-ditches-bulletproof-Popemobile-protected-pontiffs-1981.html

so the grand old Papa decides to throw away what ouru is glad to start stalking the stadiums in

[b6k]

Jun 19, 2014 19:09:09 GMT 3 OtishOtish said:

When I last checked, Land Rover was owned by Tata Motors (India), which is about to start producing the vehicles in China. That must be why the West is so upset---in addition to the fact that such symbolic moves keep leaders awake in Western capitals---and why the Eurobond roadshow has all been in cities in key Western countries. Serious scorn that must be punished.

Hehehe! Otishotish, the British auto industry was in tatters long before Tata bought Land Rover. The Americans (Ford) and the Germans (BMW) also "owned" this iconic British brand for a while. If the muhindi intends to take his Tata to China for assembly do you really believe the Brits will allow the Rover brand plants to leave their island? I think not. You won't convince a Brit they're buying Indian when they purchase a Range Rover. Don't you watch Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear?!!!

Oh, by the way I hear the KE Euro bond was oversubscribed and has broken African records.

Ta ta for now...

[OtishOtish]

Jun 19, 2014 23:07:04 GMT 3 b6k said:

Oh, by the way I hear the KE Euro bond was oversubscribed and has broken African records.

Yes, things appear to be going very well. My guess is that the return will be higher than some of the African bonds we have seen so far. If I were seriously loaded, I too would jump in; nothing like an easy 7% (or above) returns while one sleeps.  Making money from these bonds can't be harder than get some in+out from the village "bicycle".

Speaking of such bonds, there is this, just in:  

'ECUADOR will start to test the memory spans of financial markets today, when it begins a roadshow to peddle new sovereign bonds. Five and a half years ago, President Rafael Correa (pictured) refused to honour $3.2 billion of bonds due in 2012 and 2030 owed to “true monsters”, as he called foreign bondholders at the time. Now he wants to do business with the ogres again.'

But times are tough, and Ecuador has seen the light. No more tough words. Pay and then borrow, and we know you have learned your lesson.

www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2014/06/ecuador-and-capital-markets

[jakaswanga]

B6k & Onyango Oloo,

While we are backing and forthing on the dictionary meanings of politicking ... bear with me on a chronicle of other hot spots --or should I say LICA's (Low intensity conflict areas?)

After President Muigai Kenyatta went live on TV to deliberately misinform the nation; to manipulate his grassroots emotions by claiming they were ethnically profiled for targeted liquidation; to breath fire and brimstone while laying the blame squarely at the feet of RAO and his CORDED gang, methinks he has continued to play a dangerous game, more so when his powerful sidekick Anne Waiguru announced the NYS would be mobilised to re-build Mpeketoni. –the striking coincidence Rugut was famously if fancifully fired/promoted from there the other day not withstanding.

Mpeketoni, as this litany of displacements and strife will show, are not the only victims of ''local networks of terroristic ethnic ;)profilers''!

We will need a NATIONAL structural program for reconstruction after ethnic mayhem, natural disasters, or military rampages. Selectively putting supposed members of the president’s group will only further alienate the suffering outsiders, and even the suffering supposed insiders (these Baringo groups are in the Jubilee umbrella).

SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 2014
Inside the killing fields of Baringo

“We have been abandoned and wonder if we are any lesser Kenyans. Young children are the worst hit as they are contracting flu. Mosquitoes are having a field day on expectant women and children at night,” said Ms Mary Salacha, one of the victims.

The Mpeketoni REBUILDING step looks too partisan. Take a look at Wajir $ Mandera. Aint it hot there too with arson and wanton murder! But where is the unequivocal state declaration of unbridled aid?

www.nation.co.ke/news/20-die-as-clans-fight-in-boundary-dispute/-/1056/2358284/-/bsg4m7z/-/index.html

By ABDIMALIK HAJIR &
rBy SHEKHEY AHMED MOHAMED

At least 20 people were killed in renewed clan violence on the Wajir-Mandera county border on Saturday night.
According to Tarbarj OCPD David Kirui five other people were injured in the fighting. Thirty five houses were also burnt down.
Only a month ago, another 13 people were killed in violence between the two rival clans.
The latest round of clashes could have been triggered by the killing of two university students at Rhamu. The two were travelling from a farm in Mandera when they were attacked.
Mandera County Commissioner Mr Michael Tialal confirmed the fighting but could not divulge further details, only saying the killings happened in Wajir.
Wajir County Commissioner Mr Naftally Mugatia and Police Commander Philip Chirchir drove to the flashpoint but they could not be reached for comment.
Police spokesperson Gatiria puerile swear wordki said 20 people were killed while nine were injured.
“The fighting was reported at 10 am. Members of the Degodia clan had claimed that their livestock had been stolen in a raid but the police did not have such a report,” she said.
Ms puerile swear wordki added that the General Service Unit (GSU), regular and administration police, as well as Kenya Defence Forces from the Elwak base had been sent to the area.

Feared dead

However, there were conflicting reports as to the total number of those killed with the Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet saying 13 were feared dead.
“The fighting broke out today (Sunday) between the two clans at Gunan area and 13 are feared dead,” Mr Gullet told the Nation on phone on Sunday.
Red Cross personnel said 20 people, all men, had been killed.
Both Tarbaj Deputy Commissioner David Rotich and the Officer Commanding the Police Division, Mr Soita Mwanja, could not be reached on phone to confirm the reports.
Heavily armed raiders from Mandera are said to have crossed the border to Wajir where they clashed with fighters from a rival clan who were guarding a village.
The men were keeping watch after women and children moved from the area following the sporadic clashes between the two clans.
The internally displaced persons are being housed at a Red Cross camp in Tarbaj.
This wave of violence in Mandera and Wajir counties has left more than 40 people dead and hundreds displaced in the last month alone.
Recently, three men were shot dead in Ogoralle, Wajir County, on May 13. The three were clearing bushes on a road between Wajir and Mandera counties when they were attacked, according to authorities.
The roadworks, funded by the Wajir county government, have been a source of controversy between the two clans.
In a retaliatory attack two days later, gunmen from Wajir ambushed a vehicle from Mandera, killing five people and injuring three others, according to Mandera County Police Commander Noah Mwivanda.
These attacks have since been followed has by tit-for-tat raids in both counties.
Earlier this month, leaders from Mandera and Wajir counties said failure to solve the boundary dispute in the area was to blame for the latest fighting.
Although calm had returned to the two counties, the arrival of surveyors in the area recently was expected to reduce tension as grazing areas were clearly defined.
According Mr Ahmed Sheikh, an executive committee member in charge of Conflict Resolution, Cohesion and Integration in Mandera County, failure to demarcate the boundary of the two counties had caused the conflict between the two clans.
During a security meeting last month, Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi Mohamad asked the national government to urgently send a team of surveyors to help mark the boundary between the two devolved units.
Mr Mohamad said the border dispute had fuelled the clash that left more than 30 people dead then.
However, others said the fighting was due to political realignments caused the last General Election.
They have asked the police to arrest and charge some politicians with incitement.

Now let us go to Baringo.

Strong winds accompanied by heavy rains have destroyed five classrooms in Baringo, forcing pupils in one school to share a room.
When the Nation toured Kokorwonin Primary School on Wednesday, Standards one to five pupils were in one classroom with teachers taking turns to teach them.
Headteacher Willy Chepchieng called on the county and national governments and other well-wishers to assist rebuild the school.
NO CONCENTRATION
“The pupils don’t concentrate as they are distracted by their colleagues learning a different lesson in the same classroom. The strong winds were accompanied by heavy rains. We are lucky there are no fatalities as the pupils had gone home,” said Mr Chepchieng.

That is the joke. Now for the real thing.
www.nation.co.ke/counties/500-died-in-clashes-says-agency/-/1107872/2194672/-/7ggd1l/-/index.html



Members of the Orma community attend a peace meeting on December 22, 2012 in Kipao, in the Tana delta region. Inter-community conflicts left 491 people dead last year, a report released by a United Nations agency indicates. The conflicts, according to the UN Office for Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), left another 1,235 people injured while 47,050 were displaced from their homes. PHOTO/FILE

The conflicts, according to the UN Office for Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), left another 1,235 people injured while 47,050 were displaced from their homes.
The clashes were sparked by competition for political positions and other resources, according to the report.
Although fighting may have subsided, issues that led to the violence in Tana River, Marsabit and Mandera counties remain unresolved.
The Impacts of Inter-communal Conflicts report says those counties were the worst affected.
The UN agency, whose mandate is to strengthen response to complex emergencies and natural disasters, released the report on Tuesday.
INCITEMENT BY POLITICIANS
Leaders in the affected areas have been accusing the government of failing to stop the killings.
In Tana River, 222 people died in ethnic clashes, the report indicates. The Pokomos, who are farmers, and their pastoralist neighbours, the Orma, engaged in deadly violence that ended before the last General Election.
The violence was blamed on incitement by politicians.
Despite the suffering and the highest number of deaths, Tana River had no displacement, according to the report.
In Moyale, Marsabit County, the Gabra and their allies from Burji ethnic group fought gun battles with the Borana.
The fighting started after the latter lost seats in the General Election to those from a political group known as Regabu (Rendile, Gabras and Burji).

No, that is not Baringo!

More than 8,000 people have fled their homes at the cattle rustling-prone Mukutani, Baringo, as tension mounts following the killing of two people by raiders at Sirata village last week.
The families are camping in schools fearing for their lives following claims that the raiders were planning to strike again after their efforts to steal livestock were thwarted by security officers.
Sokotei Primary School was at Wednesday the most populated with more than 3,000 residents.
A humanitarian and health crisis is now looming with all the latrines at the schools almost full and families forced to share classrooms, staffrooms and dormitories. Some are forced to sleep under beds.
“The situation is so bad. We have been abandoned and we are left wondering if we are any lesser Kenyan. Young children are the worst hit as they are beginning to get sick due to the biting cold and overcrowding. Mosquitoes are having a field day on expectant women and children at night,” a victim, Ms Mary Salacha said.
Senior teacher at Sokotei Day Secondary school Ezra Tiren said that they had been forced to close the school to give room to the displaced residents.

Ethnic tension in Baringo as land row widens despite taskforce joining in By Vincent Mabatuk Updated Saturday, April 5th 2014 at 12:14 GMT +3 Share this story:

Paul Chepsoi addresses the youths at Tuiyobei in Mochongoi. Police arrest a youth who invaded squatters farms. [PHOTOS: BONIFACE THUKU AND JAMES MUNYEKI/ STANDARD] By VINCENT MABATUK Baringo, Kenya:

The National Land Commission (NLC) and leaders from Baringo County have agreed to form a task force to resolve land disputes in Mochongoi to avert conflict. The task force is mandated to investigate historical land injustices and scrutinise land documents in the hands of residents before handing over their recommendations to the commission.
Mochongoi settlement scheme row has threatened to split residents along tribal and political lines. But the crux of the matter is that the locals are in possession of allotment letters issued by the Government more than two decades ago and are awaiting title deeds. Mochongoi settlement scheme was excised out of Ol Arabal forest part of Marmanet forest.
Already, the settlers have constructed homes, schools, churches and health facilities in the forest. However, the residents who have enjoyed relative calm since 1993 are now a worried lot following attempts to evict them last month by youth from a rival community. Tuyobei forest settlers insist they have genuine land documents issued by the Government.
At Kimoriot, residents claimed they were allocated land as compensation for ancestral land they surrendered to the state for construction of Kirandich Dam in Baringo Central to supply water to Kabarnet town. Mzee William Ngetich explained that a section of the 1,764 acres also went to the beneficiaries from Sacho location who gave up their land to the government for construction of Kesetan Secondary School and it could be unfair if they are displaced by new comers.
Others who benefited from the land included the less fortunate in the society and the disabled. During the botched forceful eviction, residents of Kimoriot and Tuyobei blocks were forced to flee their homes after more than 200 machete-wielding youth suspected to be from the Endorois community descended on their farms. The youth were repulsed by a contingent of police officers from Marigat.
Read more at: www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000108652&story_title=Kenya:%20ethnic-tension-in-baringo-as-land-row-widens

www.nation.co.ke/counties/Conflict-Baringo-Pastoralists/-/1107872/2358360/-/80lq6xz/-/index.html

Tension in Mukutani is high following the killings. Thousands of residents have fled their homes in the volatile area. The raiders are said to be planning to strike again after their efforts to steal livestock last week were thwarted by the police, who engaged them in a fierce shootout.
The residents have taken refuge at various schools.
A Nation team that visited Sokotei Primary School last week, where more than 3,000 villagers are staying, saw women and children sleeping on floors.

According to Mr Ezra Tiren, a senior teacher at Sokotei Day Secondary School, they had to suspend learning as the residents had turned it into a camp.
“These people are living at the mercy of God. I have been making sure that they get safe drinking water but they have no food. There is a self-imposed curfew from 5pm to 7am,” Mr Tiren told the Nation.
Other schools that have been closed due to the crisis include Loitip, Lorok, Kiserian, Mukutani, Rugus and Noosukro.
The situation has been worsened by another incident in which members of the Pokot community set eight houses and two shops ablaze after being reportedly sidelined in the distribution of relief food by Red Cross.

[merkeju]

Jun 18, 2014 15:44:48 GMT 3 ongwen said:

We could as well be the first country that is attacked, a terror group claims responsibility, and rejects it telling the terrorists: 'it is not you, it is us.'

The Elite Kenyan President

This is the president who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, always used to hear the words, “yes young master”, receiving salutes way back when he was still a toddler, doors were always opened for the son of the nation founder, the undisputed leader of the Agikuyu community.
The Kenyatta family is one of the riches in Africa, this means the man has never felt the pain of budgeting, deciding whether to buy food for the family and walk to work or sleep hungry and get the chance to go look for manual job in industrial area.

It is now in the history books
The President has made 28 foreign trips, a total of 70 days in 16 countries on official government business, or two trips per month, unlike his predecessors who rarely left the country. - See more at: www.m.the-star.co.ke/news/article-166995/uhurus-record-28-trips-first-year#sthash.7lzQ3VyB.dpuf

He has become more of a business man, a representative of the business community and forgot his obligation as also the president of the common mwananchi. With all those trips, with billions of shillings spent, the cost of living has gone up tremendously, insecurity is almost becoming normal, people are becoming used to news of dead people on a daily basis, and what does the son of Jomo do? Nothing.

When was the last time you saw Uhuru Kenyatta visit an affected area except if its business related area that has been affected, Westgate and the Airport when it burned down, but when it comes to the death and destruction of the lower class citizen of Kenya, the man is nowhere to be seen.




The death of common Kenyans in different part of the country especially in Wajir/Mandera conflict, Baringo conflict, the Killings in Mpepetoni, Killings in Gikomba, Thika road name them the man is so special that he cannot involve himself with the suffering of the commoners.
The only best thing he can do is call the few selfish leaders who are ready to sell their souls to state house for chai, with the comfort of cool breezy air conditioners and carpeted floors away from dusty, smelly and hot environment of the commoners to discuss their security of their areas.
What do you expect will come out of such meetings, if not for public relation gimmicks, to show that he is doing something?
Those from coast who attended the state house meeting where mostly there for their own personal reasons other than to find a solution to the killings that took the lives of more than 50 people, this can be seen with the news we are getting that another killing has just taken place in Lamu.

At least 11 people have been killed in a new attack on Kenya’s coastal region, officials said Tuesday, one week after some 60 people died in twin massacres nearby. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/10922303/New-Kenya-coast-gun-attack-near-tourist-island-of-Lamu-kills-11.html

What solution did they find in state house?

www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Coast-leaders-pay-Uhuru-visit-pledge-to-preach-peace/-/1064/2357386/-/14msx5k/-/index.html

It seems that now Uhuru Kenyatta has decided not to deal with the affected people, not visiting them to show solidarity but rather call their leaders to the comfort of state house for Chai, letting the commoners suffer in silence


Let it be seen and heard that the current president of Kenya will sink our country, this is a man who is not in touch with reality and it seems he is not bothered with the death of the commoners as long as the elites are safe, it seems he only reacts when those of his class and status in society are touched.

He will use the security resources to spy on the opposition, a good example is the sacking of their military guys for attending a CORDs rally, we are told they were pictured in attendance, you can imagine, with thousands of people, three people were picked out and yet same day Mpeketoni was attacked and that sophistication of detections was nowhere to be seen.

Uhuru will find it difficult leaving the comfort of state house and interact with the commoners, he has no time with their plights, his is to create a good business deals, the laptop projects, the security surveillance, the Standard railway project, the pipeline project, aglo leasing project and the list is growing.

[Luol Deng]

OO,

Security has been reduced to a trivial matter that sometimes leaves me wondering whether the powers that be have a clue on what is going on. Other than the bungled operations at Westgate & Mpeketoni, we've had countless cases of insecurity that haven't been addressed, whether this is deliberate or not is not for me to make a call.

We had the case of Mpeketoni where the government supposedly had intelligence yet we still had dozens of citizens being butchered. Nobody was arrested, we only heard a report a few days ago that the military had killed 5 of the attackers. Whether the correct procedure was followed in deploying the military within our borders is as much a mystery as the identities of the 5 dead attackers. Then we had the case of Ishmael Omondi arrested for running a fake Al Shabaab account. Well, the account that was being referred to by the IG was a clear knock off and nobody who is a regular twitter user ever took it seriously in the first place. We have other handles on twitter that broke the Al-Shabaab admission of responsibility well before the parody did the same, @daudoo is one such handle.

As for the parading of the new Land Cruiser & armoured track in public on the Madaraka day, the less said the better. The handling of this country's security is a comedy, only that this comedy affects the lives of real people and that is the tragedy.

[kamalet]

Jun 25, 2014 3:58:32 GMT 3 merkeju said:

Jun 18, 2014 15:44:48 GMT 3 ongwen said:

We could as well be the first country that is attacked, a terror group claims responsibility, and rejects it telling the terrorists: 'it is not you, it is us.'

The Elite Kenyan President

This is the president who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, always used to hear the words, “yes young master”, receiving salutes way back when he was still a toddler, doors were always opened for the son of the nation founder, the undisputed leader of the Agikuyu community.
The Kenyatta family is one of the riches in Africa, this means the man has never felt the pain of budgeting, deciding whether to buy food for the family and walk to work or sleep hungry and get the chance to go look for manual job in industrial area.

It is now in the history books
The President has made 28 foreign trips, a total of 70 days in 16 countries on official government business, or two trips per month, unlike his predecessors who rarely left the country. - See more at: www.m.the-star.co.ke/news/article-166995/uhurus-record-28-trips-first-year#sthash.7lzQ3VyB.dpuf

He has become more of a business man, a representative of the business community and forgot his obligation as also the president of the common mwananchi. With all those trips, with billions of shillings spent, the cost of living has gone up tremendously, insecurity is almost becoming normal, people are becoming used to news of dead people on a daily basis, and what does the son of Jomo do? Nothing.

When was the last time you saw Uhuru Kenyatta visit an affected area except if its business related area that has been affected, Westgate and the Airport when it burned down, but when it comes to the death and destruction of the lower class citizen of Kenya, the man is nowhere to be seen.




The death of common Kenyans in different part of the country especially in Wajir/Mandera conflict, Baringo conflict, the Killings in Mpepetoni, Killings in Gikomba, Thika road name them the man is so special that he cannot involve himself with the suffering of the commoners.
The only best thing he can do is call the few selfish leaders who are ready to sell their souls to state house for chai, with the comfort of cool breezy air conditioners and carpeted floors away from dusty, smelly and hot environment of the commoners to discuss their security of their areas.
What do you expect will come out of such meetings, if not for public relation gimmicks, to show that he is doing something?
Those from coast who attended the state house meeting where mostly there for their own personal reasons other than to find a solution to the killings that took the lives of more than 50 people, this can be seen with the news we are getting that another killing has just taken place in Lamu.

At least 11 people have been killed in a new attack on Kenya’s coastal region, officials said Tuesday, one week after some 60 people died in twin massacres nearby. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/10922303/New-Kenya-coast-gun-attack-near-tourist-island-of-Lamu-kills-11.html

What solution did they find in state house?

www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Coast-leaders-pay-Uhuru-visit-pledge-to-preach-peace/-/1064/2357386/-/14msx5k/-/index.html

It seems that now Uhuru Kenyatta has decided not to deal with the affected people, not visiting them to show solidarity but rather call their leaders to the comfort of state house for Chai, letting the commoners suffer in silence


Let it be seen and heard that the current president of Kenya will sink our country, this is a man who is not in touch with reality and it seems he is not bothered with the death of the commoners as long as the elites are safe, it seems he only reacts when those of his class and status in society are touched.

He will use the security resources to spy on the opposition, a good example is the sacking of their military guys for attending a CORDs rally, we are told they were pictured in attendance, you can imagine, with thousands of people, three people were picked out and yet same day Mpeketoni was attacked and that sophistication of detections was nowhere to be seen.

Uhuru will find it difficult leaving the comfort of state house and interact with the commoners, he has no time with their plights, his is to create a good business deals, the laptop projects, the security surveillance, the Standard railway project, the pipeline project, aglo leasing project and the list is growing.

Typical whining....!!!

So Uhuru has made the 70 trips (who is counting?) and most of these to interact with the business community at the expense of spending time with the holloi polloi!

As happens in the CORD rallies where many allegations are made without any backing, this article repeats the same nonesense (I said it!). Take for instance the cost of living going up. How do you measure this? Is it by the month on month inflation which is still in single digits and whose influence is by external forces rather than what Uhuru eats? I am still waiting to hear of that corruption scandal attributable to this administration. In fact the unfortunate thing is that every effort they have made to push their agenda involving huge sums of money has been scuppered by vested interests in parliament or the procurement world! Name it - SGR, Laptops for schools and the recent Security tender with Safaricom - all have been stalled by vested interests!

But this notion that Uhuru spending more time with business is bad is nothing more than Gikomba market thinking. Enabling business is the surest way of growing the economy and this comes with its own benefits that including growth in employment. For a country that has invested so much in education, effors to create employment for this growing market is no brainer. But that is what such activism means...simply no brains!

[Luol Deng]

Kamale,

Whining? Complaining of vested interests when under the new constitution the cabinet is not under the direct control of parliament? Are we also forgetting that both houses of parliament are under the control of the jubilee coalition? Not only has the government forced through its legislative agenda, the president has likewise unilaterally forced through his agenda when parliament was a stumbling block (Anglo Leasing). Legitimate questions have been asked of the SGR with a similar project in Ethiopia in mind. The laptop project was not scuppered by vested interests. If you remember well, the terms of the tender were that the vendor has to be an original equipment manufacturer, something the Indian bidder was not. Wasn't the same money spent on paying the Anglo Fleecing ghosts?? Safaricom? Yeah, the same telco whose network was jammed by the Mpeketoni attackers when the attacks began.

The bottom line is that with Jubilee in control of the Executive & Legislature your complaints amount to whining.

Enabling business? Yeah, right. You enable business by applying blanket taxes on essential commodities, books & other growth enablers in the name of simplifying the tax code, don't you? You enable business by bringing in additional taxes ama? You enable business by using the Scandinavian model of taxation and the Somali model of service delivery don't you? You enable business by giving the cost of power lip service while actually increasing the cost of the same through additional taxation and higher tariffs sivyo? You enable business by alienating traditional trading partners without any viable replacements in the short or medium term.

The current government is completely clueless. The only areas where it has succeeded is in speech delivery (the style, not the content & consistency) and ku-tender...Otherwise unless you are a tender beneficiary then it would seem that you are equally clueless.

[kamalet]

Jun 26, 2014 15:01:14 GMT 3 Luol Deng said:

Kamale,

Whining? Complaining of vested interests when under the new constitution the cabinet is not under the direct control of parliament? Are we also forgetting that both houses of parliament are under the control of the jubilee coalition? Not only has the government forced through its legislative agenda, the president has likewise unilaterally forced through his agenda when parliament was a stumbling block (Anglo Leasing). Legitimate questions have been asked of the SGR with a similar project in Ethiopia in mind. The laptop project was not scuppered by vested interests. If you remember well, the terms of the tender were that the vendor has to be an original equipment manufacturer, something the Indian bidder was not. Wasn't the same money spent on paying the Anglo Fleecing ghosts?? Safaricom? Yeah, the same telco whose network was jammed by the Mpeketoni attackers when the attacks began.

yours is a contradictory argument...you are arguing about the fruits of democracy. Kenyans overwhelmingly voted for a bad constitution. kenyans overwhelmingly voted the Jubilee government in parliament and in the executive. The problem of democracy is that when people make stupid mistakes, they must be live through the mistakes until they get another opportunity to correct the mistake. The three projects are stopped by nothing more than vested interest, but then the power of the constitution has meant that they are being delayed to the detriment of those it was supposed to benefit. I was hoping that you would come screaming with a corruption scandal this government is responsible for! But you cannot have a business sense if to you it makes sense to hold back funds worth 176 billion because we wanted to defy a court judgement for 1.4 billion shillings! The Euro Bond launched yesterday is a major milestone for Kenya. As regards Safaricom, you are too quick to rumour monger, as you ignore the clarification of a power blackout and generator failing on account of fuel to the base station serving the area! As regards the Safaricom deal, financially it makes quite some sense but we ignore all this because we want to make all sorts of noise.

Jun 26, 2014 15:01:14 GMT 3 Luol Deng said:

The bottom line is that with Jubilee in control of the Executive & Legislature your complaints amount to whining.

Enabling business? Yeah, right. You enable business by applying blanket taxes on essential commodities, books & other growth enablers in the name of simplifying the tax code, don't you? You enable business by bringing in additional taxes ama? You enable business by using the Scandinavian model of taxation and the Somali model of service delivery don't you? You enable business by giving the cost of power lip service while actually increasing the cost of the same through additional taxation and higher tariffs sivyo? You enable business by alienating traditional trading partners without any viable replacements in the short or medium term.

Are you for real? Kenya has a most reasonable tax code when compared to other economies in Africa. If you remember you remember your history, in 2002, total government revenue was 172 billion shillings. Before the expansion of taxes to sectors that did not deserve to be exempted, the revenue collected was 980 Billion shillings - all this without any increase in taxation but just being efficient in collection! Today tax revenue are estimated at 1.2 trillion but this is against a financial demand of 1.8 trillion! Now the constitution which we all voted for created institutions that eat up a lot of this money in exchange for no productivity. Do you know how wide the VAT regime is in South Africa? The point is that if we had an efficient system of absorbing development money, then business will be enabled and the economy grows. And that is the problem we have as a country!

Jun 26, 2014 15:01:14 GMT 3 Luol Deng said:

The current government is completely clueless. The only areas where it has succeeded is in speech delivery (the style, not the content & consistency) and ku-tender...Otherwise unless you are a tender beneficiary then it would seem that you are equally clueless.

And you very well make the typical whining noises of election losers. Why not let their voters wallow in the mistakes they made in electing Jubilee and come 2017, you can tell them "we hope you learnt" and ask them to vote for your mlengo?

[Luol Deng]

Kamale,

Not so fast Kamale. The sh. 1.4 Billion? Not only were the excused being advanced by the government debunked by independent commentators, the Swiss ambassador has not only offered to help, he also stated that the government was misadvised on the payment of the sh 1.4 Billion. You seem to be keen on blaming the new constitution for all the ills afflicting the clueless government. OK let us crunch a few numbers here:

We had 222 MPs in the last parliament, we now have 349
We had 0 Senators, we now have 67 senators
We had 0 governors, we now have 47 of them

The bureaucracy that handles the national assembly and the national senate barely grew, that I know for a fact. So, whether there were 222 MPs or 416 after the rise in numbers, that fact is immaterial. If we take a figure of sh 2 Million as the financial compensation per MP/Senator/Governor per month, which is an exaggeration the total take home for all those offices would be around sh 11 billion. Compare that to the sh 330+ billion in the budget that cannot be accounted for in 1 financial year. To put matters into perspective, the budget for State House for the last financial year was sh. 4.7 billion. Little wonder the president has money to splash on a new motorcade running into 100s of million and the DP had a budget of sh. 120 Million on the renovation of a new unoccupied residence. The new employees in the county structure are a red herring, their pay comes from the county budget which is less than 1/4 of the total funds allocated to the counties, which in turn is under 12% of the national budget. If you are looking for an area to vent your frustrations on, the former provincial admin is one such area. This is one area where the president was given a free hand to restructure, what has he done?

On the Euro bond, isn't is fundamentalists on the president's own coalition that were claiming that Kenya doesn't need the west? OK, let us take it into consideration. The yield to maturity of the bond is at 6.41% This may be lower than the syndicated loan that Kenya defaulted on, but it is not a low interest rate at all.


On taxation, we still have taxation on printed material, medical aid and other forms of aid that are not taxed by sane countries. The sh 1.2 trillion you are speaking of is not backed by any hard data, to the best of my knowledge, collection currently stands at around the sh 900 B mark. I have been to many countries in Africa and to say that our tax regime is more relaxed than SAs is factually incorrect. Let us then look at excise duty, this is one area where we beat most African nations hands down. But at least we can brag about chopper hires being tax exempt. There are good reasons why a lot of companies that were initially incorporated in Kenya have moved their HQs out of the country and tax is a major determinant. It is also extremely important to note that collection is not the problem when 1/3 of the monies collected are lost through corruption.

I still maintain that the deals that are being sabotaged are being sabotaged by the government itself, the sooner they get their house in order the better. Whingeing on their inability to deliver while being in control of 2/3 arms of government is not so smart. If you want me to list the scandals in the government:

1) The SGR is a scandal, just compare its project cost to a double track project in Ethiopia that ended up costing less.
2) The primary school laptop scheme is a scandal. To give a vendor who doesn't meet the minimum requirements of your own tender tells it all. This one was definitely going to be stopped new constitution or not.
3) The payment of the Anglo Leasing where the government was basically setting itself up for a loss is a scandal

Finally, you seem to be fixated with the election loss, 2017 and other garbage that the Jubilee government is preoccupied with. What has 2017 got to do with anything? I was giving I disagreeessment, you are free to give yours. UK is the most eloquent president we've ever had. They have also performed well in the tender-preneurship aspect. Other than that? Zero, zilch, nada.

[kamalet]

Luoldeng

Are you sure of what you suggest the Swiss are on about and the relationship between the 1.4 billion?

When you suggest that the new constitution has not added to the expenditure burden then you are truly behaving like a martian!!! Have you heard of the parliamentary committee being suggested to undertake an audit on the cost of the new constitution to the economy?

But if you do not know about tax collection, how do we actually engage? For the record it is 980 Billion for the FY13/14 and estimates for FY14/15 is 1.2 Trillion with a financial budget of 1.8 Trillion.

I will not argue about wastage for we have a considerable amount of waste of public resources - how about the money used by MCAs for their familiarisation tours or the most intriguing I heard about was a parliamentary tour of the Kingdom of Bhutan by the CDF committee!

Can we do better? Of course I am sure we can. But then we need to move from whining and complaining to proffering solutions that are sensible.

[vascodagama]

To understand the politicization of Kenya's security matters, you need to study the crime statistics as published by the United Nations. Firstly, as a matter of fact, the numbers have not significantly changed in the past five years and secondly, the Kenya's crime statistics (murders per thousand population)are better than those of Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and Ethiopia. Those are verifiable facts and not fiction.

So, without involving politics into the historical need to improve the security for all Kenyans, what can Kenyans do?

1. Invest in constructing and equipping modern forensics laboratories across Kenya. This will improve the success rate for crime prosecution. If we have to hire retired met officers to help in training our people, so be it.

2. Pay the police a living wage. Motivate them. A 50% wage increase will send a better message.

3. Invest in police housing.

4. Hire competent prosecutors and pay them well.

And guess what, this can be done without a National Dialogue ...

[Luol Deng]

Jun 28, 2014 11:19:51 GMT 3 kamalet said:

Luoldeng

Are you sure of what you suggest the Swiss are on about and the relationship between the 1.4 billion?

When you suggest that the new constitution has not added to the expenditure burden then you are truly behaving like a martian!!! Have you heard of the parliamentary committee being suggested to undertake an audit on the cost of the new constitution to the economy?

But if you do not know about tax collection, how do we actually engage? For the record it is 980 Billion for the FY13/14 and estimates for FY14/15 is 1.2 Trillion with a financial budget of 1.8 Trillion.

I will not argue about wastage for we have a considerable amount of waste of public resources - how about the money used by MCAs for their familiarisation tours or the most intriguing I heard about was a parliamentary tour of the Kingdom of Bhutan by the CDF committee!

Can we do better? Of course I am sure we can. But then we need to move from whining and complaining to proffering solutions that are sensible.

I am sure of my position on the Swiss debacle.

Second, The cost of the constitution? Any sane person would have told you that for devolution to be strengthened then the central government's role has to be correspondingly weakened. What do we have? Devolution taking root & the president intending to make the central government stronger than ever.

Taxes? That was the estimated collection for the years. Do one thing, the necessary details are always available with the central bureau of statistics. Just go and look at the variance between the targets and the actuals in the past. The targeted collections also made assumptions on macro economic factors and overall growth. The growth was way off target for last year, what makes you think we got anywhere close? OK let us take the projected tax revenues. 1.2 trillion from the improbable 980 billion is a growth of roughly 22.45%, the growth should be anywhere between 5-7%. In other words the growth in tax revenue will exceed the economic growth significantly, whichever way you look at it, this will definitely affect the cost of living.

Wastage of resources? The Auditor general always provides a comprehensive account of the wastage & co by different arms of the government, the total is roughly 1/3 of the annual budget. The tour to Bhutan is not an exception, how many times in the past have the MPs gone out of the country to do 'window shopping'? Didn't the MPs go to Israel to look for the furniture of the new house only to end up sourcing them from the prisons dept? What about the travels of the top government officials? The amount of money wasted on their tours far exceed the expenditure of the MCAs although the latter is more politically explosive.

Solutions? Cut the bloat. The point to start from is the extra constitutional offices created for poll losers & sycophants. What value is being added by the likes of Dennis Itumbi, Anannia Mwaboza, Kutuny & co? Second, the number of constituencies need to be reduced and nominated positions done away with altogether. Third, Nominated MCA & nominated senator positions should be likewise scrapped. Fourth, the MCAs need to be tamed by decoupling the running of the counties from the operations of the MCAs. The number of wards should also be drastically reduced. Fifth, the wastage in the central government needs to be tackled head on. The allowances drawn by the top dogs in public service is an embarrassment. Sixth, the size of the civil service has to be drastically reduced, this is one area that the likes of Rwanda and Malawi fare much better than us. In Kenya the civil service is a place to reward loyalists with plum jobs and dump relatives to the lower cadres.

The bottom line is that devolution remains intact. Despite the meagre allocation from the central government, counties like Wajir, Machakos and Homa Bay are making it work for them far more effectively than the centralised system ever did.