getting to the bottom of the maize scandal

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So it turns out that Ababu Namwamba’s sensational claim in parliament that first lady Lucy Kibaki was linked to a company that illegal traded in maize for Kenya’s starving millions was based on false documents. And the same is also true of Bonny Khalwale’s accusations of agriculture minister William Ruto. Whether this is the truth or not we may never know. Kenyan politicians have a going price and retractions of statements (true and otherwise) have been made before. And why accuse the first lady and a whole cabinet minister with false documents? Messrs Namwamba and Khalwale are not village idiots. They must have known what they were talking about. For now I shall remain skeptical of these retractions and say that where there is smoke there is fire. If Mr. Ruto wants to clear his name he should tell us who traded in the maize, it is his ministry after all. And if the president wants his wife’s name cleared he should also tell us the truth. Everyone high up in government must know who these thieves are.

Millions of Kenyans face starvation if they don’t get relief food and so it galls me when I read that people are stealing the same relief food and being allowed to get away with it. Since when did we come to accept that Kenyan lives – no matter how poor our citizens may be – are worth sacrificing so that an already filthy rich cabal of thieves can continue enriching themselves? Where is the anger in the media, in the church, on the streets and among the civil society? Do we realise what we are doing to ourselves? Kenyans are dying!!!

Does it cease to be a crime just because someone who speaks your language did it? Does it cease to be a crime when it is Kibaki and not Raila or Ruto and not Michuki or vise versa? I don’t think so.

We need the truth NOW.

The AU could have done better than Gaddafi

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gaddafiThe news that the African Union elected Libyan president Muamar Gaddafi as its president for the next one year is very disappointing. Here is a man who has proved to the world that he is delusional – parading around with African “Kings” and calling himself “King of Kings” – and who wants to form a continent African government with a single currency and army now. His election is such a joke when one juxtaposes his pet concerns with the real problems affecting Africa. What Africa needs is not unity for the sake of unity but a real change in governance tactics. Gaddafi wants a united Africa because he sees himself as the continent president should his dreams ever materialize. Given the way he has run Libya thus far, I am happy that he will not live to see this happen.

The AU could have elected a more grounded, sober minded individual who actually cares about the plight of the hundreds of millions of Africans who live in poverty. Someone who would have stood up to corrupt leaders and promoted real development – as opposed to the band-aid stuff that has been peddled across the continent since the collapse of the immediate post-independent developmental states.

So as things stand it looks like we are in for yet another year of a silent AU as innocent men, women and children die in Darfur, Eastern Congo, Somalia and in the many other poorly run countries on the continent of Africa.

Kenyan accidents: time to come up with a response strategy

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fireA fire gutted down Nakumatt Downtown, killing more than 40 people. Then there was the tanker blast in Molo that killed more than 110. In both instances the reaction was mediocre. Utterly shameful. I read that it took the firefighters more than an hour to respond to the oil tanker blast in Molo. Molo town does not have any means to respond to fire emergencies. What we have learned in the last one week is that Kenyan authorities are not ready to react decisively in case of emergencies to save lives. Even the handling of the Nakumatt fire, right in the middle of Nairobi, was juvenile at best.

The tanker blast in particular should be of grave concern. Some time back a similar thing happened on the Kisumu-Busia highway, killing dozens of people. my questions are: was the tanker overspeeding? what was the condition of the road? what is the ministry of transport going to do about this?

We can’t just bury the dead and hope that this never happens again. It was not an act of God as some clowns are running around claiming. This was human error. Bad roads, poor maintenance or overspeeding may have caused the tanker to skid off the road. Inexplicable stupidity and mind-numbing poverty caused the locals to rush to the site of an accident filled with petrol fumes. People caused this to happen and people can put measures in place to ensure it never happens again.

Looking at the larger picture, this seems to be a very bad time for Kenya. The boat that is Kenya keeps getting more and more holes – corruption, food shortage, political instability and many others. I keep wondering just how patient we Kenyans are. In other places and in other times things would be so different. When are we going to chase these little men who govern us out of town?

read more on the maize scandal

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I just read this interesting post by Ory on Kenyanpundit.com. According to the post, there seems to be evidence that people high up in ODM may be implicated in the maize scandal that has rocked the country, even as millions of Kenyans continue to live on wild fruits and dug up roots (are we in 200,000 BC????).

It makes you wonder whether we really need the coalition government. As things stand, it seems like these clowns running the country know that they can get away with everything because no one wants to break up the coalition government. Martha Karua (the Justice Minister) herself admitted that ODM and PNU politicians would rather remain in the coalition than seek a fresh mandate from wananchi. Raila and Kibaki should be bolder than they are being and face those stealing from Kenyans, be they big men or not. The two of them can garner enough support from their bases (I don’t mean just central and Nyanza but rather their supporters from across the country) to run the country without having to compromise on issues of corruption and incompetence. Kibaki can make a name for himself as the man who saved Kenya and put it on the right path. And Raila can earn some political capital that he will need for the 2012 election. I am not a die hard fan of either man, but I think right now they are Kenya’s best hope.

there is someone out there plagiarizing me

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A hawk-eyed reader just alerted me that there is someone out there who is running around the web copying other people’s blogs – word for word! How shameful! I mean I understand that we bloggers don’t really have original material and we mostly do spin-offs of other stories but to copy something word for word and not give credit? That is just lame.

the AU summit

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I just found out that the AU’s annual summit is underway in Addis. I blame it on the African media. But it says a lot about the activities of this organization when mainstream media does not think of its summit as important, given the many troubles afflicting the African continent.

I suspect that it will be business as usual. There will be talk on the coup in Guinea, the everlasting crisis in Zimbabwe, may be a mention of the food crises all over the continent and some side-talk on the conflicts in the DRC, Darfur, Northern Uganda, among other places. A few representatives – go Botswana! – will be forthright and say some bad things about bad African leaders. Most of the speakers, however, being tyrants themselves, will not say anything about leadership and democracy and respect for human rights. Not to be forgotten will be the pipe dream of a United States of Africa.  Nobody seriously thinks this is possible but it will be discussed anyway, perhaps to pass time because there is absolutely nothing better to talk about.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the donor community. They will be present, as monitors and guest speakers. They will be begged for money and they will talk about their plans to save Africa. A few of them will say some politically incorrect things. Most of them will act like they are among rational grown ups – and then call their wives to vent about how crazy some of the leaders they deal with are. I bet I would do the same if I had to discuss the global financial crisis with Gideon Gono.

At the end of the summit on February 3rd everyone will go back home, having wasted their tax-payers’ money on plane tickets and hotel fees (highly inflated of course). Somalia, the DRC, Zimbabwe and the rest will remain unchanged. …………..When will this madness stop?

somalia: may be we should give the Islamists a try?

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Before the US decided to use Ethiopia to invade Somalia, the southern portion of the failed state – including the capital Mogadishu – was largely run by a group calling itself the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). The ICU was into strict Sharia Law, something that did not go well with most of the secular warlords (who were simply out to make a profit from the chaos that is Somalia) and most of the West (read the US). Financed to some extent by Eritrea, (to Ethiopia’s chagrin) the ICU called for a Jihad against the Ethiopian government for colluding with the infidel Americans. Ethiopia’s involvement in Somalia was partly motivated by the Islamist group’s support of the cause for the liberation of the Ogaden, a region of Ethiopia inhabited by ethnic Somalis and which has been the poster-child for irredentist dreams of Somali governments and warlords alike.

And so when the ICU seemed to be gaining too much power than the Ethiopians and Americans would have liked, a decision was made to take them out. It also emerged that the ICU was sympathetic to terrorist elements – inluding the plotters of the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya (more than 200 Kenyans were killed in the attack in Nairobi) and Tanzania. Beginning in July of 2006 Ethiopian troops started moving into Somalia to take out the Islamists – and for some time they succeeded, even enabling the installation of the Somali transitional government in the sleepy town of Baidoa.

But now the Ethiopians have decided to pull out and the Islamists are back. As soon as Ethiopia withdrew, the ICU overran Baidoa and vowed to reinstate Sharia Law. This latest turn of events proves that the ICU is not a mere rag-tag group of bandits. They seem to mean serious business and perhaps it is time the international community took them seriously. Yes they have supported terrorists, but that can be changed by a stroke of a pen on a cheque book. They support the terrorists because the terrorists fund them. I am sure they can be co-opted into the global force for good in exchange for their restoration of order in Somalia.

And about Sharia Law, why should the US and the rest of the international community complain so much while it is the norm in Arabia and the gulf? What makes it different when the Somalis do it? I am all for respect for human rights and all, but I think it is imperative that global do-gooders (and all of us who believe in sensible liberalism) realize that justice is political and therefore should be pursued with regard to the particularities of the societies involved. A realistic approach to Somalia ought to allow the Islamic Courts to be if they can guarantee order and some semblance of  a state in exchange for some cash and a promise not to fund or harbour terrorists. America and Ethiopia must accept the fact that the ICU has some street credibility among Somalis. This is no time for ideological struggles. Somalis have suffered enough.

Zimbabwe: a deal at last?

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The BBC is reporting that the government of Robert Mugabe and the opposition MDC, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, have agreed to a tentative deal that may see the formation of a coalition government by MDC and ZANU-PF. I am cautiously optimistic because the last time such an agreement was made Mugabe failed to hold his end of the bargain.

The tussle still remains around who should control powerful ministries in charge of the treasury and the security forces. Mugabe, and his henchmen in the security forces, are afraid of possible prosecution and loss of control if they give up ministries running the security forces. The opposition MDC on the other hand, tired of years of intimidation and police brutality, want to have control over the police forces and perhaps to reform the departments and bring some of the offenders who tortured and killed innocent Zimbabweans under Mugabe to book.

chadian ban on charcoal ludicrous

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charcoal1

On January 16th the government of Chad banned the use of charcoal in the country – without providing any sensible alternatives. Worried about desertification in the arid Central African state, the government announced that it was banning all charcoal making from freshly cut trees. Chadians can still make charcoal from dead wood.

While I appreciate the need to stop the southward spread of the Sahara, I think the government went too far on this one. It is ridiculous that the governmnet of Chad (of all countries) can suddenly wake up and decide that it is time to stop using charcoal fuel and switch to propane – or whatever other alternative for that matter. Banning charcoal use will not stem desertification. Planting trees, having a decent irrigation plan and being serious about population control and smart ways of using scarce water resources will. Merely banning people from using charcoal or firewood will not cut it. The truth of the matter is that the vast majority of Africans still depend on woodfuel for their daily energy needs. Switching to more environment-friendly fuel sources will take time.

I know that the Chadians and the other countries in the Sahel are especially on heightened alert with regard to desertification but this was surely not the way to go. How many Chadians can afford propane? How many Chadians have gas burners? How many Chadians have viable alternatives to charcoal? These are the questions the men in N’djamena should have asked before unilaterally banning the use of charcoal in the country.

hongera justice Joyce Aluoch

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Justice Joyce Aluoch, a Kenyan appellate judge was voted in by the UN general assembly to be judge of the International Criminal Court. Although I am not the biggest fan of the UN court (its toothlessness serious hampers the administration of justice) I am delighted that a daughter of Kenya has been given this honor to serve the global community. I wish her all the best in her work and hope that the court will continue its relentless pursuit, arrest and prosecution of war criminals from Africa’s many flash-points.

Hongera Justice Aluoch!!

the sunday editorials

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The Sunday Nation has some interesting opinion pieces this week. The rage is all about the recent scandals and president Kibaki’s lucklustre attempts at containing them. Makau Mutua, the head of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, has a piece on the current scandals rocking the country. I only wish the Kenyan middle class would read such pieces more closely and realize just how much horse manure our leaders keep piling on us – and do something about it. Mutahi Ngunyi offers a clever conspiracy theory on the Kibaki succession saga. I don’t buy it though – I think PNU will lose in 2012 because none of its current leaders match the president’s national popularity. Phillip Ochieng’ offers a comment on the election of Barack Obama as president of the US and racial politics. Although I do not agree with the way he phrases his argument, I concur with him that the fact that  “even the most junior white diplomat in African capitals feels free to comment licentiously about the erratic ways of governments” is disrespectful and reeks of 19th century bigotry.

the arrest of Nkunda welcome news

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DRCONGO-UNREST-BUKAVU-NKUNDALaurent Nkunda, the leader of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD), a rebel group in eastern DRC, was arrested Thursday as he tried to flee into Rwanda. Recently Rwanda sent in a few thousand troops into eastern DRC to disarm members of the Forces démocratique pour la libération du Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu rebel group that still entertains dreams of invading Rwanda to topple the Kagame regime. Nkunda, sensing that the dragnet might have been wide enough to catch him, decided to flee into Rwanda to avoid confrontation with the Rwandan troops.

Although Nkunda’s arrest may not significantly change the situation in eastern DRC – there are several distinct rebel groups in this part of the country – it sends a message that the leaders of murderous groups like Nkunda’s will not go unpunished. Nkunda should be tried for war crimes and general thuggery and put in prison for the rest of his life.

And the DRC needs to get its act together. The failure of Kinshasa to control the eastern parts of the country is a sign of gross incompetence. If Kinshasa cannot effectively control the region it should be bold enough to let it go. Otherwise the war of attrition it is fighting in that part of the country will continue to generate more and more splinter rebel groups and get even more complicated. In the mean time more people continue to lose their lives – on top of the 4 million already dead since the mid-90s.

I also think that it is time the international community stopped treating the Congo war as yet another irrational African tribal conflict. IT IS NOT. Indeed, no war in Africa deserves to be labeled as such. The war in the Congo, like most conflicts in Africa and elsewhere in the world,  is a resource war. Ethnicity is just a rallying call. If real peace is to be achieved in the wider great lakes region of Africa the real issues of resource allocation will have to be addressed honestly.

a misdirected cabinet…

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So the president just announced a cabinet reshuffle in which he appointed Uhuru Kenyatta to be Minister of Finance. Many in the Kenyan media think that the president made this decision with his succession in mind. Hon. Kenyatta has now occupied the pole position among the wider PNU hopefuls in the ever intensifying Kibaki succession saga.

Me thinks that all this is a bucket of horse manure. Firstly, Uhuru Kenyatta will not be elected president in 2012. Martha Karua or George Saitoti have a better chance. Secondly, why appoint Uhuru to be Finance Minister? What credentials does he have to enable him serve in such a vital ministry? Thirdly, are all government actions forever going to be informed by 2012 political calculations?

As I have indicated before, I think that Amos Kimunya should have remained as Finance Minister. Among the current members of the cabinet he was the most qualified for that position. I like his business mentality and he seemed to be doing a pretty good job before the taint of corruption dragged him down. He may have been corrupt (which one of our leaders isn’t?) but he was the best man we could ever have, under the circumstances, at treasury. Kibaki should have restored him at treasury instead of politicizing the economic management of the country by appointing a hopelessly unqualiffied presidential hopeful.

food shortage in Kenya

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Food shortage continues to plague several parts of rural Kenya. This inspite of the Kenyan government’s public promises  to contain the crisis. The whole affair has been a sham. Firstly, the government officials charged with distributing cheap maize the rural and urban poor have been involved in corrupt scandals intended to defraud the government and the Kenyan people of millions of shillings. Secondly, the government does not seem to have a coherent long term plan to tackle the problem. Why is it that we are having a food shortage? Is it because people did not farm last year or is there some other reasons? And why didn’t anyone in government see this coming and plan for it in advance?

It is sad that so far no head has rolled yet. None of those suspected to have been involved in the scandals have been brought to justice – despite promises from several members of parliament. It is likely that people high up in the coalition government may have been involved hence the need to shield them for the sake of the coalition. I say this is a bucket of horse manure. This is total dung because we cannot continue to sacrifice the lives of innocent Kenyans just to keep a bunch of kleptocrats in high office. For too long Kenyan politics have lacked accountability. Justice should never be compromised for the sake of political expediency.

And where is the Kenyan media while all this is going on? What are their names? The names do not have to appear on the front pages of the Nation or the Standard. Just leak them online. Wikileaks is a good place to start. If our politicians do not want to willingly be transparent we should force them to do just that. That’s the least they could do for us for the obscene amounts of money we pay them every month.

America the great

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obamachampion

Today the world got yet another glimpse of the greatness of the greatest nation on earth. The United States of America, a nation founded in part by slave owners, witnessed the swearing in as president the son of a Kenyan and a Kansan woman. Just like in the 18th century, when (together with France) America laid the foundations for the belief in the rights and equality of all peoples, today America reminded the world that it ought to be the case that any human being, regardless of race, creed or gender can be anything that they choose to be.

This is no place for jingoism. I am aware of America’s flaws. It is a country of contrasts in many respects. There still are millions who are yet to live the American dream. Ethnic suspicions and racial bigotry still persist. And its international agenda still has hints of arrogance and a false sense of entitlement. But at the same time America continues to be the shining example of what can become of a union of free men based on the ideals of inalienability of the rights of man. No other nation tries so hard to stick to these ideals. No other nation has shown this much vitality and ability to renew itself and maintain its greatness at the same time.

So as Barack Obama begins his journey in the White House it is my hope that the world will take a moment and think about what it is that makes America great. If they are honest with themselves they will come up with answers that condemn tyranny, arbitrary government, and many other ills that perpetuate poverty and general socio-cultural stuntedness in most of the poor regions of the world.