Tag Archives: Uhuru Kenyatta

Uhuru wins latest round in battle for central supremo

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The just concluded Kirinyaga Central by-election was not an ordinary one. The actual contest between Messrs Gitari and Karaba was secondary to the meta-contest between Gichugu MP Martha Karua and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta. Karua backed Karaba while Uhuru campaigned for Gitari.

Given the high salience of ethnicity in Kenyan politics, the latter contest will determine who emerges as the chief voice of the Central Kenya voting block ahead of the 2012 general elections. Mr. Kenyatta must be happy with the latest score in Ms. Karua’s backyward given his own drubbing a few months ago in his own backyard in the Juja by-election.

Reacting to the loss Ms Karua twitted: “We have lost the battle not the war. Congrats to our team no retreat no surrender. Narc kenya marches on!”

Mr. Kenyatta, son of Kenya’s first president and very much an establishment candidate, is hoping to succeed President Kibaki as the ethnic chief of Central Kenya when the latter retires in 2012. The ultimate insurgency candidate, Ms Karua is an outsider and relatively new money who is increasingly championing the cause of the central Kenya underclass who have been marginalized by the region’s old guard elite since independence.

This blog has previously confessed a soft spot for Ms Karua, a rare breed of a principled fighter among Kenyan politicians. Mr. Kenyatta has been accused by the ICC to be among the masterminds of the 2007-08 post-elections violence that killed 1300 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. He also has tons of money.

the African Union and its problems

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The just concluded AU summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia had two key problems to address: the political crisis in Ivory Coast and the legal battles involving six Kenyans who face charges at the ICC. So far the continental body appears to have failed on its attempts to address both problems.

In the Ivory Coast, Mr. Gbagbo’s camp has already declared that the five person panel formed by the AU is dead on arrival unless Burkinabe president, Compraore is dropped. The Daily Nation reports:

The president of Burkina Faso, named on a high-level African Union panel tasked with settling Cote d’Ivoire’s leadership crisis, is “not welcome” in this country, a top ally of strongman Laurent Gbagbo said here yesterday.

And in Kenya, the political football involving the setting up of a credibly clean local judicial system to try perpetrators of the 2007-8 post election violence diminished the prospects of a deferral from the UN Security Council. Kenya must guarantee that it will try the suspects for the ICC to consider a deferral. It does not help that the appointment of high members of its judiciary, including the chief justice, the attorney general and the director of public prosecutions has already been soiled by political grandstanding.

kenya’s silent revolution

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One of the hallmarks of (true) revolutions is that they consume their originators. The totality of revolutions is unmistakable. Maximilien Robespierre learned this the hard way 5 years after the French Revolution. Kenya’s political elite are beginning to learn this sooner. The new constitution is beginning to claim its political victims one by one. That almost all members of Kenya’s political class are neck high in corruption is not a secret. The only question is how many of them will be caught by the dragnet of the new dispensation.

William Ruto, Henry Kosgey and Moses Wetangula are the biggest casualties, yet, of the new constitution. Finance Minister Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta might soon become a victim if events at the Hague go according to Mr. Ocampo’s plan. Water Minister Hon. Charity Ngilu may be next.

This is clearly a transition moment. And transitions tend to be dangerously shaky. My only hope is that the flame of change ignited by the new constitution will not consume the pith even as it consumes the dead branches of the tree that is Kenya.

The last thing we want is a political system in which de facto power is in the hands of economically shallow political entrepreneurs. The present day winds of change should not completely disenfranchise those with economic power. Political power divorced from economic power lasts as long as dew in the Kalahari. To preserve the new system the present day ethnic chiefs and princes should not loose out completely.

Kenya is not coup proof yet in its history. Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, among others, have experienced coups at comparatively more advanced levels of economic development.

mps pull kenya from the icc treaty

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The Kenyan parliament passed a motion urging the country’s executive to pull out of the ICC treaty. It was left to Gichugu MP Martha Karua to be the sole defender of the ICC process with regard to Kenyan victims of the post-election violence that rocked the country in 2007-08.

The cases against the six named suspects will continue since the procedure to unsign from the treaty takes up to a year and even then signaling the intent to withdraw does not extricate a member country from its obligations while it is still a member. President Kibaki and Premier Odinga have yet to respond to the new developments.

My lukewarm support for the ICC process comes for the fore again: Recognizing the rights of sovereign states to solve their own problems (the Kenyans will not. No illusions about that. They will trade stability for injustice) and while registering my doubt of the ICC’s effectiveness at delivering justice (no apolitical body can do what it purports to do), I am still of the considered opinion that the Chads and CAR’s of this world need an international policeman to keep their tyrannical leaders in check.

countdown to wednesday begins

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On Wednesday a few Kenyan cabinet ministers, wealthy businessmen and security chiefs – mostly from central Kenya and the Rift Valley – will be exposed as suspects behing the post election violence in 2007-08 that killed 1333 Kenyans and displaced hundreds of thousands. Needless to say, this will have significant political consequences.

The expected political realignments following the initiation of this phase of the ICC process will shed some light on what Kenyans should expect come 2012. It will also be a litmus test on how much the Kenyan political elite is committed to reforms and fighting impunity. Kibaki and Odinga will either have to defend or cut loose some of their most trusted lieutenants.

In other news Laurent Gbagbo is still refusing to relinquish power in the Ivory Coast. Moreno Ocampo should warn him that if any more people die as a result of his refusal to obey the electoral outcome he will be held responsible.

Elections have consequences.

 

populism gone mad

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The Kenyan parliament today passed a law that empowers the finance minister to fix prices of “essential goods” in an effort to tame unscrupulous traders who exploit wananchi with arbitrary price hikes. That is the story the sponsors of the bill want us to believe. Trade Minister Amos Kimunya has criticized the bill as a bad signal to investors. Kenya, he said, is still committed to the principles of economic liberalization. I concur with Mr. Kimunya’s criticism of the bill. Hayek’s old wisdom about the impossibility of controlling the economy still holds; You can’t fix retail prices without also having to fix the costs of production, transportation, advertising etc. And don’t even get me started on the demerits of allowing politicians – like Finance Ministers – to have this much power over the market.

The market definitely needs responsible regulation but in this instance the best way to protect wananchi, if this is the true aim of parliament, would have been to reduce the barriers of entry in the relevant industries and let competition and the invisible hand of the market drive the prices down. It is the best way to do it. President Kibaki should reject this bill.

UPDATE: For more read Jaindi Kisero of the Nation

daylight robbery

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Edit: Lands Minister James Orengo has since declared that the mentioned piece of land is state property and promised to do “what is right for this country [Kenya].” Let’s wait and see.

This is daylight robbery. It appears that private investors have consistently robbed the government of much needed revenue in relation to the land on Museum Hill in Nairobi, Kenya. Kamlesh Pattni, the man who famously robbed the Kenyan treasury of billions of Shillings in export compensation fees for fictitious exports of gold, is yet again in the middle of another scandal to rip off the Kenyan taxpayer.

Lands Minister James Orengo, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, and the chief taxman at KRA Mr. M. G. Waweru should come clean with the facts.

strengthening the social contract?

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Occasionally I come across news that make me think that Kenya is still on the right track. The circus that is the current debate on the review of the constitution is definitely a reminder that the east African nation has a long way to go. But things are looking better elsewhere. For one, more Kenyan businesses (which include some of the noisemakers in parliament and their relatives) are lending to the central government. This is encouraging news in two ways:

First, it means that more people are investing in Kenya Co. and therefore will have incentives to make sure that the country does not go the way of the Ivory Coast.

Second, it means that more of the idle capital will get utilized in the provision of public goods, albeit inefficiently. They may have been late and not smartly implemented but I was quite impressed by the Finance ministry’s counter-cyclical policies to alleviate the effects of the slump. Job well done.

Now if only we could find a way of pooling all the cash that routinely gets used to over-subscribe to IPOs and package it in order to meet the treasury’s minimum requirement for investment in public debt. It would be kind of neat to see millions of wananchi investing in their own country. In this way they can indirectly pay taxes while at the same time strengthening the social contract because they will have incentives to monitor how government spends the money they loan it. Just a thought.

sunday editorials that I liked

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As usual, Mutahi Ngunyi has a provocative piece in the Sunday Nation. I am sort of sympathetic to his idea of ethnic suicide (by which he means dumping ethnic identities and what they stand for) – I was in Eldoret and Timboroa for two days this summer and saw with my own eyes the fruits of ethnic hatred. The short-term operationalization of the idea may be problematic though. To make Kenyans out of Luos and Kikuyus and Kalenjins will take time. Because of this the process of “ethnic suicide” ought to take place sub-consciously, for if it is “managed” the end results or the process itself may be nasty.

Gitau Warigi pours some cold water on Bethuel Kiplagat’s TJRC. I like his argument. I am always baffled by how much we spend on such useless commissions only to be rewarded with “classified reports” issued to the president.  Philip Ochieng‘ has an interesting piece on ethnicity and politics in Kenya. I wonder how many politicians read his column… And Kwendo Opanga just gave me one more reason to think that Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka is as misguided as ever. This is not to say that the alternatives to Mr. Musyoka in the post-Kibaki dispensation are any better. Woe unto Wanjiku.

And in other news, is this legitimising crime or what?

ruto is a disappointment over mau

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Leaders are meant to lead – to set the agenda and make people believe that what is good for them is exactly what they need. On this count, Agriculture minister William Ruto has failed as a leader. On the issue of Mau Forest, he is increasingly sounding like a mad populist out to gain political mileage at the expense of millions of Kenyans – including those that he is purportedly protecting.

That deforestation in the Mau is causing the drying up of vital water sources – 12 rivers included – is no longer contested, not even by Mr. Ruto himself. I therefore do not understand why he is still against the eviction of those who illegally acquired land in the forest. The government has already agreed to compensate small holders (with title deeds) who were cheated into buying land in the forest. But wealthy Kenyans who acquired land in the Mau due to their connections to the Moi Administration should not be given a cent. In any case they should be investigated.

I say it is time that Mr. Ruto acted as a leader and made the case to his constituents that saving the Mau is in their best interest. This is the least he can do if he really aspires to be seen as a respectable national leader rather than an over-glorified tribal chief.

Kenyan budget 2008-09

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I just skimmed through Finance Minister Kenyatta’s budget speech and I must say that I am impressed. He is cutting taxes on a few essential commodities and promises to implement business and tax laws that will make Kenya more business-friendly. And his development proposals, if followed through, will help the average Kenyan a great deal.

The best part of the budget, to me, was the allocation of Shs. 30 million (per constituency) to create high performance high schools. Being a product of a national school I think that it is time all of Kenya’s constituencies had places like Mang’u and Alliance Girls. I am hoping that someone at the education ministry will also think of expanding the Kenyan public university system to accommodate the increasing number of high school graduates.

I was disappointed though by Mr. Kenyatta’s decision to reduce the import duty on imported second hand clothes. The import duty on mitumba should not have been reduced. We need to encourage the growth of a domestic textiles industry. The job gains if such an industry were to be allowed to flourish would far outweigh the job losses in Nairobi and other urban areas. Remember Mr. Kenyatta, the three pillars are textiles, agriculture and construction!

Kenyan budget

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Kenya’s Minister of Finance, Uhuru Kenyatta, is due to read the budget for the next fiscal year in parliament on Thursday afternoon. Mr. Kenyatta is expected to unveil a KShs.867 billion (US $11.1b) budget. The biggest chunk of the money –  a staggering Shs.607b –  will go to recurrent expenditures with only 258b going to development expenditure. The latter is a marked improvement from last year when only 141b went to development projects.

More details to follow tomorrow…..

out with these ‘regional’ leaders

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A while back I contemplated becoming a life member of KANU. This was when Uhuru Kenyatta was a rising star in the party and seemed poised to change the direction of the country and its politics. Although I could not vote in the 2002 election, I outwardly supported the NARC alliance but secretly hoped for a KANU victory. I simply had a bias for younger leaders. But Kibaki won. And many Kenyans seemed pleased by the outcome. Almost seven years on and we are yet to see real change take place in Kenya – but that is another story for another day.

For now let’s talk about the regionalization of our young leaders. First it was Uhuru Kenyatta, openly showing that he wanted the title of leader of Central Kenya. And then it was William Ruto, a man who has been having a lot of trouble lately, openly admitting that he is first a leader of the Rift Valley, national responsibilities come second. These new developments have left me jaded. I always used to think that this regionalism was an idea of the Moi-Kibaki-Raila generation. But it seems to be creeping into the Ruto-Uhuru generation as well.

These two men are shamelessly being tribalistic right now. Ruto is hiding from the corruption cases in his ministry and power struggles in ODM by receding back to his ‘tribe’. Uhuru is doing the same in order to sideline Karua (kudos to Karua though, she seems to have a more national outlook to politics, at least that’s how I see it from this end).

What this means for Kenyan politics is that we shall continue having tribal political parties and regional leaders. Every single politician will keep fighting for his ‘people’ at the expense of the national agenda. Meanwhile more Kenyans will remain hungry, sick and uneducated. To borrow from Achebe in his book The trouble with Nigeria: The trouble with Kenya is simply and squarely a problem of leadership, although sometimes I wonder if we are getting our just deserts because of our having disengaged with the state.

spread the word…..

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The Kenyan government continues to refuse to deal conclusively with the issue of police brutality and extra-judicial killings. Here is a link to an open letter to the prime minister and president on the issue. Read it and pass it along.

I am particularly disturbed by the continued politicization of the killings. ODM seems to be the most vocal against the killings while PNU remains more cauti0us in its approach. I believe it is wrong for both ODM and PNU to try to politicize this matter. Kenyans are dying, some innocent, and we risk a complete breakdown of the rule of law. And how is police commissioner Ali still in office?????? Why hasn’t ANYONE been fired yet??? Accountability, accountability, accountability.

transparent budget making

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The Nation’s Editorial has a piece against the idea of MPs managing the budget. I am a bit ambivalent on this one. On the one hand I am apprehensive about the idea of men like Maina Kamanda and Jakoyo Midiwo and Chirau Makwere deciding on what the government should be doing with tax payers’ money. These men (and quite frankly almost the entire lot in parliament) have proven to be myopic populists who will stop at nothing to gain short term political capital. If this plan goes through, we can expect pork-laden budgets and beyond-means-spending.

That said, I don’t think the idea itself is bad. What could be better than to take the power to allocate national resources from conceited bureaucrats at treasury? For far too long we have allowed the Finance Minister and State House to use the allocation of national resources as a political tool for patronage and for narrow tribal interests. Spreading this role to the entire legistlature may bring us a more equitable distribution of national resources for the good of all Kenyans.

That’s my two cents on this.