February 2005

The appointment of John Githongo represented all that was good and fresh about the then incoming Kibaki administration. His resignation earlier this week represents all that has gone wrong with the same administration.

John Githongo, Kenya’s first Permanent Secretary in charge of Governance and Ethics, reporting directly to the president, armed with the tools to fight corruption, mandated to show that corruption in Kenya was beatable, high powered official ready to take the murky under lords of crime, fully backed by the highest officers of the land. Here was Kibaki saying, “Yes the personnel may be the same but the mode d operandi is completely different. We mean this; we’re taking corruption head on.” After all here was the head of Transparency International – Kenya after years of standing and being counted on the outside agreeing to come into the fold. What they didn’t realise is that he would stand and be counted on the inside as well.

Every Kenyan and their blog has a theory on why Githongo left, what finally pushed him out, why he decided to resign abroad, and what holds next for Kenya. We can not say that we did not see the writing on the wall however. Less than a month ago Githongo issued a surprisingly frank interview to The Nation’s Mutegi Njau.

Nuff said really. It doesn’t get any clearer than that.

Is this a personal failure for the president? Of course. Githongo was appointed specifically to report straight to him. An indication we were told that president was on the ball constantly.

Did Githongo leave with his integrity intact? Of course. I for one do not subscribe to the school of thought that he should have stayed the course no matter what happened. To be realistic he did more by resigning that it looks like he could have achieved if he stayed. Examine the realpolitik Kenya’s biggest donors The US, Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom yesterday all closed ranks against the Kenyan government. The NGO council at home decided to stand and be counted. Government ministers are expressing dismay. The wananchi in the street now have no doubts as to where the government stands on corruption. That is nowhere.

The Permanent Secretary in charge of Governance and Ethics Mr John Githongo has resigned from the Government.

Sports pundits seem to live in a parallel world where political correctness, racial sensitivity and basic decency are just rumours. Football pundit Ron Atkinson lost his job as a match commentator for ITV and columnist for the Guardian following his racist comments live on air about Chelsea defender Marcel Desailly. Last week Sky Sports sacked their football pundit Rodney Marsh for making a tasteless joke about the Asia tsunami disaster on a phone-in show. In the states they’re at it as well with Rush Limbaugh losing his slot on ESPN for comments he made about Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.

It’s gonna be a big one! The 6 Nations are back and across the pond the bastard child of rugby has its big dance. For some strange reason all the people around me who really care about the NFL are serious Eagles fans. For the last seven years I’ve had to listen to these guys say, “When the Eagles make it to the big dance I’m flying to the states.” Yesterday they got that plane. That’s what you call acting on your promise!
So now am making my commitment :
Hear ye, hear ye! When Kenya makes it to the World Cup I’m going to be there. Which world cup? Football or rugby I’m not fussy. Actually Kenya has already qualified for the cricket world cup which is being held in the Caribbean during December 2007. Anyone want to join me?
As for this weekend, go Eagles! And the rugby? Go Wales, Scotland, and Italy (you gotta support the underdog right).

Abiola is excited about outsourcing reaching Kenya, and so am I. [The comments on the post are amusing as well if a little of topic.]

what the heck? His mouth? Are you nuts? [boom boom]

It’s like the whole world is waiting for him to die.

Looking at the pictures and reading reports of Nicholas Kipyatur Kiprono arap Biwott, The Total Man, The Auckland Bull, running away from the KANU elections, sulkily coming back and then running away again when it was clear he was going to be trashed is hilarious. As Wambua Sammy writing in The Nation notes,
“Yesterday’s polls were a new experience for Kanu’s bigwigs, unaccustomed to the rigours of democracy and its attendant encumbrance.”

Lakini Biwott himself is a joker. You have to wonder if the legendary sense of realpolitik was nothing but a rumour. He was running for chairman of the biggest single party in Kenya yet refused to engage with the press, refused to engage with the party membership and refused to engage with the party leaders. In addition by standing against Uhuru he was going against Moi’s chosen heir. Biwott’s power stemmed from Moi. Now Moi is gone he thought he would stand on his own, yeah right. He has managed to isolate himself in his party, managed to isolate himself in the country, managed to isolate himself from Moi. All in all this has been a disaster for him.

But in the back of your mind you always have to wonder whether this is a massive smoke screen designed to fool us all. Why would Biwott stand when he must have know he had no chance of winning, why would Biwott go against Moi, why would he look so reluctant showing absolutely no interest in campaign for the job if he really wanted it? Could it be that the Biwott candidacy was masterminded by Moi to ensure that no serious challenges to Uhuru surfaced; by standing against Uhuru Biwott virtually guaranteed him victory.

There is a school of thought that claims that Njenga Karume’s last minute defection to KANU before the last election was masterminded by Kibaki and his election strategists. This was to ensure that just in case Uhuru won the election Kibaki would have a strong ally in the Uhuru camp. Of course if Uhuru didn’t win then Karume would be rewarded after a suitable time. A win - win situation. Two years down line no prizes for guessing who was appointed Minister for Special Projects.

Our veteran politicians are extremely streetwise if nothing else. Something smells fishy in this whole Biwott candidacy.

If you think the current crop of American leaders are bad, wait till the next generation is in power.

In today’s global society we adopt principles, practices and opinions that seem alien to our culture. We wonder if we are “keeping it real” if we are “staying true” to our roots. We battle within ourselves, if we accept the changes are we betraying ourselves? If we do not accept change are we not limiting progress? Nehru’s words ring true.

As with many things in life the best response jumped out at me from the most unlikely of places. In this case from a billboard advertising a bank on a Nairobi road. It carried this quote: