NEW YORK (AP) — Wal–Mart Stores Inc. is offering to buy South African retailer Massmart Holdings Ltd. for about $4.25 billion in a bid to jump–start growth beyond its sluggish U.S. business. A deal would give the world's largest retailer an opening to expand in South Africa, a fast–growing economy but one that's also troubled by high crime and a 24 percent unemployment rate. It also has a heavily unionized work force. Wal–Mart has focused on expanding overseas, particularly in emerging markets, but South Africa had not been an area that officials had discussed as a potential opportunity. "South Africa possesses attractive market dynamics, favorable demographic trends and a growing economy," Executive Vice President Andy Bond said in a statement. Wal–Mart has sourced products there but doesn't have a retail presence, company officials confirmed. Wal–Mart said it would pay 148 rands ($21.11) per share for Massmart, which has 201.5 million shares outstanding, according to ThomsonReuters (News - Alert). Further details of the proposed deal were not disclosed. Massmart is Africa's third–largest distributor of consumer goods, the leading retailer of general merchandise, liquor and home improvement equipment and supplies and the leading wholesaler of basic foods. Massmart was founded in 1990 and operates chains including Game and Makro. Shares of Massmart surged above Wal–Mart's offer to 149 rands ($21.29), or 10.6 percent, Monday. That's an indication that shareholders are expecting a higher offer, either from Wal–Mart or another bidder. Wal–Mart shares fell 60 cents to $53.48. Massmart said in a statement that its board will provide a recommendation to shareholders once a firm offer is made. The two companies have entered into an exclusivity period to allow for due diligence and other pre–conditions to a deal. Wal–Mart's overseas business makes up about 25 percent of its revenue, generating more than $100 billion in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31. Last month, the discounter reported second–quarter results were helped by robust global growth in China, Brazil and Mexico. Massmart, based in Johannesburg, runs 290 stores in 13 countries in Africa, with most in South Africa. It also manages eight wholesale and retail chains under various brand names. Its Game stores, Africa's largest discount chain, offer predominantly general merchandise and nonperishable groceries for home, leisure and business use. At a press conference Monday, Massmart CEO Grant Pattison said of Wal–Mart: "They're of course very interested in a strategy that includes the entire African continent and therefore have asked questions of Massmart about our operations outside of South Africa, which as you know is in several countries as far north as Nigeria and Ghana and as far east as Tanzania and Mauritius." Sean Ashton, an analyst from Johannesburg–based Investec Private Client Securities, said Massmart reported a revenue of 47 billion rand (about $6.7 billion) in its last financial results. And its strategy is similar to the Wal–Mart model — big box, warehouse–style retailing, he added. "South Africa is a country that's still urbanizing, so we should see a continuing trend of the formal retailers gaining market share from informal ones," Ashton added. "This is a visionary thing," said Richard Hastings, macro and consumer strategist with Global Hunter Securities. "The transformation of South Africa is well under way." He said he believes South Africa will be where South America is today in about seven to 10 years. But Brian Sozzi, an analyst with Wall Street Strategies, was skeptical. "I'm surprised," Sozzi said. "As a Wal–Mart shareholder, I would have a lot of questions. There seems to be too many moving parts. I think they should be fixing their own business in the U.S. There's too much confusion over its strategy here." He added that digesting Massmart may be difficult because it has a "huge portfolio of brands." And he believes with this deal, Wal–Mart is acknowledging it's going to be difficult to grow in the U.S. Wal–Mart's push to expand in an emerging market comes as it posted its fifth consecutive quarter of declines in revenue at stores open at least a year in the U.S. Wal–Mart is aiming to pump up domestic sales with an aggressive push into urban markets, planning a small format that's a fraction of the size of its supercenters. The retailer has more than 8,500 stores under 55 different names in 15 countries. It has more than 4,000 stores in the U.S. Its fiscal 2010 sales were $405 billion. Associated Press (News - Alert) writers Jenny Gross and Eric Naki in Johannesburg contributed to this report.
September 30, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
WAL-MART OFFERS TO BUY MASSMART FOR $4.25B
NIS, PLEASE VET ASPIRANTS FOR MP, SENATE AND GOVERNOR SEATS BEFORE THEY CONTEST 2012 ELECTIONS
By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
September 30, 2010
This Sonko altercation between the Prime Minister and the MP for Gichuru is a blot on Kenya’s reform agenda. It would appear like political party interests are set to threaten the proper implementation of the new constitution.
If political parties can knowingly field candidates with dubious criminal background for elective posts just because there are other thieves and criminals in parliament is sad. We all know that two wrongs do not make a right.
In the three recent by-elections, it is possible that all parliamentary candidates from ODM, ODM-K, PNU, KANU and even NARC Kenya had skeletons in their closets. What probably varied were the sizes and numbers on a scale of one to ten. Yes, nobody can today stand up and claim that only winners are corrupt while losers are saints. Looking at the line up that we saw in Juja, Starehe and Makadara, none of them can today stand the test of integrity at the NIS interrogation room had anyone to call them there for questioning.
However, where reports continue to flow into newsrooms that an individual is a convicted criminal, an escaped convict, a personality with questionable wealth, goes by several set of names and probably owns 200 bank accounts under different names; such a person can be anything but worth a public office.
Just over a month ago, Kenyans swore to the world that a new era had dawned on our land. We said good bye to the old order. It is in this spirit that Kenyans of good will must stand up and be counted when it comes to electing our representatives in Parliament because in that parliament, good laws must be passed in order for us to have a good government. If we allow, for whatever reason to be mesmerized by cheap showmanship, display of obnoxious bling blings from dubious sources of income, we shall have surrendered the soul of this nation to satanic rule. We all remember what the bling bling Artur brothers did to us a few years ago.
We all know that William Ruto, like many other MPs and ministers has a case pending in court since 2003. His case has not been determined for the very reasons the new constitution has compelled the Chief Justice to vacate his office in the next four months. It is also for the same reason the new document has a time line for the current Chief Prosecutor, the Attorney General to vacate his office in the next ten months. It is this procrastination, lethargy and downright inefficiency in our judicial system that no prosecution has ever been concluded on any economic crimes committed against Kenyans since 1990.
Kenyans may well remember that when Narc came to power in 2003, the new party gave Kenyans hope and promised zero tolerance on corruption. MPs, ministers and high ranking government officials were made to declare their wealth. Anti-graft laws were passed in Parliament that set up the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission. However, eight years later, we have yet to prosecute Golden Berg, Anglo Leasing and other masterminds of mega economic crimes let alone concluding William Ruto’s alleged Pipe Line land grab case.
Before the passage of the new constitution, it must be remembered that Kenya was so polarized that some ministers now being cited as tainted campaigned very vigorously to defeat the referendum not because they had any ideological passion to reject the new constitution. It was more of personal interest for the status quo to remain unchanged. However, the Kenyan population had the presence of mind to see through this ploy. We went ahead to pass the new constitution in order to have a fresh start in the way we govern ourselves.
If Parliament has forgotten; it was the culture of impunity that made Kenyans clamour for a new constitution that would improve our governance structures. Because of the same impunity, cases were lost or dismissed in our corridors of justice depending on how important, rich or connected one was. Justice in our system had stopped being blind.
Because of the same impunity, masterminds of the 1992, 1972 and 2007 pre and post election ethnic violence have never been prosecuted despite several commissions of inquiry set up just for such purposes. It is for the same culture that we are yet to conclude the Golden Berg, Anglo Leasing, Grand Regency, Triton and KTB scandals in our judicial system.
Now that we have a new constitution that spells out clearly the ethical benchmarks that guide our governance structures, it pains us to see eminent lawyers and MPs at that trying to tell us to look the other way as fresh crooks get elected to Parliament just because there are older crooks sitting in the august house and cabinet. It is not the way to go and we the people of Kenya who authored our constitution will not accept this affront from our political leaders. The law is the law.
LET US NOT DEVOLVE GLUTTONY, ETHNICITY AND OUR BAD MANNERS TO THE COUNTIES
By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
September 30, 2010
In this article; I want to zero in on the all important County Government which has been the focus of our governance in the last few weeks. Just by observing the level of interest it has generated among the political class; one gets the feeling that it is the next stop for the gravy train and if Kenyans are not careful, we may end up devolving gluttony, ineptitude, graft and all the bad manners we have had at the national level to these regional governments.
First things first; what does the constitution say about the County Government? Do we understand its structure, functions, benefits and usefulness? Will it improve my life at the village and level? What is it that it will give me that today I cannot get from the Central Government?
Chapter Seven of the new constitution states the objectives and principles of the devolved government in very clear and simple terms.
It envisages that the County Government will promote democratic and accountable exercise of power, foster national unity by recognizing diversity, give powers of self-governance to the people, and enhance the participation of the people in the exercise of the powers of the State and in making decisions affecting them.
It also recognizes the right of different communities to manage their own affairs, further their development, protect and promote their interests and rights even if they are marginalized.
It seeks to promote social and economic development as it provides proximate and easily accessible services throughout Kenya by ensuring equitable sharing of national and local resources throughout the country.
It seeks to decentralize State organs, their functions and services from the capital of Kenya and to ensure checks and balances and the separation of powers.
To carry out this mandate, a County Government will be expected to be based on democratic principles, have reliable sources of revenue and to apply gender balance in its structures.
Based on the above; we may need to reexamine what has been the problem with a highly centralized system with a tightly controlled power at the center that the new constitution is trying to phase out.
In the current system, all planning for the nation from the location to the central government was done in Nairobi. The Treasury religiously read out the budget every year and disbursed the funds as it pleased without regard to the needs of diverse regions of Kenya. At the end of the day, Kenyans had come to believe that certain regions were not worth the tax payer’s money even though some of them had the highest tax returns for the national government.
The main reason why Kenyans fought for a devolved government was bias and ethnicity that had become our way of life. We had come to believe that ethnicity rather than competence was a top priority in getting a job, contract or political appointment in government. For this reason, it was possible to find in a centralized system, whole ministries and state corporations packed with people from the same tribe if not the same village. Under this arrangement, national resources under their dockets never reached regions that had no representation in such ministries even if they badly needed such services.
This flawed system is the reason we have no roads, railway lines or working transport systems in North Eastern Kenya. It is the reason Kenyans die of starvation when rains fail yet we have the largest fresh water reservoir in Africa sitting pretty in Nyanza Province.
However, in order to unlock the potential of making a County Government work, we must be careful not to export mediocrity, graft and gluttony to the regions. Yes, communities are now excited about taking care of their interests but if we are not careful, we may replicate the current maligned negative ethnicity with nepotism, clannism or village-mateism. At the end of the day, we will begin to see people getting positions and jobs in counties based on their tall relatives that will have been elected to the regional government in dubious circumstances.
If indeed we have to practice democratic and accountable exercise of power, the oversight body of these counties must be more powerful and knowledgeable enough to supervise and nip in the bud the bad manners that our usual crooks may want to take to the counties.
As it is, known criminals are setting their machinery in readiness to take up the lucrative county jobs despite the fact that a number of them are past sell-by-date. The new bills that will be passed to make the new constitution operational must make it extremely difficult for these criminals to find their way into our counties.
Jerry Okungu is the CEO of Kenya-Today
Jokungu@kenyatoday.co.ke
CAN SLAA UPSET KIKWETE IN THE COMING TZ ELECTIONS?
Nairobi, Kenya
September 30, 2010
My interest in Tanzania’s impending elections is obvious. I am a Kenyan and an East African. I claim both nationalities by birth, inheritance and history. Nobody can deny me this claim to belong to this region. Very soon I will claim my rightful heritage in Burundi, Rwanda and in the not too distant future, South Sudan and the DRC.
The reason Tanzania’s elections this year interest me is because I can see many similarities with other elections held in Kenya and Uganda in the last two decades. The parallels are too real to be ignored.
In a recent article published in the Guardian of Tanzania by Roger Luhwego, Dr. Wilbroad Slaa of Chadema is quoted as having hinted that once elected the President of Tanzania under Chadema, he would provide equal opportunities for business to thrive unlike the current practice where business people supported CCM to safeguard their business interests.
This is the kind of promise that most popular opposition leaders usually give to a disgruntled electorate in order to convince the poor and the suffering masses that the opposition was keen to bridge the gap between the super rich and the lowly members of society. It is an argument that appeals to our basic instincts with the good intention that a new government other than the ruling party will safeguard our national wealth and practice equitable national resource distribution among the citizenry.
The challenge here will be whether the voters will buy such a promise from any politician when they have come across such promises time and time again in their past with very little change in their lives.
Slaa’s presidential ambition has been boosted by rumours circulating in Tanzania that a recent Synovate poll which is yet to be made public had indicated that Slaa’s Chadema was leading with 45 per cent in the polls followed by CCM at 41 per cent. This claim was made by none other than the Chadema national Chairman who strongly advised the Synovate Group to release the results. And to make it worse, the Chadema boss claimed that the failure by Synovate to release the opinion poll results was as a result of political intimidation by the ruling CCM.
Chadema claims aside, the history of political contests in East Africa have been with us for a long time. In Kenya, whenever an opinion poll result is released that ranks various parties and their candidates, the losers always claim bias and influence as the victors go into a celebration.
We as the political class have never embraced opinion polling as part and parcel of the process to gauge political performance either by our parties or party leaders.
A few years ago, it looked like Dr. Bessigye of Uganda was the most popular presidential candidate after he fell out with Museveni’s NRM in early 2000s. When he finally lost the vote, there was a claim of a rigged election before he fled to South Africa claiming that his life was in danger only to return to Uganda in 2006 to contest another election. Ten years later, Dr. Bessigye is still leading the opposition with no prospect of ever wresting power from the NRM leader. His popularity seems to have waned with time.
Here in Kenya, we witnessed an epoch in our political history two decades ago when some of the most colorful and charismatic political icons teamed up to throw KANU out of power. The opposition party FORD was a spectacle to behold when Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenneth Matiba, Kijana Wamalwa and the then young Turks teamed up to dislodge KANU from power. The biggest rallies in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and other towns in Kenya were all pointer to the demise of Daniel arap Moi and KANU. It was not to be. Petty rivalries, individual greed and ethnic chauvinism broke the FORD movement apart before KANU hanged them separately.
As things stand now, Dr. Slaa’s Chadema may be doing well in terms of popularity and all that. All he needs to remember is that an old party like the CCM may be having a number of tricks up its sleeve. As a party that has been used to power for close to 50 years, with state resources and machinery at its disposal, it will take more that rhetoric to defeat it at national elections. When a ruling party faces a real threat of losing an election in this part of the world, it will stop at nothing to win the contest.
In Tanzania, just like in Kenya and Uganda, the business community may not be overtly visible in determining the outcome of an election; but because they are a crucial part of the establishment, any development that may seem to disturb the equilibrium of things will not sit well with them. Remember, they are already in the comfort zone and would rather things remain the way they are.
This is the group that Slaa should be convincing to see the light as he woos the masses of Tanzania to vote for him because again, this small group has the where-with-all to finance his campaign.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
WHY DR, WILBROAD SLAA COULD WIN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN TANZANIA
By Chambi Chachage
This is a sequel to my article on ‘Election Campaigns and Politics of Performance.’ Therein we looked at the power of performance. Now we look at the power of psychology and personality.
It is quite clear now that Dr. Wilbroad Slaa’s decision to run as a presidential candidate has tilted the balance of power. Now the debate is no longer whether the ruling party’s candidate will get a landslide victory as in the previous election. Rather, it is how much of that victory will be cut.
To the more optimistic, who draws inspiration from the rise of Barack Obama to
the presidency of the US against all odds, everything is possible. However, to
the more cautious who have not forgotten how the then celebrated Augustine Mrema
did not become the president in 1995, this is a delusional hype. ‘Yes Slaa Can’
is thus pitted against ‘No Slaa Cannot’ become president now.
Frankly, I am one of those sceptics and cynics who think it needs nothing short
of a miracle for Slaa to win. But there is something in this election that is so
different from previous elections. It is coming at a time when for a combination
of reasons many more people have registered to vote.
So, it is difficult to have a situation, like the one we had in 1995, when one
opposition party’s candidate blamed the massive crowds who attended his
campaigns for his loss. Why? Simply because they could not and did not vote as
they were not registered. This time the crowd matters.
As I said during the registration period, a number of people – including many
youth – have registered not necessarily because they want(ed) to vote. All they
– indeed we – (need)ed was a card that will help one, particularly the
unemployed, have a sense of identification when one has to open a bank account
or, as a colleague alerted me recently, to register a sim card. It is in this
regard that at 19,670, 631 – the official figure in the National Electoral
Commission’s (NEC) permanent voter’s register – nearly half of the population is
eligible to vote in this election.
Now, regardless of political parties’ weaknesses in data storage and processing,
it is a well known statistical fact that, in terms of membership, the ruling
party can hardly boast a quarter of that number. This implies that many of those
who have registered, including myself, are the swing voters. We can swing either
way in terms of the personality and policy of the candidate.
This is what happened in 2005 when the ruling party fielded a very attractive
personality. It is now happening as one of the opposition parties has fielded a
very influential personality. But that, in itself, is not enough to make Slaa
overcome the strength or experience of the ruling party electioneering
machinery. It is another factor, what I call a reverse bystander effect that can
do.
In Social Psychology a ‘bystander effect’ happens when a number of people – the
bystanders – in an emergency situation increases. This cause a diffusion of
responsibility as they end up thinking that someone else will intervene. In such
cases an emergency can simply pass on unattended to.
One can hardly claim it to be treason to state that in a way the country has
been in a ‘state of emergency’. The war on grand corruption is too overwhelming.
Its attendant impoverishment is unbearable. The voters are desperate for change.
Slaa is indeed using this as his policy ace card.
What I am observing so far is some sort of a reverse bystander – or maybe I
should call it ‘byvoter’ – effect. Increasingly people are deciding to vote for
Slaa since they think most people will vote for the ruling party’s candidate
anyway. Coupled with the massive voters’ awareness and election campaigns that
are going on, it is possible that Slaa will win the presidential seat.
But, again, it is also quite possible that Slaa will be a ‘lame’ president since
it is very likely that the ruling party will have majority seats in the
parliament. Now I am not very sure how the Constitution is well prepared to deal
with such likelihood. One thing I am very sure of: Such an eventuality will open
a new chapter in Tanzania’s quest for democratic constitutional reform.
So Slaa may not become president. Yet his candidature is democratizing us.
Either way he wins.
© Chambi Chachage
Monday, September 27, 2010
SHALL WE REALLY BECOME A DEVELOPED NATION IN 2030?
By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
September 23, 2010
The other day I was in Nanyuki discussing the impact of child mortality in our society. As I embarked on my presentation, it dawned on me that some parts of our country may be doing worse than losing our children to diseases we can easily prevent. They are actually not producing children at all because women are not getting pregnant!
I must plead my ignorance that before I got involved in UNICEF Child Survival campaign, I never knew that this country loses more children per day than it produces. And when you add to this tragedy, the news that some parts of Kenya have stopped producing children can really be disturbing.
In sensitizing journalists in Central Kenya to understand the urgency of educating our communities in prevention methods being applied by UNICEF’s Child Survival Campaign, my colleague Philip Ochieng brought another angle to the whole debate. He set us think about the meaning of the word development in broader terms than we probably have done for donkey years.
Let us face it. When a whole region in Kenya fails to produce children, it is not a laughing matter, more so when the problem is attributed to excessive consumption of illicit alcohol. However , the fact is, the bottom line is abject poverty that breeds frustration that in turn leads to high consumption of dangerous brews as a way of drowning the sorrows of these villagers. When life loses meaning, the tendency to resort to drugs and alcohol are very much on the horizon.
Based on the above; where is our priority as a nation if we want to achieve a measure of national development and prosperityin the next 20 years as envisaged in our Vision 2030 Development Plan?
Where will we get a young and energetic generation when we have stopped producing children due to poverty induced alcoholism?
When our children can still die of malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea, malnutrition or sheer lack of food on a daily basis, can we claim to be on the path to development? When 4 million of our children are at home because they cannot go to school; when thousands of our children are turned into domestic slaves when they should be in school; when millions more are learning under trees as they sit on stones day in day out without clean water and electricity in the 21st century, we have reason to search our souls and ask aloud where the rain started beating us.
As we think of super highways, let us think of those poor mothers that die every day in our villages as they try to deliver their babies. Let us think of the difficult circumstances they face every day when basic transport facilities are not available to rush them to the nearest dispensary at their hour of need. Let us remember that as we lament the lack of pregnancies and child births in parts of Central Province, many innocent infants are lost at birth or before they celebrate their fifth birthday in Nyanza, Rift Valley, Western Province and other parts of Kenya. These are the little things that matter in a developed society.
Our narrow interpretation of the word development in the past has hampered our discussion in more ways than one. We always equate development to tall buildings in our cities, highways, street lights, permanent buildings in our villages or even hospital and classroom buildings in our communities. We are more concerned with what impresses us from the outside than what values there are in those enclosures or monuments of “progress.”
We hardly stop to think that development is a holistic concept that embraces more than concrete blocks of flats or super highways like our upcoming Thika Super Highway. We never think that the level of education, literacy or the amount of information available to our citizens can be classified as development.
Who amongst us ever stops to think that if we had properly constituted governance structures like Parliament, the Judiciary, Watchdog bodies, and effective civil societies, respected and credible human rights organizations, we would be considered a developed society? Do our MPs stop to think that if they passed good laws and obeyed the same laws, they would substantially contribute to our national development? Do our judges and magistrates ever stop to think that if they were efficient enough to dispense will cases that come before them without procrastinating, they would be contributing to our national well being as a nation and there considered developed?
In most developed societies, rights of individuals and communities are taken seriously. They are protected in the constitution and law enforcers ensure that vulnerable groups such as children and women are not violated. In the USA, any child under the age of 13 cannot be left alone in the house. If social workers get wind of it, the parents are punished severely. In the same America, having carnal knowledge of a minor below the age of 18 can earn someone a prison term of up between four and forty years without the option of a fine. In other words, having sex with a 16 to 17 year old person is punishable in law; never mind that both were consenting. The law bars PROHIBITS minors from enjoying their consensual rights even if they both wanted to.
In a developed society, the law is an ass and justice is blind. It does not distinguish between the mighty and the powerful. The law is the law whether one is poor or rich. That is why celebrities, industry barons and politicians can be jailed for up to 90 years or more in the United States. This equality before the law builds confidence among the populace in their judicial system. Society is considered developed and civilized if the rule of law works.
In most developed societies, there is a social contract between governors and the governed. If the rulers are given the mandate to govern, they in turn must deliver basic social services to the electorate. Social services such as healthcare facilities, clean and piped water, electricity, garbage collection, good roads and highways, planned cities, adequate and hygienic shelter, working transport system and security of every citizen are the reason citizens pay taxes. Ensuring that every child goes to school and provided with a safe environment and adequate learning facilities are part of the social services in a developed society.
There is no way a country can claim to be developed when it cannot feed its own people or even provide security of its citizens from external aggression because that is the responsibility of a responsible and developed state.
In civilized societies, environmental issues are never taken for granted. Much as there is high level industrialization, the way industrial pollution is managed is an indicator of the level of development. It shows that governors are concerned about the health and well being of their citizens.
When one looks at all these indicators of development, it dawns on us that indeed we are still far away from being a developed country.
Can we achieve even 50% of these yardsticks in 2030? Only time will tell.
Friday, September 24, 2010
UGANDA DETAINS TOP AL- SHABAAB COMMANDER
Omar Awadh Omar By Steven CandiaThursday, 23rd September, 2010 
and agencies
THE second-in-command of the East Africa al-Qaeda terrorist cell, Omar Awadh Omar, is among the twin bomb suspects charged and remanded to Luzira Prisons, according to new intelligence information.
Awadh was charged in court last week alongside a Muslim human rights activist, Al Amin Kimathi, for the murder of 79 people in the July 11 twin bomb blasts in Kampala.
It emerged yesterday that Awadh, a Kenyan citizen, is high in the hierarchy of the terror cell and is second to the region’s al-Qaeda boss Harun Fazul, according to The Nairobi Star, a Kenyan newspaper.
Details filtering in indicate that Awadh coordinated the horrid July attacks at the Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala and at the Kyadondo Rugby Club in Lugogo, which also left more than 50 people injured.
Both Awadh and Al Amin were charged in court after being arrested in a city hotel on September 15. They were arrested alongside Mbugua Mureithi, a Kenyan defence lawyer, who was later released and flown back to Kenya.
Kenyan intelligence and police sources point at Awadh, also known as Abu Sahal, as the top logistician of the East African al-Qaeda cell and the al-Shabaab terrorists in Somalia.
After the twin attacks in Kampala, the two were reportedly planning a similar attack in Kenya, sources said.
Sources intimated that the planning of the Kampala attack dates back to 2008. This followed the killing by the US of Saleh Nabhan, the then number two to Fazul. The network then started the mission, dispatching several key players to Somalia for training and indoctrination.
Regional intelligence sources say Awadh, a second-hand car dealer, recruits youth from Kenya and neighbouring countries into the terror cells, which have spread their activities to Uganda and Tanzania.
The details lend credence to remarks by Police chief Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura in August that the cell was operating bases in the country and recruiting from countries in the region.
Sources added that Awadh facilitates the travel and training of the recruits in Somalia, usually coordinated by a cell in Nairobi.
According to the network structure, Omar Badrudin (head of al-Qaeda intelligence) and Bilal el Berjawi report directly to Fazul. Below Omar is Hussein Hassan Agade, Jabir, Mohammed Ali and Hahim Mohammed Suleiman, alias Abu Zeinab (the head of the Nairobi cell).
About 34 suspects, including Hassan Agade, have been charged with the killings. The arrest of Awadh and Agade means that Uganda now has two top commanders of the terror cells of al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda.
How the Kampala twin bombing was planned
July 6, 2010: JABIR travels to Uganda for the final arrangements, which include the final assembling of bombs in vests and bags. He also teaches a Somali boy how to fix detonators and to test to confirm if they are operational.
Jabir advises Issa Luyima to find someone who will execute the mission in the third target, since they are short of a third suicide bomber. It is than that Issa brings Hassan Luyima on board. Issa tells Edris Nsubuga and Hassan Luyima that the mission will be executed on July 11 during the second half of the World Cup finals as the places would be most crowded.
JULY 8, 2010: Jabir leaves Uganda using Gateway bus. It is suspected that during this time, Jabir gave Issa an unknown amount of money for the upkeep of the suicide bombers, purchase of the two extra handsets and to vacate the safe house.
JULY 9, 2010: Hassan Luyima, Issa Luyima and Edris Nsubuga visit the three targets to assess the level of security alertness.
JULY 10, 2010: Issa Luyima takes Hassan Luyima to a safe house and introduces him to the suicide bombers as the brothers who will execute the mission. Issa gives Hassan money to purchase two extra handsets, transport, food for the shaheeds and for clearing the safe house.
Issa, Hassan and suicide bombers pray together before Issa leaves for town where he meets with Edris. Issa informs Edris that he has left instructions with Hassan.
He informs Edris that Kakasule (a suicide bomber said to be a Kenyan) spoke some English and would be working with him. He gives Edris a copy of the key to safe house and stating that he was leaving because he needed an alibi for what was about to take place.
In the evening, Hassan takes Edris to the safe house for introduction to the suicide bombers. Hassan informs Edris that he has changed the initial plan of escorting the bombers. He tells Edris that he would go with the Somali, while Hassan will accompany Kakasule.
July 11, 2010: Issa arrives in Nairobi and holds a meeting with Jabir who was with Mohammed. He briefs Jabir that the bombers are fine and that everything is on course. Jabir tells him that Mugisha was still in custody and it was his duty to ensure his release. Issa leaves for Mombasa at about 1300 hours and puts up at his mother in law’s house in Tononoka.
1100 hours: In Uganda, Edris meets with Hassan at Kenjoy restaurant and purchases food for the bombers.
1800 hours: Edris and the suicide bombers hold prayers and later the Somali suicide bomber starts testing the trigger mechanisms of the bombs to be detonated by Hassan and Edris.
2115 hours: Hassan and Kakasule, using a boda boda, head to Ice link discotheque and Ethiopian Village restaurant respectively. Shortly afterwards, Edris and the Somali suicide bomber proceed to Lugogo Rugby Club
2200 hours: At the Rugby Club, Edris heads to the bar where he leaves the bag with the bomb on top of a metallic cable roller used as a table. Edris then leaves the bar, while the Somali boy sits in the midst of the crowd pretending to watch the ongoing game.
2200 hours: Hassan drops Kakasule off at Ethiopian village and restaurant. Kakasule walked to the restaurant where he sat down to watch the game.
2215 hours: Kakasule detonates the suicide vest killing about 11 people.
2230 hours: Hassan places the bag with the bomb next to a flower pot at Ice Link discotheque. He tries placing a call but the bomb fails to detonate. Hassan takes a boda boda to his home and disposed off the two handsets in his pit latrine.
2315 hours: The Somali boy detonates himself killing about 58 people at the Rugby club.
2317 hours: Edris places a call to the detonating device igniting the second explosion. After the explosion Edris boards a boda boda and heads for his house where he dismantled the phone that was used as a trigger and throws it in a pit latrine.
0020 hours: Issa sends a message text to Edris asking if the team he was routing for had won. Edris confirmed the same, an indication that everything went on as earlier planned.
July 12, 2010: Mission successful. Planning for twin bombings in Kenya begins. Omar Awadh Omar, alias Abu Sahal briefed by Jabir who then is allowed to escape to Somalia. Kenyan suspects of the cells are refused to escape to Somalia as only the Somali suspect Jabir is allowed by al Qaeda to go back.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
WHO IS THIS SONKO GUY WITH SUDDEN WEALTH AND POWER?
By Patrick Lumumba Opondi-Ogwechalre
Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 4:34am
He has been hailed as independent, revolutionary and a true face of the youth upon his election as Makadara election.
Before I begin asking questions, let me join the people of Makadara, the media and other Kenyans in congratulating Sonko for his election and maiden debut to Parliament.
We all seem to be in a rush to laud the winner, even without seeking to know him, what he stands for, his background, associates or his vision.
Makadara MP elect is the new kid on the block, call him bling bling. He is the new money bag.
But who are you, other than being SONKO and being the MP elect for Makadara? There is very scanty information available about you, leaving your character, just like your win shrouded in mystery.
I know I will stand accused for being too skeptical but at the same time, there is nothing wrong in probing the background of any public leader.
Early this year, Jamaica exploded when the police attempted to arrest a very popular and influential street character on charges of peddling drugs. Christopher "Dudus" Coke, a young man with considerable amount of wealth and property had penetrated the core of the poor society such that when the authorities accused him of illegal deals, the poor rallied to his defense. Who said that “bad boys” have no good intentions and are unable to corrupt the gullible?
There is no iota of comparison between our own Sonko and Mr. Coke other than society being easily gullible to applaud and bestow leadership on individuals, simply because of their wealth.
Sonko’s high profiled political campaign was awash with money, including the 97 million Shillings that were mysteriously wired to his account during the campaigns that raised eyebrows in security circles.
The man operates over 200 bank accounts which though not illegal, may appear to be very suspicious. Yet these are issues that gullible Kenyan voters are not prepared to ask simply because the young man is rich and can dispense cash at will.
Mature democracies around the world would demand a thorough investigation of the Hon Sonko type, scrutinized the source of his income, the nature of his businesses and tax compliances before being given a clean bill of health to become a public official.
Unfortunately in this part of the world, we have altered the true meaning of democracy, replacing and equating it with wealth.
Strong accusations have been leveled against ODM for shunning SONKO, in favor on Ndolo. I still believe the party leadership acted in the best interest of its followers. Leaders are made, not of money but character and integrity. If character is in doubt, mired in traits of illegal wealth, the party has no choice but to stick with the devil they no best.
Patrick Opondi,
Migori
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
WHAT IS OUR CONCEPT OF A DEVELOPED SOCIETY?
By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
September 22, 2010
The other day I was in Nanyuki discussing the impact of child mortality in our society. As I embarked on my presentation, it dawned on me that some parts of our country may be doing worse than losing our children to diseases we can easily prevent.
I must plead my ignorance and own up that before I got involved in UNICEF Child Survival campaign, I never knew that this country loses more children per day than it produces. And when you add to this tragedy, the Central Kenya’s dimension where primary schools are closing down for lack of enrolment or maternity wards count themselves lucky if one child is born in a month, then you may be able to understand the magnitude of our problem.
In sensitizing journalists in Central Kenya to understand the urgency of educating our communities in prevention methods being applied by UNICEF’s Child Survival Campaign, my colleague Philip Ochieng brought another angle to the whole debate. He set us think about the meaning of the word development in broader terms than we probably have done for donkey years.
Our narrow interpretation of the word development has hampered our discussion in more ways than one. We always equate development to tall buildings in our cities, highways, street lights, permanent buildings in our villages or even hospital and classroom buildings in our communities. We are more concerned with what impresses us from outside than what values there are in those enclosures or monuments of “progress.”
We hardly stop to think that development is a holistic concept that embraces more than concrete blocks of flats or super highways like our upcoming Thika Super Highway. We never think that the level of education, literacy or the amount of information available to our citizens can be classified as development.
Who amongst us ever stops to think that if we had properly constituted governance structures like Parliament, the Judiciary, Watchdog bodies, and effective civil societies, respected and credible human rights organizations, we would be considered a developed society? Do our MPs stop to think that if they passed good laws and obeyed those laws, they would substantially contribute to our national development? Do our judges and magistrates ever stop to think that if they were efficient enough to dispense will cases that come before them without procrastinating, they would be contributing to our national well being because a nation whose well being is sound is definitely developed?
In most developed societies, rights of individuals and communities are taken seriously. They are protected in the constitution and law enforcers ensure that vulnerable groups such as children, women and the disadvantaged minorities are not violated. In the USA, any child under the age of 13 cannot be left alone in the house. If social workers get wind of it, the parents can be in dire straits. In the same America, having carnal knowledge of a minor; and a minor means any person below the age of 18 can earn someone a prison term of up to four years; never mind that there was mutual consent between the two parties.
In other words, having sex with a 16 to 17 year old person is punishable in law; never mind that both were consenting. In other words, the law bars minors from enjoying their consensual rights even if they wanted to.
In a developed society, the law is an ass and justice is blind. It does not distinguish between the mighty and the powerful. The law is the law whether one is poor or rich. That is why celebrities, top industry barons and politicians can be jailed for up to 90 years or more in the United States. This equality before the law builds confidence among the populace in their judicial system. Society is considered developed and civilized if the rule of law works.
In most developed societies, there is a social contract between governors and the governed. If the rulers come begging to be given the permission to govern, they pledge basic social services that they must deliver to the electorate. Social services such as healthcare facilities, clean and piped water, electricity, garbage collection, good roads and highways, planned cities, adequate and hygienic shelter, working transport system and security of every citizen are the reason citizens pay taxes. Ensuring that every child goes to school and provided with a safe environment and adequate learning facilities are part of the social services in a developed society.
There is no way a country can claim to be developed when it cannot feed its own people or even provide security of its citizens from external aggression because that is the responsibility of a responsible and developed state.
In civilized societies, environmental issues are never taken for granted. Much as there is high level industrialization, the way industrial pollution is managed is an indicator of the level of development. It shows that governors are concerned about the health and well being of their citizens.
When one looks at all these indicators of development, it dawns on us that indeed we are still far away from being a developed country.
Can we achieve 50% of these yardsticks in 2030? Only time will tell.
GEORGE THUO, DICK WATHIKA AND REUBEN NDOLO, KENYAN POLITICS IS CHANGING
By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
September 22, 2010
Yes, the chickens are coming home to roost if they haven’t already. Wanjiku is finally flexing her muscles. She has said that she must part ways with the past for good. She is screaming on the rooftop warning the political class that with the advent of the new constitution, it will not be business as usual. And she doesn’t seem to have any respect for the high and mighty, rich or famous. She seems to scorn pedigree in our political system. Major political parties don’t intimidate her either. But somehow, she seems to loathe individual arrogance most on the part of those who want to be our national leaders.
The just concluded by-elections in Juja, Makadara and Starehe are classic examples in how Kenyan politics has changed. In Juja; it did not matter that the fairly wealthy George Thuo was openly supported by Uhuru Kenyatta and Kalonzo Musyoka, the two political heavyweights that also lead two major parties in Parliament. To have lost a seat he supposedly won with a landslide in 2007 just two years ago was some kind of a paradox when he started trailing in third position after the man he is supposed to have beaten. Was this proof that Juja ballot boxes were stuffed in favour of the winner in 2007? To come third after an unknown Thika lady must have been really painful to the former Government Chief whip who has hardly spent three years in Parliament.
The Starehe results also sent a strong message to the political establishment that the old order must give way to the new order. The new wine cannot survive in the old wineskin. Mr. Kamanda may have been a good councillor in Nairobi in the last century and even a good MP for Starehe at the turn of the century. However, times have changed and the electorate has grown younger, more politicized and better informed. The old politics is gone kabisa. Now the electorate is demanding more than handouts. Give them handouts but also show them that you can improve their lives.
Wanjiru may not have done better that Kamanda in the two years she has been in Parliament but at least she has consistently preached hope for them every week since her reelection.
Another twist to Kamanda‘s loss must have been the Mungiki factor that might have voted unanimously in favour of the lady that their boss openly supported. A combination of her church followers and Mungiki adherents was a factor anybody could ignore in Starehe at their peril. It came to pass.
The Starehe results were intriguing in one aspect. They were too close to the 2007 results to be ignored. However, they were way off the mark when one considered the recount results just before Wanjiru’s victory was nullified. The question that begs answers is: If Kamanda beat Wanjiru by 15,000 during the recount whereas Wanjiru beat him by 1000 votes during the 2007 elections, where did Kamanda’s supporters disappear to this time round? Incidentally more or less the same numbers that voted in Wanjiru in 2007 voted for her again this week. Were Kamanda’s ballot boxes stuffed with more votes after the 2007 elections?
Reuben Ndolo lost a seat he thought was his for the taking in Makadara. He had successfully petitioned against Dick Wathika and the courts decided in his favour. However it seemed like the voters in Makadara had something up their sleeves.
They looked at Ndolo and Wathika and thought there was no difference between the two. So they opted for the third rather than the better option. They chose little known Sonko that Kenyans had never heard of.
This experience must be a wakeup call to all political parties in this country. Free the democratic space within your parties. Practice internal democracy before you come out to compete against other parties. Forget blue-eyed-boy mentality where certain individuals must get direct nomination at the expense of even better and more popular candidates. Encourage internal competition because it is healthy for the growth of the party.
The secret to political popularity lies in being tested from the grassroots. Those who claim to be popular yet fear to face challenges at the nomination level are conmen and women that are used to riding on the backs of popular parties. They not only give the party a bad name but they are also expensive for the party in the long run. Worse still, they cause unnecessary rebellion and protest voting against their parties and party leaders.
Had ODM and PNU listened to Wanjiku, they would not have lost Juja and Makadara. One hopes that this is a lesson well learnt.
KENYA IS SETTING GOOD ELECTORAL STANDARDSIN EAST AFRICA
By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
September 22, 2010
You have to live in a country to know its beautiful and ugly past. Nobody can really tell you the truth about a nation’s political, social and economic state in order to appreciate the scale of its successes and failures unless you have lived there over a period of time. It is the reason the well endowed Western journalists; international agency experts and volunteers such as Doctors without Borders and American Peace Corps end up writing thrilling stories about Africa.
It is amazing how Kenya’s electoral system has undergone massive transformation in just two years. A country that was brought to its knees and on the brink of a civil war due to the excesses of a corrupt electoral can today raise its head and tell the world that yes; we can efficiently manage our electoral system and announce the results in under three hours from any corner of our country.
I was a little school kid when I saw the first manipulated elections in 1966. I was a working class 22 years later when I saw winners in the 1988 elections robbed of victory in broad day light during the queue voting system introduced by Daniel arap Moi that year. I saw candidates with shorter lines declared winners as popular candidates with longer lines declared losers.
However in all these years, I just did not see flawed elections alone. I saw violence, bribery and bad manners openly displayed by both the candidates and the electorate. As the aspirants fell over each other trying to outdo one another at bribing and influencing voters, the electorate sharpened their skills at conning the candidates. Every candidate who came with cash was a winner and they had standard praise songs for them. All they needed was to see a candidate approaching and his name would quickly be inserted into the song! In Nyanza, Nairobi and Mombasa; the story was the same. The youth knew it was harvesting time in election seasons.
This practice became so entrenched that by the time the Single Party system was abolished in Kenya in 1992, it forced the ruling party to print fake 500 shilling notes to buy voters. It was the first time Kenyans came across this type of currency. The public finally nicked-named this currency after the KANU operative that spearheaded Moi’s 1992 reelection.
Ten years later, we seemed to have matured politically to be able to elect a new party with a convincing majority. This feat was partly due to the relative fairness, integrity and independence of the then Electoral Commission of Kenya. For this reason, Kenyans were voted the most hopeful nation in 2003.
However, five years later, the same electoral commission that did Kenya proud in 2002 sunk the country to its lowest pit in political thuggery. The commissioners mutilated the 2007 elections beyond recognition to the extent that even today, nobody knows who won the elections at parliamentary and presidential level. One proof of this mess has come out in the many petitions that were lodged in courts soon after. Of the cases so far concluded, 95% of the 2007 winners were nullified. In these bi-elections, only 7% of the incumbents have been reelected.
Since the old Electoral Commission of Kenya was disbanded in 2008, its predecessor, the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) has conducted six parliamentary bi-elections and one national referendum on the new constitution. In all these cases, just a handful of nine commissioners and a secretariat have shown Kenyans and the world that what can be done in Britain, Germany or United State of America on election day can be done right here in the middle of Africa.
Kenyans have demonstrated that you can conduct an election as transparently as possible where every citizen has an opportunity to follow and tally results from every polling station in real time. It is no longer a secret affair in dark and opaque ballot boxes that are transported by government agents under the cover of darkness. Government agents have been removed from positions of influence and only requested police officers are at polling stations at the command of the IIEC Returning Officer.
Kenyans have shown its neighbors that technology is here to eradicate all the 20th century malpractices that made election rigging the preserve of the ruling class. Vote tallying at the polling station has eliminated the stuffing of ballot boxes in transit to the supposedly tallying centers. Now all tallying centers receive electronic results that will have also been received and seen by all citizens and the IIEC Central Tallying Station.
We in East Africa musty emulate this best practice from Kenya. We need our brother in Uganda and Tanzania to know that questionable victory during national elections have their heavy price that the nation pays at the end of the day. The NRM went to the bush in 1980 when its commanders believed that Milton Obote had rigged the 1980 elections. Kenyans went on the rampage when they decided that enough was enough with election thefts. They burnt homes, businesses and disrupted businesses throughout East Africa. It may not have happened in Tanzania but there is no guarantee that it cannot happen there in the future.
Let us just reform our electoral, governance and democratic institutions to avoid subjecting our citizens to unnecessary civil strife.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Army sentences mother to death
Koriang with her child after being sentenced to death by the court martial in Moroto By Olandason WanyamaThursday, 16th September, 2010 
AS the court martial handed the death sentence to Judith Koriang on Wednesday afternoon, the mother stood still with teary eyes.
She bowed down as her eyes swept across the courtroom, from chairman Lt. Col. Eugene Sebugwawo to the other members of the 3rd Division army court.
Koriang, a 20-year-old widow with a young son, heard her fate sealed by the court martial sitting in Moroto. She was advised by the court to appeal against the death sentence within 14 days.
Koriang shot dead her husband, Pte. Nelson Okello, on May 1, 2009, at Nakiloro army detachment in Moroto district, a few kilometres to the Uganda-Kenya border, following a domestic fracas.
The discordant couple was residing in a makeshift hut, popularly known as mama ingia pole.
After Koriang tested HIV-positive and her husband negative, it triggered endless insults from the husband.
Koriang told the court that Okello was the only man she had known in life; and his persistent demand that she goes to the man who infected her, sent her mad.
On the fateful day, the husband went back home but refused to eat supper and asked her to leave. She narrated that she played it cool until midnight when she woke up to execute her mission.
She picked her husband’s gun stealthily and tiptoed out. She then sprayed bullets on the makeshift structure, knowing that by the time the gun went silent, her son and husband would be dead.
Miraculously, the son survived but the husband was hit by a few bullets out of the 30 she sprayed and died instantly.
“After all the mistreatment, the only answer was to kill my son and husband and then turn the gun on myself. Unfortunately, the gun ran shot of bullets,” Koriang told court.
She said after the shooting, she entered the hut and carried out the baby and started walking to Moroto Central Police Station, over 30km away, to hand herself in.
However, she got tired on the way and decided to rest at Rupa sub-county headquarters after walking for 20km in the night.
Koriang has been on remand in Moroto prison for 14 months.
Pte. Francis Masereka said after the shooting, a search was mounted along the main road to Moroto and Koriang was found seated with her one-year-old baby and taken back to the detachment.
Pte. Ariama Okello, the immediate neighbour, said the quarrels started after a UPDF team of doctors tested soldiers for HIV and found that Koriang was positive yet the husband was negative.
After reading the judgement, the
court chairman said a number of soldiers’ wives had killed their husbands.
“To cut the rising trend, Judith Koriang, I am sentencing you to suffer death as a deterrent to others planning the same act,” Ssebugwawo said.
After the ruling, Lt. Dan Madaba, her defence lawyer, allowed her to talk to her relatives briefly before she boarded a military truck to prison.
The 3rd Division army spokesperson, Capt. Deo Akiiki, yesterday explained that Koriang, a civilian, was tried in the military court because the UPDF Act allows anybody in the company of the armed forces, who uses firearms to commit a crime, to be tried by the court.
Koriang is the second woman to be sentenced to death by the court martial. The first was Grace Ichakuna from Bukedea, who participated in killing her husband in 2008.
There are about 500 inmates in Luzira and Kirinya prisons on death row. Some were sentenced by the army court and others by the civil courts.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
WHAT IS SAITOTI UP TO WITH THE NEW CONSTITUTION?
Prof. Saitoti's interpretation of Article 17 in the Sixth Schedule is intriguing!
By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
September 14, 2010
The new constitution is very clear on what to do with the provincial administration. It says rather clearly under Schedule 6, Article 17 that , “ Within five years after the effective date, meaning after August 27 2010, the national government shall restructure the system of administration commonly known as the provincial administration to accord with and respect the system of devolved government established under this constitution.”
A keen reader of this Article will realize that one; there is no hurry to restructure the provincial administration in the first 14 days after the effective date as we have tried to do. The reason why the government needs five years to restructure this department is because it is a structure that you cannot simply wake up one morning and start tinkering with. It needs a careful and systematic handling in order not to destabilize the order of things.
Secondly, the article is very clear on who will do the restructuring when that time comes. In my own layman’s interpretation of the law, a national government is much bigger than the department of the provincial administration in the office of the president. It is even bigger than the office of the president, parliament or the judiciary. It is the entire government structure involving the three arms of government.
Based on the above considerations, it was curious to learn through the press that the structure of this complex security system that has been with us since time immemorial had been accomplished in just two weeks since the promulgation by just a handful of people in the department who saw no reason to involve the cabinet, parliament or the Attorney General’s office; let alone the ministry of Justice. Where did they get the powers to determine what was best for the new Kenya without consulting Kenyans who are the owners of the new constitution?
To what extent has this strange restructuring respected the devolved government? Has it even bothered to ponder over the administrative, political and financial implications of setting up two parallel systems of government trying to do the same job? Did the restructurers have in mind what Kenyans said during the referendum, what the Parliamentary select committee on the constitution had in mind when they rejected the three tier government? Did they stop to consider why parliament rejected all the 150 plus amendments that were brought to the house at the last minute before we went to the referendum?
But perhaps the most perplexing thing about this provincial administration fiasco was the way it was crafted. In its detail, the 8 provinces are back, followed by 23 regions that report to the provinces. Then below the regions are the 250 districts. The officers manning these units will be 8 Provincial Commissioners, 23 Regional Commissioners and 250 District Commissioners. In this structure, there is no mention of counties, governors, deputy governors or country assemblies or even how they will relate to each other.
Since this structure that goes down to the chief with another layer for paramount chief will be reporting directly to the national government, it is very clear that PCs, Regional Commissioners and DCs will be having their bosses at Harambee House in Nairobi and not at the Counties.
It is a signal that the restructured provincial administration will have no time for local governors that for all practical purposes will most likely have been reduced to glorified councillors in this new scheme of things.
But why did the honorable minister come up with this structure that is not definitely in the constitution without seeking approval from parliament? Is there something that Kenyans are not getting right from George Saitoti? Weren’t we told that this constitution is sacrosanct and that only Parliament can alter even one letter after garnering a 65% majority in Parliament? Where did the Internal Security get the authority to drastically “amend” a section of the constitution because indeed this action amount to an amendment?
During the referendum campaigns, the one person who opposed the proposed constitution was Daniel arap Moi. His main reason for opposing it was because it would abolish the provinces, something that didn’t sit well with him. Along with him were a number of MPs from the Rift Valley, parts of Nyanza, Eastern and Coast that felt the same. They wanted provinces to remain intact so that they could reintroduce federalism as was the case at the Lancaster Constitution in 1962. Incidentally, that was Raila Odinga’s version of the devolution, a three tier government where counties would be clustered around the regions (now provinces) for more effective coordination and financial viability.
Is the Internal Security Minister now telling Kenyans that all those tough campaigns we went through to defeat the proponents of majimboism were all in vain? Are we now telling Daniel arap Moi that he can after all have his provinces despite Kenyans resoundingly rejecting them at the last referendum?
It is unfair to try derailing this constitution so early in the day.
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