JUSTICE NYAMU, WENDOH AND JUSTICE EMUKULE, WHAT HAS CHANGED IN LAW SINCE 2005?

By Jerry Okungu

Nairobi, Kenya

May 26, 2010

Dear Honorable judges,

Kenyans have a right to demand answers arising from your judgment this week when you ruled against the inclusion of the Kadhi’s courts in our constitution. They are demanding answers not because you are wrong in your wise judgment because all judicial decisions are supposed to be wise. What they are saying is that way back in 2005, you made a similar ruling under similar circumstances but your pronouncements were the very opposite of what you gave us this week.

In 2005 you told us that it is for the people to look at the proposals in the new constitution and not for the courts to fill in any gaps in them. You subsequently declined our invitation to interpret the clauses for us.

At that time, you told us that only the people of Kenya could invalidate the proposed new constitution by voting No. Why then did you honorable judges accept our invitation this time and chose to intervene in a purely people process? Why didn’t you allow us the same leeway to vote either Yes or No at the impending referendum?

Another thing; the constitution process since 2008 has been driven by Parliament

The 2008 Act of Parliament establishing the process was very clear. It shielded the process from all manner of interferences such as yours. More importantly, Kenyans have for ages clamored for real separation of powers and functions of the three arms of the state. Why then did you honorable judges of vast experience find it convenient to drabble into the constitution process? There must be something special that made you stray into this landmine.

To tell you the truth, most Kenyans know why you made a ruling that could have easily triggered a religious civil war in this country. And I hope to God that you were not driven by a parochial and misguided Christian motive to please your right wing congregations that you were in a position to scuttle the constitution they are bent on derailing.

In a media school in North America, I was taught many years ago that though the press has a right to investigate and bring to public attention all the goings on in any institution of public interest, at times common sense should override the zeal to unearth explosive stories. We were told that if breaking a story would result in civil unrest or trigger a bank’s collapse with serious consequences to the public, then consideration for public good would override press freedom and right to break the story.

Which judge in Kenya does not know that Kenyans are still suffering from their raw nerves since 2007 botched elections?

When we are busy spending billions of tax payers money repairing the damage we caused ourselves after those elections, can any judge that has the interest of this country pass a judgment that has the potential to set Kenyans against Kenyans?

As I write this article, the Kenya National Cohesion Commission is at work. These commissioners are busy trying to bring polarized Kenyan communities together to begin feeling like one people and one nation again. These communities obviously include Christian and Muslim Kenyans. And as they put the pieces together with safeguards never to repeat the disaster of that tragic moment, the TJRC is touring Mt. Elgon and Londiani areas taking statements from those that suffered injustices from fellow Kenyans over the years. All these initiatives are costing us an arm and a leg to say the least. Why would any right thinking judge set Muslims against Christians with a ruling that has no value to Kenyans? And why now when you have been sitting on this case for close to seven years!

Since 1988, many reform minded Kenyans have been tortured, maimed, killed and jailed merely for clamoring for democratic space. In the days of Mwakenya trials, many Kenyans were picked from their homes and smuggled into court houses with special judges to be tried under the cover of darkness and sent to long term prison terms without the benefit of their lawyers after forced confessions. In those dark days when Nyayo Torture Chambers were a dreaded death dungeon, you the same judges now bent on derailing the constitution were sitting in the comforts of your homes sipping wine and dining with your families.

Now that the martyrs of yesteryears have expanded democratic space for you, you now turn around to misuse your judicial “independence” to derail what many Kenyans have suffered for, for almost three decades.

Between 2000 and 2010, the constitution process has gobbled up almost Ks 30billion and by the time we are through with the referendum you are determined to postpone, we shall have spent a tidy Ks 40 billion; enough cash to build a dual carriageway from Mombasa to Nairobi. Yet, you our good judges see nothing wrong in your mischief.

Justice Nyamu, Wendoh and Emukule, if you were driven by selfish interest to derail the constitution in order to postpone the imminent vetting of judges, then Kenyans must pity you. No individual interest can derail a change that its time has come.

jerry@jerryokungu.com

TO BE THE PRESIDENT OF KENYA, HAVE A THICK SKIN AND THE PATIENCE OF A VULTURE

By Jerry Okungu

Nairobi, Kenya

May 20, 2010

The founding father of modern Kenya; Jomo Kenyatta spent nearly three decades agitating for Kenya’s freedom both at home and abroad. Nine of those years were spent in prison having been wrongly convicted of being a Mau Mau mastermind along with his six other colleagues we commonly refer to as the Kapenguria Six. In the years Kenyatta spent in England at times as a farm worker, he suffered several humiliating insults, doing odd jobs and even marrying a white woman to make ends meet in the chilly weather of the United Kingdom.

At the time of his imprisonment in 1952, the then colonial authorities described him as a leader unto darkness and death. To the colonial governor, he was the epitome of evil that deserved to die in prison.

His years as a prisoner in the arid parts of Northern Kenya were not easy either.

Folklore has it that some known common criminals that shared the prison grounds with him either hated him and even attempted to kill him for having betrayed them during the struggle. Had it not been for one inmate called Paul Ngei- so the folklore goes, he would probably have died in prison.

Even before Kenyatta was arrested, quite a number of Kikuyu freedom fighters never looked up to him as their leader. They had their own Kimathi that they trusted as a true freedom fighter who believed in their cause. To them Kenyatta’s ways were not the ways of someone genuinely interested in liberating his people.

Because of this perception, two things emerged. One, while on trial at Kapenguria, Kenyatta denied his involvement with the MaU Mau freedom fighters, the people who genuinely shed their blood for the land the colonialists had taken from them. He maintained his innocence throughout the trial and had it not been for one of his own who was bribed to tell lies about his Mau Mau involvement, Kenyatta would never have been convicted.

By the time Kenyatta emerged from his prison cell almost a decade later, he had absorbed enough psychological abuse, degrading confrontations with cell mates and had enough time to reflect on what it needed to be a leader of men and women at the national level. It was therefore no wonder that by the time he was released, he was ready to bring all political factions together, forgive white settlers for insulting him and work with colonial authorities to achieve political independence at Lancaster House in London.

Ironically, on assuming leadership of Kenya after the 1963 elections, Kenyatta made sure that he distanced himself from the Mau Mau fighters as much as possible while embracing the so called home guards that collaborated with the colonial government against freedom fighters. This scenario remained the same as he grew older until he passed on.

The behavior of Kenyatta upon his release was to be repeated by Nelson Mandela 30 years later when the latter finally emerged from Robben Island after 27 years of incarceration. Like Jomo, Mandela forgave White supremacists that had jailed him and joined hands with the then South African President, W De Clark to form the first multiracial government in South Africa after nearly 400 years of White domination.

Just next door in Uganda, those who received political leadership on a silver platter like Presidents Lule, Binaisa and Tito Okello did not last. They had not suffered enough in the quest for that high office in order to develop staying power. They all got swept by the wayside by radicals of their time. The only reason why Museveni has ruled Uganda this long is because he spent almost 10 years in the bush fighting against regimes that had plundered Uganda since the beginning Of Idi Amin’s rule.

When Daniel Moi took power in Kenya in 1978 upon Kenyatta’s death, he had served in Kenya’s parliament in different capacities for 26 years. 14 of those years were spent either as a cabinet minister in charge of internal security or as Kenyatta’s Vice President for 12 years, a period that was instrumental in nurturing him as a national leader.

However, perhaps the most trying moments for Moi in those years were when he served as Kenyatta’s principal assistant. It was during that time when he endured many insults from his juniors that believed that he wasn’t the right person to succeed Kenyatta. The assault on his character and authority included being barred from seeing Kenyatta by the clique around the President, failure by some ambassadors to show up at European airports to meet him and the open campaign to change the constitution in 1976 ostensibly to block him from succeeding Kenyatta upon the latter’s demise. But because he had developed a thick skin and was a patient man, he finally succeeded Kenyatta and ruled Kenya for a good 24 years.

Before Mwai Kibaki succeeded Moi in 2002, he had been in politics for 42 years 39 of those in the cabinet in various capacities under Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi. It is also instructive to note that he served Moi as Vice President for 10 good years, a position that usually attracts myriad attacks in Kenyan politics from competing political forces. When finally he was dropped as Moi’s Vice President following the flawed mlolongo elections of 1988, pundits were quick to write him off.

Although Kibaki stayed on in Moi’s cabinet as Health Minister from 1989 to 1991, it was when he resigned from Moi’s government in December 1991 to form his DP party that he seriously embarked on a long hard road to the presidency that lasted 10 good years and two lost elections. And had Moi not goofed on Uhuru Kenyatta as his successor, Kibaki would most likely not have seen the presidency in his life time.

Given the scenarios above, it may seem like all those Kenyans aspiring to be president without the credentials of political persecution, torture, humiliation or even sheer physical and psychological sacrifices may have to wait a little longer before they become tenants of the State House in the Milimani suburbs of Nairobi. This could be the reason Kibaki could not win the presidency soon after resigning from the Moi cabinet. The same could inform the reason why Uhuru Kenyatta lost the presidency despite state backing in 2002. Kenyans felt such candidates had not suffered enough to deserve the high office.

As we prepare for Kibaki’s exit in the next two years, the front runners for this coveted office; George Saitoti, Martha Karua, Kalonzo Musyoka, William Ruto, Moses Wetangula and others would do well to go back to the drawing board to reexamine their credentials to find out if they have suffered enough for this country to deserve being at State House. If the answer is positive for them then they should be free to enter the race; if not, they are better off holding their horses for now.

Another thing, it is one thing to aspire to be president after a few years in the corridors of power.

However, in an ethnically and culturally diverse country such as we have, with a myriad political parties, all pursuing narrow and sometimes parochial interests, winning the presidency calls for more than an average politician.

jerry@jerryokungu.com

TOP POLITICIANS MUST NOT UNDERMINE THE AUTHORITY OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE

By Jerry Okungu

May 23, 2010

Nairobi Kenya

There is a worrying trend in Kenya where political activists and briefcase carriers of individual politicians are being smuggled into the public service under the guise of personal assistants, private secretaries, advisors or spokesmen.

The most abused area is that of the government Information Department where although there is an established structure led by the Director of Information and Public Communications in the Ministry of Information and Communications serving the entire government, it is clearly emerging that senior politicians who think they are as important as the President clandestinely, without due regard to the Public Service Commission recruitment procedures, and with the intrigues of their permanent secretaries; are busy smuggling into the Public Service and assigning such characters government titles they have no authority to bestow on anybody.

To put the record straight; there are only three lawfully established senior communications positions in the current GoK establishment. These are the Head of Presidential Press Service that serves the Office of the President and State House, the Government Spokesman that operates from the Office of the President and the Director of Information and Public Communication that not only serves the entire government structure but also oversees the deployment and supervision of Information Officers, Public Relations Officers and Kenya News Agencies staff in all ministries and government departments in all corners of the Republic.

In this structure, the Head of Presidential Press Service exclusively manages all communication from State House on behalf of the President. He is the link between the President and the Public. On the other hand, the Government Spokesman is in theory the office that should explain government policies to the public or government position on emerging political, economic and social issues when they occur. Whether this mandate has been achieved or not is not for this article but the fact remains that this is the core function of the Office of the Government Spokesman.

The Director of Information and Public Communication is the sole advisor to every arm of the government on information and communication matters. This position is recruited on merit through the Public Service Commission and enjoys binding contracts from time to time. Unlike the Presidential Press Head or the Government Spokesman, this is not a political appointment. It serves the State without any regard to partisan politics, political inclination or individual politician no matter how highly such individuals may be placed.

Having explained these positions, it therefore came as a shock to the public when recently an article purported to have been written by the Director of Public Communication and Head of VPPS was circulated in all the newsrooms. What was even more worrying was the fact that this article was plagiarized by political operators masquerading as sympathizers of the Vice President regarding the Uhuru Park Yes rally without even putting the Vice President in the picture. Indeed the Vice President was piqued when a section of the crown heckled him and he has made every Tom, Dick and Harry know his feelings. However, there a designated Deputy Director of Information & Public Communication in his office that should have been assigned the responsibility to communicate the Vice President’s displeasure.

That notwithstanding, this article was smuggled into newsrooms without either the knowledge or authority of a duly appointed Deputy Director of Information in charge of the Vice President’s office.

This trend of smuggling in political activists masquerading as media consultants and giving them official designations unprocedurally, positions that are already occupied amounts to fraudulent behavior that calls for investigation by none other than the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission

It is one thing for a politician to privately hire his supporters, cronies and youth wingers to any position he may wish to assign them but no politician, no matter how highly placed should be allowed to abuse the law and the due process to hire cronies and ask the public to bear the burden when there are already properly employed staff doing the same jobs. When these irregularities appear in the local media, the impression they create is that there are parallel governments within the Coalition government with separate agenda when in fact there are none.

As of now, Kenyans have only one President, one Prime Minister and one Vice President and 41 ministers that form the Executive arm of the government. They all should serve one common purpose; to deliver services to all Kenyans irrespective of their political beliefs.

If this trend is not nipped in the bud, it will dangerously blur the line between the official GoK Public Communications personnel and personal political strategists however elevated the individuals concerned may be. The greatest danger this trend poses is the possibility of giving GoK titles to operatives whose allegiances are not to the State or the Government of the day but to individual politicians with ambitions for higher offices in the future.

More fundamentally, if this recklessness is allowed to flourish within the political establishment, it will most certainly demoralize the staff at the office of the Director of Information and Public Communications and his entire team of industrious career professionals when they see overnight appointments to non- existent vacancies.

More importantly; in the present era of endless fault-finding climate where diplomatic and donor community busy bodies are forever on the lookout for compromise and overlap on every move the government may make, the practice of hijacking official GoK designations to serve the interests of foreign activists and their local accomplices cannot be ruled out. If that occurs, chances of using the same mouthpieces to paint the Civil Service and selected high ranking politicians in bad light cannot be ruled out. The net result is a more damaged image of Kenya and a dysfunctional government.

In civilized societies where politics is less cutthroat and less acrimonious, polished and successful political spin doctors usually roll out their strategies discreetly without showing their hands or faces. They are usually background operatives that normally go by the tag think tanks or advisors. They are not supposed to fight the battles of their paymasters in the open but rather supply him with crucial information to do battle on the political arena.

The reason this dangerous development must be stopped forthwith is our fear that one day we may wake to find a general manager of a watchman company being appointed a Police Commissioner of Kenya Police or Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces! What if we wake up one day to find a River Road Forex Bureau retail owner being named the Governor of Central Bank?

Our politicians must avoid these silly but potentially dangerous intrigues in their quest for media presence and higher political office. We are already paying so much to sustain a bloated cabinet without having to be forced to foot the bills of their hirelings as well!

jerry@jerryokungu.com

HOW YES AND NO TEAMS ARE LIKELY TO INTERPRET REFERENDUM COLOURS

By Jerry Okungu

Nairobi, Kenya

May 19, 2010

Two weeks ago church leaders and politicians opposing Kenya’s new constitution launched their campaign at Nairobi’s Uhuru Park. At that event they unleashed soma balloons and unveiled their colour symbol that they said they would use throughout the campaign to defeat the draft constitution.

Coincidentally when the Interim Independent Electoral Commission unveiled colour symbols for the Yes and No sides, the No team got their hearts desires. It was the red card they said they would give the Yes team in order to send them off the political pitch.

Now that the Yes team has the green colour while the No team has its favorite red colour, how will both sides exploit the virtues and vices of these colours to lure the electorate to their sides when Kenyans go to the polls on August 4, 2010?

For starters, the colour red is very popular among a younger generation of Kenyans especially the football fans if they support Manchester United of England. To the Manu supporters, the red devils’ colour is the colour they are ready to don any day of the week especially during those seasons when the red devils are on a winning spree.

The other age group that may receive the colour red positively are the young and the young at heart Kenyans that religiously observe Valentine’s Day year in year out. On that day, cities like Nairobi are adorned with red roses, red dresses and even red umbrellas all over. In a way the colour red has come to symbolize a lovers’ day in our calendar; a day when everyone looks forward to some form of love or the other from whatever quarter including secret lovers.

However, for the Yes team, they may see the colour red in totally different light. They may capitalize on the fact that red is the colour of blood and that whenever there is a murder, an accident or an ghastly incident occurs, a trail of blood reminds us that blood, red blood has flowed. They may equally be quick to remind us that whenever we want to beat our enemies to pulp, we are always quick to say that blood may be spilt if the enemy is not careful. In many cases, seeing red means seeing danger or being extremely threatened to the extent of being afraid.

When we talk of the colour red, our memory goes back to our childhood days when we used to watch blood sucker movies of Caligula or Vampire. These creatures had insatiable thirst for human blood that they sucked with abundant pleasure leaving victims bone dry.

Closer home, a red card in a football pitch has been associated with indiscipline for the recipient that ends up being thrown out of the pitch before the game ends.

In most circumstances, such recipients are forced to miss at least three crucial matches as punishment for their bad manners or inability to play according to the rules of the game.

For those of us who live in the cities worldwide, a red traffic light can only spell danger. If a motorist jumps the red light, chances are that the driver is an accident in motion. Jumping the red light is a sign of recklessness, indiscipline and a danger to other road users including pedestrians. In a nutshell, the colour red symbolizes danger and death in more ways than one.

Green on the other hand does not enjoy so many negative connotations that one can think of. Right from the traffic light the green sign is an express permission to pass as there is no danger lurking at the corners of the streets. In many occasions people use the expression “green light” to mean permission to proceed with what one wants to do.

In a wider sense green has come to symbolize the virtues of the environment or earth friendly efforts. We plant green grass, trees and other plants in our homes and gardens to give us that sense of serenity and togetherness with nature. When rains come, our fields turn green with plenty of crops and grass to feed us and our animals, whereas in dry season, we suffer the scourge of the red hot sun.

Internationally, the American Green Card has symbolized abundant opportunities for many people in the Third World eager to get into the United States, the land of many opportunities and possibilities. To get the American Green Card has come to mean lifetime achievement for many people around the world. It is a license to live and work in America and enjoy all the benefits an American citizen enjoys. In a nutshell the American Green Card simply means access.

As a young university student in my days, our university card was also called the Green Card. Indeed just as the American Green Card, it gave us access to night clubs, cinema halls and all manner of entertainment centers at almost nothing. Establishments around Nairobi recognized and honored our “Green Card”. It opened many doors to us as young academics.

It will therefore be interesting to see how the Reds will manufacture negative connotations for the green colour when in fact as of now there are very few bad things anybody can say about it.

If I were in the Red camp, I would Google up Chris De Burgh’s song and listen to that classic movie soundtrack of the 1970s “The Lady in Red” and make that my campaign theme song. That song has the potential to make the hardest red colour critique give it a second look if not a second chance.

It will therefore be interesting to see how both camps will exploits these colors to their advantage when the campaign proper starts on July 13, 2010 for the referendum votes on August 4, 2010

However, as things stand now, the die is cast. The Reds have already been given the red card while the Greens have been given permission to proceed unless something drastic happens in either of the camps.

jerry@jerryokungu.com

WHY IS ILLICIT BREW KILLING SO MANY KENYANS AND UGANDANS?

By Jerry Okungu

Nairobi, Kenya

May 18, 2010

Hundreds of Kenyans and Ugandans have either been blinded or killed by deadly illicit brews in recent years. It all started suddenly in Kenya’s sprawling slums where life is known to be more difficult and less bearable all year round. In such circumstances, men gradually give up family leadership and take to drinking cheap but potent local brews to temporarily make them forget their miseries. In these dens, the more men drink, the more they get addicted and the more they stop being financially and sexually productive.

A story is told in Kenya where whole schools in a district have been closed down for lack of children to attend such schools. Women in these areas are known to have complained loudly to the government that their men stopped meeting their conjugal and marital obligations a long time ago due to alcohol abuse, hence the women’s inability to conceive and bear children.

When it comes to the deadly brew, the first such case was reported a few years ago in Kawangware slums where brewers hand graduated from making the usual changaa, a product distilled from molasses, a residue from sugar mills to a higher version laced with all manner of spirits that can cause instant death if consumed. At that time, scores of Kawangware slum dwellers lost their sights instantly as others were already dead when it dawned on their neighbors that what they had drunk was not the usual local brew appropriately nicknamed the “tears of a lion” or “kill me quick”.

A few years later this year, the deadly brew claimed the lives of more people in Machakos, 50 km from Nairobi city. Like before, the killer brew blinded scores as others were pronounced dead on arrival at various clinics.

It was therefore disturbing to read similar stories from Kabale in Uganda where an adulterated waragi had blinded 20 people while claiming the lives of 80 innocent Ugandans in one day making a total of 114 deaths of Ugandans in different parts of the country in the last eight months.

However, unlike in Kenya, this trend has spread faster in Uganda with devastating effect. Whereas Kenya can only talk of reported incidents in Nairobi and Machakos alone in the last few years, Uganda has had more widespread cases ranging from Kabale District to Masaka, Kampala, Gulu and Kasese.

For many years, Kenyans have admired Uganda and Tanzania authorities for legalizing the brewing of their local changaa, a cruder version of the refined Ugandan warage and Tannzania’s konyagi. But now that the media is reporting deaths and blindness as a result of consuming warage, it may be prudent to rethink licensing the local brew as long as criminals amongst us can exploit it to kill and maim fellow citizens for a few extra pieces of silver.

What beats logic is why, after so many years of law enforcement training and practice, the police in Kenya and Uganda urban centers have never contained excessive brewing of dangerous liquids that pass for alcohol.

But again, regular police raids in changaa dens in Kenya’s rural villages and urban slums could be the reason the liquid has gotten more lethal with time. With roadblocks all over Kenya harassing professional changaa brewers that have traditionally transported the commodity from Western Kenya to Nairobi, Rift Valley and the Coast, some smart twisted brains must have spotted the gap and decided to fill it with their deadly alternative.

Reported deaths in urban centers aside; illegal brew’s history is as old as the arrival of the white man in this part of Africa. Long before the missionary and the colonial administrator outlawed our local brew that was a product of fermented grains and was strictly consumed by specific age groups, there were no cases of excessive drinking that took our village mates to their early graves. In those good old days, most village beer parties were held soon after harvest seasons to celebrate bounty harvests. Alcohol was never consumed as an everyday occupation.

With the advent of the white man and his ways and with the money economy driving young men into urban centers where life became a nightmare, brewing cheap and lethal alcohol to meet the frustrations of growing populations grew into a lucrative, hazardous and deadly urban subculture.

Today, a casual walk in our rural villages and urban slums will reveal to us the damage that illicit alcohol consumption has caused our country in terms of many young and productive lives. One wonders how many more lives must be lost with an even greater number blinded forever before any corrective measures are put in place in our region to save our youth from early destruction.

jerry@jerryokungu.com

TO BE THE PRESIDENT OF KENYA, HAVE A THICK SKIN AND THE PATIENCE OF A VULTURE

By Jerry Okungu

Nairobi, Kenya

May 20, 2010

The founding father of modern Kenya; Jomo Kenyatta spent nearly three decades agitating for Kenya’s freedom both at home and abroad. Nine of those years were spent in prison having been wrongly convicted of being a Mau Mau mastermind along with his six other colleagues we commonly refer to as the Kapenguria Six. In all those years, Kenyatta suffered several humiliating insults, doing odd jobs in England and even marrying a white woman to make ends meet in the chilly weather of the United Kingdom. At the time of his imprisonment in 1952, the then colonial authorities described him as a leader unto darkness and death. To the colonial governor, he was the epitome of evil that deserved to die in prison.

By the time Kenyatta emerged from his prison cell almost a decade later, he had absorbed enough psychological abuse, degrading confrontations with cell mates and had enough time to reflect on what it needed to be a leader of men and women at the national level. It was therefore no wonder that by the time he was released, he was ready to bring all political factions together, forgive white settlers for insulting him and work with colonial authorities to achieve political independence at Lancaster House in London.

The behavior of Kenyatta upon his release was to be repeated by Nelson Mandela 30 years later when the latter finally emerged from Robben Island after 27 years of incarceration. Like Jomo, Mandela forgave White supremacists that had jailed him and joined hands with the then South African President, W De Clark to form the first multiracial government in South Africa after nearly 400 years of White domination.

Just next door in Uganda, those who received political leadership on a silver platter like Presidents Lule, Binaisa and Tito Okello did not last. They had not suffered enough in the quest for that high office in order to develop staying power. They all got swept by the wayside by radicals of their time. The only reason why Museveni has ruled Uganda this long is because he spent almost 10 years in the bush fighting against regimes that had plundered Uganda since the beginning Of Idi Amin’s rule.

When Daniel Moi took power in Kenya in 1978 upon Kenyatta’s death, he had served in Kenya’s parliament in different capacities for 26 years. 14 of those years were spent either as a cabinet minister in charge of internal security or as Kenyatta’s Vice President for 12 years, a period that was instrumental in nurturing him as a national leader.

However, perhaps the most trying moments for Moi in those years were when he served as Kenyatta’s principal assistant. It was during that time when he endured many insults from his juniors that believed that he wasn’t the right person to succeed Kenyatta. The assault on his character and authority included being barred from seeing Kenyatta by the clique around the President, failure by some ambassadors to show up at European airports to meet him and the open campaign to change the constitution in 1976 ostensibly to block him from succeeding Kenyatta upon the latter’s demise. But because he had developed a thick skin and was a patient man, he finally succeeded Kenyatta and ruled Kenya for a good 24 years.

Before Mwai Kibaki succeeded Moi in 2002, he had been in politics for 42 years 39 of those in the cabinet in various capacities under Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi. It is also instructive to note that he served Moi as Vice President for 10 good years, a position that usually attracts myriad attacks in Kenyan politics from competing political forces. When finally he was dropped as Moi’s Vice President following the flawed mlolongo elections of 1988, pundits were quick to write him off.

Although Kibaki stayed on in Moi’s cabinet as Health Minister from 1989 to 1991, it was when he resigned from Moi’s government in December 1991 to form his DP party that he seriously embarked on a long hard road to the presidency that lasted 10 good years and two lost elections. And had Moi not goofed on Uhuru Kenyatta as his successor, Kibaki would most likely not have seen the presidency in his life time.

Given the scenarios above, it may seem like all those Kenyans aspiring to be president without the credentials of political persecution, torture, humiliation or even sheer physical and psychological sacrifices may have to wait a little longer before they become tenants of the State House in the Milimani suburbs of Nairobi. This could be the reason Kibaki could not win the presidency soon after resigning from the Moi cabinet. The same could inform the reason why Uhuru Kenyatta lost the presidency despite state backing in 2002. Kenyans felt they had not suffered enough to deserve the high office.

As we prepare for Kibaki’s exit in the next two years, the front runners for this coveted office; George Saitoti, Martha Karua, Kalonzo Musyoka, William Ruto, Moses Wetangula and others would do well to go back to the drawing board to reexamine their credentials to find out if they have suffered enough for this country to deserve being at State House. If the answer is positive for them then they should be free to enter the race; if not, they are better off holding their horses for now.

jerry@jerryokungu.com

PRESIDENT MUSEVENI SHOULD LEARN TO LISTEN

By Hassan Islow
Share

Today at 2:54am

It is very chilly inside my room as I write this column intended to catch the attention of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. My fingers are freezing with cold, my pen keeps flipping off my fingers, it is a painful experience to stay awake during winter, but I have a point to make, so I’m not worried.
Mr. President, it’s high time you started listening to cries of the desperate. Let me remind you that, in the past years of your many presidential campaigns, you promised to improve the lives of poor citizens -especially those in rural areas. But the situation has not changed much, despite the introduction of a ministry responsible for poverty alleviation. People are still poor to the extent that, some can not afford to buy Paraffin or salt which are basic necessities in rural areas. Now that we have discovered Oil and other minerals, citizens want you to share part of these proceeds with them, but not your friends in Tehran!

Sir, you might be aware that most rural dwellers are your biggest supporters, but shockingly most of them have not drawn a single benefit from the developments of your 24year old rule. My Grandfather for instance was one of the richest Ugandan’s when you came to power, but has gradually lost his wealth during your leadership, yet he has remained a loyal supporter of the ruling party. I know several businesses which have closed in Uganda as a result of your Governments high taxation policy and weak control of foreign investors who come in and compete with the locals.
Regardless of this, rural Ugandan’s have not given up hope in you as their President. Even after being told by your carders to many times to be patient –but it will not be for long.
Peasants are bound to loose their patience, because they have seen people who are supposed to serve them, getting richer and fatter in the “tummy” by the fall of the night.
Most Ugandan’s I have interacted with, keep on asking, " But why are we told there are no funds to equip our health centers, build water wells and offer other services, when Members of Parliament, LC V chairpersons, Civil Servants among others are getting richer by the night".
The feeling of frustration and hatred is so high among these disgruntled Ugandans. We, who interact with them, feel so guilty and ashamed of our top leadership for the unfulfilled promises they made to the people.
These desperate Ugandan’s want to know, why they can not get proper services at Public hospitals. People in some rural village have never known what a public hospital is. Most women in these villages give birth at their own homes. There is no decent hospital in some of the Counties, yet you’re creating new districts on a daily basis.
Some Ugandan’s have concluded –correctly that the public health care system will never improve because our so called leaders go to private hospitals. If our leaders have no confidence in the Public health institutions they run, then who will?
Whenever they catch flu, they are flown to expensive hospitals in South Africa, Kenya and Europe.
If we are to count how many popular Ugandan’s have died in foreign hospitals, then this page wont be enough to fill.
How many times have our leaders flown their close relatives to give birth abroad as if Uganda has a shortage of mid wives? Do we really have a shortage of midwives in Uganda? Some one needs to answer this!

Your Excellency, it does not make any sense to continue having a ministry in charge of Poverty alleviation, when poverty is wide spread! Similarly what sense does it make to have a health minister when the Public health system it self seems to be non-existent. The Public health system should be treated from getting sicker every day. May be the health system needs some injection-or Pandol which Doctor’s in Uganda love prescribing for any ailment.

Your Excellency, in your remaining 8 months time, we request you to bear in mind that Poverty, Unemployment, lack of proper service delivery, declining standards of Education and crime should be your priority.

When you start your country wide campaigns, remember to hear THE CRIES OF THE DESPARATE, may their voices sing in your head when your hear praise singers and sycophants praising you. Please, Keep in mind that thousands of Ugandan’s go to bed without food on their tables, thousands of graduates are unemployed and our roads are filled with pot holes.
Please hear the voices of disgruntled Ugandans

Yours in truth

A MASTERPIECE MESSAGE FROM GEORGE CARLIN

GEORGE CARLIN (He recently died) Isn't it amazing that George Carlin - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent...and so very appropriate! The Message: The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways ,but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.... Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent. Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares?

George Carlin