The final part of the electoral process that takes part at the polling station is the counting of the votes. This is a change from the previous practice where the ballot boxes were transported to a central location in each constituency for counting. It was during this transit phase that massive rigging would take place. Ballot boxes would mysteriously double or halve between polling station and count station, sometimes a whole van of ballot boxes would be replaced. A change in the law now means that counting takes place at the polling station once voting has come to an end. The count takes places in front of a team of observers from the political parties and monitors.
First an Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) official explains to everybody the exact procedure for counting. She also takes time to point out the different roles the various ECK officials who are counting will play.
monitors and observers listening to the ECK Official
The ECK official then requests a volunteer from amongst the observers and monitors to cut the cords that have kept the ballot box closed.
Once the cords are cut they are not thrown away but kept securely in case they need to be examined later, for example if there is a suspicion that they had been tampered with previously.
The lid is then removed from the ballot box and displayed to show that there are no ballots stuck onto it.
The ballot box is then emptied of all the ballots on to a table under the watchful eye of everybody. The empty box is then displayed for everyone to confirm that it is indeed empty.
The empty ballot box is then returned to the police officer present who guards over it as well as the yet to opened ballot boxes.
Counting then begins. An ECK official picks up one ballot at a time and reads the vote while displaying it to everyone to confirm whether or not they agree. Once agreement is reached the ballot is placed in the pile of that particular candidate and the next ballot is picked up and the process repeated.
This process is a much better system that the previous one of transporting ballot boxes to a central location to be counted. I can confidently say that once the vote has been placed in the ballot box it is next to impossible to do something dodgy. There are simply too many eyes watching every single move during the count. And they watch EVERY single move. It is next to impossible to introduce a ballot that was not in box to start of with and it is even harder to try to sneak away with some marked ballot papers.
The only way to rig elections in Kenya these days is to ensure that your opponents do not vote at all. That is why so much emphasis has been made on ensuring registration is fair, that polling stations do not change at the last minute, and great lengths are taken to ensure that voter’s registers are not tampered with. Because once the ballot has been cast, it will be counted.
That’s all from me today on the day Kenyans went to the polls in record numbers to show they care about their democracy.
This election has highlighted again that Kenya seriously and urgently needs an independent 24 hour news/current affairs radio station available nationally. Preferably on FM! Yes we have many independent 24 hour music stations and religious stations, now we need a hard hitting news/current affairs station. Something like the BBC’s radio 5 Live.
It is not sufficient to get a quick 3 minute update every hour or so from the music stations’ “team on the ground”. They just repeat what the official news conferences say and add very little insight or analysis. I feel sorry for the reporters, how much depth can you explore in 1.5 minutes leaving 1.5 minutes for a Q and A session?
I haven’t had much time to check out the TV coverage. But with TV penetration at 60% (pdf) and Pay TV (where a 24 hour news channel would probably lie) penetration at less than 1% of that 60%, while radio penetration is 90% it makes sense to use radio as the platform to keep the public informed.
If no such service exists by 2012 when we next go to the polls in a General Election perhaps the ECK can apply for a month long license to broadcast election related news to the country? Food for thought!
During today’s General Election in Kenya the moment that had the most potential to spark disorder arrived when ODM presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, turned up to vote only to find that his name was not on the Voter’s Register. As he has been registered to vote in Kibera for over a decade and that you have to be a registered voter in order to vie for the presidency it was a ridiculous situation for the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) to find itself in. Especially as ODM have repeatedly claimed that there has been a serious illegal attempt to lock Raila out of the Langata constituency seat (in which Kibera lies) as this would bar him from the presidency were he to win the presidential vote as one of the sections of the Kenyan constitution that does not make sense requires the president to be an elected member of parliament. If there was one polling station in the country you would expect the ECK to ensure everything would go smoothly it would have to be this one!
Raila made a quick dash to the ECK where he was assured it was technical glitch and the correct Voter’s Register would be made available at the polling station.
The problem affected some voters whose surnames start with letters O, P, Q, R, A and W in the incident that forced the ECK chairman, Mr Samuel Kivuitu to visit the centre. These letters are significant bearers of names with these initials hail from communities where the ODM presidential candidate enjoys a large following.
The international and national media descended on Kibera as “Sub Saharan Africa’s Largest Slum” (™) would surely explode in a ball of violence.
Well it didn’t happen. Tensions were high but as word spread that Raila had finally managed to vote at 12.30 tensions eased; people continued queuing and continued voting. Many expressed that the whole drama was cooked up in order to get Kibera burning but they would not fall for that trick. Many presiding officers are talking of expecting a turnout of around 80%! Compared to 57% 5 years ago this is a massive leap.
The people of Kibera have decided that the ballot will speak for them. No doubt this will disappoint some people, however, it is yet another reason why I am extremely proud to be Kenyan today.
Election fever has gripped Kenya as long queues stretch out of polling stations. I passed a queue from the polling station at Kilimani Primary School that stretched all the way to Yaya Centre. The one pictured below was around 1 kilometre long from Lavington Primary all the way down to James Gichuru road. People waited around 5 hours in the queue before they could vote.
Queue at polling station
Same queue as above around the corner
I arrived at my polling station at St. Mary’s School at 07.25 approximately one and half hours later than my plan to be there at 06.00. Delay was mainly because Safaricom GPRS would not let me upload my previous post. At Saint Mary’s the first thing that struck me was the queues were much shorter than the ones I had seen at other polling stations on my way in.
Voting queues at St. Mary’s School, Nairobi
So here is the first lesson of this election: choose your polling station carefully! Two polling stations next to each other in the same ward can have a huge difference in terms of registered voters.
The polling station had five separate voting points. We were arranged in five queues alphabetically according to last name. Although some queues seemed shorter than others they quickly filled up to more or less even things up showing the officials had calculated the numbers for each queue correctly.
One thing I noticed was that no one was wearing any political party merchandise and the conversations in the queue were distinctly non political. Rather than being divided, by queuing together to exercise our civic duty and responsibility we were bound together in a sort of patriotic camaraderie. We all felt it was worthwhile to take part in the vote and that ultimately was what mattered. Of course it helped that the polling station opened on time, voting was taking place and the queues were moving.
The way the system worked was as follows
When you got to the front of the queue you handed over your National Identification card/Passport and your voter’s card to the first official (1) who checks to make sure that the details on the two documents match and he then passed the documents to the second official (2) who checks that the name on the voter’s card appears in the Voter’s Registrar. Satisfied that I am entitled to vote at this particular polling station they pass my documents on to a third (3) and fourth (4) person who hand me my ballots which consisted of three sheets in total, one sheet for presidential, one sheet for parliamentary, one sheet for civic candidates each one a different colour paper, red/pink, yellow and blue respectively.
The Presidential ballot was printed in colour and had a passport size photo of each of the nine candidates next to their name, party name and party symbol. The parliamentary ballot was printed in colour as well but did not have the photos. The civic ballot was printed in plain black on blue paper.
Once you collected your ballots you left your ID and Voter’s Card with the last official (5) as you made your way to the voting booth to mark your ballot. The voting booth was a table partitioned into three using cardboard. Simple and functional. You had enough privacy to mark your ballot without your neighbour seeing your choices.
Once you were done you then cast your ballots into three boxes, one for presidential ballots, one for parliamentary, one for civic. Each box had a label on the top to ensure that you put the correct ballot in the correct box.
Once you cast your ballot you went back to the desk to collect your documents from the official (5) and for the all important ritual of dipping your finger in the purple dye which signifies you have voted and stops people from voting twice.
All of this process is watched by an eager team of observers from (amongst others) Kenyan civil society, agents from each of the political parties, representatives of religious groups, the African Union, The Commonwealth, The European Union.
Disabled and elderly voters went straight to the front of the queue where a seat was reserved for them as their documents were checked before being allowed to vote.
And that was that. I was finished by 0910. 1 hour and 40 minutes.
I then started driving around Nairobi to see what else was going on.
Argwings Kodeck Road – empty
Valley Road – empty
Kenyatta Avenue – empty
(These empty roads are only relevant to people who spend hours in morning rush hour as I do! Hehe).
In the city centre most businesses and shops were closed. From major multinationals to small kiosks. All closed. The only places open were food places such as Java and Dorman’s coffee houses and some fast food joints.
The polling station at Holy Family Basilica had the longest queue I had seen today. For those of you who know Nairobi the queue starts at Post Bank on Koinange Street and heads straight across towards the gate of Holy Family. Then it takes a right turn, all the way around the GPO building, past Nyayo house, onto Kenyatta Avenue, back on to Koinange towards Holy Family, then it turns right again but this time goes down towards Intercontinental, passes between City Hall and KICC, back up onto Standard Street, along the back of City Hall around the corner, into the gate of Holy Family to the forecourt where you are then finally split into the lines alphabetically. That queue is easily 3+ kilometres. I talked to some ladies who joined the queue at 05.00 and at 10.30 were only around halfway through the queue. 5.5 hours and they were nowhere near close to voting! Remember my whole process took less than 2 hours, I repeat choice of polling station is VERY important! They sent me for coffee and settled in for the long haul. They were not going to leave without voting.
I then went to a polling station at Uhuru Gardens Primary School in Langata constituency. Here there was a lot of tension in the air. People had been queuing from 04.00 and the ballot boxes did not arrive until a few minutes to 09.00. A friend who joined the queue the same time I joined the queue at St. Mary’s had not moved forward at all. The queue was just starting to move when I got there at 11.00. They finally voted at 14.00.
This shows just how different voting experiences can be across one city on the same day. Outside Nairobi in Kisumu bars and nightclubs remained shut on Wednesday night so that people would be sober to vote on Thursday and in Kakamega bar are refusing to sell alcohol to people who haven’t voted!
The Electoral Commission of Kenya has set up camp in KICC and, my goodness, that building is surrounded by the most serious bunch of military personnel armed with everything from heavy fire power to serious looking rungus.
They won’t smile, they won’t even blink, they just look at you with a very mean stare. I can tell you right now that only the ridiculously brave (or foolish) would try to cause any fracas anywhere near KICC today. This is the closest I was brave enough to get to take a photo!
More photos on my Flickr pagem.
Please remember to use the kenyaelection07 tag on your blog posts and photos.
6am is fast approaching, dawn is breaking, and Kenyans are already making their way to their polling stations to take part in the general election.
No doubt the last few weeks have been hot, politically and literally. Rallies have been attended, promises have been made, speeches have been revised, accusations and counter accusations thrown.
Despite the political heat there are many signs that we are a rapidly maturing democracy. I have seen people from across the political divide sit and debate the merits and demerits of their candidates vigorously but without the traditional violence. The electorate is aware and on its toes for any irregularities. There is not much you can sneak past the Kenyan public these days.
That is not to say that problems, big problems, do not remain. I have been dismayed by the treatment of many women up and down the country punished cruelly for exercising their democratic right to stand for election.
However, I take refuge in the knowledge that as I type this at 5.15am thousands of Kenyans are already walking towards polling stations, hundreds of thousands will queue up for hours to vote, supermarkets and shopping malls are closed so that workers can vote. Many, like me, had taken steps to ensure they are not disenfranchised on a technicality. My voters card, together with my National Identity card have been well hidden in my equivalent of a bank vault (inside a lockable pouch, in a shoe box, behind a speaker – hehe). We understand the importance of today. Like many I will not be voting “three piece” that is to say my choices for president, member of parliament and councillor will not come from the same party. Let those we elect learn to work together when they get to parliament.
I do not believe (and pray) that the streets of Kenya will be flowing with blood as some predict. There will not be running battles across the country.
I will be blogging and posting pictures from around Nairobi today and I hope other bloggers out there will be doing the same from wherever they are. Today is the day. Let’s make it count.
I suggest the following tag for technorati, flickr etc for all election related posts: Kenyaelection07
The tsunami that promises to sweep through the Kenyan political landscape and usher in a new breed of leaders continues to pick up pace as the Wanainchi use all methods available at their disposal to ensure that they are not excluded from the national debate. Many are turning to the internet to get their voices heard.
One example of this is the music track Tumechoka by Ill Phil Artists. Tumechoka is a Swahili word which translates into English as we are tired/we have had enough. Ill Phil Artists released the song and video online via the MARS Group Kenya website. You can listen to the track and read the lyrics below (largely in Kiswahili with loose English translations). Please share and distribute it widely. It’s free and the artists have waived their royalty rights for internet download and radio play.
Sisi sote tumekuja pamoja kusema Na kuskika, hatunyamazi mashida zetu Kama kitambo, (We have come to speak in one voice, we will not be silenced as before)
A voice against our leaders, ni kura itaongea, pigeni kura pigeni kura pigeni kura.. (Our vote will speak, Vote people Vote! Vote!)
Baken
Nashindwa niajee, kuishi kiwasi wasi nitaongea ki wazi wazi viongozi vikohozi (Why are we living in fear with leaders who make us sick)
Na niajee, Mtaani tunawika nayeye anacheka straight to the bank, (Why are we living in ghettos as our leaders laugh straight to the bank)
Mi na hustle ye ana manga bila hata kungangana, kwanini akuhonge baadaye akunyonge (I have to hustle, he enjoys without labouring, why should he bribe us, later he hangs us)
Kamba shingoni ya kujitia mwenyewe, wanajifanya waelewi kula kuva (A noose around his neck this time, he thinks he is better than us)
Yote C.D.F na round hi, Shida zetu tunyazmazi. (This time let us end our problem)
Chorus
Tumechoka na sema tumechoka kufinyiliwa down tunasema tumechoka (tumechoka) x 4 (We are tired of being pressed down - We are Tired! x 4)
Leftie
Mshahara tunampa, na kazi hatuoni, pesa zetu mnakula na bunge mnalala, (We pay you well but your work is unseen. You eat our money and sleep in Parliament)
Mnasema mko kazi Ndio sisi wenye vipaji, vitambi vinatokea ungedhania Ni kiriba, (You claim to be hard at work)
Tunafinywa Kwa makini, laini shinda maini maazi kufanyiziwa (We are oppressed)
Malazi kufinyiliwa, wanadai in the ghetto na nyimnaangalia nimekula huu usongo (In our homes we are oppressed they say in the ghetto)
Ndio maana ninalia, nakaa hamtawacha kura yangu hamta pata, this time mkicheza tutampiga (This is why I am crying. No vote for you from me this time.)
hiyo marando, taadhari tafakari Leftie akiwa nare mtakuwa kwenye hatari tunataka maendeleo, hacheni huo ukorofi, (Watch yourself I am getting impatient. We want development not corruption.)
Chorus
Tumechoka na sema tumechoka kufinyiliwa down tunasema tumechoka (tumechoka) x 4 (We are tired of being pressed down - We are Tired! x 4)
Hawkins
Followed my heart through all the roads into the jungle, seen so much pressure
Told my body, just handle, this is nothing, Compared to what we thought,
Bad governance and leadership is what we fought, dark ages, black pages, rough ages
Men make history but this is to much, I earn all the money but you say I can’t touch, unajiongezea Mshahara nikipinga unanipiga, si protest Kwa Street Ndio maana niko Kwa beat nakuonya roundi hii nakutoa wewe shindwa (You increase your salary when I protest you have me beaten – I am warning you now this time I will throw you out!)
Chorus (repeat)
(We are tired of being pressed down - We are Tired! x 4)
Jahfarel
Nabado wamesahau tumewapa hii works, Kulounge bila shukrani hatowi pesa zao (They have forgotten that we are their employers, they are greedy and laze about)
Dem lying dem saying but they just destroying with false prophesies of a better tomorrow, (They are false prophets and liars)
Na hii wakati, Ni Kura itaongea pigeni Kura pigeni Kura (This is the time. Our vote will speak. Vote! Vote!)
Ending Chorus
(We are tired of being pressed down - We are Tired! x 4)
… a forum for the web community of UN agencies, and international development civil society organizations interested in using their expertise to show how the Internet can promote development.
So Web4Dev is like a BarCamp where UN and government bigwigs turn up. You have a bunch of techies doing brilliant things in techie world, you have a lot of activists, development people, concerned citizens doing brilliant things in the development sector and you throw them together and see what they come up with together. Should be very interesting and informative.
Last night a bunch of us from Skunkworks met with a group of Web4Dev delegates at Pizza Garden. It was one big idea exchange. I heard many innovative ways on how to get more people involved in our online conversation, new exciting things you will soon be able to do with RSS, cooking with grandmothers! Oh and I got to mess around with an iPhone for the second time in 4 days.
Today’s programme at web4dev is full of the usual opening ceremony formalities and expert panel discussions. Tomorrow we dive into the code and projects.
Aside:
Apparently the UN complex in Nairobi is actually in Italy!
Margaret Thatcher was a dominating public figure for over 30 years in British and international politics. She won three general elections in a row, was a formidable Prime Minister, influenced a generation of politics and her policies still influence debate on issues as wide ranging as taxation in the UK to land reform in Zimbabwe. After her elected political career she still commanded great respect and had a lot of influence as her public speaking and book deals show.
In 2002 she suffered a series of strokes and aware of the damage a gruelling schedule would have her doctors advised her family to withdraw her from public life. There was also the question of preserving the dignity and integrity of this public colossus by protecting the effects of her illness from the public eye. Lady Thatcher retains her dignity even in ill health.
Kenneth Matiba is a colossus of the Kenya politics, a hero who put his limbs and his life on the line fighting the brutal dictatorship of Moi. He was instrumental in the democratization of Kenyan politics as a leader of the “2nd liberation” which forced Moi to accept multiparty politics and political freedom for all Kenyans.
In 1990 Matiba was detained, in solitary confinement, without charge or trial in the Kamiti Maximum Security prison and tortured at the torture chambers of infamous Nyayo House in central Nairobi. As a result of the torture Matiba suffered a stroke that nearly killed him. He survived to vie for the presidency in 1992. It is generally accepted that Matiba won the 1992 Kenyan general election although the massive rigging machinery employed by Moi regime doctored the result.
It is now clear that the effects of the stroke Matiba suffered under Moi’s goons are advanced. He can not read and he can not sign documents, his speech is slurred and his mobility is impaired. Matiba turned up at the Electoral Commission of Kenya session held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre Thursday last week to present his papers as he intends to vie for the presidency in this years general election. It was painful to watch and left me shaking my head at the TV saddened at what I was seeing. I was not alone.
Where is this hero’s family? Why are they not protecting him like Thatcher’s family are protecting her? Matiba should not be making public statements leave alone vying for the presidency. Where are those who have his interests at heart? Why subject him to this? LET THE MAN KEEP HIS DIGINTY. My goodness has it come to this? Matiba deserves better, a whole lot better.
If any good can come out this terrible situation it is this, Matiba’s condition remember is a direct consequence of the torture he suffered under Moi’s orders. Remember the brutality of the Moi dictatorship directed towards anyone who did not agree with him. Remember how Moi, Kibaki’s “Envoy of peace”, trampled over and tried to destroy ALL our independence heroes and heroines (and then turns up at their funerals full of crocodile tears). Remember also that while, “Matiba was fighting Moi, Kibaki was saying in parliament that proponents of change were trying to fell a Mugumo tree with a razor blade” to illustrate his argument that one party rule was here to stay. Remember this also before you approach me and insult my intelligence telling me that I should not vote for this or that presidential candidate because they would be dictator yet you do not provide a single evidence of intellectual proof to support that ridiculous claim, remember that we, the Kenyan electorate, kicked out a dictator in 2002 and we all know who welcomed him back.
The situation: I am upcountry with no talktime on my pre paid phone. Christmas was coming up and the ability to communicate to the world beyond this village is vital. At the same time an unexpected vehicle emergency had wiped out all my cash and the nearest ATM machines are over an hour way (due to the terrible state of the roads) and it was raining badly.
But I had a credit card, a laptop and a WAP enable mobile phone. I convinced a good Samaritan (a younger cousin having his arm twisted) to sambaza me KSH 100.00 of mobile phone airtime with promises of greater rewards in the not to distance future and thus began my quest for mobile phone juice. I plugged the phone into the laptop, connected to Safaricom WAP and was on the MamaMikes website in a jiffy. I pulled out my credit card and purchased a Safaricom airtime “gift” of GBP 15.00 about KSH 2,000.00 for myself. (This remains my largest one time mobile phone airtime purchase to date). The whole procedure took around ten minutes.
Ten minutes later I got a call from MamaMikes to “check on a few things”:
Q: You are Daudi A: Yes Q: You are in Kenya A: Yes Q: You are using you are using your credit card to buy Safaricom airtime A: Yes Q: For yourself A: Yes YOU LAZY MUPPET (OK the MamaMike’s guy didn’t say that but I could hear him thinking that. I could have quickly become the inspiration for a new joke:
What is the height of laziness?
Using your credit card to buy Safaricom airtime via MamaMikes, like that cartoon Mental, because you can not be bothered to walk down the road to the kiosk.)
I explained my situation to the MamaMikes rep, he asked me to confirm some credit card security details and satisfied I was not committing credit card fraud sent the airtime to my phone, which enabled me to send my nearest and dearest (as well as a Western Union stealing muppet ) Merry Christmas txt messages and thus preserve world peace.
My second MamaMikes story. It’s my birthday and I am happily typing away at work when my phone rings. MamaMikes would like to know where to deliver my card and birthday cake. What a pleasant surprise. Since I was heading downtown we agreed that I could pick it from their office. One hour later I turn up at MamaMikes and collected a fantastic cake, purchased for me by a fantastic person, a fantastic number of miles away from Kenya.
That evening the family couldn’t believe that a cake ordered by someone half way around the world over the internet had arrived before the cake they ordered from a bakery half way up the road. It brought home to the people around me the power of this thing called the internet.
MamaMikes is a fantastic story of how Kenyan entrepreneurs are connecting Kenyans in the Diaspora to Kenyans at home. You can send airtime, flowers, supermarket vouchers, cards and even pay school fees direct to the school via MamaMikes no matter where you are in the world. It is also an example that e-businesses can and do thrive in our country. This makes MamaMikes an inspiration to many of us.
However, the ultimate respect from me came the day they started offering “Ngombe ya maziwa” via their website. A healthy Friesian cow for dairy purposes for USD 740.00. They helpfully add: Ideal for someone with a small shamba close to a milk depot where they can sell their milk.
A dairy cow via the internet, now you all know what to get me for my birthday next year.
The Show lasts one week, each day has a guest of honour, for example the Chairman of the ASK, the Minister of Agriculture and the Vice President. Wednesday, however, is when the real action takes places as this is the day that the President, in his role as Patron of the ASK, is the guest of honour.
The Show is unlike other big presidential events in that it is not a public holiday and it is not a political event. This means that the usual entourage of political cronies conveniently find something else to do. This gives the military space to put on a show at the Show and they do!
Here are some clips from President’s Day at the Nairobi Show this year featuring All Kenyan uniformed forces brass bands encompassing Kenya Army Band, Navy Band, Air Force Band, Police Band, Prisons Band, GSU Band, NYS Band and the Administration Police Band. These clips are from the military tattoo at the end of the day.
The first clip features the lowering of the National Flag and the Playing of the National Anthem. We have a very beautiful, majestic, powerful anthem. The drum major then requests permission from his Commander-in-Chief to lead the bands off the field and they start marching off.
The second clip shows the band starting to march off the field. When the camera moves to the right you see half of the presidential motorcade, moving into position waiting to rush in. When camera moves to the left (with the band at the far end of the field) you see the other half of the presidential motorcade waiting to reverse into the field.
The final clip features the Mass Bands giving the President their final salute and with all the ceremonial details dealt with the Presidential Escort Unit swings into action.
The main part of the motorcade drives into the field, the lead cars reverse into the field from the other end.You can even see the Presidential Press Service cameraman rushing to get his tripod into the PPS Benz station wagon. The President then walks down from his seat and says his goodbyes gets into his stretch Benz and the motorcade starts moving.
The Presidential Escort Unit jog next to the car incase any muppet decides to do something crazy. And then they are off. Being the Show all the top military brass are there and you can see number plates like CGS (Chief of General Staff – the head of the Armed Forces) 00KA01 (Head of the Army) 00KN01 (Head of the Navy) and COP 1 (Commissioner of Police) all joining in the motorcade. Civilian leaders are there you can see a Benz with SNA (Speaker of the National Assembly) and cars with the National Flag which carry Ministers. (The Presidential Limo has the National Flag and the Presidential Standard.) Anyway check out the clip for yourself below.
(Apologies for the running commentary during the final clip – my bro and I tend to get a little bit excited about things like this oh and it took me ages - bleeding ages - to upload these clips on to YouTube! Like 3 weeks!)
For one reason or another Kenyans find me tribally ambiguous. That is to say when they meet me they find it hard to determine which tribe I belong to. Many times it even goes further than that as people automatically assume that I belong to THEIR tribe. This has led to some ridiculous situations in the past.
For example, when I was a teenager, before mobile phones and txt messaging, back in the day when you actually had to go up to the door or – if we are being honest here- the back door (or neighbours door even) of the house of the girl you were courting in order to let her know that you were there and ready for your stroll around the estate, before you even got to her door, or even the gate of their compound you would have to get past the main gate of the estate usually manned by 3 or more watchmen, from different tribes, all of whom would hustle you for a little this or that as they know they stand between you and the most beautiful girl in the world.
Watchman A would address me in Maa
Watchman B would address me in kikisii
Watchman C would address me in Kalenjin
Then we go to buy chips the guy talks to me Kikuyu; we head to the movies the girl selling tickets would unleash Dholuo and on and on.
In November 2007 this tribal ambiguity means that every once in a while an acquaintance or even a complete stranger will lean in and start sharing with me about how WE need to keep strong because THEY are after US. Or how WE are under attack from THEM and need to come up with strategies to protect OURSELVES. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) when they really want to unleash the latest tribal conspiracy they revert to their vernacular language and I am left nodding away seriously (I play along because I am fascinated at this massive smoke screen of ethnicity that blinds our country). If you want to know what the latest tribal nonsense is just ask me.
Observation 2
There is a copy of a Memorandum of Understanding floating around the internet which claims to be a legitimate copy of that signed between ODM presidential candidate, Odinga, and the National Muslim Leaders Forum (NAMLEF). MOU’s have become notorious in Kenyan politics ever since Kibaki tore up the one he signed with coalition partners before the 2002 election days after he moved into Statehouse. ODM were quick to point out that the MOU circulating on the internet is a fake but honestly you do not need them to tell you that. I refuse to believe that whoever came up with this fake MOU expected it to be taken as seriously as it has. (If you haven’t seen it get it here - PDF 280 KB) (Thanks M4!!).
Section (v) of the fake MOU is pure comedy.
(a) Coast Province shall be henceforth known as Jimbo La Pwani.
(ouwwwwww kinky!)
(i) Impose a total ban on open air gospel crusades by worshippers of the cross in Coast and N. Eastern province.
(Throw in no preaching at bus stops and most Nairobi commuters would sign immediately).
(j) Outlaw gospel programmes on KBC.
(WOOO HOO no more “Brother Paul” and his fake sermons!)
(k) Impose a total ban on the public consumption of alcoholic beverages in Coast and N. Eastern province
(NO BOOZE AT COAST? Wololololololololo. That sound you hear is tourists downing their pints at Voi! Set up a Kiosk on the Coast Province border with a big sign reading, “Last Booze Before Mogadishu, Yemen, Mumbai.”)
(l) Quash the recent legalization of mnazi, busaa, muratina, kaluvi.
(How about Kumi-Kumi, isn’t Kumi-Kumi haram too? And Muratina was legalized? I did NOT get that memo jamani!)
But the best one, the absolute best one, drum roll please:
(m) Close down Farmer’s Choice in Jimbo La Pwani.
(HEHEHEHE seriously this is apparently one of the conditions of the MOU. That Raila would have to close down Farmer’s Choice in coast. LOL. No sausages in coast! Hehehe. Come on now come on!)
But don’t laugh too loudly. There are some people out there who are taking this MOU very very seriously!
Observation 3
Julie Gichuru is my new heroine, not because she lights up news every day, which she does, but because last night when she was interviewing the thief and crook (and parliamentary aspirant and KENDA party boss) Kamlesh Pattni on NTV about halfway through the show she looked like she’d like to do nothing better than punch the muppet in the face. She looked very irritated with “Brother Paul” sitting there talking about, “let he who has no sin cast the first stone.” There are two people in Kenyan public life that make my blood boil every time I hear their irritating voices. Kamlesh Pattni is one. The other is Kibaki’s Envoy of Peace, Moi. I do not know Julie’s political stance but I have a feeling she will not be voting for KENDA. And really it has to be said when you have Kamlesh and Moi rooting for you to win an election there must be something wrong somewhere.
Observation 4
There is an advert which has been airing on KTV during prime time which bangs on about, “wacha domo, fanya kazi” kiswhaili for, “stop making noise(in a time wasting kind of way), get to work”. The ad features no people. You have a black screen with words pop up. Every time a negative word crops up on the screen, such as domo in this context, it is in orange. Every time a positive word turns up it is in blue.
“Kazi Iendelee” is the official campaign slogan for Kibaki’s re-election bid and blue and red are his official campaign colours. So even though no one claims responsibility for the ad during the airing and even though it does not mention any names or political parties, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the ad is Pro-Kibaki and Anti-ODM. I noticed the ad because it is very clever and also because it is the first negative ad I have seen aired on Kenyan TV. (Because something is clever does not necessarily mean it is good).
Earlier this week as I was driving into work at the Ngong Road/Mbagathi Road roundabout I noticed a suspiciously looking characters lurking behind the car. Just as I was driving away he placed something on the back of my car. Again it was cleverly done in that it was placed just as I was moving away which meant that had I not been paying the man special attention I would not have noticed it, and even if I had the flow of traffic behind me would have kept me moving forward. Anyway I decided to follow the roundabout and parked the car further ahead to check what he had put on the car.
A sticker!
With the word DOMO written on it and crossed out (and placed upside down)!
Now I am as easy going as the next fella, but sticking political messages on a car I am driving without my permission in such a charged political environment is just not on. So I took out my camera and decided to go and have a chat with the gentleman in question.
As I approached him I noticed he was handing out stickers to pedestrians so I got a couple off him. I asked him what the stickers meant. He said the stickers were for a campaign. I asked what campaign (this is when he started getting nervous and started looking around). He said it was for a peace campaign. (OOOOOK!) I asked him if he was affiliated to any political party. He said absolutely not. He stressed this. Then I asked him how come his T-Shirt had the Kiswhaili word WACHA in Orange. (Wacha loosely translates as “leave it, leave it alone, don’t”, orange is the colour of the main opposition party the Orange Democratic Movement. Again the message is clear, negative words highlighted in the colour of the main opposition.) He did not reply and started walking away. I asked him who he worked for. He turned around and told me he worked for, The Electoral Commission of Kenya. Before this he was just a guy giving out stickers for a candidate, after that statement he was masquerading as an employee of the ECK on official business. That is a crime.
That is when I decided to pull out my camera and inform him, not ask him, that I was going to take a picture of him doing his work. He told not to take any pictures. I replied that he is in a public street, and claims to be a public official on official business as part of a Peace campaign for the ECK, why would he object to having his picture taken. I also informed him that he had placed his political sticker on my car without my permission and that posing for a picture was the least that he could do. This line of argument did not win him over. Instead he gestured to his colleagues on the other side of the roundabout and they started running away quickly, but not before I took a picture of the back of his t-shirt.
I’ve been timing them every morning since but they seem to have relocated. So if do come across them, let me know!
Although you may stumble across a few good individuals in the 9th parliament, collectively they were a big disappointment. More interested in their salaries, interest free Prados, health insurance, than they were in the building the nation.
I have several reasons to be optimistic about the future of Kenya. One of the main reasons for this optimism is that I am aware that the country is full of patriots, good women and men, intelligent people with integrity who are all working, in their own way in their own fields, to build the country and empower the people of the country. On Saturday the 1st of September I attended two very different functions that illustrated this for me. One function was organised by a group outside the establishment the second function by a group right at the heart of the establishment. Both groups are full of patriots who are concerned for Kenya and the well being for Kenyans.
The 1st of September was the day Kibaki was due to have a presidential campaign fund raising lunch with 1000 people who would each pay KSH 1,000,000.00 (EUR 10,450.00) for the privilege of eating with the president. In response to this civil society under the banner of the Kenya Human Rights Network (K-HURINET) decided to hold a counter event at Jeevanjee Gardens in heart of Nairobi’s CBD to remind the president that most of his fellow citizens would have to work for decades to earn KSH 1,000,000 and can hardly afford to spend KSH 100.00 for lunch amongst other things.
The format of the public meeting at Jeevanjee Gardens was empowering. Instead of having one or two people dominate the gathering it was all very inclusive and equal. In the days before the meeting members of K-HURINET had gone around to various civil society groups to ask them what issues they wanted to highlight on the day. They then printed posters with each of those messages.
At Jeevanjee everyone picked up the poster that represented their position, we all then stood in a circle and people spoke in turn highlighting what they felt was important.
As the representative from the Kenya Human Rights Commission said civil society was not there to speak for people but to give people the opportunity to speak for themselves.
After Jeevanjee I walked across town to the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, a building at the heart of the establishment. In the days of the Moi dictatorship it held the headquarters of KANU, then the ruling party, today it hosts several government institutions such as the Office of the Government Spokesman. On this Saturday it was the venue of Amaranth Awareness Forum organized by the Poverty Eradication Commission.
Amaranth is a fantastic crop full of nutritional and medicinal goodness. It also enhances soil fertility and the stock can be used as livestock feed. Equally as important, it is economically viable.
Amaranth takes three/four months from planting to harvest. That means in one year you can get three harvests. From one harvest from one acre you can earn KSH 25,000.00 – KSH 30,000.00. This means in one year you can earn KSH 75,000.00 in profit from one acre of Amaranth. Compare this with maize and sugarcane. Maize takes 8 months from planting to harvest. From one acre most farmers will earn KSH 25,000.00 which after they have paid their costs comes down to KSH 15,000.00 from each acre per harvest. In one year you will have made KSH 15,000.00 from your acre.
Sugarcane takes 24 months from planting to harvest (theoretically it is meant to take 18 months but in reality it usually takes 24 months.) After those 24 months you will make KSH 90,000.00 if you are lucky. KSH 45,000.00 per year. Once you reduce your costs it comes down to KSH 30,000.00 per acre per year for sugarcane.*
From this it is clear to see why the Poverty Eradication Commission is pushing Amaranth. However, Amaranth is a delicate crop so measures have to be employed to ensure a successful harvest. The commission invited expert farmers to share their experiences and tips with other farmers who were considering planting amaranth or those whose crops had performed poorly. PEC also invited commercial partners to illustrate to farmers that there is a market available for their crop if they did choose to grow Amaranth. PEC was providing an opportunity for people to transform their lives.
Two groups, K-HURINET and PEC. One outside the establishment, the other working under the Ministry of Planning. Both have their critics, both have their supporters. Both working to build the country. Encouraging both groups have embarked on tours across Kenya spreading their knowledge.
There are good people in our country doing fantastic things.
(*These are average figures, yes there are some people who earn a lot more, but they are many more who earn a lot less from their maize and sugarcane.)
Kenya’s burdensome debt to developed countries is partly the product of theft on the part of “previous leaderships,” Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju said in a prepared statement distributed prior to his address to the UN General Assembly …
“I discovered that some of these loans were actually shady schemes, unnecessary pseudo projects whose only objective was to steal that money.” In the case of legitimate projects, Mr Tuju added in his written remarks, “some of the procurements were terribly flawed, and they cost double, triple or many times more than they should have cost.”
Kroll Associates is amongst the world’s leading private investigation agencies. They appeared on my radar when I read fascinating accounts of how the tracked down money stolen and hidden by the Nigerian dictator Sami Abacha, found former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos secret fortune, they found the money stolen by Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, they found Saddam Hussein’s secret bank accounts, they found Osama bin Laden’s secret bank accounts which are being used to fund the Al-Qaida network. In short, they know how to do what they do pretty well.
In December 2003 I wrote that by hiring Kroll Associates to trace the money looted by Moi and his cronies the Kibaki government was showing that it was taking the fight against corruption seriously. These noble anti-corruption efforts were lead from within the Kibaki team by a guy you might have heard about, John Githongo, who was at the time the Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics in the Office of the President.
In February 2005 John Githongo travelled to the UK to receive a report from Kroll. Shortly after receiving that report Githongo resigned his position as Permanent Secretary giving no reason and stayed in the UK stating concerns about fears for his safety if he returned back to Kenya. At the time I wrote that whatever Kroll told Githongo must have been explosive, explosive enough to make him resign. In February 2006 Githongo released his report, a copy of which you can download on Mentalacrobatics here.
Some of the information in the report focusing on Moi:
Assets accumulated included multimillion pound properties in London, New York and South Africa, as well as a 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia and bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of pounds.
Mr Moi’s sons - Philip and Gideon - were reported to be worth £384m and £550m respectively
Moi’s associates colluded with Italian drug barons and printed counterfeit money
Moi’s clique owned a bank in Belgium
£4m was used to buy a home in Surrey and £2m to buy a flat in Knightsbridge.
The Kibaki government never acted on the report. The Kenyan government official spokesman, Alfred Mutaa, dismissed the report stating, “We did not find that the report was credible. It was based a lot on hearsay.” He said the leaking of the report was politically motivated and insisted Kenya was working with foreign governments to recover the stolen money. “Some of the money is in UK bank accounts. We have asked the British government to help us recover the funds, but so far they have refused.”
(Disclaimer for the conspiracy theorists amongst us: This is my analysis of the situation. I do not have any inside information on why Githongo resigned and he has not shared his reasons with me.)
kenyaelection07
Email This Post
|
3 comments Friday, December 28th, 2007 at 12:54 AM
web for development
) Merry Christmas txt messages and thus preserve world peace. 
oh and it took me ages - bleeding ages - to upload these clips on to YouTube! Like 3 weeks!)
