One faint-hearted KSB commentator enjoying the Diaspora’s comfort is trying to discourage Kenyans by suggesting the protest will yield zilch, given the MPs impunity attitude of mta do? Brave Kenyans will picket as planned because it feels appropriate to show Purity she is a member of the Impunity Network. To the MPs, it should send a strong message that Kenyans in Sweden are aware of their rotten habits and wastage caused by traveling abroad to “learn” new things. All the money spent on such trips could feed Kalonzo’s starving Kamba people, plus provide medicine and food to Kibaki’s mainly Kikuyu folk suffering in the IDP camps.
Every time I listen to online Parliamentary debates, I get one common thread on development issues aimed at the Mwananchi: “Mr Speaker, my Ministry will investigate the matter”. Some of the projects they discuss have been running without completion since 2003, say building a 10 kilometer road. So much is pending in areas of promoting the well-being of Wananchi.
Yesterday, I was surprised to hear one MP claiming that their trip to Egypt just before the ongoing political chaos, was to observe the country’s information technology infrastructure, since it is one of the best in Africa. Can you imagine that? We have Microsoft and Google in Kenya. Kenya pioneered M-pesa and many other local home grown tech-solutions that have been successful since the 1990s.
Do we need to send MPs abroad to learn what happens in other countries, yet some of them cannot use available basic Microsoft tools or write an email? Yes, some cannot, believe me! During Kibaki’s first rule, I recall former Mathioya MP JJ Kamotho commenting on a trip to Kigali to observe how President Kagame’s ministers were using laptops to record proceedings during Cabinet meetings. Sending those piranhas to do that, using the taxpayer’s money? And now almost 10 years later, that trip yielded nothing because Kenyan ministers still use the old pen and notebook while recording Cabinet minutes.
It is the government’s duty to rollout nationwide electrification programs that would be very effective in enhancing new technologies. Without such infrastructure, whether MPs go to the moon or Alaska to “study” technological infrastructure, they shall just be wasting the taxpayer’s money.
Am sure the MPs in Stockholm are also here to observe something being “done better” by the Swedes which they wish to implement back home. Could it be that they are here to understand how they clean snow off their roads? Could it be something environmental, say dealing with sewage waste? You see, there is always an excuse by the thieving MPs to travel abroad, yet they cannot successfully implement the CDF to improve the lives of their constituents. During the current Coalition Government, there are very many allegations of CDF misappropriation, yet no action is taken.
The live Parliamentary broadcasts have made me learn that many MPs cannot defend the Mwananchi because all they are concerned with is personal or tribal gain, as long as they fill their tummies.
Impunity has hit back with Juja MP Kabogo demanding that his name be cleared from Saitoti’s list of drug-dealing MPs. Why then, were MPs demanding for the list yet no proper investigation was launched on the mentioned persons? A report now claims no MP was/is involved in drug dealing.
Purity can host these sharks since it is part of her duty. However, Kenya-Stockholmers who feel aggrieved should be free to picket at her gate, while they swallow samosas, chapatis, wine, whisky, soda, juice, beef, rice and other carbohydrates, then head back to their 2000 kronor per night hotel rooms to fart and shit, as they await their first class flight back to Kenya.
I had very high hopes in most of the youthful MPs when they joined Parlament in 2007/08. For example, Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba was then daring enough to tell Kibaki off and some others focused on the Mwananchi. Today, Namwamba wears sleek suits, has shed off his trademark box hairdo, and is just another master of impunity saying nothing meaningful in Parliament. He is suspected to have “eaten” during the Ruto-led maize scandal. He is equally stained, so cannot fight for the poor.
It amounts to nothing when one dresses in Armani or Hugo Boss suits and other designer clothes, yet his/her constituents wallow in perpetual poverty.
Ruto’s Kalenjin sycophants – Joshua Kutuny, Isaac Ruto, and Keter among others, have nothing good to offer Kenyans, just like noisemaker Mbugua of Kamukunji who lost his seat last week. The supposedly smarter MPs like Pogishio, Linah Jebii and Sally Kosgei, have nothing interesting any more and have reduced themselves into debating like village chiefs.
Gender Minister Naomi Shaaban, now retreats to her Taveta Constituency hurling Kiswahili sanifu at the Anti-corruption boss PLO Lumumba, because she is aware that there is ongoing investigation on suspected misuse of IDP funds during her term as the Special Programs minister. Meanwhile, Water minister Charity Ngilu has taken time off on health grounds and is holed somewhere in London, cooling her blood pressure as PLO Lumumba investigates her well-known corrupt acts and nepotism.
Those coming out to picket this evening, please do so, to show your loathe for the greedy MPs, and solidarity with our Kenyans at home.
Abby
Enjoy the big sharks and small sharks video:
About the Author
Abby, I am neither faint-hearted nor do I intend to dissuade Kenyans from protesting and demanding accountability from those they have elected. I took issue not with the call to protest but the act of handing over a statement to the people entrenching impunity in Kenya. I say again quite plainly. Kenyans gathering and voicing their indignation has more merit and makes more sense than the presentation of a statement of protest. Resorting to insults, innuendo and baiting because one does not understand another person’s point of view is counterproductive. Even those so called sycophants have the democratic right to support whatever view they chose. Who you have us eliminate them? They are Kenyans too, by the way, with the same concerns as those you see as non-sycophants misguided as they may be. May we be always bold and proud to speak out for what we believe in.
Kanda, i didn’t read any matusi from Abby. Kila mtu ana maoni and those who want to deliver a protest statement should also do so just like KSB allows you to comment. Sycophants are there, that is why the term exists. Mashujaa tukutane hapo kwa mama Purity.
A luta continua!
Kanda, kama unaamini demokrasia basi waache wanaotaka kuandamana wafanye hivyo. Ni haki yao kama hawakudhulumu. Hamna haja ya kufwatilia madogo madogo ambayo hayana manufaa kwetu sisi Wakenya. Hata kama karatasi zao za vilio mbali mbali zitapokelewa ama kutupwa na hao wanabunge ama mama Purity, hamna neno, bali wafikishe haja yao.
Kibaki has been kicked in the balls by High Court Judge Musinga who has ruled against his KKK judicial nominations. Kibaki the King of Impunity must be hit hard by the new Constitution, to know this is a new era.
What We Pay Members of Parliament:
I thought I should look at what politicians in selected countries earn. Below is a list of the countries and what they pay their parliamentarians annually, inclusive of other monetary allowances. To put it in perspective, I have included the ratio of annualized pay to income per capita of those countries. You probably notice something notorious about the three East African countries.
In Kenya, for instance, each parliamentarian earns 143 times more than an average Kenyan annually. (According to IMF (2010), an average Kenyan makes about US$888 or Kshs.71,000 annually, not correcting for purchasing power parity, that is.) I would be curious to know whether this is representative of what goes on in other African countries.
Country Annual Salary Salary (GDP% ratio)
(US$)
U.K 315,000 8.68
Canada 182,000 3.97
U.S 174,000 3.69
Singapore 154,238 3.62
KENYA 127,500 143.58
Germany 114,859 2.84
Australia 91,950 2.10
Uganda 87,450 173.85
France 87,300 2.15
Tanzania 69,900 128.97
South Africa 57,360 8.08
http://www.paulnambwaya.com/2011/01/country-salary-proportion-to-gdppc-c-d.html
Listen to MPs lamely defending the misuse of CDF. They are mandated to oversee the cash,so why is are they running away from this responsibility? These MPs are corrupt to the core. When captured on camera they deny,deny and deny.No relation with their constituents unless they are related to them.
CDF inasadiya wakina nani? These same MPS are the ones that “eat” the CDF funds. These fools are trying to maintain the status quo, big salaries for them, big allowances for them and no payment of taxes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMwZ4j5FcmY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZApS7cMgfY
In July 2010 Kenyan MPs finally agreed to pay the tax, but only after giving themselves a sweetener of 240,000 shillings (£1,960) taking their monthly pay to 1,091,000 shillings (£8,920).
Since 2003, when President Mwai Kibaki came to power, politicians have become notorious for regularly increasing their salaries. British MPs earn £5,478 a month, while a member of France’s national assembly have a monthly salary of £4,260.
The monthly salaries of the 40 cabinet ministers will jump to £9,700, with pay rising by 5% a year.
Salaries for politicians in selected rich countries:
UK
MPs are paid £65,738 a year (£5,478 a month).
France
Members of the National Assembly get a monthly allowance, less social security deductions, of €5,261 (£4,260).
Sweden
Riksdag members have a basic pay of 55,000 kronor a month (£4,675).
Italy
Members of the Chamber of Deputies receive €5,486 a month (£4,443).
US
Congressmen are paid $174,000 (£115,456) a year (£9,621 a month).
Australia
An MP’s base salary is A$131,040 (£74,459) a year (£6,205 a month).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/01/kenyan-mps-pay-rise
Former British High Commissioner once complained that Kenyan corrupt ministers were “eating like gluttons” and “vomiting on the shoes” of foreign donors.
Corruption robs African children of a better future. Just ask the students in Kenya who could have had 15,000 new classrooms with the $188 million that Mr. Clay alleged has gone missing under President Mwai Kibaki’s so-called anticorruption administration.
Meanwhile,Mubarak must have stolen more than Moi and Kenyatta.But African dicatators remain the worst thieves:
According to the ABC, experts say the wealth of the Mubarak family was built largely from military contracts during his days as an air force officer. He eventually diversified his investments through his family when he became president in 1981. The family’s net worth ranges from $40 billion to $70 billion, by some estimates.
And sub-Saharan Africa has seen the likes of many gluttons. Some of the most infamous include Mobutu Sese Seko, the former president of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) who allegedly stole $5 billion, and Sani Abacha, former president of Nigeria, who allegedly looted more than $2 billion. Both former leaders are dead, but their legacy of corruption continues to afflict their nations.