They Can as easily Sink You as Save You…

The Draft Constitution is out. I am actually elated that it came out this soon and more so because we get to give feedback on what we think. I have just acquired a soft copy version because it would be easier to peruse through it while I do my work on the computer. That is the good part. The bad part I politicians have started running their mouths, spearheading posturing antics that can threaten yet another constitution making process. The scary part other than them not reading the draft first before opening their mouths is that they probably have an audience that is either too illiterate, to ignorant, both, or too tribal to think otherwise. That is what I want to write about today.

First I will let you know where I am at. I have been busy with my thing that has started setting its own agenda and dictating my pace. But even with that, I picked up a copy of the draft constitution so that I can read it and make my own conclusions about what is of contention. I am sure that many sober minded Kenyans are with me on this point. Even the not sober minded have the reality of the 2007 elections to sober them up for long enough read through this document. But I am afraid that things are still the same with regard to thinking for ourselves and not relying on political impulses for decision making.

A few years back, we were in the same place that we are at now. The Bomas draft was out and all the people I look up to for political, civic and legal wisdom were almost content with it. But then the AG took that draft, ran around with it; from Kilifi to Naivasha and I think Kilaguni too. In the end, what he presented for us to vote for at the referendum was not what was produced at Bomas. Being a lawyer, he knew which clauses to “edit” and had done so. The people I look up to said that this was a bad thing for so many reasons. They partly influenced my decision. Largely, I voted no for the draft constitution then because the AG “a lawyer” had run all over the country with this document and all over sudden it was billed as better than the Bomas Draft. I thought not and my gut said NO! So I voted no. Not so much because I read it but because I did not trust it.

And it is all about trust, isn’t it. We must all be able to trust the constitution that governs us. We should not feel that the constitution is skewed towards some interests more than others. I was not so sure that I could trust that constitution that the most sober minded people in the country advised me against. At the end of the day, my choice to vote no was because of this eternally wise quote,

“In any struggle between doubts and certainty, cast your lot with doubt and then proceed with certainty.”

But this year is different. I have the draft with me and will be reading it in bits and pieces for the next three weeks or so. From watching all those lawyer series from Boston, I actually believe that I have in my grasp a pretty good understanding of the law and constitutionality. More important, I understand that all legalese is subject to interruption and hence the reason I need too seek out people who will correctly inform me about those aspects of this draft that are not clear to the naked non-legal eye; the sense beyond the jargon…

Lee Thayer happens to be one of those writers who have greatly influenced my thought process. He wrote, “Pick people who inform you very carefully. They can as readily sink you as save you.”

The last time we had a discourse on the constitution, we as a country picked politicians to inform us. We now have the benefit of hindsight because we know how that ended. I propose a different route altogether this time round. Even before the draft came out, politicians were at it again, posturing for positions that they are pretty sure will be skewed in their favour. And let us be honest, most of these politicians who are already mouthing off are complete idiots. And I do not mean that as an insult, I mean it as a statement of fact. Their only asset is a loud mouth and short memories; that way, they get to shout whatever they want without thinking about it and not worrying about the implications. You and I have to worry because we were the victims of such careless speeches the last time round. So I ask you today, read what you can in the draft constitution and carefully pick who will inform you about those areas you find contentious.

I do not know about you but I have a couple of names in mind when it comes to such analysis.

• Muthoni Wanyeki: She is the epitome of calm, collected, eloquent and supremely intelligent. She’s headstrong and resilient too. She has been in the Civil Society for long enough to understand the implications of most of the issues that we will be seeking clarity on. When it comes right down to it, I trust her. She is watching my back and every time she speaks, I can confidently assert that she is speaking on my behalf.
• Mutahi Ngunyi: I doubt that there is a better political analyst in the country than this man here. He calls it as he sees it and takes no prisoners in his analysis. I advise you to read his columns in the Sunday Nation for the next couple of weeks. I am sure he will have something about this draft that you will need to ponder about. He writes well, is exceptionally intelligent, very wide travelled and has killer anecdotes in his pieces. Lastly, you’ve got to respect his candor.
• Louis Otieno: I like this guy. We would get along if we met. This is the only TV Host that I have followed from station to station. He is now at K24. This man here has the most intuitive interviews in Kenya and possibly even Africa. When politicians shy away from your panel when you invite them, you must be doing something right. WATCH HIS SHOW. H e leaves no stone unturned and will not shy away from asking what needs to be asked. He is no sycophant and his questions always catch the least bright people in his panel napping. No wonder politicians run from his shows.

That is my two cents worth. I really hope that we have learned our lessons. If I could have it my way, I would cut off the tongues of politicians.

Sobriety is needed during this most important juncture in the course of our history.

Keep in mind that progress requires some casualties. I just hope that those who inform you are not politicians and that politicians will be the greatest casualties of this new constitutional dispensation.

Ringera, KACC Board, as Corrupt as the President

I have just come back to edit this top part and the title of the blog. First, I have to say that following the revelation in the news just now, I am sickened though not surprised. I got over being surprised in this country a long time ago. 5 members of the KACC board, instead of their scheduled meeting were caught in the act meeting with Ringera (tunda mbovu) at a city hotel and ran after the cameras caught up with them. COMPROMISED is what the police call it when one of their own is sleeping with the enemy.

The same Advisory board to the KACC which yesterday condemned the appointment of Ringera today skipped their much hyped meeting to meet Ringera at a secret Rendezvous point.  While I will not blanketly condemn the whole board, it is sad that the very board whose powers were usurped by the president have now softened their stand and are playing the tune of  the president. Though I expected behind the scenes armtwisting to take place so that Ringera is accepted, I did not expect it to be this soon and with the Board Chairman sneaking around like a cheating husband.

Below is the blog I had written earlier in the day.

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This has been a difficult past few months for Kenyans. First we were told that there was no food, and then there was no water, and when energy went, I honestly thought that we could in no way sink further than this. But apparently I was wrong. We have sunk and this came in the way of our mad president who reappointed Ringera as the Anti-corruption czar.

From a distance, you may think that this appointment has nothing to do with the water, food and energy crisis. Look closer. Is the big picture getting clearer? If it isn’t, I will educate you.

For starters, we have no water in the country. Blame the gods all you want but we all know that we had a big hand in all of this. Since independence, our shameless leaders have been handing away land to their families and friends like lollipops. These are not lands situated in Kitui, or Samburu, or in North Eastern but rather are prime land inside our then forests, now ranches. From Aberdare, through Mount Elgon to Mau, forests were felled to make way for farm land and this is going on to date. These were our water catchment areas and they have run dry. The acquisition of these forest lands were in no way legal. Furthermore, there were those illegal connections redirecting water from needy Kenyans to some influential affluent personalities’ homes. These were corrupt deals by the various regimes and hence the work of the anti-corruption commission which Ringera headed.

Then the food crisis came and we had a thousand reasons for it. We blamed it on the post election violence, and then the drought, and finally the funny dealings by our leading politicians in the name of Ruto and some relation of the Prime minister. The result has been the starvation of nearly 10 million Kenyans. Those that did not starve would have been given poisoned maize had alarm not been raised. Yes, for people to starve the way they are now, some people are making good money trading on this bad fortune of “shortage.” When people could not relent in demanding accountability because they did not take lightly people trading on their livelihoods, there was questioning of these leading figures by the anti-corruption commission which Ringera headed.

On the energy crisis, I do not where to begin. We can say that the water which ran dry because the forest cover land illegally allocated to influential figures has effectively killed the water catchment areas is to blame. But then again you have to question why a power generating plant has taken close to two decades to be completed. But then again you could look at the president commissioning that energy project way before it was ready as the reason two decades would pass before something gets done. There was also that guy who caused a loss of close to KES 8 billion and then was handed a one way ticket India. These are all corruption cases because somebody did something that they should not have and which have put us in the crisis we are in today. Ringera who headed the anti-corruption commission had his men look into this I think.

For clarity, I am saying he headed because I hoping and others are praying that with legality of his reappointment being an issue, he will not see the inside of the KACC unless he is the one now being questioned by a more competent less partisan, correctly vetted, and legally appointed Director.

So there you have it. The entire crises we are facing as a country have a corruption bearing and to avert future crisis, it is important that this institution that is called KACC is headed by a competent and impartial person. Under Section 8, sub-section 3 of the Act of parliament that set up the KACC, the advisory board is supposed to the recommend the names of the director and his assistants to the national assembly and once approved they go the executive who can the sign off on them. The wisdom of those who coined that clause sought to ensure that what the president has just done could not be done, legally. It also sought to ensure that a competent and impartial person would survive the vetting process and lead this important institution. This appointment therefore represents another crisis for the country, one which should not be swept under the carpet because there is already too much garbage there is no longer any space under there.

Ringera is not a toothless tiger; he is not even a wolf in sheep clothing, no! He is a chameleon in a plain lizard’s clothing. Five years ago, I gave him the benefit of doubt and looking back at his record, no more attaching benefits to my doubts. If I doubt you, prove first that you are beyond reproach and then the benefits come without the baggage of doubt. Ringera was at the helm when KACC when the Angloleasing scandal came calling but he refused to answer to his call of duty. Instead, according to Michela Wrong’s book, he accompanied Kimunya to London to try and convince the only man who answered the call and exposed this scandal, Mr. Githongo, to put a seal on it. I do not know about you but when you hire a hyena to guard the hen house, that is exactly what you get. This is a whole anti-corruption chief who was involved in the cover up of a scandal regarding his relations. And then he is put in charge for a second term! We all know what that means, right.

Kibaki is a man of many hats which have made him hard of hearing. Before he started acting funny, I was his staunchest supporter. Now, I am his biggest critic and I let that known from the onset and if I were to have a one on one with him, guest what I will call him to his face. Over the years, I have learned that I sleep better at night when I say what needs to be said without beating around the bush. So here goes… Kibaki stole the elections felt nothing. He in fact went into state house and slept for two months as the country burned. Then he came out and acted surprised, wondering what all the fuss was all about. It is said that we will complain all day and night for even a month and he will not do shit about the appointment. He will not even react to all these words against him. Then when we keep quiet, he will have had his way. True. That is how he has survived to date. And that is why I support the Imanyara motion which strips his ass off immunity. We’ll then see whether he will choose to keep quite when he has charges to answer to.

Ringera is the only man Kibaki trusts to cover his ass. He has done that successfully for five years and Kibaki needs a man of Ringera’s moral aloofness to protect him and his cronies. I have heard LSK and Human Rights bodies claim that they will head to court to protest this appointment. I wish them luck. But given that the head of the Judiciary donned his official gear on a Sunday and swore in the president at night without as much as the national anthem playing, I doubt these legal efforts will go far. If this guy can turn a blind eye to the constitution of Kenya, he won’t even have to turn not to notice a mere legal order by a judge that he appointed and hurriedly swore in while his justice minister (the one that resigned in protest) was out of the country. Again, I do not know about you but I am keeping count of all the affronts that this guy is doing against my beloved country. When the immunity goes, I am moving in. These people must learn to respect the rule of the law. The law may be an ass but it should be an ass to all of us on equal measure. I hear Moi now coming out of the woodwork. He may be right on some issues but if I were Kibaki, his ass would be in Kamiti or his land and that of his project in the hands of squatters.

But since Kibaki is now our (this generation’s) problem, he should pray that he dies before this country gets better otherwise, he will wish Ocampo would have come for him and taken him to those fancy jails out there.

I will confess again that Mutahi Ngunyi may have been right when he said that the legacy of Kibaki may be to sink this country so low that we cannot sink any lower. The only other way would be up. I am hoping that this Ringera appointment is rock bottom but knowing this man, he has his henchmen digging day and night for a new low and he might soon declare Jimmy his project.

My Vote has no Sympathy: Asian Tigers and African Lions.

Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.” That is something I read a long time ago. And although I have forgotten the context in which I read it, I know of a scenario in which it fits almost too perfectly.

Over the years, at least those years that I have been conscious of what has been happening around the country, I have seen, and I am sure you have too, many politicians die while in office. Most of them died in freak accidents like Helicopter crashes, Plane crashes, and car accidents. I am human and therefore sympathized with the families of those afflicted. I empathized with what they went through after the loss of their loved ones. And in those rare cases where the deceased were actually potentially good leaders, something twisted in my stomachs especially in the understanding that it is the worst kind of politicians that were instead alive.

It is the same old script when politicians die in this country. People mourn, raise funds, say nice things and then bury the poor guy. Then the real business begins in the name of succession politics. Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, sons and daughters show up and show interest in the parliamentary seat. They fight amongst themselves and the one considered as the favourite of the dead guy when he was alive gets the go-ahead to run on the same party as the deceased. This is usually a sure thing as they never lose, reason; sympathy votes.

I have for so long cursed those who have waste their votes in the name of sympathy. Honestly, I think they are naïve simpletons whose thoughts have been institutionalized in political dynasties.

A politician’s dies and his wives receive millions in fund raising to help in the burial process. The government comes in and gives them a KES 10 million cheque because these guys have life insurance. To many of you out there, that is as good as it can get but for these guys, it’s not quite enough.  They come together, and whether through consensus or coercion, choose a family member who will run for that very seat. They call this continuity and like the fools we have been for the better part of the last 45 years, we vote them back in. The only continuity that takes place thereafter is that the over half a million KES in salary goes to the same family. Period.

The 2007 elections had its good moments before the violent anticlimax. I remember musing with pride as the first, then the second, and finally the third of president Moi’s sons bit the dust in the elections. Their father’s political patronage fiasco had been soundly crashed and that made my day. This was symbolic to me because it was what I would base my arguments on whenever I wrote or spoke on change in leadership. This was a trend that I hoped would catch on but that was naivety on my part. Time after time again, people have voted in relatives of the deceased because of sympathy.

And here is my problem in all this is that we are carrying ourselves as if only a few select families are destined to be the political leaders of this country. As we speak, this president, who has been a failure in all respects of the word, is positioning his son to carry his mantle. A mantle that is drenched in the blood of post election violence, corruption, and dead institutions. And that is my point when I talk of lions and hunters. To this day, these people have never helped this country at all yet from what they shout at podiums; you would think we are a developed country. That is the reason I don’t do rallies. If I were to go to one, I swear I will force my way to the podium and tell this whole lot off. They claim how they are the best hunters out there and yet we have never seen any lion that they have killed.

And here is my challenge to you. Whenever one of these politician types die… the script should be as follows.

Send your apologies to the family and mean them. “I am really sorry about your loss; he was a good guy who did not steal too much.” You can leave the stealing part out but I had to write it. Let them know that you are there to help in whatever way as they go through this difficult time. But when the burial process is over and done with, walk away. But since you will not have gone far enough by the time they settle on who will run for the seat, they will come to you and seek to abuse your sympathy by playing the victim so that you can part with a vote. I have seen this on TV and I am not quite sure how to write it down but I will try. When they call upon you to vote for them, act clueless. “I am sorry, remind me again, I forget. Who are you? Have we met before?” Extend that to retirees too. When they retire, their wives, sons, daughters, step sons, brothers, sisters and mistresses usually show up from nowhere and then you vote for them. Say No! You don’t even know who they are… hence my question. Have we met?

Even though that may be construed as rude, it is not. It sounds rude on TV but that’s TV. In reality, these are the questions that we should be asking. By asking who you are, I do not want to hear that you are the wife, son, brother, sister, aunt, lost cousin or mistress of the deceased politician. I want to know what qualifications you have, your track record, the reason you are running and hell, I want a comprehensive manifesto of what you promise to do and how you think you can achieve it. Just to make your life difficult, I will ask you what makes you better than the deceased. And if the deceased was corrupt, I will even throw in the question; are you your father’s son? And then mumble something about the apple not falling not far from the tree.

And here is the truth that we are all scared of saying or for whatever reason shy away from saying. When people die or retire and their sons and daughters suddenly show up from wherever they have been hiding to run for these seats; these sons and daughter are not coming in to serve you. They are coming in to protect their economic turf, the wealth they have garnered (read stolen) while their relative was in office. That is all there is to it. That is the reason I was happy when Moi’s sons lost and still the very reason I will never vote for you if you are in anyway related to the person who vacated the seat. And look around; all we have been doing since independence is recycle surnames. And logic tells me that you recycle things that you have already used. These people have never been of any use to us and yet we keep recycling their surnames by voting in their relatives. When shall it end?

Look around and tell me who among the top brass of politicians is not there courtesy of a dead relative, or a retired, or one who is about to retire. Are we so dense that we can have only a few families recycle leadership amongst themselves? If we were anywhere near South Korea, I would not be complaining; but with every year that goes by, it seems that we are going further and further as these lot try to outshout each other on who the better hunter is yet none has killed anything. There is no food on the table at the end of the day. For 45 years, two generations of these select families have robbed us dry and have used the system, and tribal innuendos to keep us busy thinking that they are doing something; or worse, that they are the ones who can get us out of the quagmire. It is the same old story and it is about time we recognize it and do something about.

They have had the money and influence all along to tell their story. They have distorted this story depending on the leverage it can potentially get them, and to this date, the same story that they are the mighty hunters with special abilities is still being peddled. I am yet to see a dead lion; but in the mean time, the true hunters are in South Korea and most of Asian countries. They killed their tigers are now proudly wear the title of Asian Tigers. We claim that we have killed our lions and yet we are epitome of what not to do because we reek of everything that is wrong with leadership. Instead of killing the lions of poverty, unemployment, and disease; all their arrows have missed their targets and have ended up hitting you and me and we have died in big numbers. And my theory is that an unskilled hunter who has missed most of his targets for the better part of his career as a hunter has no business having his son as the apprentice. Under the guise of sympathy, we have consistently replaced bad hunters with worse hunters and hence the growing deterioration of affairs in this country today.

Please; no more sympathy votes. Do not encourage these people. When a politician dies and their relatives count on your sympathy to vote them back in, send a message with an overwhelming vote against them. Consider your own story. If, God forbid, you die; will the state give your son your old job? Will it give you KES 10 million as life insurance? Will it help your family with all your burial costs? And even if you did not work for the state; can private firms do this? The answer is NO to each of these questions. Who feels sympathy for you when your loved one dies? Does that sympathy get you a well paying job with ridiculously big allowances? These people have it good and want to continue having it that good by trading on sympathy. They leave whatever it is and in a few weeks time change careers to be politicians without a clue in the world on what it means to be in that office and serve people. Regardless of who died or retired; ask the right questions and get the right man or woman for the job. They are out there…

Winston Churchill wrote that “Today our concern must be with the future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending; the old ways will not do… It is a time, in short, for a new generation of leadership – new men to cope with new opportunities.”

And now I am writing this: let us change the rules of the game altogether. Let us proclaim ourselves the hunters and the political dynasties the lions that need to get killed.