Kenyans in Stockholm are part of the Kenya Diaspora community. In responding to the growing appetite for news about Kenyans in the Diaspora, KSB has set up a “Diaspora” link under “Categories” to fill this vacuum at the site. We hope this new service will go a long way in satisfying our readers who are keen on gathering what is happening around the Kenya Diaspora community – KSB TEAM.
FINANCE MINISTER HON. AMOS KIMUNYA BOOED AND HECKLED IN MINNESOTA
The Minister for Finance Hon. Amos Kimunya has been giving a series of lectures on the economic strategic plan of Kenyan Government to Kenyans in Diaspora including Washington DC, Atlanta, Minnesota among other States. He will be heading to Canada for the same lecture. The idea behind the lectures is that they will attract Kenyans in Diaspora to participate in the Kenyan Economy by investing in Kenyan companies such as KenGen, Postapay, Nairobi Stock Exchange etc.
Loaded with graphical PowerPoint presentations, the man at Treasury gave a good academic lecture on the strategic plan Kibaki’s government is putting in place to revive the economy from the current 5.8% growth to a near 10% growth by the year 2030.
THE UNTOLD STORY
During the Investment Forum in Minnesota organized by the Kenyan Embassy, the Minister did well in articulating the facts according to the Government’s statistical findings. Amazingly, the Minister failed to convince his audience through his lecture which, according to many, did not address the issue of how the current economic growth and all plans in the pipeline are benefiting the common Mwanainchi most Kenyans in Diaspora are compelled to financially support through constant remittances to their families in Kenya.
Many thought that Hon. Kimunya’s lecture was boring, long and dry, although there were some who agreed that “there are strides which this Government has made worth noting and Hon. Kimunya has articulated the same very well.” It was strange that several times, the Honorable Minister shamelessly solicited for claps from Wanainchi as he painfully sojourned through his lecture that he titled “The untold story about Kenya”
POLITICS IN THE LECTURE
Although in his preamble Hon. Kimunya stated categorically that himself and his team (which was widely from one region in Kenya) were not in Minnesota for political reasons, he failed to steer clear of politics. It will be noted that Finance ministry is currently managed by Kenyans from one region, not to mention that the top positions in most Parastatals and Government Ministries are staffed by people from one region. Notably these ethnic appointments have been done and continue to be done with a lot of impunity by the same government which was elected in 2002 by all Kenyans. The Hon Minister hailed Kenyans in Diaspora for investing in Nairobi Stock Exchange, arguing that when some politicians go around saying that the NSE is supported by drug money, the implication is that Kenyans in Diaspora are drug dealers.
PAST AND CURRENT MISTAKES NOT ADDRESSED
In his lecture, Hon. Kimunya constantly stated that he is not going to address the past mistakes of Kibaki and what the Government has not done, claiming that this Government has made strides in tax revenue collection.
On the question as to how the revenue has been used Kimunya said: “ that is a totally different topic that I will not be addressing today”. Similarly Hon. Kimunya trivialized and deliberately refused to address the looting of the Kenyan economy by certain individuals especially the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing scandals. The Hon. Minister stated that anti- corruption has made a lot of strides and although the prosecution and punishment has not been done yet, he said that it is not all about prosecuting the perpetuators of these economic crime but equally important was the need to build a fence around the economy so that there will be impossible for looters to find their way into the economy.
Hon. Kimunya stated that although Kenyans may not be hearing much of what is being done to bring economic looters to justice, a lot is being done to ensure that justice prevailed. He further warned that revenge against and hanging of the perpetrators will not help heal the economic wounds. “Has the shoot to kill” directive by the late President Kenyatta helped solve the problems the same directive sort to alter? He paused.
INSECURITY NOT AN ISSUE
The Minister ran into trouble when, during Question and Answer session, he blundered by stating that “insecurity is not an issue in Kenya anymore”. At this point, the Hon. Minister was booed and heckled as he endeavored in vain to redeem himself from his careless and insensitive utterance. Hon. Kimunya, who was answering questions while seated, was forced to stand up and address the rest of the questions while on his feet.
It is common knowledge that Kenyans have been subjected to increased incidences of thuggery, robbery with violence as well as killings in cold blood of relatives and friends. All sorts of insecurity such as clashes in Mt. Elgon region, Kibera, and Mathare just to mention a few are rampant. The Minister’s endeavor to make good his statement was annoying to the audience which booed and heckled him even more, causing Hon. Kimunya to lose his cool. Embarrassed and disoriented, he later owned up about insecurity in Kenya but gave a mediocre rebuttal that there is insecurity everywhere in the world including America and that this was why there were police officers with guns, radios and police cars all over. At this point, some people decided to walk out in protest claiming that they were “not ready to hear any more rubbish and lies from a Finance Minister”
MORE BOOING AND HECKLING
As if the above questions were not enough irritation to Kimunya, the Hon. Minister was asked even more difficult questions. He was asked whether if it lost the December elections, the current government will be willing to support the in-coming regime in implementing the strategic plans he had talked about
To this question, he played a game of musical chairs for a long time, eventually failing to address the issue. This irked the audience which begun shouting “stop beating about the bush”, ”Answer the question”, ”Sema ukweli”, ”Will you support the next government – simple YES or NO?”
At this point, Hon. Kimunya blundered again by quoting an infamous statement of the Kibaki re-election campaigns “if it is working why fix it.” This is in apparent reference to a claim that Kibaki’s government is performing as per expectation and should be re-elected.
Still in his bid to answer the question about supporting the next government, the minister angered the audience by saying that since Kenyans are the ones who will decide who is their leader, the government will move to the opposition and show leadership if Kenyans make a mistake of voting Kibaki out.
Any more of what the Minister said to answer this question was drowned by the booing and heckling from Wanainchi, forcing the Master of Ceremony to cool people down as he tried to stop Hon. Kimunya from answering any further questions simply to avoid more embarrassment.
LONG SPEECHES AFTER QUESTIONS WERE STOPPED
Due to shortage of time, Questions and Answers session was stopped yet it was interesting to see both Ambassador Rateng Ogego and Hon Amos Kimunya who had earlier talked and fielded questions come back on the platform for another set of long speeches, thereby eliciting mummers from the audience that “why did they stop Q and A only to create more time for speeches which wanainchi were already tired of.
In his chest thumping characteristic, Ambassador Ogego boasted that he knows how to handle hecklers so the heckling that was done today did not bother him much. He also asked why Kenyans can not behave like the Americans. Although in retrospect, Americans believe in freedom of speech and are always free to boo and heckle anyone who happens to peddle lies and unpopular propaganda in any public forum.
The audience at this forum did exactly that. Hon. Kimunya left the Edge Christian Worship Center a tired, embarrassed and irate man. We hope that the dinner hosted in his and his entourage’s honor helped cool him down.
Robert Nyagudi,
MN USA
About the Author
