Politics

Now That Amos Kimunya Has Resigned -Release Our Civil Society Colleagues

To the Commissioner of Police and the Government of Kenya:

We demand the unconditional release of our patriotic colleagues in the civil society who were brutally manhandled and arrested this morning as they exercised their constitutional rights to demand the resignation of Amos Kimunya as Finance Minister.

Their right to freedom of peaceable assembly was brutally violated by members of the Kenya Police. We demand their unconditional release for they have committed no crime. The Police officers who directed the assault on Ann Njogu and her colleagues must be subjected to appropriate discipline by the Commissioner of Police.

Kenya is not a Police State and Kenyans will not surrender their constitutional freedoms or their right to complain against wrongdoing, or to speak against grand corruption and impunity.

The arrested members of the civil society must be released.

In any event the man they were protesting against, former Finance Minister Amos Kimunya has resigned his office and stepped aside to facilitate investigations into the subject matter of the protest of civil society. In the spirit of a transparent enquiry into the role played by numerous public officers and institutions in the grand corruption saga that is the Grand Regency Hotel ‘handover’ and sale, it is morally and legally right that no one should be punished for speaking out for the Kenyan people in their time of need.

July 8th 2008 Mwalimu Mati www.marsgroupkenya.org

Patient: Amos Muhinga Kimunya
Occupation: Member of Parliament for Kipipiri Constituency
Previous positions held: Minister of Finance, Kenya
Notable quote: “I would rather die than resign.”
Cause of death: Death by Hubris

The Kenyan government, like most governments around the world, is well versed in the art of deploying and utilising smokescreens. As the name implies the purpose of the smokescreen is to hide something from view or atleast divert attention away from an issue or subject that the government would rather was not noticed, leave alone discussed or debated at all. These smokescreens come in various forms but they all share some of the same characteristics.

For example the smokescreens usually contain something completely ridiculous which leads us to wonder what planet members of our government come from. This was the favoured tactic of the Moi regime. Here is an example. Did you notice how when there was a negative and potential very damaging story about the government dominating the news agenda one of Moi’s ministers would stand up and give a speech in which he would make some ridiculous claim? My favourite one was that Kenya was about to bid to host the Olympics. Predictably we would all get outraged and froth at the mouth and spend the next month partaking in debates with our friends and colleagues, remarking to each other that there are other priorities for the government to focus on, we would chuckle at the idea of the creaking Kenyan infrastructure being asked to host such a large event, and we would write articles to display our intellectual fortitude informing the minister that Olympics are hosted by CITIES not COUNTRIES so Kenya could not bid for the Olympics but Nairobi could. Of course by the time we had exhausted all this energy we would have forgotten what issue we were discussing before the minister made his ridiculous statement. And as we laughed all the way to our bars and coffee shops content that we were smarter than our ministers, our self proclaimed Professor of Politics was laughing at our constant ability to be played.

More recently we have seen another smokescreen deployed occasionally. When difficult questions started surfacing about what we now call “Anglo-Leasing type contracts” the First Lady would go out and do something totally ridiculous, such as raid a private party at the World Bank country director’s house in her pyjamas. When the questions about corruption would not stop the First Lady would either storm a police station and demand the cops arrest somebody or storm a media house by herself in the dead of the night and proceed to slap reporters – an act that is 110% guaranteed to dominate the media’s new agenda. Where was Kibaki, we would ask, why didn’t State House intervene when the First Lady’s security detail first reported her irrational and illegal actions?

Well maybe State House did not intervene because they had just deployed their smokescreen. And soon afterwards whispers about medication being deliberately withheld from the First Lady to ensure her irrational behaviour continues started to surface. These days whenever the First Lady does something outrageous I check the newspapers from the previous week to try and figure out what they are trying to hide.

In June 2008 we have been thrown yet another smokescreen, this time by the Minister of Finance, Amos Kimunya. This smokescreen, brilliant deployed it must be said, centres around Budget and the issue of whether Members’ of Parliament should pay tax on their salaries and allowances. Of course they should. That is obvious and indeed it is ridiculous that in 2008 we can still debate this. Of course Members’ of Parliament should pay tax on their salaries and allowances. Predictably many MPs are resisting all attempts to pay tax and that is the debate that has dominated the Kenyan news agenda in the past couple of weeks.

This debate about MPs and taxation is a smokescreen which Mwalimu Mati the CEO of MARS Group Kenya has exposed with his usually thoroughness. If MPs paid tax the Treasury would save between Ksh. 600 million and Ksh. 700 million. That is good money. However, Kimunya’s latest budget is full of waste, which runs into the HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of shillings. And that is even better money. And all this is probably going to pass unscrutinzed by a parliament full of MPS whose only point of concern in this Budget is whether or not they are to be taxed.

Please download [pdf 48 kb] , read, blog and circulate widely Mati’s article. You can download [pdf 48kb] it here.

Some shocking statistcs:

1. Last year the Government of Kenya budget for entertainment of its guests amounted to Ksh 5.7 million per day for EVERY day of the year.
2. The Governemnet of Kenya spends Ksh 3.995 billion on rents per annum and only receives Ksh 239.368 million per year from property income and rent.
3. Last year, the Government of Kenya spent over Ksh 6.7 million per day every day of the year on foreign travel. This is set to increase in this budget.
4. Did you know that State House Nairobi has 149 cars? Did you know that this year Minister of Finance wants to buy Ksh 73 million more worth of cars for State House? Did you know that last year a similar amount of money was spent on cars at State House? Did you know that the Government budget for cars for 2008 has gone up by 1 billion shillings, even as public attention is consumed by the debate on MP’s allowances?

And the best one

5. Every year the Minister of Finance presents lump sum budgets for the National Security Intelligence Services, the Armed Forces and the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission. This year their collective budgets will pass the Ksh 47 billion mark – and yet they will be no debate on the budget items in them because the Minister of Finance has helpfully provided none.

Ksh. 47 BILLION!

Kenyans let us demand that our MPs accept that they have a duty to pay taxes but let us not allow this debate on MPs allowances to distract us from the bigger picture. Do not be fooled by the smokescreen! Demand equally that your MP take his or her constitutional responsibility seriously and scrutinise Amos Kimunya’s ridiculous Budget.

Please download [pdf 48 kbs], read, blog, and circulate widely Mati’s article. You can download it here [pdf 48kb].

The world did not come to a crashing halt at the beginning of March 2008. This would not be significant if it were not that in January and February 2008 many people in Kenya wrote, spoke and acted so irresponsibly that I could only conclude that they expected the world to come to a halt or at least to go through some great cosmic ctrl-alt-del sequence which would result in collective memory loss leading us all to forget what they said, wrote, did. But the world did not come to an end at the beginning of March 2008 and as I said at the beginning of the year, many people would look back at their words and actions and wish that the world would forget. Not so.

I have just driven down Ngong Road, in the heart of Nairobi, at noon on a Thursday and the road is practically empty. You may remember that this is not the first time this year that roads in Nairobi are clear of traffic, and perhaps more significantly, clear of any public transport, in the middle of the day. We have been here before. But this time it is different and this difference is what highlights the hypocrisy in Kenya today, which will make many people wish that Kenyans would forget their irresponsible words and actions.

This week Kenya is suffering (again) under the actions of the barbaric Mungiki militia. An illegal group whose preferred modus operandi includes, but is not restricted, to beheadings, forced female circumcision, public transport and rent extortion.

Mungiki has been around for a while (for some background information please read Kenyan Pundit’s post which links articles on Mungiki) and the group has been influential for a while. For example you could ask anybody who was student at JKUAT during the time of the 2002 Kenyan general election about the role played by Mungiki in Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential campaign and you will hear some interesting stories. (JKUAT lies on the road between Nairobi and Uhuru’s constituency).

I remember driving up to JKUAT in August 2002 when election fever was rising to pick a friend who was studying there and driving into the heart of one of Uhuru’s roadside campaign rallies where Mungiki provided the “security”. They had completely taken over the whole road from Githurai to Thika and to say they were intimidating is to say the least.

What I like about Mungiki (and this is perhaps their only positive characteristic) is that in the reaction to their latest activities Mungiki helps expose the hypocrisy in Kenyan society today.

Take as a first example the reaction of the Kenyan police. In the past three months we have seen first hand and up close the brutality of the Kenya Police towards Kenya citizens who were trying to march peacefully and legally towards Uhuru Park in protest against having their votes stolen. Even non partisan groups were unable to march. A women’s peace group which had organised authorization from the Minister of Internal Security, from the Provincial Administration and had informed the police, were greeted with a ring of police officers telling them their peace match had been cancelled at the last minute when they were just about to set off.

Time and time again Kibera would be ringed by heavily armed police and you would be lucky to make it on to Ngong Road leave alone get anywhere near town. I recorded a show down between the police and ODM supporters in Hurlingham where an army of police officers was deployed to ensure that ODM supporters get nowhere near the city centre. Similar shows of force by the police were deployed on Thika Road and Jogoo Road as the police moved swiftly to ensure that all major roads into the city were in their control. The same occurred in cities and towns across Kenya.

How time changes things. Two months ago Ngong Road was empty because of a heavy police presence and their indiscriminate use of force (including live bullets). Today Ngong Road is empty as Public Service Vehicle owners withdraw their vehicles from the streets because the police cannot stop the Mungiki thugs who demand over 90% of each vehicles earning and burn your matatu/bus if you refuse to comply. You could say that in both cases the police are responsible for empty streets.

In a sentence: two months ago Ngong Road was empty due to a large police presence, this week Ngong Road is empty because the police is conspicuously absent.

Why is it then that the same police force that cracked down on the peaceful protests in the past couple of months are reluctant to take on a group that has openly challenged them to armed warfare?

I do not buy the popular opinion of the day that Mungiki caught the police napping, that the police had no idea what was about to happen. Come on now. Security analysts reveal on TV that the police received calls as early as 5am from members of the public who had seen Mungiki members begin their activities of destruction, 10am the police were yet to respond. This is the same police force that sent lorries packed with police in riot gear into Kibera on Saturday when a rumor went around that perhaps some people were considering starting a demonstration to protest at the lack of a power sharing agreement.

Internal Security Permanent Secretary, Mr Cyrus Gituai, told The Standard that the police had expected Mungiki to strike on Monday at 6am, but instead went on the rampage at 3am, three hours earlier.

So the police decided to stay in bed until 5am or what? Come on now.

These double standards are by no means restricted to the police.

For instance, why is it that some bloggers/commentators who were complaining about the post election violence in general and the inconvenience of disrupted public transport in particular, were largely silent on the violence Mungiki perpetrated BEFORE the elections and are silent on the violence and disruption perpetrated by the same thugs this week? Why is it that those same people who were cursing Raila for not controlling the thugs in Rift Valley are now silent? Have you noticed how the responsibility for the violence two months ago was laid squarely in Raila’s lap individually, “Kenya is burning”, we were told, “because Raila is power hungry”. I wait to hear where they will appropriate blame this time round but I suspect they will remain silent or those who do speak out will blame, “the entire political class” which of course includes Raila. That is the duplicity that Mungiki exposes.

That is not to say that the political class is not implicated as well.

Why are politicians who have been screaming (rightly) that the police should get to the bottom of the post election violence are now screaming that the police should “negotiate” with Mungiki? Why not extend this call for negotiations to include other militia groups such as the Saboti Land Defence Force for example?

Why is that politicians who were quick to call for the annihilation of any protestors in Rift Valley and Nyanza are now going to great lengths to explain that Mungiki rises out of a disadvantage upbringing. Aren’t many of the youth who rampaged against the government in Rift Valley disadvantaged as well? If Mungiki revolts because it is up against the wall with nothing to lose doesn’t this extend to youth from other communities? Why call for the arrest of youth in Rift Valley with no mention of their grievances yet call for negotiations with Mungiki and demand that the police investigate their grievances?

Lastly, why are those who cheered when the army moved against the Saboti Land Defence Force not calling for the army to deployed against Mungiki? If indiscriminate killing is seen as viable method to bring about peace in the Mt. Elgon region why is not also being practised in Kibaki’s hometown which has been under attack by Mungiki?

I will let you draw your own conclusions to these questions. The duplicity and hypocrisy displayed on this would be laughable if it was not so serious. What we do know is that when Mungiki falls there will be tremors all the way to the top of Kibaki’s administration according to the BBC. (To be fair I should mention that Kibaki’s Court Jester issued a statement in response to the BBC report.

A while ago the East African blogosphere was rocked with controversy that began when a Kenyan blogger called the Tanzania president, Jakaya Kikwete, a “dumb-ass bitch”. Some Tanzanian bloggers took exception to this insult and stated so in their blogs. In return some Kenyan bloggers took exception to the Tanzanian bloggers taking exception and the KenyaUnlimited aggregator was full of posts quoting Voltaire (which was bizarre in itself as surely someone who complains about your insult has as much right to be heard as you do with your original insult).

Throughout the year as I continued to interact with Tanzanian bloggers I came to learn that a significant number of them (Tanzanian bloggers) do not have much confidence in Kikwete and many of them view his presidency, to put it politely, as a disaster, especially when they reflected on his economic policies.

This raised a number of questions in my mind.

Firstly, if these Tanzanian bloggers are not at all impressed with Kikwete’s presidency why did they take such strong exception to an insult lobbed his way by an insignificant and inarticulate Kenyan blogger?

Secondly, why did the Kenyan blogosphere find it so hard to understand why the Tanzanian bloggers were outraged by an insult to their president?

Is it because Kenyans have thicker skin, are mentally stronger and are used to verbal sparing and thus can roll with the punches?

Perhaps.

Is it because Tanzanians are more eloquent, more mature and civilised and thus will not stand for insults?

Perhaps.

My understanding of why these two siblings, Kenyans and Tanzanians, could disagree so fundamentally on this issue can be summed up in one word.

Statesmanship.

In a sentence: the history and tradition of statesmanship within the Tanzanian ruling elite, and the complete lack of statesmanship within the Kenyan ruling elite.

At the risk of launching a Platonic argument of gigantic dimensions let me define it thus (quoting Wikipedia);

To rule or have political power called for a specialized knowledge. The statesman was one who possesses this special knowledge of how to rule justly and well and to have the best interests of the citizens at heart.

As Kenyans I believe we find it hard to understand the notion of statesmanship, as it implies that those in the political elite in Kenya should be driven to implement policies that have the best interests of the citizens of Kenya at heart.

How can we understand this when the Kibaki government claimed it did not have enough money to build the 500,000 homes it promised in its election manifesto of 2002 yet somehow managed to find USD 12m to spend on new cars (enough to send 25,000 children to school for eight years)?

How can we understand this when the Moi regime fleeced the country of at least US $600 million in less than three years in what we now call the Goldenberg Scandal?

How can we understand this when the extended Kenyatta family alone owns an estimated 500,000 acres — approximately the size of Nyanza Province — according to estimates by independent surveyors and Ministry of Lands officials, making them the senior members of what Michael Mundia Kamau, inspirationally, calls the KenMoiKib Farm?

Our three presidents to date have failed the statesmanship test and failed it badly. Even Jomo Kenyatta, whom increasingly seems to be loved more by non-Kenyans than Kenyans in much the same way that love for THE Emperor seems to grow the further you get away from Ethiopia, is no longer spared. I can even go as far as stating that if you stand on any street corner in central Nairobi and shouted in a loud voice, “Kibaki/Moi/Kenyatta is a dumb-ass bitch” you would be ignored at the worst but probably be applauded by one or two people. Now imagine standing at the corner of a street in Dar-es-salaam and shouting “Nyerere is a dumb-ass bitch”. If you managed to get out alive and made it to Nairobi I would probably finish you off myself and I am Kenyan. Why?

Nyerere was a Statesman.

True his economic policies may not have been the best but here was a man who was big enough to know that the presidency in itself did not make him who he was. Here was a man big enough to walk away into retirement to sit under his tree in his shamba and enjoy his family. Here was a man who understood that the most powerful thing he could do was to give up power.

The greatest disservice Kenyatta did to Kenya was dying in office, during the election of 1975 when it was clear he was no longer the force he used to be he could have choose to step aside and step into greatness. He did not, 3 years later he was dead, and this in turn gave birth to the president-for-life syndrome which manifests itself today in Moi still aching for power after 25 years in StateHouse and which made Kibaki think he would be failure if he had lost his presidency in the general election 3 months ago despite a career in politics of over 40 years.

How can you be a megalomaniac in Tanzania when Nyerere was not? How can you claim the presidency as your birth right in Tanzania when the father of the nation walked away for it to give room to others?

This is what the Kenyan blogosphere failed to understand at the time. That while Tanzanians may not be too impressed with their current president, they are VERY proud of their institution of Presidency.

Of course statesmanship is not restricted to men. One of the most enduring images of the Kenyan post-election crisis was of Grace Machel during a tour of Internal Displaced People camps hugging a woman closely, whispering words of comfort as the woman wept and wept. Here was Grace Machel, the freedom fighter, former minister, and campaigner for children and for human rights, reaching out and bringing some humanity to IDP camps. Where was Kenya’s grossly overpaid First Lady at the time? Busy slapping Members of Parliament who had the audacity to suggest that her husband should get serious about sharing power. There are many things you can call Lucy Kibaki but not even the most rabid Kibaki supporter would call her a statesman. On the other side of the coin, you just try calling Graca Machel a dumb-ass bitch and see where that leaves you.

While the eyes of the nation were focused to Kofi Annan who lead the team of Eminent Person conducting the mediation in Kenya following the post election violence, the rest of team of eminent persons was often over looked, Graca Machel and Benjamin Mkapa. Mkapa is a Tanzanian diplomat and like Nyerere a former Tanzanian president. You see people; there IS life after Statehouse. Here is man who was President for 10 years, handed over at the end of his term and is now a Statesman who helped us resolve our election disputes, happy to sit in the background and immerse himself in the nitty gritty while the world’s media focused on Annan. That is an example that our political elite should be following. How many countries do you think would welcome Kibaki or Moi to help mediate their election disputes? Not many, unless they were planning on, “doing a Kibaki”.

On Sunday before Kibaki read out the list of his new bloated and grossly immoral cabinet he had the audacity, the AUDACITY, to stand there and brag to Kenyans about the “statesmanship and sacrifice” the political elite had displayed. Kibaki seriously needs to be reconnected with reality. Shuttling between Statehouse and State Lodges, hiding behind his security detail, and pushing Kenya to the edge is NOT statesmanship leave alone sacrifice. He also said the new cabinet, “underscores our nation’s leadership to put the collective needs of the country above everything else.” Is there anyone who thinks a bloated government and expensive cabinet is what our country needs? Mwalimu Mati writes on exactly why this is a disaster.

As Kenyans we have to address this issues quickly. Statesmanship is not an option. Statesmanship is vital for a healthy African society. Statesmanship is African to its very core. Without Statesmen we will not progress.

Congratulations to the Pharaohs Kings of Africa once again after beating Cameroon 1-0 in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.

I was lucky to have the pleasure, for the first time, of watching the final of a major football tournament in one of the countries that was contesting that final. It was not planned, it was a complete fluke as I just happened to be in transit in Cairo between Istanbul and Nairobi. My six hours in transit coincided with the match. I walked around Cairo International Airport looking for a TV screen that was not showing the usual airport advertising pap and for a while I was scared that I would miss the game. How ridiculous that would that have been. Luckily sanity prevailed and most of the screens switched over to Accra as soon business began at the Ohene Djan stadium. Before kick off the airport staff were all polite and diplomatic when I asked, cheekily, if they would support Cameroon. Once the match began it was another story. Shouts, screams, hands in the air, fists shaken at TV screens. Yes indeed, football at its most passionate.

While I was watching the game I was struck again by the immense power of sport. Especially at international level. To put it plainly I sincerely believe that if Kenya had qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations and had done well in the tournament the violence that rocked Kenya would not have been intense as it was. Imagine a commanding Luhya player (the captain naturally) a towering midfield destroyer, passing the ball to Luo player, the creative and flamboyant midfield maestro, passing the ball to a lanky but lethal Kalenjin striker, who blasts in the winning goal cheered by his Kikuyu goalkeeper. The unity the players would have to show on the pitch to be successful would serve as a constant and real reminder of the unity Kenyans would have to show off the pitch to be successful.

This is not just sentimental hogwash. in the run up to the 2006 World Cup with Ivory Coast bleeding from civil war Drogba fell on his knees live on TV and sent out an emotional appeal for the warring factions to lay down their arms. It would be naive to claim that Drogba’s gesture ended the civil war. It would be equally naive to pretend that Drogba’s gesture did not have any effect at all. “All the players hated what was happening to our country and reaching the World Cup was the perfect emotional wave on which to ride.” Togo and Angola qualifying for the same World Cup in German helped heal both nations after decades of civil war. Beyond Africa as well there are numerous examples of the power of sport to unite a nation. Remember how the then new country of Croatia, which gained independence only 7 years earlier, played excellent football to reach the semi finals of the World Cup in France 1998 uniting their country in a sense of pride? Or how much the symbolism North and South Korea marching together at the opening ceremony of the Asian Games (although they did not compete in joint teams) meant to their people?

Sport and especially team sport is a democratic and universal symbol of nationhood which becomes even more important in a country like Kenya where most of the other symbols of nationhood are inaccessible to ordinary citizens.

Two weeks ago a special friend invited me to watch a preseason rugby friendly between the University of Nairobi’s Mean Machine RFC and Mwamba RFC, one of Kenya’s oldest rugby clubs. As with most preseason games the match was a relaxed affair played in a lively spirit. After the game the players from both sides gathered in the centre of the pitch and knelt together in prayer.

This is a regular ritual conducted at the end of many rugby games. This time, however, it was wonderful to see the symbolism of a united Kenya across ethnic, religious, economic, political lines.

Click here for a larger image.

Once again the whole country has stopped as people gather around TV screens and radios. The last time this happened we were engrossed in the first session of the 10th parliament. This time we all waiting to see a press conference called by Kofi Annan’s mediation team at which both Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki are expected to attend. (Thankfully the Official Government Spokesman and his police counterpart, those two reliable beacons of information to some - misinformation to the rest of us, are not scheduled to make an appearance.)

I am watching this from a building which (illegally) overlooks the Department of Defence headquarters on one side and overlooks Nairobi Hospital on another side. It feels right, therefore, to comment on Kenya’s former dictator, Commander –In-Chief of the Armed Forces and President Daniel arap Moi who is lying in one of the beds in the private VIP wing of Nairobi hospital with a needle sticking out of his hand admitted, we were reliably informed by his personal physician yesterday, because of lower back pain.

The chaos that has erupted in Kenya in the past four weeks has some misguided souls crying out for a return to the dark days of Moi’s rule. This would have never happened under Moi, they say, things would have been better under Moi, they cry, Moi should save us, they plead. What nonsense!

Are these the only two options available to Kenyans today? To live under a dictator or, on the other hand, to live in fear as the country burns under an illegitimate president? Are these the only two options? Was this the choice presented to us when we stood for hours to vote in December? NO. Sometimes I wish we had a team of rugby props who could go around the country grab people by the shoulders and shake some sense into them! One of the great victories of the 2007 Kenyan election was the complete and total rejection by the electorate in Rift Valley of Moi’s plans to build a dynasty as each one of his three sons who vied for a parliamentary seat was defeated at the polls. Going back to the dark days of the Moi dictatorship is not an option that should even be entertained. What is wrong with people? This is almost as bad as those crazy (and thankful increasingly isolated) black voices in South Africa who yearn for a return to apartheid. How we as Kenyans used to laugh at that logic, well look who is laughing now.

To be fair it has become increasingly clear that Moi had a much stronger grip on the country than Kibaki ever did. Kibaki’s cheerleaders praised this as part of their boss’ “hands off” style of government. The only problem is that it did not end at hands off, if anything Kibaki’s style of government should be called a “Brain Off” style of government.

The current chaos in Kenya was not triggered because of a failure of democracy; it was triggered by a selfish bunch of arrogant politicians who feel that they have the divine right to rule at any cost and thus trample all over our democracy. If democracy had been respected we would not be where we are now. Do NOT blame democracy for our troubles, blame those who are trying to trample it and thus follow in the footsteps of the lonely and frail man who lies in a hospital not far away from here.

That sad and increasingly pathetic man is not our saviour.

kenyaelection07

Sometimes it feels sweet to be right. Other times it sucks to be right.

In June last year I was heavily criticised for writing a blog post with the title “Suicide Bomber Hits Nairobi” when downtown Nairobi was rocked by an explosion. I had sourced that information from a Reuters report which quoted a policeman saying that the explosion looked like the work of a suicide bomber.

The criticism I received focused on my use of the words “suicide bomber” and centred on the argument that it was irresponsible for me to report the explosion as a bombing until the police had released a statement. I wrote a post titled, “In Defence of Bloggers” in which I argued that in Kenya currently it is COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS to sit around and wait for a statement from the police or indeed from the government. Where was the official police statement on the Mount Elgon clashes and where was the official police statement on the Mungiki beheadings I wondered at the time? I argued that the Official Government Spokesman and Official Police Spokesman are not reliable sources of information. This was obvious to me then, it is obvious to all now.

Kenyan TV has shown clips of young men being gunned down by police and the police spokesman states that he believes the clips have been manipulated to look like something out of “Rambo”. The country is burning and the official Government spokesman went on TV to say that there are a “few skirmishes here and there.”

I am attending a media conference on Wednesday where I will speak on behalf on bloggers and believe me I will repeat that bloggers are the ultimate source of primary information in Kenya today.

And despite my argument being proved right by time (after all those who led the criticism against me then are now leading the insults against the official spokesmen) I wish that we had a mature political system where at least the police would realise that they work not for a single political party or regime. But that they work for the country.

Sometimes it sucks to be right.

kenyaelection07

Carrot and stick is an idiom used to refer to the act of rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior. The carrot represents the edible reward, while the stick refers to a punishing switch.

Since the crisis in Kenya exploded a steady stream of prominent Africans has flown into town to try and help kick start talks between the Odinga and Kibaki camps and to help the peace efforts.

My favourite Nobel laureate, Desmond Tutu, arrived and tried to use his considerable moral authority with not much success.

Four retired African Heads of State Former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano, former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, former Tanzania President Benjamin Mkapa and former Botwana president Ketimire Masire came to “stand with Kenyan people in times of need” but they too did not have much success and were snubbed by Kibaki.

Up next was a serving head of state. President Kuffor of Ghana arrived in his capacity as head of the African Union to have a go and was instead insulted when the Kibaki’s official spokesman announced that Kuffor had come just to drink a cup of tea with his age mate Kibaki and two ministers, Internal Security Minister Saitoti and Transport Minister Michuki, announced at a press conference that they felt his trip was a waste of time.

Then came former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Kuffor’s fellow country man from Ghana. Suddenly things started moving. Kibaki and Raila meet face to face for the first time since the election, and shook hands in public promising to sit down and talk. Negotiation teams have been announced and perhaps most remarkably considering the treatment his predecessors have had in the past few weeks, Annan has complete access to Kibaki seeing him whenever he needs to.

So what does Annan have that Tutu, Chissano, Kaunda, Mkapa, Masire and Kuffor did not have? Why does Kibaki have to listen to Annan when he ignored the rest and even let his team insult them? Why does Kibaki have to even meet Annan? Simply because he has too, he does not have a choice.

This is why. Having seen Tutu, Chissano, Kanuda, Mkapa, Masire and Kuffor fail Annan did not want to suffer the same fate. He certainly would not stand for being insulted in public like his president was. Annan was already on his way to Kenya when news of Kuffor shabby treatment at the hands of Kibaki’s team came out and he quickly developed a very convenient “flu” which allowed him to postpone his trip to Kenya.

Annan learnt from the rest how entrenched in their relative positions the political camps in Kenya were and how difficult it was to see Kibaki. Annan learnt quickly that there was no point in travelling to Kenya unless he carried with him the threat of sanctions. To put it simply he had to be able to force Kibaki and Raila to meet and talk, he had to have complete access to both Kibaki and Raila and he had to ensure that whatever he said they took very seriously. They would have no option but to talk to him and Kibaki especially would have to realise that this was not business as usual.

In the last 15 - 20 years ever since the environment became sexy and climate change and global warming shot up to the top of the political agenda there has been a concentrated effort to move the United Nations Environmental Programme and United Nations Habitat headquarters from Nairobi. Many European countries want it, the BRIC countries all want it, and many believe that if it was moved to the UN headquarters in New York the environment would feature prominently in international policy. Basically it is all about money. Successive Kenyan governments have always argued that as UNEP is the only UN agency headquartered in a developing country it would send a negative signal to move it from Nairobi. Successive Kenyan governments have also argued that Kenya is an oasis of peace in a troubled region and it was important for the UN to have an international headquarters here.

One major sanction that Kofi Annan brought with him was the threat to move UNEP and UN Habitat headquarters out of Nairobi, within THE NEXT SIX MONTHS! Not next year, not in the distance future, but by July! Non essential UN staff in Nairobi (as well as many diplomatic staff) have not reported back to work and have in effect been on holiday since the week before Christmas. All agencies have contingency plans to evacuate their offices and to make moves permanent. This was not an empty threat from Annan and I bet it is the number one reason Kibaki agreed to meet Raila.

They would not take the carrot offered by Tutu and Kuffor, so Annan swung a stick.

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Every cloud has a silver lining, the saying goes. Tuesday afternoon the dark cloud of an illegitimate presidency in Kenya revealed its silver lining. Democracy hit back hard as Kenya’s 10th parliament convened for the first time. As a proud Kenyan patriot I was pleased that there were no punches thrown in parliament, no unseeingly scenes of honourable members doing what some call pulling a South Korea. It was all very civilised, everybody addressing each other as honourable member this, honourable member that. As a political scientist it was the most drama I have watch in a long time, so many issues to discuss. Rather than deliver a blow by blow account let me highlight a couple of issues I felt were important.

The situation we have in Kenya as it stands is that we have a president who does not have control of parliament. This would not be a big problem if we had a presidential style of government as in the United States where the president and congress regularly come from different parties and those institutions are designed to work separately. However, what we have in Kenya is a ridiculous deformed hybrid of a presidential and parliamentary style of government, where we have an executive president, who is also a member of the legislature and has the right to vote in the legislature and is dependant on it for his agenda to go through, yet sits separate from other members of parliament and is treated as an respected outsider from most proceedings, does not have to justify his actions to parliament and can largely ignore it or bend it to his will as a rubber stamp.

This deformed hybrid of government worked perfectly (from a presidential point of view) up to now as the president has always had control of parliament through his political party. In 2008 we have a situation where the strongest political force in the country, ODM, is not only completely opposed to the president but also considers him illegitimate.

This is not news, ever since Kibaki claimed the presidency he knew that he had fewer members of parliament that those opposed to him. What has been extraordinary to observe in the days since Kibaki rushed to his swearing in ceremony, is that Kibaki has acted like he can simply ignore ODM. Isolated in StateHouse he has acted like he does not have to deal with ODM. Well during the first session of parliament on Tuesday reality hit. For the first time since the election Kibaki came face to face with a group of people who not only think he is illegitimate and stole the election, but also have real power to set up an alternative political power structure. This was shown when ODM managed to get their candidate for Speaker of Parliament, Kenneth Marende, elected over Kibaki’s choice, the former incumbent, Francis Ole Kaparo.

ODM controlling parliament sets up some very interesting and indeed ridiculous scenarios. Kibaki gets to appoint a cabinet and that cabinet has to work through parliament. Yet the majority in parliament is completely opposed to Kibaki’s policies and will do whatever it can to wreck them. Kibaki, if he was thinking straight, could have overcome this by appointing ODM MPs to key cabinet positions. Instead he chose to ignore ODM all together in a move that made no political sense. ODM due to their strength in numbers will control all parliamentary committees. In another ridiculous scenario, some powerful parliamentary committees have a majority of seats reserved for the opposition in an attempt to prevent the largest political party in parliament from dominating all proceedings.

Of course the largest political party in parliament is usually the president’s party. This time however ODM is both the largest political party in parliament AND at the same time is the opposition and therefore, now have the opportunity to completely dominate all aspects of parliament’s proceedings and undermine Kibaki’s agenda. They do not have the two thirds majority required for a vote of no confidence, however, they can, for example, vote down the budget. Then what would Kibaki do? Or they can introduce a private members bill which states that anybody appointed a minister immediately looses 90% of his parliamentary salary. This is not as far fetched as you think. After all today we saw attempts by ODM to have the oath MPs have to take as they are sworn in as unconstitutional! We shall see how this plays out. If you didn’t know why we need a new constitution before then hopefully this political mess has opened your eyes to why we do.

Another aspect of this political situation in the country is that every political move, even when it seems spontaneous and obvious, is calculated. For example, take ODM’s strategy of asking the Speaker to rule the oath MPs have to take during their swearing in as unconstitutional as the MPs have to swear allegiance to the presidency as well as the country and the constitution. It was pretty obvious from the beginning that this Point of Order had no chance of succeeding for a whole variety of reasons and ODM must have known that. So why push it? Perhaps because it gives the new ODM backed Speaker of the House the opportunity to display his impartiality by ruling against ODM in his first ruling?

What I have found completely irritating in the proceedings of today and the past two weeks is Kibaki’s camp continual insistence that, the law or tradition even, be respected at all times. This from a team that continuously broke “little” laws when they felt those laws did not matter much. One example, the law of Kenya states that there shall be no campaigning the day before an election. Basically this law is designed to allow the electorate to vote in peace. It is not the most significant law but it is important. The evening before the country was due to vote in the Constitutional Referendum i.e. well within the final 24 hours, Kibaki went on TV to give an address carried live by the national broadcaster urging Kenyans to vote for his new proposed constitution. A clear and blatant breaking of the law by the person whose team is now shouting obey the law. When you hear ministers who were part of a government that has repeated tried to muzzle the press by amongst other things sending in paramilitary terror squads and burning presses, continuously insist that everyone else must obey the law or take matters to court you can’t help but snort in disgust.

These are the same clowns who were using state resources against the law, mainly vehicles and helicopters, in the just concluded campaigns who are now shouting that the law must be obey. We used to be told a story as children warning against adopting cute little lion cubs. The moral of the story; little lions become big lions and big lions kill. If you were wondering what the story teller was talking about well here is a 21st century adaptation; people who break little laws, will have no problems breaking big laws. Those who ignore a “small” law banning campaigning in the last 24 hours today, steal a “big” election tomorrow.

During the debate in parliament today speaker after speaker on Kibaki’s side urged that tradition be respected. Yet this is the same Kibaki who completely ignored tradition and unilaterally appointed Electoral Commission of Kenya commissioners just two months ago without consulting the opposition ignoring a tradition which was established during the reform talks of 1997 and from which Kibaki directly benefited as a member of the then opposition.

This habit of breaking the law when it suits them and ignoring traditions when it suits them means that there is no way ODM will trust anything Kibaki’s administration will say. This would not matter if Kibaki controlled parliament. Then he could just continue with his policy to ignore ODM. But since he does not and since ODM can claim the mandate of the people, as the have more MPs, it matters a lot.

Many of us who worked tirelessly in the past year urging people to vote ensuring them that their vote matters, that their vote is their voice and that all votes are equal have been completely deflated in the past two weeks. What do you tell someone who voted for the first time and then sees his vote disregarded in blatant rigging? I have been expecting many of the younger voters to come and express their anger at me for getting their hopes up that their vote was as powerful as anyone else’s vote. Instead what I have seen is very encouraging; people are engaged in the political process as never before. For example, earlier on Tuesday a group of youth were busy calculating how many votes you need to be elected Speaker of parliament. At petrol stations you hear debates about whether Nominated MPs are nominated before or after the speaker is elected, people come up to me and ask if there is anything that can prevent Kibaki from stealing all the Nominated MP positions for his own party in defiance of tradition which states the nominated positions are given out in proportion to the number of seats won, and the most requested document request I receive by email these days is for the Constitution. Tuesday’s parliamentary proceedings were broadcast live on TV and the whole country was watching and taking note. When Marende was elected speaker we could hear shouts of celebration from Kibera and Kawangware. This engagement is not exclusive to the middle class. It looks like stealing an election is a fantastic way to get the public engaged in civic education. Now that is a massive silver lining!

(It is now 01.00 and Members of Parliament are still being sworn in? Why the heck don’t these guys start their business day at 09.00 like the rest of the professional world (or at 6am like many of their constituents do)? Don’t worry, Kibaki snuck out a while ago and is probably tucked into bed enjoy a long nights sleep after a hard 5 hour working day.

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Kibaki just named a new cabinet on KBC TV - well part of cabinet anyway.

Highlights

Vice President: Stephen Kalonzo
Michuki downgraded to Transport

I expect the full list will be posted here soon.

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I managed to capture a few short video clips of Kenyans talking to the GSU during the confrontation at Hurlingham. This clip shows Charity Ngilu asking the officer in charge why the rally is not allowed to continue. It is a bit shaky and ends mid sentence but at least it shows some sort of dialogue.

For those who have asked, the pictures on the original post and this clip were all taken by me at around the same time. Feel free to use them on your blogs and websites under the terms of the Creative Commons license.

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I’d like to share two stories of grass root initiatives that Kenyans are taking to build bridges.

1. Nafsi Afrika is a team of acrobats formed in 2000. Its acrobats come mainly from the Kawangware and Kibera slums in Nairobi. These two areas have been rocked by the violence of the past few days. Later on today this team of acrobats will build a human pyramid of acrobats from different tribes in a show of unity. To build a human pyramid you all need each other and you all support each other. The symbolism is fantastic. Check out their website and find out some background information from one of their leaders Ken Owino.
2. REPACTED is a community based youth-to-youth organization. They are based in Nakuru. In the Free Area part of Nakuru most of the landlords are Kikuyu and most of the tenants are Luo they managed to get both groups together in a forum. One of the organisers Dennis Kimambo writes:
   

   .. . it was a very fired meeting as both side tried to prove that they are right in what is happening at the end of the day we all agreed that the leadership should help with the problem nationally but as locals staying here in Nakuru as neighbours they agreed to refrain from violence and they will hold the same meetings every 3 days just to help one another with the tension and console those who have lost there family in other parts of the country, this was possible with the help of the chief of the area, as we continue to push for peace we are asking you to pray for this country.

   Even though tensions and accusations are high they agreed to meet every 3 days! Fantastic.

My pride in my country, Kenya, is building up again!

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Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa arrived in Kenya yesterday for a brief visit at the invitation of the All African Conference of Churches in the hope that the Archbishop’s considerable prestige and respect could help to kick start the dialogue between the Raila and Kibaki camps. Archbishop Tutu is highly experienced in conflict resolution having chaired the South African Truth and Reconciliation Committee amongst other initiatives.

Raila’s camp, which has been calling for international mediators from the first day of the dispute, was more receptive towards the Archbishop’s trip and Tutu had a two hour meeting with the ODM leadership yesterday where they put their explained to him their position.

It seemed that Tutu would leave the country later today without speaking to Kibaki as Kibaki’s camp insisted that the problems facing Kenya were internal problems which could be solved internally and there was no need to involved foreigners. However, this morning there was some movement on that position from within the Kibaki camp and Archbishop Tutu managed to get a meeting with Kibaki and his core team which ended a little while ago.

A reliable source who was in that meeting has just shared some news. The good news is that Kibaki seemed willing to negotiate and was “flexible” on a variety of issues. The disturbing news is that members of Kibaki’s camp who were in attendance namely Martha Kaura (Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs), Danson Mungatana (Assistant Minister in the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs) and Moses Wetengula (Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) were adamant that the poll result was not in dispute and that Kibaki’s presidency should not be up for discussion at all.

I repeat again that the violence facing Kenya was sparked by a political dispute. If we do not secure a resolution to that political dispute then the unrest in the country will continue. The political dispute revolves around the fact that nobody knows who won the presidential election. Until Kibaki’s camp recognise that it is hard to see a way the political dispute can be resolved.

This also raises the question of what seems like Kibaki’s increasingly isolation from the situation on the ground by those around him. I asked a friend the other day, “Why do you think Kibaki is hiding in StateHouse?” My friend replied, “Is he hiding or is he being hidden?” Indeed.

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On Thursday I headed into town to get a feel of the mood on the ground before the ODM rally, banned by the government but which ODM insisted it would go ahead with anyway, at Uhuru Park was due to start.

I took a matatu into town, jumped out at Railways and started walking towards the centre of town. I noticed all the newspapers had the same headline, Save our Beloved Country. The local media has been criticised in some quarters for not utilising its unique position to help the efforts against the violence, clearly the editors had decided to get proactive.

I continued walking towards the centre of town and got as far as The Hilton Hotel before I encountered a crowd running towards me and obviously running away from something. There is only one thing that would make Kenyans break the 100 metre sprint record (we are more of the long distance running types), the police. Or specifically the elite paramilitary police, the General Service Unit.

The GSU are not known for their conversational skills and they had one message for all the Kenyans in town, “Rudi Nyumbani” – Go back home. With ODM threatening to go ahead with the banned rally the cops were not taking any chances in case some ODM supporters had arrived in town early. The GSU units clearly had one objective, to clear the streets. I positioned myself behind them and followed them around as they did they work.

Once in a while they would come across an unmovable force. This watch repair man (seated behind the cardboard box) stated that he had come to work he had no money to go home and would have to stay until he earned some money to go home. He clearly had neither the inclination or motivation to attend the ODM rally, the only orange thing about him was the wall where he had positioned his stall. They left him alone.

Everyone else was not as lucky. Pretty soon and rather effectively after a pretty normal start to the day, downtown Nairobi was like a ghost town.

Roads were blocked with stones and the GSU surrounded the perimeter of Uhuru Park making sure that anyone trying to get in would have a fight on their hands.

All the action was taking place much further away up in Hurlingham a couple of kilometres from the centre of town. ODM leaders had been blocked by police further up although a small group of people included Members of Parliament had managed to walk a little further down.

The cops were not having any of it however and showed up with a display of might and they were not going to let anyone through.

Led by former Health Minister and ODM Pentagon, Charity Ngilu, members of the public tried to engage the police in debate. In effect asking them why they were participating in the oppression of Kenyans and asking for understanding for the rally to go ahead. The police used the usual, “following orders from above” excuse.

At one point a member of the public accused the police of using live ammunition earlier in the day. The police insisted that none of the police officers had used live ammunition that day and if she had any cartridges she should bring them to him. The police insisted they were there to disperse the crowd peaceful. At which point someone asked, why many of them were carrying tear gas canisters then?

The police explanation did not go down well with Ngilu, there is a determination amongst the leadership of ODM to not buckle under the intense pressure to ensure that at the very least the votes are recounted.

Then the GSU did something I have never ever seen them do before. They turned around and walked away.

This lead to shouts from the crowd of, “You are Kenyans, you are our brothers.” It felt like at least this section of the crowd wanted the cops to understand their position and join them.

After a few minutes the road was empty, like nothing had happened there. But as usual it was the small traders who suffered the most, those that open had property and goods looted. The owner of this kiosk, wisely, decided not to open today.

More pictures in on my Flickr Page.

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