Maina Njenga, the former leader of the outlawed Mungiki sect, and now a reformed preacher, has been on the spot over last week�s chaos that rocked a Gema conference dubbed Limuru II. KEN-ARTHUR WEKESA engaged him on issues that cropped up during the politically charged function.
QUESTION. What is your response to claims that your presence at the Gema Conference in Limuru was ill intended?
ANSWER: The allegations are baseless and simplistic. I didn�t mobilise anyone to Limuru. Like everyone else, the youth were invited through an advert in the media. If anything, I was part and parcel of those organising the function.
I did it because our former leader Njenga Karume, who called me to his hospital bed hours before his death, asked me. In his twilight, he was getting concerned that there was need to bond the old and younger members of Gema through a cultural event that was unfortunately turned into a circus of political expediency.
Only sitting MPs were allowed to talk and ended up digressing from the real issues and even spewed rhetoric that can again plunge the nation into civil strife.
Your allegations are very serious. Can you justify them?
The cultural event, among other things, was expected to address who we are, where we are, and where we are going as a community and as such expected full participation of everyone present, including real Gema elders, women and youth leaders.
Unfortunately the politicians, who were the only ones that ran the show, began campaigning for elective posts and deciding, who the community should support in the quest for State House.
But worse of all was when they began spewing ethnic hatred about a certain leader from Nyanza as the common enemy. This is the very politics that dissected the very strands that bind the nation in 2007 leading to the post-poll chaos that claimed many lives, destroyed property and led to forcible transfer of populations.
What broke the camel�s back leading to a temporary disruption of the proceedings was when it became clear the politicians were winding up the meeting without addressing the latent concerns.
Wouldn�t the very concerns of the youth have been addressed at the plenary session? And what were they anyway?
You didn�t hear me. They already had premeditated what was to be articulated and were winding up that is why the youth became agitated. All the MPs kept talking about the ICC, one common enemy who is also a Kenyan, and their quest for being senators and governors.
Their call for national cohesion is cosmetic. No politician talked about the murder of more than 10,000 youth from Central, unemployment among them, the fate of thousands of displaced people still languishing in frail camps, alcohol and drug menace facing this youth because these appeared to be none of their business.
That is why despite their willpower to offer employment to the youth or resettle the Internally Displaced Persons even when one presidential aspirant owns more than 20,000 acres of land, they never committed to such issues. How do you expect us to give this crop of leaders a thunderous applause when they are isolating everyone?
Q. You were involved in organising the event and that everyone was invited to Limuru. Aren�t your claims of isolation unfounded?
A. Absolutely not. It is not just the youth who are up in arms over what transpired in Limuru. The elders too were disappointed to learn they had come to a political rally to listen to some politicians instead of enjoying the Gema cultural heritage.
What even irked them more is the blatant defiling of our customs as some legislators who don�t qualify or meet the threshold of being elders, masqueraded as elders. For instance, when was Cecily Mbarire (Runyenjes MP) crowned an elder? The bottom line is clear �politicians ran the show and isolated everyone and I bet this also irked the dead. I swear Njenga Karume, our most revered elder, must have turned in his grave in anger because his desire was to unite all members of Gema. The politicians are paranoid about the peasant and the masses and we will take them head-on next month.
What is your next strategy in Gema?
A. Last week�s Gema conference in Limuru, purely foregrounded a caste struggle � rich versus the poor. The high and mighty couldn�t stand the stench of the meek and don�t think the peasants have the right to address the kings. I was barred from talking in Limuru II, and so I am organising Limuru III next month. I am inviting all the sons and daughters of the peasants, age notwithstanding, who felt they were isolated last week. The days of the minority rich thriving at the expense of majority poor are numbered. Watch this pace.
What is your parting shot?
A. The Limuru conference that aimed at bringing together the Gema community was well intentioned. It is constitutionally correct since the supreme law guarantees one right to be a member of an association. It was politically wrong because Gema MPs engaged in divisive politics, sending wrong signals to other communities especially during such a sensitive electioneering period.
The Gema we want is that which does not preach tribal animosity and continues to complete the circle of status quo but that which is sensitive to the dictum of national cohesion as it remains alive to the pertinent issues facing the nation, especially issues of the youth who are the majority.
Published on 31/03/2012
GEMA does not represent me, my views or where I see us going as a country. What it does awaken in me is a feeling of guilt. In a sense the ICC got it wrong. It’s not the Ocampo 4 but more like the Ocampo 40 million. We are all on trial. We are all guilty. But now we are also guilty of wasting time!!
Allow me to tell you a story. A cab driver that we frequently use, let’s call him Peter, rushed his then 3 month-old son to Kenyatta hospital. The child was diagnosed with meningitis. The doctor looked at Peter and said, ‘You look like someone who can afford the medicine that your child needs. I can either inject your child with the medicines that we have in stock here, which won’t help- they will only make you feel like something is being done. Or you can get into your car, rush to Nairobi Hospital and buy the real meningitis medication for KShs 18,000.’ Peter did as he was advised. He returned with the medication which the doctor administered. While he had been away the child in the bed next to his own child died from meningitis. His parents had been too poor to afford the treatment.
I tell this story not to criticize Kenyatta Hospital but to illustrate a larger point. If we take the problems at Kenyatta Hospital to be indicative of the problems in Kenya we can only assume that every other sector is suffering equally. The problems we face in Kenya are huge. We need to make quality healthcare affordable or free for all Kenyans, we need to reform our education system, we need to improve housing on all levels, we need to guarantee food security, we need to invest in renewable energy, we need to safeguard the peaceful coexistence of majority Christians and minority Muslims. The task ahead and presently with us is vast.
Which is why I think the sustained debate surrounding Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, two of the men accused of crimes against humanity, other than being divisive is actually a waste of our time. From a technical standpoint all the prayers and all the rallies can’t help. The beauty of the ICC process is that it is unaffected by all this clamour. It is blind justice, unhampered by stature of the accused, personal history or biases. Like one wise person said you can’t stop a train by shouting at it.
What’s more is that these two men are proposing running for president. Kenya is a nation of over 40 tribes. How can you be a president of a nation when you have been accused of organizing the deaths and displacement of people you are to serve? You can’t be president of the Kikuyu alone. You can’t be president of the Kalenjin alone. You have to be president of Kenya and the crimes these two men are being accused of are wholly un-presidential.
What we have to remind ourselves of as voters is that many politicians (these two included) are not in politics for service. I wish I could get people to see that. It’s about access. It’s about knowing what deals are going down where and knowing before anyone else. It’s about making sure that when the big contracts are being signed your 10% is in the mix. But we are so poor as a nation, so easily deceived. You build a bridge in a constituency you become a hero- no one asks where you got the money from. You’re suspected of dealing drugs but you pay school fees for hundreds so somehow you’re exonerated- even exalted. It doesn’t occur to anyone that building bridges and providing education is the job of the government. It is better to have a government that works than an individual who can by the wave of his wand make one of your many problems temporarily disappear.
The government is the great equalizer between those who are born into privilege (and who probably work hard too) and those who are born into situations that beleaguer all attempts at self-improvement. Right now, if you are born poor in Kenya you will probably die poor. But a domestic worker needs to know that when she shows up at her local clinic her baby will get the attention it deserves. A rape victim needs to know that the courts will provide justice. A university student needs to know that a lecturer will turn up to class, teach him and judge his efforts fairly. The debate right now is about building the structures that will outlive individuals and provide for citizens in perpetuity. It’s not about Uhuru. It’s not about Ruto. They are so irrelevant to this debate. I can’t overstate it. I can’t shout it loudly enough!!
Finally, let me say that if Kenyans vote for a Kikuyu man who cares so little for members of our Kalenjin and Luo family, or for a Kalenjin man who cares so little for our Kikuyu, Luhya and Kisii family, then we should all consider, out of conscience relocating to a neighbouring country. For how can we live in a country led by these men or men like them and how can we live with people who would vote them into power?
‘Gema meet was politically wrong’
Maina Njenga, the former leader of the outlawed Mungiki sect, and now a reformed preacher, has been on the spot over last week�s chaos that rocked a Gema conference dubbed Limuru II. KEN-ARTHUR WEKESA engaged him on issues that cropped up during the politically charged function.
QUESTION. What is your response to claims that your presence at the Gema Conference in Limuru was ill intended?
ANSWER: The allegations are baseless and simplistic. I didn�t mobilise anyone to Limuru. Like everyone else, the youth were invited through an advert in the media. If anything, I was part and parcel of those organising the function.
I did it because our former leader Njenga Karume, who called me to his hospital bed hours before his death, asked me. In his twilight, he was getting concerned that there was need to bond the old and younger members of Gema through a cultural event that was unfortunately turned into a circus of political expediency.
Only sitting MPs were allowed to talk and ended up digressing from the real issues and even spewed rhetoric that can again plunge the nation into civil strife.
Your allegations are very serious. Can you justify them?
The cultural event, among other things, was expected to address who we are, where we are, and where we are going as a community and as such expected full participation of everyone present, including real Gema elders, women and youth leaders.
Unfortunately the politicians, who were the only ones that ran the show, began campaigning for elective posts and deciding, who the community should support in the quest for State House.
But worse of all was when they began spewing ethnic hatred about a certain leader from Nyanza as the common enemy. This is the very politics that dissected the very strands that bind the nation in 2007 leading to the post-poll chaos that claimed many lives, destroyed property and led to forcible transfer of populations.
What broke the camel�s back leading to a temporary disruption of the proceedings was when it became clear the politicians were winding up the meeting without addressing the latent concerns.
Wouldn�t the very concerns of the youth have been addressed at the plenary session? And what were they anyway?
You didn�t hear me. They already had premeditated what was to be articulated and were winding up that is why the youth became agitated. All the MPs kept talking about the ICC, one common enemy who is also a Kenyan, and their quest for being senators and governors.
Their call for national cohesion is cosmetic. No politician talked about the murder of more than 10,000 youth from Central, unemployment among them, the fate of thousands of displaced people still languishing in frail camps, alcohol and drug menace facing this youth because these appeared to be none of their business.
That is why despite their willpower to offer employment to the youth or resettle the Internally Displaced Persons even when one presidential aspirant owns more than 20,000 acres of land, they never committed to such issues. How do you expect us to give this crop of leaders a thunderous applause when they are isolating everyone?
Q. You were involved in organising the event and that everyone was invited to Limuru. Aren�t your claims of isolation unfounded?
A. Absolutely not. It is not just the youth who are up in arms over what transpired in Limuru. The elders too were disappointed to learn they had come to a political rally to listen to some politicians instead of enjoying the Gema cultural heritage.
What even irked them more is the blatant defiling of our customs as some legislators who don�t qualify or meet the threshold of being elders, masqueraded as elders. For instance, when was Cecily Mbarire (Runyenjes MP) crowned an elder? The bottom line is clear �politicians ran the show and isolated everyone and I bet this also irked the dead. I swear Njenga Karume, our most revered elder, must have turned in his grave in anger because his desire was to unite all members of Gema. The politicians are paranoid about the peasant and the masses and we will take them head-on next month.
What is your next strategy in Gema?
A. Last week�s Gema conference in Limuru, purely foregrounded a caste struggle � rich versus the poor. The high and mighty couldn�t stand the stench of the meek and don�t think the peasants have the right to address the kings. I was barred from talking in Limuru II, and so I am organising Limuru III next month. I am inviting all the sons and daughters of the peasants, age notwithstanding, who felt they were isolated last week. The days of the minority rich thriving at the expense of majority poor are numbered. Watch this pace.
What is your parting shot?
A. The Limuru conference that aimed at bringing together the Gema community was well intentioned. It is constitutionally correct since the supreme law guarantees one right to be a member of an association. It was politically wrong because Gema MPs engaged in divisive politics, sending wrong signals to other communities especially during such a sensitive electioneering period.
The Gema we want is that which does not preach tribal animosity and continues to complete the circle of status quo but that which is sensitive to the dictum of national cohesion as it remains alive to the pertinent issues facing the nation, especially issues of the youth who are the majority.
Published on 31/03/2012
GEMA-SS-Generals Led By H Hoofman Mathew Iteere Cheating (A>ping Parliament !http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jU8UB9vbpk&feature=player_embedded
GEMA Does Not Represent Me!
By Eric Wainaina
12 April, 2012
GEMA does not represent me, my views or where I see us going as a country. What it does awaken in me is a feeling of guilt. In a sense the ICC got it wrong. It’s not the Ocampo 4 but more like the Ocampo 40 million. We are all on trial. We are all guilty. But now we are also guilty of wasting time!!
Allow me to tell you a story. A cab driver that we frequently use, let’s call him Peter, rushed his then 3 month-old son to Kenyatta hospital. The child was diagnosed with meningitis. The doctor looked at Peter and said, ‘You look like someone who can afford the medicine that your child needs. I can either inject your child with the medicines that we have in stock here, which won’t help- they will only make you feel like something is being done. Or you can get into your car, rush to Nairobi Hospital and buy the real meningitis medication for KShs 18,000.’ Peter did as he was advised. He returned with the medication which the doctor administered. While he had been away the child in the bed next to his own child died from meningitis. His parents had been too poor to afford the treatment.
I tell this story not to criticize Kenyatta Hospital but to illustrate a larger point. If we take the problems at Kenyatta Hospital to be indicative of the problems in Kenya we can only assume that every other sector is suffering equally. The problems we face in Kenya are huge. We need to make quality healthcare affordable or free for all Kenyans, we need to reform our education system, we need to improve housing on all levels, we need to guarantee food security, we need to invest in renewable energy, we need to safeguard the peaceful coexistence of majority Christians and minority Muslims. The task ahead and presently with us is vast.
Which is why I think the sustained debate surrounding Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, two of the men accused of crimes against humanity, other than being divisive is actually a waste of our time. From a technical standpoint all the prayers and all the rallies can’t help. The beauty of the ICC process is that it is unaffected by all this clamour. It is blind justice, unhampered by stature of the accused, personal history or biases. Like one wise person said you can’t stop a train by shouting at it.
What’s more is that these two men are proposing running for president. Kenya is a nation of over 40 tribes. How can you be a president of a nation when you have been accused of organizing the deaths and displacement of people you are to serve? You can’t be president of the Kikuyu alone. You can’t be president of the Kalenjin alone. You have to be president of Kenya and the crimes these two men are being accused of are wholly un-presidential.
What we have to remind ourselves of as voters is that many politicians (these two included) are not in politics for service. I wish I could get people to see that. It’s about access. It’s about knowing what deals are going down where and knowing before anyone else. It’s about making sure that when the big contracts are being signed your 10% is in the mix. But we are so poor as a nation, so easily deceived. You build a bridge in a constituency you become a hero- no one asks where you got the money from. You’re suspected of dealing drugs but you pay school fees for hundreds so somehow you’re exonerated- even exalted. It doesn’t occur to anyone that building bridges and providing education is the job of the government. It is better to have a government that works than an individual who can by the wave of his wand make one of your many problems temporarily disappear.
The government is the great equalizer between those who are born into privilege (and who probably work hard too) and those who are born into situations that beleaguer all attempts at self-improvement. Right now, if you are born poor in Kenya you will probably die poor. But a domestic worker needs to know that when she shows up at her local clinic her baby will get the attention it deserves. A rape victim needs to know that the courts will provide justice. A university student needs to know that a lecturer will turn up to class, teach him and judge his efforts fairly. The debate right now is about building the structures that will outlive individuals and provide for citizens in perpetuity. It’s not about Uhuru. It’s not about Ruto. They are so irrelevant to this debate. I can’t overstate it. I can’t shout it loudly enough!!
Finally, let me say that if Kenyans vote for a Kikuyu man who cares so little for members of our Kalenjin and Luo family, or for a Kalenjin man who cares so little for our Kikuyu, Luhya and Kisii family, then we should all consider, out of conscience relocating to a neighbouring country. For how can we live in a country led by these men or men like them and how can we live with people who would vote them into power?
http://ericwainaina.com/