Kenya: Comedian or minister: Could the real Kajwang stand up!

By  Macharia Gaithoe - mail the author

 

Posted Wednesday, July 23 2008 at 08:49

In Summary

Kajwang antics, Defends self against accusations over improper issuance of work permits

 

I LAUGHED TO TEARS WATCHING on TV last week Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang’ display his talents as a comic.

The minister had called a press conference to defend himself against allegations of impropriety in the issuing of work permits and citizenship papers, but no hard questions were asked because he had everyone, among the assembled journalists rolling with laughter.

Clearly, if those agitating for his removal as a minister are successful, Mr Kajwang’ will have no trouble getting a slot as TV comedian.

The eternal Ojwang’ is getting on in years and the most obvious successor is idling his natural talents away in politics while he would be much more useful getting the whole nation laughing.

You just have to see the range of facial expressions, the variety of accents and the jokes delivered with aplomb and precision to recognise a star in the making.

If Mr Kajwang’ opts to do a Kimunya and step aside – not resign, mind you – pending investigations into whatever crime he is accused of, the entertainment world beckons.

Since it is unlikely he will go back to his former profession as a lawyer, I would imagine rival TV stations, particularly those that are in serious need of developing original content and get us away from mind-numbing Mexican soaps and outdated American sitcoms, bidding for his services.

To help Mr Kajwang’ realise his true vocation and enrich our lives with laughter, it is necessary that we all support the drive to have him step aside.

I am surprised the Parliament lynch mobs have not moved with as much speed as they did with the no confidence vote on Kimunya. And nor has the Prime minister assembled a Cabinet committee composed of Mr Kajwang’s accusers to investigate the issue.

Perhaps this might be because the evidence against Mr Kajwang’ is very thin indeed. The minister is accused of overturning decisions by his technical staff and granting work permits and citizenship papers to all sorts of applicants.

A few cases have been cited, but what is wrong with issuing work permits to skilled professionals like welders and shop assistants? And we all need some spiritual nourishment, so why deny missionaries the opportunity to minister to Kenyans?

Mr Kajwang’, in any case, did not do his thing in secrecy like Mr Kimunya and company did in selling the Grand Regency Hotel.

He took the appeals presented by those whose applications had been rejected by Immigration department bosses, interviewed the applicants, and overturned the decisions in writing.

Nothing criminal or unprocedural in that, I would say. But still, it is decidedly odd that the minister personally interviewed the applicants, which suggests that he saw them on the side instead of convening a panel to hear the appeals.

MR KAJWANG’, HOWEVER, DEFENDS himself forcefully. He was only exercising the ministerial prerogative. And when he adds that he is actually fighting corruption amongst entrenched cartels in the department that routinely deny work permits to deserving applicants unless bribes are paid, he is likely to earn kudos from long queues of past victims.

If there is something wrong, perhaps we should not so much be looking at what Mr Kajwang’ did, but at the systems which give ministers so much leeway to make solo decisions on such important matters.

It really should not be for one individual to decide who is allowed to acquire a work permit or Kenyan citizenship.

Any such decisions should be made by a panel that looks into all aspects of the case and makes an informed and impartial decision not clouded by the wrong considerations.

Mr Kajwang’ is right to wage war against corrupt cartels in his ministry, but that should be by having the wrongdoers caught and prosecuted rather than by taking over their role. That is where he went wrong.

Whether that is enough to have him hung, drawn and quartered, I just do not know, but it was evident the saga presented him the perfect opportunity to display his talents as a comedian.

And that, for me, is good enough reason for him to step aside permanently from politics and work on the craft where he is a natural and where he can cheer up the whole nation.

The smoking ban was well-intended and should go a long way towards helping many of us conquer that infernal habit.

But it is a measure that is in urgent need of proper interpretation, particularly for the benefit of those who are supposed to enforce it.

The police and Nairobi City Council askaris seem to be taking it as a total ban, and consequently have one into overdrive looking for anyone who dares light up except in the privacy of his home.

The strange thing is that we hardly hear of any of those arrested appearing in court because they find it much easier to pay the instant “fines” demanded by the corrupt custodians of law and order.

Some officers are getting very rich indeed, and mostly because it is so easy to terrorise people on the back of vague restrictions very few understand.

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API/NATION:KE

Uganda: More peacekeepers needed in Somalia

Uganda\’s Minister of State for Defense, Ruth Nankabirwa, has said that the current troops deployed in war-torn Somalia are not adequate to combat the rising attacks from militants and maintain stability there.

Uganda\’s Minister of State for Defense, Ruth Nankabirwa, has said that the current troops deployed in war-torn Somalia are not adequate to combat the rising attacks from militants and maintain stability there.

Nankabirwa made the observation on Tuesday when she appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Internal Affairs to defend her ministry\’s ministerial policy statement.

She was reacting to the committee\’s queries on the status of the Ugandan peacekeepers deployed in Somalia to protect the transition government in the Horn of Africa state.

Currently, there are 1,500 Ugandan soldiers in that country, a number which is barely enough to stabilise Somalia due to lack of reinforcement of troops from other African countries that had pledged contribution.

She lamented that many other African countries had promised to deploy their troops to the war ravaged country but have not yet honoured that commitment.

The minister revealed that Burundi, which had already sent a battalion to Somalia, was planning to send another contingent, while Nigeria is also expected to send a battalion of its soldiers in the near future.

She implored the African Union to fast track deployment of troops that other nations on the continent have pledged.

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API/APA

Information from the Norwegian Council for Africa

Welcome to NCA’s Cyber Seminar on the 7^th of August! Make sure you set aside time for a great discussion in Cyberspace!

This time, we’ll discuss:

The food crisis: Fuel or food?

Must some people starve to produce bio fuel for the West?

With soaring food prices world wide, poor segments of societies across Africa are finding it increasingly difficult to afford food for survival. Demand for bio fuel in western countries has lead to investment in land for bio fuel production by large companies across the continent.

Is bio fuel production in Africa an opportunity to combat hunger and starvation or is it taking land away from much needed food production to the detriment of the poor on the continent? Join in the Cyber Seminar and discuss the impact of bio fuel production on the Food Crisis in Africa.

The Cyber Seminar is a virtual seminar – a forum for participants all over the world to engage with each other and with panellists from academia, politics and civil society on issues of current interest to Africa.

For the upcoming session, the topic is the consequences and reasons for the mounting food crisis on the access to food for people in Sub Saharan Africa. Why is food becoming increasingly less accessible for the poorest segments of society? Why are African countries with considerable agricultural landmasses producing crops for export whilst importing expensive food? 

Participate in the Cyber Seminar organized by the Norwegian Council for Africa on Thursday the 7th and engage with African Experts on the topic.

Panellists:
Bakari Sadid Nyari, Vice Chairman of Regional Advisory and Information Network Systems (RAINS) in Ghana and
Paul Mbole from NCA (The Norwegian Church Aid) and ZERO (Zero Emission Resource Organisation) in Nairobi, Kenya. 

Place: World Wide Web
Date: August 7th
Time: 15.00 – 17.00 local time Norway (GMT + 1)
you may log in and out of the debate as you wish

 
The Norwegian Council for Africa works to promote economic, political and social justice in – and for – Africa. We seek to achieve this goal through the dissemination of accurate, fair and unbiased information. Vital to this endeavour is the promotion of African voices and sources of information.

 The Food Crisis: The facts in numbers.

- High food prices entail a daily struggle for more than 2 billion people globally.
- An estimated 100 million people have fallen into poverty in the last 2 years.
- Poor families now spend up to 80% of their budget on food.
- 30 million people face hunger and even death by starvation in Sub Saharan Africa.
- 21 out of 36 countries in food security crisis are in Sub Saharan Africa.
- Sub Saharan Africa imports 45% of its wheat and 84% of its rice.
- Wheat prices are up 120%, rice prices are up 75%.
- An estimated 100 million tonnes of grain per year are being redirected from food to fuel globally.
- Filling a tank of an average car with bio fuel, amounts to the same amount of maize as an average African consumes in a year.

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API/NCA

POLICE AND KACC SHOULD NOT CONFINE THEIR GRAFT UINVESTIGATIONS IN THE IMMIGRATION MINISTRY TO NAIROBI ALONE BNUIT SHOULD EXTEND IT TOP THE PROVINCES.

By Leo Odera Omolo

The on-going investigations in the Immigration Ministry should not be confined to the Ministryʼs headquarters at the Nyayo House, but must be extended to the provinces and in the outlaying districts.

 

It is suspected that there may be hundreds of foreigners unlawfully engaged on employment and illegal businesses in the countryside. It is suspected that some foreigners, especially people of Asian origins from India and Pakistan have gained entry permits and visas using fake academic certificates, readily available for purchase from Indian universities

 

The fake academic certificates are said to be readily available for purchase by anyone who can afford to raise a few hundred US dollars.These fake certificates are allegedly used in duping immigration officials at the entry point that the holders are highly specialized personnel required for specific kind of jobs, and most of the immigrant workers are quite illiterate and low cadres of labourers.

 

Armed with these fake certificates, the immigrant workers usually passes through immigration entry points under the guise of being doctors, chartered accountants, educationists etc.Andt soon after acquiring the necessary entry visa, these characters turns up getting involved in employment in spare part shops like ticketing clerks. Some of these people cannot speak or write in English nor speak Swahili.

 

This is one way of denying educated young Kenyan employment opportunities in firms set up by Indian investors. The practice is very common in the sugar factories and in the construction firms.

 

Kisumu City is leading other Provinces in the rackets of offering shelter to this  category immigrant workers. In addition to the Indians and Pakistanis, there are also many immigrants of European origins who have settled in many parts of the city. These whites have engaged themselves on [petty businesses such as running and managing children orphanage homes, which are scattered all over Kisumu.

 

Some of these foreigners have engaged themselves on illicit trades such as the export of drugs such as Bhangs. Most of them are retired and tired lots, who came here and then got married to local; women of questionable characters for their own protection. Dunga beach a suburb of Kisumu is leading in housing this category of immigrant workers. Some of the children orphanage homes are fake, and consist of a handful of children of which all are not genuine orphans, but only fake to conceal the truth.

 

.Surely do we need a Mzungu to come to Kenyan on a work permit only to end up in running a children orphanage home? And of course, all are not well within the Immigration Ministry.These practices started many years ago, and not exclusively during Minister Otieno Kajwangʼs time.

 

Anybody who dare to conduct a thorough  and serious investigation on the immigration status of many foreigners living in this country, particularly in Nyanza  would be in for a big puzzle and shock.

 

The region is full of many foreigners who not only deserve not to be allowed the stay permit, but undesirable characters who should be bundled into the next flight destined for Europe. Majority of these foreign workers did not qualified to be allowed to engaged themselves on any kind of employment or businesses.

The number of these foreigners are running into hundreds. The lucrative business of sales opf citizenships and work permits to foreigners had started during the Nyayo era. At one time, it was alleged that any foreigners who could raise Kshs 100,000 under the table payment plus the government fees had became automatically qualified to be granted Kenyan citizenship, while those who were able to raise between Kshs 50,000 and Kshs 60,000 were qualified for work permit irrespective whther they qualified for such permits or not.

Top senior government officials had engaged a number of wheeler-dealers and power brokers who they were using as go-betweeners and boys for the purpose of negotiating for the deals. Even attractive and pretty office secretaries were also involved. The lucky one also minted a lot of money as they were also entitled for stakes in the deals These wheeler-dealers belonged to  a group then known as politically correct lots.

 

 These political conmen were a common sight in five star hotels in Nairobi carrying briefcases filled with already stamped immigration documents in readiness for the big kill and to struck the deals.These people benefited a lot from such rackets. But their action  became so harmful to ordinary Kenyans because they had flooded the country with with hundreds of unwanted immigrant workers at the expense of local  indigenous  Kenyans.

 

The lucrative business had also attracted some ex-MPs, especially those former legislators from the Rift Valley, who were believed to be close to the corridors of power. It later extended to political activists who were close to cabinet ministers and Permanent Secretaries in  the KANU era.

Another case in point, which calls for a thorough investigations by both Police and KACC,is the newly established Kibos Sugar and allied Industries. It is being alleged that the firm had imported close to 20 Indian immigrant workers.The company, which is located at Kibos situated next to the Kibos Prison is still on trial production, but initially produces between 1500 and 1800 bags of sugar per day.

Once a upon a time the immigration officials got the wind and rounded up the alleged foreign workers, but later transpired which facilitated their immediate release from the custody is a matter of public conjecture. None of its close to 500 employees has a written workmanship contract, though they operates in a high risky areas where industrial accidents are so common. In such an unlikely situation of industrial accident, a casual labourer with no written contract cannot lay any claim for compensation following fatal industrial accident.

What has happened to the Labour ministry? What is the Provincial Labour Officers are doing in Kisumu if they cannot pay a visit to such industries with the express purpose of enforcing the labour laws? Such crucial laws are being contravened with impunity .Why? Because of TKK?

We were told that these Indian workers were imported for the purpose of carrying out the installations of complicated sugar cane crushing machineries. But we also believed that forty six years down the  line since Kenya became as independent state, it has trained hundreds of thousands of  industrial installation mechanics, electronic mechanics, electrical engineers, accountants and in many fields of careers.

It is puzzling that if Mumias Sugar Company, which is the largest white sugar producing mill in this country is wholly manned by local technicians and not even one single mechanic or electrician is sourced from a foreign land. Why should Kibos Mill which is the smallest factory should be allowed to import anybody from India or Pakistan to come and work in this country as a simple mechanic or a clerk or that matter?

 

These are many issues, which those charged with task iof investigating the Immigration Ministry should into and come out with a lasting solution. This is because it is indeed, the sole responsibility of any responsible government to protect its workers from being exploited by marauding foreigners to come here to only scavanging on the few, but scarce jobs opportunities  at the  expense of the locals It is indeed, impacting negatively for any investors to dictate his or her own terms on the kind of people they wanted employed in their industrial concerns. In this is in jeopardy with the Kenyans laws, then such investors should as well be told in point blank language to shelves their investors or switch it elsewhere. Any investment must be for the purpose of common good for the country and part of its concerted effort for poverty eradication, and strictly not for arrogance purposes .The existing labour laws governing  employers and employees must be strictly uphold.

Also in the category of importing simple labours from India is one Kisumu based  building construction firm trading under the business flagship of Bishen Hayer Singh. Despite scooping many road construction contracts worth millions of shillings, this company which is a family business concern has employed Indian workers, even for simple jobs of running its petrol fuel stations. All its clerks and those holding important jobs are alleged to be foreigners, mainly from India. Why should Kenyan entertain this kind of naked discrimination against the locally trained skilled workers?

 There should be more question than answers within the corridor of the Immigration headquarters. A certain bunch of briefcase carrying politicians-cum-businessmen have of lately glued themselves around the immigration minister Otieno Kajwangʼ. Most of them political operatives and busy bodies from the larger Southern Nyanza.

 These characters have been seen wining and dinning in posh Kisumu Hotels at the weekends, some of them are reportedly swimming in money and can even afford booking themselves  rooms in posh hotels whereas these people were not known to be good paying masters a few months ago. What goes on inside the hotels rooms booked by the so-called wheeler-dealers can be anybodyʼs guess. And also not a strange to see some cabals of Asian manipulators trooping at the doorsteps of the hotel  rooms. They are quieuing while waiting for their turns to meet the new bosses.

Foreigners from as far as Malindi, Lamu and other parts of the Coast were recently seen as common visitors to the hotels in the lakeside, particularly during weekends. And no coincident, that the notorious wheeler-dealers had also booked themselves in these hotels at the material time.

Some of the whitemen engaged in running children orphans are engaged in marriage of conveniences with the local girls. There is nothing wrong for foreigners lending a hand of assistance to the needy orphans in this country. But they should raise funds at home abroad and channel such donations  to the locally established committees to manage such institutions.

It is the hope of many Kenyans that the on-going inquiries in the operations of the Immigration Ministry would yield in something tangible resulting in a number of undeserving foreigners living in this country illegally  being send home .Owing to economic recession of the 1990s and 2000s, many manufacturing industries came to a halt spilling thousands of young Kenyans into the street in the pathetic state of joblessness therefore the time is ripe for the government to protect the few jobs that we have here.

 

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

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API

ATTACK ON MINISTER DR. OBURU OGINGA ROUNDLY CONDEMNED BY NYANZA POLITICIANS.WHO URGED THE POLICE TO ARREST THE CULPRITS.

By Leo Odera Omolo

 

THE weekend attack on Finance Assistant Minister Dr. Oburu Oginga in a Kisumu residential estate has attracted severe criticism from the local politicians who have described the incident as a sign of lapse in the City’s security system.

 

Dr. Oburu Oginga was on Friday night accosted by a gang of five armed thugs as he went to Mosque Estate to drop his second wife to her house when the attack took place.

 

The Minister had left Nyanza Club at about 11 pm in the company of his wife, an aide and a driver. The attack came as stopped outside the gate while waiting for it to be opened, but all of a sudden the hell broke loose when five armed thugs emerged. One of them produced a gun, while others were armed with machetes (Pangas) and rungus..

 

The thugs forced the Minister’s unarmed aide to lie down, while another went for the driver and demanded for the keys. The driver hesitated, but was immediately slashed with a Panga.

 

At the same time, some members of the gang who appeared to recognize Dr. Oburu ransacked the vehicle and took five mobile phones. They also fleeced the minister’s pockets and made away of with Kshs. 100,000 and his mobile.

 

A source told us that one of the thugs, told Dr. Oburu Oginga that because they knew him by name as the son of “Jaramogi” but they were starving without jobs and only wanted something small to eat, but would not harm him..

 

But politicians say they suspected the attack could be a pre-imitated and politically motivated, and that investigations by police should not take a chance to this angle.

 

 

A source told us that Dr. Oburu had left all his official armed body guards in Nairobi and traveled to Kisumu alone on wrong assumption that the city was more or less as his home ground and did not anticipate any threat for his life. In the ensued battle in the darkness, the minister’s sleek limousine was damaged with its windscreen smashed.

 

The minister according to sources, has a palatial house at Tom Mboya Estate also in Kisumu, which is in a very secured compound, but had rented it out and he is using the one at Mosque Estate as a resident for his second wife.

 

Dr. Oginga has another single storey house, which is located his parents palatial Milimani house overlooking the shores of Lake Victoria where he is living with his first wife Dr. Meary Oburu Oginga, a retired medical doctor..

 

The attack has been condemned roundly by members of the Luo Council Of Elders who think the attack was not an ordinary robbery but a well calculated plan hatched to intimidate the minister.

 

A member of the Luo council of Elder Mzee Stephen Othoo from Kagan Location, Rangwe constituency strongly condemned the attack on the minister and appealed to the Kisumu ;police to get rid of undesirable criminal characters .He said leaders in Kenya must always feel free to go their businesses unmolested by hard –core criminal elements within the society.

 

Mzee Othoo, a retired school teacher told the Bondo MP to soldier on with the good work he is doing to the Luo community and to all Kenyans, and not to succumb to cowardice and attack and intimidation, which are the work of the devilish minded criminal elements.

 

 

The soft spoken assistant Minister who is also the Chairman of Kisumu Molasses Plant, which is run jointly by the family business flagship the Spectre International Company in joint partnership with multinational firms from South Africa and Canada.

 

There has been murmurs and complaints by the local communities of  Jo-Kogony and Jo-Korando sub-clans on whose land the Molasses plant stands on at Otonglo Market that their people are being discriminated when it comes to employment of the workers at the plant.

 

There are a total of 114 employees at the plant, but most of them are people who are suspected to be directly related to the ‘Odinga Family and their kiths’

 

At one time the local had circulated leaflets in which the community bitterly complained of being sidelined on employment. And though the majority of the employees are engineers and professionals, the locals wanted their sons and daughters engaged in some unskilled jobs such as sweepers, messengers and watchmen.

 

Locals have also voiced concern at the high degree of corruption at the plant in terms of discriminative employment at the Molasses plant, .singling out particularly for the scathing criticism the company’s Chief Executive Officer {CEO} at the plant Mr. |Israel Agina

 

Israel Agina has persistently came under severest criticism by the local community which  blames him for practicing discriminative policy by way of ensuring that only relatives and members of the Odinga family and few political cronies get the better  terms of employment at the plant. Discontent has been going on for the last two years, and even at one time leaflets have appeared in Kisumu streets, which were very critical of the management of the Kisumu Molasses Plant.

 

These complaints were, however, dismissed as the work of the disgruntled individuals who had approached the management for employment, but failed to secure any.

 

 

But It could not immediately be established and confirmed whether the attack on the Minister has anything to do with employment at the Molasses plant. Many people in Kisumu and its environs have dismissed the incident as an isolated case and perhaps a common case of robbery, which of late are said to be very prevalent Kisumu’s residential estates. And even   residents of the posh Milimani estate are said not to be so safe in their highly secured compounds.

 

Civic leaders have called on the police to intensify evening patrols in most part s of the city, which are of lately appear to be unsafe for both lonely motorist and pedestrians alike. Other sources intimated that some hard-core criminal and carjackers who have fled their hideouts in Nairobi have now taken refuge in Lakeside City after escaping the hawk eyed Nairobi police ant-crime squads.

 

Dr. Oburu Oginga who is the MP for Bondo is being considered as a moderate Luo politician who is credited for being down to earth and easy-going man among his constituents.

 

Despite of having been brought up in a high profile political family of the late former Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the assistant Minister is credited by his constituents for having equitably disbursed the CDF and other government funds meant for rural and economic development activities in his Bondo constituency to the satisfaction of his constituents..

 

Dr. Oginga first entered the Parliament for the first time in 1994 in a by election following the demise of his father the late Jaramogi who was then the seating MP for Bondo,and successfully retained his seat in 2002 against a troop of five aspirants.

 

Dr. Oburu recaptured the seat in 2007. He was one of the only five out of the 21 Luo MPs who survived in the last general election. The rest were shown exit door, and although he seemed to be an independent minded person, Dr. Oburu is believed to have a lot of clout and influence over his younger brother, the Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga on both domestic and political matters.

 

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

 

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API

KIBAKI SHOULD WORRY ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION NOT SUCCESSION!

If you were President Kibaki today what would bother you more? Is it the success of free primary or secondary education?  Is it the raging succession battles? Is it the East African integration? Is it the West versus the East competing interests in Kenya? Is it the demise of your cronies politically?

 

To be fair,  none of the above should bother the president. For himself becoming president it was not by anointment by a benevolent godfather. His organization skills combined with luck and circumstances prevailing at the time ensured his victory in 2002 polls. In essence whoever becomes his successor should be the least of his bothers. At the same time whatever happens to his tribesman and tribal voting bloc matters little to him. What prudently matters to him is himself, his reputation and his immediate family. Everything else is quite peripheral. The destiny of his tribe or his Mt. Kenya voting bloc does not at all tie to his own. If it does ,it would have been so for Moi and the Kalenjins, which in all honesty and accuracy it  has not.

 

To be fair he should worry more about what happens to Kenya after his departure. This is  clearly closely intertwined to his fate. If he  guarantees Kenya’s   posterity a bright future,  by extension his personal and his own will be taken care of. Kenya going asunder goes so with him. This is the price to pay for the kind of Kenya’s presidency.

 

Kibaki perhaps may be owing so much to several people for sustaining his rule or ensuring his election or re-election thereof. Unfortunately when the history will be written, none of these will feature anywhere. As far as the country is concerned he owes the country a legacy and nobody else. It therefore implies that it is the opportune time to betray his allies and redeem his floundering legacy.

 

Politics by the way creates  memories out of quick and short incidences  which  one always need to be wary of. A 100 year rule could be remembered by just one single victory or single failure. Already the disputed 2007 presidential election and the chaos that followed has greatly dented the image that the president had probably hoped to cultivate. For one,  so many  people displaced and a divided nation along tribal lines is not the type achievements that one would want to have in a cv.

 

Whether he genuinely won the election or not does not matter any more than it did in January 2008. One school of thought is that these chaos could have been avoided. If a  new  better acceptable constitution order was in place before the election, it is high probable the election would not have split the hairs the way it did. The fact that during his first term  and contrary to his promises  a new constitution order was not achieved  is already a great blot. The fact that the promised 500,000 new jobs a year that turned to be a huge mirage and continued creating  a generation of frustrated youth ready to do whatever evil bidding or engaging their energies in evil acts, also  hangs in his legacy like an albatross.

 

How does he go about redeeming his legacy and image. Very simple. Kibaki can do this by simply concentrating on creating mechanisms and  pushing through an acceptable new constitution which will re-distribute powers, empower and strengthen  institutions of good governance  to  guarantee future stability. He would need to be wary that his allies and political enemies would obviously be very keen to frustrate this. They have nothing to loose and the blame still reverts to the president. Corruption is still a monster that shames his regime. To hope this would easily go away is just but a dream.

 

He probably meant well for the country by creating incentives and mechanisms  spurring economic growth but unfortunately, this is not sustainable in an un-predictable and shaky  political environment. No sane investor would be happy to plan long term in such an environment. Additionally attracting new investors across the whole country in such an environment is simply not tenable. In an environment laden with corruption, the cost of doing business is just insane! Corruption un-enviably creates unjust and dangerous social inequalities in the society.

 

The upshot is that to sort out Kenya and guarantee peace and hence create a memorable legacy, simply  sort our politics. This sorted all the nice economic policies and pillars will fall in place or will rather be strengthened and ensured. The constitution is the biggest monster hanging on Kenya’s prosperity and future co-existence. Forget the ODM and  Kibaki multiplicity and often fractious  allies. Kibaki as the current president can steal the thunder from all these and ensure a good  place in history. It is wise not to fight other peoples battles whether friends or enemies especially during his final term. He has no other opportunity after all!  

 

Mr. president simply sort out the constitution and strengthen institutions of good governance and rid Kenya off corruption. With this your legacy memorable!

 

 

By Harrison  Mwirigi  Ikunda, 

Nairobi. Kenya.

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API

JOINT STATEMENT OF ODM-SCANDINAVIA AND NARC-KENYA SCANDINAVIA ON THE LAND GRABBING CASE OF MR. GEORGE WACHIRA KIRIRA

The Orange Democratic Movement in Scandinavia (ODM-Scandinavia) and Narc-Kenya Scandinavia wishes to draw the attention of both the Kenyan government and the International community about the case of Mr. George Wachira Kirira who is currently landless and sleeping outside his home with family after his piece of land was fraudulently taken over by Mr. Joe Maina Ruthithi, a corrupt debt collector and fake born again Pentecostal Church of Africa pretender claiming money for an assault allegedly committed in 1982.

According to our Intelligence, Mr Muthithi is a well known extortionist both in Kiamariga and Kabiruini villages who is using his corrupt connections within the land system, the local police and the legal system to steal land from a helpless peasant using a case allegedly committed more than two decades ago.

Being a teacher, a Church elder and knowing that Kirira’s two sons have, in the past, died mysteriously, Mr. Muthithi is the last person who could have been involved in the grabbing of Mr. Kirira’s land through the back door.

According to the East African Standard (21/07/20 8) which reported the case, Mr. Kirira allegedly assaulted Mr. Muthithi in 1982 (26 years ago) after which he was fined Ksh 80,000 but by 1998, the fine had accumulated an interest bringing the total amount to Ksh 240,000. At the time Kirira’s land was fraudulently auctioned this year, the piece of land had a market value of Ksh 4 million.

At the alleged auction, the auctioneer was never named while it is Mr. Muthithi, the corrupt debtor, who allegedly won the bid. In all fairness, both ODM-Scandinavia and Narc-Kenya Scandinavia believes that this was a corrupt and fraudulent deal which should never have taken place in today’s Kenya and under the current Coalition government headed by President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga. What has happened to Mr. Kirira could happen to anybody in Kenya and it is because of the unspeakable level of injustice and corruption that both ODM-Scandinavia and Narc-Kenya Scandinavia have decided to intervene in the case.

We wish to draw the attention of Mr James Orengo, the Minister of Land and Ms Martha Karua, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to the fact that the alleged auction of Mr. Kirira’s land was not only illegal but also unacceptable because so far, the legal process that may have led to the auction remains a secret. Mr. Kirira’s house has been demolished, his land stolen in broad day light, his family left in the cold while his future has suddenly been made uncertain after a dirty deal that needs to be investigated by the Ministry of Land.

ODM-Scandinavia and Narc-Kenya Scandinavia wishes to draw the attention of the Kenyan government to the fact that on January 8th 2003, an attempt by Mr. Kirira to have the case reviewed so that he could auction a piece of the land and repay the debt was rejected by the High Court in Nyeri on November 15th 2007 (see East African Standard 20th July 2008). Instead, Justice Milton Makhandia sitting at the High Court in Nyeri, issued an eviction order against Kirira and without considering the details of the case which tended to favour Mr. Kirira.

As concerned Kenyans in Scandinavia which has been deeply touched by this case, we wish to alert the Kenyan government that it has to intervene in this case otherwise we will have no option but to open a campaign so that Mr. Kirira’s stolen land can be returned so that justice can prevail.

Since the war of liberation led by the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (Mau Mau), the issue of land has never been resolved in Kenya and the open stealing of Mr. Kirira’s land under a new Coalition government is evidence that land grabbing in Kenya is still alive through the back door. It has to be noted that since flag independence, the issue of land has failed to be addressed adequately by three subsequent regimes and the example of Mr. Kirira is a tip of the iceberg.

We take this opportunity to appeal to Kenyans at home and abroad to study Mr. Kirira’s case very carefully because according to our understanding of the case, and after speaking to Mr. Kirira on the phone, there is no justice for the poor land owner and the oppressed in Kenya.

The on-going war in Mau forest emanates from the problem of land which has never been addressed or put on the agenda in Kenyan Parliament. In Mount Elgon, Naivasha, Kiandutu, Molo, Kibira, Korogocho, Mukuru kwa Njenga, Mathare, Soweto, Uasin Gishu, Njiru, large parts of the Rift Valley and Central Province, people are still landless while top politicians currently in government are owning huge tracts of land in our country which are lying idle.

The case of absentee landlords is choking the country when millions of Kenyans are landless. The Ndungu Report is adequate documentation of the state of land grabbing in Kenya, an issue which requires immediate and urgent attention by the current Coalition government of Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga.

We demand that:

1. The Coalition government of Kenya intervene in the case of Mr. Kirira by re-visiting and overturning the judgment made by the corrupt Judge, Mr. Milton Makhandia who presided over the case.

2. The land of Mr. Kirira be returned to him with immediate effect and his demolished house reconstructed at the expense of Mr. Joe Maina Muthuthi who corruptly masterminded or influenced the decision in the case to pave the way for the grabbing of Kirira’s land.

3. Mr. Kirira be compensated for days spent in the cold with his family after his house was demolished and that he also be compensated for psychological torture, humiliation, degradation and human suffering he has already underwent as a result of the grabbing of his land and demolition of his house.

4. The Coalition government address the issue of land urgently through Constitutional reforms and any other measure appropriate in the situation.

5. The Hon James Aggrey Orengo, the Minister of Lands and Settlement make an urgent Ministerial statement over the issue with copies to ODM-Scandinavia and Narc-Kenya Scandinavia.

6. The MP for Mathira Hon Ephraim Maina to react to the issue with immediate effect since the issue concerns one of his own constituents.

7. Representatives of government agencies especially the DC, the DO, Chief, Sub chief, OCPD commanding Kiamariga Police post and others be brought to answer questions as to how such a dirty and criminal deal could have proceeded for a poor Kenyan and his family to be deprived of his ancestral land he has resided on since birth.

If the government cannot take immediate action, ODM Scandinavia and Narc-Kenya Scandinavia wishes to warn the Coalition government that we will never rest until this case is resolved. The two parties will not just open a campaign on the case but will also ensure that this case is dramatized before the International community.

As we write, we wish to add that we are in the process of fund raising to raise the Ksh 240,000 which has led to Mr. Kirira’s land being stolen in broad day light. We are in the process of setting up a bank account to mobilize funds Internationally as a first step to intervening in the case.

We appeal to Kenyans at home and abroad to join in the campaign to help in the recovery of Mr. Kirira’s land. As Kenyans who believe in democracy, human rights, freedom and the rule of law, our position is that we cannot stand by and watch Mr. Kirira’s land being stolen in broad day light and his children being forced to live in mystery through corruption and other illegal deals.

Signed:
Mrs Hellen Opwapo,
Chairlady, ODM-Scandinavia
46706575772
hellenakumu@hotmail.com

Mr. Daniel Mwaura Njuguna
Chairman, Narc-Kenya Scandinavia
Mwaos20@hotmail.com
Tel: 467036694039

Dated 23rd July 2008
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API

CDF FUNDS WILL CONTINUE TO GO TO WASTE UNLESS NEW CONTROLLING DEVICES ARE PUT IN PLACE

By Leo Odera Omolo

A month ago when this writer came up with an analytical article suggesting that millions of shillings allocated by the government for various development projects in Nyanza might have gone to waste, he was vilified and issued with internet and phone threats.

But according to the latest audit reports and interviews with players involved in the implementation of the revolving constituency development fund (CDF) ,most of the projects have either stalled or failed to take off completely ,millions of government money evaporated in the air.

Millions were channeled to phantom projects whose physical address and locations have remained a mystery if not fictitious. A case in Rongo Constituency is that of a former high school principal turned building contractor who laughed all the way to the bank armed with a cheque of over Kshs 4 million.Mr. Olela has since fled the country on a green permanent residence in the US. Non of the projects, include a bridge at KOMIRE IN North Sakwa Liocation took off the ground.

 

The money was meant to be payment to the contractor for the construction of two important bridges for access and feeder roads within the constituency which never took off at all.

The contractor (name withheld) later used the cash money to migrate and his entire family to the US. He eventually abandoned his teaching job to start a new life in the comfort of US

People are left wondering how such loss of colossal amount of money could be reconciled in the Rongo CDF book of accounts

In the neighbouring Uriri a commercial water dam which was allocated over kshs 1 million was later switched from its original location and tuned into a family dam. The project was meant for the remote Ongilo area of North Kanyamkago . These are only a few example of bad governance of the CDF funds.

A serious murder case is still relatively being investigated by police in TransNzoia where a former CDF manager was brutally murdered by unknown suspect who is still at large. This particular case is a living testimony that a lot of water might have passed under the bridge.

In Nyatike a group of grieved constituent had moved to the court in Migori and temporarily succeeded in having the CDF account frozen .Such actions were not in vain.

In Ugenya the CDF money is alleged to have been used in the purchasing of a run-down Savanna Hotel which is located next to main Kisumu-Busia road .but it was later remerged with scathing allegations that the facility which was later turned to be used as a CDF office in the constituency is registered on an individuals name, though it was acquired with CDF money. Some of these allegations and rumours needs t be investigated and proof made public in order to restore the confidence of Wananchi that all are well with the public money.

In Nyando there are claims and allegations that a second hand grader was purchased with CDF money instead of a new one and the balance pocketed. These kinds of allegations needs urgent verification and consequently proof.

The latest audit report whose contents were published this week by the Nairobi daily ,THE NATION, explained that many projects earmarked in various constituencies in Nyanza failed largely due to misappropriation of funds allocated to the projects in adequate funding failure to  establish viability of the ventures or shoddy performance by contractors.

In one instance reported by newspaper two years ago a CDF local chairman cunningly and hurriedly registered his wife who had literally used previous experience in the construction work as a contractor and made it sure that the wife got the Lionʼs share in nearly all construction work  undertaken by the CDF.

Most annoying thing is that the inexperienced housewife turned building contractor reportedly use a lot of money bribing experienced and established contractors who made the bidding for tender on her behalf.

Other startling case is the allegations that CDF money was used in buying and slaughtering bulls for widows in one constituency .Part of the money was used in buying bicycles and wheelbarrows as well as constructing iron roofed houses fro the MPĘĽs supports and cronies .Investigations and additions should pay attention to such claims with the view of asserting their authenticity.

In most constituencies in Nyanza in particular some former MPs who had starling in the ninth Parliament was shown exit door by the electorate  not because of dismal performance is representative of the people  at the National level, but because of biased in the management of School bursary funds, CDF and other revolving funds.

Schools were not spared some headmasters and deputies used the mone