5 Most Popular stories in Kumekucha today 7th Nov
1. I successfully recommended that my boss should be fired
2. Where is all the fake currency coming from?
3. PNU propaganda causes Christian churches to panic
4. Why Raila will lose Langata Parliamentary seat
5. We are headed for Kikuyu versus the rest.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Marianne Briner Releases Statement From Hospital
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
The answer to the question: "Who had an interest to disable my blogs and why"
As you may have realized, all my three blogs 'mariannebriner-jeffkoinange', 'mariannebriner-excellency' and mariannebriner-kenya-betrayed' had been disabled over the weekend ..............
--------------------------
Sam Okello, my 'co-author' in the Shining Star is now claiming to have done it and not only for himself but also because he felt that he had to 'defend' Jeff Koinange ......... Sam has even sent a letter to a notorious Kenyan Blogger regarding this and they have published it more than willingly ...... and I even suspect that this Blogger received money for it ...........
Why I say this?
Because Jeff Koinange is used to do this .......like he did in the infamous Niger-Delta-Story where he allegedly paid some actors to present themselves in front of his camera as 'rebels' - all under the title: I got my fame and CNN got their story ...... only this time he went too far and this 'broke his neck' ....and with it his job ...........
In his so-called letter, Sam Okello also claims to know that the surveillance in the London Hotel confirms that Jeff never entered my room and therefore could not have had any sexual 'encounter' with me and that CNN all got it wrong ............ Jeff 'put the brakes early enough' as Sam puts it.
This is offending and hurting ........... since as Sam knows very well I have all the emails confirming the opposite and underlining Jeff's guilt .........
-------------------
Sam also mentions that I had approached him to act as a ghost-writer for the Distant-Lover, a request he declined .........
The truth is quite different as I can easily prove with the exchange of emails between me, Sam and his wife Hellen regarding this subject ........
It was in fact Sam who made the proposal that I should publish the whole story in a book - after they had realized the unbelievable reaction this matter had raised all around the world ..........and as Sam put it to me: 'you have a legitimate story to tell here...'
He then offered to put it together and act as a kind of 'ghost-writer' .......... (and for all those doubting me: I am willing to provide you with the facts, i.e. our email-exchange on all this)....................
---------------------
But before I continue on this subject, allow me to give you the following information - which also explains Hellen and Sam Okello's 'change of mind' or as I call it 'brain-washing'.
I am sure that Jeff Koinange is behind all this - since only he knew about this and now obviously is taking advantage of this knowledge for his own personal reasons ...........
And as usual 'hiding' behind others - like in this case where he is hiding behind Sam Okello - who is more than willing to act as Jeff's 'servant' .............
Because the truth is that Jeff Koinange is a coward ...... afraid to show his own face ..............he is using people - their mind and their feelings and this he did all his life ............
Before going into detail regarding this, I should mention that I still have an 'open' account with Sam Okello, something Jeff knew about and therefore made it easy for him to 'convince' Sam:
When Sam and I agreed to write the Shining Star together, we signed a mutual agreement and I also signed the document which he was then supposed to send to the Publisher XLibris ...... we agreed to share the royalties of the book in equal terms.
When I did not hear anything anymore about this, I contacted XLibris and found out that Sam had only passed to them our mutual Author's Agreement but not the one regarding sharing the royalties ..... everything was put instead under his own name and his own company - at that time Sahel Books Inc. ........ which had been put by him as the only ones receiving the royalties .........
When I asked him to clarify this, he and especially his wife Hellen became very offensive .............
In short:
Up to today I never received one cent ........... and they even 'topped' their cheating when they unilateral cancelled the agreement with XLibris and formed their own Publishing Company Sahel Publishers (funny that this happened at the moment where the Jeff-Koinange-Saga and my blog about this attracted a huge attention all around the world and always the Shining Star was mentioned ......).
--------------
Coming back to the Distant-Lover:
Sam assured me to settle also the accounts for the Shining Star is and when I pass also the Distant-Lover-Book to them.......... he even sent me his version of how it should be done ............
I read his script and was not just amazed but really disgusted:
- he had left out any mentioning of Oprah Winfrey - although Jeff talked about this relationship with her in many emails at various occasions ...........
- there was also no word regarding the Niger-Delta-Story - although this should have been discussed not only in one chapter - publishing all the emails Jeff had sent to me ............
- Sam furthermore left out all the mails Jeff had sent to me after London in which he was accepting his guilt .............
Don't you think that this is more than funny?????????
Sam Okello had obviously contacted Jeff before sending me his 'proposal' for the book and both must have agreed what to leave out and what to mention .......... there is no other explanation .......
and the following fits into this 'pattern': it took Sam more than one month to send me his proposal ...... always claiming that he was busy ......... now it's clear: he was 'busy' to track down Jeff Koinange .............
And in coming out now in Jeff's defense, Sam is even more underlinding their 'collaboration' .......... don't you think so?
In this connection, it is interesting to know Jeff Koinange's previous opinion about Sam Okello:
When I told Jeff about the cheating regarding the royalties, Jeff called the Okellos 'criminal bastards which make me feel ashamed being a Kenyan ...' and further: 'the only serious book Sam has ever published is the Shining Star and this thanks to you ...... all his other books are just 'trivial' and I would not even spend one minute of my precious time to read one line .....................'
And it was for this reason that he declined to write a forward to the Excellency-Book which Sam Okello had asked him to ..............
I will be more than pleased to supply you with Jeff's comments on this if you ask me to ...............
And now these 'two' - Jeff and Sam - have become 'friends' - joining forces against this dangerous woman called Marianne Briner ?????????
Just think about all this.......................
And for all those of you to get to know the whole story:
Just send me a mail (mariannebriner@hotmail.com) and I will send you the complete script ------------ the book will come out early next year ----------- so this is your chance to get it now free of charge .............
And here is the reason why I am so 'gracious' ............
It is now confirmed that Jeff Koinange has infected me with Herpes and even worse with the most contagious form 'Herpes-18' .........
An infection which can be treated but can never be cured .........
I will have to live with it for the rest of my life.
I had published an appeal (before my blogs were 'disabled') asking Jeff to at least tell me since when he is infected and which medicaments he is taking. This would be useful to know for my own treatment ..........
But his 'reply' was the disabling of my blogs .......................
------------------
Friends and family tell me to 'slow down' - to be careful with a man like Jeff Koinange who obviously is much more dangerous then we ever expected ......................... but I cannot do that.
Because knowing what he did to me - he will for sure continue infecting other women like he has already done in the past as one woman from Kenya wrote to me and I am sure that there are more 'out there' feeling ashamed to talk about it ............
There are more than 45 million people infected worldwide - and since the diagnosis is very difficult, the real figures may be more than double -
So since I have been diagnosed with this infection, I have decided to go into the open with it and to publish everything I found out ......
Jeff knew he was infected and still forced me to have sex with him without using any protection ........ and even after I started bleeding and having pain, he did not stop ..............
And if you don't believe me, just read his emails afterwards ........................
He once told me to believe him and that he was 'a man of his words' ..........
So here is my appeal to you, Jeff Koinange, come out and show your face - don't hide behind Sam and others .......... tell me the truth .... tell me since when you are infected and which treatment you take .........
You owe me at least this because I will have to come to terms with the fact that you have infected me and that I will have to live with it for the rest of my life............
Marianne Briner
The answer to the question: "Who had an interest to disable my blogs and why"
As you may have realized, all my three blogs 'mariannebriner-jeffkoinange', 'mariannebriner-excellency' and mariannebriner-kenya-betrayed' had been disabled over the weekend ..............
--------------------------
Sam Okello, my 'co-author' in the Shining Star is now claiming to have done it and not only for himself but also because he felt that he had to 'defend' Jeff Koinange ......... Sam has even sent a letter to a notorious Kenyan Blogger regarding this and they have published it more than willingly ...... and I even suspect that this Blogger received money for it ...........
Why I say this?
Because Jeff Koinange is used to do this .......like he did in the infamous Niger-Delta-Story where he allegedly paid some actors to present themselves in front of his camera as 'rebels' - all under the title: I got my fame and CNN got their story ...... only this time he went too far and this 'broke his neck' ....and with it his job ...........
In his so-called letter, Sam Okello also claims to know that the surveillance in the London Hotel confirms that Jeff never entered my room and therefore could not have had any sexual 'encounter' with me and that CNN all got it wrong ............ Jeff 'put the brakes early enough' as Sam puts it.
This is offending and hurting ........... since as Sam knows very well I have all the emails confirming the opposite and underlining Jeff's guilt .........
-------------------
Sam also mentions that I had approached him to act as a ghost-writer for the Distant-Lover, a request he declined .........
The truth is quite different as I can easily prove with the exchange of emails between me, Sam and his wife Hellen regarding this subject ........
It was in fact Sam who made the proposal that I should publish the whole story in a book - after they had realized the unbelievable reaction this matter had raised all around the world ..........and as Sam put it to me: 'you have a legitimate story to tell here...'
He then offered to put it together and act as a kind of 'ghost-writer' .......... (and for all those doubting me: I am willing to provide you with the facts, i.e. our email-exchange on all this)....................
---------------------
But before I continue on this subject, allow me to give you the following information - which also explains Hellen and Sam Okello's 'change of mind' or as I call it 'brain-washing'.
I am sure that Jeff Koinange is behind all this - since only he knew about this and now obviously is taking advantage of this knowledge for his own personal reasons ...........
And as usual 'hiding' behind others - like in this case where he is hiding behind Sam Okello - who is more than willing to act as Jeff's 'servant' .............
Because the truth is that Jeff Koinange is a coward ...... afraid to show his own face ..............he is using people - their mind and their feelings and this he did all his life ............
Before going into detail regarding this, I should mention that I still have an 'open' account with Sam Okello, something Jeff knew about and therefore made it easy for him to 'convince' Sam:
When Sam and I agreed to write the Shining Star together, we signed a mutual agreement and I also signed the document which he was then supposed to send to the Publisher XLibris ...... we agreed to share the royalties of the book in equal terms.
When I did not hear anything anymore about this, I contacted XLibris and found out that Sam had only passed to them our mutual Author's Agreement but not the one regarding sharing the royalties ..... everything was put instead under his own name and his own company - at that time Sahel Books Inc. ........ which had been put by him as the only ones receiving the royalties .........
When I asked him to clarify this, he and especially his wife Hellen became very offensive .............
In short:
Up to today I never received one cent ........... and they even 'topped' their cheating when they unilateral cancelled the agreement with XLibris and formed their own Publishing Company Sahel Publishers (funny that this happened at the moment where the Jeff-Koinange-Saga and my blog about this attracted a huge attention all around the world and always the Shining Star was mentioned ......).
--------------
Coming back to the Distant-Lover:
Sam assured me to settle also the accounts for the Shining Star is and when I pass also the Distant-Lover-Book to them.......... he even sent me his version of how it should be done ............
I read his script and was not just amazed but really disgusted:
- he had left out any mentioning of Oprah Winfrey - although Jeff talked about this relationship with her in many emails at various occasions ...........
- there was also no word regarding the Niger-Delta-Story - although this should have been discussed not only in one chapter - publishing all the emails Jeff had sent to me ............
- Sam furthermore left out all the mails Jeff had sent to me after London in which he was accepting his guilt .............
Don't you think that this is more than funny?????????
Sam Okello had obviously contacted Jeff before sending me his 'proposal' for the book and both must have agreed what to leave out and what to mention .......... there is no other explanation .......
and the following fits into this 'pattern': it took Sam more than one month to send me his proposal ...... always claiming that he was busy ......... now it's clear: he was 'busy' to track down Jeff Koinange .............
And in coming out now in Jeff's defense, Sam is even more underlinding their 'collaboration' .......... don't you think so?
In this connection, it is interesting to know Jeff Koinange's previous opinion about Sam Okello:
When I told Jeff about the cheating regarding the royalties, Jeff called the Okellos 'criminal bastards which make me feel ashamed being a Kenyan ...' and further: 'the only serious book Sam has ever published is the Shining Star and this thanks to you ...... all his other books are just 'trivial' and I would not even spend one minute of my precious time to read one line .....................'
And it was for this reason that he declined to write a forward to the Excellency-Book which Sam Okello had asked him to ..............
I will be more than pleased to supply you with Jeff's comments on this if you ask me to ...............
And now these 'two' - Jeff and Sam - have become 'friends' - joining forces against this dangerous woman called Marianne Briner ?????????
Just think about all this.......................
And for all those of you to get to know the whole story:
Just send me a mail (mariannebriner@hotmail.com) and I will send you the complete script ------------ the book will come out early next year ----------- so this is your chance to get it now free of charge .............
And here is the reason why I am so 'gracious' ............
It is now confirmed that Jeff Koinange has infected me with Herpes and even worse with the most contagious form 'Herpes-18' .........
An infection which can be treated but can never be cured .........
I will have to live with it for the rest of my life.
I had published an appeal (before my blogs were 'disabled') asking Jeff to at least tell me since when he is infected and which medicaments he is taking. This would be useful to know for my own treatment ..........
But his 'reply' was the disabling of my blogs .......................
------------------
Friends and family tell me to 'slow down' - to be careful with a man like Jeff Koinange who obviously is much more dangerous then we ever expected ......................... but I cannot do that.
Because knowing what he did to me - he will for sure continue infecting other women like he has already done in the past as one woman from Kenya wrote to me and I am sure that there are more 'out there' feeling ashamed to talk about it ............
There are more than 45 million people infected worldwide - and since the diagnosis is very difficult, the real figures may be more than double -
So since I have been diagnosed with this infection, I have decided to go into the open with it and to publish everything I found out ......
Jeff knew he was infected and still forced me to have sex with him without using any protection ........ and even after I started bleeding and having pain, he did not stop ..............
And if you don't believe me, just read his emails afterwards ........................
He once told me to believe him and that he was 'a man of his words' ..........
So here is my appeal to you, Jeff Koinange, come out and show your face - don't hide behind Sam and others .......... tell me the truth .... tell me since when you are infected and which treatment you take .........
You owe me at least this because I will have to come to terms with the fact that you have infected me and that I will have to live with it for the rest of my life............
Marianne Briner
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Where Is All The Fake Currency Coming From?
Most Kenyans, it seems are well aware of the fact that when elections are around the corner the volume of fake currency sharply rises. This time is no exception and according to our research the most common fake note in the run up to elections 2007 is… surprise, surprise, the Kshs 200 note. Very handy for dishing out under a tree in some remote village. Or even for purchasing some voting cards in some extreme poverty stricken area like Turukana (a place where most of my readers here have never set foot on. I assure you, you will not believe you are in Kenya. If a dog dies in this part of the country—it doesn’t matter from what— folks here celebrate because that means a serious nyama choma session is in the offing. I kid you not.) Kshs 200 is a lot of money in Turukana.
But what should be even more worrying to Kenyans is the question; where is it coming from this time?
It has been previously assumed that printing fake notes is quite often the work of some small time crooks situated somewhere around River Road in Nairobi. The Kroll report authoritatively told us otherwise and the name of Philip Moi (yep, the former president’s son) was linked to the printing of fake Kenyan currency and US dollars as well. Suddenly everything began to make so much sense since for example we all know that during the landmark 1992 elections fake Kshs 500 notes were printed in huge quantities. And we all know what the purpose was, along with the genuinely printed ones that were being packed at Anniversary Towers up to the roof and were dished out in carton loads.
Now this time it was assumed that all the bad guys specializing in the printing of fake notes for election purposes have retired along with former President Moi. Sadly it is clear that they have not.
The problem was so serious a few weeks ago that Hoo Ndii Emm reported that they had unknowingly received more than Kshs 200,000 in fake notes as nomination fees payment from aspirants for both parliamentary and civic seats. According to the party Secretary General, Kshs 169,000 in counterfeit cash was received in Nairobi and Ksh 55,000 in Mombasa. He said they had reported the matter to the police. That was about 3 weeks ago and to date nothing has been done. If anything it seems that the idea is to keep the whole thing as quiet as possible.
ODM has also received some fake notes although the party has not revealed details.
The presence of so much fake currency many believe in larger quantities than was the case in 2002, is a clear indicator that dirty politics is in full swing and this may make other stranger than fiction allegations of foul play in this elections more believable. And don’t for a moment lie to yourself that dirty tactics are limited to one political party. It seems that during the campaign period the law is conveniently trashed and even murder is not really a criminal offence. One immediate former MP closely escaped death yesterday when gunmen sprayed bullets at his car as he was coming from a campaign meeting. And have you noticed that hardly anybody is ever arrested for a murder linked to the electioneering?
So the printing of currency is hardly a big deal.
P.S. Did you know that there are some parts of the world where everybody prints their own money. It happens in Somaliland (which is a peaceful area of Somalia that is seeking autonomy and recognition from the world). The printing is allowed because all the currency is simply pegged to the US dollar and there isn’t enough dollar to go round and apparently there is no Central bank with resources to order for it’s own printing of cash so the private printing helps a lot. I’m informed that most new notes are released on Fridays.
It may look like a lucrative undertaking to somebody who doesn’t understand the economics involved but the truth is that with the crazy triple digit inflation happening in some of these parts, the printing could easily be a serious loss. In other words, the printing bill ends up being much higher than the value of the currency produced.
But what should be even more worrying to Kenyans is the question; where is it coming from this time?
It has been previously assumed that printing fake notes is quite often the work of some small time crooks situated somewhere around River Road in Nairobi. The Kroll report authoritatively told us otherwise and the name of Philip Moi (yep, the former president’s son) was linked to the printing of fake Kenyan currency and US dollars as well. Suddenly everything began to make so much sense since for example we all know that during the landmark 1992 elections fake Kshs 500 notes were printed in huge quantities. And we all know what the purpose was, along with the genuinely printed ones that were being packed at Anniversary Towers up to the roof and were dished out in carton loads.
Now this time it was assumed that all the bad guys specializing in the printing of fake notes for election purposes have retired along with former President Moi. Sadly it is clear that they have not.
The problem was so serious a few weeks ago that Hoo Ndii Emm reported that they had unknowingly received more than Kshs 200,000 in fake notes as nomination fees payment from aspirants for both parliamentary and civic seats. According to the party Secretary General, Kshs 169,000 in counterfeit cash was received in Nairobi and Ksh 55,000 in Mombasa. He said they had reported the matter to the police. That was about 3 weeks ago and to date nothing has been done. If anything it seems that the idea is to keep the whole thing as quiet as possible.
ODM has also received some fake notes although the party has not revealed details.
The presence of so much fake currency many believe in larger quantities than was the case in 2002, is a clear indicator that dirty politics is in full swing and this may make other stranger than fiction allegations of foul play in this elections more believable. And don’t for a moment lie to yourself that dirty tactics are limited to one political party. It seems that during the campaign period the law is conveniently trashed and even murder is not really a criminal offence. One immediate former MP closely escaped death yesterday when gunmen sprayed bullets at his car as he was coming from a campaign meeting. And have you noticed that hardly anybody is ever arrested for a murder linked to the electioneering?
So the printing of currency is hardly a big deal.
P.S. Did you know that there are some parts of the world where everybody prints their own money. It happens in Somaliland (which is a peaceful area of Somalia that is seeking autonomy and recognition from the world). The printing is allowed because all the currency is simply pegged to the US dollar and there isn’t enough dollar to go round and apparently there is no Central bank with resources to order for it’s own printing of cash so the private printing helps a lot. I’m informed that most new notes are released on Fridays.
It may look like a lucrative undertaking to somebody who doesn’t understand the economics involved but the truth is that with the crazy triple digit inflation happening in some of these parts, the printing could easily be a serious loss. In other words, the printing bill ends up being much higher than the value of the currency produced.
“I once successfully recommended to my boss’s boss to relieve him of his job and give it to me. I got it without undermining anyone!”
I have never met this Kenyan, but he makes a lot of sense to me.
I like to think of my readers as friends and anything of interest that they should know, I will gladly pass on.
I hope that it has dawned on you guys that the world and especially the workplace is changing too fast for most people to understand and grasp the meaning of the changes. Least of all our Njenga-Karume-type-cabinet Ministers. That’s why I was talking about Kenyans making the effort to seek a younger generation eladership in our beloved country.
Anyway let’s forget siasa for a minute.
A Kenyan motivational speaker gave a fascinating talk in Nairobi the other day that every Kumekucha reader should take a very careful look at. I guarantee that you will NOT regret it.
A talk by Eric Kimani to the British Council Leadership Forum in Nairobi, Kenya on 19th September 2007.
Distinguished guests ladies & gentlemen,
I am delighted to have been invited to come and share some thoughts with you.
Tonight I have chosen to address one of the topics you asked me to speak on-target setting or planning for success. This is a wide topic and I have chosen to provoke our thoughts on Personal Branding.
To answer the question why brand yourself I will narrate in short a chapter by Tom Peters the management guru in one of his books – “The Circle of innovation”.
He tells the story how in 1980 Percy Bernevik left his job in the US to take up the leadership of the giant Swedish engineering firm ASEA.
There he inherited a 2,000 –person headquarters. He pruned it quickly to 200 people!
In 1987 ASEA merged with Switzerland’s Brown Boveri to create the world’s largest Electrical engineering firm Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) inheriting Brown Boveri’s 4,000 strong headquarters. Six months later the headquarters was down to 200! As of 1998 the headcount had gone down to 140 down from 6,000. The message is that if it has not happened to you it soon will- 59 out of 60 of you and me here tonight are at risk and hence the need to brand ourselves!
How do we brand ourselves?
Keep time! As a general rule we have little respect for time. You give someone an appointment and they come half hour or an hour late. You call a meeting and half the people turn up late. Until you have a reputation for respect for time you will not project yourself as a powerful brand. I have chaired a professional committee for over 8 years and we meet from 7.30 to 8.30 a.m. and occasionally to 9 am. We have never started the meeting late or ended it late! I chair many others and I will be on time 99% of time. I have a reputation for keeping time. It is part of my branding effort. I have little respect for people who do not keep time. Ordinarily they are unreliable and weak brands. This is an area of life that is easy to improve. In some cultures like Germany, it is commonly taken as a personal affront to be late and they will cancel important business or social appointments on this score alone.
To build a powerful brand of yourself you must be passionate at what you do. I once worked for a large tea company and my calling/visiting card besides my name had the inscription “Passionate about Tea”. And those who knew me will tell you I was passionate about it! I have heard someone comment that if I worked at Sameer with the same passion heaven would be the limit for “Yana”. I am intending to print new business cards screaming “Yana where the rubber meets the Road”! Like Martin Luther said once- if you are a sweeper sweep to the glory of God.
I say if you are a teacher here tonight teach with passion; whatever your vocation give it your best. If you cannot account for the day don’t bother to wake up and burn energy and fuel through the Nairobi traffic. If you do not show up on time to passionately deliver a measurable product you will not be a powerful brand. I get to work often earlier than 6.30 a.m. to keep my brand equity higher than the competition! My friend Bill Lay the CEO of General Motors sometimes comes for coffee to my office before 7 a.m.! Martin Oduor Otieno the CEO of KCB Group gives me a 7 a.m. appointment! This is the branding I am talking about! These men are passionate about the work they do!
You must learn how to deliver extra-ordinary service. You must be reliable to your customers- and this applies whether you are talking of a finance department staff, HR or any enterprise. For 10 year we have run a small family business with my wife in a service industry dominated by big competitor firms. Our customer base is largely what I would call the 5-star institutional market. Our customer retention in that decade has been close to 95% - the greatest reason for this is that we are reliable in service delivery! Most great managers and leaders are head hunted for their extra ordinary service delivery which portrays them as powerful brands.
Understand globalization. I will never forget a picture that appeared in the Economist somewhere in the late 90’s showing a Maasai herdsman looking after his cattle with his legs traditionally crossed and talking on a mobile phone- it looked so distant then; it became a reality so soon thereafter. The world is not a global village anymore but a virtual one! Jobs are no longer limited to within borders. The boundaries are no longer in existence except in our politicized minds! Our competition for the jobs and market share is not local – it is global. Entrepreneurial competition is also now global. I am incoming chairman of Help Age International the leading global Non-Governmental Organization on ageing with headquarters in London. I fly out on a Wednesday night to attend board meetings and other functions on Thursday and Friday and I am back in Nairobi on Saturday night! I tell people to stop complaining about Chinese and get their acts together- China is here to stay! We must be prepared to compete with China and anyone else on a global level.
Today Indians are sub-contracting Kenyans on technology for back office operations; the government of Kenya has announced that each constituency will have a technology village. In the Sameer Export Processing Zones we have American Corporations run by Kenyans on Kenyan soil but the call centre customer has no clue and does not care who handles the call!
The world has truly flattened. To appropriately brand yourself, you must understand globalization and the flattening of the world. I heard a serious joke the other day that not long ago mothers threatened their kids in America to think of the starving Indians and eat their food;
I hear that today they are implored to read or an Indian will take their jobs! To project yourself as a powerful brand in the world we must understand globalization.
Jobs have been re-engineered and continue to be re-engineered by technology. I joined Sameer Africa 2 years ago. Six of us had 6 secretaries. Today we share 2!It takes weeks or months before anyone types a letter for me in the office! Today you can buy your air-ticket from the comfort of your office or home; print your boarding pass and show up at immigration. Travel agency has been totally re-engineered by technology- what next? You must think and brand yourself appropriately!
To create a brand of yourself you must stop thinking employment/employee and begin to see yourself as an independent contractor irrespective of whether you are a cleaner, a CEO, a teacher or a middle executive. No independent contractor will refuse to show up for work or do a shoddy job because the repercussions will be major in lost income and bad future references. A couple of years ago a Jewish friend who thought I was a good brand stopped me at a roundabout to offer to ask whether I would take a job contract with a certain company! I did and it was one of my most lucrative jobs. Not long ago I negotiated a very good job contract in a Java Coffeehouse! I tell people that I am not employed by Sameer Africa- I work with Sameer Africa and my intentions are to passionately deliver an extra-ordinary performance that will raise my brand equity higher!
Begin to be known as the best Accountant around; the best lawyer; the best sales person; the best at whatever you do- it is at the heart of the brand you wish to become.
You are Chairman/CEO/of life; forget that you work for someone. It is liberating like you cannot imagine.
In the same way Coccola, Yana, Keringet are powerful brands, you need to make Kamau, Otieno or Kioko a powerful brand! You must understand that it does not work any longer to tell a prospective employer that I was Finance Director, or General Manager of XYZ- You must say what it is you achieved- A measurable achievement! I know this one man that was CEO of a company that then fired him many years ago and for the last 20 years all he has told anybody who cares to listen is that he used to be the CEO of XYZ….! He made a poor brand of himself and no one ever employed him again.
To brand yourself, you must pass what one management writer called the Painter test. Imagine that your painter did not turn up for work would you pay him on a daily rate? Why is it then that a manager who habitually misses work and deadlines only gets away with a down grading on his/her annual appraisal while a painter would go without pay? Would you recommend a painter who misses to show up or does a shoddy job? In the same measure a Brand You requires that you pass this test. This test is increasingly becoming the measure in an era of performance management.
Branding yourself for success demands that you exercise power that is far beyond what is vested in your employment, contract or work environment. I tell those wishing to grow their careers that authority is never given; authority must be grabbed.
Most well branded managers know that you take action and then seek affirmation- Powerlessness is indeed a state of mind.
I have done things in the past that even my immediate boss could not have the “power” or “authority” to do. I once successfully recommended to my boss’s boss to relieve him of his job and give it to me. I got it without undermining anyone!
Powerful branding demands a high level of moral authority. This is the highest form of authority anyone can have- far higher and transcendent than any form of formal authority. Moral authority will give you access to people and places you have never imagined. It increases your brand visibility. This is the kind of authority Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King etc had. Moral authority gives you access to a very large circle of influence. I am sure Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai will be remembered far into the future for the moral authority she built than for the fact that she was in parliament! Recently I conceived an idea to strengthen the activities of Palmhouse Foundation- an educational trust I co-founded with my wife and whose mission is to finance the secondary education of bright and deserving children.
I invited 13 extremely highly regarded and placed Kenyans to become the Advisory and Oversight Board. Some are men and women I would otherwise hesitate to ask for any kind of favor because of their high status in society. Not one of them turned down the request! And why?
What authority did I have? I have moral authority. Moral authority belongs to those who offer themselves for the well being of others. The reward you get is a powerful circle of influence and a very high brand visibility!
Many of you know me for higher positions I have held in society but I can guarantee you that none of those positions would beat the Palmhouse Foundation and its moral signature on my life.
Personal branding demands higher credibility. Credibility comes from trust. I recommend a book by the chairman of one of the leading companies in the USA titled “winners never cheat”. Those looking to establish a truly transcendent brand must be trusted. I have on many occasions told the story of a man who years ago offered me a seven digit “thank you” for something he perceived I did for him. I was aware that I had done nothing out of my work/job and he had won the contract transparently and performed it judiciously. I turned down his thank you offer. To this day he remains perhaps one of my greatest brand testimony to many in his very wide and global circle of influence!
Credibility and trust are central to protecting your brand equity! Nothing will kill your self confidence and self worth as taking a bribe and no matter how rich you become through this avenue, you will remain a weak brand in the market. I know many seemingly successful and rich people who would pay anything to increase their brand presence but their credibility kills it!
To increase brand visibility it would help to build yourself a website. I have had one since 2003! Some of the most incredible lessons I learn today are from some of you who visit and post messages on my website.
It need not be the most state of the art. Very soon a website will become as much a necessity as an email address and if you do not have one you are “mteja” – you cannot be reached.
Four months ago I received an email from Australia from a man I do not know. He was looking for the founder/chairman of Group Four Security a gentleman by the name Ed Van Tongeren. He told me in an email that he had been looking for him for a long time because he once saved his life many years ago but they lost contact. When he went to the World Wide Web and searched, the only Ed Van Tongeren was mention in a speech I posted on my website. I was able to connect the two gentlemen. I trust you understand the power of the website.
Finally learn and upgrade your skills to improve the brand you! Read voraciously. I am an accountant, lawyer and motivational public speaker! To retain my command on these and many areas I have to read widely. Only this way can you learn to anticipate the future! People ask me where we get the time. I respond by saying to them redeem time! Many people spend unnecessary time on TV, and reading newspaper from end to end. Like my chairman likes to put it by the time you finish reading the news paper your morale is so reduced by the bad news that are the hallmark of our newspapers that your output is greatly reduced. I read all my three papers in about 10 minutes and if I missed to read them I would not notice. I can go without TV for days. I choose to do things like reading that enhances my brand.
Having spoken about how to set targets and brand ourselves for success, I will conclude by trying to answer the question often posed;
How much success does a man need?
I will attempt to answer this question with a short story told by the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy in his book- “How much land does a man need”. In this book he narrates the story of a man who was asked to walk all the land he needed as long as he had to be at the starting point before darkness. The deal then was that he would get all the land as far as he walked and back. He started at day break and walked and walked and walked. Every time he thought it was time to start heading back he would think of a little more land to walk ahead.
The sun started threatening to go down and he started walking back. The sun was now threatening to set faster. He began to run. He ran, and ran and ran. He tried harder and faster. Finally as the darkness was about to fall he crossed the finishing line with final leap and fell on the ground with blood oozing out of his mouth he died! His servant who had accompanied him dug a shallow grave long and deep enough to bury his master’s dead body. Leo Tolstoy answered his question- how much land does a man need? - Only enough to cover him from the head to the toe.
How much success do you need?
Thank you and God bless you.
©Eric Kimani 2007.
I like to think of my readers as friends and anything of interest that they should know, I will gladly pass on.
I hope that it has dawned on you guys that the world and especially the workplace is changing too fast for most people to understand and grasp the meaning of the changes. Least of all our Njenga-Karume-type-cabinet Ministers. That’s why I was talking about Kenyans making the effort to seek a younger generation eladership in our beloved country.
Anyway let’s forget siasa for a minute.
A Kenyan motivational speaker gave a fascinating talk in Nairobi the other day that every Kumekucha reader should take a very careful look at. I guarantee that you will NOT regret it.
A talk by Eric Kimani to the British Council Leadership Forum in Nairobi, Kenya on 19th September 2007.
Distinguished guests ladies & gentlemen,
I am delighted to have been invited to come and share some thoughts with you.
Tonight I have chosen to address one of the topics you asked me to speak on-target setting or planning for success. This is a wide topic and I have chosen to provoke our thoughts on Personal Branding.
To answer the question why brand yourself I will narrate in short a chapter by Tom Peters the management guru in one of his books – “The Circle of innovation”.
He tells the story how in 1980 Percy Bernevik left his job in the US to take up the leadership of the giant Swedish engineering firm ASEA.
There he inherited a 2,000 –person headquarters. He pruned it quickly to 200 people!
In 1987 ASEA merged with Switzerland’s Brown Boveri to create the world’s largest Electrical engineering firm Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) inheriting Brown Boveri’s 4,000 strong headquarters. Six months later the headquarters was down to 200! As of 1998 the headcount had gone down to 140 down from 6,000. The message is that if it has not happened to you it soon will- 59 out of 60 of you and me here tonight are at risk and hence the need to brand ourselves!
How do we brand ourselves?
Keep time! As a general rule we have little respect for time. You give someone an appointment and they come half hour or an hour late. You call a meeting and half the people turn up late. Until you have a reputation for respect for time you will not project yourself as a powerful brand. I have chaired a professional committee for over 8 years and we meet from 7.30 to 8.30 a.m. and occasionally to 9 am. We have never started the meeting late or ended it late! I chair many others and I will be on time 99% of time. I have a reputation for keeping time. It is part of my branding effort. I have little respect for people who do not keep time. Ordinarily they are unreliable and weak brands. This is an area of life that is easy to improve. In some cultures like Germany, it is commonly taken as a personal affront to be late and they will cancel important business or social appointments on this score alone.
To build a powerful brand of yourself you must be passionate at what you do. I once worked for a large tea company and my calling/visiting card besides my name had the inscription “Passionate about Tea”. And those who knew me will tell you I was passionate about it! I have heard someone comment that if I worked at Sameer with the same passion heaven would be the limit for “Yana”. I am intending to print new business cards screaming “Yana where the rubber meets the Road”! Like Martin Luther said once- if you are a sweeper sweep to the glory of God.
I say if you are a teacher here tonight teach with passion; whatever your vocation give it your best. If you cannot account for the day don’t bother to wake up and burn energy and fuel through the Nairobi traffic. If you do not show up on time to passionately deliver a measurable product you will not be a powerful brand. I get to work often earlier than 6.30 a.m. to keep my brand equity higher than the competition! My friend Bill Lay the CEO of General Motors sometimes comes for coffee to my office before 7 a.m.! Martin Oduor Otieno the CEO of KCB Group gives me a 7 a.m. appointment! This is the branding I am talking about! These men are passionate about the work they do!
You must learn how to deliver extra-ordinary service. You must be reliable to your customers- and this applies whether you are talking of a finance department staff, HR or any enterprise. For 10 year we have run a small family business with my wife in a service industry dominated by big competitor firms. Our customer base is largely what I would call the 5-star institutional market. Our customer retention in that decade has been close to 95% - the greatest reason for this is that we are reliable in service delivery! Most great managers and leaders are head hunted for their extra ordinary service delivery which portrays them as powerful brands.
Understand globalization. I will never forget a picture that appeared in the Economist somewhere in the late 90’s showing a Maasai herdsman looking after his cattle with his legs traditionally crossed and talking on a mobile phone- it looked so distant then; it became a reality so soon thereafter. The world is not a global village anymore but a virtual one! Jobs are no longer limited to within borders. The boundaries are no longer in existence except in our politicized minds! Our competition for the jobs and market share is not local – it is global. Entrepreneurial competition is also now global. I am incoming chairman of Help Age International the leading global Non-Governmental Organization on ageing with headquarters in London. I fly out on a Wednesday night to attend board meetings and other functions on Thursday and Friday and I am back in Nairobi on Saturday night! I tell people to stop complaining about Chinese and get their acts together- China is here to stay! We must be prepared to compete with China and anyone else on a global level.
Today Indians are sub-contracting Kenyans on technology for back office operations; the government of Kenya has announced that each constituency will have a technology village. In the Sameer Export Processing Zones we have American Corporations run by Kenyans on Kenyan soil but the call centre customer has no clue and does not care who handles the call!
The world has truly flattened. To appropriately brand yourself, you must understand globalization and the flattening of the world. I heard a serious joke the other day that not long ago mothers threatened their kids in America to think of the starving Indians and eat their food;
I hear that today they are implored to read or an Indian will take their jobs! To project yourself as a powerful brand in the world we must understand globalization.
Jobs have been re-engineered and continue to be re-engineered by technology. I joined Sameer Africa 2 years ago. Six of us had 6 secretaries. Today we share 2!It takes weeks or months before anyone types a letter for me in the office! Today you can buy your air-ticket from the comfort of your office or home; print your boarding pass and show up at immigration. Travel agency has been totally re-engineered by technology- what next? You must think and brand yourself appropriately!
To create a brand of yourself you must stop thinking employment/employee and begin to see yourself as an independent contractor irrespective of whether you are a cleaner, a CEO, a teacher or a middle executive. No independent contractor will refuse to show up for work or do a shoddy job because the repercussions will be major in lost income and bad future references. A couple of years ago a Jewish friend who thought I was a good brand stopped me at a roundabout to offer to ask whether I would take a job contract with a certain company! I did and it was one of my most lucrative jobs. Not long ago I negotiated a very good job contract in a Java Coffeehouse! I tell people that I am not employed by Sameer Africa- I work with Sameer Africa and my intentions are to passionately deliver an extra-ordinary performance that will raise my brand equity higher!
Begin to be known as the best Accountant around; the best lawyer; the best sales person; the best at whatever you do- it is at the heart of the brand you wish to become.
You are Chairman/CEO/of life; forget that you work for someone. It is liberating like you cannot imagine.
In the same way Coccola, Yana, Keringet are powerful brands, you need to make Kamau, Otieno or Kioko a powerful brand! You must understand that it does not work any longer to tell a prospective employer that I was Finance Director, or General Manager of XYZ- You must say what it is you achieved- A measurable achievement! I know this one man that was CEO of a company that then fired him many years ago and for the last 20 years all he has told anybody who cares to listen is that he used to be the CEO of XYZ….! He made a poor brand of himself and no one ever employed him again.
To brand yourself, you must pass what one management writer called the Painter test. Imagine that your painter did not turn up for work would you pay him on a daily rate? Why is it then that a manager who habitually misses work and deadlines only gets away with a down grading on his/her annual appraisal while a painter would go without pay? Would you recommend a painter who misses to show up or does a shoddy job? In the same measure a Brand You requires that you pass this test. This test is increasingly becoming the measure in an era of performance management.
Branding yourself for success demands that you exercise power that is far beyond what is vested in your employment, contract or work environment. I tell those wishing to grow their careers that authority is never given; authority must be grabbed.
Most well branded managers know that you take action and then seek affirmation- Powerlessness is indeed a state of mind.
I have done things in the past that even my immediate boss could not have the “power” or “authority” to do. I once successfully recommended to my boss’s boss to relieve him of his job and give it to me. I got it without undermining anyone!
Powerful branding demands a high level of moral authority. This is the highest form of authority anyone can have- far higher and transcendent than any form of formal authority. Moral authority will give you access to people and places you have never imagined. It increases your brand visibility. This is the kind of authority Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King etc had. Moral authority gives you access to a very large circle of influence. I am sure Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai will be remembered far into the future for the moral authority she built than for the fact that she was in parliament! Recently I conceived an idea to strengthen the activities of Palmhouse Foundation- an educational trust I co-founded with my wife and whose mission is to finance the secondary education of bright and deserving children.
I invited 13 extremely highly regarded and placed Kenyans to become the Advisory and Oversight Board. Some are men and women I would otherwise hesitate to ask for any kind of favor because of their high status in society. Not one of them turned down the request! And why?
What authority did I have? I have moral authority. Moral authority belongs to those who offer themselves for the well being of others. The reward you get is a powerful circle of influence and a very high brand visibility!
Many of you know me for higher positions I have held in society but I can guarantee you that none of those positions would beat the Palmhouse Foundation and its moral signature on my life.
Personal branding demands higher credibility. Credibility comes from trust. I recommend a book by the chairman of one of the leading companies in the USA titled “winners never cheat”. Those looking to establish a truly transcendent brand must be trusted. I have on many occasions told the story of a man who years ago offered me a seven digit “thank you” for something he perceived I did for him. I was aware that I had done nothing out of my work/job and he had won the contract transparently and performed it judiciously. I turned down his thank you offer. To this day he remains perhaps one of my greatest brand testimony to many in his very wide and global circle of influence!
Credibility and trust are central to protecting your brand equity! Nothing will kill your self confidence and self worth as taking a bribe and no matter how rich you become through this avenue, you will remain a weak brand in the market. I know many seemingly successful and rich people who would pay anything to increase their brand presence but their credibility kills it!
To increase brand visibility it would help to build yourself a website. I have had one since 2003! Some of the most incredible lessons I learn today are from some of you who visit and post messages on my website.
It need not be the most state of the art. Very soon a website will become as much a necessity as an email address and if you do not have one you are “mteja” – you cannot be reached.
Four months ago I received an email from Australia from a man I do not know. He was looking for the founder/chairman of Group Four Security a gentleman by the name Ed Van Tongeren. He told me in an email that he had been looking for him for a long time because he once saved his life many years ago but they lost contact. When he went to the World Wide Web and searched, the only Ed Van Tongeren was mention in a speech I posted on my website. I was able to connect the two gentlemen. I trust you understand the power of the website.
Finally learn and upgrade your skills to improve the brand you! Read voraciously. I am an accountant, lawyer and motivational public speaker! To retain my command on these and many areas I have to read widely. Only this way can you learn to anticipate the future! People ask me where we get the time. I respond by saying to them redeem time! Many people spend unnecessary time on TV, and reading newspaper from end to end. Like my chairman likes to put it by the time you finish reading the news paper your morale is so reduced by the bad news that are the hallmark of our newspapers that your output is greatly reduced. I read all my three papers in about 10 minutes and if I missed to read them I would not notice. I can go without TV for days. I choose to do things like reading that enhances my brand.
Having spoken about how to set targets and brand ourselves for success, I will conclude by trying to answer the question often posed;
How much success does a man need?
I will attempt to answer this question with a short story told by the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy in his book- “How much land does a man need”. In this book he narrates the story of a man who was asked to walk all the land he needed as long as he had to be at the starting point before darkness. The deal then was that he would get all the land as far as he walked and back. He started at day break and walked and walked and walked. Every time he thought it was time to start heading back he would think of a little more land to walk ahead.
The sun started threatening to go down and he started walking back. The sun was now threatening to set faster. He began to run. He ran, and ran and ran. He tried harder and faster. Finally as the darkness was about to fall he crossed the finishing line with final leap and fell on the ground with blood oozing out of his mouth he died! His servant who had accompanied him dug a shallow grave long and deep enough to bury his master’s dead body. Leo Tolstoy answered his question- how much land does a man need? - Only enough to cover him from the head to the toe.
How much success do you need?
Thank you and God bless you.
©Eric Kimani 2007.
The 5 most popular articles in Kumekucha today 6th Nov
The 5 most popular articles in Kumekucha today 6th Nov
1. Why Raila Odinga Will Lose Langata parliamentary seat
2. Why PNU will never hold joint nominations
3. PNU propaganda causes panic in Christian Church in Kenya
4. How important is younger leadership in Kenya?
5. Raila exposes elaborate rigging scheme
1. Why Raila Odinga Will Lose Langata parliamentary seat
2. Why PNU will never hold joint nominations
3. PNU propaganda causes panic in Christian Church in Kenya
4. How important is younger leadership in Kenya?
5. Raila exposes elaborate rigging scheme
Monday, November 05, 2007
The 5 Most popular stories in Kumekucha today-5th Nov
The 5 Most popular stories in Kumekucha today-5th Nov
1. PNU propaganda causes Christian church in Kenya to panic
2. Why Raila Odinga will lose the Langata Parliamentary seat
3. President Kibaki and public perception.
4. Makau's end of year score card for Kumekucha regulars
5. Jirongo re-defects back to himself
1. PNU propaganda causes Christian church in Kenya to panic
2. Why Raila Odinga will lose the Langata Parliamentary seat
3. President Kibaki and public perception.
4. Makau's end of year score card for Kumekucha regulars
5. Jirongo re-defects back to himself
How Important Is A Younger Leadership To Kenyans?
I recently had a grueling soccer match with my 17 year old son and 7 year old grandson that taught me a lot about why we have a leadership problem in Kenya today.
The idea of the game was to display individual flair and dribbling skills with each player supposed to dribble past the other two and score in the single goal we were using. Now, I was a pretty useful soccer player in my days and managed to play for the school first 11 when I was in Form 1 (high school used to go to Form 6 in those days) and it was only my interest in rugby that made me shift my concentration away from the game and more into rugby, otherwise I was headed straight for Harambee Stars. I still ended up donning national colors in Rugby while still a sixth former. I was in fact knocking on the rugby national team doors when I was in form four. I am not bragging here folks, the background is important because of what I am about to say.
Our games with my son and grandson are pretty serious affairs with everybody playing hard to win. It is so serious that there is no laughing around, unless somebody gets so well beaten that they lose balance.
My grand son grabbed the ball first and shifted his feet over the ball either way without touching it—Ronaldino style, which did not fool me but when I lunged for the ball, he was too quick for me and easily got round my large frame and headed towards the goal. He was stopped dead on his tracks by my son whom I moved quickly to challenge after a quick recovery. This time I did not lunge for the ball but used a trick I had learnt years ago. I pretended to go for the ball forcing him to make his move but when I moved to take the ball, he easily got to it before me and left me on the ground as he slammed in the first goal.
I tried to step up my game but to no avail. Many times I gave instructions to my body that the latter stubbornly refused to obey or obeyed in slow motion. The truth that I hate to admit even to myself, finally dawned on me. I am not the same person I was 24 years ago when I wore the Kenyan short in foreign lands. Age has started catching up.
No matter how much I deny it, it is a fact and it can not go away. The reason why my kids were beating me to the ball was because I was doing things much slower (almost in slow motion) while they moved quickly all over the place. I was no match to them.
Sadly that is exactly what is happening to our leadership in our beloved country. Other countries with younger leaders are able to do things much faster while we rely on our grandfather-types to solve pressing new problems like how to deal with the war on terror and still keep our important allies happy. Or how to tackle rising crime. The old folks cannot get their minds to picture devolution working in the country.
Think of me telling myself that there was no way these youngster whose soiled napkins I was changing just the other day could beat me at a game that I knew so well. That’s our current leadership believing that their experience is the kind that younger politicians and leaders can never have and therefore handing over power to them would bring chaos.
Then think of the young idle potential in leadership as my son and grandson effortlessly moving around the pitch and running circles around me. They don’t have the experience I have like having two huge framers charging down on me near the touchline where I had just gotten the ball, moments after another colleague had been stretchered off the pitch after an encounter with them (my shuffle left them on the grass and wondering where I had gone). But that experience was useless to me because this was soccer and a completely different ball game and I was no longer as fast as I was when I did that shuffle over 20 years ago. The truth is that our current leaders are most experienced when it comes to figuring out a way of getting the paper work done to get money out of treasury for non-existent goods and the recent re-emergence of the Ken Ren fertilizer deal tells us that the highest authority in the land is playing those games too.
None of the leaders in the main parties standing for president is young enough to be classified in the new generation of leaders Kenya needs badly. They are all too old. Still devolution would thrust many young leaders into responsible positions to tackle some of the pressing problems facing many districts in the country today. Kenyans would be able to see for the first time the soccer match I had with my kids in progress as districts lead by older slower men would lag behind as those led by younger new thinking leaders would thrive.
If only PNU also changed tact and supported devolution, then we would be sure that at least the way in which the country is being governed would change after 2008.
The idea of the game was to display individual flair and dribbling skills with each player supposed to dribble past the other two and score in the single goal we were using. Now, I was a pretty useful soccer player in my days and managed to play for the school first 11 when I was in Form 1 (high school used to go to Form 6 in those days) and it was only my interest in rugby that made me shift my concentration away from the game and more into rugby, otherwise I was headed straight for Harambee Stars. I still ended up donning national colors in Rugby while still a sixth former. I was in fact knocking on the rugby national team doors when I was in form four. I am not bragging here folks, the background is important because of what I am about to say.
Our games with my son and grandson are pretty serious affairs with everybody playing hard to win. It is so serious that there is no laughing around, unless somebody gets so well beaten that they lose balance.
My grand son grabbed the ball first and shifted his feet over the ball either way without touching it—Ronaldino style, which did not fool me but when I lunged for the ball, he was too quick for me and easily got round my large frame and headed towards the goal. He was stopped dead on his tracks by my son whom I moved quickly to challenge after a quick recovery. This time I did not lunge for the ball but used a trick I had learnt years ago. I pretended to go for the ball forcing him to make his move but when I moved to take the ball, he easily got to it before me and left me on the ground as he slammed in the first goal.
I tried to step up my game but to no avail. Many times I gave instructions to my body that the latter stubbornly refused to obey or obeyed in slow motion. The truth that I hate to admit even to myself, finally dawned on me. I am not the same person I was 24 years ago when I wore the Kenyan short in foreign lands. Age has started catching up.
No matter how much I deny it, it is a fact and it can not go away. The reason why my kids were beating me to the ball was because I was doing things much slower (almost in slow motion) while they moved quickly all over the place. I was no match to them.
Sadly that is exactly what is happening to our leadership in our beloved country. Other countries with younger leaders are able to do things much faster while we rely on our grandfather-types to solve pressing new problems like how to deal with the war on terror and still keep our important allies happy. Or how to tackle rising crime. The old folks cannot get their minds to picture devolution working in the country.
Think of me telling myself that there was no way these youngster whose soiled napkins I was changing just the other day could beat me at a game that I knew so well. That’s our current leadership believing that their experience is the kind that younger politicians and leaders can never have and therefore handing over power to them would bring chaos.
Then think of the young idle potential in leadership as my son and grandson effortlessly moving around the pitch and running circles around me. They don’t have the experience I have like having two huge framers charging down on me near the touchline where I had just gotten the ball, moments after another colleague had been stretchered off the pitch after an encounter with them (my shuffle left them on the grass and wondering where I had gone). But that experience was useless to me because this was soccer and a completely different ball game and I was no longer as fast as I was when I did that shuffle over 20 years ago. The truth is that our current leaders are most experienced when it comes to figuring out a way of getting the paper work done to get money out of treasury for non-existent goods and the recent re-emergence of the Ken Ren fertilizer deal tells us that the highest authority in the land is playing those games too.
None of the leaders in the main parties standing for president is young enough to be classified in the new generation of leaders Kenya needs badly. They are all too old. Still devolution would thrust many young leaders into responsible positions to tackle some of the pressing problems facing many districts in the country today. Kenyans would be able to see for the first time the soccer match I had with my kids in progress as districts lead by older slower men would lag behind as those led by younger new thinking leaders would thrive.
If only PNU also changed tact and supported devolution, then we would be sure that at least the way in which the country is being governed would change after 2008.
Why PNU Will Never Have Joint Nominations
Most predictions including the so-called NSIS figures give PNU 65 seats in the 10th parliament. It is now emerging that the party is unlikely to get even half that number. And don’t think for a moment that those seats will do to ODM or ODM-Kenya. NOPE! They won’t. But what will happen is that the seats in PNU areas will be scattered and shared out amongst many different, some obscure political parties that Kenyans have never heard of.
Indications are that most PNU affiliate and Kibaki-Tena-sympathetic parties are going for individual nominations. The reason is very simple. Most of the incumbent MPs in NARC Kenya and other parties have manipulated things and are sure of getting the PNU nomination so that it will be Kibaki and them TENA (easier to sell when you tell the electorate mimi na Kibaki tena). This has effectively shut out the much more popular candidates in PNU strongholds who are gunning for parliament with the strong grassroots backing from the people.
If you understand this situation clearly then you would know that the only way out of it would be to tell the incumbent MPs to back down. Now that is impossible because these guys are backing the president and in fact backed him during his difficult times when his government looked like it was going to collapse, so how can he abandon them now?
That is the difficult catch 22 situation that the President’s handlers find themselves in now.
It is really complex because if President Kibaki is re-elected he will need all the strength he can master in parliament. As it is now, if estimates of parliamentary seats are anything to go by, it will be virtually impossible for the president to rule with a vast majority of the 10th parliament being hostile and in the opposition. With at least 65 seats solidly in PNU it will be easier to manipulate and bribe a number of broke legislators in the opposition to cross the floor and join the cabinet. However if the other side smells blood (remember after the referendum when people were turning down cabinet posts), nobody will accept any cabinet appointment and chances are the country will head straight back to the polls only weeks after the general elections.
And this is why joint nominations for PNU are a must, but news on the ground clearly shows that there is no way it is going to happen. Even the president does not have powers to prevent a parliamentary candidate from presenting his nomination papers to the ECK for a seat in a PNU stronghold.
I say this very reluctantly because I do not want to look like I am siding with any candidate from now on. The truth is that structurally whoever designed the president’s campaign overlooked this very obvious issue of joint nominations. In retrospect it may have been better for the president to have just joined Narc Kenya.
Indications are that most PNU affiliate and Kibaki-Tena-sympathetic parties are going for individual nominations. The reason is very simple. Most of the incumbent MPs in NARC Kenya and other parties have manipulated things and are sure of getting the PNU nomination so that it will be Kibaki and them TENA (easier to sell when you tell the electorate mimi na Kibaki tena). This has effectively shut out the much more popular candidates in PNU strongholds who are gunning for parliament with the strong grassroots backing from the people.
If you understand this situation clearly then you would know that the only way out of it would be to tell the incumbent MPs to back down. Now that is impossible because these guys are backing the president and in fact backed him during his difficult times when his government looked like it was going to collapse, so how can he abandon them now?
That is the difficult catch 22 situation that the President’s handlers find themselves in now.
It is really complex because if President Kibaki is re-elected he will need all the strength he can master in parliament. As it is now, if estimates of parliamentary seats are anything to go by, it will be virtually impossible for the president to rule with a vast majority of the 10th parliament being hostile and in the opposition. With at least 65 seats solidly in PNU it will be easier to manipulate and bribe a number of broke legislators in the opposition to cross the floor and join the cabinet. However if the other side smells blood (remember after the referendum when people were turning down cabinet posts), nobody will accept any cabinet appointment and chances are the country will head straight back to the polls only weeks after the general elections.
And this is why joint nominations for PNU are a must, but news on the ground clearly shows that there is no way it is going to happen. Even the president does not have powers to prevent a parliamentary candidate from presenting his nomination papers to the ECK for a seat in a PNU stronghold.
I say this very reluctantly because I do not want to look like I am siding with any candidate from now on. The truth is that structurally whoever designed the president’s campaign overlooked this very obvious issue of joint nominations. In retrospect it may have been better for the president to have just joined Narc Kenya.
Marianne (Kenya Betrayed)
Chapter 29
Chairman Sunguh went to his office this morning feeling good. The session with Mrs. Ouko had gone well the previous day. A throng of gratified Kenyans had called his office and commended him for handling the widow in a dignified way.
But this was another day. He had now idea what it was going to bring.
Deciding to start with optimism, he elected to get most of the negative stuff out of the way. In that regard, he placed a call to me. He told me that the Committee - after consulting with the CID - had voted to let Philipp accompany me. But that it was going to take a while to clear him.
Next, he called Moi's lawyer and warned him to be absolutely careful with the planned meeting between the former Head of State and me.
Once the negative was out of the way, he grabbed the Nation and perused it. He read about me ...... about my life in Kenya. As he was about to get done, he saw the paper's conclusion ..... If ever there was one witness who holds the key to this mystery, it is Marianne Briner-Mattern.....
Marianne Briner? .....
He spun on the swivel chair and pulled down a file. It was marked: Annexes No. 29. He took a look at the history of the company I together with Domenico Airaghi and Abraham Kiptanui had founded in the mid-eigthies. The BAK-Group - as the fledgling company became known - was used by the Moi Administration to secure mind-boggling amounts of money to put up projects in Kenya.
Delving deeper into this file, the Chairman was stunned by the number of projects that were proposed but never saw the light of the day. They included:
- Low-cost and medium-rent Housing Projects in Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru, Mombasa and other towns.
- Completion and Management of the stalled Kisumu Molasses Plant including a Housing Scheme for its workers
- 'Greater Nakuru' and 'Mzima Springs' Water Projects
- Food Storage Facilities in Nyanza Province
- a new Cement Factory near Kisumu with direct investment of the leading Italian Cement Producer
- a Fish-Filetting Plant near Lake Victoria
- Road Projects like Limuru-Naivasha
- Steel Factory (Rolling Mill) - direct investment by one of the world's biggest Industrial-Group
- Rehabilitation of Kenya Meat Commission and Uplands Pig Factory - including management
- Building of new slaughterhouses
And for all these projects, I had been able to only secure the financing, but had also attracted new big international Groups to come to Kenya willing to invest with their own capital and to enter into partnership with the Kenyan Government.
Sunguh's jaw dropped...... What? So Dr. Ouko - as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation - was working on a lot more than the Molasses Plant? I wonder why the media and the Moi Administration have always portrayed the Molasses Plant as the 'Dr. Ouko Pet Project' ..... for somebody doing so much for his country, I find this quite insulting.
As he closed the file, a tear dropped. He realized something he had been unable to see all these years.
It hit him that had Dr. Ouko lived, and had he been allowed to see these projects through - with BAK Grou's help - Kenya would have been a very different place now. There would have been low-cost houses, clean water, better roads and a lot more. ..... what a shame! ..........
..... so Dr. Ouko meant to change Kenya? .....
..... so Marianne meant well? .....
Those thoughts flashed through the Chairman's mind as he got up. He started thinking very differently about me.
..... if that Swiss lady would have had her way, this nation would be a much better place today .....
..... because of what I know now, I will do everything to protect her.....
Chairman Sunguh went to his office this morning feeling good. The session with Mrs. Ouko had gone well the previous day. A throng of gratified Kenyans had called his office and commended him for handling the widow in a dignified way.
But this was another day. He had now idea what it was going to bring.
Deciding to start with optimism, he elected to get most of the negative stuff out of the way. In that regard, he placed a call to me. He told me that the Committee - after consulting with the CID - had voted to let Philipp accompany me. But that it was going to take a while to clear him.
Next, he called Moi's lawyer and warned him to be absolutely careful with the planned meeting between the former Head of State and me.
Once the negative was out of the way, he grabbed the Nation and perused it. He read about me ...... about my life in Kenya. As he was about to get done, he saw the paper's conclusion ..... If ever there was one witness who holds the key to this mystery, it is Marianne Briner-Mattern.....
Marianne Briner? .....
He spun on the swivel chair and pulled down a file. It was marked: Annexes No. 29. He took a look at the history of the company I together with Domenico Airaghi and Abraham Kiptanui had founded in the mid-eigthies. The BAK-Group - as the fledgling company became known - was used by the Moi Administration to secure mind-boggling amounts of money to put up projects in Kenya.
Delving deeper into this file, the Chairman was stunned by the number of projects that were proposed but never saw the light of the day. They included:
- Low-cost and medium-rent Housing Projects in Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru, Mombasa and other towns.
- Completion and Management of the stalled Kisumu Molasses Plant including a Housing Scheme for its workers
- 'Greater Nakuru' and 'Mzima Springs' Water Projects
- Food Storage Facilities in Nyanza Province
- a new Cement Factory near Kisumu with direct investment of the leading Italian Cement Producer
- a Fish-Filetting Plant near Lake Victoria
- Road Projects like Limuru-Naivasha
- Steel Factory (Rolling Mill) - direct investment by one of the world's biggest Industrial-Group
- Rehabilitation of Kenya Meat Commission and Uplands Pig Factory - including management
- Building of new slaughterhouses
And for all these projects, I had been able to only secure the financing, but had also attracted new big international Groups to come to Kenya willing to invest with their own capital and to enter into partnership with the Kenyan Government.
Sunguh's jaw dropped...... What? So Dr. Ouko - as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation - was working on a lot more than the Molasses Plant? I wonder why the media and the Moi Administration have always portrayed the Molasses Plant as the 'Dr. Ouko Pet Project' ..... for somebody doing so much for his country, I find this quite insulting.
As he closed the file, a tear dropped. He realized something he had been unable to see all these years.
It hit him that had Dr. Ouko lived, and had he been allowed to see these projects through - with BAK Grou's help - Kenya would have been a very different place now. There would have been low-cost houses, clean water, better roads and a lot more. ..... what a shame! ..........
..... so Dr. Ouko meant to change Kenya? .....
..... so Marianne meant well? .....
Those thoughts flashed through the Chairman's mind as he got up. He started thinking very differently about me.
..... if that Swiss lady would have had her way, this nation would be a much better place today .....
..... because of what I know now, I will do everything to protect her.....
Friday, November 02, 2007
President Kibaki And Public Perception
It is said that the late Kwame Nkrumah, the founding father of the Ghanian nation (who went to University in the United States) was a master of “spin”. That is the term used to describe PR practitioner’s re-positioning of news and events to portray a certain desired image.
So good was Nkrumah at the art of spin that even as he enjoyed the trappings of power and behaved more or less like every other despotic African leader, he still managed to get the message across to his people that he was working very hard and making personal sacrifices on their behalf.
Legend has it that during a particularly wild party on the beach, Nkrumah took the time to be captured by cameras on a deserted area of the beach forlorn and deep in thought “carrying the heavy burden of his people.” When that photograph was splashed on the front pages of Ghanaian newspapers, the entire nation was touched and many people persevered in their poverty knowing that somebody was at least trying very hard on their behalf. If only the camera were able to show what was behind the cameraman, Ghanaians would have been shocked at the sheer fraud and manipulation.
American president Richard Nixon was an extreme case when it came to controlling public perception by hook or by crook and was in fact a control freak. For example he illegally crashed a spirited effort by British pop legend ex-Beatles, John Lennon’s peace movement to get many young voter’s across America registered and to basically vote against Nixon’s re-election. One of the “tools’ he used was J Edgar Hoover’s FBI which amongst other things attempted to deport Lennon. It worked and under immense pressure the pop legend abandoned his campaign which would well have changed the course of history.
Now in Kenya for the first time in our history we are faced with a president who is a politician of many years but has no grasp or understanding of how powerful and important public perception is. Or worse still, if he does he doesn’t care.
Clear evidence that this is a big weakness on the part of the president emerged early in his administration when the unprecedented decision was taken to appoint a government “spin doctor.” It is said the government spokesman Dr Alfred Mutua was lured away from a lecturing position at some university in the Middle East with a hefy pay package and perks.
Still this has done little to create a good image in the eyes of the public for the president. Incidentally have you noticed that Dr Mutua in recent briefings has been emphasizing the policy of president Kibaki rather than the policy of the government?
Sickly Kenyatta cut the image of a hard working mzee with his busy working holidays (is a busy working holiday plausible?) in Mombasa frequently announced in the national media. President Moi was seen by many Kenyans as the president who personally lifted stones with the wananchi to build gabions against soil erosion and always looked sharp and in a hurry as he told Kenyans “we are on the run.” That spin fooled Kenyans for quite a long while. Things only really started going wrong when Dr Ouko was murdered. In fact Moi did such a good job with his image that when Dr Ouko was murdered majority of Kenyans (including this blogger) refused at first to see the obvious. I remember arguing passionately with a friend that there was no way that the government would have been involved in Dr Ouko’s murder. How naïve I was then.
Now how do Kenyans view president Kibaki? Just ask around for yourself. The mzee who wakes up at 11 am and loves to play golf. Also has a penchant for using the word “pumbavu.”
But recently the Kenyan commander in chief has acquired a very damaging new label. I talk about that in my next post.
So good was Nkrumah at the art of spin that even as he enjoyed the trappings of power and behaved more or less like every other despotic African leader, he still managed to get the message across to his people that he was working very hard and making personal sacrifices on their behalf.
Legend has it that during a particularly wild party on the beach, Nkrumah took the time to be captured by cameras on a deserted area of the beach forlorn and deep in thought “carrying the heavy burden of his people.” When that photograph was splashed on the front pages of Ghanaian newspapers, the entire nation was touched and many people persevered in their poverty knowing that somebody was at least trying very hard on their behalf. If only the camera were able to show what was behind the cameraman, Ghanaians would have been shocked at the sheer fraud and manipulation.
American president Richard Nixon was an extreme case when it came to controlling public perception by hook or by crook and was in fact a control freak. For example he illegally crashed a spirited effort by British pop legend ex-Beatles, John Lennon’s peace movement to get many young voter’s across America registered and to basically vote against Nixon’s re-election. One of the “tools’ he used was J Edgar Hoover’s FBI which amongst other things attempted to deport Lennon. It worked and under immense pressure the pop legend abandoned his campaign which would well have changed the course of history.
Now in Kenya for the first time in our history we are faced with a president who is a politician of many years but has no grasp or understanding of how powerful and important public perception is. Or worse still, if he does he doesn’t care.
Clear evidence that this is a big weakness on the part of the president emerged early in his administration when the unprecedented decision was taken to appoint a government “spin doctor.” It is said the government spokesman Dr Alfred Mutua was lured away from a lecturing position at some university in the Middle East with a hefy pay package and perks.
Still this has done little to create a good image in the eyes of the public for the president. Incidentally have you noticed that Dr Mutua in recent briefings has been emphasizing the policy of president Kibaki rather than the policy of the government?
Sickly Kenyatta cut the image of a hard working mzee with his busy working holidays (is a busy working holiday plausible?) in Mombasa frequently announced in the national media. President Moi was seen by many Kenyans as the president who personally lifted stones with the wananchi to build gabions against soil erosion and always looked sharp and in a hurry as he told Kenyans “we are on the run.” That spin fooled Kenyans for quite a long while. Things only really started going wrong when Dr Ouko was murdered. In fact Moi did such a good job with his image that when Dr Ouko was murdered majority of Kenyans (including this blogger) refused at first to see the obvious. I remember arguing passionately with a friend that there was no way that the government would have been involved in Dr Ouko’s murder. How naïve I was then.
Now how do Kenyans view president Kibaki? Just ask around for yourself. The mzee who wakes up at 11 am and loves to play golf. Also has a penchant for using the word “pumbavu.”
But recently the Kenyan commander in chief has acquired a very damaging new label. I talk about that in my next post.
The Deadly Public Perception Of Kibaki Going Into The General Elections
The president’s image in the past may not have had much of an impact on his administration, but now there is a new way in which Kenyans are viewing him that could spell disaster for his career. You can say that the chickens are coming home to roost. After years of not caring too much what people are thinking, this characteristic is about to self-destruct the president’s political career.
In two SMS polls carried over national TV last night, it became apparent that most Kenyans believe that the December polls are going to be rigged in favor of the President. The SMS polls could be wrong; especially the KTN one which showed that over 70% of the respondents believed that the poll is going to be rigged. However Kumekucha’s own poll shows that even some of the president’s staunchest supporters believe that the poll is going to be rigged in his favor.
In fact word on the ground is that most Narc Kenya candidates are now secretly planning how to manipulate the PNU joint nominations because they believe that once they get it, they will be able to sail through even in opposition strongholds because as the President is rigged in, so will they be.
Many of these politicians, blinded by the enormous salaries and perks of the last 5 years, are inspired by the Kanu era when for years nation was ruled by the most unpopular party in the country as the opposition doggedly refused to unite to remove it. Kanu politicians in those years were the masters of manipulation and rigging and some of their old tactics can still be used today. For instance returning officers can be instructed to announce that the loser has won. The inevitable petition opposing that election result can then be dealt with later. And even if the hearing of election petitions is going to be speeded up this time, there are many other ways of “skinning the cat.” A plum ambassadorial appointment or a hefty bribe to repay double what the petitioner has spent in their campaign inaweza kumaliza hio maneno.
But the major crisis here is that we are going into an election that most Kenyans believe is going to be flawed in favor of the incumbent. The immediate effect of this perception is to cause the President to be even more unpopular than he is at the moment.
Even more interesting is the fact that most political analysts are NOT surprised at this perception the public has of the president and his administration. There are too many “strange” things that have been going on and it is only natural that Kenyans should start to get very suspicious.
For example, many on checking on their voter status have suddenly found that there is a problem and yet they voted during the 2005 referendum without any snag. Suddenly some people are finding that they are double registered. Then there is the mess that is in the Langata voter’s register that we have insisted about here all along. On top of that there is the president’s insistence of appointing new ECK commissioners at this 11th hour. Not to mention the president’s new-found closeness to former President Moi, the professor of rigging and the master manipulator in the eyes of many Kenyans. Those who may have thought that the old man had lost his touch got a rude wake up call yesterday when Cyrus Jirongo announced that he had withdrawn his support and that of his Kaddu party from ODM.
The reality of all this is that we are faced with the very real prospect of a full blown crisis that could see the elections postponed. There is even the possibility of the opposition withdrawing from the contest altogether and the arrogant president’s men insisting on going ahead without them.
Let every Kenyan wake up to the possible dangers that menacingly lie ahead.
In two SMS polls carried over national TV last night, it became apparent that most Kenyans believe that the December polls are going to be rigged in favor of the President. The SMS polls could be wrong; especially the KTN one which showed that over 70% of the respondents believed that the poll is going to be rigged. However Kumekucha’s own poll shows that even some of the president’s staunchest supporters believe that the poll is going to be rigged in his favor.
In fact word on the ground is that most Narc Kenya candidates are now secretly planning how to manipulate the PNU joint nominations because they believe that once they get it, they will be able to sail through even in opposition strongholds because as the President is rigged in, so will they be.
Many of these politicians, blinded by the enormous salaries and perks of the last 5 years, are inspired by the Kanu era when for years nation was ruled by the most unpopular party in the country as the opposition doggedly refused to unite to remove it. Kanu politicians in those years were the masters of manipulation and rigging and some of their old tactics can still be used today. For instance returning officers can be instructed to announce that the loser has won. The inevitable petition opposing that election result can then be dealt with later. And even if the hearing of election petitions is going to be speeded up this time, there are many other ways of “skinning the cat.” A plum ambassadorial appointment or a hefty bribe to repay double what the petitioner has spent in their campaign inaweza kumaliza hio maneno.
But the major crisis here is that we are going into an election that most Kenyans believe is going to be flawed in favor of the incumbent. The immediate effect of this perception is to cause the President to be even more unpopular than he is at the moment.
Even more interesting is the fact that most political analysts are NOT surprised at this perception the public has of the president and his administration. There are too many “strange” things that have been going on and it is only natural that Kenyans should start to get very suspicious.
For example, many on checking on their voter status have suddenly found that there is a problem and yet they voted during the 2005 referendum without any snag. Suddenly some people are finding that they are double registered. Then there is the mess that is in the Langata voter’s register that we have insisted about here all along. On top of that there is the president’s insistence of appointing new ECK commissioners at this 11th hour. Not to mention the president’s new-found closeness to former President Moi, the professor of rigging and the master manipulator in the eyes of many Kenyans. Those who may have thought that the old man had lost his touch got a rude wake up call yesterday when Cyrus Jirongo announced that he had withdrawn his support and that of his Kaddu party from ODM.
The reality of all this is that we are faced with the very real prospect of a full blown crisis that could see the elections postponed. There is even the possibility of the opposition withdrawing from the contest altogether and the arrogant president’s men insisting on going ahead without them.
Let every Kenyan wake up to the possible dangers that menacingly lie ahead.
How Can The President Reverse The Negative Image About The Forthcoming Polls?
The things that need to be done, the President cannot and will not do. Still, here is the list for what it is worth;
1. Revoke the appointments of all the new ECK commissioners and open dialogue with the opposition parties on the matter.
2. Immediately renew Samuel Kivuitu’s term (if only for six months) so that he can complete the forthcoming polls without the kind of pressure hanging over his head currently.
3. Change the direction of the PNU campaign so that it takes the initiative for the first time and concentrates on talking issues rather than hurling insults and ridiculing the opposition.
4. Prepare and make public a proper handing over procedure and ceremony should he lose the elections.
5. Direct the ECK to immediately investigate and correct the anomalies Kenyan voters are complaining about.
6. Direct the ECK to withdraw with immediate effect the proposed last minute boundary changes in some constituencies in the country.
7. Arrest and prosecute Stanley “Moneybags” Livondo. For being an accessory to murder, causing a breach of the peace, incitement, throwing around Kenyan currency notes from a helicopter and generally being a nuisance to the public. The ECK should quickly follow by banning him from participating in the forthcoming polls.
Then Kenyans will begin to take this government seriously.
1. Revoke the appointments of all the new ECK commissioners and open dialogue with the opposition parties on the matter.
2. Immediately renew Samuel Kivuitu’s term (if only for six months) so that he can complete the forthcoming polls without the kind of pressure hanging over his head currently.
3. Change the direction of the PNU campaign so that it takes the initiative for the first time and concentrates on talking issues rather than hurling insults and ridiculing the opposition.
4. Prepare and make public a proper handing over procedure and ceremony should he lose the elections.
5. Direct the ECK to immediately investigate and correct the anomalies Kenyan voters are complaining about.
6. Direct the ECK to withdraw with immediate effect the proposed last minute boundary changes in some constituencies in the country.
7. Arrest and prosecute Stanley “Moneybags” Livondo. For being an accessory to murder, causing a breach of the peace, incitement, throwing around Kenyan currency notes from a helicopter and generally being a nuisance to the public. The ECK should quickly follow by banning him from participating in the forthcoming polls.
Then Kenyans will begin to take this government seriously.
5 most popular stories in Kumekucha today.
5 most popular stories in Kumekucha today.
1. PNU propaganda causes panic in Christian Church
2. ODM presidential nominations past comes to haunt
3 Is Langata voters register genuine
4. Raila exposes elaborate rigging scheme
5. Why Raila Odinga will lose Langata
1. PNU propaganda causes panic in Christian Church
2. ODM presidential nominations past comes to haunt
3 Is Langata voters register genuine
4. Raila exposes elaborate rigging scheme
5. Why Raila Odinga will lose Langata
Moi woke up (Kenya Betrayed)
Chapter 28
Moi woke up this morning feeling funny. At his Kabarnet Gardens home, there was errie silence. The bevy of workers, alwayls here for breakfast, had come in, but so far the usual exuberance from them was lacking. Even Moi's personal servant was strangely glum. His sunny disposition was gone.
Up above, the clouds were overcast, like there was going to be storm any minute now. The weaverbirds which had hit the sycamore branches with the sun's first peep, had gone back to their nests.
What was going on?
It was obvious something big was about to happen. In the past, Moi's workers had learnt to read his mood. In fact, ever since quitting the Presidency, he had been a man with a permanent smile ..... extraordinary gentleness ..... unimaginable magnanimity. That's the Moi these workers had become accustomed to - and loved.
But since the start of this week, they had sensed a shift in the man's mood. His smile had progressively become thinner. His look had turned harsher. And his comments, though still generous, crisp.
..... trouble ? .....
While they pondered what this turn of events meant, they did everything to get out of Moi's way. They remained in the deep background, giving the former Head of State time to sort out whatever the problem was.
..... but what could it be ? .....
That question was answered when Moi's driver reported for duty. He came in at 8:00 a.m. with a copy of the Daily Nation and the East African Standard.
In each of the two dailies, the leading story was the confirmation that Marianne Briner-Mattern was coming. Coming to testify. It was official.
The papers went on to explain that her much-anticipated visit would last no more than a couple of days, probably a week or two, and that she would shed needed light on some of the unresolved issues regarding the corrupt Moi's years.
The Daily Nation concluded by reporting that ..... If ever there was one witness who holds the key to this mystery, it is Marianne Briner-Mattern.....
..... Marianne Briner-Mattern? .....
..... The blonde Swiss lady? .....
..... Wasn't that the woman Moi ..... ?
The workers exchanged glances. Some of them who had been with Moi since his State House days remembered that name instantly. They knew her.
She was the woman they all at that time had loved so dearly because her presence had changed Moi. She had brought happiness into his life. With her he had again looked like a young man - a man being in love for the first time.
They had seen him invent the habit to wear a red rose in his botton-hole whenever they were attending functions together, smiling at each other sharing this secret - and how he had insisted to wear a pale yello rose whenever she was not there with him.
For her Moi had started to take more care about himself. He had a swimming-pool installed and a gym and followed the advises of his personal physician more carefully. He now also wore tailor-made elegant silk suits and beautiful ties which she brought for him from Switzerland.
They also remembered the woman's own young daughter who came on regular visits to Kenya to pass the school holidays with her mother.
She used to mix with the other children on the compound and even started to speak some Kiswahili. She loved to eat strawberries and Moi had arranged that they were brought in by plane from Israel whenever they could not be found in Kenya.
That was also the time, when Moi started to organize barbecue parties, grilling meat on the roast and even supervising it himself. The little girl loved to eat with her fingers saying that she wants to become a "true" African.
How proud Moi was to show her around. It was such a heartbreaking picture to see the tall man walking with the small girl at his hand - bending down to her and showing her patiently plants and flowers and teaching her the African names for it.
Something he had never done before with his own children.
But what they remembered most vividly was seeing them visit the cattle grazing outside the farm very early in the morning when the woman was still asleep. These animals had been brought in from Switzerland and the little girl proudly explained to him how they were kept in her country.
They obviously both enjoyed this changed position where she became the teacher and he pretended to learn from her.
It was then that she announced to everybody that one day she will become a Veterinary and live in Kenya to take care of all the animals in the country.
Moi had laughed at her and had promised that he always would be there to help her - if her mother allows him.
But with a cold shiver they also remembered the time when suddenly the woman had disappeared. They remembered Moi's deep anguish.
Nobody knew the reason why she had left. They had only been instructed By Nicholas Biwott and not by Moi himself, to ship all her personal belongings to Switzerland and to remove anything which could be a reminder of her and her daughter.
But Moi never really seemed to recover. For a long time after she had gone, they could see him sometimes standing outside - very early in the morning when most of them were still sleeping. A tall lonely figure, still watching the cattle but with an empty and sad look on his face.
And because of the torment her coming back now was obviously causing Moi again, they started now hating her for that.
But just like in the past, they knew Moi was going to prevail, like he had done over bigger, more intense battles. They counted on his proven capability to see him through also this time.
..... but would he ? .....
***
At 9:15 a.m., a black Range Rover, KAC 666, appeared at the southern gate. The guards quickly opened the gate to let it through. It drove up the stretch drinveway leading up to the mansion. The instant it parked, Nicholas Biwott came out.
He hurried to the door and vanished in a second. He walked straight to Moi's living room where the former Head of State was waiting.
"Thank you for coming," Moi said.
"I had to."
Moi invited Biwott to sit, "Look, I am going to meet Marianne in two days. Mutula has arranged everything. Now ..... I have heard rumours that you intend to be there also. I have called you here to inform you that you can't."
Biwott frowned, "Why not?"
..... because you are crazy ..... you are a moron ..... everything you touch explodes..... That's what Moi felt like saying. Instead, he said, "I would like to deal with this on my own."
"That woman is still a danger."
"I know that."
"Then you cannot meet her," Biwott crosses his short legs, "If you insist on seeing that woman, you have to let me also be present."
"Why?"
"Because I know her ..... I know how she things ..... how she regards me ..... and also you."
"How does she regard ..... you?"
"As a killer."
"And me?"
"You really don't want to know. All I can say is, it's not good for you to meet her. You may think that you will be able to persuade her to go soft on you. But I doubt that this will happen. She told Mutula that she is coming to talk. I believe her. I know her."
"So what can we do?" Moi asked.
Biwott's eyes narrowed. He had the old man just where he wanted him. His schemes still worked.
Then he said, "Let the meeting go on, but let me also be there. I will take care of her, knock down everything she may want to say."
"But you won't do anything ..... stupid?"
Biwott shook his head ..... stupid old man ....
Five minutes later, the southern gate opened again and Biwott was gone.
***
"Bozo, we have to change plans," Nick said. His imposing Range Rover had just hit the GilGil stretch, "Don't go after Marianne at the Airport. Let her come in."
"But we have planned everything with the others. Bad Boy has been camping out there for a daw now. Osiris is looking at a backup plan. You want us to throw that away? Don't you think, it is too late to adjust?"
Biwott lowered his tone, "Listen, Moi has managed to sequeeze in a meeting with that woman. I have just persuaded him to let me attend. I feel, it will be easier to freeze her quietly - in that meeting."
Bozo laughed, "Are you insane? You want to kille Marianne in Moi's presence? Do you care at all about the feelings of the Old Man - and what the world will think?"
"Then shoot her."
"At the meeting?"
"Of course not. I mean, like when she is walking in ..... or when she is leaving."
Bozo had just been getting up when Biwott called. The previous night, he had robbed two banks in the Industrial Area. So he was still tired. He rolled away the dusty blankets, rubbed his eyes, then said, "I?ll do it. But you will have to live with the consequencies."
Biwott felt queasy, "Are you afraid?"
"Of course not. It's just that I think that there is an easier, less risky way to do this."
"Like?"
"Remember what we tried at the Hotel Intercontinental in the eighties?"
"What do you mean?"
"Remember the way I parked near the entrance and waited until she same out of the hotel, then charged at her with a light-off car? Remember how that terrified her? In fact, had she not been with her lady-bodyguard - who shoved her away in time - I would have killed her already that night. That's how we should do it also now."
"But we don't know where she will be staying."
"That's easy to find out," Bozo said.
As Biwott's driver turned into a gas station to fill up, Biwott said, "Look, Bozo, I cannot take chances. That woman is the only one left who still has the story. If we kill her this time, I will never have anymore problems. Dr. Ouko's ghost will be put to rest forever."
Bozo laughed, "Dr. Ouko will get you in the underworld. He is just waiting for you. He was tall ..... you are small ..... he is going to whip your ass down there!"
Biwott cursed. He let a dry expletive fly. He hated when Bozo started talking like this. He said, "So you are sure, I killed him?"
"I was there, Nicholas. Do you remember? I personally handed you the gun. I know, you would prefer to believe my metal bar killed him, but I can still remember everything. It was your shot that flattened him. That's the truth, man."
"Fuck you, Bozo."
Bozo sneered, "Hold your fire, Hon. Nicholas K.A. Biwott. Let's just kill that woman. - And by the way, do they still call you 'Honourable'?"
Son-of-a-bitch ............
***
At 10:00 a.m., the phone rang in Moi's house. He hurriedly picked up, "Hello?"
A voice said, "We have just intercepted the Hon. Nicholas Biwott's phone call. He plans to kill Marianne Briner-Mattern at the meeting." Click....
Moi woke up this morning feeling funny. At his Kabarnet Gardens home, there was errie silence. The bevy of workers, alwayls here for breakfast, had come in, but so far the usual exuberance from them was lacking. Even Moi's personal servant was strangely glum. His sunny disposition was gone.
Up above, the clouds were overcast, like there was going to be storm any minute now. The weaverbirds which had hit the sycamore branches with the sun's first peep, had gone back to their nests.
What was going on?
It was obvious something big was about to happen. In the past, Moi's workers had learnt to read his mood. In fact, ever since quitting the Presidency, he had been a man with a permanent smile ..... extraordinary gentleness ..... unimaginable magnanimity. That's the Moi these workers had become accustomed to - and loved.
But since the start of this week, they had sensed a shift in the man's mood. His smile had progressively become thinner. His look had turned harsher. And his comments, though still generous, crisp.
..... trouble ? .....
While they pondered what this turn of events meant, they did everything to get out of Moi's way. They remained in the deep background, giving the former Head of State time to sort out whatever the problem was.
..... but what could it be ? .....
That question was answered when Moi's driver reported for duty. He came in at 8:00 a.m. with a copy of the Daily Nation and the East African Standard.
In each of the two dailies, the leading story was the confirmation that Marianne Briner-Mattern was coming. Coming to testify. It was official.
The papers went on to explain that her much-anticipated visit would last no more than a couple of days, probably a week or two, and that she would shed needed light on some of the unresolved issues regarding the corrupt Moi's years.
The Daily Nation concluded by reporting that ..... If ever there was one witness who holds the key to this mystery, it is Marianne Briner-Mattern.....
..... Marianne Briner-Mattern? .....
..... The blonde Swiss lady? .....
..... Wasn't that the woman Moi ..... ?
The workers exchanged glances. Some of them who had been with Moi since his State House days remembered that name instantly. They knew her.
She was the woman they all at that time had loved so dearly because her presence had changed Moi. She had brought happiness into his life. With her he had again looked like a young man - a man being in love for the first time.
They had seen him invent the habit to wear a red rose in his botton-hole whenever they were attending functions together, smiling at each other sharing this secret - and how he had insisted to wear a pale yello rose whenever she was not there with him.
For her Moi had started to take more care about himself. He had a swimming-pool installed and a gym and followed the advises of his personal physician more carefully. He now also wore tailor-made elegant silk suits and beautiful ties which she brought for him from Switzerland.
They also remembered the woman's own young daughter who came on regular visits to Kenya to pass the school holidays with her mother.
She used to mix with the other children on the compound and even started to speak some Kiswahili. She loved to eat strawberries and Moi had arranged that they were brought in by plane from Israel whenever they could not be found in Kenya.
That was also the time, when Moi started to organize barbecue parties, grilling meat on the roast and even supervising it himself. The little girl loved to eat with her fingers saying that she wants to become a "true" African.
How proud Moi was to show her around. It was such a heartbreaking picture to see the tall man walking with the small girl at his hand - bending down to her and showing her patiently plants and flowers and teaching her the African names for it.
Something he had never done before with his own children.
But what they remembered most vividly was seeing them visit the cattle grazing outside the farm very early in the morning when the woman was still asleep. These animals had been brought in from Switzerland and the little girl proudly explained to him how they were kept in her country.
They obviously both enjoyed this changed position where she became the teacher and he pretended to learn from her.
It was then that she announced to everybody that one day she will become a Veterinary and live in Kenya to take care of all the animals in the country.
Moi had laughed at her and had promised that he always would be there to help her - if her mother allows him.
But with a cold shiver they also remembered the time when suddenly the woman had disappeared. They remembered Moi's deep anguish.
Nobody knew the reason why she had left. They had only been instructed By Nicholas Biwott and not by Moi himself, to ship all her personal belongings to Switzerland and to remove anything which could be a reminder of her and her daughter.
But Moi never really seemed to recover. For a long time after she had gone, they could see him sometimes standing outside - very early in the morning when most of them were still sleeping. A tall lonely figure, still watching the cattle but with an empty and sad look on his face.
And because of the torment her coming back now was obviously causing Moi again, they started now hating her for that.
But just like in the past, they knew Moi was going to prevail, like he had done over bigger, more intense battles. They counted on his proven capability to see him through also this time.
..... but would he ? .....
***
At 9:15 a.m., a black Range Rover, KAC 666, appeared at the southern gate. The guards quickly opened the gate to let it through. It drove up the stretch drinveway leading up to the mansion. The instant it parked, Nicholas Biwott came out.
He hurried to the door and vanished in a second. He walked straight to Moi's living room where the former Head of State was waiting.
"Thank you for coming," Moi said.
"I had to."
Moi invited Biwott to sit, "Look, I am going to meet Marianne in two days. Mutula has arranged everything. Now ..... I have heard rumours that you intend to be there also. I have called you here to inform you that you can't."
Biwott frowned, "Why not?"
..... because you are crazy ..... you are a moron ..... everything you touch explodes..... That's what Moi felt like saying. Instead, he said, "I would like to deal with this on my own."
"That woman is still a danger."
"I know that."
"Then you cannot meet her," Biwott crosses his short legs, "If you insist on seeing that woman, you have to let me also be present."
"Why?"
"Because I know her ..... I know how she things ..... how she regards me ..... and also you."
"How does she regard ..... you?"
"As a killer."
"And me?"
"You really don't want to know. All I can say is, it's not good for you to meet her. You may think that you will be able to persuade her to go soft on you. But I doubt that this will happen. She told Mutula that she is coming to talk. I believe her. I know her."
"So what can we do?" Moi asked.
Biwott's eyes narrowed. He had the old man just where he wanted him. His schemes still worked.
Then he said, "Let the meeting go on, but let me also be there. I will take care of her, knock down everything she may want to say."
"But you won't do anything ..... stupid?"
Biwott shook his head ..... stupid old man ....
Five minutes later, the southern gate opened again and Biwott was gone.
***
"Bozo, we have to change plans," Nick said. His imposing Range Rover had just hit the GilGil stretch, "Don't go after Marianne at the Airport. Let her come in."
"But we have planned everything with the others. Bad Boy has been camping out there for a daw now. Osiris is looking at a backup plan. You want us to throw that away? Don't you think, it is too late to adjust?"
Biwott lowered his tone, "Listen, Moi has managed to sequeeze in a meeting with that woman. I have just persuaded him to let me attend. I feel, it will be easier to freeze her quietly - in that meeting."
Bozo laughed, "Are you insane? You want to kille Marianne in Moi's presence? Do you care at all about the feelings of the Old Man - and what the world will think?"
"Then shoot her."
"At the meeting?"
"Of course not. I mean, like when she is walking in ..... or when she is leaving."
Bozo had just been getting up when Biwott called. The previous night, he had robbed two banks in the Industrial Area. So he was still tired. He rolled away the dusty blankets, rubbed his eyes, then said, "I?ll do it. But you will have to live with the consequencies."
Biwott felt queasy, "Are you afraid?"
"Of course not. It's just that I think that there is an easier, less risky way to do this."
"Like?"
"Remember what we tried at the Hotel Intercontinental in the eighties?"
"What do you mean?"
"Remember the way I parked near the entrance and waited until she same out of the hotel, then charged at her with a light-off car? Remember how that terrified her? In fact, had she not been with her lady-bodyguard - who shoved her away in time - I would have killed her already that night. That's how we should do it also now."
"But we don't know where she will be staying."
"That's easy to find out," Bozo said.
As Biwott's driver turned into a gas station to fill up, Biwott said, "Look, Bozo, I cannot take chances. That woman is the only one left who still has the story. If we kill her this time, I will never have anymore problems. Dr. Ouko's ghost will be put to rest forever."
Bozo laughed, "Dr. Ouko will get you in the underworld. He is just waiting for you. He was tall ..... you are small ..... he is going to whip your ass down there!"
Biwott cursed. He let a dry expletive fly. He hated when Bozo started talking like this. He said, "So you are sure, I killed him?"
"I was there, Nicholas. Do you remember? I personally handed you the gun. I know, you would prefer to believe my metal bar killed him, but I can still remember everything. It was your shot that flattened him. That's the truth, man."
"Fuck you, Bozo."
Bozo sneered, "Hold your fire, Hon. Nicholas K.A. Biwott. Let's just kill that woman. - And by the way, do they still call you 'Honourable'?"
Son-of-a-bitch ............
***
At 10:00 a.m., the phone rang in Moi's house. He hurriedly picked up, "Hello?"
A voice said, "We have just intercepted the Hon. Nicholas Biwott's phone call. He plans to kill Marianne Briner-Mattern at the meeting." Click....
Thursday, November 01, 2007
The 5 Most Popular articles on Kumekucha today
The 5 Most Popular articles on Kumekucha today
1. Who exactly should Kibaki consult on ECK appointments?
2. Why Raila Odinga will lose Langata
3. Tom Mboya would have supported Devolution
4. Is the Catholic Church in Kenya divided along tribal lines?
5. Long suffering Kenyan beauty complains about useless men
1. Who exactly should Kibaki consult on ECK appointments?
2. Why Raila Odinga will lose Langata
3. Tom Mboya would have supported Devolution
4. Is the Catholic Church in Kenya divided along tribal lines?
5. Long suffering Kenyan beauty complains about useless men
PNU Propaganda Causes Christian Church In Kenya To Panic
The web is both a good tool and a danerous one too. Good because we are all able to keep much closer tabs on what our greedy politicians are up to and dangerous because great damage can be done by people with an ill motive.
I have just received reports that a major church in the country with over 100 churches scattered all over the country has taken the email forward below by some clever PNU propagandist very seriously and chances are that the votes of faithfuls in that church that were headed in the direction of Raila Odinga will now be reversed.
The issue is that not everybody is Internet savy enough to question the source of the said email before passing judgement and it is apparent that this piece of PNU fiction has hit home and will have an impact of sorts.
If you have not seen this email, read for yourself and comment. I believe it is very important to set the record staright. If anybody is not going to vote for Mwai Kibaki, or Kalonzo Musyoka or Raila Odinga, then it is important that they do so with the right information.
Phil, is there anything that can be done to set the record straight?
Here is the damaging email:
...If you have not been praying you better start.
LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD
THE ODM PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, RAILA ODINGA, HAS ENTERED INTO A SECRET MOU WITH A SECTION OF KENYAN MUSLIMS.
THESE MUSLIMS, WITH THE SUPPORT OF THEIR BROTHERS FROM THE ARAB WORLD, WILL SUPPORT RAILA’S PRESIDENTIAL BID IN THIS YEAR’S ELECTION, 2007, AND IN 2012 WHEN HE SEEKS RE-ELECTION FOR HIS FINAL TERM AS PRESIDENT. IN RETURN, RAILA HAS PROMISED TO INTRODUCE MAJIMBO ONCE HE GETS TO POWER. AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF MAJIMBO, THE COAST JIMBO WILL DECIDE THAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO OPERATE AS AN ISLAMIC STATE. THIS WILL THEN BE FOLLOWED BY THE NORTH EASTERN JIMBO WHO WILL ALSO DEMAND TO BE AN ISLAMIC STATE.
THIS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WILL SEE THE BEGINNING OF A DETERMINED QUEST TO TURN THE WHOLE OF KENYA INTO AN ISLAMIC STATE AN ACT THAT THE HON.RAILA ODINGA HAS SWORN TO HIS MUSLIM BROTHERS TO SUPPORT TO THE HILT.
COME 2017 AND WITH THE ODINGA PRESIDENCY COMING TO AN END, ! THE
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING STATES THAT POWER WILL NOW SHIFT TO THE MUSLIMS THROUGH NAJIB BALALA. AS IS EVIDENCED BY THIS MOU THE MUDAVADI VICE PRESIDENCY IS JUST A PLOY TO GET THE LUHYA VOTE AND NOT TO HAND OVER TO MUDAVADI, SOMEONE WHO RAILA DESPISES AS A SPINELESS INDIVIDUAL WHO IS EASILY SWAYED AND HAS NO ABILITY TO RULE.
BALALA STEPPING DOWN FOR RAILA DURING THE ODM PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS IN KASARANI WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT BUT A WELL CALCULATED MOVE BY A GROUP OF PEOPLE INTENT ON IMPOSING THEIR WAY OF LIFE UPON MILLIONS OF UNSUSPECTING KENYANS. WHY ELSE DID RAILA REFER TO ALLAH AS THE GOD OF KENYA?
THE FREQUENT AND VICIOUS ATTACKS ON KALONZO MUSYOKA BY NAJIB BALALA WERE DRIVEN BY NAJIB’S FEARS THAT A KALONZO PRESIDENCY WOULD DERAIL THEIR WELL LAID OUT PLANS DUE TO KALONZO’S STRONG CHRISTIAN BACKGROUND.
THIS IS WHAT LED NAJIB TO SWEAR THAT HE WOULD NEVER VOTE FOR A NON
REFORMER EVEN IF HE CLINCHED THE ODM PRESIDENTIAL TICKET IN A FAIR
CONTEST. R! AILA’S WEAK RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND, COUPLED WITH HIS OPEN
GREED FOR THE PRESIDENCY, WAS SEEN AS THE EASIEST WAY BY NAJIB AND HIS ISLAM EXTREMISTS TO ACHIEVE THEIR SINISTER GOALS.
NAJIB’S OFTEN REPEATED CRY OF “TUNATAKA MABADILIKO” MEANS EXACTLY THAT.
A CHANGE IN OUR LIVES AS WE KNOW AND BELIEVE, TO LIVING A LIFE ACCORDING TO THEIR WAYS AND BELIEFS. THEIR DETERMINATION TO INSTALL THE BOMAS DRAFT, PRINCIPALLY BECAUSE IT CALL FOR THE ENTRENCHMENT OF THE KADHIS COURTS IN OUR CONSTITUTION, IS
AS STEADFAST AS THEIR BELIEF THAT IT IS HONOURABLE TO DIE FOR ONES
RELIGION.
ENTER 2018, ENTER NAJIB BALALA. AS IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE ODINGA
PRESIDENCY, NAJIB’S ENTRY WILL BE MARKED WITH THE CLAMOR, BY THE COAST, FOR SHARIA LAW FOR THEIR JIMBO. THIS WILL BE CLOSELY FOLLOWED BY THE SAME CALLS COMING FROM THE NORTH EASTERN JIMBO. ONCE THESE TWO ARE SAFELY UNDER SHARIA LAW, AGAIN THE QUEST TO TRANSFORM KENYA TO BE UNDER SHARIA LAW WILL BEGIN IN ERNEST. THIS WILL BE NAJIB! BALALA ’S SOLE AIM AS THE 5TH PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA, AN AIM THAT RAILA HAS STATED IN THE SECRET MOU THAT HE WILL AGAIN DO EVERYTHING IN HIS POWERS TO HELP ACHIEVE.
IT IS INDEED UNFORTUNATE THAT AN INDIVIDUALS HUNGER FOR POWER CAN LEAD HIM TO SELL HIS OWN COUNTRY AND FAITH TO A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO’S ONLY AIM IS TO TRANSFORM KENYA, AND THE WORLD, INTO AN ISLAMIC STATE UNDER SHARIA LAW AND TO IMPOSE THEIR WILL ON OTHER PEOPLE.
FUTURE GENERATIONS OF KENYANS, OUR CHILDREN INCLUDED, WILL NEVER
FORGIVE OUR GENERATION FOR MAKING DECISIONS THAT WILL EVENTUALLY
RENDER THEM SLAVES OF OTHERS, SIMPLY BECAUSE WE COULD NOT SEE THROUGH THE LIES THAT ARE CURRENTLY BEING FED TO US.
LET US STAND UP AND DEFEND OUR COUNTRY.
MAY THE ALMIGHTY GOD BLESS US ALL, MAY THE ALMIGHTY GOD BLESS OUR
COUNTRY, KENYA.
I have just received reports that a major church in the country with over 100 churches scattered all over the country has taken the email forward below by some clever PNU propagandist very seriously and chances are that the votes of faithfuls in that church that were headed in the direction of Raila Odinga will now be reversed.
The issue is that not everybody is Internet savy enough to question the source of the said email before passing judgement and it is apparent that this piece of PNU fiction has hit home and will have an impact of sorts.
If you have not seen this email, read for yourself and comment. I believe it is very important to set the record staright. If anybody is not going to vote for Mwai Kibaki, or Kalonzo Musyoka or Raila Odinga, then it is important that they do so with the right information.
Phil, is there anything that can be done to set the record straight?
Here is the damaging email:
...If you have not been praying you better start.
LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD
THE ODM PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, RAILA ODINGA, HAS ENTERED INTO A SECRET MOU WITH A SECTION OF KENYAN MUSLIMS.
THESE MUSLIMS, WITH THE SUPPORT OF THEIR BROTHERS FROM THE ARAB WORLD, WILL SUPPORT RAILA’S PRESIDENTIAL BID IN THIS YEAR’S ELECTION, 2007, AND IN 2012 WHEN HE SEEKS RE-ELECTION FOR HIS FINAL TERM AS PRESIDENT. IN RETURN, RAILA HAS PROMISED TO INTRODUCE MAJIMBO ONCE HE GETS TO POWER. AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF MAJIMBO, THE COAST JIMBO WILL DECIDE THAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO OPERATE AS AN ISLAMIC STATE. THIS WILL THEN BE FOLLOWED BY THE NORTH EASTERN JIMBO WHO WILL ALSO DEMAND TO BE AN ISLAMIC STATE.
THIS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WILL SEE THE BEGINNING OF A DETERMINED QUEST TO TURN THE WHOLE OF KENYA INTO AN ISLAMIC STATE AN ACT THAT THE HON.RAILA ODINGA HAS SWORN TO HIS MUSLIM BROTHERS TO SUPPORT TO THE HILT.
COME 2017 AND WITH THE ODINGA PRESIDENCY COMING TO AN END, ! THE
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING STATES THAT POWER WILL NOW SHIFT TO THE MUSLIMS THROUGH NAJIB BALALA. AS IS EVIDENCED BY THIS MOU THE MUDAVADI VICE PRESIDENCY IS JUST A PLOY TO GET THE LUHYA VOTE AND NOT TO HAND OVER TO MUDAVADI, SOMEONE WHO RAILA DESPISES AS A SPINELESS INDIVIDUAL WHO IS EASILY SWAYED AND HAS NO ABILITY TO RULE.
BALALA STEPPING DOWN FOR RAILA DURING THE ODM PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS IN KASARANI WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT BUT A WELL CALCULATED MOVE BY A GROUP OF PEOPLE INTENT ON IMPOSING THEIR WAY OF LIFE UPON MILLIONS OF UNSUSPECTING KENYANS. WHY ELSE DID RAILA REFER TO ALLAH AS THE GOD OF KENYA?
THE FREQUENT AND VICIOUS ATTACKS ON KALONZO MUSYOKA BY NAJIB BALALA WERE DRIVEN BY NAJIB’S FEARS THAT A KALONZO PRESIDENCY WOULD DERAIL THEIR WELL LAID OUT PLANS DUE TO KALONZO’S STRONG CHRISTIAN BACKGROUND.
THIS IS WHAT LED NAJIB TO SWEAR THAT HE WOULD NEVER VOTE FOR A NON
REFORMER EVEN IF HE CLINCHED THE ODM PRESIDENTIAL TICKET IN A FAIR
CONTEST. R! AILA’S WEAK RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND, COUPLED WITH HIS OPEN
GREED FOR THE PRESIDENCY, WAS SEEN AS THE EASIEST WAY BY NAJIB AND HIS ISLAM EXTREMISTS TO ACHIEVE THEIR SINISTER GOALS.
NAJIB’S OFTEN REPEATED CRY OF “TUNATAKA MABADILIKO” MEANS EXACTLY THAT.
A CHANGE IN OUR LIVES AS WE KNOW AND BELIEVE, TO LIVING A LIFE ACCORDING TO THEIR WAYS AND BELIEFS. THEIR DETERMINATION TO INSTALL THE BOMAS DRAFT, PRINCIPALLY BECAUSE IT CALL FOR THE ENTRENCHMENT OF THE KADHIS COURTS IN OUR CONSTITUTION, IS
AS STEADFAST AS THEIR BELIEF THAT IT IS HONOURABLE TO DIE FOR ONES
RELIGION.
ENTER 2018, ENTER NAJIB BALALA. AS IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE ODINGA
PRESIDENCY, NAJIB’S ENTRY WILL BE MARKED WITH THE CLAMOR, BY THE COAST, FOR SHARIA LAW FOR THEIR JIMBO. THIS WILL BE CLOSELY FOLLOWED BY THE SAME CALLS COMING FROM THE NORTH EASTERN JIMBO. ONCE THESE TWO ARE SAFELY UNDER SHARIA LAW, AGAIN THE QUEST TO TRANSFORM KENYA TO BE UNDER SHARIA LAW WILL BEGIN IN ERNEST. THIS WILL BE NAJIB! BALALA ’S SOLE AIM AS THE 5TH PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA, AN AIM THAT RAILA HAS STATED IN THE SECRET MOU THAT HE WILL AGAIN DO EVERYTHING IN HIS POWERS TO HELP ACHIEVE.
IT IS INDEED UNFORTUNATE THAT AN INDIVIDUALS HUNGER FOR POWER CAN LEAD HIM TO SELL HIS OWN COUNTRY AND FAITH TO A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO’S ONLY AIM IS TO TRANSFORM KENYA, AND THE WORLD, INTO AN ISLAMIC STATE UNDER SHARIA LAW AND TO IMPOSE THEIR WILL ON OTHER PEOPLE.
FUTURE GENERATIONS OF KENYANS, OUR CHILDREN INCLUDED, WILL NEVER
FORGIVE OUR GENERATION FOR MAKING DECISIONS THAT WILL EVENTUALLY
RENDER THEM SLAVES OF OTHERS, SIMPLY BECAUSE WE COULD NOT SEE THROUGH THE LIES THAT ARE CURRENTLY BEING FED TO US.
LET US STAND UP AND DEFEND OUR COUNTRY.
MAY THE ALMIGHTY GOD BLESS US ALL, MAY THE ALMIGHTY GOD BLESS OUR
COUNTRY, KENYA.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Who Exactly Should Kibaki Consult In Appointing ECK Commissioners?
Assuming that President Kibaki were to consult the opposition in appointing new ECK commissioners, who would he consult? Would the old Narc (the party with majority seats in the 9th parliament) be able to reconstitute itself (in the 2002 form) to propose some names (because currently the old members are spread right across the new emerging political spectrum with some in ODM, others in ODM-K and still others in small parties like Kamlesh Pattni’s KENDA.) And considering that Kanu is now firmly under PNU, how fair would the process be giving so much clout to the oldest party in Kenya?
There is no denying the fact that it would all end up being really tricky.
Still this is not enough of an excuse for the president to behave the way he’s behaving currently. I am really surprised why none of the president’s advisors realizes that this display of arrogance is bound to lose him votes big time. Or maybe some are but are just being totally ignored.
In fact to many Kenyans today, 56 days to the polls a very bad smell is clearly beginning to hit the air from the heart of the ECK. There are just too many things going on that have “rigging” written all over them to ignore.
Let’s forget the attempt to adjust constituency borders at this eleventh hour in some parts of the country which even the embarrassed-looking ECK officials cannot explain. The strong suspicion here is that somebody is issuing “orders from above.” But let us look at the recent re-appointments. The president retained Kihara Muttu (who has been his personal lawyer for years and is one of the oldest serving commissioners). In fact already it is widely believed that Muttu will take over the ECK chair after Samuel Kivuitu’s term self-destructs on December 2nd. That will be barely weeks to the polls.
Why is it so difficult for the president’s team to make the little effort to be seen to be fair? What plan will this small gesture mess up? These are some of the nagging questions bothering Kenyans everywhere.
Here is something else to think about. The way the structure is currently in Kenya, the ECK chair should not be that important to a popular winning candidate. However to a losing candidate who happens to be the incumbent and appointing authority, they could be critical. Especially if there is a plot to rig the election. This is the nagging thought pattern that refuses to leave the minds of many political analysts in the country.
There is no denying the fact that it would all end up being really tricky.
Still this is not enough of an excuse for the president to behave the way he’s behaving currently. I am really surprised why none of the president’s advisors realizes that this display of arrogance is bound to lose him votes big time. Or maybe some are but are just being totally ignored.
In fact to many Kenyans today, 56 days to the polls a very bad smell is clearly beginning to hit the air from the heart of the ECK. There are just too many things going on that have “rigging” written all over them to ignore.
Let’s forget the attempt to adjust constituency borders at this eleventh hour in some parts of the country which even the embarrassed-looking ECK officials cannot explain. The strong suspicion here is that somebody is issuing “orders from above.” But let us look at the recent re-appointments. The president retained Kihara Muttu (who has been his personal lawyer for years and is one of the oldest serving commissioners). In fact already it is widely believed that Muttu will take over the ECK chair after Samuel Kivuitu’s term self-destructs on December 2nd. That will be barely weeks to the polls.
Why is it so difficult for the president’s team to make the little effort to be seen to be fair? What plan will this small gesture mess up? These are some of the nagging questions bothering Kenyans everywhere.
Here is something else to think about. The way the structure is currently in Kenya, the ECK chair should not be that important to a popular winning candidate. However to a losing candidate who happens to be the incumbent and appointing authority, they could be critical. Especially if there is a plot to rig the election. This is the nagging thought pattern that refuses to leave the minds of many political analysts in the country.
Why Tom Mboya Would Have Supported Devolution
For those who know anything about the original Majimbo debate of the 1960s in the run up to independence, this headline would strike them immediately as being a rather curious one.
This is because Tom Mboya was a strong advocate against Majimboism as spelt out in the Lancaster House independence constitution and did everything in his power to frustrate it.
Still I urge you to stay with me and I will prove to you why Tom would have strongly supported devolution as per the Bomas draft was he alive today.
For starters had he survived the assassination attempt he would have known that the very reason why his life was on the line was because centralizing all the power in one powerful executive office had produced some very predictable results. Thos with the power had abused it and wanted to retain the status quo. Tom dies because he stood in the way.
One of the things that devolution (Kusambaza kwa mamlaka) as per the bomas draft, will do is to dramatically reduce some of the powers of the presidency (a point most debators on both sides are yet to realize). This dramatically reduces the chances of a kitchen cabinet milling around the centre of power and even if they still do, the impact of such an inner cabinet will be greatly dimished. This is because resources will already be in the districts and ther will be no need for people to attempt to get close to the president to get their share, like he was doing them a favor.
If you read the words in the national anthem (which Tom played a very key role in creating) you will understand what he stood for. Basically justice for all the people of Kenya and equality for all. In fact shortly before he died, he had already confessed in his writings that too much concentration of power in one office was proving to be harmful to the young Nation of Kenya.
It is also important that we state here clearly that the Majimbo Tom fought against in the Independence constitution was very different from the devolved system proposed in the Bomas draft. The latter emphasizes national unity based on the strength of diversity in the nation. Then you also need to consider the politics of the time. KADU, the party which had successfully fronted for Majimboism was financed and supported mostly by the local white settler community whose motives were obvious. They felt that it would be easier to bribe and control small regional “governments” because many of them did not want to leave and were frightened of the Kanu government which was viewed as radical.
The other clear historical facts that many are falsifying is the claim that even that Majimbo failed. IT did NOT. It was frustrated and finances were cut off from the regions as part of this Kanu scheme.
This is because Tom Mboya was a strong advocate against Majimboism as spelt out in the Lancaster House independence constitution and did everything in his power to frustrate it.
Still I urge you to stay with me and I will prove to you why Tom would have strongly supported devolution as per the Bomas draft was he alive today.
For starters had he survived the assassination attempt he would have known that the very reason why his life was on the line was because centralizing all the power in one powerful executive office had produced some very predictable results. Thos with the power had abused it and wanted to retain the status quo. Tom dies because he stood in the way.
One of the things that devolution (Kusambaza kwa mamlaka) as per the bomas draft, will do is to dramatically reduce some of the powers of the presidency (a point most debators on both sides are yet to realize). This dramatically reduces the chances of a kitchen cabinet milling around the centre of power and even if they still do, the impact of such an inner cabinet will be greatly dimished. This is because resources will already be in the districts and ther will be no need for people to attempt to get close to the president to get their share, like he was doing them a favor.
If you read the words in the national anthem (which Tom played a very key role in creating) you will understand what he stood for. Basically justice for all the people of Kenya and equality for all. In fact shortly before he died, he had already confessed in his writings that too much concentration of power in one office was proving to be harmful to the young Nation of Kenya.
It is also important that we state here clearly that the Majimbo Tom fought against in the Independence constitution was very different from the devolved system proposed in the Bomas draft. The latter emphasizes national unity based on the strength of diversity in the nation. Then you also need to consider the politics of the time. KADU, the party which had successfully fronted for Majimboism was financed and supported mostly by the local white settler community whose motives were obvious. They felt that it would be easier to bribe and control small regional “governments” because many of them did not want to leave and were frightened of the Kanu government which was viewed as radical.
The other clear historical facts that many are falsifying is the claim that even that Majimbo failed. IT did NOT. It was frustrated and finances were cut off from the regions as part of this Kanu scheme.
The 5 Most popular stories in Kumekucha today
The 5 Most popular stories in Kumekucha today
1. Kalonzo's imminent defection to PNU
2. Is the Catholic church In Kenya Divided along tribal lines?
3. Why Raila Odinga Will Lose Langata
4. Don't heal lightly wound of my people
5. Long suffering Kenyan beauty speaks out about "useless lovers"
1. Kalonzo's imminent defection to PNU
2. Is the Catholic church In Kenya Divided along tribal lines?
3. Why Raila Odinga Will Lose Langata
4. Don't heal lightly wound of my people
5. Long suffering Kenyan beauty speaks out about "useless lovers"
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
“Leakages” Rampant In This Year’s KCSE Exams
The KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education) exams started last week on Monday and have therefore entered their second week as from yesterday.
I have just received information that several schools in a certain region of the country had in their possession one of the Mathematics examination papers that was done recently. One school even “revised” the paper in detail very early in the morning on the very day that students were to sit for the exam. They revised the paper with their Maths teacher!! Can you imagine that? And sure enough, to nobody’s surprise the exact paper they were revising is what came as the exam.
This has led me to make a few more enquiries and I have discovered that these “leakages” are now very “normal” in the country with many students purchasing papers for about Kshs 3,000. In fact many schools last year were not ranked because of massive leakages, however the results of individual students in those school were allowed to stand.
Even spirited efforts by the Kenya national Examination Council this year to clamp down on cheating do not seem to have yielded much because the “cancer” has spread too far and wide to be stemmed easily.
I find this very difficult to absorb because when I went to school, things were not like this and in fact we used to frown on examination cheats. Now it seems that the practice of cheating has become as acceptable as corruption has become in the country.
It is really sad because the culture of corruption seems to have spread into every corner and facet of life in Kenya. Young Kenyans are now clearly using corruption to pass exams.
But the corruption game begins much earlier because many parents use corruption to get their children into good schools and then provide the cash for corruption to pass exams by purchasing exam papers and we have even seen cases recently of corruption to get into the University of Nairobi. This is especially rampant in the parallel program where certificates and all sorts of documents are forged.
It is really scary to realize just how downright rotten the Kenyan society is currently.
P.S. As I was posting this story reports came in of complaints over the widespread "leakage" of the Chemistry paper.
I have just received information that several schools in a certain region of the country had in their possession one of the Mathematics examination papers that was done recently. One school even “revised” the paper in detail very early in the morning on the very day that students were to sit for the exam. They revised the paper with their Maths teacher!! Can you imagine that? And sure enough, to nobody’s surprise the exact paper they were revising is what came as the exam.
This has led me to make a few more enquiries and I have discovered that these “leakages” are now very “normal” in the country with many students purchasing papers for about Kshs 3,000. In fact many schools last year were not ranked because of massive leakages, however the results of individual students in those school were allowed to stand.
Even spirited efforts by the Kenya national Examination Council this year to clamp down on cheating do not seem to have yielded much because the “cancer” has spread too far and wide to be stemmed easily.
I find this very difficult to absorb because when I went to school, things were not like this and in fact we used to frown on examination cheats. Now it seems that the practice of cheating has become as acceptable as corruption has become in the country.
It is really sad because the culture of corruption seems to have spread into every corner and facet of life in Kenya. Young Kenyans are now clearly using corruption to pass exams.
But the corruption game begins much earlier because many parents use corruption to get their children into good schools and then provide the cash for corruption to pass exams by purchasing exam papers and we have even seen cases recently of corruption to get into the University of Nairobi. This is especially rampant in the parallel program where certificates and all sorts of documents are forged.
It is really scary to realize just how downright rotten the Kenyan society is currently.
P.S. As I was posting this story reports came in of complaints over the widespread "leakage" of the Chemistry paper.
The 5 Most Popular Stories on Kumekucha Today
The 5 Most Popular Stories on Kumekucha Today.
1. Why Raila Odinga Will Lose Langata Parliamentary Seat
2. Should Raila Odinga abandon his plan to venture into enemy territory?
3. Long Suffering Kenyan beauty Complains about "useless man."
4. Why is John Njue and the Catholic Church so hypocritical?
5. Pros and cons of Devolution in Kenya
1. Why Raila Odinga Will Lose Langata Parliamentary Seat
2. Should Raila Odinga abandon his plan to venture into enemy territory?
3. Long Suffering Kenyan beauty Complains about "useless man."
4. Why is John Njue and the Catholic Church so hypocritical?
5. Pros and cons of Devolution in Kenya
Preparations For 2012
Let me admit my friends that I was really put off balance when it became clear that because he fears for his life, it was not possible for my preferred Presidential candidate John Githongo to show up for these general elections. I sincerely believed that he was the best chance for change in Kenya, and even if he had ended up not winning the presidential race, he would have helped the entry of a new generation of politicians into the political scene in Kenya.
Alas that cannot be now, and so I have been forced back to the drawing boards and the game plan is finally becoming clearer to me.
Kumekucha will now support principled individuals who represent true change, irrespective of which political parties they belong to. The idea will be to get as many new progressive faces into the 10th parliament as possible and also as many women candidates as possible because they seem to be more mindful of the downtrodden voiceless people of Kenya and less likely to forget the reasons why they are in parliament.
It is also the position of Kumekucha to support any presidential candidate who pledges to introduce a devolved system of governance as spelled out in Chapter 14 of the Boams draft because this represents the best opportunity for true change in the country. Using the devolved system and as many progressive parliamentarians in the house as possible, it will be much easier for Kenyans to usher in a true change in leadership in 2012.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is our only chance of pushing for real change because we cannot trust any politician on their own to bring about the changes that Kenyans crave and we therefore have to continue pushing for change each and every inch of the way and especially after the elections irrespective of which presidential candidate ends up winning.
Alas that cannot be now, and so I have been forced back to the drawing boards and the game plan is finally becoming clearer to me.
Kumekucha will now support principled individuals who represent true change, irrespective of which political parties they belong to. The idea will be to get as many new progressive faces into the 10th parliament as possible and also as many women candidates as possible because they seem to be more mindful of the downtrodden voiceless people of Kenya and less likely to forget the reasons why they are in parliament.
It is also the position of Kumekucha to support any presidential candidate who pledges to introduce a devolved system of governance as spelled out in Chapter 14 of the Boams draft because this represents the best opportunity for true change in the country. Using the devolved system and as many progressive parliamentarians in the house as possible, it will be much easier for Kenyans to usher in a true change in leadership in 2012.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is our only chance of pushing for real change because we cannot trust any politician on their own to bring about the changes that Kenyans crave and we therefore have to continue pushing for change each and every inch of the way and especially after the elections irrespective of which presidential candidate ends up winning.
Is The Catholic Church In Kenya Divided Along Tribal Lines?
Clear evidence is now emerging that there are senior bishops within the Catholic church who do not agree with Cardinal John Njue on the issue of a devolved government usambazaji wa mamlaka and that the statement he read may not in fact be the view of the Catholic church in Kenya after all.
Archbishop Zacchaeus Okoth of Kisumu said on Sunday that as far as he is concerned the views stated by Njue are personal views. And he even gave a very good reason for his position. He said that there was no pastoral letter (the usual instrument used to state the church’s official position on any important matter.)
In fact the cardinal has put “jimbos” of the Catholic Church into some serious problems with his careless remarks and many of his colleagues are hard pressed on what to tell faithfuls, especially in regions that strongly support Majimbosim.
Cardinal-designate John Njue’s position calls for lots of wisdom and many times it is not wise to declare a personal stand on sensitive national issues when you know very well that they will affect some of your members and divide the faithfuls. Yet Njue went ahead and did just that, for reasons better known to him.
One wonders whether the cardinal has any advisors and if he does whether he gave them a hearing. This is because what may appear to be a minor issue could have a far-reaching impact. To start with it may now appear in certain circles that the Catholic Church in Kenya is split along tribal lines with Kikuyu leaders within the church rabidly against devolution while most non-Kikuyus appear to be strongly for it. If this is true, it could spell disaster for Kenyans who often look up to some of these churches for direction in issues that are not clear cut like this one.
Archbishop Zacchaeus Okoth of Kisumu said on Sunday that as far as he is concerned the views stated by Njue are personal views. And he even gave a very good reason for his position. He said that there was no pastoral letter (the usual instrument used to state the church’s official position on any important matter.)
In fact the cardinal has put “jimbos” of the Catholic Church into some serious problems with his careless remarks and many of his colleagues are hard pressed on what to tell faithfuls, especially in regions that strongly support Majimbosim.
Cardinal-designate John Njue’s position calls for lots of wisdom and many times it is not wise to declare a personal stand on sensitive national issues when you know very well that they will affect some of your members and divide the faithfuls. Yet Njue went ahead and did just that, for reasons better known to him.
One wonders whether the cardinal has any advisors and if he does whether he gave them a hearing. This is because what may appear to be a minor issue could have a far-reaching impact. To start with it may now appear in certain circles that the Catholic Church in Kenya is split along tribal lines with Kikuyu leaders within the church rabidly against devolution while most non-Kikuyus appear to be strongly for it. If this is true, it could spell disaster for Kenyans who often look up to some of these churches for direction in issues that are not clear cut like this one.
I Was Wrong And Phil Was Right About Majimbo
Those who know me well know that I usually have no qualms admitting my mistakes as and when I make them. In this regard I was wrong about Majimbo and devolution in the Kenyan context as per the draft Bomas constitution being the same thing. They ARE NOT.
You were right PHIL. And I was wrong.
I have been convinced about this by an authority on the matter, Law scholar Dr Patrick Lumumba or PLO as he is known to many, who was amongst the architects of the Bomas draft and an aspirant for the Kamukunji parliamentary seat.
Lumumba says that there is a huge distinction between the Majimbo (federalism) system of government in the Kenyan context. This is because in Kenya it means balkanization of the country into ethnic and tribal enclaves.
However true devolution and with the variants applied to the draft Kenyan constitution it means a trickle down of political and economic power to the grassroots. The right Kiswahili translation for devolution here is usambazaji or ugatuzi wa mamlaka
Phil who also supports devolution in Kenya or Usambazaji wa mamlaka was of course spot on all along.
I apologize to all you Kumekucha readers out there for misleading you on this very important national issue. Kindly accept my apologies.
You were right PHIL. And I was wrong.
I have been convinced about this by an authority on the matter, Law scholar Dr Patrick Lumumba or PLO as he is known to many, who was amongst the architects of the Bomas draft and an aspirant for the Kamukunji parliamentary seat.
Lumumba says that there is a huge distinction between the Majimbo (federalism) system of government in the Kenyan context. This is because in Kenya it means balkanization of the country into ethnic and tribal enclaves.
However true devolution and with the variants applied to the draft Kenyan constitution it means a trickle down of political and economic power to the grassroots. The right Kiswahili translation for devolution here is usambazaji or ugatuzi wa mamlaka
Phil who also supports devolution in Kenya or Usambazaji wa mamlaka was of course spot on all along.
I apologize to all you Kumekucha readers out there for misleading you on this very important national issue. Kindly accept my apologies.
DON'T HEAL LIGHTLY THE WOUND OF MY PEOPLE
Address to Kenyan professionals.
By NJONJO MUE
Garden Court Southern Sun Hotel, Milpark, Johannesburg, South Africa
Thursday, 25th October 2007
Ladies and gentlemen; fellow countrymen and women, good evening.
It is always such a delight for me to be back among friends in Johannesburg and I am immensely grateful to be able to share this evening with you.
As some of you know, this is a homecoming of sorts for me. I lived here for almost five years between 1997 and 2001, when I worked as Head of the Africa Office of the freedom of expression watchdog, ARTICLE 19. It was during the same time that many of you relocated to Johannesburg from an increasingly troubled motherland.
The period of my sojourn in South Africa was a time of great transition. I arrived here during the third year of the Mandela presidency and left two years after Thabo Mbeki stepped into his big shoes. As we were busy setting up our modest office on 87 Juta Street in Braamfontein and as I was settling into my little flat in Montgomery Park, the ANC was just getting its feet wet on the driving seat of government, after decades of being an outlawed movement trying to overthrow a racist regime in a blatantly unequal contest.
Desmond Tutu and his truth commissioners were helping the country to come to terms with its horrid past, and black people were beginning to enjoy their place under the sun after four hundred years of colonial domination and apartheid rule.
Back home in Kenya, 1997 was also a year of transition. The Kanu government was still standing menacingly in the way of a new people's constitution and intimidating anyone who thought they might have a new idea on how their motherland should be governed. I remember participating in public rallies, declared illegal, in Kamukunji in early March and at Uhuru Park on the eve of Madaraka Day, alongside thousands of other young Kenyans demanding change under the slogan, "No Reforms, No Elections!" We were beaten and tear-gassed, vilified and jailed, but we would not relent in our chorus of disapproval against the cabal of kleptocratic lootocrats who went by the name of the government of the day.
It was the year of saba saba, nane nane, tisa tisa, kumi kumi. These were all demonstrations held with ever increasing public support in Nairobi and elsewhere in the country, demanding fundamental changes in the governance of our country. They were all violently broken up by Moi's security forces.
Then, just when change appeared imminent, the politicians, who were our
erstwhile comrades in arms, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by
abandoning us when Moi dangled the carrot of IPPG before them. They did not even bother to entrench in law the few concessions they claimed to have won before running off to look for votes when the election was called. Ten years later, we are still staring at the fog of the promise of a new constitution, no nearer to our goal than when we first began.
Many of us in the civil society felt betrayed by the IPPG deal cobbled up by politicians to enable them to share our chicken before it was cooked, but this is not the place to recount the long tale of lost opportunities on the road to a new constitutional dispensation in Kenya. The reason I bring up these momentous events of 1997 in both Kenya and South Africa is that they mirror our present struggles in two important respects.
First, as we all know, it is election season once again in Kenya and
politicians are out on the beat promising us all a piece of the moon. It is time for the country to make important decisions that will determine the direction Kenya takes for the next five years and beyond.
Second, the South African transition from apartheid, especially the
truth-telling process aimed at helping uncover and heal the wounds inflicted on the majority by the minority, still offers an object lesson for Kenya at this time. For no matter who wins the election, there is much unfinished business on our psycho-social landscape that will not go away until we have the courage to face up to our sometimes painful history. It is this aspect of our own transition that I would like us to take the next few moments to reflect on tonight.
Over the last 44 years of our independence, successive governments have
studiously refused to undertake and lead a process of dealing with painful periods of our past and to bring perpetrators of gross injustices to account. Year after year, we have continued to celebrate our achievements while failing to acknowledge the very real pain and suffering unjustly visited upon our sisters and brothers by people who hitherto lived side by side with them as neighbours.
Survivors of ethnic cleansing, like children of a lesser god, continue to roam landless in our towns and countryside scavenging for food; women who have no platform to speak of the sexual violence they endured during the clashes in Molo, Burnt Forest and elsewhere, bear their pain silently, with only bitter tears shed quietly to avoid spoiling the party, as they are casually invited by the government spokesperson to juvunia kuwa waKenya; families of assassinated politicians still wait for official acknowledgment that government agents actively took part in the demise of their loved ones and the subsequent elaborate cover-up.
We have also decided that bringing to justice the perpetrators of gross
economic sabotage through the massive looting of the public purse and the misappropriation of public land by a well connected few is a luxury that Kenya cannot afford.
It is natural to feel anxious about the effect that addressing the past
might have on our national fabric, especially since lawlessness, looting and pillaging of public resources for private gain was at some point regarded as unofficial government policy. It is also the case that it is virtually impossible to find anyone among our political elite who is untainted by the corruption of the past. And so we continue to pretend that the past did not happen.
But the poet Maya Angelou has some comforting words for societies such as ours that hesitate to come to terms with their past. In her moving poem during the inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1993, she reminded us that "history, despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
And this is precisely what we need to do in Kenya as we contemplate the next five years. We must face our history with courage. The current government attempted to go down that road early in its life when it appointed a task force on the establishment of a truth, justice and reconciliation commission. But it seems to have developed cold feet despite the findings of the task force that the Kenyan people were overwhelmingly in favour of some form of accounting for the past.
And yet, whether the next government - whoever heads it - offers the needed leadership on this issue or continues to bid us bury our heads in the sand, this is an issue that just won't go away. A casual look around the world, from South Africa to Liberia to Chile to Argentina, shows that people are refusing to allow history to be silenced. Succeeding generations refuse impunity and demand moral accountability for past criminal acts and a modicum of justice to ensure it. Kenya will be no different, and the longer we leave our issues unresolved, the more complicated they are likely to become. We should not forget that the perennial troubles in the Balkans can be directly traced to the battle of Kosovo fought in 1389!
Perhaps the reluctance by the establishment to ask people to account for the past, results from ignorance of why the process is necessary and what it would entail. This ignorance breeds fear and paralysis. I remember a story that appeared in the Daily Nation of 27 June 2003, reporting on submissions to the task force on the Truth Commission. It screamed, "DON'T OPEN UP OLD WOUNDS, TRUTH TEAM TOLD." There were also mixed interpretations of what accounting for the past really meant. While one body of opinion wanted to legislate a national amnesia of forgive and forget, another wanted criminals identified, prosecuted and duly punished.
But it is still important even in the midst of this confusion to find a way forward. We must open up old wounds if they did not heal properly in the first place, in order to air them and let the puss out. For as philosopher George Santayana cautions us, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Our country is badly in need of reconciliation. But there can be no reconciliation without forgiveness and there can be no forgiveness without truth.
But many have asked, what is truth in this context? Simply put, truth
entails giving a right and a forum for those who have endured suffering in silence to tell their stories and an opportunity to know and understand what exactly transpired in the old dispensation - what led to their suffering, in what context it occurred, and who was involved. As one survivor told the Truth Commission here in South Africa, "We do want to forgive, but we don't know whom to forgive."
Truth in the context of reconciliation expresses itself in acknowledgment of injustice committed during violent conflict or oppression. It includes full disclosure of misdeeds; publication of accounts of formerly hidden injustices and violence; and storytelling by victims in the context of therapy.
Truth telling is also important in order to establish an accurate record of a country's past, and lift the lid of silence on particular periods or incidents that we are ashamed to face up to. In seeking the truth, victims and survivors are not driven by mere curiosity. The massacre of helpless villagers on the runway of a remote airstrip in the North-East; the torture endured at Nyayo House; the flight by night to makeshift refugee camps in the Rift Valley; the loss of a loving father to hired assassins outside a pharmacy, in Ngong or on a lonely hill in Koru. These are all now an indelible part of the identity of the survivors, and denying that these atrocities happened is denying an integral part of who these people are.
Miroslav Volf puts it poignantly in his book, Exclusion and Embrace:
By wanting to know "what happened" they are wanting to insure that the
insult of occultation is not added to the injury of oppression; they are seeking to restore and guard human dignity, protect the weak from the ruthless. The truth about what happened is here often a matter of life and death.
Tutu brings it closer home. In his book, No Future Without Forgiveness, he explains why forgetting the past is wholly unacceptable:
Accepting [national amnesia] would have victimized the victims of apartheid a second time round. It would have meant denying their experience, a vital part of their identity.. Our nation sought to rehabilitate and affirm the dignity and humanity of those who were cruelly silenced for so long, turned into anonymous, marginalized victims. Now through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission they would be empowered to tell their stories, allowed to remember and in this public recounting, their individuality and inalienable humanity would be acknowledged.
In some cases, victims already substantially know what happened but they still need an official acknowledgment from the perpetrators and the state, where it was involved. As Juan Mendez points out in an article in the New York Law School Journal of Human Rights, "Knowledge that is officially sanctioned, and thereby made 'part of the public cognitive scene' acquires a mysterious quality that is not there when it is merely 'truth'. Official acknowledgment at least begins to heal the wounds."
I remember having tea recently with the daughter of a popular politician whose murder has never quite been resolved. She confessed that as a child, she grew up believing that her father must have been a very bad man since, in her innocent imagination, only bad people got killed. To such a person, official acknowledgment would go a long way to providing healing.
Truth is also important in ensuring the reform of structures that
facilitated the abuses. The truth must be placed on the public record to enable society to take a long hard look at itself and ensure that the violations of the past do not recur. This is the only way that the truth will lead to transformation of society.
As Janet Cherry reminds us in a chapter in Looking Back, Reaching Forward, "Personal and individual histories of suffering or evil-doing are usually intrinsically related to systemic conditions. Provision should therefore be made for a comprehensive socio-ethical approach when dealing with the past."
We in Kenya must ask ourselves, what sort of value system would lead us to construct a building whose name means 'Peace, Love and Unity' with a
basement designed for the worst forms of torture known to humanity?
"Forgive and forget," is the famous mantra of the morally lazy. We must
forgive and remember because the process of reconciliation depends a great deal on how we remember the past. We have just come out of celebrating Kenyatta Day and there would be no point in doing so if we bought into the conventional wisdom of sweeping our past under the rug; after all, the events of 20th October 1952 are not in themselves a cause for celebration.
As John De Gruchy points out in Reconciliation, "Memories can return with a vengeance unless they are redeemed and become a way of transforming the future."
But we should not go excavating the past for the purpose of inflicting
revenge upon our fellow citizens. There is a healing way that can bring hope for the future along with our sorrow for the past. We must collectively find this way.
This more excellent way involves forgiveness. This is at the core of the reconciliation process. Many commentators are agreed that this is the most difficult part of the process. Revenge is the most natural reaction of a human being when unjustly treated.
The trouble with revenge, however, is that it enslaves both the victim and the perpetrator in a vicious cycle. What to one is a justified act of vengeance is to the other an unwarranted injustice that calls for
counter-revenge. This dynamic has led to some societies being caught in a spiral of violence for generations.
Forgiveness breaks the power of the remembered past and transcends the
claims of the affirmed justice and so makes the spiral of revenge grind to a halt. But it must not be cheap forgiveness that does not acknowledge the hurt visited upon the victims. True reconciliation, according to Tutu, "exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the degradation, the truth.. Spurious reconciliation can bring only spurious healing."
And so we arrive at this threshold in our history with three choices to make regarding the injustices of the past: impunity; trials and punishment; or reconciliation.
We have already seen that impunity threatens the social fabric because it undermines justice which is the essence of organized society. Impunity prevents the full rehabilitation of victims, reconciliation and the building of genuine democracy. Impunity is the option normally favoured by members of an outgoing autocratic regime who would rather that their record while in power remained beyond scrutiny.
In Latin American countries such as Chile and Argentina, outgoing military dictators in the late 1980s passed laws granting themselves and their supporters blanket amnesty from prosecution for human rights abuses as a condition for agreeing to hand over power to democratically elected governments. But as Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet found out in his last days, and as his family continues to find out today, you cannot silence history. Our leaders and their families would be wise to heed this lesson.
Trials and punishment of past criminals are also not a practical option. In the first place, in most cases there would not be sufficient evidence to convict those suspected of human rights violations. Some of the violations happened in the 1960s and most witnesses would be dead by now. Even after the Second World War with the evidence of Nazi atrocities still relatively fresh, less than 6,500 of the 90,000 cases brought to court resulted in convictions.
Secondly, even if sufficient evidence could be found and considering the pervasive culture of corruption that gripped our country during the time in question, bringing to trial all the culprits would overwhelm the judiciary.
Many of the key perpetrators have enough money to keep their cases tied up in the courts for years. Also, criminal trials are not the best placed for seeking a comprehensive truth about the past. Many facts are kept out of court by strict rules of evidence.
It is important to avoid the two extremes of impunity and punishment, and find a 'third way' that deals with the past in a manner that will promote a new political culture and a shared vision for the future. That 'third way' should balance the requirements of truth, forgiveness, accountability and the restoration of justice leading to national healing and reconciliation.
Reconciliation can take many different forms. As a Christian, I naturally turn to the Bible for guidance. The biblical concept of Shalom (wholeness) is the image that comes closest to expressing the complex and multifaceted reality of reconciliation. There has to be wholeness resting on a balance between Truth and Mercy, Justice and Peace. In the language of Psalm 85, this is where 'truth and mercy have met together, justice and peace have kissed.'
Wherever the social fabric has been ruptured by conflict, dictatorship or autocratic rule as happened in Kenya over the last four decades, most people agree on the need for reconciliation between victims and perpetrators of human rights violations, but they have different understandings of what reconciliation entails.
For some, it involves contrition, confession and forgiveness (i.e. mercy); others call for 'peace in the land' through the improvement of people's social and economic conditions (i.e. peace); yet others call for justice through the prosecution of perpetrators and the establishment of a culture of democracy and human rights (i.e. justice); lastly there are those who say that there can be no reconciliation without public acknowledgment of crimes through a truth- telling process (i.e. truth).
Reconciliation in action, in my view, is inclusive of all aspects of Shalom: justice, peace, truth and mercy. A successful reconciliation process should integrate all these key elements.
In August 2000 while I was based here in South Africa, some friends and I proposed just such a model with regard to Kenya's public wealth stolen and siphoned abroad by corrupt leaders and their unscrupulous friends. We launched the BOMB -'Bring Our Money Back' - initiative whose key proposals were to set a time frame within which anyone who had money illegally banked or invested abroad was to publicly declare and account for it. If they did so and told the whole truth as to how they acquired it to enable the sealing of loopholes, they would be granted amnesty from prosecution and even allowed to keep 15% of the money, provided they invested it at home and returned the rest to the public purse.
We drafted a Bill to create a framework for tracing and repatriating such moneys, which unfortunately did not see the light of day, as the new government subsequently chose to engage Messrs Kroll & Co to prepare a glossy report to tell us what we already knew without giving us a clue as to how we would ever get our money back.
In conclusion and contrary to what our political elite would have us believe, the crimes committed against the people of Kenya in the past cannot be simply forgotten. To carry on with business as usual while ignoring the walking wounded in our midst would be, in the words of the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah, to "heal the wound of My people lightly, saying 'peace peace' when there is no peace."
We have to build a culture of respect for human rights and democracy in our country. There has to be a genuine commitment to break with the past, to heal the wounds, to forgive but remember in redemptive ways in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. This way, we can build a shared vision of the future; a vision of a great nation at peace with itself, for the sake of ourselves, our children and our children's children.
God bless you and God bless Kenya.
I thank you.
Njonjo Mue
Legal Counsel / Principal Human Rights Officer
Campaigns & Advocacy Programme
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights
1st Floor, CVS Plaza, Lenana Road
P.O. Box 74359-00200 Nairobi
TEL: 254-20-2717908 / 2717928 / 2712624
FAX: 254-20-2716160
njonjo@knchr.org
www.knchr.org
By NJONJO MUE
Garden Court Southern Sun Hotel, Milpark, Johannesburg, South Africa
Thursday, 25th October 2007
Ladies and gentlemen; fellow countrymen and women, good evening.
It is always such a delight for me to be back among friends in Johannesburg and I am immensely grateful to be able to share this evening with you.
As some of you know, this is a homecoming of sorts for me. I lived here for almost five years between 1997 and 2001, when I worked as Head of the Africa Office of the freedom of expression watchdog, ARTICLE 19. It was during the same time that many of you relocated to Johannesburg from an increasingly troubled motherland.
The period of my sojourn in South Africa was a time of great transition. I arrived here during the third year of the Mandela presidency and left two years after Thabo Mbeki stepped into his big shoes. As we were busy setting up our modest office on 87 Juta Street in Braamfontein and as I was settling into my little flat in Montgomery Park, the ANC was just getting its feet wet on the driving seat of government, after decades of being an outlawed movement trying to overthrow a racist regime in a blatantly unequal contest.
Desmond Tutu and his truth commissioners were helping the country to come to terms with its horrid past, and black people were beginning to enjoy their place under the sun after four hundred years of colonial domination and apartheid rule.
Back home in Kenya, 1997 was also a year of transition. The Kanu government was still standing menacingly in the way of a new people's constitution and intimidating anyone who thought they might have a new idea on how their motherland should be governed. I remember participating in public rallies, declared illegal, in Kamukunji in early March and at Uhuru Park on the eve of Madaraka Day, alongside thousands of other young Kenyans demanding change under the slogan, "No Reforms, No Elections!" We were beaten and tear-gassed, vilified and jailed, but we would not relent in our chorus of disapproval against the cabal of kleptocratic lootocrats who went by the name of the government of the day.
It was the year of saba saba, nane nane, tisa tisa, kumi kumi. These were all demonstrations held with ever increasing public support in Nairobi and elsewhere in the country, demanding fundamental changes in the governance of our country. They were all violently broken up by Moi's security forces.
Then, just when change appeared imminent, the politicians, who were our
erstwhile comrades in arms, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by
abandoning us when Moi dangled the carrot of IPPG before them. They did not even bother to entrench in law the few concessions they claimed to have won before running off to look for votes when the election was called. Ten years later, we are still staring at the fog of the promise of a new constitution, no nearer to our goal than when we first began.
Many of us in the civil society felt betrayed by the IPPG deal cobbled up by politicians to enable them to share our chicken before it was cooked, but this is not the place to recount the long tale of lost opportunities on the road to a new constitutional dispensation in Kenya. The reason I bring up these momentous events of 1997 in both Kenya and South Africa is that they mirror our present struggles in two important respects.
First, as we all know, it is election season once again in Kenya and
politicians are out on the beat promising us all a piece of the moon. It is time for the country to make important decisions that will determine the direction Kenya takes for the next five years and beyond.
Second, the South African transition from apartheid, especially the
truth-telling process aimed at helping uncover and heal the wounds inflicted on the majority by the minority, still offers an object lesson for Kenya at this time. For no matter who wins the election, there is much unfinished business on our psycho-social landscape that will not go away until we have the courage to face up to our sometimes painful history. It is this aspect of our own transition that I would like us to take the next few moments to reflect on tonight.
Over the last 44 years of our independence, successive governments have
studiously refused to undertake and lead a process of dealing with painful periods of our past and to bring perpetrators of gross injustices to account. Year after year, we have continued to celebrate our achievements while failing to acknowledge the very real pain and suffering unjustly visited upon our sisters and brothers by people who hitherto lived side by side with them as neighbours.
Survivors of ethnic cleansing, like children of a lesser god, continue to roam landless in our towns and countryside scavenging for food; women who have no platform to speak of the sexual violence they endured during the clashes in Molo, Burnt Forest and elsewhere, bear their pain silently, with only bitter tears shed quietly to avoid spoiling the party, as they are casually invited by the government spokesperson to juvunia kuwa waKenya; families of assassinated politicians still wait for official acknowledgment that government agents actively took part in the demise of their loved ones and the subsequent elaborate cover-up.
We have also decided that bringing to justice the perpetrators of gross
economic sabotage through the massive looting of the public purse and the misappropriation of public land by a well connected few is a luxury that Kenya cannot afford.
It is natural to feel anxious about the effect that addressing the past
might have on our national fabric, especially since lawlessness, looting and pillaging of public resources for private gain was at some point regarded as unofficial government policy. It is also the case that it is virtually impossible to find anyone among our political elite who is untainted by the corruption of the past. And so we continue to pretend that the past did not happen.
But the poet Maya Angelou has some comforting words for societies such as ours that hesitate to come to terms with their past. In her moving poem during the inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1993, she reminded us that "history, despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
And this is precisely what we need to do in Kenya as we contemplate the next five years. We must face our history with courage. The current government attempted to go down that road early in its life when it appointed a task force on the establishment of a truth, justice and reconciliation commission. But it seems to have developed cold feet despite the findings of the task force that the Kenyan people were overwhelmingly in favour of some form of accounting for the past.
And yet, whether the next government - whoever heads it - offers the needed leadership on this issue or continues to bid us bury our heads in the sand, this is an issue that just won't go away. A casual look around the world, from South Africa to Liberia to Chile to Argentina, shows that people are refusing to allow history to be silenced. Succeeding generations refuse impunity and demand moral accountability for past criminal acts and a modicum of justice to ensure it. Kenya will be no different, and the longer we leave our issues unresolved, the more complicated they are likely to become. We should not forget that the perennial troubles in the Balkans can be directly traced to the battle of Kosovo fought in 1389!
Perhaps the reluctance by the establishment to ask people to account for the past, results from ignorance of why the process is necessary and what it would entail. This ignorance breeds fear and paralysis. I remember a story that appeared in the Daily Nation of 27 June 2003, reporting on submissions to the task force on the Truth Commission. It screamed, "DON'T OPEN UP OLD WOUNDS, TRUTH TEAM TOLD." There were also mixed interpretations of what accounting for the past really meant. While one body of opinion wanted to legislate a national amnesia of forgive and forget, another wanted criminals identified, prosecuted and duly punished.
But it is still important even in the midst of this confusion to find a way forward. We must open up old wounds if they did not heal properly in the first place, in order to air them and let the puss out. For as philosopher George Santayana cautions us, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Our country is badly in need of reconciliation. But there can be no reconciliation without forgiveness and there can be no forgiveness without truth.
But many have asked, what is truth in this context? Simply put, truth
entails giving a right and a forum for those who have endured suffering in silence to tell their stories and an opportunity to know and understand what exactly transpired in the old dispensation - what led to their suffering, in what context it occurred, and who was involved. As one survivor told the Truth Commission here in South Africa, "We do want to forgive, but we don't know whom to forgive."
Truth in the context of reconciliation expresses itself in acknowledgment of injustice committed during violent conflict or oppression. It includes full disclosure of misdeeds; publication of accounts of formerly hidden injustices and violence; and storytelling by victims in the context of therapy.
Truth telling is also important in order to establish an accurate record of a country's past, and lift the lid of silence on particular periods or incidents that we are ashamed to face up to. In seeking the truth, victims and survivors are not driven by mere curiosity. The massacre of helpless villagers on the runway of a remote airstrip in the North-East; the torture endured at Nyayo House; the flight by night to makeshift refugee camps in the Rift Valley; the loss of a loving father to hired assassins outside a pharmacy, in Ngong or on a lonely hill in Koru. These are all now an indelible part of the identity of the survivors, and denying that these atrocities happened is denying an integral part of who these people are.
Miroslav Volf puts it poignantly in his book, Exclusion and Embrace:
By wanting to know "what happened" they are wanting to insure that the
insult of occultation is not added to the injury of oppression; they are seeking to restore and guard human dignity, protect the weak from the ruthless. The truth about what happened is here often a matter of life and death.
Tutu brings it closer home. In his book, No Future Without Forgiveness, he explains why forgetting the past is wholly unacceptable:
Accepting [national amnesia] would have victimized the victims of apartheid a second time round. It would have meant denying their experience, a vital part of their identity.. Our nation sought to rehabilitate and affirm the dignity and humanity of those who were cruelly silenced for so long, turned into anonymous, marginalized victims. Now through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission they would be empowered to tell their stories, allowed to remember and in this public recounting, their individuality and inalienable humanity would be acknowledged.
In some cases, victims already substantially know what happened but they still need an official acknowledgment from the perpetrators and the state, where it was involved. As Juan Mendez points out in an article in the New York Law School Journal of Human Rights, "Knowledge that is officially sanctioned, and thereby made 'part of the public cognitive scene' acquires a mysterious quality that is not there when it is merely 'truth'. Official acknowledgment at least begins to heal the wounds."
I remember having tea recently with the daughter of a popular politician whose murder has never quite been resolved. She confessed that as a child, she grew up believing that her father must have been a very bad man since, in her innocent imagination, only bad people got killed. To such a person, official acknowledgment would go a long way to providing healing.
Truth is also important in ensuring the reform of structures that
facilitated the abuses. The truth must be placed on the public record to enable society to take a long hard look at itself and ensure that the violations of the past do not recur. This is the only way that the truth will lead to transformation of society.
As Janet Cherry reminds us in a chapter in Looking Back, Reaching Forward, "Personal and individual histories of suffering or evil-doing are usually intrinsically related to systemic conditions. Provision should therefore be made for a comprehensive socio-ethical approach when dealing with the past."
We in Kenya must ask ourselves, what sort of value system would lead us to construct a building whose name means 'Peace, Love and Unity' with a
basement designed for the worst forms of torture known to humanity?
"Forgive and forget," is the famous mantra of the morally lazy. We must
forgive and remember because the process of reconciliation depends a great deal on how we remember the past. We have just come out of celebrating Kenyatta Day and there would be no point in doing so if we bought into the conventional wisdom of sweeping our past under the rug; after all, the events of 20th October 1952 are not in themselves a cause for celebration.
As John De Gruchy points out in Reconciliation, "Memories can return with a vengeance unless they are redeemed and become a way of transforming the future."
But we should not go excavating the past for the purpose of inflicting
revenge upon our fellow citizens. There is a healing way that can bring hope for the future along with our sorrow for the past. We must collectively find this way.
This more excellent way involves forgiveness. This is at the core of the reconciliation process. Many commentators are agreed that this is the most difficult part of the process. Revenge is the most natural reaction of a human being when unjustly treated.
The trouble with revenge, however, is that it enslaves both the victim and the perpetrator in a vicious cycle. What to one is a justified act of vengeance is to the other an unwarranted injustice that calls for
counter-revenge. This dynamic has led to some societies being caught in a spiral of violence for generations.
Forgiveness breaks the power of the remembered past and transcends the
claims of the affirmed justice and so makes the spiral of revenge grind to a halt. But it must not be cheap forgiveness that does not acknowledge the hurt visited upon the victims. True reconciliation, according to Tutu, "exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the degradation, the truth.. Spurious reconciliation can bring only spurious healing."
And so we arrive at this threshold in our history with three choices to make regarding the injustices of the past: impunity; trials and punishment; or reconciliation.
We have already seen that impunity threatens the social fabric because it undermines justice which is the essence of organized society. Impunity prevents the full rehabilitation of victims, reconciliation and the building of genuine democracy. Impunity is the option normally favoured by members of an outgoing autocratic regime who would rather that their record while in power remained beyond scrutiny.
In Latin American countries such as Chile and Argentina, outgoing military dictators in the late 1980s passed laws granting themselves and their supporters blanket amnesty from prosecution for human rights abuses as a condition for agreeing to hand over power to democratically elected governments. But as Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet found out in his last days, and as his family continues to find out today, you cannot silence history. Our leaders and their families would be wise to heed this lesson.
Trials and punishment of past criminals are also not a practical option. In the first place, in most cases there would not be sufficient evidence to convict those suspected of human rights violations. Some of the violations happened in the 1960s and most witnesses would be dead by now. Even after the Second World War with the evidence of Nazi atrocities still relatively fresh, less than 6,500 of the 90,000 cases brought to court resulted in convictions.
Secondly, even if sufficient evidence could be found and considering the pervasive culture of corruption that gripped our country during the time in question, bringing to trial all the culprits would overwhelm the judiciary.
Many of the key perpetrators have enough money to keep their cases tied up in the courts for years. Also, criminal trials are not the best placed for seeking a comprehensive truth about the past. Many facts are kept out of court by strict rules of evidence.
It is important to avoid the two extremes of impunity and punishment, and find a 'third way' that deals with the past in a manner that will promote a new political culture and a shared vision for the future. That 'third way' should balance the requirements of truth, forgiveness, accountability and the restoration of justice leading to national healing and reconciliation.
Reconciliation can take many different forms. As a Christian, I naturally turn to the Bible for guidance. The biblical concept of Shalom (wholeness) is the image that comes closest to expressing the complex and multifaceted reality of reconciliation. There has to be wholeness resting on a balance between Truth and Mercy, Justice and Peace. In the language of Psalm 85, this is where 'truth and mercy have met together, justice and peace have kissed.'
Wherever the social fabric has been ruptured by conflict, dictatorship or autocratic rule as happened in Kenya over the last four decades, most people agree on the need for reconciliation between victims and perpetrators of human rights violations, but they have different understandings of what reconciliation entails.
For some, it involves contrition, confession and forgiveness (i.e. mercy); others call for 'peace in the land' through the improvement of people's social and economic conditions (i.e. peace); yet others call for justice through the prosecution of perpetrators and the establishment of a culture of democracy and human rights (i.e. justice); lastly there are those who say that there can be no reconciliation without public acknowledgment of crimes through a truth- telling process (i.e. truth).
Reconciliation in action, in my view, is inclusive of all aspects of Shalom: justice, peace, truth and mercy. A successful reconciliation process should integrate all these key elements.
In August 2000 while I was based here in South Africa, some friends and I proposed just such a model with regard to Kenya's public wealth stolen and siphoned abroad by corrupt leaders and their unscrupulous friends. We launched the BOMB -'Bring Our Money Back' - initiative whose key proposals were to set a time frame within which anyone who had money illegally banked or invested abroad was to publicly declare and account for it. If they did so and told the whole truth as to how they acquired it to enable the sealing of loopholes, they would be granted amnesty from prosecution and even allowed to keep 15% of the money, provided they invested it at home and returned the rest to the public purse.
We drafted a Bill to create a framework for tracing and repatriating such moneys, which unfortunately did not see the light of day, as the new government subsequently chose to engage Messrs Kroll & Co to prepare a glossy report to tell us what we already knew without giving us a clue as to how we would ever get our money back.
In conclusion and contrary to what our political elite would have us believe, the crimes committed against the people of Kenya in the past cannot be simply forgotten. To carry on with business as usual while ignoring the walking wounded in our midst would be, in the words of the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah, to "heal the wound of My people lightly, saying 'peace peace' when there is no peace."
We have to build a culture of respect for human rights and democracy in our country. There has to be a genuine commitment to break with the past, to heal the wounds, to forgive but remember in redemptive ways in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. This way, we can build a shared vision of the future; a vision of a great nation at peace with itself, for the sake of ourselves, our children and our children's children.
God bless you and God bless Kenya.
I thank you.
Njonjo Mue
Legal Counsel / Principal Human Rights Officer
Campaigns & Advocacy Programme
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights
1st Floor, CVS Plaza, Lenana Road
P.O. Box 74359-00200 Nairobi
TEL: 254-20-2717908 / 2717928 / 2712624
FAX: 254-20-2716160
njonjo@knchr.org
www.knchr.org
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