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• April 28, 2009
• 19:55

  Why Speaker Marende Has Booked A Place In the History Books

   » ‎ You Missed This
  Also published in the last few hours: Speaker Marende's smart parliamentary coup
  
  I do not mind admitting stuff. I wrote a post but liked this comment from one of our readers much better and it is my conviction that it deserves wider distribution and thus readership. And that is the reason I have upgraded it to a main post. ENJOY!!
  
  -------------------------------
  
  This Speaker is a silent genius. Marende's was more than a parliamentary ruling.
  
  In his hour-long ruling, he adeptly and preemptively made his own interpretation of the constitution vis a vis NARA Accord probably well aware that PNU were soon going to be rushing to courts seeking constitutional interpretation of the same.
  
  Marende's ruling was of superior legal and political quality - very comprehensive and incorporating the realities of the day in Kenya. A classic ruling that has so far received accolades from top constitutional experts besides widespread public support.
  
  Now challenge that!!!!!
  
  This was the greatest move in public relations and advance persuation that I've seen in such a long time in Kenya.
  
  Marende was giving all and sundry his own top notch constitutional interpretation of the very question Kalonzo Musyoka has announced PNU will be rushing to courts to seek an answer.
  
  Marende tayari amelijibu hilo swala.
  
  And in doing so, he has already convinced many that the constitution cannot be read in isolation from NARA. the good 'ol constitution is no more. The days of absolute Imperial Presidency are basically history.
  
  It's an era of consultations and power sharing - at least in the life of this coalition. Marende amesema, waKenya wamekubali.
  
  Marende was thrice clever just for the record and precedent - he has explicitly addressed the question of what happens when there's inconsistency between the constitution and NARA - and that is - NARA supersedes.
  
  People like Michuki and Kalonzo who are blind on NARA need to listen to that wise counsel- all Kalonzo and Michuki see is an imperial presidency which they die to preserve and the old constitution that Kenyans die to reform...these PNU sycophants never see NARA as part of the constitution.
  
  Then few other interesting observations.
  
  Karua has welcomed Marende's ruling and she will be sitting in the HBC. Yaani, she doesn't insist that Kalonzo must be the HBC Chair/LGB. Tells me she doesn't really regard Kalonzo worthy of leading her. Haya! remember the reformers vs anti-reformers debate?
  
  Did anyone read what PNU's Saitoti said? He actually welcomed Marende's ruling! unlike his PNU-mates Kalonzo and few others. Of course Saitoti also bubbled a few other words to the effect that whoever appoints the LGB still needs to be resolved. But at the moment - he's game with Marende, essentially telling Kalonzo to chill out and keep off the HBC Chair/LGB seat.
  
  Aint that some doggonit something!!!!!
  
  Someone tells me George Saitoti was seen yesterday at Lunch time with none other than PM Raila Odinga munching steak and ugali at Serena Hotel - this was reported in the papers too. haya!
  
  Did someone swallow a tinga tinga like KANU jogoo did?
  
  It is clear Kalonzo is being elbowed by Saitoti and Karua already even as Kibaki continues using him (Kalonzo) as toilet paper to wipe the big 'ol doggonit.
  
  Let Kalonzo keep making a fool of himself...wiping Kibaki's mess...the same script followed by wakina Nyachae, Kombo, Awori, Mukhisa and other Kibaki sycophants of yesterday.
  
  By the time they came back to voters, they were stinking nasty..and people were running away from them.
  
  If you choose to be Kibaki's snake oil salesman, beware Kenyans pay back on you fast and furious.
  
  I'm also reading today that ODM's Andrew Ligale has been appointed the new boss of the Boundaries Review Commission.
  
  Anyway back to the crucial issue left pending by Marende.
  
  He asked the two principals to consult.
  
  Here is the interesting thing.
  
  That consultation this time can NEVER EVER AGAIN be at a closed door room in Sagana between two individuals called Raila and Kibaki.
  
  This time it will be a broad daylight PNU-ODM consultation through the CMC (Coalition Management Committee)....each and everytime any consultation is required.
  
  Kibaki had better be ready to get busy working and consulting and not just sleeping and eating mutura and slaps at State House.
  
  We shall only deal with Kibaki this time formally - with a pole called CMC.
  
  No more informal agreements to be soon discarded by the perennial conman and thief. This belligerent half incapacitated man has held the country hostage for so long. Ashindwe kabisa!
  
  ODM has already learnt the hard way talking to Kibaki who then orders Muthaura and Kalonzo to contradict the PM. Can the nation go through such nonsense anymore? They have said NO. ENOUGH!
  
  and the PM himself has said so - no more talk with Kibaki informally, only formal consultations through the CMC.
  
  And many things will soon be consulted about. Everything literally will be consulted. This is what Kibaki wanted when he trashed goodwill, let the formal consultations now take root.
  
  I hope Muthaura and Mutua are reading these developments keenly.
  
  It is not business as usual tena.
  
  Haya twende!
  
  I close with these remarks below quoted from a wise unassuming man currently Speaker of Kenya's National Assembly - whom I've previously shared a bite of mbuzi and kanywaji with here in Washington DC.
  
  “An accord was painstakingly negotiated as the country waited with bated breath… these words were uttered before the whole world. Do they mean anything? Do the signatories to them intend them to mean anything?”
  
  Kenneth Otiato Marende
  
  With that I say - adios for now!Kumekucha

  
  

  

• 17:18

  Car Batteries and LEDs in Mali

   » ‎ AfriGadget

  Tags:  Community  

  Matt Berg has put together a wonderful photo montage on how LEDs and 12v batteries are changing the face of connectivity and cheap lighting in Mali. Reproduced here with his permission are the images from the (large) PDF.

  “The mass market solution (LED + small rechargeable battery + 1 W solar panel) that will really make a difference will be Chinese and at a price that will encourage extremely fast adoption rates.”

  

  

  

  “Used car batteries you can see are the “power lines” in a lot of African villages that form the basis of distributed power distribution.”

  

  

  

  

• 16:33

  Accord, Constitution have no answer

   » ‎ Paza Sauti
  Kenneth Marende

  Honourable members, on Thursday, April 23, just as the House was about to resume the interrupted debate on the Motion for the approval by the House of the names of Members nominated to serve on the House Business Committee, the Member for Kisumu Town West, the Honourable John Olago-Aluoch, stood on a point of order claiming to raise an issue touching on the ability of this House to defend the Constitution. The Member noted that the Motion for approval of Members of the House Business Committee had been brought by the Honourable Vice-President as Leader of Government Business. He, however, sought to know from the Chair who under our Constitution is supposed to move the Motion.

  Citing the definition of the ‘Leader of Government Business’ in the Standing Orders, which at Standing Order 2 is defined as "the Minister designated by the Government as the Leader of Government Business in the House" the Member posed the question: "Who is the Government in the context of the Kenyan situation?"

  Olago-Aluoch went on to argue that ‘Government’ in the context of the Kenyan situation is defined by the Constitution and the National Accord and Reconciliation Act and that, considering the functions of the Prime Minister as set out in the Constitution, the inference from the Constitution and the National Accord is that the Leader of Government Business and the chairperson of the House Business Committee is a constitutional affair. It was the argument of the Olago-Aluoch that the Leader of Government Business ought to be the Prime Minister and that it would be unconstitutional for any other person to be the Leader of Government Business or the chairperson of the House Business Committee. He, thus, sought a Ruling from the Chair on these matters before the House could proceed.

  Weighty Matter

  The Chair took the view that the matters raised by Olago-Aluoch were weighty and decided to hear a few more contributions from Members before indicating the way to proceed.

  Honourable Members, what followed was a barrage of learned and educated opinions by many Members canvassing various positions on the issues raised. In the process a number of Members also raised new issues which merit consideration and comment by the Chair. Some of the Members who gave opinion or raised issues include Honourables Mutula Kilonzo, James Orengo, Gitobu Imanyara, Kiraitu Murungi, Dr (Wilfred) Machage, Isaac Ruto, Uhuru Kenyatta, Charles Kilonzo, William Ruto, Walter Nyambati, William ole Ntimama, Abdul Bahari, Prof George Saitoti, Chris Okemo, Peter Munya, Elizabeth Ongoro, Dr Naomi Shaban, John Mbadi, Prof Sam Ongeri, Ababu Namwamba, Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, Bifwoli Wakoli, Farah Maalim and George Thuo. This list is not exhaustive.

  Honourable Members, you will recall that at the end of all the contributions, I delivered a communicationin which I among other things promised, without prejudice to the Ruling I undertook to deliver today, to seek direct audience with His Excellency the President and the Right Honourable Prime Minister with a view to bringing the matter of the constitution of the House Business Committee, its chairperson and the Leader of Government Business to a speedy and amicable conclusion. I also undertook to make known to this House, the results of that initiative. Indeed, I will do so in the course of this communication.

  Speaker ill-equipped

  Honourable Members, before I get to the heart of this Ruling, let me remind you of what I said on Thursday, 23rd April, 2009. I said then and I repeat now that the office of the Speaker of the National Assembly is singularly ill-equipped to advise on or determine for the for the Executive arm of Government, and, for that matter, political parties, how they shall run their affairs.

  I further stated that the Speaker will limit himself to questions of constitutionality, statute and the Standing Orders, but only so far as these relate to the business and affairs of this House. I, therefore, want to make it clear from the onset that subject to these qualifications, I do not intend to traverse territory that is outside the province of my office.

  Honourable Members, I have distilled the following issues from the points of order and contributions made:

  a) What is the definition of the Government in the context of Standing Order No 2?;

  b) Whether the Speaker having recognised or allowed the Vice-President to appear before the House as the Leader of Government Business, is estopped from entertaining any questions as to the legality or propriety of his incumbency as such;

  c) Whether the House has any role in the nomination or determination of the Leader of Government Business;

  d) Whether the Constitution, as read with the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, provides for who shall be the Leader of Government Business in this House;

  e) How any inconsistency between the National Accord and Reconciliation Act and the Constitution, or for that matter the Standing Orders, is to be resolved;

  f) What the Speaker is to do in the event that he receives two different letters from the same Government designating different persons as Leader of Government Business in the House;

  g) Whether the House can remove a Leader of Government Business and if so by what procedure;

  h) The procedure for nomination of the chairperson of the House Business Committee and whether the nominee of Government for chairperson is to be part of the list submitted to the House for approval or is additional to it;

  i) Whether the House can proceed to approve the membership of the House Business Committee without regard to the question of who the Leader of Government Business or the chairperson of the Committee is.

  Honourable Members, I seek your indulgence as the menu of issues for determination is very long. Allow me to pronounce myself as concisely as I can on each of these issues:

  The first and probably the most important issue is the question of who or what constitutes the ‘Government’, for the purposes of the designation of a Minister envisaged under Standing Order 2. This issue was canvassed at length and is at the core of the present impasse.

  Various documents were cited as providing the answer; including the Interpretation and General Provisions Act; Chapter 2 of the Laws of Kenya, the Constitution and the National Accord and Reconciliation Act. The simple question being asked is this: When the Standing Orders provide for designation of a Minister to be the Leader of Government Business in the House by the Government, who is envisaged to make that designation?

  Honourable Members, the position of Leader of Government Business exists in virtually all Parliaments in the Commonwealth. There are, however, no hard and fast rules as to who shall hold that office. In some jurisdictions, the matter is expressly provided for in the Constitution, while in others it obtains by statute or the standing orders. The following few examples shall illustrate this point:

  No Universal Rule

  In the Republic of Ghana, the Leader of Government Business is not specifically provided for in the Constitution and the holder of that office need not be a Minister. In fact, today, the Leader of Government Business in the Parliament of Ghana is not a Minister. He is not a member of Cabinet and cannot lay a paper in the House on behalf of a Minister.

  In the Republic of Uganda, pursuant to Article 108A of the Constitution, the Prime Minister is designated as the Leader of Government Business in Parliament. In the United Republic of Tanzania, under the Constitution, the Prime Minister is appointed by the President and is the Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly and has authority over the control, supervision and execution of the day-to-day functions and affairs of the Government.

  In the Republic of South Africa, the President appoints the Leader of Government Business in Parliament. In democracies with a longer history such as the United Kingdom and India, the Leader of Government Business is designated by the Prime Minister who is the Head of Government. There is, therefore, no universal rule of general application in this matter.

  Honourable Members, in Kenya, the office of the Leader of Government Business is recognised and defined only in the Standing Orders. The position as defined in the Standing Orders must be construed, not generally, but only in the context of the National Assembly. The holder is the Leader of the Business of the Government only for the purposes of the House.

  National Accord

  The phrase ‘Leader of Government Business’ is not, to my knowledge, to be found anywhere in the Constitution or in the National Accord and Reconciliation Act. The position is not established by or under any other statute. It follows that neither the Constitution, nor any statute has provision on the appointment of the Leader of Government Business in the House.

  In providing that the Leader of Government Business shall be the Minister designated by the Government, I find that, in terms of how the House functions, the Standing Orders mean no more than that the Leader of Government Business is to be the Minister designated by the Government. It is that organ that is entrusted with the running of the Executive arm of the Republic.

  The office of Leader of Government Business in this House has been held by various persons since Independence. At some times the office has been held by the Vice-President while at other times it has been held by a Minister. The one constant thread running through is that the decision about who shall be the Leader of Government Business has always been in the Executive.

  Honourable Members, a number of Members suggested that as the Speaker had "recognised" the Vice-President acting as Leader of Government Business at some point, the Speaker was, therefore, estopped from entertaining any queries on the legality or propriety of the Vice-President’s incumbency as such. This is not so. The role of the Speaker, as is well known, is to act as a neutral arbiter. The Speaker is not a protagonist in the arena that is the House. The Speaker does not raise points of order on his own motion...

  Continues Thursday.

  Hon. Kenneth Marende, E.G.H., M.P.,

  Speaker of the National Assembly

  28th April, 2009.

  

• 13:32

  Emerging Technology Companies in Kenya

   » ‎ Kenyanentrepreneur.com

  Tags:  Kenyan PoliticsBusiness  

  I am beginning to read about more and more IT start-up companies in Kenya that are trying to build up data storage sites and other forms of e-storage solutions for private individuals, companies and governments. So, I was reading about this company in BD Africa called East African Handlers, which is launching a solution that would [...]

• 10:50

  Speaker Marende Stages Parliamentary Coup

   » ‎ You Missed This
  
  In one fell swoop, Speaker Marende left pretenders to the throne profusely bleeding from political humiliation. And what a masterstroke which neither of the protagonists saw coming. The gatekeepers have been disabused of their murderous venture to auction Kenya and holding her citizens hostage.
  
  All the hubris about seeking constitutional interpretation is just that HUBRIS. Never short of valueless face-saving gimmicks, the scoundrels must be burning the midnight oil scheming to invent another source of political heat. True to SLITHERING IN BETWEEN philosophy, the mouth and backs on hire must fire from all empty cylinders lest they are speedily rendered politically irrelevant.
  
  Speaker Marende’s ruling underscores one truism which politically faint-hearted have been afraid to accept: KENYA IS AND WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AFTER THE BUNGLED 2007. You can chose to live in any FORTRESS OF DENIAL but the reality is all there for all with eyes to see.
  
  No amount of legal posturing ever solved any politically-engineered problem. Marende’s intelligent ruling must have been alive to that fact as evident in his refusal to please either party. Instead he threw the ball back to them by reminding them that both the constitution and the national accord must be read as one and two documents.
  
  Political auctioneers
  With that single stroke of genius, Speaker Marende extinguished all the vents of hot feeding "the constitution is supreme" fallacy.
  
  Speaker Marende has has done Kenya and her people proud in standing by them. He has banished the political smokescreens clothed in deceptive legal gabs. And in the meantime he has inadvertently and fatally bruised political egos of many pretenders who never cease to salivate at every loophole they curve from our tattered constitution to feather their selfish political nests.
  
  Hail Speaker Marende for proving that amidst the political rot remains some sane Kenyans who can come to the rescue of property Kenya under siege from political auctioneers.Kumekucha

  
  

  

• 9:59

  Where to Bank an Adsense Cheque in Nairobi

   » ‎ bankelele

  Tags:  adsense  

  This is a follow up post to the long-running question of what do with an adsense cheque or its’ equivalent. There are dozens of Kenyan bloggers building up small net earnings from adsense and similar web-based advertising companies – but who usually pay in US$ cheques - minimum $100 i.e. now almost Kshs 8,000 which is a tidy sum for a part time activity.
  
  The post is of interest because the costs of clearing such a cherub can run up to 50%at some banks. After the last post on the subject we had these as the cheapest banks:
  
  2. Family Bank - Kshs. 650
  3. KCB (said) minimum Ksh.800
  4. Co-op Bank - Kshs 1,000
  1. I can now add to the top of the pile Barclays Bank of Kenya who charge just Kshs 200 /= (~$2.5) the lowest so far I have verified.
  
  KCB was the only bank (out of 40) to respond to a query via the general e-mail account published by the banks. What does this say about the level of internet interaction? Very bad. There are some non-existent companies with great interactive websites, but with Kenyan banking its the opposite – some great innovative banks who put up massive website, and which, though updated often, rarely respond to to online queries and feedback.
  
  Twitter would be a nice (free) tool for them to use, but no bank has yet embraced corporate blogging, and none are on @Twitter yet. @MosesKeimbaro had a recent post on Kenyan brands on Twitter. – with the most prominent and active being @KenyaAirways. Also here's a great list of other financial sites on twitter.

• 6:39

  A Writer's patriotism is measured, even when a government's is in doubt

   » ‎ Kenya Imagine

  Why is the government treating the annexation of its territory as a mere rattling of the sabres? Is it not sacrilegious for anyone to contemplate annexing Kenyan land? Uganda has literally invaded and seized the Kenyan Island of Migingo in Lake Victoria; it is an explosive issue that might light other fires under our feet if it is not addressed decisively.

  
  
  Khainga has some hard words for the government's handling of Migingo.
• 4:22

  Tex-Mex Hog Sniffles

   » ‎ Kenya Imagine
  With this overview of the swine flu outbreak, Stephanie returns to our pages.