Kenya Stockholm Blog

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1. Dear Sir, dear madam,

   unfortunately I I tooked a wrong button. Can you send me the 3 parts again?

   KSB: All the four parts are at the blog. Just scroll down.

   Comment by gaudeamus | April 1, 2011

2. Kisii Must be very agressive people &Why?
   Kenya scientists must find-out Hence there must be deficiencies lacking in Wakisii blood!

   Teenager kills brother over grass row

   Updated 7 hr(s) 34 min(s) ago
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   MURDER IN ELDORET KISUMU – swahili
   State to import more fertiliser to meet growing demandBy Kenan Miruka

   A fight between brothers over ownership of napier grass turned tragic when one of them was stabbed to death at Nyacheki in Nyamache District.

   The victim, 23, bled to death after injuries sustained in the fight with his younger brother, 17, at Kiabokimeri village.

   Nyacheki location chief Alexander Seme said the two fought after they could not agree whom the grass on a family land belonged to.

   Witnesses say the younger brother had earlier accused his sibling of selling the grass before the fight ensued.

   Two knives, bows and arrows were recovered from the scene of the incident. Gucha OCPD Richard Ng’etich said investigations had been launched.

   With diminishing grazing land sizes, farmers have turned to napier grass to feed their livestock.

   Meanwhile, two people were arrested in Gucha and several items — including police uniform, batons and items stolen from salons in Ogembo town — recovered.

   The suspects were arrested after a swoop at Nyakorokoro estate in Ogembo town.

   Gucha OCPD said the suspects are believed to be behind a series of theft in the town.

   Meanwhile, a man was stabbed to death during a drinking spree in Eldoret.

   A witness said two men differed over issues before a fight ensued.

   “The two exchanged blows before the suspect (a boda boda operator) overpowered the victim, pushed him to the ground and stabbed him several times in the stomach with a knife,” said the witness.

   Uasin Gishu deputy police boss Benjamin Onsongo said police have arrested the suspect and he is to be arraigned in court to face murder charges.

   The victim died while he was being rushed to hospital. The body was taken to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.

   In a separate incident police have arrested a woman in connection with mysterious disappearance of her newborn baby.

   According to the police, the woman’s husband reported that his wife who was due to deliver went to give birth at midwife’s place.

   But after delivery, the woman allegedly went back home without the baby. The woman claimed she had left the baby with her sister but the husband denied the allegation.

   Onsongo said that the police took her to a doctor and confirmed she had indeed given birth. She was arrested and will be charged with the disappearance of the infant.

   Comment by Lele Msanifu | April 20, 2011

3. Mohan 4 hours ago

   DILEMMAS OF MZEE MWAI

   Mzee Mwai is brooding. He’s obviously a troubled man. Not because he is tired of shouldering the heavy burden of governance – which anyway proxies mercifully carry for him, or his subjects made to pay double for everything including unga of late, or some godforsaken part of his empire has people dropping dead like nine-pins due to some illusory situations called drought and the resultant famine. Didn’t Alfie, the other day, refute that irresponsible claim publicized by a few recalcitrant news channels using computer generated pictures? If at all it’s true, are the citizens and our often not so saintly corporates, not raising more than enough to feed those fellows?

   The problem now is who he will hand over the crown and the throne to. Who will inherit the kingdom, the power, and the glory? Where is the Elisha to inherit Elijah’s mantle?

   This time, Mwai knows he is vulnerably exposed as he can’t afford to fence sit on the issue as usual. He can only covertly support his godson for the presidency, like his mentor, Moi did in 2002 by ‘project’ing his mentor’s son to succeed him. If he has no preferred successor, why is he not subscribing to the minimum political etiquette of asking Uhuru to step aside in the light of his being a prime suspect of the ICC, the ‘pumbavu’ ask. They observe, instead, he keeps Uhuru to his bosom hoping for the best that Okambo’s evidence is qualitatively wanting and the stringent standards maintained by the ICC will see him go off the hook after the confirmation hearings. Then he can be presented to the gullible voters as a persecuted man by the likes of Raila, in league with Waki and Okambo. Any way, that’s the only road map available now.
   Mzee doesn’t envisage the rest of the Kikuyu pretenders as serious contenders to warrant any worry, and probably they aren’t serious. But he knows they are venomous snakes in the grass: Martha who knows too much-too sensitive-too explicitly, Muite who has balls to enter a lions lair to stare it down as he did to Moi during the saba-saba at the State House itself , and Peter who is considered a saint by his constituents who pumps all his salary from the parliament to make their lives better and above all a willing tax paying MP. Musyami, for Kibaki and the public, is the self appointed black horse, who may run or trot or don’t move at all at the firing of the start gun. The pain in the private place is the possibility of these renegades putting their weight behind Raila in the event of a run off, of course on certain conditions. Let it wait.

   Then there is Wiper. Musyoka believes the best route to power is between the legs of two stronger opponents. Kibaki’s secret wish if the spelling the man chose was V-I-P-E-R. is shared by all and sundry This upstart can’t be trusted though he professes to be ‘saved’ and keep a miniature Bible in his pocket, along with a small mirror and comb. Everyone knows what he prays for to happen at the confirmation hearings because it will save him unnecessary effort to squeeze in between two towering opponents, to start his campaign. Kibaki knows he is a master at deceit, and he wouldn’t mind crawling on all fours from Machakos to Kisumu if there is the slightest indication that Raila may accommodate him. He knows very well the UDF (some guys say it is the acronym for UNITED DECEPTION FRONT) which Wiper and UhuRuto jointly and severally want to float is already as dead as a dodo. Wiper and UhuRuto had planned to register the company after one arrogant Lt. Gen (Retd) Koech who keeps the registration certificate of UDM under his mattress refused to let it go. They wanted to perform a makeover on the original UDM to re-baptise it ‘UNITED DECEPTION MOVEMENT’.

   The only option Mzee has is Uhuru. All other options are also Uhuru. Ruto is out of question because the comments the upstart made at the height of the 2007 election that saw him ‘duly’ elected president and sworn in at nightfall are still fresh in memory. He also comes from a wrong tribe that had 24 years of uninterrupted plunder, resulting from an indiscreet interpretation of the constitution by the then AG during Jomo’s sunset years. Uhuru, if elected can add 10 years to the chosen tribe though it will still be just short of 4 years .

   Raila? Noooooooh way! Mzee keeps that dreadful option at arms length. It’s true his father sacrificed the chance to be the ruler of the fledgling Kenya for Mzee’s godson’s father. It’s also true he got a mighty kick in the ass for that imprudent act. It’s again true Raila said ‘Kibaki Tosha’ in 2002 only to have the famous MOU shredded at the first opportunity. It’s God’s will, wasn’t it? After all who told these foolish uncircumcised to trust the circumsised? Didn’t the son learn anything from his father’s fate? Much later in 2007, he was ‘duly’ elected President in an election which Justice (Retd) Kreigler put under an electron microscope but couldn’t see a winner..Raila is unpredictable, Mzee says aloud. He’s reputed to be a breaker of political parties. No one wants him to be a breaker of peace in blissful retirement.

   Such are the tribulations of Mzee Mwai. He is still to identify his Elisha publicly; the mantle is dry-cleaned and ready, though.

   Comment by Jicho Pevu | August 8, 2011

4. KENYANS KNOW VERY WELL KIBAKI WANTS UHURU KENYATTA TO SUCCED HIM!
   What Kibaki Is Not Saying On Succession Saturday, 06 August 2011 00:04 BY MUGAMBI KIAI

   A story in The Star reported President Kibaki, for at least the second time in public, declining to name his preferred successor. “These people are funny,” Kibaki was qouted as saying. “They are talking everywhere, with this one saying this, that one saying that. And they are asking, ‘Why hasn’t Kibaki said anything?’”.

   President Kibaki is obviously correct not to name a successor. Kenya is still the land of the big man and to name a successor may immediately translate into a state project. The last time this happened in 2002, former President Moi anointed Uhuru Kenyatta as his political successor in Kanu and the presidency; catalysing an almighty political revolt within the independence party. This revolt finally tore the party down the middle and was a key factor in Kanu’s humiliating electoral defeat later that year; from which it has never recovered since.

   Discussing presidential succession has been a very slippery slope in Kenya. Under the old order, public debate around presidential succession was outlawed. Under President Jomo Kenyatta, this was achieved using the threat of legal indictment. This happened when a group coalescing around the Gikuyu Embu Meru Association (Gema) tried to initiate a change to the constitution in the 1970s to stop the automatic ascent of the Vice President to acting President in the event of the death of the President. This was meant to derail the succession of Moi to the presidency in the event of Kenyatta’s death.

   Not wanting any public discussion of this issue, former Attorney General Charles Njonjo shrewdly decreed it was treasonable to discuss Kenyatta’s succession. Njonjo used Section 40 of the Penal Code: “Any person who…compasses, imagines, invents, devices or intends the death, maiming, or wounding, or imprisonment or restraint, of the President, or the deposing by unlawful means of the President…or the overthrow by unlawful means of the Government is guilty of the offense of treason.”

   Of course, it was a ridiculous argument: This section targets the unlawful conception and planning of the removal of the President and does not in any way impinge on any debate on the democratic succession of the President. Indeed, under Section 6 of the old constitution, presidential vacancy following the death of the President was provided for: “If the office of the President becomes vacant by reason of the death or resignation of the President…”

   Njonjo’s ruse, however, worked and stifled any debate around Kenyatta’s succession. Moi would automatically succeed Kenyatta on the latter’s demise in 1978. Discussing succession in the Moi state was anathema- it was deemed to be a personal challenge and affront to him. However, the issue of the Moi succession still rose to prominence during his second term under multiparty rule when it became clear that he was constitutionally barred from running for a third term.

   Reactions around this issue were varied. Within the ruling party, the objective was not to offend Moi and the vast majority led by then Vice President George Saitoti took the line that the Moi succession was a non-issue. Others, like the late Kipkalya Kones, suggested that the best way to navigate around this thorny issue was to repeal the constitutional provision limiting the president’s tenure.

   But a few would not relent, however. Former MP for Cherangany Kipruto Kirwa wrote an open letter to the President on the issue. Previously politician Jackson Kibor had also publicly raised this issue only to lose his seat as a Kanu branch chair. But the trend was still to avoid the issue until it was time for Moi’s exit. It was at this point that he unsuccessfully attempted to engineer his own succession.

   Perhaps Kibaki has learnt from Moi’s debacle on this issue and has, thus far, desisted from taking the same path. Obviously, President Kibaki’s reticence on his preferred presidential candidate will not stop or end the debate. With increasing regularity, candidates are now tossing their hats into the ring as presidential contestants: A fact that the President is –wrongly- critical of.

   Kibaki’s unease seems to center around the multiplicity of presidential candidates from Central Kenya. Here is The Star report: Without mentioning names, Kibaki hit out at politicians from the Central region who he said are fighting to be his successor after he retires next year.

   One of the key criticisms of a multiplicity of presidential candidates is that it has a “spoiler” effect on those who have a realistic chance of winning the seat. Ironically, this was a criticism that was leveled against Kibaki himself after the 1992 general elections when he was accused of “spoiling” for Kenneth Matiba, who emerged runner-up to Moi: a simple addition of Matiba’s and Kibaki’s votes in those elections topped Moi’s votes. Obviously, however, elections are not that simple and given the ‘un-free’ and unfair conditions surrounding general elections at the time, it cannot be automatically suggested that a Matiba candidacy in the absence of Kibaki would have guaranteed a Matiba victory.

   Today, those from Central Kenya who have declared their candidature for the presidency include Martha Karua, Peter Kenneth, Mutava Musyimi, Uhuru Kenyatta and Paul Muite. The million dollar question is: Who is spoiling for whom? Given how the major political alignments that support Kibaki have been seen to gravitate around Uhuru, perhaps without naming his preferred candidate, is Kibaki indeed signaling whom he’d prefer as his successor?

   Comment by Alfa Alfa | August 8, 2011

5. Statistics as per the population gives them (us!) the position, not names!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Comment by Samuel Wachira Mureithi | September 15, 2011

6. it’s quite disturbing that you use selective “statistics” to justify your hate speech against Kikuyus. You selec a of less less than 150 names and extraporate this to mean about 10 million kikuyus ‘eating’ as you would like to hear.
   Just because Kibaki has put has ‘friends’ who happen to be Kikuyus to surround him ( just like his coalation partner Raila is surrouded by the Orengos, Caroli Omondi, Kajwangs, The sisters, brothers, cousins, nephews and inlaws) does not give you the right to condemn a whole community to the extent of almost making them apologise for being kikuyus or Luos.
   Do a study to determine how many Kenyans think about their tribe as they wake up every morning and go about their meaningful work ( except of course when they are reminded by negative ethinists like you and our politicians) and you’ll be shocked how far removed from reality.
   Raila, Mudavadi,Kalonzo, Saitoti, Ruto, Uhuru,Martha, Tuju, Eugene, Balala,Peter Kenneth, Muite have a right to be ambitious to become president of Kenya without being demonised. The ballot box ( mwaninchi) will give the verdict with or without your hate speech against the Kikuyus. Haveyou ever thought why 10 kikuyus can declare their intention to vie for the presidency without stones being thrown to opponents?- simple mature democracy where all are seen as Kenyans.
   This country belongs to Kenyas with all freedoms enshrined. lets respect each other with our diversity for prosperity

   Comment by John Ndungu | February 3, 2012

7. John Ndungu:

   Many Kikuyus can’t help but steal; it is in their genes and therefore I wonder why other people complain when they steal and practise tribalism of the highest order which they call enterprise. Show me one Kikuyu who has worked his tail off to make a honest leaving, and i will show you potential thieves in waiting.

   Comment by nyina | February 3, 2012

8. John Ndung’u, Whether what you say is true or not, does not wash away the fact that corruption, plundering and tribalism, have been the hallmark of every Kikuyu administration which has lorded over Kenyans. I am from the Coast and I tear every day as I look at the idle land owned by the Kenyattas, Mahihus, Mathenges and all of those thieves who have now legitimized their plunders from the mouths of the “Coastals”.

   Comment by mwana mvita | February 3, 2012

9. Tribalism Hurts Kikuyus Most
   Wednesday, 20 April 2011 00:04 BY NGUNJIRI WAMBUGU

   The last month has seen interesting messages being conveyed to members of the group Kikuyus for Change suggesting that we must stop fighting Uhuru Kenyatta. Our loud explanations that we are not fighting Uhuru but just trying to build a conversation around issues that concern Kikuyus is met with answers such as … ‘as who?’ … ‘who gave you the mandate?’ … ‘how can you have a position on the Kikuyu that is different from that of our Muthamaki?’ … ‘what kind of Kikuyu are you not to see where we are coming from?’ … ‘are you also a traitor/sell-out? …etc.

   Then of course there is the usual advice that “you know he is very popular amongst us and some people might decide to discipline you for this behaviour”. A close friend even suggested I risk having people stone my parent’s house in Nyeri as a sign of displeasure while another suggested that in future when Uhuru is President some of us might be forcefully disrobed and disciplined by young men because we dared to speak against him.

   Another friend in late March advised me not to write anything more and better still, go into hiding until April 15 because he suspected some people might wish me great ill. This made us very concerned with Uhuru’s comments in Muranga: we feel they get the strength to make such statements based on the statements that leaders not supporting a common position would be visited and ‘shamed’ in their homes.

   What these guys (all men incidentally) do not seem to get is that our issues are not with Uhuru. We have nothing personal against him. Our problem is with anyone trying to build a political platform towards 2012, using tribe as his context. We feel Uhuru is doing it, and we believe it is divisive politics and will hurt Kikuyus more than anyone else. We also believe that if he stopped, all the other Kikuyu leaders would stop as they tend to pick their cue from him.

   Plus, we think this idea that we should organize into tribes because Raila did it in 2007 is not smart. Where did it get Raila in 2007? Where did it get Kenya? Don’t we learn anything? After two years spent in inter-ethnic dialogue with various communities, we know that PEV does not just happen: it develops gradually on the back of political tribalism. In addition, it is quite clear that anytime we divide up into tribes politically, Kikuyus are the ones that suffer. The colonialists did it: Moi did it: Raila did it: we are the ones who suffer the most from this, but we are now being told to do it, again. Why would we think that if we can partner with those who believe in using violence as a political strategy, we will not get hurt this time?

   That right there is our problem. As Kikuyus how do we allow anyone, even Uhuru, to develop a political strategy that risks taking us back to where Kenya is trying to get out from, especially as we head into an election where a Kikuyu is the incumbent, and he is leaving office?

   How do we sit aside and watch as someone insists on building a Kikuyu tribal chief brand, so that he can then ally himself with others like himself, ati so that ALL of Kenya can be peaceful? Why then do we wonder why we are facing resistance?

   We know that Kenyans are willing to vote for a Kikuyu as the President in 2012 but the only way that can happen is if the candidate somehow managed to convince ALL Kenyans, that he is a nationalist. This means that any Kikuyu wanting to take over from Kibaki should be creating the kind of brand that would be attractive to voters as Kenyans, not as tribes. Martha is on it, as is Peter Kenneth, as is George Saitoti … unfortunately it will not be done the way Uhuru is doing it.

   This idea of some Kikuyus being branded as ‘community traitors’ needs to be looked at in more detail. If we do not go into the Mau Mau period and the ‘gati’ issue, the branding of Maina Kiai, Paul Muite, and even Martha Karua as Kikuyu ‘traitors’ working for the downfall of the Kikuyu community is total madness.

   Maina was the first person to document post-election atrocities in the 90′s against Kikuyus. Paul has been steadfast on the rights of Kenyans, steadily walked with the Mau Mau, represented hundreds of Kenyans (a lot of them Kikuyus) who were suffering oppression, and could very well be the only Kikuyu lawyer representing IDPs at the Hague. Martha Karua keeps proving that she has more ‘chutzpah’ than many Kikuyu men assumed to be more powerful than her. The same narratives are used for other Kikuyus who don’t toe the line of the ‘owners’ of the community … Njeri Kabeberi, John Githongo, Muthoni Wanyeki, Prof Wangari Maathai, etc.

   The idea that Kikuyus for Change are Kikuyu sell-outs was first introduced by Moses Kuria, and maybe this indicates where that narrative is coming from. At that time the suggestion was crafted so as to discredit what we are doing and ‘spin’ it into being something against the ‘Kikuyus’.

   Kikuyus for Change have spent two years consistently and persistently pursuing inter-ethnic engagements with other communities, with the sole intention of establishing platforms where communities can discuss how our ethnic diversity can be made into a strength, rather than the weakness it has become over the years.

   We spent all of July 2010 in Central Province, in an intense civic education process that included 16 forums where we met over 5,000 local central Kenya opinion leaders, and discussed the proposed constitution.

   After the promulgation of the New Constitution we identified the risk of the ICC process being run at political level, without the involvement of the ordinary Kenyan citizen. We spent several months arranging forums with local people in various areas across the country, to explain what the ICC can do, and what it cannot do, for Kenya.

   In February and March this year we raised 1.4 million signatures in six weeks in support of the punishment for Post Election Violence Perpetrators, and compensation of victims.

   Last month we started an initiative to engage government and other stake-holders on the issue of extra-judicial killings. We have been pushing for a proper Dedan Kimathi memorial to be set up at the site where he was captured. Nearly 50 years later, only a small rock, in the midst of a Nyayo Tea Zone, indicates where this hero of the liberation struggle was captured after being betrayed.

   Our Anti-Alcoholism programme is on going and it seeks to build solutions to the negative effects of alcohol on especially young men, in Central province.

   Just looking at the 7 points above, one is forced to ask questions related to the these ideas since the success of each idea would only help the Kikuyu as a community. The questions one would ask are:

   Who, amongst the Kikuyu, did not want the New Constitution to pass?

   Who, amongst the Kikuyu, would not want the PEV perpetrators punished and/or victims compensated?

   Who, amongst the Kikuyu, would not want Extra-Judicial Killings to stop?

   Who, amongst the Kikuyu, would not want Kikuyus to celebrate Dedan Kimathi as a Hero?

   Who, amongst the Kikuyu, would not want the issue of alcoholism dealt with?

   Ngunjiri Wambugu is the convenor of the Kikuyus For Change discussion forum

   Comment by Wambua Harry | February 4, 2012

10. Kikuyu Dominate Public Service, Says NCIC Report
    By The Star Page: 9 on Thu 07th April 2011

    BY MOSOKU GEOFFREY

    The Kikuyu community dominates all cadres of the civil service, according to a report by the Cohesion Commission. At job group ‘TUV’ which is held by Permanent Secretaries, the community holds 23 percent of the jobs. It holds 31.94 per cent of job groups P, Q, R and S, which are held by assistant directors and other officials below the PSs. The community is followed by the Luhya at 15.07 per cent while Luos are third at 14.00 per cent, Kamba 8.81 per cent, Kisii 7.6 per cent, Kalenjin 7.36 per cent, Meru 5.07 per cent while Mijikenda, Embu, Somalis and Taita occupy about five per cent cumulatively.

    In the entry level to senior personnel J, K and L, Kikuyu hold 27.49 per cent followed by Luhya at 13.40 per cent, Kalenjin 12.56 per cent, Luo 9.9 per cent, Kamba 9.30 per cent, Kisii 6.6 per cent, Mijikenda, Embu, Somalis and Taita occupy about seven per cent cumulatively. The seven big communities account for over 80 per cent of jobs in the lowest job groups A-D. The communities include Kikuyu 20.41 per cent, Kalenjin 13.78 per cent, Luhya 11.67 per cent, Luo 11.03 per cent, Kamba 10.18 per cent, Kisii 8.42 per cent and Meru 5.26 per cent. The lowest cadre includes drivers, cleaners, cooks and tea girls.

    The Commission says it does not understand why other communities are excluded from the civil service.”Why are communities like the Teso, Maasai, Samburu, Pokomo, Kuria and others not represented in these job groups yet they do not require much education?” Kibunjia posed. The NCIC boss proposed that recruitment into civil service be decentralised and some positions be head hunted.”Just like the government head hunts expatriates, it should for instance reserve some positions for a small community and headhunt personnel,” he said.

    Comment by kikuyus dominate public jobs | February 4, 2012

11. Intelligence AnalysisThe CIA-produced National Intelligence Estimate of October 7, 1971, stated that:

    Kenya has for a decade ranked among the most stable and most prosperous countries in Africa, but tribal frictions—and the increasingly partisan performance of the national leaders—have created an atmosphere of tension and unrest…The Kikuyu establishment, with President Jomo Kenyatta’s knowledge and support, is making a power play, blatant and unconcealed, to assure its pre-eminence after Kenyatta’s death or incapacitation. This approach… ensures a difficult period of political adjustment after Kenyatta’s death. The Kikuyu with only about 20 percent of the population would find it very difficult to govern without the acquiescence of other tribes. Opposition to Kenyatta’s inner circle of southern Kikuyu politicians is found not only in the leadership of other major tribes (the Luo and Kamba) but also among clans of the northern Kikuyu, who have not gotten their share of the spoils of office.

    The army is also jealous of the Kikuyu-dominated General Service Unit (GSU), a well-armed paramilitary police force. The Chief of the Defense Staff, a Kamba, was implicated with some Luo politicians and a few other Kambas in a recent coup plot and forced to resign…As long as Kenyatta is in power, however, there are many factors which militate against a military coup. The Kikuyus remain in possession of considerable assets with which to counter moves against their dominant position.

    The GSU, unlike many other paramilitary outfits in Africa, is considered to be an effective force. And, even in the army, the Kikuyus are gaining strength, especially in the junior and middle grade officer ranks. But the old guard of Kikuyu politicians depends heavily on Kenyatta, who commands vast respect and power as father of his country… Though nearly 80 (no one knows for sure how old he is), Kenyatta continues to demonstrate vigor and authority. Yet, a few years ago, he had some mild strokes, and still complains of circulatory problems.

    Comment by BCG23 | February 4, 2012

12. Kenya: Kikuyu, Kalenjin Dominate Civil Service Jobs
    By Geoffrey Mosoku, 7 April 2011 Nairobi — The Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities dominate the Civil Service, according to the National Cohesion and Integration Commission.

    The two communities together control 40 percent of the Civil Service, according to an audit conducted by the commission which sought to establish the compliance of government ministries to the Cohesion Act.

    The Act enacted in 2008 requires that no government department or ministry should have more than 33 per cent of its staff from one ethnic community.

    The NCIC chair Mzalendo Kibunjia attributed the skewed dominance by the Kikuyu/Kalenjin to political patronage they have enjoyed during Presidents Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki administrations.

    “Their number in the civil service suggests a direct relationship with the tenure of the presidency, in that both had a member as President for over 20 years,” states the report.

    “This study indicts the personality-based leadership in Kenya and signals the need to strengthen institutions that check the creeping effects of political patronage,” Kibunjia said.

    Other reasons cited for the imbalance include disparities in access to education, proximity to the location of government offices as well as willingness to seek employment in the Civil Service.

    “Be that as it may, it is remarkable that a service once dominated by Europeans and Asians has so dramatically changed its composition over 40 years. The merging patterns of staffing suggest that power and leadership influenced the ethnic composition of the public service,” the report says.

    Kibunjia says he will be meeting with President Kibaki and the Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura next week to present the commission’s recommendations on how to address the imbalance.

    According to the audit, seven communities have an ethnic representation above five per cent in the civil service while the rest are below this percentage. Those dominating the civil service are the Kikuyu, Luhya, Kalenjin, Luo, Kamba, Kisii and Meru.

    Five of these communities take nearly 70 per cent of the civil service employment.

    “Although they are the most populous, their numbers in the civil service are at variance with their population size. The seven have a combined population share of 76.7 percent against a civil service presence of 81.7 per cent, a significant five percentage point,” the survey explains.

    The Ethnic Audit of Kenya Civil Service report says the Kikuyu and Kalenjin have a disproportionate share of the posts compared to their population.

    “The Kikuyu constitute the largest single dominant ethnic group in all ministries and departments, except prisons, police and office of the Prime Minister. The Kalenjin are the second largest group in the civil service; they are the most dominant group in the prisons and the police service. These two groups alone make up 40% of the entire civil service.” The office of the Prime Minister is dominated by Luo at 21.85% followed by Kikuyu at 21.9%.

    Some communities’ presence cannot be felt in the public sector with only 20 of the listed 40 communities statistically visible in the civil service.

    Some 23 communities have less than 1% representation in the civil service with others completely out of the picture.

    Those left out include the Teso, Samburu, Pokomo, Kuria, Mbeere, Gabra, Bajun, Basuba, Taveta, Rendile, Elmolo, Dorobo.

    Among state departments and ministries, State House leads in the imbalance with one community, Kikuyu, holding 373 positions which represent 45.31%.

    Releasing the report, Kibunjia warned leaders against using the data and information to settle political scores.

    “It is a sensitive matter but we want Kenyans to take it in a positive manner while remembering where ethnicity took us to in 2007,” he cautioned.

    Among the recommendations the commission is expected to propose is for the government to reshuffle the civil service so that it complies with the law.

    He said the commission will also recommend to Parliament to amend the Act so that the current 33 per cent rule is revised downwards.

    “We will propose that the requirement of the ethnic make up of any ministry or government department be reduced from the current 33 per cent to a figure of between 15 – 20 per cent to ensure equity in allocation opportunities in civil service,” Kibunjia said.

    The commission will also propose that the government consider establishing an affirmative action policy in its hiring schemes to bring some ethnic balance in public service.

    “Dominance in the civil service leads not only to marginalisation but also skewed development and wealth creation among communities,” said Kibunjia who likened the skewed allocation of jobs to an “informal apartheid system” that can perpetuate the state of inequality.

    Comment by kikuyus dominate public jobs | February 4, 2012

13. I loved the way kikuyus labelled Omar Hassan a tribalist for pointing out their blatant tribalism yet keep mum when kibaki appoints head of parastatals, gov institutions from his region….Omar Hassan was so spot on…..Moi was even a smarter tribalist.

    Nothing is worse than a tribalist in modern days that is reinforced by divine providence. Unfortunately, tribalism is a primal trait of ALL kikuyus including Peter Keneth and Martha Karua. Kenya can only unite if we find intelligent non-kikuyu leader.

    The usual reason for appointment of Njiraini as the head of KRA is based on tribalism,misidentification of
    economic interests, tribalism,flat-out lying and arrogance of kibaki and his fellow tribalists in the ministry of finance.

    SAY NO NO NO TO ANOTHER KIKUYU PRESIDENCY

    Comment by PK99 | February 4, 2012

14. Hassan Omar talked about the vice of Tribalism blatantly and Dr. Mutua govt. spokesman promptly called the episode as Hate Speech and urged that Hassan quit his post forthwith. I am eagerly waiting for him to urge the would-be presidential hopefuls to quit their jobs forthwith once these IDPs causers face the charges. It will be interesting coz impunity is far much worse that hate speech purported to have been done by our hero Hassan Omar.

    Comment by titi | February 4, 2012

15. WHY IS IT THAT KIKUYUS WILL NEVER VOTE FOR A NON-KIKUYU

    It’s really clear from elections in 1992..1997 and 2002 that Kikuyus have never and will never vote for a non-Kikuyu presidential candidate.

    Even from the opinions polls so far taken in Kenya..all Kikuyus have prefered Mwai Kibaki and not any other candidate..More interesting is that all other presidential candidates will never score more than 1 percent from Central Province While Kibaki scores 30 percent in Coast, 40 percent in Riftvalley and 20 percent in Nyanza..among others in other provinces.

    Why is it that Kikuyus have portrayed such height of tribalism in almost everything national..be it elections..national appointments and even national language preffering to speak Kikuyu in government offices and not Kiswahili or English?

    Why is it that historically Kikuyus have never and will never vote for a non-kikuyu? In 2002 other tribes put tribalism aside and voted for Kibaki.. a kikuyu to a man for the sake of much needed change that time but Kikuyus will never reciprocate this..all they want is others to support them..How do Kikuyus expect other tribes to keep on supporting them while they dont reciprocate?

    I am calling upon my fellow Kenyans that we need to be smart with Kikuyus just as it happened during the 2005 referendum..Lets unite as Kenyans and leave these tribalists behind come December 2012 elections..whomever gets the ODM Kenya ticket lets support him so that tribalists can see for themselves as they saw during the referendum..We can never move forward if we dont unite and see each other as valuable for the countrys development..

    Question is why is it that Kikuyus will never and have never voted for a non-Kikuyus? are they the most tribalised group in Kenya? are they just born tribalists in Kenya? You tell me………………

    Comment by katili | February 4, 2012

16. Kikuyu Tribalists will never change if we dont change them.Once we get back the presidency,,let them stay for 100 years out in the opposition and lets develp our beloced country..we can do it fellow Kenyans..Kikyus will never vote for all NON KIKUYUS..they are selfish and born tribalist..they refer to those who are not like them as kihii..Kikuyus are taught to hate at a very young age and we have the VOTE..We have the TIME to change all these..

    Comment by Ukweli | February 4, 2012

17. Omar Hassan’s article (It is highly unlikely that Kenya’s next president would be a Kikuyu) was clear in terms of highlighting the very apparent problem of ethnic imbalance and the marginalization of other tribes in the Kibaki regime. While he may be a little heavy handed in his demonization of Kiuks, the premise of his argument holds true.

    We can avoid discussing this issue with the typical bluster that comes with any discussions of politics in Kenya, but the vast majority of Kenyans feel him on this one.

    Kenyans were marginalized during the Kibaki years and Kikuyus were primarily the ones that benefited from his rule (economically). Look at the number of filthy rich people there are in Kenya and conduct a simple comparison of who they are, where they made their money and what tribe they are…I bet you the bulk will be Kikuyus. I can now hear kiuks screaming bloody murder and eti how Kiuks are the most business-minded and gifted people in the world blah blah blah!

    During the Moi years , the Kaleos had their share but since the Kiuks had a stranglehold on all the lucrative businesses and avenues of $$, they for the most part held on and went into business with many corrupt Kaleos.

    Kibaki years – the marginalization continued and the eating went to mammoth proportions.
    While I don’t condone tribalism at all, I would like to see more Kiuks accept that many of their people have benefited greatly from many years in power. They continue to have this misguided idea (propagated by many of them) that the ‘nyumba’ must control Kenya.
    How much longer will the tribal politics of Kenya be based on “GEMA” vs Kenya ?? Kiuks should open up to being participatory in Kenyan politics and stop paying lip service to politicians who masquerade as “Pro Kenyan” while he and his family have raped the country since independence.

    Hassan may not have put his opinions very diplomatically, but he has touched a raw nerve that MOST Kenyans feel very strongly about.

    Comment by wakwetu | February 4, 2012

18. On Sunday 27th March 2011 the Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Finance of Kenya, Hon. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, made the following statement before he was enthroned a Kikuyu Elder & ‘King’ of the Agikuyu.

    “We will not allow ourselves to be killed just because we do not follow our leaders. Those who fail to do this, we will follow them to their homes and expose them as the ones who are betraying us. We will say ‘See, this person is the one who is failing to work with us”.

    Comment by toddy | February 4, 2012

19. “The only trouble is that at the Treasury all the top jobs are held by the Gema people. The Permanent Secretary, Joseph Kinyua, is from the “Big House”, so are the Director of Budget, Paul Ngugi, and the Accountant General Michael Gatimu. The only non- Gema top official is the head of the ICT department Jerome Ochieng. All fingers will be pointing at this man now and many wonder whether he will be made the sacrificial lamb as he does not belong to the “Big House” and, worse still, has a name that sounds like that of an ODM sympathizer.

    “We cannot have 16 top officials in these two departments from one community. It causes conflict of interest and denies the offices public confidence. This is a challenge the Grand Coalition Government and Uhuru’s tenure must address.” The 16 officials come from the GEMA community, thus the ongoing rumours and suspicions of mega theft at the Treasury, done in collaboration with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). All is in preparation for Kenyatta’s presidential campaign in 2012. Most of the senior KRA officials are also from GEMA, and WikiLeaks revealed that their boss is connected to illegal drug-dealings and money laundering.

    Comment by Ladette | February 4, 2012

20. The assassination of Tom Mboya, who was one of the most brilliant sons of the Luo (allegedly ordered by Jomo Kenyatta), triggered “a massive demonstration of support for Odinga as a symbol of Luo solidarity. A Luo crowd demonstrated against Kenyatta at Mboya’s requiem service in Nairobi. The Kikuyu leadership responded by inaugurating a mass oathing program among the Kikuyu, Embu, and Meru, and also part of the neighboring Kamba. In the course of about twelve weeks, virtually every adult Kikuyu took an oath ‘to keep the flag in the house of Mumbi’ (i.e. keep the government in Kikuyu hands); Kikuyu tribalism pitched against Luo tribalism.

    The oathing program was finally called off in September [1969] shortly before parliament was due to reassemble. Later, it was generally described by educated Kikuyu as a failure, meaning that it had not proved capable of papering over the growing cleavages in Kikuyu society. Momentarily, however, it helped to create a tense atmosphere (a good deal of violence was used against reluctant oath-takers) …”

    By Colin Leys G.

    Comment by Erude | February 4, 2012

21. ‘Crucify him, crucify them,’ the crowd shouted, ‘but William is the man. He is…’
    February 4 2012 at 9:29 AM

    By Macharia wa Gakuru

    Koech, not his real name, is a man who loves politics. I came to know him around 2002 when I was publishing Eastern Africa Magazine, the days of Moi-must-go. He was a very trusted lieutenant during Moi’s regime, a man who helped him invest in Britain.

    I like to have a chat with this man who knows Moi men in and out. What we found out early in our meetings was, we had same common ground on taste of exotic African food, Ethiopian Injera.

    It is a political season in Kenya and therefore Koech and I longed to see each other, as we normally have an informed political debate. He wanted to know from me why I came so strongly in support of Hon. Raila and why I told him Uhuru has a spoiled child of Kenya with no development, investment or charitable or reform record that I could refer to. I had told him Uhuru is hard to sell at the moment except for being Kikuyu, funding Mungiki, and being the son of Jomo. I wanted his analysis on William Ruto, a man he knew well. I wanted to know who this man is, what drives him how has he managed to steal the limelight of the Professor of politics Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi and how he managed to survive Kenyan abrasive politics at such a young age.

    Thursday evening this week at six o’clock we agreed we meet at a restaurant owned by a friend of mine in Caledonian road. It was easy for us to meet there, as he would leave whatever time he wished to catch his train back to Leicester in the midlands in the UK.

    The restaurant is good, well set for city dwellers looking for out of the ordinary food experience, something different. We sat on the African stools with a big open flat based but shallow serving basket specially associated with Ethiopia. I asked for coffee Ethiopian style. This coffee is dark bitter sweet served in small glasses and he asked for an Ethiopian beer.

    For those who may not know, Ethiopians eat communally, a common large fermented sour chapatti-like dough called Injera eaten with a choice of different sauces. I chose to eat Kitfo, a special beef meat eaten raw spiced up with goat cheese and spices, very nice and Koech ordered Doro wot, a chilli hot stewed chicken with spices. The special thing about eating Injera is that you do not use folks or knifes, you use your hands. That adds colour to the experience of friendship, food and the process of eating. We were set for our discussion.

    I know what you want to know but Gakuru I have seen a lot of abuses on you in your last piece, how do you cope with such venom? He asked looking a bit of reservation. I would not like you to mention my name in your article, my wife will go mad.
    Koech, the best thing to happen to Kenya now is that people can exercise their democratic rights in whatever way that suits them, I replied. What you see with those reactions you are referring to, is people precipitating of anger in different forms. People are exercising what your friend Moi denied Kenya for such a long time and what Raila and others like Kenneth Matiba, Rubia, Martin shikuku and many brave fathers and mothers of our second liberation were beaten, tortured and put in cell for.

    Don’t look me like that, I am not Moi, he interrupted me as he realised my voice was going louder, I am a businessman you remember?

    Look, you have asked me a question that I have been asked many times and I need to answer it. Let me make it simple, these people are voting with their words. They all have serious issues that we all need to address as Kenyans. Some have lost their loved ones, others land and property and others their dignity. I respect their views but I do not know if some of them can differentiate the issues of the message from the messenger as they are entangled and trapped in themselves. But again that is a matter for them, I am liberated. For me the issues are important to them as to me but we have different ways of solving them and that is our difference and that is democracy. We all have the same interest but looking at the issue differently.

    The issue is about Kenya and her future, I continued, Kenya is the greatest country in the world, our motherland our promised land. We cannot see any more bloodshed or hate as we have seen in the past. We are all trying to find the best leader for Kenya come next elections based on substance, issues of development, social tribal harmony, contribution to democratic change, respect for the rule of law, the new constitution among others.

    The food was then placed on our table. Now I have heard you, what do you want to know? Before I answer your question let me say this Kenya is more important than all of us, Kibaki, Moi, Raila and the rest of them including you and me. Let us respect each other. If people democratically abuse the written word in their shadows and cannot say why their preferred candidate is the best presidential candidate for the 4th Kenyan presidency then that’s them. For me Raila Odinga stands out and I am here to support him. If they have another better choice I am ready and willing to listen, and be convinced of him or her. All what I want is what is best for Kenya, I concluded.

    It is up to you but please don’t mention my name, he requested. Koech I want you to paint for me a picture of Ruto. I fear him as a warlord am I right or is it illusions without foundation? Among the existing candidates he is the most dealing politician, killed Moi politically and dared Raila, at his age I want someone who can give me an insight into the man. Can he be our next president though a Kalenjin or Kikuyu president makes me sick? I posed.

    Uuuuhu, I thought you wanted a briefing on tribal crushes? he asked, you have moved the goal post Gakuru. Mmmm, he posed.

    He looked deep in thought. My earlier self-defence to his question might have reflected an issue we had not discussion with him. For a moment, I thought he would leave the food and walk away.

    I told you I wanted to discuss with you how I can support Raila, not Ruto. If it is about Ruto, you can get a lot about him on the internet, just goggle him. Why don’t you do your research on him rather than making me come all the way from Leicester?

    We had a lengthy discussion and finally he agreed we talk about Ruto. William as those who are close to him will call him is no child’s play. He is one of the most skilled Politician in Kenya today. Uhuru, Musyoka are his opportunities and only Raila scares him. Therefore he admires the son of Ramogi and wishes that Kalenjins will see him the same way Luos sees Raila, a messiah. Watch my words he will achieve it. Who on his own can oppose the Kenyan constitution, get a third of the votes and survive? he started.

    I met William in the days of YK92, then our leader of Cyrus Njirongo, and he was the organising secretary. He is a calm calculating man, young for what he has achieved, about 45 years, very patient and intelligent with what he wants but he has this strength from within of convincing and working with people.

    How do you rate him compared to the other presidential candidates? Please do not rush me. You want me to tell you about William right? he asked. Yes, I replied.

    In the days of YK92 (youth for Kanu 1992) William was not well up financially but he learnt quickly to be humble, attentive, to sing Moi’s song or royalty and therefore he build such a strong trust with his master in a way that he made money for Moi by negotiating big deals and also made money and power for himself.

    William is a survivor. When Jirongo lost favour with Moi, William became Moi’s dear project of cleaning Rift Valley off the foreigners. William understood Moi well and grew to be a monster who has favour of many from Kalenjins his tribe unlike Moi a Tugen a sub-tribe of Kalenjin.

    I can clearly tell you knowing William well he must have been very much involved in masterminding tribal crushes of Molo that have made a good number of you Kikuyus to be in the UK. You should thank Ruto and Moi for your papers, he posed and looked at me on the face.

    Tuko pamoja? he asked with a smile. I nodded, in response. I can clearly tell you again Ruto was involved in 1992, 1997, and 2002, and 2007 tribal crushes. You know I am frustrated beyond believe to see Uhuru Kenyatta bedding this guy who has an agenda of clearing the whole of the Rift Valley county of all the other tribes. He just want Kalenjins in the Rift Valley county and I can tell you he is the greatest threat to peace in Kenya today as Luos, Luhyas, Kisii and many Kikuyus share this region not forgetting the Maasais. Pastoralists are our brothers but you Bantus you came and took our land, tilled and settle on it. Don’t you think we do not have issues with it as well? How would you feel if in the middle of Nyeri county there is a patch of land owned by half a million people who are prosperous and they start controlling Othaya, Mukurweini regions owning all the businesses? Do you think that would be fair to the locals who owned land since the beginning of time? To Kalenjins this is our land given to us by Cheptalel our God. But maybe those times are gone.

    I realised he was becoming emotional. If these people buy this land in Kikuyuland I do not see what the issue is Kenyan land is for Kenyans. Do you want another drink? I asked. He nodded as I ordered him another Ethiopian beer. I do not know why after the ICC ruling last month that Uhuru and Ruto will face charges, the two are accusing Hon. Raila of post election violence in 2007/8. In fact the tribal crushes killed and displaced thousands of innocent people long before this. Therefore these people are crucifying the wrong person. They should go and make a case against Moi and his henchmen including William Ruto. Moi should be a part of ICC for crimes against humanity. The violence we saw was William perfecting his skills of his master’s plan.
    If it was not for the government machinery and Uhuru funding Mungiki he would have succeeded. People forget quickly. It is interesting he has become the darling of Kikuyus. I can tell you if he does not have his way, William will be back.

    Tuko pamoja? You know I don’t trust journalists fully. Kikuyu ni Kikuyu tu. You might be Uhurus project posing as Raila interviewing a friend of Ruto for wiper – Kalonzo Musyoka. Si hata General Kiguoya alimake kuwa President, Kwani?

    Wow what an analysis, and it might be the same with you. You might be a Moi man for Uhuru via a diplomat called Kalonzi for William your war-lord. Be careful what you say to this journalist, I joked.

    By the way is it true what I am hearing that Raila has poured lots of dollars in the UK to you guys. You know what I can do. I can pull the Kalenjin vote within UK for you guys. We are many, well linked and wealthy. Some of our guys are in Surrey.
    Well Koech, can we stick to the issues please, I interrupted.

    I think I have told you enough. Go and research the rest about William for yourself or as your friend Mutula Kilonzo. But I have one thing I want to tell you, Uhuru politically cannot match William Ruto. William is a formidable force, a shroud politician, who feels he can easy do better business with Raila than Uhuru. In fact he is just using Uhuru at the moment for his political gain. He knows Uhuru is a privileged boy with resources and they are both victims of ICC. At opportune time I can clearly tell you he will cut a deal with ODM then you guys kikuyus hatutakua pamoja, you wait, there are no permanent enemies in politics. Go and pay the food and drinks bill. I am off.

    Comment by ttyp2 | February 5, 2012

22. Kibaki is claimed to be the best economist in the region yet the shilling nose dived to an all time low ever since independence not to mention the highest inflation ever experienced in this country.

    Comment by Kiptum | February 5, 2012

23. take the truth and eat it.they all are evil..its them and them alone.other 41 tribes dont count.i c a rwanda style cleansing of the kikyus in the offing if they dont respect other pippo.they want the presidency by all means.KENYANS WILL GANG UP AGAINST THESE KIKUYU NAZISthe kikuyus hav the presidency,deputy prime min,they control finances from the fedha house to central to all the banks, judiciary, internal security,cid boss,national intel,police comm,ap commander etc all kikuyu nazis..

    Comment by nomokyukprezzo | February 6, 2012

24. @John Ndungu #6

    THE TRIBAL KIUKS at FINANCE MINISTRY which Controls Finance, Banking, & Economy in general. Minister – was Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta replaced by a Kiuk (Acting) Robinson Githae; Permanent Secretary – Joseph Kinyua – Pensions secretary – Anne Mugo ERD director – Kenneth Mwangi D/Finance secretary – Mwirichia Controller and Auditor – General; Priscilla Njeri Komora CENTRAL BANK OF KENYA Governor- Prof. Ndungu Dep. Governor – John Gikonyo.

    Comment by tired of kiuk thieves | February 6, 2012

25. Comment by kibaki muwongo | February 6, 2012

26. Where were you 41 Primitive tribes when Kikuyus were Promoting their Sons & daughters? Were you Pregnant and Blind?
    Are you waiting USA& EU to help you?
    Kikuyus has the right to Dominate you for another 1000years hence People like Ruto and Mwakwere Uhurus Lackeys. You better shut-up and accept Kikuyu/Uhuru Money.

    Comment by Monica Nyang Nguen | February 6, 2012

27. We too belong to Kenya..We too pay taxes..We too are Kenyans…
    Wake up Kenyans and lets use out VOTE WISELY come Dec.2012..and vote these tribalists out once and for all..Never again shall we elect a Kikuyu Tribalist to be our President in Kenya..

    Comment by Tim | February 6, 2012

28. Friday, Jan. 04, 2008
    Where Kenya Is on Fire
    By Alex Perry/Eldoret

    The first sign of trouble comes around two hours from Eldoret in the hills of Kenya’s Rift Valley. Several pine trees have been felled across the road, forcing a detour through the forest. A few minutes later, we come across a road-sign barrier bent across the highway. “You cannot imagine that this is Kenya,” mutters Preston, my driver. We come to several more roadblocks manned by men sitting by the side of the road. Their breath smells of banana beer, and they want money and news of Nairobi. Some of them check Preston’s tribe. I congratulate myself for swapping my usual Kikuyu driver for Preston, a Luo, at the last minute. By now the road has deteriorated to a heavily potholed gravel track. “Look at this road,” says Preston. “Look how bad it is around here. This is why they are fighting.” At the next roadblock, a telegraph pole laid across the road, a man leans into the car and drunkenly slurs, “We do not like Kikuyu this side.”

    Preston, an American colleague, and I are driving to Eldoret, the vortex of the tribal violence that has swept Kenya. Four days ago, a mob surrounded Kyamba church just outside Eldoret where hundreds of Kikuyu villagers had sought shelter. The mob barricaded the church doors with mattresses and set them alight. The flames spread through the building and, according to reports at the time, between 30 and 50 people were burned alive before the fire burst through the doors and the rest were able to escape. The Kikuyu, the biggest of Kenya’s 42 tribes, became targets after the Kikuyu President Mwai Kibaki was sworn in for a second term in what overwhelming evidence suggests was a rigged election. For Kenya’s other tribes, angry at what they regard as corrupt Kikuyu dominance of the country’s politics and business, this was an outrage. Particularly angered were the Luo — the third largest in this east African nation of 36 million, whose populist candidate, Raila Odinga, was denied the presidency. Violence erupted across the country. Kyamba church burned the next day.

    As we travel up the Rift valley, the scale and fury of Kenya’s southern division becomes ever more apparent. We enter a village called Kamosong, and 15 men surround the car. One is carrying a foot-long knife, another a hockey stick, a third a bow and arrow, a fourth a wooden club. A man who introduces himself as Thomas tells us the men are from the Kalenjin tribe of former President Daniel Arap Moi. “Have you got anyone in the back?” they ask Preston. “What’s your name? Are you Kikuyu?” A few minutes further on, there is another roadblock and more men with bows and arrows. Then another, at which they check the trunk and Preston’s identity card, which shows he is a Luo. We have passed around 10 more when we come to Kangasif. There is a minibus burning by the side of the road. A mob of 30 surround us. They bang their fists on the window. They are carrying machetes, heavy car wrenches, and more bows and arrows. One reaches into Preston’s window and opens his door. Another man, smashing on my window with his fists, shouts, “We don’t want you. We want your driver.” Preston flashes his identity card. The men relax for a second, and we drive off.

    On the outskirts of Eldoret, we come to a different kind of checkpoint, manned by the Kenyan military police. Inside it along the road into town, thousands of people are dragging suitcases and huddling in groups. Families are camped by the roadside, hanging their washing on fences. At the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral, Nickson Oira, 28, an assistant coordinator for the diocese says up to 9,000 people have sought shelter on the grounds. A further 50,000 are scattered at other refugee points across the town. Up to 20 Kikuyu villages around Eldoret are now deserted, says Oira. All the refugees are living in the open; many have brought whatever belongings they could carry — beds, mattresses, cheap armchairs, cockerels and, under a pile of wooden benches, a sewing machine. A two-man team from Medecins Sans Frontieres is distributing blankets. “Our challenge is food” says Oira. “Because of the looting, all the shops are closed and because of the roadblocks, there is no food coming.”

    Among the crowd is Josephine Wairimi, 45. She was inside Kyamba church when it was burned. She escaped with her husband and five children. A relative was less fortunate and lost three children in the flames. “These people were our neighbors,” she said. “We knew them. They came to our shops. They talked to us.” I ask her if she can return to Kyamba. “No,” she says. “We can never live there. We can never talk to them. They are our enemies now.”

    http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1700279,00.html

    Comment by omwami | February 6, 2012

29. January 7, 2008
    Kenya Kikuyus, Long Dominant, Are Now Routed
    By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
    NAKURU, Kenya — Kenya’s privileged tribe is on the run.

    Over the past few days, tens of thousands of Kikuyus, the tribe of Kenya’s president, have packed into heavily guarded buses to flee the western part of the country because of ethnic violence. On Sunday, endless convoys of buses — some with their windshields smashed by rocks — crawled across a landscape of scorched homes and empty farms.

    It is nothing short of a mass exodus. The tribe that has dominated business and politics in Kenya since independence in 1963 is now being chased off its land by machete-wielding mobs made up of members of other tribes furious about the Dec. 27 election, which Kenya’s president, Mwai Kibaki, won under dubious circumstances. In some places, Kikuyus have been hunted down with bows and arrows.

    The hospital in Nakuru, a town in the Rift Valley, is full of Kikuyu men with deep ax wounds, fingers cut off and slash marks across their faces.

    “It was the Kalenjin,” said Samuel Mburu, a Kikuyu farmer with rows of stitches in his head, when asked who had nearly killed him. The Kalenjin are one of the bigger tribes in the Rift Valley, and they have fought fiercely with the Kikuyus before, mostly over land.

    Many Kalenjin are unapologetic. Robert Tutuny, a Kalenjin farmer, stood on a hillside on Sunday with an iron bar in his hands and looked down at the charred remains of a Kikuyu village that was razed a week ago.

    “We hate these people,” Mr. Tutuny said.

    The election — and the unresolved battle about who won — has ignited old tensions in Kenya, which in a week and a half has gone from being one of Africa’s most promising countries to another equatorial trouble zone.

    The political impasse continued Sunday, with Jendayi E. Frazer, the American assistant secretary of state for African affairs, meeting again with opposition leaders and government officials, but no resolution was in sight.

    The heavy fighting that claimed more than 300 lives last week has subsided and many people have gone back to work in the capital, Nairobi. There, people from different tribes live side by side and often work in the same office. They are aware of ethnic differences and sometimes joke about them, but it usually does not go further than that.

    But out here — where little towns rise from the veld like mirages and where there is so much wide-open space it seems incongruous to fight over land — these differences matter. A tribal war is shaping up between the Kalenjin, who mostly support Kenya’s opposition leaders, and the Kikuyus, who voted heavily — up to 98 percent in some areas — for the president.

    Tens of thousands of Kikuyus are camped out at police stations and churches for protection, waiting for buses guarded by military escorts to evacuate them to the central highlands, the traditional Kikuyu homeland. There, amid the lush tea fields and rolling green hills, they are safe because almost everyone who lives in the highlands is Kikuyu.

    Ethnic conflict is now threatening the decades of stability that has set Kenya apart from so many of its neighbors, like Congo, Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan. But Kenya has struggled with ethnic violence before. Its rare bursts usually come around election time.

    “You have to understand that these issues are much deeper than ethnic,” said Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

    “They are political,” he said, and “they go back to land.”

    The last time the Rift Valley was this violent was in 1992, another election year in Kenya and a time of turbulent transition between dictatorship and democracy. Kalenjin militias, stirred up by politicians who told them that the valley was Kalenjin ancestral land, massacred hundreds of Kikuyus in a bid to steal their farms.

    Since then, Mr. Kiai said, “Emotions have been festering, resentments have been building and we sat around pretending ethnicity didn’t exist.”

    Kenya has more than 40 tribes, but the Kikuyus have almost always been on top. They run shops, restaurants, banks and factories across the country. One reason Mr. Kibaki has engendered so much resentment from other tribes is because many of the top officials in his government — including the ministers of defense, justice, finance and internal security — are Kikuyus.

    The Kikuyus are the biggest tribe in Kenya but far from a majority, at 22 percent of the population. The Kalenjins make up about 12 percent.

    In the Rift Valley, the anti-Kikuyu grudge goes back to independence, when the British government bought out Britons who owned huge, picturesque farms. But instead of redistributing that land to the impoverished people who had lived here for centuries, like the Kalenjin and Masai, the newly formed Kenyan government, led by Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, gave much of it to Kikuyus from other areas.

    Most of the Kikuyus here are hardly rich. The men lying on bloody sheets at the Nakuru hospital are emaciated farmers with threadbare clothes. The same goes for the Kikuyus who have been slaughtered by gangs of opposing tribes in Nairobi’s slums, causing an exodus from there, too. They lived in iron shanties just as their non-Kikuyu neighbors do.

    But in many cases, the Kikuyus own kiosks or small patches of land or they are related to someone who does, and that makes them a little better off by local standards.

    “Land is very important to us,” said Anthony Kirunga, a Kikuyu, who sells spare car parts in Nakuru. “It’s not our fault that other people are jealous.”

    This election stirred up anti-Kikuyu jealousies like never before. Raila Odinga, the top opposition candidate and a member of the Luo tribe, built his campaign on a promise to end Kikuyu favoritism and share the fruits of Kenya’s growing economy with all tribes.

    Early election results had him way ahead and his party winning the most seats in Parliament. But at the 11th hour of the vote-tallying process last Sunday, Mr. Kibaki surged. Election observers have said the president’s party rigged the results to stay in power.

    Millions of opposition supporters across Kenya were outraged. Not only did their candidate lose, but it also seemed to them that their system, which until the election had been celebrated as one of the most vibrant democracies in Africa, had cheated them.

    In western Kenya, where Kikuyus are vastly outnumbered, they became easy targets. In Kisumu, the third-largest city in the country, Luos went on a rampage, burning down Kikuyu shops and ransacking the downtown.

    In the Rift Valley, Kalenjin gangs stormed Kikuyu farms. Police officers seemed reluctant to intervene. Dozens of Kikuyus were massacred, including up to 50 women and children hiding in a church who were burned alive. What has kept the death toll from rising even higher is the fact that few people here have guns; most of the clashes have been fought with clubs, knives and stones.

    Jeremiah Mukuna, 75, a Kikuyu farmer, was attacked by a Kalenjin mob last Monday while he was sitting on the porch of his shack, his family said. His head was split open with an ax. On Sunday, he lay in a coma in the Nakuru hospital, taking short, shallow breaths.

    His wife, Grace, said she was leaving the Rift Valley.

    “I will never come back,” she said.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/world/africa/07kenya.html?pagewanted=print

    Comment by omwami | February 6, 2012

30. The sad news is that some departments are so staffed with Kikuyus that even departmental meetings are held in Kikuyu language. No wonder Kikuyus have a problem with other Kenyans. Someone must take action and very fast

    Comment by trish | February 7, 2012

31. The Life and Times of Josiah Mwangi (J.M.) Kariuki

    Known and referred by many as J.M. Kariuki, Josiah Mwangi Kariuki was born on March 21 1929, in an area known as Kabati-ini near Bahati Forest in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. The only boy in a family of five siblings, he was born to Kariuki Kigani and Mary Wanjiku, at a time when Kenya was a colony under the British Rule. His parents had earlier on been forced to leave their home area, Chinga, located in the Nyeri native reserve, back in 1928 to work in the white highlands. There, they became squatters on a European settler’s farm and were expected, as was the case with other African squatter families, to do the regular and seasonal jobs for wages. In 1938, he briefly enrolled in Evanson’s Day School, but dropped out shortly due to lack of school fees. In 1940, when he was ill, his father Mr. Kariuki Kigani, married a 2nd wife and moved back to Chinga, where he died in 1943.

    J.M. was raised by his mother and another man, Mr. Zacharia. He started working for the settler’s farm until 1946, when he won a bet in Nakuru Horse races. Using the bet’s proceeds he then enrolled himself back to a string of schools and was able to finish his primary school education in 1950. Later, he joined King’s College in Uganda’s Wakiso district for his secondary education. J. M. Kariuki’s political life probably started in 1946 in earnest, after listening to a the Late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s speech denouncing the way colonial government was handling the natives in a political rally. Kenyatta told the crowd to rise up against the misery they had endured under the colonial rule. Justice and hope could be achieved. He appealed to the gathering to unite against tribalism (divide and rule) and work hard and educate their children so they may take over the government of the country from Britain. This speech inspired everyone, J.M. included.

    During the next four years, the later-to-be husband of three concentrated on his studies, and also had to role play in the fight against colonial rule. In late 1940s, he joined the primary school drama and role-played in the fight against colonial rule. While in Uganda for his secondary education, he closely followed the struggles that local Kenyans were facing from the European settlers. There was scarcity of land for Africans to cultivate, there were moribund educational facilities, the administration mistreated Africans and Kenyans were not allowed into the legislative council. On 22 October 1952, he finished his secondary school education and returned to Kenya. Shortly after that, Kenya was placed under state of emergency by the new Governor, Sir Evelyn Baring, and Kariuki joined the Mau Mau uprising. After he took his oath, he started working as Mau Mau liaison officer between Eldoret and Kisumu. He also helped in soliciting money, boots and housing for Mau Mau. This led to his arrest in his hotel, which was working as a front to his political work. He was then detained in various camps (including Kowop and Langata) from 1953 until his release, seven years later in 1960.

    After his release, he managed to secure Kenyatta’s approval in starting Nyeri’s Kenya African National Union (KANU) branch by visiting him in detention. When Kenya became independent in 1963, Kariuki worked as Kenyatta’s private secretary between 1963 to 1969.

    In late 1960, Kariuki relationship with Kenyatta became increasingly strained as he became increasingly vocal of the president’s policies, disagreeing with the government’s handling of corruption issues, widening gap between rich and poor, deteriorating relations among East African Community members, and unfair distribution of land. He condemned dictatorship pointing out that emergent African leadership had perverted democracy to mean “Government by a few for a few on behalf of many, whether the many like it or not.” In 1974, he was elected Member of parliament for Nyandarua North and became an assistant minister in the Kenyatta government between 1974 and 1975. This was despite Kenyatta government pulling all strings at its disposal to avoid his re-election as his popularity threatened to overshadow the government of the day.

    In 1969, JM Kariuki was the only Kikuyu politician to set foot on Rusinga Island for Tom Mboya’s funeral. He was last seen alive at the Hilton Hotel, accompanied by Kenyatta’s bodyguard on March 2, 1975, the day he was apparently brutally murdered, three weeks shy of his 46th birthday. Kariuki’s remains were found by a Maasai herdsman, Musaita ole Tunda, in a thicket in the Ngong Hills several days later. His fingers had been chopped off and eyes gouged out. His death, just like that of another assassination victim – Tom Joseph Mboya – had robbed Kenya of, yet again, one of the most dedicated champions of the rights of the poor and a vociferous critic of inequality. His death, though largely acknowledged as a political assassination by people close to the Kenyatta government, has never been resolved. A Parliamentary Select Committee was immediately established to investigate the circumstances surrounding Kariuki’s murder. The Committee’s report implicated a senior police officer, Joginder Singh Sokhi, senior administrative officers and politicians, but no one was ever punished.

    Famous Quotes by JM
    “Political independence without economic independence is like having a wedding without a bride.”

    “In Kenya today, I can only see the dawn of a June morning rising majestically from the white oblivion into the serenity of life.”

    “If we forget these people (the youth), we will find ourselves surrounded by rogues who are rogues not because they want to become rogues but because they are hungry and this leads them into temptation.”

    “It is this greed that will put this country into chaos. Let me state here that this greedy attitude among the leaders is going to ruin this country.”

    “Kenya has become a nation of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars.”

    “Every Kenyan man, woman and child is entitled to a decent and just living. That is a birthright. It is not a privilege. He is entitled as far as is humanly possible to equal educational, job and health opportunities irrespective of his parentage, race or creed or his area of origin in this land. If that is so, deliberate efforts should be made to eliminate all obstacles that today stand in the way of this just goal. That is the primary task of the machinery called Government: our Government.”

    “We fought for independence with sweat, blood and our lives. Many of us suffered for inordinate days – directly and indirectly. Many of us are orphans, widows and children as a result of the struggle. We must ask: What did we suffer for, and were we justified in that suffering?”

    http://photography.a24media.com/index.php/photogallery/prominent-faces/127-the-life-and-times-of-josiah-mwangi-jm-kariuki-

    Comment by popova | February 7, 2012

32. @John Ndungu #6 read this: This is how much Kyuks don’t want to support Raila Odinga.

    Lari MP’s car burnt by hired goons at his home .
    Monday, 06 February 2012 00:06 BY NJENGA GICHEHA

    LARI MP David Njuguna’s car was burnt in a night attack, days after he told President Kibaki to SUPPORT Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s bid for the presidency. Youth suspected to have been hired broke into his Lari home and set one of his vehicle’s ablaze. The goons got into the home at 9am on Saturday after rumours spread that some politicians, in Lari, were planning a demonstration against the MP.

    The MP was away in Mombasa for a series of rallies and prayer meetings organised by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto. His wife Beth Wanjiku said they were still in shock and expressed fear that her life that of her children were in danger. She said they were watching TV in the sitting room with her two daughters when the gang struck.

    One of her daughters went to open the front door as she wanted to go out when she heard a commotion outside and closed the door immediately. They dashed to the window to see what was going on and saw the family Peugeot salon, used to ferry the MP’s bodyguard and driver burning and raised the alarm.

    She said they heard footsteps of people running away and when neighbours arrived, they went out and helped put out the fire. “When my daughter heard a commotion and whistled, she immediately came upstairs and alerted us and we raised the alarm. Neighbours helped us put out the fire but the front seat and the roof of the vehicle was burnt,” Wanjiku said. “We are shocked by the incident which did not just get us off guard but also has filled us with fear. My husband is in Mombasa and we informed him of the incident but told him to continue with his mission us police will handle the issue,” she said.

    She said some politicians from the region had stepped up insults on her and her family adding that they are not able to carry out their farming venture any more. Wanjiku said the politicians have vowed to bring the MP down after he urged President Kibaki to drum up support for Prime Minister Raila Odinga in his quest for the presidency.

    Comment by hoagie | February 7, 2012

33. Who Was Mundi Mbingu?

    Did you know that Muindi Mbingu (for whom Muindi Mbingu Street in Nairobi is named) was a Kamba policeman who led the Akamba in resisting British colonialism in pre-independent Kenya? Read on…

    Samuel Muindi Mbingu was born in 1893 and schooled up to form four at Kabete Technical. After form four he joined the Kenya Power and later the police. During this time the colonial government had taken most of the Kamba land and the Kamba community, which was mainly pastoralism, send to reserved areas.

    In 1937 the DC with instruction from the governor took cattle from the “Nungu’s” meaning “monkeys/primitive blacks referring to the local natives. The government believed that the wealth of cattle made the kambas disobedient thus the wealth is taken so as to gain control over them. Besides taking the cattle the locals were also forced to make terraces in their shambas. This treatment provoked the vocal of fearless Muindi Mbingu to leave the police and mobilize others like Elijah Kavulu and Isaac Mwalonzi to fight for the rights of their people. Due to his fearless character, he commanded a lot of respect and obedience from people particularly from Ngelani and Kangundo regions and elected the chairman of the committee to address the people’s problems. In 1938, all the cattle in Kamba, Ngelani, Koma-rock region leaving the locals without any cattle. It was at this point that Muindi Mbingu mobilized all the people where they agreed not to let their cattle go and not to make terraces in the shambas. This agreement was summarized in a slogan “No Kikuu” meaning “as previously agreed”. From then they all refused the DC’s meeting and whenever they attended they would leave. Incase of a disagreement saying “No Kikuu”. With no solution to the problems of the local’s. Muindi Mbingu led

    All the people of Ngelani, the old and the young, men and women in the biggest demonstration to Nairobi. More than 80 km so as to meet the government or himself. They went to “Kariokor”. Then courier corps” where they stayed for one month all this time seeking to see the governor but being barred. All this time Muindi Mbingu organized how food for the people would be transported from Ngelani to Nairobi. At the end of the month the governor’s wife passed by and saw women suckling their young ones in the cold and this touched her so much and an act she wanted addressed by the governor and hence Muindu Mbingu and his committee went to the governor. Where they agreed to release the cattle to the owners.

    During the courier corps meeting, when asked what he wanted done to his people he responded in the local Kamba language – “twenda kwikala ta maau mau maitu, twithye ngombe to Mau mau maitu, nunmdu nthi ino ni ya maau mau maitu. (We want to live like our grandfathers, keep cattle like our grandfathers, for the land we live on is our grandfathers). The colonialist later accused him of being the founder of “Mau Mau uprising “- the Mau Mau is accredited to this brave nationalist.

    From this time (1938) the colonial government accused Muindi Mbingu of leading a revolt called Mau Mau. It was against this background that he was arrested and detained for seven years in the Coastal Islands of Lamu.

    After release, he was com-promised by then D.C and collaborator with the colonial government, a move, which annoyed the people, he had previously led fighting against the abuse of their rights. This led to his brutal murder in 1953; his death marked the climax of Mau Mau revolution with others like former President Kenyatta championing the Mau Mau causes.

    What Muindi Mbingu did for his people is worth remembering hence Muindi Mbingu street in Nairobi.

    Comment by shameika | February 7, 2012

34. BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
    NAIROBI-KENYA
    THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2011

    Kenyans from all tribes fought against the British colonialists to liberate the country. It is therefore a GREAT FALLACY for a few Kikuyus to claim a big share of the national cake at the expense of other Kenyans. No more Kikuyu presidency.

    Kenyans annually celebrate Mashujaa (heroes/heroines ) Day to honor those who struggled and resisted colonization. They wanted Kenya to be free of intimidations, racism, negative ethnicity, nepotism, corruption, and political assassinations, land grabbing, torture, human rights abuses and many more. After Independence many of our Mashujaa have continued to fight bad leadership under presidents Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki.

    Mekatilili wa Menza, a Kenyan woman leader, is remembered for her courage in leading the Giriama people in a rebellion against the British Colonial Administration and policies in 1913 – 1914. They had sacred dwelling places called Kayas, located in forested areas, one of which the British Colonial Administration destroyed by dynamiting it in 1914.

    Because of her resistant to colonial policies Mekatilili was captured by the British and exiled to Mumias in Western Province of Kenya, far away from her coastal native area. Even after five years in prison she was released she continued to oppose the imposition of Colonial policies and ordnances. She died in 1914, and was buried in Bungala, in Magarini District.

    Dedan Kimathi Waciuri (31 October 1920 – 18 February 1957) is honoured because he fought against the British colonial government in Kenya in the 1950s. He was convicted and executed in 1957 for murder and terrorism. The British colonial government convicted him because he was the main lead of Mau Mau movement.

    Other heroes include M’Kiribua M’Muchiri alias Musa Mwariama born in 1928 at Muthara in Tigania division of Meru District. Waruhiu Itote was one of the key leaders of the Mau Mau rebellion alongside Dedan Kimathi and General Stanley Mathenge and Musa Mwariama.

    Ramogi Achieng Oneko (1920–2007), one of the six freedom fighters arrested by the British colonial government in Kapernguria in 1952. Other members of the group, known as “Kapenguria Six” were Jomo Kenytatta, Paul Ngei, Bildad Kaggia, Kungu Karumba and Fred Kubai. They were arrested for allegedly being linked with the Mau Mau rebellion movement. They were released nine years later, in 1961, two years before Kenya gained independence.

    On the other hand, while Jomo Kenyatta is honoured for his role in Mau Mau uprising, his regime is remembered for the death of Josiah Mwangi Kariuki (March 21, 1929–March 2, 1975). Mwangi was a great opponent to Kenyatta and always fought for the poor Kenyans-unfair distribution of land by Kenyatta to his close friends.

    JM as he was popularly known is remembered by Kenyans as a hero as he came to represent the force against the evils that have harmed the country to this day. He is remembered for his great quote: “Kenya has become a nation of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars.” “Every Kenyan man, woman and child is entitled to a decent and just living.

    JM was brutally murdered on March 2, 1975, three weeks short of his 46th birthday, robbing Kenya of one of the most dedicated champions of the rights of the poor and a vociferous critic of inequality.

    Kenyatta is also remembered for the death of Tom Mboya and Pio Gama Pinto. Pinto had discovered that Kenyatta had allocated himself a total of 50 farms in Central province and Rift valley and this did not please him. Some of the farms had poor Kikuyu squatters who were to be evicted.

    The land owned by the Kenyatta family includes Taita Taveta farm (74, 000 acres), Kahawa Sukari farm (29, 000 acres), Gatundu farm, Thika farm, Brookside farm, Muthaita farm, Green Lee Estate, Njagu farm in Juja, Kasarani farm (9, 000 acres), Nakuru farm in Rongai near Moi’s home, a quarry in Dandora, Naivasha Ranch and several farms in Nairobi.

    Close associates of Kenyatta such as Mbiyu Koinange, Kihika Kimani, Isaiah Mathenge, Eliud Mahihu, Jackson Angaine, Paul Ngei, Daniel Arap Moi, Njoroge Mungai, Charles Njonjo, Mwai Kibaki, Njenga Karume among other power brokers of the time, were encouraged to acquire, and did acquire, as much land.

    Pinto’s problem began when he decided to move a vote of no confidence in Kenyatta. Kenyatta confronted him within the precincts of parliament and challenged him over the no confidence vote. Tom Mboya had earlier warned Pinto that his life was in danger and he could take refuge outside Kenya, and advise Pinto ignored.

    When Pinto refused to back down Kenyatta called him a bastard to which Pinto immediately responded by telling Kenyatta in front of witnesses and other cabinet ministers that he (Kenyatta) was also a bastard.

    Mboya was a brilliant young Suba man who also became a key rival of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, and allowed himself to be played against Jaramogi by the Mt Kenya elite. It was because of him that Kenya Peoples Union came into existence…after he came up with the regional vice presidency scheme.

    Born Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya on 15th August 1930, he was to die by an assassin’s bullet at the tender age of 39 on 5th July 1969. It is widely believed that his high profile and illustrious career as a brilliant and charismatic leader, led to his assassination.

    Jaramogi Oginga Odinga found himself into a big problem when it came to emerge that he had arranged for Pinto to hide in Mombasa and if necessary sneak out of the country from there. Kenyatta had to appoint Joseph Murumbi his Vice President later that year when he heard about this and said it was not possible for Kenyatta to kill Pinto.

    Pinto was killed in cold blood. It has never been revealed before but it was the realization that Pinto’s assassination had been carried out by Kenyatta insiders that led to the resignation of Joseph Murumbi as Vice President later on. Others who died mysteriously during Kenya include Ronald Ngala and CMG Argwings Kodhek.

    Although Argwings-Kodhek’s death was attributed to a road accident, Kodhek who became a powerful minister in the Kenyatta cabinet was believed by a close confidant of Kenyatta that his death was actually the result of a gunshot fired from a police-issued rifle. Many close to the family actually believe that this was President Kenyatta’s first political assassination.

    Closely held family records indicate that former cabinet minister Paul Ngei actually identified the police vehicle that carried the assassins to the ambush point on Hurlingham Road (now Argwings-Kodhek Road). The vehicle in question was part of Vice-President Moi’s Vice-Presidential Escort detail.

    The testimony of former cabinet minister Andrew Omanga, then C.M.G.’s Permanent Secretary indicate that when Omanga met him lying in the road shortly after the ‘accident’ C.M.G. stated that he had a ‘shock’ and that he heard a ‘gun shot’. Formerly powerful Attorney-General Charles Njonjo confirmed as C.M.G. lay dying the next morning that the ‘wounds are consistent with gun shot wounds’.

    It is commonly known that Kenyatta, frustrated with Oginga Odinga, had already notified Argwings-Kodhek that he was going to be appointed Vice-President—a position C.M.G. had turned down and suggested that it be given to Moi, instead of Mboya—to become the first African to join the colonial Legislative Council.

    The Kenyatta administration clearly did the most damage in dividing the country along tribal lines and destroying all the national unity that had been achieved in the run up to independence.

    On the other hand, while Daniel arap Moi is honoured as one of the heroes, like Kenyatta he is also remembered for numeral deaths during his tenure including the controversial one of Dr Robert Ouko and Anglican Bishop, Alexander Kipsang arap Muge.

    Ouko was murdered after a controversial trip to the United States where it is rumoured that he had easier access to the then US President George Bush Senior than did President Moi. That was a threat to National security.

    Horace Ongili who was said to have been a rising politician in Kenya also died mysteriously during Moi. By the time he was brutally murdered and his body discarded in a maize plantation, it was rumoured that he was set to be named vice president. At that time, the seat was occupied by Mwai Kibaki who is the current president.

    The next victim was Masinde Muliro (1922 – August 14, 1992), one of the renowned freedom fighter who campaigned for the restoration of multi-party democracy in Kenya. He was a ruthless negotiator and a proponent of peaceful but focused politics.

    Prior to his death it has been speculated that had he not died, he may have beaten for the presidency in 1992. He was appointed minister of commerce just before Kenya gained independence in 1963. He worked in various positions in later governments, but was frequently on the wrong side of President Kenyatta.

    Other heroes in my own opinion to be honoured include students of Nairobi and Kenyatta universities who were the most visible participants in the 1982 coup attempt celebrations, significantly, the chairman of the Students’ Organisation of the University of Nairobi (Sonu), Titus Adungosi who went on radio to express solidarity with the rebels. Moi jailed him for ten years. He died at Naivasha GK Prison in 1989.

    Some of the students picked up by coup investigators and later released include Cabinet ministers Musalia Mudavadi, Chepalungi MP Isaac Ruto, former Rangwe MP Shem Ochuodho and David Murathe.

    Others are lawyer Philip Murgor, East African Standard Group Managing Editor Wachira Waruru, Human Rights activist Odour Ong’wen and then director of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Mr Kibisu Kabetesi.

    As a second-year BA student, Isaac Ruto was neck-deep in campus politics when the air force revolted on August 1, 1982. He was the vice-chairman of the students’ organisation, Sonu. He learned of the coup at 4am when students’ chairman Tito Adungosi waked him up.

    Oginga Ogego, Kanu activist and aide to Raila Odinga who was involved in the Kanu-NDP merger talks was then a third year political science student, was jailed for 10 years on charges of sedition. In fact Ogego had initially been jailed for six years but was added four more when he told appeal Judge Matthew Muli that his only regret was that the coup attempt had failed.

    Musalia Mudavadi was a second-year student studying Land Economics when the University of Nairobi was sucked into the coup. Police picked up Musalia two days later. He spent a night at Turbo Police Station before being transferred to Embakasi GSU Training School. He was released after three days.

    David Murathe, MP for Gatanga then was a third-year student and a member of the Sonu council, Murathe was reluctant to go into the streets when news of the coup reached the campus. Three days after the coup attempt, Murathe was arrested at Gatanga chief’s camp. He was held at the Embakasi GSU Training School and released a few days after recording a statement.

    Shem Ochuodho was was locked up at Embakasi GSU Training School and charged with participating in an illegal demonstration. The case was later withdrawn, but not before Ochuodho had spent six months in police custody.

    Philip Murgo, Nairobi lawyer, was a third-year law student when he was arrested after the coup attempt and stayed in police custody for six months. That time Wachira Waruru, Group Managing Editor, The East African Standard was a third-year literature student at Kenyatta University when he attracted the interest of the coup investigators. He was released after a day of questioning.

    Six weeks later, police went for him at the offices of the now defunct Nairobi Times newspaper, where he worked as a reporter. He also ended up at Embakasi GSU training school and was freed in February 1983.

    Stephen Omondi Oludhe, politician and best known as the founder of National Development Party of Kenya (NDP), which was turned over to Mr Raila Odinga and later merged with Kanu was a third-year student at the University of Nairobi when he became the target of detectives investigating the coup.

    He was whisked away by the Special Branch in Kisumu as he went to report to his location chief. He was briefly held at Kisumu Police Station before being transferred to Embakasi GSU Training School, where he was held for six months.

    Oduor Ong’wen was a second-year science student at Chiromo campus. Ong’wen was arrested four days later at his rural home in Siaya district. He was briefly locked up at Kisumu Police Station, where he found Shem Ochuodho and Stephen Oludhe. The three were later transferred to Embakasi GSU Training School where they remained for six months.

    Private Hezekiah Ochuka who led the coup and later killed by Moi after been convicted on murder charges- Moses Wetangula, the current Foreign Minister in Kibaki government should also be honoured for having been Ochuka’s defence lawyer.

    Ochuka believed Moi would have been put in custody together with his cronies, who had misused public property, and then taken to court after an inquiry.

    Comment by Kiptum | February 9, 2012

35. Coast MPs rap Kimunya on KPA board nominees
    Sunday, 29 April 2012 23:49 BY PHILIP MBAJI

    A Cabinet minister yesterday accused Transport minister Amos Kimunya of constituting an ‘ethnic’ board of directors at the Kenya Ports Authority. Fisheries minister Amason Kingi said Coast MPs have given Kimunya up to tomorrow afternoon to re-constitute the board. He said the new board that was gazetted on April 20 comprises people from the same community.

    Speaking in Mombasa, Kingi, who was flanked by Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadeghu, said: ”Kimunya has until tomorrow afternoon to correct the situation failing which we will seek audience with Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki on Wednesday.” The MPs statements came as the Mijikenda Youth Forum chaired by politician Nyonga wa Makemba is finalising a plan to move to court to bar the new board from taking office.

    Kingi accused Kimunya of misusing his powers to appoint the board that ‘’can even conduct meetings in vernacular as more than 90 per cent of members speak the same language”. “The minister has to correct this in the shortest time possible because being a minister, I too know he has the powers to do so. This is an issue that has really polarised the region because KPA has regional attachment to Coast residents and they now feel left out,” said Kingi.

    Supporting of the MYF plan, Kingi and Mwadeghu said Kimunya ought to have appointed representatives of every region in the country to ensure that the board has a national outlook and to conform to the new constitution. “What the minister is showing people is that he is oppressive and arrogant. How could he appoint the board with members from one region. We are rallying behind MPs from other regions to oppose this move in Parliament because it can not be and it will never happen,” said Mwadeghu.

    According to a gazette notice, Kimunya appointed Baramadi Shukri, Khadija Karim, Abdhallah Fadhili, Ian Karanja, Benard Gaithuma, Eunice Wanja Njeru, Edward Ngige, Joseph Kinyua, Cyrus Njiru, Joseph Waweru, Nduva Muli, Gichiri Ndua and Muthoni Gatere as board members. Coast’s Mohammed Jahazi and Jillo Komora were dropped after the expiry of their term. But Mwadeghu claimed that the inclusion of Shukri, Fadhili and Karim was a ploy to grip the intended Lamu port.

    Kingi said Kimunya could not convince Kenyans that some members like Kinyua and Njiru, who are Finance and Transport Permanent Secretaries, were automatic members as he could have picked alternative directors. “I know we will be told that these are automatic members to the board owing to their positions but as a minister I cannot appoint a board with members from Vanga to Kiunga because I’m from Coast although I have the powers. There is a provision to pick an alternative director from across the country in their place for regional balance,” said Kingi. Mwadeghu urged Coast ministers to relinquish their posts in protest should Kimunya not heed to their call. However, Kingi said the call is untimely as not all avenues to address the issue have been exhausted.

    Comment by toivo | May 2, 2012

36. According to the Kenya Gazettw Notice 5058 of 20th April 2012, these are the New board of Directors at the Kenya Port Authority (KPA).

    Baramadi Shukri- Chairman – Lamu,
    Khadija Karim director – Lamu
    Abdallah Fadhil Director – Lamu
    Ian Karanja Director – Central
    Bernard Gaithua Director – Central
    Eunice Njeru Director – Central
    Joseph Kinyua PS Finance – Central
    Cyrus Njiru PS Transport – Central
    James Waweru Rep Attorney G – Central
    Edward Ngige Rep. Inspector State – Central
    Gichiri Ndua MD KPA – Central
    Muthoni Gatere Corparation/board – Central
    Nduva Muli MD Kenya Railways – Eastern

    MINISTRY OF GENDER AND CHILDREN AFFAIRS

    Information and Communication Technology Unit – Head, George W. Muhoro (Mr.)
    AIDS Control Unit – Head, B. Mugo
    Human Resource Development -Head, J. Macharia (Mr.)
    Accounts Unit – Head, Festus N. Kamau (Mr.)
    Central Planning and Project Monitoring Unit – Head, E. Ndirangu (Mrs)
    Senior Deputy Secretary/Administration; Beth N. Mutugi
    Senior Assistant Secretary- Simon F. Wachiye
    Senior Assistant Secretary; Benson M. Mugo
    Assistant Secretary; Simon C. Gatheru
    Assistant Secretary; Joan Gitau
    US/PA Minister; Martin Mwiti

    COFFEE RESEARCH FOUNDATION

    Director; Kimemia J K
    Internal Audit; Kigo SM
    Transport and Estate Manager: Njue R.M
    Plant Pathology; Kairu G.M
    Head, Chemistry; Mburu JN
    Procurement Manger; Kobia V.K
    Head of Entomology; Mugo H.M
    Principal, Kenya Coffee College; Nyaga M.K
    AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF KENYA
    CEO; Batram M. Muthoka
    COTTON DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
    Human Resources and Administration Officer; Jackson Nguriare
    Planning and Monitoring Officer; Antony Muriithi
    Value Addition Officer; Alex Mungai
    Legal Officer; Kellen Njue
    Internal Auditor; Stephen Mugi
    Senior Accountant; Joseph Muigai

    KENYA RE-INSURANCE CO.
    Chairman of Board – Nelius Kariuki
    Acting Managing Director – Jadiah Mwarania
    General Manager- Reinsurance Operations, Beth Nyaga
    General Manager – Finance and Investments, Steve Mbui
    Manager- Investments, Jacqueline Njui
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    Comment by yeti | May 3, 2012

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