More.
Now there is another man whose neck is rapidly headed for the chopping block and he does not seem to have the faintest idea. That man’s name is Samuel “I will not resign I did not beat up anybody” Kivuitu.
As you read this Kivuitu cannot travel to the United States courtesy of a travel ban slapped on 22 commissioners of the ECK. Although the travel ban has been imposed by a foreign power, at the very least this new development should have made the ECK chairman sit up and smell the coffee. Instead Kivuitu is busy discussing “retirement perks” and it would seem that he is even demanding more cash to leave office to make way for major reforms at the electoral body.
If truth be told, politics in Kenya has changed considerably since last December and the ill-fated general elections and the situation continues to be considerably fluid. Increasingly we are seeing public opinion and the will of masses winning the day. What happened to Kimunya should be a stark reminder of this. Kimunya’s case is particularly instructive because some extremely powerful forces were behind him and he made the mistake of thinking that this was enough “cushion” against anything. In fact Kimunya has been assured by these powerful forces that he will surely be re-appointed to the Finance docket in the next cabinet reshuffle by which time he will hopefully have been cleared from all wrong-doing. Ever wondered why for the first time in the history of the country we have an acting Finance minister (John Michuki) and yet the Finance minister is not sick or hospitalized?
Samuel Kivuitu seems to have sentiments that are quite similar to those that Kimunya had before he was quickly bundled out of office under intense public pressure. The difference is that Kivuitu’s ultimate fate could make Kimunya’s look like a walk in the park. There is an extremely high possibility that the chairman of the ECK might just end up behind bars.
There is no doubt that Kenyans are very upset. I dare say the vast majority of Kenyans are extremely angry about what the ECK did last December that cost the lives of so many innocent Kenyans, not to mention property of an untold value. But what has aggravated things is the insistence of people like Kivuitu and his fellow commissioners that they will NOT resign. This has just added insult to injury.
I am of course keenly aware that Kivuitu was taking instructions when he did what he did. Indeed Kenyans will remember that at one juncture he called a press conference where he fell just short of naming some very nasty Kenyans who “should not have been born” who seem to have put immense pressure on Kivuitu to announce some “prepared results.” A few days later that story together with a denial by the ECK chair that he did NOT sign a paid advertisement sent to the daily press detailing election results fizzled out. It was clear that somebody somewhere reigned Kivuitu back in line. Rumours have been flying that threats were made while others insist that cash was paid. Interestingly the Kriegler commission did not dare touch these bizarre chain of events that happened shortly after the election results were announced.
Now there is the business of the next general elections and there are high possibilities that certain powerful elements within PNU will want to distance themselves and their candidates from allegations of election theft. Now what better way to do this than to sacrifice a high-ranking official of the ECK?
The first time this information came to me, it sounded extremely far-fetched. But then I have remembered that there are a lot of other even more far-fetched things that have happened in politics over the last few months. One of them was of course the dramatic resignation of one Amos “I will NOT resign” Kimunya.
Of course Kivuitu and the commissioners would have been on much safer ground had they resigned much earlier this year, heading calls from most Kenyans and many bloggers here as well. But alas, that opportunity is now long gone. And there is real danger ahead for these guys.
Let us wait and see shall we?
Read more about the travel ban on ECK commissioners
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