Post by Kenyan Voter on Nov 7, 2007 21:36:43 GMT 3
I am a middle aged Kenyan who has lived through the three regimes of Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki. Every time there was regime change in the past, Kenyans were optimistic that the chronic problems of poverty, nepotism, corruption, curtailed civic freedoms, and under development would be addressed once and for all. A short period into the new regime they would be disappointed and begin clamour for change all over again. I have also followed your contribution during these transitions and am convinced that you are one of the very few remaining champions for genuine change who has availed himself to the national constituency for conferment of the sovereign mandate. You rank in the league of the late J M Kariuki, the reason so many Kenyans have faith in your leadership.
As a staunch believer in the ODM dream, I contend that in the 21st century, a progressive political movement should only make a bid to take over government if it has the strategy to stay on. A one-term administration is an embarrassment that can neither achieve much change-wise nor can leave a legacy worth of note by history. It is therefore imperative to launch on the platform of change and good governance while standing on a moral high ground as a pre-view into the future the ordinary mwananchi can relate to, today. This then brings me to the subject matter of my appeal to your Excellency.
In all probability, barring some unpredictable phenomena coming into play, you will win the December 27 elections. However let no pollster lie that you will win hands down. No, in truth more than half of the country will have voted against you and you will need to summon rare skills to first unite the nation then carry it along the path of popular and desired change. This will be difficult if the team that drives ODM campaign is the self same that will occupy the front seats of a government promising a complete break with the past. Moreover any rebellion by members of your government to government policies which you have helped demystify, would really put spanners in the works.
Your Excellency, today many Kenyans wallow in poverty. But there is no government on earth that can remedy this by sending monthly cheques to the affected population to alleviate their situation. The way out is to avail equal and non-preferential opportunities to all citizens for them to exploit to their individual maximum advantage. In the process, differences in competitiveness generate disparities, which is what taxation and appropriation aims to address. The true enemy of the republic is therefore the person in authority who practiced nepotism, which skewed the opportunities plane, the public officer who personalised national assets, which unfairly escalated inequality in society and the leader who set brother against brother and sister against sister who is responsible for the current state of mistrust obtaining today in our country.
Let me delve into a few known facts about a few of them. Perhaps it will open your eyes as to the possibility of only shifting musical chairs while ostensibly aiming to redress what Kenyans have been short-changed about all these years. Only if so, your reign will not be expected to exceed five short years and we are back to the vicious cycle, a clear demonstration that short term political expediencies will never truly reward your struggles. My advice, don’t even bother to start if you won’t finish.
1. Kenyans honestly hope that when you get into office , you will very quickly unmask the ghost of Goldenberg; the genesis of our country’s dubious recognition as a hub of corruption. Unfortunately, the story of Goldenberg will never be complete without the story of former Finance Minister, Hon. Musalia Mudavadi. He paid out over Kshs 10 billion to corruption networks from the national treasury while it was entrusted to him. His cut can only be anyone’s guess. Now, what kind of principle assistant to the President will he make if he can’t even travel abroad due to the prevailing ban?
2. Until NARC took over, Hon. William Ruto was the proud owner of Procession Road (Serena B). He has cases pending in court having sold non-existent forest plots to a parastatal for hundreds of millions of shillings and now owns Kenya Times hitherto belonging to milliards of KANU rank and file. He too is banned from visiting key partner countries.
3. The year is 1987 and Kenya is hosting All Africa Games. The youngest cabinet member Hon. Henry Kosgey is in charge of the sports docket. He enlists an international conman **** Berg and the two fleece Kenyans and Kenyan companies of millions of shillings in sponsorship money. He then skimmed off so much commission from suppliers to the extent that even the display board at the Nyayo National stadium which was imported from Hungary did not function during the opening ceremony or any time there after but the Minister was too compromised to question. Since then he became the antithesis of Midas touch and anything he touched came down tabling at very heavy social and economic cost. Do you remember Kenya National Assurance?
4. Hon Joseph Nyaga may pass as innocent but he is a moral conman who will (if he has not already) mislead many young people. What is he doing with a married and well-known PR personality long after his wife fled back to Scotland for the same reasons? Truly ‘saved’ people don’t do this.
5. Yes it is only in Africa where an advocate struck off the roll of advocates for stealing mislay accident victim’s compensation money, after an ambulance chasing adventure, can aspire for an MP’s office and even that of Minister. Hon. Otieno Kajwang’ may consider himself lucky but he surely does not represent the republic we so desire to build.
6. The queen of Afya House may have left but her legacy lives on. Ask any stranger at the ministry and they will tell you that nepotism is Hon. Charity Ngilu’s other name. Further her daughter runs five NGO’s all dealing with Aids funds. Her sexual escapades need not be the concern of the republic but while in office she ought to go about it with probity. Not in parking lots with a wannabe young enough to be her son.
7. Perhaps after violent crime, crimes against the environment are going to be the most important in this century. Hon. Musa Sirma has been single handedly responsible for wanton deforestation for personal gain in Central Rift Valley while serving as Forester in-charge in Nakuru. Up to now he still pedals Sandal wood, a contraband trade.
8. Hon. Justice (rtd) Otieno Kwach is an otherwise honourable man of letters except for that little matter of exchanging a couple of million shillings at the basement of Hilton hotel; the price justice then.
9. Joshua Kulei is a private citizen who has shown little interest in politics generally. He however epitomizes corruption of Moi state and any association with our nascent party can only be counter productive. Perhaps all he owns today once belonged to all of us.
10. Dr. Sally Kosgey has declared the intention to vie on ODM ticket in Aldai, which may not be your major concern. She will also be a towering candidate for a cabinet post if she was elected, but her history in a lot of ways negates what ODM promises. She is personally responsible for hiking PS’s salaries to their current levels to the exclusion of all other civil servants simply because she served as PS then. This is perhaps the most glaring case of remuneration inequality in the public sector after Ringera and Parliament. Her other issues of personalising Railway quarters in Parklands will also never go away. My unsolicited advice is that you keep a very safe distance from such characters.
11. Hon Reuben Ndolo is well suited to play political bouncer but he is clearly not Minister material. Let him also know that it is very foolish to eat raw CDF funds to finance his newfound lifestyle. I’ll be shocked if he got away with it anyway.
12. In the heat of recent media exchanges with KADDU chief, you once said that Cyrus Jirongo ought to be spending time somewhere else rather that basking in media glory. That statement is as true today as it was then. Jirongo personalised so much of public funds in the 1990’s that a currency note was named after him in dubious honour. It is our faith that you will still put him in that promised place in your other life. Openly decline his pretentious support.
13. Hon. Kipkalya Kones, Hon. William ole Ntimama and Hon. Franklin Bett have one thing in common. They all have dripping blood on their hands, as architects of ethnic cleansing campaign of the 1990’s. Only Bett has additional credentials because in his tenure at State House he grabbed quite a bit of public land. One small living testimony is that housing estate next to War Memorial Hospital in Nakuru.
14. And him of Jeshi la Mzee notoriety, Hon Fred Ngumo? There is the small matter of the public plot in the CBD near National bank, which he allocated to himself as City Father and then sold to a public body for 300 million shillings. To his credit though, he confessed this in the early days of NARC administration.
15. Bishop Dr. Margaret Wanjiru may be seen as a necessary intercessor but without passing much judgement, one would doubt if her powerful prayers would ever reach the destination leave alone being answered by heavens. This Doctor with little more than ‘O’ level education is a pretender to morality. She lives off alms with opulence. Her affair with married Matjeke of South Africa is a misnomer and bad manners for a church minister let alone a bishop.
16. Jonney-come-lately Zakayo Cheruiyot (former PS – OP) the latest entrant into our boat may prove to be valuable but for the wrong reasons. If you will indeed walk the talk, the faceless ghost of Anglo Leasing (Kanu regime phase) has now entered the ark availing itself to be unmasked by you.
17. Former Finance Minister Chris Okemo may strike you as a suitable candidate from a distance. Those who know him however confess he’s also a shark. When some local investors protested the sale of East Kenya Bottlers (Machakos) to South African Sabco on account of granting monopoly status to a foreign company, he resolved the matter after accepting a small gift of 50 million shillings. Of course he can deny but documentary evidence still exists at Sabco, and the plant was long bought and shut down.
18. According to the culture of the Kikuyu people, what Tony Gachoka did to his family would demand that he be cursed and disinherited. Born to a rich family in Thika, Gachoka assumed the role of an administrator to the family estate after his father’s early demise. Within a very short spun, he squandered family wealth estimated to be in hundreds of millions of shillings and fled leaving his ailing mother and siblings in perpetual threat of eviction by auctioneers from her matrimonial home. He has since engaged in a shameful love affair with Hon.. Ngilu unofficially attributed to causing her husband’s habitual drinking leading to early exit to the grave. Lately also, he has been the main conduit for medical supplies tender kickbacks. I would touch that kind of person with a long pole.
19. The self-confessed Duke of Kabeteshire Sir Charles Mugane Njonjo is another character to be avoided. Do you remember him telling your father that he would never shake hands with a Luo for fear of contracting Cholera? I am sure he is in this to settle personal scores with Kibaki. Yes an enemy of your enemy is your friend but Njojo is an enemy of ODM dream too. He rubbished the independence majimbo constitution in 1964 as the AG and now he has become a land grabber too. He still owns a big chunk of Karura forest; at least officially.
20. Then there is Irshad Sumra our candidate for Embakasi. Someone who lives off stolen Telekom and KPLC conductors should know better than soiling our party’s good name.
21. That leaves our good professor Hon. Anyang Nyongo. Intelligent and relatively clean is only blemished by his affinity to the Luo gene pool. During his short stint at Planning Ministry, his tribesmen filled all emerging and senior positions. This led to his Treasury wing being nicknamed channel ‘O’. This he can work on though to accommodate the diversity of ODM family.
With the wisdom of hindsight the above scenario may have informed Hon, Kalonzo’s (another fairly clean guy) break away. Unfortunately for him too, he became hostage to one Hon. Mutula Kilonzo, a big proportion of whose vast estate can be traced to state coffers.
That leaves only you and Hon. Najib Balala to carry forth the dream. Najib though absolutely loyal to you may not proof so useful in the new government. His academic limitation can only allow him to handle simple ministries effectively. Luckily there is an array of young and highly educated talent in the ODM fraternity to choose from. In a world order dominated by the US an over glorified Balala can easily cause conflict with the only Superpower while lobbying his religious persuasions. Back home also, you must remain sensitive to the expectations of your Christian following which you do not seem to pay much attention to presently. Were Balala to occupy a powerful seat near the centre, one can see him facilitating Islamisation of every aspect of Kenyan life in fulfilment of Abuja Declaration, which may become the genesis of a new faith based conflict in our country.
Your Excellency, I hope the above expose will in a small way contribute towards moulding a more wholesome and unadulterated ODM dream, while avoiding the mistakes of our fore runners.
As a staunch believer in the ODM dream, I contend that in the 21st century, a progressive political movement should only make a bid to take over government if it has the strategy to stay on. A one-term administration is an embarrassment that can neither achieve much change-wise nor can leave a legacy worth of note by history. It is therefore imperative to launch on the platform of change and good governance while standing on a moral high ground as a pre-view into the future the ordinary mwananchi can relate to, today. This then brings me to the subject matter of my appeal to your Excellency.
In all probability, barring some unpredictable phenomena coming into play, you will win the December 27 elections. However let no pollster lie that you will win hands down. No, in truth more than half of the country will have voted against you and you will need to summon rare skills to first unite the nation then carry it along the path of popular and desired change. This will be difficult if the team that drives ODM campaign is the self same that will occupy the front seats of a government promising a complete break with the past. Moreover any rebellion by members of your government to government policies which you have helped demystify, would really put spanners in the works.
Your Excellency, today many Kenyans wallow in poverty. But there is no government on earth that can remedy this by sending monthly cheques to the affected population to alleviate their situation. The way out is to avail equal and non-preferential opportunities to all citizens for them to exploit to their individual maximum advantage. In the process, differences in competitiveness generate disparities, which is what taxation and appropriation aims to address. The true enemy of the republic is therefore the person in authority who practiced nepotism, which skewed the opportunities plane, the public officer who personalised national assets, which unfairly escalated inequality in society and the leader who set brother against brother and sister against sister who is responsible for the current state of mistrust obtaining today in our country.
Let me delve into a few known facts about a few of them. Perhaps it will open your eyes as to the possibility of only shifting musical chairs while ostensibly aiming to redress what Kenyans have been short-changed about all these years. Only if so, your reign will not be expected to exceed five short years and we are back to the vicious cycle, a clear demonstration that short term political expediencies will never truly reward your struggles. My advice, don’t even bother to start if you won’t finish.
1. Kenyans honestly hope that when you get into office , you will very quickly unmask the ghost of Goldenberg; the genesis of our country’s dubious recognition as a hub of corruption. Unfortunately, the story of Goldenberg will never be complete without the story of former Finance Minister, Hon. Musalia Mudavadi. He paid out over Kshs 10 billion to corruption networks from the national treasury while it was entrusted to him. His cut can only be anyone’s guess. Now, what kind of principle assistant to the President will he make if he can’t even travel abroad due to the prevailing ban?
2. Until NARC took over, Hon. William Ruto was the proud owner of Procession Road (Serena B). He has cases pending in court having sold non-existent forest plots to a parastatal for hundreds of millions of shillings and now owns Kenya Times hitherto belonging to milliards of KANU rank and file. He too is banned from visiting key partner countries.
3. The year is 1987 and Kenya is hosting All Africa Games. The youngest cabinet member Hon. Henry Kosgey is in charge of the sports docket. He enlists an international conman **** Berg and the two fleece Kenyans and Kenyan companies of millions of shillings in sponsorship money. He then skimmed off so much commission from suppliers to the extent that even the display board at the Nyayo National stadium which was imported from Hungary did not function during the opening ceremony or any time there after but the Minister was too compromised to question. Since then he became the antithesis of Midas touch and anything he touched came down tabling at very heavy social and economic cost. Do you remember Kenya National Assurance?
4. Hon Joseph Nyaga may pass as innocent but he is a moral conman who will (if he has not already) mislead many young people. What is he doing with a married and well-known PR personality long after his wife fled back to Scotland for the same reasons? Truly ‘saved’ people don’t do this.
5. Yes it is only in Africa where an advocate struck off the roll of advocates for stealing mislay accident victim’s compensation money, after an ambulance chasing adventure, can aspire for an MP’s office and even that of Minister. Hon. Otieno Kajwang’ may consider himself lucky but he surely does not represent the republic we so desire to build.
6. The queen of Afya House may have left but her legacy lives on. Ask any stranger at the ministry and they will tell you that nepotism is Hon. Charity Ngilu’s other name. Further her daughter runs five NGO’s all dealing with Aids funds. Her sexual escapades need not be the concern of the republic but while in office she ought to go about it with probity. Not in parking lots with a wannabe young enough to be her son.
7. Perhaps after violent crime, crimes against the environment are going to be the most important in this century. Hon. Musa Sirma has been single handedly responsible for wanton deforestation for personal gain in Central Rift Valley while serving as Forester in-charge in Nakuru. Up to now he still pedals Sandal wood, a contraband trade.
8. Hon. Justice (rtd) Otieno Kwach is an otherwise honourable man of letters except for that little matter of exchanging a couple of million shillings at the basement of Hilton hotel; the price justice then.
9. Joshua Kulei is a private citizen who has shown little interest in politics generally. He however epitomizes corruption of Moi state and any association with our nascent party can only be counter productive. Perhaps all he owns today once belonged to all of us.
10. Dr. Sally Kosgey has declared the intention to vie on ODM ticket in Aldai, which may not be your major concern. She will also be a towering candidate for a cabinet post if she was elected, but her history in a lot of ways negates what ODM promises. She is personally responsible for hiking PS’s salaries to their current levels to the exclusion of all other civil servants simply because she served as PS then. This is perhaps the most glaring case of remuneration inequality in the public sector after Ringera and Parliament. Her other issues of personalising Railway quarters in Parklands will also never go away. My unsolicited advice is that you keep a very safe distance from such characters.
11. Hon Reuben Ndolo is well suited to play political bouncer but he is clearly not Minister material. Let him also know that it is very foolish to eat raw CDF funds to finance his newfound lifestyle. I’ll be shocked if he got away with it anyway.
12. In the heat of recent media exchanges with KADDU chief, you once said that Cyrus Jirongo ought to be spending time somewhere else rather that basking in media glory. That statement is as true today as it was then. Jirongo personalised so much of public funds in the 1990’s that a currency note was named after him in dubious honour. It is our faith that you will still put him in that promised place in your other life. Openly decline his pretentious support.
13. Hon. Kipkalya Kones, Hon. William ole Ntimama and Hon. Franklin Bett have one thing in common. They all have dripping blood on their hands, as architects of ethnic cleansing campaign of the 1990’s. Only Bett has additional credentials because in his tenure at State House he grabbed quite a bit of public land. One small living testimony is that housing estate next to War Memorial Hospital in Nakuru.
14. And him of Jeshi la Mzee notoriety, Hon Fred Ngumo? There is the small matter of the public plot in the CBD near National bank, which he allocated to himself as City Father and then sold to a public body for 300 million shillings. To his credit though, he confessed this in the early days of NARC administration.
15. Bishop Dr. Margaret Wanjiru may be seen as a necessary intercessor but without passing much judgement, one would doubt if her powerful prayers would ever reach the destination leave alone being answered by heavens. This Doctor with little more than ‘O’ level education is a pretender to morality. She lives off alms with opulence. Her affair with married Matjeke of South Africa is a misnomer and bad manners for a church minister let alone a bishop.
16. Jonney-come-lately Zakayo Cheruiyot (former PS – OP) the latest entrant into our boat may prove to be valuable but for the wrong reasons. If you will indeed walk the talk, the faceless ghost of Anglo Leasing (Kanu regime phase) has now entered the ark availing itself to be unmasked by you.
17. Former Finance Minister Chris Okemo may strike you as a suitable candidate from a distance. Those who know him however confess he’s also a shark. When some local investors protested the sale of East Kenya Bottlers (Machakos) to South African Sabco on account of granting monopoly status to a foreign company, he resolved the matter after accepting a small gift of 50 million shillings. Of course he can deny but documentary evidence still exists at Sabco, and the plant was long bought and shut down.
18. According to the culture of the Kikuyu people, what Tony Gachoka did to his family would demand that he be cursed and disinherited. Born to a rich family in Thika, Gachoka assumed the role of an administrator to the family estate after his father’s early demise. Within a very short spun, he squandered family wealth estimated to be in hundreds of millions of shillings and fled leaving his ailing mother and siblings in perpetual threat of eviction by auctioneers from her matrimonial home. He has since engaged in a shameful love affair with Hon.. Ngilu unofficially attributed to causing her husband’s habitual drinking leading to early exit to the grave. Lately also, he has been the main conduit for medical supplies tender kickbacks. I would touch that kind of person with a long pole.
19. The self-confessed Duke of Kabeteshire Sir Charles Mugane Njonjo is another character to be avoided. Do you remember him telling your father that he would never shake hands with a Luo for fear of contracting Cholera? I am sure he is in this to settle personal scores with Kibaki. Yes an enemy of your enemy is your friend but Njojo is an enemy of ODM dream too. He rubbished the independence majimbo constitution in 1964 as the AG and now he has become a land grabber too. He still owns a big chunk of Karura forest; at least officially.
20. Then there is Irshad Sumra our candidate for Embakasi. Someone who lives off stolen Telekom and KPLC conductors should know better than soiling our party’s good name.
21. That leaves our good professor Hon. Anyang Nyongo. Intelligent and relatively clean is only blemished by his affinity to the Luo gene pool. During his short stint at Planning Ministry, his tribesmen filled all emerging and senior positions. This led to his Treasury wing being nicknamed channel ‘O’. This he can work on though to accommodate the diversity of ODM family.
With the wisdom of hindsight the above scenario may have informed Hon, Kalonzo’s (another fairly clean guy) break away. Unfortunately for him too, he became hostage to one Hon. Mutula Kilonzo, a big proportion of whose vast estate can be traced to state coffers.
That leaves only you and Hon. Najib Balala to carry forth the dream. Najib though absolutely loyal to you may not proof so useful in the new government. His academic limitation can only allow him to handle simple ministries effectively. Luckily there is an array of young and highly educated talent in the ODM fraternity to choose from. In a world order dominated by the US an over glorified Balala can easily cause conflict with the only Superpower while lobbying his religious persuasions. Back home also, you must remain sensitive to the expectations of your Christian following which you do not seem to pay much attention to presently. Were Balala to occupy a powerful seat near the centre, one can see him facilitating Islamisation of every aspect of Kenyan life in fulfilment of Abuja Declaration, which may become the genesis of a new faith based conflict in our country.
Your Excellency, I hope the above expose will in a small way contribute towards moulding a more wholesome and unadulterated ODM dream, while avoiding the mistakes of our fore runners.