FACT CHECK: RAILA ODINGA, MUSALIA MUDAVADI AND THE GOLDENBERG SCANDAL

Wapenda Kenya Wenzangu,

In an article entitled “Are we Getting Ready for a Genocide” that can be accessed at http://publiceyesite.org/pipermail/jambo_publiceyesite.org/2007-September/007046.html , Mr. Rodgers Akombe pointed out some facts about Raila Odinga vis-a- vis Musalia Mudavadi on the Goldenberg scandal. In his trademark manner, Mr. Akombe did not mince words and had the immutable records at his fingertips as he laid the points on the table. I fully and totally identify with Mr. Akombe in his quest at fact checking our Kenyan politicians; especially Hon. Raila Odinga who is billed as the most qualified of the current crop of presidential candidates to tackle the corruption menace in our beloved motherland of Kenya. I have no reservations as I echo Mr. Akombe in this respect.

It is now the year of our Lord AD 2007. Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga is running for president of Kenya on the ODM ticket. His presumed running mate is one Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi, the last Vice President under H.E. Daniel Toroitich arap Moi. If Raila’s quest turns into reality, a historical feat of sorts will have been achieved: MOI’S LAST VP WILL BE RAILA’S FIRST VP!! That will be a second one after Uhuru Kenyatta's recent feat of being Leader of Opposition supporting the Government.

If Raila is elected President of the Republic of Kenya , one of his most urgent tasks will be to nip in the bud economic crimes against the people of Kenya . Top of the list of these crimes will be Goldenberg. A close second will be Anglo-Leasing. To that end, Kenyans will expect that those involved in these scandals of global proportions will be brought to book and that justice will be served once and for all.

In the Robert Ouko murder case/corruption scandal, Raila Odinga ended up the beneficiary with the purchase of the Kisumu molasses plant!! Nothing bad in the purchase, but Kenyans are still dying to know if the purchase was done under the table or above the table. Just a simple thing, isn't it?

My purpose here, as an interested Kenyan, is to check out Hon. Odinga’s credentials, CV or resume as an anti-corruption crusader. To that end, the story from December 2002 that Mr. Akombe reminded us of made for an interesting read. In the story, Hon. Raila Odinga, has some very unsavory and unsettling words to say about the then VP, Mr. Musalia Mudavadi. The complete story is at http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/17112002/News/mainNews18.html. Here are some relevant excerpts:

· The opposition yesterday reopened the Goldenberg can of worms, with a challenge to … Vice-President Musalia Mudavadi to explain how the country lost billions of shillings in questionable export payouts.

· Former Energy minister Raila Odinga claimed that the two knew how the country lost the money, and dismissed as "a lie" Mr Mudavadi's explanation in which he distanced himself from the scandal.

· …Mr Odinga said: "Musalia and (President) Moi know the whole truth about Goldenberg and they should come out clean.

· "Mudavadi was the Finance minister in 1993. He first paid out the Sh5.8 billion in export compensation and then the Sh13.5 billion. I know what I am talking about. I stand for the truth and the VP and the President should come out and prove me wrong."

· Mr Odinga said he was ready to prove that it was Mr Mudavadi who authorised the Goldenberg payments.

Five years down from the day Raila made the statements, the exact and very same Wyclife Musalia Mudavadi is Raila Odinga's presumed running mate in ODM. The term that has been bandied around is Raila's Chief General. If Kenyans are to hand over the keys to Raila so that he can lead the battle on corruption, the following questions, among others, require urgent answers:

1. How does one surround himself with the thieves he has been 'fighting' against so that he can fight theft? (Ruto, Ntimama et al come to mind.)
   
2. Has Mudavadi been proved innocent in a court of competent jurisdiction?
3. Did Mr Odinga present his damning evidence that would prove that Mudavadi authorized the payments?
4. If the answers to the above questions are NO, then further questions are due:
1. Did Mr Odinga really know what he was talking about in 2002?
2. Was Mr Odinga standing for the truth?
3. Is Mr. Odinga standing for truth now?
4. What is does Mr. Odinga think of Mr Mudavadi now?
5. Has Mr. Odinga absolved Mr. Mudavadi from involvement in Goldenberg?
6. Has Mr. Odinga apologized publicly to Mr. Mudavadi?

Another factor to note while still on this issue of corruption and Goldenberg is what Raila has said about former president Daniel arap Moi. Please refer to this story from just over ten short months ago at http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143961640 The East African Standard of November 26, 2006 carried a story entitled "Raila says he helped Moi meet Kibaki in Eldoret." In the story, the following words are attributed to Hon. Eng. Raila Amollo Odinga. "I came to Moi’s aid when the Government wanted to take away his houses and sue him over Goldenberg during my days as the Minister for Roads," Raila said. Please note that the government that Raila is talking about here is the Kibaki government. And Raila is running against Kibaki!! Fellow Kenyans, who then is standing in the way of justice? Is it Kibaki who is not meting out justice or is it Raila who is obstructing justice?

So we are left wondering, when Raila speaks one thing from one side of the mouth one day and then speaks something else from the other side of the mouth the next day, which Raila should Kenyans trust? Is it yesterday’s Raila Odinga or today’s Raila Odinga? Is Raila Odinga the man for the job?

Thanks.

Michoma Moenga

Why MUSALIA MUDAVADI and WILLIAM RUTO should quit ODM!!

Wapenda Kenya Wenzangu:

This is classic Kenyan democracy in full action!! It is called ETHNIC BASED POLITICS where party, ideology and national vision are absolutely and completely of no consequence whatsoever. What matters is who the tribal kingpin fad of the moment is. For 2007, here are the major fad kings:

Kikuyuland -- Mwai Kibaki (PNU)

Luo Nyanza -- Raila Odinga (ODM)

Ukambani --- Kalonzo Musyoka (ODM-K)

Luhyaland -- Musalia Mudavadi????

Kalenjinland --- William Ruto????

Did you see and hear Raila making promises of personal "REWARDS" to Musalia Mudavadi and William Ruto for support? It is political speak for "their"drawing their tribes to to support him. Mudavadi for VP, Ruto for PM (non-existent just as in 2002). Raila did not promise handsome rewards to Luhyas, Kalenjins, Embus , Watu wa Pwani etc. The "I will reward each of you" promises smack so much of the MOU that Raila got from Kibaki in 2002. When all is said and done, the fake carrot will be off Raila's hand come January 2008 if by some chance Raila makes it over the hill after making use of their tribes as the proverbial toilet tissue.

Mr. Musalia Mudavadi and William Ruto should get out of ODM immediately and make their own runs for the presidency. This will complete the slate of 'NDOVU KUBWA' from the major tribes. Their presence in ODM makes it have a false illusion of a national outlook. Musalia and Ruto should stop letting their tribes get used as political tissue for Raila to clean himself all the way to State House.

Kenya is still waiting in abetted breath for real democracy. Look at the tribal lock step political scenarios below which have played themselves before our own eyes in just the last week: Charity Ngilu now supports Kalonzo Musyoka's run for the presidency!! Uhuru Kenyatta, even as Leader of the Opposition, on his turn now supports Kibaki. James Orengo in Ugenya is all for Raila Odinga. Where were these politicians yesterday? The reasons why each of them is making such turnarounds is obvious: SO THEY CAN SURVIVE THE IMPEDING TIDE IN THEIR TRIBAL AREAS. In Luo Nyanza anybody who hopes to be anything in 2008 is already towing the Raila line and must be in ODM. In Ukambani, the fad king is Kalonzo Musyoka, miss his ODM-Kenya bandwagon at your political peril. In Ugikuyu, anybody who will run against Kibaki will be swept off, all must be in the freshly minted PNU.

Na hio ni demokrasia ya Kenya yetu in the 21st century.

Michoma Moenga

http://kbc.co. ke/story. asp?ID=45013

Ngilu declares her stand.

Written By:KNA , Posted: Sun, Sep 16, 2007

Caption: Health Minister Charity Ngilu : 'I will apply my 2002 magic that brought together president Kibaki and the late Wamalwa Kijana to unite Kalonzo and Raila.

Health Minister Charity Ngilu has on Sunday declared support for ODM Kenya's presidential candidate Kalonzo Musyoka but on condition that Mwingi North MP unites with ODM's flag bearer Raila Odinga.

Speaking during a funds drive in her Kitui Central constituency, Ngilu said she would apply her 2002 magic that brought together president Kibaki and the late Wamalwa Kijana to unite Kalonzo and Raila.

The Health Minister also expressed shock at Uhuru Kenyatta's move to support president Kibaki's re-election.

"There are three serious presidential candidates in this year's general elections and I had planned to run but realized I would spoil chances for Kalonzo," said Ngilu.

She further said she had endured tribulations in the current leadership adding that the last straw was when retired president Moi said he will support Kibaki's re-election this year.

She said Kalonzo couldn't win the presidency on his own.

"ODM-Kenya's flag bearer Kalonzo is very good but he cannot win the presidency on his own and the only way is to unite with Langata MP and ODM presidential candidate in the initial ODM family," said the Kitui Central MP.

She suggested that Kalonzo should be the ODM family presidential candidate while Raila should be the vice-president adding that failure to unite will confine us to the opposition.'

The Minister singled out the rejection of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), invitation of KANU MPs in government of national unity, sacking of ministers who opposed the referendum and her recent arrest and detention as some of the tribulations she had suffered.

"Ndinduu ndauwia maongu" (a friend does not cook bitter food for a friend) said Ngilu in Kamba dialect adding that the support of Kibaki re-election by leader of official opposition Uhuru Kenyatta was shocking.

She asked the Kitui Central electorate to give her permission to pursue her mission of uniting Kalonzo and Raila in the run up to the general elections pointing out that she had united a fragmented opposition in 2002 to end kanu's 24 year rule..

The harambee netted 421,410 shillings with Kitui central contituency development fund (CDF) giving 300,000 shillings while Ngilu gave a personal donation of 30,000 shillings.

Michoma Douglass Moenga

ODM-Kenya: De javu all over again?

Wanakenya Wenzangu,

All the facts are not in. The next few days may tell a different story. But I have been worndering since yesterday on how history seems to be repeating itself again.

In 1991 when FORD seemed poised to trounse KANU in the elections of 1992, Hon. Shikuku ate "ugali" at State House then ran away with party documents. Kenneth Matiba and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga would not agree to step down for the other. Since effective FORD power lay with Shikuku and Shikuku was allied to Matiba, breakup of the original FORD into FORD Asili and FORD Kenya became inevitable. In the ensuing elections of 1992, the opposition would not prevail.

Fast forward to July 30, 2007: Hon. Kosgey, Hon. Anyang' Nyong, Hon. Magara are all allied to Hon. Eng. Raila Amolo Odinga. Although the Henry Kosgey team that favors Raila are supposed to be the party officials, Maanzo holds tight to the ODM-Kenya chairmanship that really matters. For all intents and purposes, whether Hon. Henry Kosgey et al cry foul as loud as they can, it seems that effective power is with Mr. Maanzo. If, as it seems, Maanzo is singing the Kalonzo Musyoka tune, then other ODM-Kenya presidential aspirants need to either work with Maanzo, sic Kalonzo Musyoka, or find other ways of dealing with the situation. It seems to me that confrontation at this time will lead to further fragmentation. Do I smell an ODM Asili in the making? Where does ODM-Kenya, whose signature activity day in day out since inception has been trying to find ways of nominating a candidate to stand against Mwai Kibaki, go from here?

God bless Kenya.

Michoma Moenga

Article originally published on July 31, 2007 on news that Kalonzo Musyoka had changed parties from LDP to LPK.

ODM-Kenya: "D" for "DEMO-CRAZY": The other side of mass action.

Wapenda Kenya Wenzangu,

I have been accused of 'hating' Raila Odinga although what I am trying to do is size him up to see if he is the man I'd be proud to call President of my beloved country Kenya. To those who see me as a "hater", please don't take me seriously. Just let me play my harp.

My friends, we all love Kenya. We would love to see real true competition of ideas to make our country better. We do not relish in witnessing the kind of infighting that we are witnessing in ODM-Kenya at the moment. I for one would have wished to watch a debate between the major candidates vying for the position of President of Kenya. The debate would be centered around how and what good each of the candidates plans for Kenya. As of now, we are forced to watch the specters in ODM-Kenya. So let us see what this specter has for us. What are some of its basic implications?

Fellow compatriots. It is as clear as day. The so called de facto ODM-Kenya officials led by Henry Kosgey as Chairman with James Magara as Treasurer General and Anyang Nyong' as Secretary General are all declared Raila Odinga supporters. Nothing to deny about that. Mr. Magara has even said that he will die for Raila!! It then is a fair question to ask: How would one expect Kalonzo Musyoka to accede to the demand by Kosgey and company to be handed the leadership of the party? How do you hand over tools of war to your adversary? Now that Kalonzo is in the house as it were, how does he hand over the keys to Raila who will swiftly get in, push him out and lock him out?

The de jure ODM-Kenya leadership under Maanzo and company may be inconsequential as individuals but they are the ones that have the real power in ODM-Kenya. Now that the Maanzo team has indicated that they are in tune with Kalonzo Musyoka and that Kalonzo has their ear, the die is clearly cast. Raila's group has just two options.
1. Genuinely negotiate with Kalonzo and company.
2. Quickly form a party of their own.

Then this is absurd really. Just look and think about it. Today, I read that the Raila-Mudavadi-Ruto group put the Registrar of Societies on notice and announced mass action if the "recognised" party officials led by "Chairman", Mr Henry Kosgey and "Secretary-General", Prof Anyang Nyong', were not registered. I do recognize that the Registrar's office has been abused in the past. However, the registrar can only register new officials when they show that they have been elected following the laid down rules and regulations of the registered organization, ODM-Kenya in this case.

If mass action and public demonstrations should be what is needed to get decisions made as the Raila group would have us believe, then it is a valid argument to make that in the event that Raila is elected president, the registrar of societies under his administration will be required to register and/or deregister officials of societies or parties based on public demonstrations?

We have heard threats of public demonstrations by Raila before. When you see Raila start to call for public demonstrations, then you know that he is extremely desperate and in a very tight legal corner. Unfortunately, Raila's "demo-crazy" has never achieved a thing. Public demonstrations did not succeed to register ODM. Some ingenuous ways had to be found to finally have the ODM-Kenya registered. It will be a bad day for Kenya when decisions begin to be made on the basis of public demonstrations and mass action. It will be a bad day indeed.

Thanks.

Michoma Moenga

Article originally written on August 1, 2007 as Raila's faction in ODM-Kenya was threatening mass action to force Kenya's Registrar of Societies to recognize the slate of ODM-Kenya officials led by Henry Kosgey.

The Raila Odinga Enigma: A BIG FOX that is always outfoxed and bolting!!

Wapenda Kenya Wenzangu:

What became of the temper tantrums that Raila et al were throwing when Kalonzo moved from one ODM-Kenya party to another ODM-Kenya party? Did they ever storm the Registrar's Office? Who then defected? Was it Kalonzo Musyoka or Raila Odinga et al?

Nothing stands out more starkly in recent Kenya politics than this. Hon. Eng. Raila Amollo Odinga who is often billed as a master strategist, the BIG FOX bolts from party to party once he is outfoxed by "LESSER" FOXES who bid their time and bite at the most appropriate moment. See FORD-Kenya with Wamalwa Kijana, KANU with Daniel arap Moi, NARC with Mwai Kibaki and now ODM-Kenya with Kalonzo Musyoka. In the paper party for sale called ODM that has now been acquired by none other than Raila Odinga and company, we may well see another outfoxing. The only factor that keeps Raila standing is his strong block of admirers who will follow him from the lake to the desert and back again back and forth. Maybe that is Raila's grand march to State House!!

With Raila being seen as the man to watch in this year's fight to wrestle the presidency out of the hands of Mwai Kibaki, it is obvious that Kenya is still in need of and searching for a man who has principles, a man who will stand by principles and a man who will fight for those principles. In Raila, I see no principles, no standing and no fighting. It is just jumping helter skelter for political expedience that is taking Kenya nowhere better than where it is. Maybe I am wrong. What is it you see?

Thanks.

Michoma Moenga


Article originally written on August 21, 2007

RAILA'S FRIENDS ARE HIS WORST ENEMIES!!!

Wapenda Kenya Wenzangu,

It has no basis whatsoever, but I have been very wrongly and viciously accused by even very high echelons in a certain ethnic community as hating the members of their ethnic community. So, if you you have bought into that absurd and very badly misplaced notion, then what I am going to write has no relevance to you since you presume that you know me very well already. For the rest, it is another view on the election politics that are currently going on in our beloved Kenya.

On reading the article below that is entitled "Is a Raila Presidency Such a Potential Threat to Kenya?", my immediate answer was an obvious and emphatic NO!! Then I went to the article itself. It started to depress me the moment I read "John Otieno." I have nothing against Mr. Otieno, but he seems to use the same or even worse vitriol against Makau Mutua than the vitriol he is accusing Mutua of using against Raila. By the time I had gruelled my way to the end of the article, I was indeed very depressed! So, I ask, what is the difference? Prof. Mutua, a Kamba, is seen as extolling Kalonzo Musyoka, a fellow Kamba. Mr. Otieno, by all accounts a Luo, returns fire with more fire by extolling Raila Odinga, a fellow Luo in similar or even worse fashion. What is the big difference? If you read any commentaries from any Kenyan newspaper or any of the several online fora frequented by Kenyans, the score is maybe 99:1 in favor of Raila if these kind of exchanges are anything to go by. Luos for Raila 99% of all. Kambas for Kalonzo or anyone else for members of their tribe, less than a paltry 1% of all contributors!! So much for fair and balanced views!!

It has been pointed out a myriad times that Raila's greatest undoing is the fanatical following he enjoys from a certain quarter. The article in question goes a long way in adding fodder to this argument. It may whip up the existing cultic fanaticism for Raila, but in my view, it has an opposite and converse effect on gaining any new supporters for him. Among his most ardent supporters, Raila has been raised to near demigod status. Any criticism of the candidate is therefore seen and dismissed as hatred for him and the ethnic community he comes from. Small wonder then that one person after another from Raila's ethnic community will run over one another in a vain effort to defend Raila even where he needs no defense. Small wonder that they will crash one another trying to beat at any and all who are seen as against the Raila presidential candidacy. In the end, if it counts for votes, each vain effort, like this one by John Otieno, ends up whitling down any support for Raila among communities other than Raila's ethnic community in drove after drove. Raila already has the support of the Luo community. He does not need any more of it. What he needs is the support of other communities if he is to rise to the office he seeks.

When the annals of Kenya's political history are written, I may well be proven right that for every election as president of Kenya that was there for Raila's taking, people from his very own ethnic community, especially the so-called intellectual and political elites from hence, lost it for him!

To you who see yourselves as being more concerned about Kenya than everybody else just because you think that your support Raila is more, better and superior than everybody else, there is the rope. There is the rope, my friends. Hang yourselves on it! You may even hang me with you! But the fact will remain that the so called elites from Raila's ethnic community are doing more harm than good to the Raila Odinga candidacy than a thousand Makau Mutuas or lowly Michoma Moengas will ever do!

Why won't you let Raila run his campaign instead of perpetually muddying the waters for him?

Thanks.

Michoma

Nicholas Mireri wrote:

From: "Nicholas Mireri" To: Jagwassi@hotmail. comSubject: Is Raila presidency such a potential threat to Kenya ?Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2007 21:04:49 +0000
Is a Raila presidency such a potential threat to Kenya?
By John Otieno
There could be no starker illustration of the threat that a Luo presidency poses to Kenya, nor more dramatic determination by other communities to forestall that eventuality! Professor Makau Mutua diagnoses the crisis facing ODM in a most simplistic manner.
In an article that coincided with the ODM’s Nakuru rally, Mutua revealed further the bad side of Kenyan intellectualism; lopsided observation of phenomena from an unashamed ethnic viewpoint.
The distinguished professor of law at State University of New York at Buffalo has penned among the most venomous articles in the Kenyan press recently, aiming solely to denigrate Raila Odinga’s role in Kenya’s democratisation and reinforcing myths about Luo unelectability.
Close interrogation of Mutua’s pieces over the last few months suggests that the professor hates Luos; stomachs a grudge against Raila; and is looking for whatever scapegoats to justify prejudiced conclusions on Raila’s role and/or predicament in today’s politics.
How else would he write singly on one man and one community at a time when Kenya is on fire set upon the country by an avaricious elite? Does Mutua find the Mungiki butchery, Mt Elgon clashes, escalating tribalism in government and corruption weighty enough for concerted analysis?
Mutua criminalises Luo support for Raila but glosses over the ethnic blocs of other presidential candidates. Yet Raila is perhaps the only one with a record of reaching to other tribes.
Mutua says Luos suffer from ‘communal psychosis,’ believing only one of their own can liberate Kenya from the yoke of anti-Luo socio-political and economic marginalisation.
Yet Luos voted for President Kibaki, a Kikuyu in 2002, shortly after cruising Moi, a Kalenjin, through a tumultuous second term under intense Kibaki/DP pressure.
If Luos opposed Jomo Kenyatta and Moi, then it was certainly not because of the psychosis, for what would explain the revolt by Kikuyu, Kamba and other masses against Moi in the 1990’s?
Since former Justice Minister Kiraitu Murungi appointed him to explore a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for Kenya , Mutua seems to have patented discussion on TRCs. Where was he before South Africans tried the idea?
Even at the level of prescribing duplications for Kenya and Uganda, Mutua betrays ignorance about internal dynamics of those societies. He accuses Raila of impeding the formation of a TRC as he advised, conveniently forgetting that Raila was minister for roads, not justice, and even there many of his recommendations were overturned by Kibaki’s aides, then led by Mutua’s own friend Kiraitu.
Still, Raila left government years ago. What stops Kibaki from forming the commission now without Raila’s hindrance? Isn’t Kibaki in bed with Moi and the very people that Mutua wanted investigated?
Mutua’s recent vigour betrays his ambition to have the last word on Kenyan politics.
He conveniently signs his articles as a ‘distinguished professor’ of law at SUNY Buffalo. Analysis of his intellectual worth is constrained by the fact that his pet topic, Raila and Luos, does not constitute a field in which he can be judged as a lawyer. His oversimplification of chequered Luo history cannot pass the slightest scrutiny in a serious sociology or politics department.
For those ignorant of the stratified American university system, Mutua passes as one Kenyan who has scaled the heights in American academia.
Distinguished he might be, but at SUNY Buffalo. Judging by eminence of faculty and competitiveness of programmes, the US News and World Report traditionally ranks SUNY Buffalo from below the tables.
To find distinguished professors of law in New York, one needs not cross the Manhattan waters to Buffalo; there are plenty at Columbia, NYU and at other respectable universities across the nation.
Mutua is about the only distinguished professor of law with substandard monologues to his name. For sharing his thoughts he courts bad company; I’ve come across a lame paper by Mutua prescribing TRC for Uganda: “Beyond Juba: Does Uganda Need a National Truth and Reconciliation Process?” Deficient of rigour, it regurgitates reports in western media about Kony’s abuses, incapacity of former Sudanese rebels to mediate peace etc., making it more like the work of a journalist than a scholar.
Last weekend Mutua was on Raila as always, lecturing readers on ODM’s death and the tribal underpinnings of Kenyan politics. “Mr Musyoka has no choice but to exit because Mr Odinga’s kinsmen will not even allow him to address an ODM public rally,” he wrote. Yet the rally was most peaceful; Mr Musyoka ran into a rousing welcome.
One wonders whether Raila’s kinsmen boycotted it.
The article ended in a sermon on how to rid Kenya of tribalism. “We must return to a policy of deliberate nation building, demarginalise ethnic groups and communities through affirmative action programmes, sensible devolution of power, and the equitable distribution of national resources.” Why not tell these to Kibaki?
“We cannot build a modern 21st century state if our leaders are looters and perpetrators of human rights violations.” Besides rushing to England to bask in John Githongo’s limelight, does Mutua understand the gravity of Anglo Leasing or the roles of those involved?
“We will have to pass a new democratic constitution, grow a vibrant…..civil society that is insightful and devoid of ethnic, gender, religious, regional, and racial barriers….forge a new political class that is global in outlook, national in character, and altruistic in nature.”
Just how has Mutua contributed to Kenya’s democratisation, or is this something he just preaches to others?
Mutua was a lawyer when Kenyans were agitating for multipartism, what role did he play? Besides attending the Bomas conference as Kiraitu’s spanner boy, how has he contributed to discourse on political reforms?
Most preposterously Mutua questions people’s credentials as if he has any ideas to run Kenya. Yet all his friends, for whom his criticism is reserved, have failed to inspire under Kibaki.
He should be told, firmly, that now is not the time to falsify history. He should be satisfied being an economic immigrant in the USA. The last five years have exposed Kenya’s civil society leaders of yore as ideologically incapacitated people who jumped onto the democratic bandwagon without any values or inherent appreciation of its application.
They have failed in politics, and there is little evidence they were good in academics.
E-mail: jkotieno2000@ yahoo.co. uk.

HUMOR OF THE HUMMER

Wapenda Kenya Wenzangu,

For those of you who are political junkies like me, just take a break and find some humor if there is any! Laughter is good medicine you know!!

Kibera Slums

Several candidates are running for president of Kenya later this year. The candidate I have been most interested in is the Member of Parliament for Langata. Langata is a constituency comprised largely of Kibera slums. Kibera is the largest slum area south of the Sahara . Its residents live under abject poverty. Langata is a cosmopolitan constituency as you know. If you are from a certain region of Kenya and you live in the visinity of Nairobi , you register to vote in Langata even if you actually reside in Dandora or Embakasi. A future president of Kenya must be cosmopolitan you know!! How can you live in Nairobi and miss to vote for the future president of Kenya !!

Travel and Campaign Update

My candidate has been traveling far and wide lately. How can you be a future president of Kenya if you don't know where Hong Kong is? The other week he was in the Far East, Canada and the United States of America . One stop was in Minnesota . In Minnesota, a few ardent supporters of his had him wear green T-shirts and hurriendly declare: 'MINNESOTA ENDORSES RAILA." After he left Minnesota , he went to the East Coast where some of his supporters are still fighting over who supports him more. I hear that one group collected some money to fund the ODM-Kenya campaign but they would not find the ODM-Kenya Treasurer, Mr. Omingo Magara, even though Mr. Magara was right there in their midst. Even when my candidate pointed out who and where Magara was, these supporters would still not find him!!

Bonding Alone in London !

My candidate then proceeded to London , England where a good friend of his by the name Archbishop Gilbert Deya lives. Archbishop Deya may be facing infant kidnapping charges in Kenya and Britain , but he has buses you know!!

Word has it that in London, my candidate was to be bonded with other ODM-Kenya candidates in such a way that he would be the only one remaining to face Mwai Kibaki on the race to State House. Unfortunately, the other ODM-Kenya luminaries did not turn up. So my candidate bonded alone!

“ Lake Victoria Mafia?”

From London , my candidate flew back to Kenya . Of course it is in Kenya where the real campaign is. First, he had to meet his most trusted advisors in a strategy session. The advisors are mainly from Nyanza. Where are Gusii and Kuria? Are they in Nyanza? It is only Kibaki who has “Mt Kenya Mafia” you know! My candidate has only advisors with a very good national outlook, a very good national outlook from the shores of Lake Sango !!

“Looking Presidential” in a HUMMER!: Blame it on YOUTUBE!

My candidate for president of Kenya , the Honourable Raila Amolo Odinga, arrived in Parliament yesterday driving a newly minted maroon HUMMER!, fresh from Detroit , Michigan . The HUMMER! is worth US $600,000.00. Don't take my word for it. Just visit www.youtube.com and search for "Raila: I own a HUMMER but do I say?" There you will see how KTN covered the august event of Raila's entry into the August House. You will see for yourself how my candidate arrived in style. Can you think of anything better than this? Isn’t that the definition of “looking presidential”? If you want to look presidential in 2007, you drive a HUMMER!!!

Did you say a HUMMER!?

A HUMMER!? What is a HUMMER!? If my candidate owns prime seaside property at Nyali, what is a HUMMER!? To represent poor people, you must not be poor like them! No, that can not be! Conspicous consumption is your cup of tea!! To show that you are worth poor people's vote, you must buy a car whose value is enough to feed all of them for a year!!

A Pauper for President!

A pauper for president of Kenya ? No way? That can't be! Never! A future president of Kenya must not drive a jalopy like the one Sen. Barrack Obama drives around Chicago ! No. Never! A Mercedes Benz? No way men! That was for Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki. The future president of Kenya drives a HUMMER!!

A Pretty Good Fundraiser!

A future president of Kenya must show his fundraising acumen!! In Minnesota and Texas and Washington DC , if you earn $10.00 an hour, work 10 hours and put the $100.00 in my candidate's campaign kitty. What is $100.00 anyway? My candidate's HUMMER! is worth $0.6 million! What is $100.00? I think $200.00 or $300.00 would be better! That is only 30 hours before tax.

Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga for President!

My candidate's name is Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga!! He owns a HUMMER! but does he say? What is wrong with owning a $600,000.00 HUMMER! and representing Kibera slum dwellers in parliament?

Raila Amolo Odinga is running for President of Kenya in 2007. If you are eligible to vote, then go home and vote for Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga! If you can not vote, then call your friends and relatives in Kenya and tell them to vote Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga for President. If they are in Nairobi, ask them to register to vote in Langata. The chance to vote a cosmopolitan candidate for president maybe comes only once in a lifetime!! Vote for Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga. He owns a $600,000.00 HUMMER! you know!! He deserves your vote!

Thanks for your time. I am not a good homorist you see.

P.S: ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PENNED ON MARCH 23, 2007.

BINARY FISSION OF NARC INTO ODM-K AND NARC-K: A SKEPTIC'S VIEW

Wananchi Wenzangu,

NARC, (not to be confused with NARC-Kenya), was fronted by Hon. Raila Odinga of the Kibaki Tosha fame, the late Wamalwa Kijana, Charity Ngilu, Mwai Kibaki, Joseph Kamotho, Prof Saitoto, William Ntimama etc, etc, etc. I happen to be one Kenyan who recognized from the very beginning that it was a conglomerate of 'nyangau's' whose only purpose was to push KANU out of power and control the taps of Kenya's resources for their stomach's sake. Wanjiku, as politicians are fond of referring to common mwanyanchi, had no bearing in the equation. Anybody who has followed the goings on in Kenya in the last four years of NARC rule will agree with me that my fears have been largely proven true. As soon as NARC came to power, it became apparent that some nyangaus were more equal than others. These more equal nyangaus, variously referred to as the Mt Kenya mafia, were being accorded bigger bites of the Kenyan cake than others. Small wonder then that NARC soon broke into the present factions of ODM-Kenya and NARC-Kenya. ODM-Kenya is composed of those who were excluded from the table while NARC-Kenya is comprised of those who have been milking the Kenyan udder dry in the last four years. It is for this reason that I do not find any enthusiasm in me for either sub-conglomerate of nyangau's. The same individuals who fronted NARC are the ones now fronting ODM-Kenya and NARC-Kenya. Elementary Biology teaches us about binary fission. In binary fission, a single cell divides into two equal or nearly equal parts. Binary fission of NARC is no different. Whether it is NARC-Kenya or ODM-Kenya, the DNA is the same. If anybody out there has figured out the difference, please be kind enough to let me and others like me know what the difference is. In a nutshell, I'd say that ODM-Kenya is the same nyangau. NARC-Kenya is more of the same. The difference between the same and more of the same is the same!!

Now, I will readily agree that come next year, either ODM-Kenya or NARC-Kenya will most likely be ruling Kenya. If I should go by the results of the constitutional referendum from 2005, ODM-Kenya would have the upper hand. If I should go by the Steadman Polls, fraudulent or not, then Emilio Mwai Kibaki will be president of Kenya come 2008. Unless something drastic happens, I will retain my utter skepticism. I have not found it in me to warm up to either nyangau grouping.

It is in this light that I will append the opinion piecebelow by one Jeckton Omondi from the Kenya Times. Mr. Omondi seems to be in the same boat of skeptics like myself. I share some of his views on ODM-Kenya. In a few days, the item will be archived and may not be easily available to those of us who are not internet survy, but it will be here for our reference. For the sake of transparency, I will point out one more time that Kenya Times is owned by KANU. KANU is one of the parties that comprises the ODM-Kenya conglomerate.

Thanks.

Michoma Douglass Moenga




http://www.timesnews.co.ke/30jan07/nwsstory/opinion.html


Wanted: A more people-driven ODM Kenya

By JECKTON OMONDI
Are ODM –K Members of Parliament trying to con ordinary members of the party out of their right to determine the local and national leadership structure of the party? That is the questions most members of the ODM-K constituent party members are asking as they receive strange orders from the party secretariat, one after another.
The manner in which related decisions made in Naivasha are being released to the public in well timed sequential episodes speaks volumes of the Machiavellian strategy by MPs to obviate or manage public outcry that may arise out of the announcements.
ODM-K as a political movement belongs to over 3 million Kenyans who supported it during the referendum. When the MPs were in Naivasha, they made very strange decisions, one of which was to put off party elections until after the General Election “to avoid a situation where there is a disconnect between elected representatives and party officials”.
Must elected representatives (MPs and councillors) be in the key leadership positions of the party? Can’t they be satisfied with automatic ex-officio positions in the structures, as provided for in the party Constitution?
As they do this, ODM-K’s chief rival, NARC-K is going out for comprehensive grassroot elections. Which structure will be more legitimate and readily acceptable during the crucial period when the parties will be hunting for votes, the selected or the elected one?
The MPs went further to declare that the constituency campaign forums that should integrate the constituent party structures at the grassroots will be established in meetings “convened and chaired by local MPs”. Already a number of MPs are trying to lock out of local party affairs anybody whom they perceive as not being supportive of their personal political ambitions . Will such people be allowed to be part of the integrated structures?
Further, it is an open secret that in a number of constituencies, unpopular MPs established their own parallel party structures, different from those elected by party members. Which structures will therefore be integrated, the one recognised by the MPs or the one recognised by ordinary members of the constituent parties?
The Naivasha accord also included election of the presidential candidate through a ballot of delegates, 2000 of whom were to emanate from each constituency. Whilst members of the party thought that the delegates would be elected directly by party members drawn from across the constituencies, shocking details are now emerging of how MPs are currently drawing a list of loyalists to be submitted to party headquarters as legitimate delegates.
It is emerging that another decision reached at Naivasha, but which the MPs are still holding close to their chests, is that the 2000 delegates will also be called upon to nominate parliamentary and local authority candidates for ODM-K, on the pretext that “opening-up the process to ordinary members of the party will be expensive, time consuming and hemorrhagic”.
If the top and local interim party structures, including the delegates, are made up of loyalists to the current MPs, do ordinary members of the party and rivals to the MPs hope to go through democratic parliamentary and civic nominations?
If ODM-K rationale in demanding for essential minimum reforms is to ensure level playing ground before the General Election, the same principle must apply in the establishment of its own structures and choice of its presidential, parliamentary and civic candidates.
The principle of equity dictates that one cannot seek for equity with dirty hands? Does the party belong to current MPs for preservation of their selfish political fortunes or is it a popular movement that embodies the aspirations of millions of Kenyans who, as the preamble of the party constitution states, are “striving for the achievement of equality, social and economic justice, freedom, the rule of law, national unity and community solidarity by establishing a democratic, transparent and accountable government that will institutionalise these values for the benefit of all present and future generations?”
Prof.. Anyang ’ Nyongo’ and Mr. Henry Kosgey must come out and immediately clear the air on these issues if ODM-K is to remain a people’s movement.


Michoma Douglass Moenga

Article originally written on January 30, 2007

KALONZO-RAILA 2007! A WINNING TICKET

Defeating Mwai Kibaki is a priority. The Kibaki administration has failed in the following key areas among others:

1. Tackling the corruption menace
2. Ensuring the personal security of Kenyans
3. Increasing employment opportunities for Kenyans
4. Discouraging tribalism and nepotism

If we should go by the Steadman and Republican Institute Polls, then Kibaki is going to handily win the presidency in 2007.

A ticket with Hon. Raila Odinga at its head will most likely lose purely on the ground of circumcision or lack thereof. I do not subscribe to the notion that this is enough to deny Raila the presidency of Kenya. We may intellectually debate why circumcision is irrelevant. We will conclude that it sure is irrelevant. However, the reality on the ground in many parts of Kenya is such that circumcision or lack thereof is a make-or-break political consideration. People all over Kenya see Raila as presidential material. However, they will withhold their vote from Raila purely over circumcision and his Luo ethnicity.

Other equally potent reasons why Raila at the head of the ticket stands to lose include:

1. A history of unstable and short-lived political alliances
2.Too many political enemies

Having laid down the case as to why Raila may not be elected President of Kenya as of now, may I suggest that Raila swallows his pride and runs as a running mate with Kalonzo Musyoka at the head of the ticket? The result will be that:

1. The question of Raila Odinga’s electability will be put to rest.
2. Raila is a good campaigner as long as he is campaigning for someone else.
3. The opposition vote will not be divided as it was in 1992 and 1997.
4. The synergy of Kalonzo and Raila’s strengths

May I further suggest that once Raila is VP of Kenya, he learns to be patient? Instead of being on the move politically every one to two years, just like his father, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, had been, if Raila bids his time, depicts loyalty and stays the course for five consecutive years, Kenyans will learn to trust him. Kenyans will learn to discount his ethnicity and may well give him the nod in a near future election.

Just a proposition.

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