Why should I care?

I know I should care that the Kenya Defence Forces are engaged in operations in hostile territory, but I don't. I know that I should care that the President and the Prime Minister have demonstrated resolve, and are united in formulating a strategy to take the fight to al Shabaab deep inside Somalia, but I don't. I know I should care that Nairobi and, indeed, other parts of the country are on heightened alert because of the war with al Shabaab, but I don't. What I care for is the fact that I have been royally screwed by my Member of Parliament, and his colleagues, and that these hyenas show no remorse for the manner in which that have handled (and mishandled) matters of grave national importance.

Celebrating Mashujaa Day yesterday should have been a moment of pride in both my government and its leaders, but it wasn't. The spectacle of the last living members of the Mau Mau in their Sunday Best, but quite clearly poverty-stricken and ill, is the final sign of humiliation that I am willing to bear. How can it be that Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, who benefitted so greatly from the activities of the Mau Mau, betrayed them so egregiously? Crude as this may sound, but the Mau Mau was formed primarily of residents of the Mount Kenya region dominated by the Kikuyu and yet, in a government dominated by Kenyatta and other Kikuyus, they saw nothing of the fruits of their labours. 

Twenty-five years after his death, another Kikuyu in Mwai Kibaki was elected president, and still they continued to be treated as unlettered pariahs in need of the occasional alms but no official recognition. Ironically, it was the colonial government that outlawed the Mau Mau, and this decision was not rescinded until well into the Kibaki presidency. And yet, even then, when the last of the Mau Mau decided to sue the British government for atrocities committed by the colonial government, the Government of Kenya did nothing to support or facilitate their claims. To this day the true heroes of the Mau Mau rebellion continue to be treated with callous disregard by a government that would not exist without their blood or sacrifice.

When Mwalimu Julius Nyerere described Kenya in cannibalistic terms as a man-eat-man society, he could not have known that we would sink even lower. The system of conferring national awards on ne'er-do-wells simply because of their political affiliations has a long and disgusting history in Kenya. Witness the thousands upon thousands of quislings that were officially recognised by the colonial British in Kenya. Witness the thousands upon thousands more that had national honours conferred upon them by not just the Kenyatta and Moi governments, but also the Kibaki regime who have nothing to commend them but the amount of money or 'political assistance' they can bring to the men and women in power. 

Yet, the true heroes - the men and women who bring honour and glory to this nation - continue to sit on the sidelines like spectators at a Gor-AFC clash, with the attendant innocent-bystander injuries to show for it. Men and women who have not only run down national institutions, but have lied, cheated and killed their way to national prominence continue to enjoy the official recognition of the Government of Kenya, while the men and women who have run marathons in record-breaking, award-winning times, the men and women who have volley-balled themselves into world championship status, have been ignored and treated with contempt, their running tracks and stadia taking second place to edifices of official corruption and impunity erected in every political back-yard, from the Turkwell Gorge on down.

I know I should care that the Kenya Defence Forces are engaged in operations in hostile territory, but I don't. I know that I should care that the President and the Prime Minister have demonstrated resolve, and are united in formulating a strategy to take the fight to al Shabaab deep inside Somalia, but I don't. I know I should care that Nairobi and, indeed, other parts of the country are on heightened alert because of the war with al Shabaab, but I don't. Why should I when I know that no one else does? Why the hell should I?

No longer politricks-as-usual

The KKK alliance morphed into the Gang of Seven which has now morphed into the Gang of Seven alliance. When they first came together, their primary focus was how to prevent Prime Minister Raila Odinga from succeeding President Mwai Kibaki after the next general elections (whose date has been thrown in doubt because of the machinations of the Cabinet, the resolute stand of the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution, and the delays in setting up the Supreme Court of Kenya). They had resolved to direct all their energies to painting the Prime Minister if bad light, blame him for some of their more serious political difficulties, and generally show him to be the wrong person to be president come 2012. 

They have now come up with a new plan, which is essentially, more of the same. While they have resolved now to focus more on how they will govern and what policies the will pursue, their underlying philosophical reason for being, is to prevent Raila Odinga from assuming the presidency after the next general elections. The more things change, the more they remain the same, or so it seems when it comes to the Gang of Seven Alliance.

But even with their new strategy, they will still suffer from a credibility gap. For instance, they cannot legitimately promise to pursue different policies while in power if they have not proposed such policies in their various capacities in this government. Their promise that they will be different cannot be taken at face value since they do serve this government, with varying degrees of loyalty, and have shown no indication that they will resign in order to challenge the received orthodoxies of today. Mr Musyoka, who oversees the Home Affairs ministry in addition to his position as Vice-President, while waiting to move into his sh 383 million 'house', has done very little to improve the conditions in Kenya's prisons, including their overcrowding and the operation of criminal conspiracies by inmates and warders alike. 

Millions of Kenya's mobile phone users continue to be snookered by criminals behind bars through dodgy get-rich-quick schemes. Chirau Ali Mwakwere oversaw the concessioning of the Kenya-Uganda Railways to the shady Sheltam Corporation despite the fact that Roy Purfett, it's Managing Director, could provide no proof of his experience in such a venture nor provide sufficient capital to oversee the transformation of the railways. He was eventually bought out by an Egyptian company with experience in these matters. Mr Mwakwere, meanwhile, has not been investigated by either the Public Investments Committee or the Public Accounts Committee for the manner in which he oversaw the concessioning or the decisions that were taken under his watch. 

Mr Kenyatta has overseen the largest depreciation in the shilling and admits that the steps that may revive it will not have an impact for at least six months. Kenyans continue to suffer the effects of a weak shilling including high energy costs and a rising rate of inflation. The controversial reappointment of the Governor of the Central Bank continues to hang over his head, especially now that it seems that Prof Njuguna Ndung'u is unable to do much to shore up the shilling against other world currencies. 

Mr Ruto has been dropped from the Cabinet for, among other things, allegations that he has previously engaged in corrupt acts. The effect of the ICC trials on his political activities cannot be downplayed either. Eugene Wamalwa has made some strange forays into national politics over the past year. First he was seen in the company of the self-confessed leader of the outlawed Mungiki sect, a quasi-religious criminal organisation that has been blamed for some of the worst murders in Kenya's history. Then he made the rather incredible claim that his claim to the presidency was predicated on the promise that Mwai Kibaki had agreed to allow his brother, the late Michael Kijana Wamalwa, to succeed him and that because of the Vice-President's death, this obligation has been inherited by him. 

Prof George Saitoti, a former Vice-President, has been in charge of internal security at a time when Kenyans have suffered great casualties at the hands of foreigners along the Kenya-Somali, Kenya-Ethiopia and Kenya-South Sudan borders. The continuing deaths of Kenyans and foreigners in Kenya at the hands of groups such as the Toposa and the al Shabaab are glaring proof that he has failed in his duties.

If these are the men promising changes post-2012, we are better off recalling President Moi from retirement! It is also now emerging that the Gang of Seven Alliance has opened 'negotiations' of how to share power after the next general elections, with crucial positions being dished out to members of the Alliance, including those of the Speaker of the National Assembly, Speaker of the Senate, Presidential Running-mate and Leader of the Majority Party in Parliament. They have managed to maneuver Parliament into making key amendments in key Bills to ensure that some of their plans come to fruition; for instance, the changes that they proposed and were adopted in the Elections Bill and the Political Parties Bill are meant to strengthen the Gang of Seven's hand during the next general elections. So is the Cabinet's proposed amendment to the Constitution to hold the next general elections in December 2012. 

The upshot of all this is that the Alliance is not concerned with what will benefit the people of Kenya; rather, they are still obsessed with keeping Prime Minister Odinga from assuming the presidency. They are yet to admit to themselves that Kenya is a changed country and that politricks-as-usual will no longer cut it. They are yet to make a credible claim that one of their own will make a good president, let alone a better one than the Prime Minister.

Opinion is free but facts are sacred

Ahmednasir Abdullahi makes a startling accusation in today's Straight Talk (Voodoo economics and development corruption, Sunday Nation, 16 October 2011), while Prof Makau Mutua, in his Letter from New York, makes a rather sweeping declaration that in effect describes President Moi's entire twenty-four year reign as a tribal kleptocracy that did nothing good for the nation at all (Why Raila should not dance with Moi). Both authors attempt to create the impression that their statements, opinions if you must, are based on fact and that they should be accepted at face value simply because they attempt to explain why Kenya is the way it is today while simultaneously offering a guide to what it should do to become better in the future. Mr Ahmednasir accuses President Kibaki, in effect, of sitting at the head of a giant mafia corporation that has enriched a few at the expense of the many by concluding, without producing any proof whatsoever, that Mr Kibaki has created more billionaires in his nine year reign than all former presidents combined or, indeed any other country on earth! The impression that he creates is that he has information detailing the manner and means employed by President Kibaki and the billionaires created by his government to attain their Croesus-like riches. If this were the case, and respecting the laws of slander and libel, Mr Ahmednasir must produce this information and disseminate it to the wider public to allow them to know who is and who is not worthy of the respect and esteem such wealth brings them.

Prof Mutua will not accept that anything done during President Moi's twenty-four year rule was good; he will not accept that circumstances moulded President Moi into who he became, especially from around 1981 to 1983. President Moi did not set out to craft an authoritarian government; the circumstances he found himself in and the choices he was left to make shaped how his presidency came out. The men who surrounded the late President Kenyatta had attempted on several occasions to prevent Mr Moi from assuming the presidency and, failing that, attempted to undermine his presidency at every turn. Africa, at that time, was emerging from a century of European imperialism, and many fledgeling independent countries were unstable, to put it mildly, with competing factions seeking to rule. The received orthodoxy was that strong central rule was preferable to anarchic devolution or federal structures and hence President Moi's transformation into an overbearing, unforgiving autocrat who would brook no dissent or opposition. As one of the strategies of prolonging his reign, President Moi used the enormous powers of his office to reward loyalists and to punish dissenters. The truth is, though, he did not destroy the forces of change; they emerged in the late 1980s and forced him to change tack, repeal section 2A to the former Constitution, allow multi-partyism to grow, and eventually ceded power peacefully to a popular new government. An analysis of the twenty-four years that President Moi was in power will reveal a more complex and nuanced picture than the one painted by Prof Mutua.

Both authors betray a penchant for making wild allegations without foundation that has become another of the peculiar habits of Kenyans.No one will dispute that President Moi ruled more like a dictator than a democratically elected president, and no one will dispute that corruption has flourished under President Kibaki's watch despite his promises of fighting tooth and nail to eradicate it during his tenure. But this is not enough to state without reservation that Moi's reign was an unqualified disaster or that President Kibaki is solely responsible for the enormous levels of known graft within the corridors of his government. Other than the pacification of warring Somali clans in Kenya, and the ethnic cashes that characterised the 1992 and 1997 general elections, President Moi oversaw one of the most peaceful and stable periods in Kenya's history, and other than the mere allegation that Mwai Kibaki has created more corruption billionaires than any other president, his social programmes have done more to alleviate poverty than is acknowledged. He has managed to provide free basic education to millions of primary school-going children, and his Rapid Results Initiative and Performance Contracting System for the public service has done more to improve services to citizens than is being acknowledged. It is not enough to accuse the two presidents of being at the centre of some of Kenya's most intractable problems; one must also provide the proof for such crimes.

British imperialism in Kenya has a lot to answer for

I have read Murithi Mutiga's exchanges with RA Massie-Bloomfield with avid interest and I am staggered that someone would suggest that Kenyans should look at the period of British imperialism in Kenya with fondness or gratitude. We cannot suggest that Kenya go back to what it was before the white man brought Christianity and nationhood to Africa; the wheel of history has turned too far for there to be any reversal. But for anyone to suggest that the British did what they did with the best of intention is to be willfully blind.

When the British turned Kenya into a colony in 1921, they should have expected that Kenyans would play by the same rules that the colonial administration wished to impose o Kenyans. The immediate results of the declaration of colonial status were the Harry Thuku-led land agitations of the 1920s that would not die down until the British had been forced to grant Kenya self-rule in 1963. Operation Anvil and the declaration of a state of emergency revealed the colonial government for what it was - an administration unwilling to admit that it was racist to the core. 

No one who appreciates the importance of democracy can deny that what the British engaged in between 1952 and 1959 was authoritarian and akin to the much maligned Apartheid system in South Africa or the Stalinist dictatorship of the Soviet Union. Indeed, Mr Massie-Bloomfield would probably deny that the concentrations camps favoured by Nazi Germany were the direct descendants of similar tactics employed by the British, especially during the Boer Wars of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. 

The British continue to deny that gross human rights violations, which had the imprimatur of official sanction, were committed against the valiant warriors of the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s. Just as in the case of the Chagosians' claims against the British government that have been kept alive for close to three decades, the British government continues to deny the validity of the surviving Mau Mau fighters against the British government, and Mr Massie-Bloomfield continues to hanker for a golden age that was golden only for the white man in a black man's country. His is not an isolated condition; it is shared by the politicians in Whitehall and the thousands of white Britons who continue to believe that their mission to civilise and Christianise the African continent was a mission directed straight from On High.

The bitter legacies of British colonial rule are manifest today in the distorted land policies pursued by successive governments and the state of our political progress over forty-five years after Independence. While we may welcome criticism that seeks to ensure a more equitable nation, we must not allow ourselves to be talked down to by men and women who wold wish to deny the past. Successive British High Commissioners have seen fit to lay down what is and what is not right with the governance of Kenya forgetting that if it had not been for successive colonial policies pursued by their government, we would not be in the boat that we find ourselves in today.

Before anyone can profer advise about how we should go about resolving the myriad conflicts that confront us today, one must accept, without reservation, that the British colonial experiment did not acquit itself honourably or admirably, and that in its final decade, it did more to set back the wheel of democracy than the successive repressions of the Kenyatta and Moi governments.

Save the child, save the future

The Law Society of Kenya, the pre-eminent trade union representing the interests of practicing advocates in Kenya, guards very jealously its reputation. If an advocate is shown to have acted unprofessionally, or have brought the Society to disrepute, the penalties will be imposed without mercy. Which is why I cannot for the life of me understand how the Kenya National Union of Teachers would stand idly by as 641 of its members used and abused children under their charges, committing such acts of sexual violence against them that would surely bring tears to the parents who happen to read this little note.

Gabriel Lengoiboni's Teachers Service Commission has decided to act and the 641 animals will be sent home. About time too! Time also for the KNUT to follow suit and strike these animals from its roll. Regardless of the toll that this round of sackings will take on the teaching profession, it is the right thing to do. But, the Commission must go further - it must set about instituting proper early warning and reporting procedures to offer the children under the charge of the teaching profession the security they deserve, to protect them from the animals that have infiltrated one of the oldest and noblest professions known to mankind. And when these animals are caught, it should not be enough that they lose their teaching privileges. They must also face the full brunt of the law and total ostracisation by their fellow teachers. It is the least we could do to demonstrate that we will have no truck with men and women who would seek to snuff out the light of curiosity from the young and the innocent.

An eco- or industrial future?

What should be the balance between environmental concerns and economic development? Since the Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act came into operation in January 2000, this question has bedevilled the mandarins in the Ministry of Environment, the National Environment Management Authority, local authorities and developers and not one of them has come up with a satisfactory answer. The late Prof Wangari Maathai, who was cremated today, championed the cause of forest conservation for the better part of her adult life. As the founder and Director of the Green Belt Movement she stood up against the State just when the deforestation bandwagon was gaining traction. Many will remember with gratitude the war she fought with Moi's KANU when the then ruling party wanted to annexe a portion of Uhuru Park for the construction of a 60-storey building. They will also remember the wars she fought against Moi's regime when the Karura Forest was being systematically decimated by ecologically destructive developments authorised by the Moi government.

Prof Maathai managed to link environmental issues with governance, and in winning the prestigious Nobel Prize for Peace she was vindicated by the global community for demonstrating that where people lack a voice in the governance of their nation, they lack the opportunities to manage their natural resources responsibly, effectively and for profit. But she never got a chance to demonstrate that environmental demands should supersede the demands of the business community. The record of the West when it comes to environmental issues has been mixed but only because the knowledge that we have gained since 1972 came too late to reverse some of the decisions that had been taken over a course of close to 250 years. The Industrial Revolution, while turning Europe and America into economic powerhouses, also decimated the natural environment and developed technologies that are the bane of the environment today. But without the assiduous employment of coal in the beginning of the Revolution, among other capital factors, their economies would not be where they are today, climate change concerns notwithstanding.

Kenya finds itself at a cross-roads. To industrialise, some environmental concerns must be jettisoned. There are enormous deposits of iron and coal in Ukambani, but to exploit them fully will mean generating many millions of tonnes of climate changing green-house gases. But without generating larger volumes of electricity, our steel and cement industries are dead in the water. These, by the way, are primary components in the industrialisation of this country. If we are to rapidly industrialise as Vision 2030 demands, we will have to set aside extreme environmental concerns for the economic benefits of industrialisation. Not many eco-extremists want to hear this.

Examining our options, we are left with few choices, but some advantages to the industrialising nations of Europe and North America in the 17th and 18th centuries. The information and technologies available today may help to a great extent to mitigate against the ill-effects of the industalisation of the nation. For instance, while the employment of coal will significantly increase the production of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, the knowledge gathered from carbon-sequestration studies suggest that the effect may not be completely negative if the correct techniques are employed in mitigation. Prof Maathai's One-Billion Trees project may also assist in restoring degraded forests and lands in Kenya, contributing significantly to reversing trends that have been observed since at least the mid-1970s. Ecological concerns and industrialisation are not mutually exclusive and the fact that Kenya is now part of an integrated global community means that the potential to co-opt many more partners in its quest for industrial growth has only increased. Perhaps it is time that the policy makers in government and the eco-warriors of the NGO sector joined hands to properly draft policies that not only ensure that our industrial future is sustainable, but that all sectors of the society benefit from the natural riches of this nation. This will be the true legacy of Prof Maathai's struggles for the environment.

Iron fists and velvet gloves

Kenya's foreign policy cannot be held hostage to the demands of the Mt Kenya Mafia. Kenya is surrounded by nations that are either in transition or in complete disarray. Somalia has been a festering sore since Mohammed Siad Barre was deposed in 1990. South Sudan, Africa's newest nation-state is still grappling with the after-shocks of nearly forty years of civil war. Ethiopia and Uganda are quasi-democracies in the grip of men who know that they are the saviors of their nations and as such, indulge in regular intimidation of Kenya along their common borders. But it is Mwai Kibaki's foreign policy that has failed to forestall the regular territorial incursions from 'militias' in our neighbours' territories that betrays our utter lack of a coherent foreign policy.

Under President Moi, Kenya sought to bolster its security by engaging with other regional and international partners to find lasting solutions to the wars that bedevilled Somalia and Sudan, ending up with a peace of sorts in Sudan and a Transitional Federal Government in Somalia. Mwai Kibaki's government has attempted to build on the successes of the peace initiatives with a marked lack of success. Instead, his government has allowed the economic agendas of a few to dictate how and when Kenya will respond to the changing situations in the two countries. Even in its relations with Uganda and Ethiopia, the Government of Kenya has relied more on soft-power diplomacy than on the overt deployment and use of its vastly superior armed forces. The result has been a constant stream of talking shops that do not seem to resolve basic territorial issues. 

Ethiopia will go ahead with the massive dam project on the River Omo despite the fact that it will adversely alter the livelihoods of thousands in Turkana for the worse. South Sudan, now that it has gained independence from the North, will seek to bolster its territory by laying claim to Kenyan territory it claims was filched while it was busy prosecuting its civil war. The lack of a credible central government in Mogadishu has allowed the al Shabaab to visit indignities upon Kenyans and their visitors almost at will. President Kibaki's declaration that Kenya will defend its territory against all comers misses the point: force must be the last of a long series of overtures aimed at stabilising its back yard.

The recent attacks by elements of the al Shabaab in Lamu demonstrate that the work of living peaceably with the Republic of Somalia is not yet done. Kenya, and the world, need to re-engage more robustly with moderate elements in Somalia to stabilise the country. Without a functioning national government capable of enforcing its writ in the whole of Somalia, closing the border will only be a temporary solution to a strategic problem. What is needed is a strategic initiative to strengthen the Federal Government, ensure the active participation of all political elements in the governance of the country, and the elimination of extremists from the political and military arenas. This will go a long way in restoring stability along Kenya's border with Somalia and reducing the acts of terrorism by groups such as the al Shabaab.

Mwai Kibaki must jettison the commerce-led interventions of the past 7 years and pursue a multi-pronged strategy that calls into play its military, diplomatic, cultural and commercial elements. The al Shabaab must be reminded that Kenya's military may not have fought in a war, but it is well-trained, well-equipped and highly motivated. They must be persuaded that they can make more money through legitimate means than through religion-fuelled terrorism. For that, Mwai Kibaki must authorise Kenya's defense forces to enter Somali territory every time there is an incursion along our borders. Anything less, and we will be dealing with the al Shabaab for a long time to come.

This is our time

Kenya's Second Liberation has been seen as an overtly political event, ignoring the changes, some of which were against received orthodoxy, that have taken place since at least the beginning of the last decade of the twentieth century, especially the changes wrought on an unprepared nation by the mandarins of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. 

The Government of Kenya has been complicit in keeping Kenyans' eyes on the political arena and away from the economic and sociocultural liberalisation that accompanied the political changes that have taken place. With the ratification and Promulgation of a Constitution after a Referendum in 2010, the political project is on course to further liberalise the politics of Kenya as never before. However, it is in the economic and to some extent the sociocultural spheres that the lives of ordinary Kenyans have been greatly affected and our failure to examine and re-examine these changes has contributed significantly to the uncertainty and turmoil hat we are facing today.

September 2011 will certainly go down as one of the bloodiest in Kenya's history, the bloodshed not being the result of civil strife or political turmoil. The month has exposed the failures of the liberalisation that has taken place in Kenya since the 1990s. While the markets and the economy were opened up to competition from within and without, the political structures needed to ensure their successes have been wanting. The Kenyan State still remains fundamentally unreformed, with the changes that have taken place over the past fifteen years being concerned with ensuring its efficiency and not its efficacy. 

The Government has consistently failed in its liberalisation - failing to ensure peace and order, the rule of law, eradication of corruption or stable fiscal and monetary policies. As a result, the sociocultural and economic turmoil has not kept pace with the optimism engendered by the freedom agenda of the Second Liberation. Indeed, it could be argued that freedom came to Kenya too early and we are now paying the price for not keeping our eyes on the ship of state as it navigated the non-political waters of the economy or the sociocultural ocean.

With the explosion of the internet and mobile telephony, many urbanised Kenyans have access to information and ideas at a rate that is unprecedented, but with the unremitting hand of the state on their backs, it has been impossible for Kenyans to wean themselves from the "tunaomba serikali" mindset that characterises their day-to-day lives. As a result, what we would think of as a liberal economy is in truth an economy that is overly reliant on the government to do or not do certain things. This, to a large extent, explains why it is impossible for the people to pay for their basic needs or to afford the luxuries of life. 

Where trade with the government is prioritised over trade with other citizens or foreigners, there is no chance that the economy will be able to survive manipulation by a well-connected and informed elite. Rent-seeking is the natural result of the government being the predominant player in the market-place, and only those with strong ties to the ruling elite will have access to the best information or the opportunity to exploit this information for profit.

The Second Liberation is far from over and it behooves Kenyans of all stripes to participate in the transition from an oligarchic system to a truly liberal one. The advent of devolved government offers many an opportunity in making decisions that will have far greater impact on their economic lives than at any other time in Kenya's history. If we allow the devolution model to be hijacked by a political class that is still wedded to the halcyon days of the KANU Era, poverty, ignorance and disease will continue to stalk large swathes of this benighted country.

What are they planning and why aren't they telling us?

President Moi's succession went without a hitch. Despite the fact that he had backed a losing horse, placing his loyalty to the party (and to his legacy) above loyalty to his own Kalenjin community, President Moi was astute enough to leave the succession to unwind the way it did. The KANU candidate made a gracious speech accepting the verdict of the people of Kenya who had backed, by an overwhelming majority, the election of NARC's Mwai Kibaki as Kenya's third president. What took place immediately after was a disaster that directly contributed to the fiasco of the 2005 Referendum and the bloodshed of 2007 and 2008. Because Mwai Kibaki and his supporters had been in government, they felt that they did not need to have an examination of what their policies would be once he was sworn in as president and, as a result, many holdovers from the KANU days were appointed to critical institutions, including the Cabinet and many state corporations. Even Raila Odinga, one of Mwai Kibaki's most ardent supporters, a lion of the Second Liberation and a member of President Moi's Cabinet, was appointed to Kibaki's before the spectacular falling out over the Wako Draft in 2005.

A look at many of the candidates who have stepped to the plate to be Kenya's fourth president is a study in jogging in place. All claim to be harbingers of change, but bar, perhaps, Mutava Musyimi and, definitely, Kingwa Kamencu, all have had a hand in the government of Kenya in one guise or the other. Because of their association with former regimes, they are yet to articulate what changes they will make in the governance of Kenya, save that they will be 'different'. This can no longer be the basis of their putative campaigns; if they want the people to repose their trust in them, they must do better. Much better.

The Kenya of 2013 is different from the Kenya of 2002, 2005 or 2007 and it is crucial that the presidential contenders realise this truism. Kenya has a new Constitution that radically refashions the instruments of power. The Office of the President is no longer the imperial edifice against which the champions of the Second Liberation dashed their heads against; it has become less imperial with its power shared with the new Parliament composed of the National Assembly and the Senate. The Judiciary is now headed by a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the High Court and Court of Appeal enjoy more autonomy in the manner they are administered. Even with the challenges faced in the management of the now defunct Kenya Anti-corruption Commission, transparency and accountability are becoming a reality day by day. With these changes, it is not enough for candidates to merely express their desire to change the system, it is crucial that they articulate their political and other philosophies in order for Kenyans to make an informed choice at the hustings next year.

Given that the presidency is no longer the trough at which political has-beens and hangers-on can sup from, all candidates must demonstrate that they have a very deep bench of experienced operators to assume offices of responsibility once they are sworn in in 2012. The Constitution envisages a Cabinet of between 14 and 22 Cabinet Secretaries; do any of the candidates have a list of heir potential Cabinet Secretaries? If they do, once they announced their candidacies, they should not have kept this list secret, especially if they want to put pressure on the new National Assembly to approve their nominees in the shortest time possible. Given the increased cost f living and the economic hardship faced by citizens, the candidates must start articulating hat their economic policies will be wit regards to revenue-collection or expenditure and what they will prioritise. Kenya is undergoing great social upheaval, especially in light of the introduction of cheap telecommunication technologies such as the internet and mobile phones, so the candidates must articulate their plans for managing the rapid socio-cultural changes that are taking place today. Our foreign policy has frequently appeared shambolic, with the incumbent politicians bound over-strictly by the strictures of Cabinet collective responsibility ad the provisions of the Official Secrets Act, but they must begin to express their ideas regarding Kenya's place in the East African Community, the Intergovernmental Authority for Development, the African Union, the United Nations, or any other of the regional, continental and global organisation it may be a member to. So too must they articulate their national security and national defense plans with a view to reassuring Kenyans that they will not fall back to the measures that had been relied on by the Kenyatta and Moi regimes or the Kibaki regime's tactics in its first term.

This means that until the next general elections, the public communications strategies of the candidates must be geared towards not just putting forth their political messages, but also policy documents that will address the key fears or concerns of the Kenyans people. That way, should a candidate win, his policies will not come as a shock to the people, nor will it feel as a betrayal when one course of action is pursued at the expense of another. Kenyans felt betrayed when a secret MoU entered into between Kibaki and Odinga was exposed or the fact that it was the primary cause of the internal rebellion that rocked Mwai Kibaki's government between his swearing in in 2003 and the referendum of 2005. The next president must avoid the same fate; to do so, as a candidate, he must be as forthcoming as possible of his plans and his maneuvers. If these men and women are incapable of telling us who they are and what they intend to do, they do not deserve to be elected to any position, let alone that of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kenya.

Lessons from The Hague

Watching the court proceedings from The Hague on TV, and listening to the Prosecution's case, I am starkly reminded of events that I witnessed first-hand as a student in India in the summer of 2002, when marauding gangs of fanatical Hindus, egged on by politicians, went on the rampage and massacred thousands of Muslims in the State of Gujarat after a train-load of Hindus were attacked and murdered in cold blood. It was alleged by many, and proven by a few brave reporters, that, in what amounted to a pogrom in Gujarat, the Hindu attackers relied on electoral rolls to identify and target Muslim households. 

Men, women and children who professed the Muslim faith were targetted and brutally butchered. Their homes were set alight. Their properties were destroyed. Women were gang-raped before being executed by marauding gangs of Hindu youth. Pregnant women had foetuses butchered from their swollen bellies and thrown into fires. Politicians, especially the Chief Minister of Gujarat, were implicated in the pogrom; many of them either paid or directed the violence that rocked that state in 2002.

The similarities between the Gujarat pogrom and the violence that rocked Nakuru and Naivasha in 2007/08 are plain to see. In Gujarat, Hindu pilgrims returning from a religious pilgrim were attacked in their train and brutally murdered. In retaliation, Hindu politicians and businessmen organised themselves and set about punishing an entire community for the crimes of a handful of their co-religionists. 

In Kenya, following violence that rocked the North Rift after the disputed elections of 2007, Kikuyu politicians and businessmen, in retaliation for the deaths of Kikuyus in the North Rift, organised themselves and set about not just punishing Kalenjins, but also Luos and Luhyas residing in Nakuru and Naivasha. The barbarities perpetrated against them are similar to those perpetrated in Gujarat in 2002: murder, rape and the wanton destruction of property and sources of livelihood. as in India, the marauding gangs in Nakuru and Naivasha relied on lists prepared in advance, perhaps the electoral roll. And just as in Gujarat, no one was spared: men, women and children were fair game for the bloodthirsty gangs unleashed in 2007/08.

In the aftermath of the violence in Kenya, it was politicians who set about profiting from the blood spilled by thousands upon thousands of innocent Kenyans. The politicians who had set Kenyans upon each other resolved to bury the blood-soaked hatchet and join together in a coalition government. The Party of National Unity and the Orange Democratic Movement Party of Kenya entered into a coalition agreement, where the President, representing the PNU got to keep his job and Raila Odinga, representing ODM, became Kenya's second Prime Minister, the position having been abolished when Kenya became a republic in 1964. 

In their zeal to make the best of the coalition arrangement, the Principals, as they were now referred, agreed to establish Independent Commissions of Inquiry to investigate the bungling of the elections and the violence that had paralysed East Africa's leading economy. The politicians, for the most part, had no quarrel with the findings of South African Justice (Rtd) Johann Kriegler-led Commission that investigated the 2007 general elections, and agreed, without too much rancour, to establish the Interim Independent Electoral Commission and the Interim Independent Boundaries Commission (though they would vehemently disagree with the work of the Boundaries Commission later on). But, almost to a man, they disagreed with the findings of the Justice Philip Waki-led Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence (CIPEV) and its recommendations, especially that of establishing a local mechanism to investigate and try persons who may have been responsible for the violence. 

Justice Waki set the cat among the pigeons by publishing a secret list of persons his Commission felt should be investigated and tried for crimes committed during the PEV, and by giving the list to Koffi Annan, the mediator appointed by the Panel of Eminent African Personalities of the African Union, he all but guaranteed that Kenyan politicians would use his Commission's report and its recommendations as fodder for political gain. 

Initially, the politicians were united in rejecting the establishment of a local mechanism, insisting that The Hague option was the only one that inspired confidence that the issues surrounding the PEV would be adequately investigated, and they rejected the President's and Prime Minister's advise that a local mechanism was the better option. Their slogan was: "Don't be vague, go to The Hague!". Only when William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta became suspects did their tune change and they started maneuvering to kill The Hague option, but it was too late.

Listening to the Prosecutor laying the basis for his application for a full trial, one can see why the politicians don't want the charges to be confirmed or a trial to take place. They are accused of not just perpetrating violence against their fellow Kenyans, but of instigating, planning and funding the violence on both sides of the events of 2007/08.They are accused of knowingly ensuring that not only were innocent Kenyans brutally murdered, but that the murderous violence spared no one: age, gender and status in society was no protection. 

The ICC hearings are the first time that Kenyans are hearing an unvarnished truth about the character of their political leaders and it makes for chilling viewing when the Prosecutor describes scenes of unimaginable cruelty and barbarity and the suspects sit calmly and studiously aloof, as if they are above the events being described. Whether they are guilty or not is not the point; Kenyans are getting a master-class in what is required if we are to eradicate political impunity from our body politic. It is a lesson we had better take to heart or the next time this country goes up in flames, we may never put the pieces together again.

Cabinet has no moral authority to change the election date

The Constitution of Kenya, at article 101, provides that a general election to elect Members of Parliament shall be held on the first Tuesday of August in every fifth year, and article 136 provides that an election to elect the President of Kenya shall be held on the same date as the date of a general election to elect Members of Parliament. Mwai Kibaki's Cabinet, divided as it has been on many issues, has united around the decision to amend the Constitution to shift the date of the general election from August to December on, among many, a flimsy ground that the date of the general election clashes with the budgeting process of the Government of Kenya. The combative chairman of the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution has announced that his Commission will seek an interpretation of the Cabinet's decision from the Supreme Court of Kenya. The Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs insists that the Cabinet decision is not wrong in and of itself, but that he would be guided by the decision of the Supreme Court, even though he s persuaded that the Supreme Court is incompetent to make this decision in the absence of rules to govern the procedure of the Court.

What seems to have been forgotten is that ever since the Bomas Conference, the people of Kenya have expressed a clear desire to shift the general election date from the Christmas period to August, citing, among other reasons, that it had traditionally interfered with the enjoyment of a religious period and usually cost them more when it came to preparations for the New Year. They argued, persuasively I think, that the cooling down period between the general election and Christmas was invaluable in reminding the political class of the values that hold this nation together.

Unfounded rumours are already swirling that the reasons why the Cabinet endorsed the proposal have nothing to do with the government's budgetary cycle but that it was an attempt to take into account the legal problems faced by some of the suspects of the PEV facing the possibility of trial at The Hague. But is the desires and wishes of Kenyans that are being given the short shrift by the Cabinet. The Cabinet, drawn as it is from Members of Parliament, should reflect the wishes of the voters who elected them and they all say that an August election is their preference. Any amendment to the Constitution regarding the date of the general election is not subject to the Referendum Rule found in article 255 of the Constitution, but given the strong desire for the people to retain the August date, the Government, especially the Cabinet, must seek out the views of the voters to determine whether such a shift is warranted or not. Mr Nyachae, the CIC Chairman, is surely right to state that it is far easier for the government to reorganise its budget cycle to accommodate the election date than to amend the Constitution to accommodate the budget cycle.

As for the Justice Minister's assertion that the lack of rules of procedure for the Supreme Court makes the Court unqualified to offer its interpretation of the Constitution as sought by the CIC, he should be reminded that the Constitution also makes provisions for this situation. Until the appointment of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal had responsibility for the subjects under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. That is no longer the case. With the appointment of the Supreme Court and the swearing into office of the Judges of the Supreme Court, the court is fully constitution and competent to execute its mandate as envisioned in the Constitution, the lack of rules of procedure not withstanding. The provisions of the Constitution defining the Jurisdiction of the Court are absolute and do not depend upon the publishing of rules of procedure. Indeed, it can be argued that the Court can make up the rules as it goes, despite the confusion that will be sown, and make a determination regarding any matter that is properly within its jurisdiction.

This is the Constitution that an overwhelming majority of voters endorsed on August 4, 2010. Kenyans declared that they would no longer be led by the nose b their elected representatives or their Cabinet. They declared their sovereignty as a nation and as a people and the Cabinet or the National Assembly does not have the authority or the right to claw back this sovereignty. If President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga wish to be remembered as the First Defenders of the Constitution, they must shoot down this plan to amend the Constitution to accommodate a cabal accused of high crimes against the people of Kenya. It is the least they can do as they shepherd Kenya into a new beginning, a beginning we anticipate will come about on the first Tuesday of August of 2012.

Why Kingwa Kamencu should stand for the presidency of Kenya

Kingwa Kamencu is 27, single and a woman, and she wants to be the fourth president of Kenya. Her announcement was shambolic and was interspersed with tears for the suffering of Kenya. Experienced political hacks immediately wrote her off because she did not seem to know what it would take to win the presidential election in 2012, how she would govern or what her priorities would be as president. Her negatives are many and diverse. She has never run for high political office before; she does not seem to have managed a large organisation before; she does not seem to have a team, other than her parents and friends, to advise her on her presidential bid; she does not seem to have a Rolodex of political supporters behind her; she does not seem to have thought through where the money for the campaign will come from.

Despite the above, I would urge Kenyans to re-think their decision to ridicule her naive desire to rule in Kenya. It is still 12 months or so to the next general elections and the same faces that we are used to are the front-runners in a putative presidential contest. These faces have been behind the tragedies of this nation, indulging in massive corruption and theft of public funds for decades. President Kibaki is not only a holdover from Moi's regime, but also Kenyatta's. Raila Odinga is linked to both Moi's and Kibaki's regimes, both as insider and heretic. William Ruto reminds Kenyans of the dark days of the Moi regime, especially the deeply distrusted YK'92. Uhuru Kenyatta, scion of a political legacy, has nothing to commend himself to to Kenyans other than his political legacy and his father's name. Martha Karua, despite her Second Liberation credentials, will not erase the memory of her defense of the Kibaki election win in 2007 and 2008 or the suspicion that the only reason she quit Kibaki's government was because she was not getting her rightful pound of flesh after her robust defense of the Kibaki Establishment. While the Rev Mutava Musyimi may have cut his political teeth with the Ufungamano Initiative and his leadership of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, and his credible management of the Gachoka CDF kitty, his leadership of the Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Land and Natural Resources has been plagued with controversy, notably their acquittal of Charity Ngilu of the corruption scandals that have bedevilled the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. Raphael Tuju has kept a low profile since being defeated in his Rarieda constituency on the back of an ODM wave in Luo Nyanza, but his connections to the PNU gang raises questions over his independence and whether his presidential candidature is meant to split the Luo vote with Raila Odinga, Luo Kenya's favourite son. The same can be said about Peter Kenneth's candidature in relation to Uhuru Kenyatta's: is he the man who will steal votes from the House of Mumbi's favourite son? Eugene Wamalwa has nothing to recommend himself other than the fact that Mwai Kibaki promised to step down in favour of his decidedly more charismatic brother, the late Michael Kijana Wamalwa. None of these candidates comes to the contest with clean hands; it seems as if the foxes want to be in charge of guarding the hen-house.

Miss Kamencu has much to learn about the political process in Kenya, but her youthful enthusiasm and relative guilelessness should be seen as advantages and not disadvantages. She offers Kenyans the best hope for a clean break with the past despite her youth and inexperience. Unless it emerges that she is sexually promiscuous or a thief or a compulsive drug-user, she should be given the opportunity to develop as a candidate and give her the chance to lay her vision for this country before the people of Kenya. We must be alive to the fact that the political field is not the preserve of the existing candidates and that all Kenyans, despite their backgrounds, have the right to lay their vision before the people. So hat if she broke down in emotion at the pain and suffering of people she hopes to lead; a good leader must empathise with the people suffering and offer them an opportunity to be heard in the corridors of power. I hope he has not been dissuaded by the poor response of Kenya's media and political class. If she can surmount the hurdles being thrown in her path, she has the potential to change Kenyans' perception of her and her heretical desire to lead. More power to her, I say, and may the good Lord guide her in this exciting period in her life.

Disaster and Impunity

It is time we admitted that disaster and impunity are inextricably linked. Over one hundred men, women and children were killed yesterday when a fire engulfed part of the Sinai slum in Nairobi's industrial area. As usual, members of the chattering classes were quick with why the disaster happened, who was to blame and what the solution to future disasters is. Also, as expected, were members of the political class, including the visibly agitated Head of State and Prime Minister, visiting with the injured at the Kenyatta National Hospital and on the ground at the scene of disaster. 

As usual, again, it was left to Kiraitu Murungi, the Minister for Energy, to make a stupid statement. It remains to be seen what the hyperactive Gideon Mbuvi alias Mike Sonko, the Member for Makadara, in which the Sinai slum falls, will make of the latest tragedy to occur in his constituency. The last time a fire took place in his constituency, Hon Mbuvi led his constituents in rejecting the assistance of the Ministry of Special Programmes, going so far as to kick out Hon Esther Murugi, the Minister, out of the area.

We have, over the past decade or so, concentrated on impunity at the political and Executive levels of government. Our attention, as primed by members of the press, has concentrated overwhelmingly, and justifiably, at the politicians and public servants who have benefited unfairly and unlawfully from the positions they wielded in Kenyatta's, Moi's and Kibaki's governments. We also turned our outraged attentions on the officials in our local authorities who had used their positions in the councils to enrich themselves at the expense of providing quality and affordable municipal services to the residents of our burgeoning and developing metropolises, cities and towns. 

However, we studiously turned a blind eye to the impunity with which we engaged in our day-to-day lives, the petty corruption that we fostered by our attitude towards officialdom and our animus against rules and regulations meant not only to protect our properties but safeguard our lives. As a result, we see no contradiction in calling for the resignations of government officials 'implicated' in scandals of one shade or the other, but turning a blind eye to the blatant violations of traffic rules, even simple ones as the use of prescribed bus stages to board and alight from public service vehicles.

Therefore, today we will call for the heads of the officials in the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Lands, the Ministry of Special Programmes and the City Council of Nairobi, but ignore the fact that the people living in the Kenya Pipeline Company's wayleave did so contrary to the clear provisions of law and in defiance of the numerous warnings from the Company and other stakeholders of the risks that they were courting in their continued stay. Reforms are taking place in government that it is hoped will make life bearable for the majority of Kenyans in the years to come. However, these reforms will be to no avail if Kenyans do not hold themselves to the same high standards they demand of their government.

Therefore, it is pointless to wring our hands and weep in sorrow when we refuse to do that which we know to be right. As a first step, the government must take steps to raze to the ground, regardless of the pain and suffering that will ensue, the Sinai slum and relocate its residents, either to makeshift camps, or as some will no doubt suggest, back to their up-country homes. Slum upgrading, as the Kibera and Mathare experiences have shown, are prone to the same corrupt tendencies of all major government projects so a new strategy is needed, one that empowers the residents of these slums and reminds them that regardless of their straitened circumstances, nothing in this world is free except the grace of God.

If the charges are confirmed, Ruto's goose is cooked

Kenya's Case 1 before the International Criminal Court, in which Confirmation of Charges Hearing was concluded before the Pre-trial Chamber II this past week, was an eye-opener. As expected, William Ruto and his defense team went for the Prosecutor's jugular, sparing no effort to paint his case as weak and motivated by malice. In this, Hon Ruto was joined by radio-man Joshua arap Sang and his defense team. Both decided to call live witnesses to proffer testimony that the violence that wracked Kenya in 2007 and 2008 was spontaneous, that the two suspects did not act in concert within a network, and, alternatively, that if they were to be charged with the masterminding the violence, they did so under the command of the Prime Minister, Raila Odinga. In contrast, Henry Kosgey and his defense team chose to confine their strategy to the matter at hand - whether or not the charges should be confirmed, hence the fact that Hon Kosgey did not testify (as his fellow suspects chose to do) or call live witnesses to testify on his behalf. In this, Hon Kosgey, who has also eschewed public statements regarding his innocence, he resembles Maj Gen (Rtd) Hussein Ali and Amb Francis Muthaura, the suspects in Kenya's Case 2. Uhuru Kenyatta completes the second triumvirate and resembles Hon Ruto and Mr Sang in his public statements. It remains to be seen whether the suspects in the second case will follow Hon Kosgey's lead or Hon Ruto's and Mr Sang's.

Hon Ruto and Mr Sang and their defense teams seem to have forgotten, or ignored, the fact that the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court did not establish an adversarial system in the same mould as the common law system from whence they come. The Rome Statute seems to have borrowed heavily from continental Europe's civil law tradition, where they give the court enormous powers to investigate and determine matters, and where the relationship between the court and the prosecution service is far more closer than in an otherwise adversarial system. While it is a toss-up whether the charges will be confirmed against the three, legal eagles familiar with the latter system are persuaded that the Prosecutor has met his burden and that the charges will be confirmed against Messrs Ruto, Kosgey and Sang. In their opinion, the question of whether the Prosecutor conducted credible investigations to warrant bringing charges against the three will only be determined by the Court at trial and not at the stage of the Confirmation of Charges. They argue further that the defense teams should have taken their cue from Judge Hans-Peter Kaul who wrote a dissenting opinion when the Prosecutor sought permission from the Court to open investigations into the Kenya situation back in March 2010. They should have relied on the premise that if offences were committed in Kenya, they did not rise to offenses that could be tried at the ICC.

Hon Ruto and his loudly supportive allies are determined to lay the blame for their tribulations at the feet of the Prime Minister. However, Hon Odinga and President Kibaki, the two principals in Kenya's Grand Coalition Government, went out of their way to persuade, unsuccessfully, them to permit a local mechanism to investigate and try the PEV cases in Kenya. Hon Ruto and Hon Kenyatta led the National Assembly in rejecting the Prime Minister's proposal, advocating that the matter be handled by an international tribunal where Kenyans would not be able of interfering. They got their wish and now they are crying foul.

In all this, the suspects, especially the politicians, have their eyes firmly on the presidential elections in 2012, one might say, to the total exclusion of sound legal strategy to protect themselves from the attentions of the ICC. In fact, what Hon Charles Keter, one of Hon Ruto's staunchest allies, did during his sojourn in The Hague confirms that in their animus against the Prime Minister, Hon Ruto and his supporters are unwilling to advance a legally credible defense if it means admitting that they made the wrong move in choosing The Hague over a local mechanism. Hon Ruto is a keen observer of Kenya's political landscape and he knows that regardless of what the opinion polls say, if he is a presidential candidate in 2012, he will be facing Hon Odinga at the hustings. He must have observed that the PM is no longer the President's arch-nemesis, but that the two have found a way of working together to achieve common goals and he is scared that if their relationship continues without acrimony into 2012, the PM may find a way of leveraging the successes of the government as proof that he is ready to take on the onerous role of President of Kenya. This is something that Hon Ruto and his allies do not want and if his pride prevents him from surmounting the relatively small hurdle of the ICC he will have only himself to blame when Raila Odinga gets sworn is as Kenya's fourth president.

No sir, you are not Lewis Hamilton or Juha Kankkunen!

The increasing incidents of death and destruction on Kenya's highways point to a sad, demoralising fact: President Kibaki has invested billions of our tax-monies in building and re-building roads, but almost nothing in educating and re-educating drivers on the proper use of those roads. The Executive is in charge of rad safety, but it is in the private sector that you will find the greatest investment in public transport. However, the investment made by the private sector in public transport is often placed in grave jeopardy by operatives of the black market, the Mungikis and other types of organised and un-organised criminal gangs. As a result, not only are the declared costs of operation in the transport sector high, they are pushed to draconian heights by the illegal taxes levied upon the sector by crime.

The Executive has invested in infrastructure that will be of immense benefit to this country down the road, but this investment is also becoming a drain on other parts of this nation's fabric. With the increasing deaths and injuries suffered on our highways, the Executive may begin to divert scarce resources from other parts of its administration to cover the costs of not only protecting but treating those who use our highways. Emergency response services are now primed to respond to an increasing number of road traffic accidents, at the expense of other kinds of emergency response. But it is the blase response of Kenyan road users that is staggering: not one person has admitted that our training and re-training regimen is insufficient to prepare drivers for the open road and not one person will admit that he is a poor road user, believing instead that he is Kenya's answer to Nigel Mansell or Lewis Hamilton.

The number and variety of used and second-hand vehicles on Kenya's roads is rising by the day. Even at this time when the cost of importing these vehicles has gone up by around 15%, the number keeps rising. these vehicles offer access and mobility to thousands upon thousand who cannot rely on an inefficient public transport system, where profit overrides everything else, including safety and comfort. many of the these imported vehicles are driven by inexperienced drivers who do not appreciate that the machines in their control can be turned into instruments of death if the circumstances prevailing during their operation are not optimum. They do not appreciate the crucial need to constantly have these vehicles serviced or repaired when parts break down. More often than not, even new-looking cars may have failing breaks, failing lights, failing gear-boxes or improperly serviced or pressurised tyres. Under normal conditions, these vehicles appear sound and safe; under even slightly abnormal conditions, these cars turns into death-traps, placing lives and property at grave risk.

We face diverse challenges in bringing down the high human cost of using our brand-new roads. It is imperative that all the regulatory and enforcement agencies involved in managing road safety in Kenya renew the zeal they demonstrated during the terrifying reign of John Michuki at Transcom House in the early 2000s. Kenyans must also admit to themselves that it takes more than 10 hours of class and theory to make a safe driver. Indeed, many of those who see themselves as Kenya's next rally and formula one stars would be best advised to enter re-training programmes to test whether they remember the basic rules of the road, such as those contained in the Highway Code. Finally, the Executive must embark and sustain a massive public education campaign on the duties, responsibilities and rights of all road users, including drivers, passengers, pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists of all stripes. A concerted effort among all the key stakeholders and the Executive is the only way that we can bring down and perhaps eliminate, avoidable death and injury on our roads.

Is this Raila's last tango?

Is it too early to declare Raila Amollo Odinga, the Member for Langata and the Prime Minister of Kenya, the front runner in next year's presidential elections? The man who has come to define politics in the decade since President Moi's accursed regime came to an end is being billed as the man to beat come 2012. His erstwhile challengers, William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta, have pending legal tribulations at The Hague, having been accused, rather ironically, of fanning the violence that engulfed parts of the erstwhile Rift Valley and Central Provinces in late-2007/early-2008; ironic because William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta were, during the last general elections, on opposite sides of the political divide, with Hon Ruto one of Raila Odinga's most strident supporters. Yet, somehow the two and Kalonzo Musyoka, all former staunch or current members of KANU, find themselves on the same political boat, determined to prevent the Prime Minister from ascending the presidency in 2012.

Prime Minister Odinga has come far since the fraught days of early 2008. Then, he was facing the worst aftermath of a general election in a generation; the country was engulfed in flames and his party was being blamed for the unremitting violence. The international community, though the good offices of the African Union and a panel of eminent African personalities, led by the former Secretary-General of the United nations, Koffi Annan, had stepped in and compelled Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki to set aside their mistrust ad suspicion for the sake of a peaceful Kenya. The ODM leader was facing five years sf political isolation if he did not agree to a deal; William Ruto, Sally Kosgey, Musalia Mudavadi and James Orengo spearheaded the ODM's negotiations with the PNU, hammering out a deal that saw Raila Odinga appointed the second Prime Minister in Kenya's history. The irony is not lost on Kenyans with an eye to their history: Uhuru Kenyatta's father, Jomo Kenyatta, was Kenya's first prime Minister upon Kenya attaining internal self-government, ascending the presidency after engineering Kenya's declaration of 'jamhuri' in 1964. In 1964, Oginga Odinga was Kenyatta's Vice-President. 46 years later and Raila Odinga is Prime Minister and Uhuru Kenyatta is Deputy Prime Minister.

Now Prime Minister Odinga wishes to use his office to vault onto the Presidency. Not only is he opposed by Uhuru Kenyatta, rekindling memories of the bitter rivalry between their respective fathers that nearly destroyed this nation in the '60s and '70s, he faces a rebellion from William ruto and his cohort from the North Rift and the possibility that he could also drive a wedge between the Prime Minister and other elected representatives of ODM from the former Rift Valley Province. Messrs Ruto and Kenyatta have managed to create the impression that the alliance arrayed against the Prime Minister is much larger than it seems, having persuaded the deeply distrusted Kalonzo Musyoka, the naive Eugene Wamalwa, the crass Chirau Ali Mwakwere, and a supporting cast of mouths-for-hire like the verbosely voluble Isaac Ruto and Joshua Kuttuny, to join the inaptly named G7. Trying to ensure that one of them becomes the Gang's torch-bearer, they have labelled the likes of Mutava Musyimi, Martha Karma and Peter Kenneth as traitors out to prevent one of their own from keeping Raila Odinga out of State House. It is the same case with talk of Raphael Tuju's candidacy as being sponsored by spoil-sports in PNU out to whittle down the Prime Minister support in Luo Nyanza.

The Prime Minister, as has become his norm, is two or three moves ahead of his rivals. he has set out to clean up his house, beginning with the realignment of his relationship with the lame-duck Mwai Kibaki. He followed this up with the removal of the ethnically-challenged Miguna Miguna, getting rid of a painful thorn in the PNU brigade's side and earning valuable brownie points with the President. Knowing how important it was for the President to have Prof Githu Muigai as Attorney-General, a man whom the PM respects and admires, he did not object both times the good professor was nominated, merely horse-trading this position for two others, the Controller of Budget and the Auditor-General. He has also undertaken a charm offensive, repeatedly visiting the Mount Kenya region to shore up what little support he had among its denizens, and commiserating with Kenyans in straitened circumstances in various parts of the country. he has also moderated his tone, preferring, to the utter annoyance of leading members of the G7, proverbs and metaphors to make his point. He has also demonstrated, quite ably too, that he can create an international coalition of development partners and Kenyans in the diaspora. But it is in wooing the business community that the PM hopes to reap the richest dividends, ensuring that his statements and actions have a calming effect on the stock markets and the export markets. He knows that he cannot blow his family fortune on a final presidential run, so he will need the even deeper pockets of the business world to bankroll what is sure to be the most expensive elections in a generation. His rivals, on the other hand, in addition to dealing with their ICC obligations, distrust each other greatly. Regardless of the public bonhomie between Uhuru and Ruto, or among the G7 three (Uhuru, Ruto and Kalonzo), none trusts the other to keep their end of the bargain, with Kalonzo frequently getting the short end of the stick. If by any chance Uhuru and Ruto get indicted by the ICC, there is every possibility that they will not work to ensure Kalonzo prevails against the PM, only that the PM does not prevail either. The revolving-door policy of the G7 does not help either with the apparent departures of Najib Balala and Dr Sally Kosgey. As 2012 approaches, the G7 must clean up their act or get their collective clocks cleaned by a revitalised Prime Minister.

Engage or perish

The seriousness with which we are treating the Confirmation Hearings before the International Criminal Court's Pre-trial Chamber II should compel us to re-think the criteria with which we choose and elect our political leadership. The strategies employed by the suspects to beat back the Prosecutor's case demonstrate that our political leadership still considers us children in need of a firm hand, to be denied critical information in the governance of this nation. Prof Githu Muigai, the latest Attorney-General must have advised the Executive that it was futile to challenge the admissibility of an ICC trial, hence the Executive's decision to abandon that line of attack. This is an important development in the reform of the government, admitting of the fact that tax-payers' monies should not be used to assuage the egos of the elite few amongst us. If only Messrs Ruto, Kosgey and Sang took this process for what it is, that is, an attempt to address the political impunity that has characterised political discourse n Kenya for nigh on forty-seven years, we wold not be treating the hearings just as one more in a long series of political spectacles that we are resigned to.

The blogosphere is awash with ill-informed speculation on the guilt or innocence of the suspects, reflecting once more the complete lack of depth in the way Kenyans consider matters of national importance. Examining only the public and overt portions of the hearings, we are making pronouncements that have no foundation, keeping the fires of mistrust and distrust burning in an attempt to shore up the weak arguments of our side. The Prosecutor, so goes popular uninformed opinion, is seen as fighting a losing battle where the victors will come home unscathed and re-enter their political trajectories to high office with nary a scar. What we seem to have forgotten in the height of our biased interpretation of the goings-on at The Hague is that thousands of Kenyans were murdered, thousands upon thousands more were injured and maimed, and driven from their homes by men and women in the pay of one or more political actors. We also wish to ignore the fact that at this juncture in the ICC process, all the Prosecutor needs to prove is that he has a prima facie case that can go trial; the trial is yet to begin and the fire-and-brimstone routine of defense teams at The Hague is mere political theatre, designed to keep the suspects' names in the media limelight for as long as possible, protecting their political careers at the expense of truth and justice for the victims. Whether Messrs Ruto, Kosgey and sang are guilty of the crimes they are accused of will be determined only after the process is seen to its logical conclusion, with charges confirmed and trial held. That day, sadly, is still some time away.

Meanwhile, the events of the past month should be warning enough that Kenyans must take a keener interest in the actions of their elected representatives and their government as a whole. Despite the failure by the Judicial Service Commission to strictly abide by the two-thirds rule, the High Court has ruled that it is powerless to intervene in the constitution of the Supreme Court; it has failed to offer legal succour to the women's groups that had challenged the appointment of five men and two women to the Supreme Court and now they are faced with the very real possibility of the selfsame Supreme Court ruling on their petition on appeal. The National assembly on its part, has not only rushed through its hallowed halls Bills designed to implement the Constitution that have been butchered and bastardised in order to protect MPs' interests, but has also seen fit to raid monies set aside for famine relief to pay for their long-overdue tax liabilities. It has also decided to petition the Speaker to offer direction on the question of whether the 209 MPs who have been sued for refusing to pay their back taxes may avail themselves of the services of the Attorney-General in defending the suit or whether they should secure legal representation out of their own resources. For the ordinary man in the street, the answer is pretty simple: paying taxes is an individual's obligation, ergo, legal representation is not a state responsibility. It is also becoming increasingly certain that teachers will disrupt teaching until the question of whether more teachers will be hired by the Teachers Service Commission is resolved. needless to say parents must surely worry that candidates sitting for their KCPE and KCSE face a daunting challenge of preparing for these crucial examinations without the full commitment of their teachers. Still, we continue to take a back seat in matters that surely affect the very fabric of our society.

We are facing monumental challenges in improving the quality of our daily lives. The cost of living is increasingly becoming a burden very few can shoulder without the intelligent intervention of our government. Public dissatisfaction at the way politicians have reduced everything to a simple political calculation is also running very high. Greater public engagement in these questions is imperative if we are to see a successful and peaceful future. Continued apathy by the body politic will bring only pain and despair. The choice is simple: engage or perish!

Reflections

It is just about the right time to evaluate whether we are re-building this nation or, as some wag put it, re-arranging the deck-chairs on HMS Titanic as she goes down. Messrs Ruto, Kosgey and Sang are in The Hague attempting to persuade the International Criminal Court that they have no case to answer. on Amos Wako now goes by the honorific former Attorney-General, having been succeeded by Prof Githu Muigai. The Supreme Court is now fully constituted with the swearing in of Justices Tunoi, Dr Wanjala, Ndung'u, Ibrahim and Prof Ojwang', as well as the swearing in of Gladys Boss Shollei as the Chief Registrar. The National Assembly, keeping an eye on 2012, has completed the onerous task of approving all the Bills that were required to be approved before August 27th and the implementation of the Constitution is back on track.

Looking at the landscape of Kenyan political life, however, it remains unclear whether the changes that have and are being made are for the better or not. Take, for instance, the Supreme Court. While no one will gainsay the intellect or integrity of the members of the Supreme Court, do they really reflect the best that we could do? The CJ and DCJ are divorced, Ndung'u, LJ is unmarried, Dr Wanjala, J left KACC under a cloud, and for all their experience in the Court of Appeal, Tunoi, Ibrahim and Prof Ojwang', JJ are not experienced litigators. None of these people has yet to make a significant impact in the interpretation of the Constitution or the advancement of the legal profession. It is also increasingly unclear whether the Prosecutor of the ICC will be able to confirm his charges against Messrs Ruto & Co. The televised hearings point worryingly to poor ground-work, giving the suspects ample chances at poking holes in his case even before the charges are confirmed. And Parliament has kept the interests of its members at heart, to the detriment of national unity, by ensuring that Bills were either watered down to serve their interests, or bastardised to protect them. A keen examination of the Elections Act, the Political Parties Act and the law on recall show that MPs have taken the opportunity to cheat Kenyans of the gains they made up to 2010 just so they can carry on fighting with the Prime Minister in his relentless march to State House.

Meanwhile, civil society organisations have been left floundering, chasing after the chimeras of one-third representation in appointive and elective bodies in stead of keeping a beady eye on the shenanigans of our elected representatives or the full operationalisation of key institutions such as the Supreme Court, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, the Commission on Revenue Allocation or the Ethics and Ant-Corruption Commission. Dr Ekuru Aukot and his panel of selectors of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission have been left to their own devices and despite his high-sounding words or his good intentions, his panel will fail if we, through civil society, do not hold their feet to the fir when they select the IEBC. The church in Kenya, and its leadership, seem to have given up the fight on issues that concerned them during the Referendum campaign and their participation in implementing the Constitution is significant by their absence.

Seen in the context of the aspiring and aspirational presidential candidates, Kenyans, concerned more with the cost of living, have reverted to their type: keeping away from crucial constitution implementation matters and allowing the political class and the elite of the civil service to lead them by the nose. We are called upon to make serious choices in 2012, from who will be our president to who will be our governors, senators and MPs. During the review period, we all demanded an accountable government, where our leaders would rule by consent and laws would be applied fairly and impartially. If we continue to think only of the short-term crisis that is the cost of living at the expense of strategic matters such as the quality of laws enacted or the quality of leaders elected or appointed, the next general elections will only serve as a speed bump on the road of impunity and political corruption, and not even our brand-new Supreme Court will rescue us from the problems that will surely follow.

Pride

Why anyone should attempt to make me feel ashamed for being a Mkamba, or half-Kamba, half-Luo, defeats me. I am proud of my heritage, though I have done precious little to propagate it or to protect it. That ends now. 

I love the fact that we, and I mean my peoples from both communities, have our peculiarities; else how would we be identifiable from a crowd. As a Mkamba, my pronunciation may sometimes leave many others in stitches, but that will not detract from the force of my argument. As a Luo too, I may have difficulty navigating the terrain that is English pronunciation, but the extent and versatility of my vocabulary should leave you in no doubt that I am eminently comfortable comporting myself in the very best of the Queen's English. 

So what if many of my people from the rolling slopes of Kilungu swear by their local witch-doctor? His job is not just to dispense charms protecting my people from evil spirits, but also to dispense life-saving or life-enhancing portions that ward away ill-health and lethargy. Bar a few rotten tomatoes, I am the heir to a proud legacy. The Wa-Kamba were the original cosmopolitan people in this land, travelling thousands of miles for commerce. To protect their trade routes, they created a military tradition that to date is yet to be matched by anyone, not the Maasai and not the mighty Kalenjin. And of course, to reduce the chances of war, we had the best diplomats in pre-colonial Kenya. Even Kalonzo Musyoka could not screw that up with his stint as Kenya's Minister for Foreign Affairs. 

My cousins from the Lake have expanded the intellectual knowledge in Kenya for generations and they have set the bar high for what is intelligent. We are not merely clever; we are the gold standard when it comes to intellectual pursuit, surviving both Kenyatta's and Moi's attempts to water down the learning standards in our own back-yards. 

Gen Johnson Mulinge, Col Ronald Kiluta, Justice Philip Waki, lawyer Argwings Kodhek, Ramogi Achieng' Oneko, Justice Proj Jackton Boma Ojwang' ... remember these names, for they are proof positive that my peoples are truly great.

Make abortion safe, accessible and rare

Why pro-lifers insist in conflating 'maternal health' and 'reproductive rights' with abortion defeats logic. Their insistence that a pregnancy is the beginning of life borders on the sacrilegious - only God creates life. No one will quibble with the demand that abortion be reduced or eliminated entirely. It is in the manner by which this laudable goal is achieved that he pro-life and pro-choice camps have pitched tent debate and waged their culture wars that have defined the debate. Each has sought to marshall their forces to demonstrate why the other side is wrong. Since the United States Supreme Court ruled in Roe -v- Wade regarding this intractable question, the pro-choice and pro-life camps have waged their wars increasingly on a global scale, trampling on the traditions and cultures of others in their pitched battles. This war has now crossed over into Kenya, and Charles Kanjama is one of the soldiers in the pro-life camp, and his valiant efforts at defining the law on the question in Kenya are both laudable and worrying at the same time. Writing in today's Standard on Sunday, Mr Kanjama attempts to describe a conspiracy by the pro-choice camp to expand the meaning and the limits of Art 26 of the Constitution (Constitution is being assaulted like 1812 Moscow).

In Kenya, maternal healthcare and reproductive rights are not subjects that come up in ordinary conversation. Kenyans, to an overwhelming degree, are concentrated almost religiously to the political questions of the day and the increasingly high cost of living. Banner headlines in Kenya's newspapers ted towards the chances of one politician or the other at the presidency or the cost of living as experienced by the working classes. The subject of abortion is limited to the elite in Kenya, men and women with time on their hands and food in their belly to address a subject that very rarely affects them or their own. In fact, this is demonstrated by the very fact that the politicians who would be charged with passing legislation over this contentious subject barely give it the attention it deserves, what with their being preoccupied with either retaining their political power or ascending to the residency some time in their lives.

Primary healthcare in Kenya, as with other social programmes that were once fully financed by the government, is no longer a priority. A corrupt government, coupled by a corrupt political class and a weakening economy have conspired to reduce the per capita spending by the government on primary healthcare. As a result, crucial funding for maternal healthcare has plummeted and the statistics regarding the number of mothers and infants that survive pregnancy for the working classes are shocking, to say the least. In Kenya if you are poor, young, semi-literate and unemployed, an unplanned pregnancy is a risk that you can ill afford. Not only will you not receive the best pre-natal and ante-natal care at you local hospital or healthcare facility, it is unlikely that you will offer your infant child the kind of life that he deserves. The choice to terminate the pregnancy, eve when your life is not at risk, begins to look attractive when you factor in the religious and socio-cultural stigma that you will attract from the opinion-makers in your community, not to mention the strife that will befall you in your own family. Dr Jean Kagia of the Protecting Life Movement Trust is correct when she says that the problem of unwanted pregnancies is a social, not medical, problem but she is wrong in prescribing an absolute ban on abortions as the solution.

Social scientists will inform you that it is near impossible to change a people's culture and so it has proven in Kenya regarding the place in the community of teenage mothers or single mothers. The church and society have conspired to stigmatise these women regardless of the hardships they endure. The Protecting Life Movement Trust, in addition to campaigning for a ban on all abortions, could also take the lead in ensuring that the religious and cultural norms and mores of Kenyans are more accommodating of women in crisis situations, such as unplanned pregnancies. Even Dr Kagia and Mr Kanjama will admit that there is something inherently morally wrong in a girl carrying to term a pregnancy that was as a result of rape or incest and they must advise us in how we can protect young girls and women from such situations. We must learn from the mistakes of the Americans and not turn this subject into an either/or demand; American society has been the poorer as a result of the cultural wars waged by the pro-lifers and pro-choicers. Until we can improve the situation in our hospitals and until we can protect women and girls from crisis pregnancies, we should, as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have asked, ensure that abortion is safe, accessible and rare.