When leaders behave badly ...

We have looked with horror at the scenes of school-children butchering each other on TV in the last few months. The common refrain has been that the mock KCSE exams are too hard. I think it goes deeper than that. Our political leaders are behaving in the worst possible way - inciting others to commit terrible atrocities. It is only natural that our children pick up on these signals and apply them to their particular situations. However, we shouldn't pretend that we are blameless. For every child murdered in school, we are to blame for allowing ourselves to become the tools of an uncaring, greedy, grasping political class that has shown no moral courage or vision. It is shameful to watch the likes of Kalonzo Musyoka preaching peace and reconciliation when our children have been taught nothing else by his colleagues other than to kill and maim and destroy.

Which leads me to another totally unrelated matter: the indictment of Omar el-Bashir. Sudan is undergoing changes that are anything but civilised - at least not the western notion of civilisation. President Bashir is no doubt a despot. But so what? Why should he be indicted by a tribunal to which his country is not a party to? The ICC chief prosecutor, no doubt an intelligent and passionate man, is wrong to wish to circumvent the international laws that his people have established to govern relations between and among nation states. It is not even an African problem - what would the AU, for example, do? Impose sanctions? Send in peace-keepers? Invade? All these are the lunatic schemes of the west to maintain dominance over an emerging world rich in natural and mineral resources. They are rightfully afraid that their previous bad behaviour is no longer guaranteeing them a share in these resources. They are regretting imposing the SAPs and other such behaviour-altering mechanisms upon us. They simply do not understand that the days of the pith-helmeted white man lording it over the south are going out of fashion. We are sovereign nations, and if we agree to allow one of our own to murder his own people, why should they complain. After all, do you really see Mr. Ocampo bringing indictments against George W. Bush or Tony Blair or Vladimir Putin? those three between them have killed more people than the fictitious "300,000" quoted by the world's media. Tell me I'm wrong!!!

IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF THE END?

Now that Martha Karua has decided to throw her hat into the ring, and Uhuru Kenyatta is under fire over his decisions as Local Government Minister, and Otieno Kajwang's over his as Immigration Minister, and Orengo in his war with Kimunya over the Grand Regency, is Kibaki's coalition falling apart? Even mouths for hire like Mungatana are calling the decision to set up the PNU a bad one. When rats desert a ship, you know things are really dire. However, we are mindful of the fact that Kibaki has not survived this long by falling asleep at the steering wheel. He has constantly outsmarted the opposition; to underestimate him now would be a grave error, even for smart girls like Martha. She needs to follow Mutahi Ngunyi's advice and bring the war to Kibaki and the Old Guard otherwise she will end up like all the other no-hoppers who have underestimated him.

The love fest between Kibaki and Raila will not last. I have said previously that January 2009 is the deadline; if they survive beyond then, their's will be like one of those marriages where they don't want to get a divorce because they then both lose. Kibaki and Raila do not trust each other; hence the fact that their lieutenants' constant bickering and oneupmanship. It doesn't help that motormouths have been given a free rein to let rip. The upshot is that ordinary Kenyans are benefiting, albeit in unexpected ways. It was not possible for entrepreneurial Kenyans to set up business that did not run afoul of the various Moi rules of yore. Now, it is not likely that your business will get poached without a fight. For that alone, I would re-elect Kibaki a thousand times over.