Uhuruto’s 100 Days in Office: An Evaluation by Jared Odero Part 2
Uhuruto government: Choices have consequences
First Lady’s “moral paradox”: Margaret Kenyatta, Uhuru’s wife, recently called on countries allowing the illegal importation of ivory tusks to stop it. Ironically, her own mother in-law, Mama Ngina, was involved in the sale of ivory tusks in the 1970s as then-First Lady. Part of the massive wealth sustaining the Kenyatta family was acquired illicitly through poaching elephants. According to Jon Tinker in the New Scientist magazine on May 22, 1975: “At the present rate of attrition, Kenya’s elephants may be exterminated within a decade. Although the Kenya government banned the private export of ivory last August, Margaret Kenyatta, mayor of Nairobi and the daughter of the President, has since then illicitly sent over 6 tons worth $200,000, to People’s China. The identity of these ivory queens is a matter of common gossip in Nairobi, and the most prominent of them are said to be Mama Ngina and Margaret Kenyatta, respectively wife and daughter to the President. In Kenya today, you can be sent to prison for what is called rumour-mongering, so in this article I shall confine myself to provable fact. And there is now documentary proof that at least one member of Kenya’s Royal Family has recently shipped over six tons of ivory to Red China. Moreover, in spite of repeated denials from the Kenyan wildlife ministry that they have issued any licences to deal in or export raw ivory, this trading is being carried out with the active connivance of the highest officials in the game department.”
Insecurity: Uhuru’s government seems incapable of taming insecurity that is rampant countrywide and especially incidences by gangs of youth that have in the recent past, slashed, maimed and killed innocent residents in rural parts of Bungoma and Busia counties. The gangs are alleged to have been used by politicians during this year’s campaigns. Acts of terrorism and inter-clan clashes are also being experienced, especially in the North Eastern counties and within sections of the pastoral communities. On July 1, 2013 the media reported that three Administration Police officers were seriously assaulted in public by Ugandan police on Migingo Island because they had earlier refused to allow them into a part of Kenya carrying their weapons, as required by law. However, there was no official reaction from the Kenyan government or specifically from the Defense Secretary, Raychelle Omamo. Sporadic attacks by Sudanese cattle rustlers on Turkana villages and by Ethiopians on the Borana people have also not elicited reactions from Jubilee.
Value Added Tax (VAT) Bill: The re-introduction of the VAT Bill is aimed at raising Ksh10 billion per month from basic consumer goods that are currently zero-rated or tax-exempt. They include: processed milk and cream, maize and wheat flour, bread, glucose, baby formulas and sanitary pads, etc. As Finance minister in 2011, Uhuru allocated Ksh300 million under the Education ministry to provide sanitary towels to all needy primary school going girls. Under his presidency, poor women and girls will not have the provision. Kenyans have been on the street demonstrating against the Bill which is supported by Jubilee politicians.
Deportation of suspected drug-dealers to Nigeria: The Government will pay Ksh27 million to the company which owns the plane that was grounded in Nigeria for 24 days after being detained by authorities, when Chinedu demanded it be sold to compensate for his lost property in Kenya. What happened to due process? In normal democracies, deportations come after convictions. By deporting Chinedu and company, it meant that the government was certain they were drug dealers. Will this deter others? Foreign secretary Amina Mohamed tweeted that the Kenyan crew had been freed and would be home soon. But this was rebuffed and only the intervention of the Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan got them freed. The drama was as a result of Uhuru’s orders for the deportation of all drug dealers without thinking about the consequences. He is accused of ruling by decree; meaning he does not consult.
Ruto’s Hustler Jet: Ksh100 million of public money is likely to be wasted on a personal quest to marshal the African Union to support Uhuru and Ruto’s ICC woes. Publicly, they lied to Kenyans that it was a move towards Panafricanism. How come Ruto has not sued the Daily Nation newspaper if their jet report was false?
Renovating Ruto’s official residence: Ksh100 million will be used to fit his taste, yet the house was officially opened by Kibaki last year having cost taxpayers Ksh400 million. It means that future deputy presidents will use public money to renovate it to their liking.
Teachers’ strike: The strike has just ended after 24 days. Government had recommended legal action against William Sossion, chairman of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) for contempt of court. The teachers wanted Legal Notice No. 534 of 1997 to be implemented in full, yet a court order wants the strike ended. The incompetent Kazungu Kambi claimed the 1997 agreement was invalid, yet it had been gazetted. While the laptop program is new, the teachers’ grievances dogged Kibaki’s regime for 10 years and Uhuru expected it. Any sensible government would pay teachers well in order to improve the quality of education. However, Jubilee politicians don’t see this or even improving delapidated school buildings as priorities.
Ruto-Muteshi land saga: Recently, the ‘reformed Judiciary’ ordered Ruto to pay Ksh5 million as compensation to Muteshi, an IDP, for illegally possessing his 100 acre piece of land in Rift Valley. That’s Kenya’s deputy president.
Luxury cars by Cabinet secretaries: To curb rampant wastage in Government expenditue, as then-Finance minister in 2010, Uhuru announced a new transport policy banning the use of fuel guzzlers by Cabinet ministes and top government officials. However, as president, his new team of Cabinet secretaries and members of constitutional commissions bought fuel guzzlers and expensive Mercerdes Benz limousines at the end of the 2012/13 financial year.
The Jubilee leadership seems to ignore certain provisions in the Constitution and policies, then falls back on its numbers in Parliament for protection, while Kenyans suffer uniformly, regardless of their political leanings. Uhuru cautions against wastage yet MPigs and other top officials defy him and misuse cash. Last year, former Mpigs got 350 chairs worth Ksh400 000 ($3000 or £1 900) each, for use in the newly renovated Parliamnet. Currently, the new Mpigs are planning a trip to China to window-shop for chairs to fit into their County Hall offices. On July 13, 2013 The Saturday Nation reported that: “A return ticket to Beijing costs Sh85,000 ($985) while a hotel room goes for between Sh26,000 ($300) and Sh43,000 ($500). If they decide to fly to Shanghai, the air ticket price rises to Sh91,000 ($1,056). The PSC is a nine-member commission that oversees the welfare of MPs, Senators and staff of the two houses. MPs are paid about Sh78,000 ($920) as allowances per day while touring Asian cities, including Beijing, Dubai and Singapore according to the current parliamentary travel rate card.”
Lastly, the ICC trials in The Hague, which are personal matters for Uhuru and Ruto, will definitely be paid from Government money under the guise of ‘official foreign trips’. Anyway, it is their time to eat.
Jared Odero
Kenya Stockholm Blog 
Uhuru-Ruto hirings miss ‘face of Kenya’
By ISAAC ONGIRI
Posted Thursday, July 18 2013 at 23:30
Jubilee’s public appointments have faced criticism over claims they failed to adhere to ethnic balancing.
President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto stand accused of favouring their regions in Cabinet appointments.
At least 11 Cabinet secretaries hail from Mt Kenya and Rift Valley, where the two leaders received massive support in the March 4 polls.
The two regions also got 16 of the 26 principal secretary appointments — sparking silent protests from unsatisfied regions and communities.
Kitutu Chache MP Jimmy Angwenyi and Migori County Women Representative Denita Ghati are among several MPs who have questioned regional balance in the appointments, with Mr Angwenyi pinpointing the absence of a nominee from Gusii community in the appointment of PSs.
“The sharing of positions has been skewed to favour a few communities. Even the Kuria voted for the Jubilee Government but they have been sidelined in the appointments,” Ms Ghati said.
She said that appointments to public office should reflect the face of Kenya, adding that the President lost an opportunity to reconcile the nation by sharing out the seats fairly.
In the Cabinet appointments, the cosmopolitan Rift Valley received five seats with only two communities winning all the slots. Eastern and Central had three, two each for Nyanza, North Eastern and Coast. “This idea of isolating parts of the country in public appointments is not a good trend,” warned Kasipul Kabondo MP Oyugi Magwanga.
But Starehe MP Maina Kamanda defended the appointments, arguing that satisfying all the communities in the country is not possible.
Commission for Implementation of Constitution chairman Charles Nyachae said the lapses that may have occurred in the appointments should have been addressed during Parliament vetting.
Some of the ivory stolen from State House may be part of a haul intercepted at the port of Mombasa, an official familiar with investigations revealed on Sunday. However, Mombasa port district criminal investigation officer Mwera Makuri said he is not aware that some of the seized ivory pieces were among those stolen at State House, Mombasa. Speaking in an interview with the Nation, Mr Makuri said they are yet to establish the source of the ivory valued at millions of shillings.
“So far we are yet to find out the source of the consignment, “ added Mr Makuri. Coast Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) assistant director Arthur Tuda added that a meeting will be convened today at the port of Mombasa for stakeholders to be briefed on the ongoing probe.
He declined to divulge any progress made so far and referred us to Mr Makuri whom he said is the only one designated to talk to the media. “We are convening a meeting of all stakeholders tomorrow (today).
I cannot comment on ongoing investigation,” added Mr Tuda. Meanwhile an official at State House Mombasa has been sacked over the disappearance of the ivory from the highly protected building.
The official identified as a caretaker was sent home to pave way for investigation following the incident which occurred around April 13 this year.
Does Mama Ngina selling ivory in 1975 to Uhuru’s wife from doing the right thing and saying killing elephants is wrong?
12.KENYA: The Ruby Rip-Off
Monday, Oct. 14, 1974
TIME Magazine
Kenya is a land of fabulously unspoiled game preserves, stable government and excellent trade opportunities. Taking advantage of those opportunities, as foreign businessmen have rue fully discovered, sometimes involves entering a twilight world of official corruption. Corporation executives doing business in Kenya are often asked by high government officials for “contributions” to various charities, though some doubt that the money ends up in the coffers of such worthy recipients as hospitals or orphanages. Early this year, James Skane, the American managing director of Esso Standard in Kenya, was declared a “prohibited immigrant” and summarily expelled from the country after he aggressively tried to collect some $70,000 in unpaid fuel bills. Unfortunately for Skane, it turned out that the money was owed by a series of farms reportedly owned under different names by Kenya’s lionized President Jomo Kenyatta.
The latest story about scandal in Nairobi involves two American geologists, who claim that they have been euchred out of their ownership of what may be the world’s richest ruby mine by some well-connected Kenyans. It all started about a year ago, when John M. Saul, 37, and his partner Elliot (“Tim”) Miller discovered in Kenya’s Tsavo West National Park a deposit of rubies that was later estimated to be worth at least $5 million. Saul and Miller got a fully legal permit to develop their find. Figuring local participation would ease their way, they shrewdly offered 51% of the deal to a group of high-ranking Kenyans, including Vice President Daniel Arap Moi.
Unfortunately for the two Americans, others got wind of the rich discovery. One of them was Beth Mugo, Kenyatta’s niece and unofficial lady in waiting to his vivacious wife, Mama Ngina; another was a wealthy Greek resident of Kenya, George Criticos, a friend of the President’s and Mama Ngi-na’s partner in running the Kenya Trade Development Corp. Saul and Miller charge that Beth Mugo and Criticos encouraged other leading Kenyans, including Mama Ngina, to demand a bigger share of the take. The two Americans agreed to let the Kenyans’ share go up to 72%. Still not satisfied, the Kenyans evidently decided to push the ruby discoverers out of the deal altogether.
Private Pockets. Last June Saul was abruptly declared a “prohibited immigrant” and given 2½ hours to leave the country. At first Miller went into hiding to keep the same thing from happening to him; after a month underground he left the country for London. After Saul’s expulsion, Kenyatta, in an apparent reference to the ruby mine, publicly declared that no foreigner should be allowed to exploit Kenya’s resources for his own private benefit. That is, no doubt, a valid general principle. But in this case it seems that the wealth of the mine is intended for private pockets, not the public welfare. With the Americans out of the way, the mysterious Criticos began mining rubies at Tsavo, continuing even after a Kenyan court had temporarily enjoined him from doing so. There have been allegations that the claims book at the Kenyan Ministry of Natural Resources, in which the two Americans had originally registered their find, has disappeared. In its place, supposedly, is a new claims book listing Criticos’ claim to the Tsavo mine.
U.S. Ambassador Anthony D. Marshall has protested the highhanded treatment of the two Americans. Meanwhile, Saul and Miller are suing in Kenyan courts for recovery of their ruby mine. Few, however, believe that the case will be decided in the Americans’ favor. Kenya is sticking to its claim that Saul was expelled because of gemstone and ivory smuggling.
So far, no stories about the big ruby rip-off have appeared in Kenya’s press, and the government apparently wants to keep it that way. Without directly mentioning the ruby affair, the Foreign Ministry warned at week’s end that it “will not tolerate any section of the press, whether local or overseas, which tends to discredit the image of Kenya abroad.” Kenya is a one-party state, and President Kenyatta has already been declared re-elected to another five-year term for lack of opposition. Still, in the parliamentary elections next week, publicity about high-level hanky-panky over the ruby mine could tarnish the government’s reputation in the eyes of Kenya’s 12 million people.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,908862,00.html
9.Does Mama Ngina selling ivory in 1975 to Uhuru’s wife from doing the right thing and saying killing elephants is wrong?
Comment by gerard | July 19, 2013
NOTE: The catchprase is ‘Moral Paradox’ or the Irony of life for Margaret, the First Lady. Once you catch the drift, it won’t be a problem to understand the entry.
To the author, you state in your article:
“In Kenya today, you can be sent to prison for what is called rumour-mongering”
Please tell me which Kenyan was sent to JAIL for “rumour-mongering”? Please give us a name. .
Stop misleading people PLEASE!!
Kenyans should pity Beth Mugo for her Anal- uterus cancer hence moving with young boys of her grand-daughters age!Chemotherapy has taken all her life she is left with only Luo-Raila hate trying to save her Niece /nephew Uhuru Kenyatta and his evil machination.
Nyeri man caught in act with hen
Updated Friday, July 19th 2013 at 16:20 GMT +3
By Lydiah Nyawira
NYERI, KENYA: A man was on Thursday evening arrested after he was allegedly caught having an unnatural act with a chicken in Kigwandi Village, Nyeri county.
According to acting Nyeri OCPD Joseph Mwika the man’s 10 year old son reported that he saw his father with the chicken and alerted his 18 year old brother.
“The sons reported their father to the local chief who brought the man to the station at around 6pm,â€Mwika said. Mwika told members of the press that the report concerning the incident indicates the chicken belonged to his older son who reported the incident to the area chief.
The chicken was also brought to the station for evidence but it died and it has been taken to the veterinary doctor to determine the cause of death.
“The man is being held for questioning and police are awaiting post mortem results from the veterinary doctor to determine the cause of death,†Mwika said. Mwika urged members of the public to discourage such beastly acts in the community because they were unnatural.
Witnesses pull out of Uhuru Kenyatta ICC case
Two witnesses due to testify against Kenya’s new president at his International Criminal Court have withdrawn their evidence, at least one of them because he fears for his safety, the court’s prosecutor said.
By Mike Pflanz, Nairobi
5:11PM BST 18 Jul 2013
Witnesses pull out of Uhuru Kenyatta ICC case
Two witnesses due to testify against Kenya’s new president at his International Criminal Court have withdrawn their evidence, at least one of them because he fears for his safety, the court’s prosecutor said.
Uhuru Kenyatta faces five counts of crimes against humanity Photo: EPA
By Mike Pflanz, Nairobi
5:11PM BST 18 Jul 2013
Uhuru Kenyatta, who won elections held in March, faces five counts of crimes against humanity linked to his alleged role orchestrating the violence that followed the country’s polls in 2007. He denies the charges.
Fatou Bensouda, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, told the court that three of her remaining witnesses would now not give evidence, raising concerns that her case against Mr Kenyatta was unravelling.
Several other witnesses have recanted their evidence or withdrawn, in both Mr Kenyatta’s trial and that of his deputy president, William Ruto, who denies three similar charges in a separate case.
One man known as Witness 5 had refused to cooperate with the court further because he was increasingly afraid of the consequences if his identity became known, Ms Bensouda said.
“In sum, it appears that Witness 5’s concerns for his security have become too great for him to bear, and he has decided to withdraw as a consequence,” Ms Bensouda wrote in a notice to Trial Chamber V judges dated Tuesday but published on Thursday.
She said prosecution lawyers spoken with another individual, Witness 426, to try to overturn his refusal to appear, but had failed.
A third witness whose evidence was no longer necessary to the case was also withdrawn, Ms Bensouda said.
Kenyans widely believe that the cases are close to collapsing, despite the prosecutor stressing that she has enough other evidence to push ahead with the trials.
Mr Ruto’s is due to start on September 10, and Mr Kenyatta’s on November 12.
Cases against three other senior Kenyan figures accused of similar crimes have already been dropped for a lack of evidence.
More than 1,100 people died and 300,000 were forced to flee their homes as supporters of rival politicians fought for more than a month after the December 2007 elections.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/10188737/Witnesses-pull-out-of-Uhuru-Kenyatta-ICC-case.html
Mzalendo: Did you really understand the time frame within the section mentioning “rumor-mongering”? You are the one who should stop misleading yourself because you missed the context. Re-read that part.
Cankers within the State – Poaching and Growing Corruption
Kenya was now a place of increasing corruption and inequality. Civil servants enthusiastically exploited the opportunity that the (Duncan) Ndegwa Report had given them to engage in business. The Kikuyu-dominated wabenzi (Mercedes-Benz people) prospered, protected by the state and unrestrained by Parliament. The ‘action’ was now in resource extraction: poaching, charcoal and mining.
Poaching
The 1970s were the worst period of poaching in Kenya’s history. With the support of senior government figures, Kenya’s abundant wildlife was slaughtered for the export of ivory and skins to the Middle and Far East. In mid-1973, at least 500 elephants were killed legally each month. However, receipts in destinations such as Hong Kong suggested that at least 345 tonnes of ivory had been exported from Kenya in 1973, indicated the death of at least 15,000 elephants in a year, three times the official number. There were wide discrepancies between estimates of the number of elephants left, from 150,000 to only 40,000. Ten thousand rhinos were killed during 1973–9, 80 per cent of the remaining population.
Sport hunting was still legal, but in 1973, Chief Game Warden John Mutinda finally withdrew all elephant-hunting licences. Western concern over poaching was rising, with television reports and articles devoted to Kenya’s problem and its causes in state corruption. There were high-profile arrests, including a Somali picked up with the tusks of 525 elephants in his baggage en route to Hong Kong. Eventually, Tourism Minister Juxon Shako had banned ivory export by anyone except the government in August 1974. However, exports continued.
One problem was that the Kenyatta family itself was implicated in both poaching and ivory exports. Margaret Kenyatta, Kenyatta’s daughter, was chairman of the United African Company, one of at least 10 companies exporting ivory despite the ban. Ivory could earn Ksh300 (US$36) per kilogram, making one elephant worth thousands of dollars. Other valuable items included zebra pelts (5,000 of these animals were shot illegally within 320 miles of Nairobi in six months during 1975) and colobus monkey skins. In 1975, two men were found in possession of 26,000 colobus monkey skins (more than the total remaining population today).
However, dealers could buy both police inaction and the needed documentation, of which there was an inexhaustible supply. The monkey skin owners were acquitted after they produced ‘valid’ permits. It was widely believed that much of the poaching that decimated the elephant and rhino populations was organised and carried out by the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife. An expatriate official identified both assistant ministers – one being J. M. Kariuki – as buying ivory direct from game department headquarters for export.
There were later suggestions that officials, police sharpshooters and the Kenyatta family were involved in a vertically integrated poaching cartel. A Samburu MP alleged in Parliament that there were in fact very few poachers outside the ministry. In 1976, Parliament established a Select Committee to probe malpractices at the ministry, but nothing came of it in the face of state obstruction. In May 1977, all sport hunting was banned. However, the loss of hunting revenue further damaged the ability of the ministry to combat poaching.
Bizarrely, Mau Mau veterans, denied most forms of recompense for their losses, had been allowed to poach since the 1960s, through the issue of ‘collectors’ permits’, which allowed them to carry as much ivory as they wished, under the polite fiction that it was of Mau Mau vintage. These permits were finally cancelled in 1977 under pressure from environmentalists.
In the same year the African elephant was listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Destruction of Kenya’s tree cover, soil erosion and changing rainfall patterns also became public issues. The felling of trees for land settlement and the production of charcoal were particular problems. Charcoal was now worth K£1,000 per tonne in the Middle East, and 80,000 tonnes a year was exported by 1975. Eventually, after dockworkers refused to load more ships, the government was forced to introduce a total ban on charcoal exports, to replace the partial ban in force (which meant that only senior figures such as PCs could carry out the trade).
Growing Corruption
Kenyatta’s fading grip made corruption both easier and safer. Civil servants’ freedom to conduct business allowed officials to reward themselves and to misuse state resources for private gain. Bribery was now required to obtain most licences, permits or quotas, particularly for foreigners. By 1975, the government itself was inveighing against the collapse in civil service mores.
The Ndegwa Report was widely blamed: Overnight, Government offices became ‘official’ quarters for commercial transactions and heavy private deals. Government vehicles became means of private interests. Government ‘stamps’ and licenses became commercialised…Massive corruption had finally crept with devastating impact into one of the most prestigious of Civil Services in Africa. Parastatals were particularly prone to abuse, especially the East African Community’s organisations, as the victim was remote.
For different reasons, the big urban councils were even more corrupt and incompetent than central government, since they were less internationally visible and accounting standards were lower; Mombasa Municipal Council was dissolved in 1977, while in the same year the first probes began into Nairobi City Council’s procurement practices. Land grabbing – the process of selling or giving state land to private individuals, to develop or sell – was becoming more common, though it was less politically charged than it was to become under Moi, when the supply of undeveloped land had run out.
When Kenyatta’s nephew Muigai married Isaiah Mathenge’s daughter in 1976, for example, Kenyatta’s wedding present was a large tract of government land. Such technically legal processes were supplemented illegally in most local lands offices, as cartels stole land, destroyed and forged documents, and sold the resulting plots on to others. In August 1975, the British Sunday Times ran a series of exposés of the avarice of the Kenyatta family. It detailed how the family had forced the sale of the Inchcape trading group (which included the Ford vehicle franchise) to a consortium including Udi Gecaga, Muigai and Kenyatta’s son Peter Muigai Kenyatta, the price to be paid in instalments out of profits.
The article included an excellent display of the Kenyatta family, and further exposed the family’s involvement in ivory exports, and the impossibility of collecting debts owed by the ‘royal family’, as they were now known. It also detailed how Kenyatta personally approved the purchase of large farms by his family, exempting them from review by land control boards. It listed the vast farms the family had acquired in the Rift Valley, including six farms owned by Kenyatta himself, a 26,000-acre farm owned by Mama Ngina in Kiambu, and her farm in Rongai next to Kenyatta’s own.
The Sunday Times described how Mama Ngina had been buying land on the coast that was used to build two hotels, while Kenyatta himself built Leopard Beach Hotel, which was registered in a Swiss company’s name. It revealed that in 1972, Mombasa Municipal Council had waived all rates on properties owned by the president and his family, and had listed 11 more properties in the area. The paper also described how the family operated through overseas frontmen such as George Criticos and Asian lawyers and accountants. The international casinos were also of interest. In 1967, a company for Italian investors linked to the Mafia had established the Nairobi International Casino, with Fred Kubai and later Peter Muigai Kenyatta and James Gichuru as shareholders. In 1973, it faced competition from another casino on the outskirts of Nairobi. The Sunday Times revealed that while Kenyatta’s name did not appear on the registration papers, he owned the site and the building, and received a third of its profits.
Kenyatta’s niece Beth Mugo, meanwhile, had become involved in the gemstone business, and had obtained the right to sell gems to foreigners at Nairobi airport. Just as the Kenyatta family was becoming rich, so those close to Mzee also demonstrated their power. The Sunday Times named Coast PC Mahihu as owningthe Bahari Beach Hotel and Rift Valley PC Mathenge as owning the Coral Beach Hotel. Eliud Wamae part-owned the Kenya Beach and the Ngong Hills hotels. John Michuki and Mugo, meanwhile, were involved with a German hotel group.
The backbench put up a determined but futile fight against this trend. In May 1975, in its post-Kariuki murder peak of independence, the Assembly defeated government opposition to establish a third anti-corruption Select Committee; Martin Shikuku became its chairman, and for the first time in Kenya’s history, all its members – including minister Omolo-Okero – declared their wealth. However, the government soon undermined it, and on 24 June, Parliament killed the committee it had established only weeks before. Parliament could no more control the elite’s depredations than could the government itself.
The Public Accounts Committee continued to castigate ministries for overspending against budgets, with the figure rising to US$13 million in 1974–5. Ministries were criticised for failing to recover loans, bypassing tender procedures, misusing grants, uneconomic investments and poor accounting. Although lip service was paid to efficiency, the political will for root and branch reform was missing. The churches too complained at the growing ‘get rich quick’ culture and the damaging effects of corruption and nepotism, but the elite were beyond moral censure. Patronage and nepotism were increasingly the way business was done. If you did not know someone, then business would be very difficult. It was common for politicians to ensure that allies, friends, relatives and people from the same ethnic group and sub-group as themselves received jobs or contracts, which would provide them with income and in turn buttress the politician’s career.
Indeed, it was almost essential that this happened: if everyone else was doing the same thing, failing to do so would disadvantage your community and weaken your finances and electoral viability. Ministers also prioritised government projects to assist their own constituencies or districts. It was common for water projects to be sited in the constituency of the water minister, roads in the district of the public works minister and so on. Kenyatta permitted this, as it stabilised and channelled conflict and patronage, and left him and the central bureaucracy as arbiters of who would gain and lose.
Excerpts from Charles Hornsby’s book – Kenya: A History Since Independence (1963-2011).
Mutahi Ngunyi better give Wakenya a break.Hawa Wakikuyu and their chauvinism.they will never stop amazing wakenya. This hanisi pseudo intellectual kikuyu Royalist anti-luo people should better be ignored hence his short-sightedness .a praisor of his kikuyu hegemony ,dictatorship and failures.He deserves to be placed in Ghoki for rehab We are told Mutahi Ngunyi moves with hon Karuki Ngilu as( Mushikanji)What a nut-case
Uhuru&Ruto are very busy organizing and uniting all former British Colonies in Africa to defy United Kingdom starting with Nigeria >Uhuru /Ruto might overthrow the remainig starnding Empire! hence Uk leadership looks weak,fearful towards Kenya new Leadership . Kenya and her African Friend of Nations may very soon start boycotting British>Land Rovers Military vehicles and weapons etc etc Uk must act and tame these Kenyan Cunning leaders . Icc case is driving Uhuru/Ruto crazy!
Why Only Ruto& Uhuru witnesses withdrawing from the ICC but not Sang?Is money changing hands >Sang has no money like the Two thugs!
Raila has always been considered a threat to the security of the state, even when he was in government as the Prime Minister.
The strong feeling amongst some very powerful people within the JUBILEE government is that Raila did not allow Kibaki to rule in peace and ended up “messing up” his presidency. They feel that he should not be allowed to do the same with the Uhuru presidency. Interestingly the Kibaki administration actually considered assassination and even hired an international hit man (one of the Artur brothers) to execute the mission but the whole idea was abandoned when Raila himself blew the whistle and even gave journalists directions to the house where the said Artur brother was living at the time.
Other influential advisors of the president who were present during Jomo’s presidency like the president’s mother and former first lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta are also of the view that Raila should at the very least be arrested. They point to the fact that Jomo was in a very similar situation during his presidency and ended up placing Raila’s dad the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, under house arrest for years on end where his movements were limited. They add that even then there was great fear that the move would have caused chaos in Nyanza but nothing happened. The new constitution does not allow such draconian options that are an affront to basic human rights. Still President Uhuru is being urged that nothing will happen if he were to get the CORD luminary arrested and the action would in fact bring some ‘”order” in the way CORD is operating.
So the question now is what would really happen if Raila was to be arrested? Would there be chaos caused by his supporters? Taking into consideration the current mood in the country and the CORD wounds from the last general elections that are yet to heal, such a move would be way too dangerous and may just be the spark needed to ignite widespread violent protests.
We can authoritatively report that the woman behind the infamous ivory trade in Kenya is Othaya MP, Mary Wambui.
According to credible sources, who are privy to the ongoing trade which has seen the killing of over 100,000 elephants in the last 3 decades, the MP has been carrying the illegal trade for the last two decades.
On Monday, last week Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials netted a container full of ivory worth Sh 40 million which was on transit from Uganda to Malaysia.
Impeccable sources, who requested anonymity, said the ivory was hidden in State House, Mombasa, under instructions from, Mary Wambui
“Two prominent politicians are colluding with merchants of ivory to smuggle ivory worth millions of shillings from State House, Mombasa,” a senior police officer said saying the fiery Othaya MP has been severally mentioned in ivory trade.
Wambui, who is a millionaire in status, has good relations with the Jubilee Coalition heavyweights and she has been carrying the illegal trade at the gates of State House.
She is also alleged be the second wife of retired President Mwai Kibaki.
Uhuru and Ruto are Dictator Moi’s political orphans who are waiting for ICC trials for grave and inhumane acts during the PEV. Uhuru inherited stolen wealth and Ruto enriched himself from the YK92 money printing scandal and other fraudulent acts in the past year involving millions of cash. But given our incompetent judicial system, he has been able to get acquitted.
KITENDAWILI TEGA!!!
How many IDPs will 100 million take to resettle?
How many new TEACHERS, NURSES, DOCTORS will 100 million take to hire in a year? How many new classrooms will 100 million take to build countrywide?
How many new police houses will 100 million take to build? etc etc….
ANSWER: There is only 100 Million to refurbish a new 400 million house inspected and opened by our very ‘able’ ex president 8 months ago with alot of pomp and song!!! Only in KENYA!!!
Edwin Kiama
Money-worshipping Kenya of Uhuruto>
The Jailing of Bunge La Mwananchi must be condemned & resisted>
IDPs ask Uhuru to give them land
Report from Kenya Daily Nation
Published on 25 Jun 2013
Internally displaced persons have questioned the government’s commitment to resettle them within the first 100 days since Jubilee assumed power.
They claim their predicament was taking a back seat despite the numerous promises by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto to resettle them during their campaigns ahead of the March 4 General Election.
“IDPs voted overwhelmingly for Jubilee because of the promises the leaders made to us that the resettlement of pending cases would be done within the first 100 days,” said Mr Peter Tenna of Kenya National Organisation of Victims of Ethnic Clashes.
The displaced persons, however, praised the government for allocating an additional Sh300 million in this year’s Budget to buy land for resettling the IDPs still in camps.
Mau Forest evictions
According to reports from the defunct Special Programmes ministry, 723 IDP families still live in camps as at last January.
The report says another 1,200 families evicted by the government from Mau Forest in 2009 as part of efforts to rehabilitate the water catchment were yet to be resettled.
The IDPs blamed their harsh living conditions on government and donor fatigue in providing humanitarian supplies and delayed allocation of land to the victims as part of the restitution efforts.
Efforts to resettle the IDPs have faced various hurdles, including opposition by host communities to accommodate the displaced as was the case in Mau Narok.
In Mau Narok, the local community opposed the resettlement of 900 IDPs at Rose Farm — a 2,400-acre property bought by the government for the purpose.
Former Rift Valley PC Osman Warfa on numerous occasions tried to arbitrate the dispute but lack of political goodwill by leaders from Narok County derailed his efforts.