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Kenyan Pundit
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Feed & spam issues fixed
» Kenyan Pundit -
It’s Our Turn to Eat available as an e-book
» Kenyan Pundit From Michaela Wrong:
Harper Collins have finally come up with an e-book of “It’s Our Turn to Eat”. So Kenyans can buy the PDF file, and there’s no excuse for any further piracy or bootlegging. Please pass this around on your mailing lists and post it on your websites. We’ve tried to keep the price as low as possible - you’ll see that it is a lot cheaper than the hard copy.
We’re also hoping to make this something Kenyans who don’t own credit cards can buy on M-Pesa, but at the moment that’s proving a logistical nightmare.
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On Martha Karua
» Kenyan Pundit I’m in Nairobi for a bit and the hottest news at the moment is Karua’s resignation.
I have no doubt (and I have it on good authority) that she was indeed being frustrated in her role as Minister of Justice - apparently Gicheru has way more sway than she did with the ‘baks, however, lets be clear that this is also about positioning for the next election or any possible fallout of the coalition government. And its not about her being scared of the censure vote, she was going to win that one hands down with ODM’s support. In any event, I have to give her props for at least not complaining about the govt while drawing a fat salary and doing deals. That’s one reason why Kibaki can’t take Raila’s hissy fits seriously, he’s like “dude, can we revisit the maize and your son’s scandals first?”
I had the opportunity to chat with Karua one on one when I was in Geneva last week (I actually had a post on that pending oh well). I have to say that I was impressed with her despite myself and my preconceptions of her. She is brilliant, articulate, on point, ambitious and a straight shooter. Unlike most politicians I’ve met who thrive in trivialities when I tried to talk to them, she was engaging and seemed to enjoy the fact that I wasn’t brown-nosing her. Do I disagree with a lot of things she has said and done? Hell yes (and I’m not like totally gaga about her). But shock on me, I kinda liked her.
[An aside, has she ever been linked to a corruption scandal?]
One of the things we discussed was the issue of old fogies dominating Kenyan politics. I argued that this was one of the biggest problems with Kenyan politics. Karua shot back that this Parliament was the youngest we have ever had in Kenya, but the most corrupt by far with some of the young MPs leading the way (in her words the biggest auction house in Africa). In her view, the current Parliament was even worse then when she entered into a 1992 Parliament full of octogenarians and Moi hands. She also felt that everybody (including civil society) should drop their partisan issues, come together and push for reforms and then guys can go their merry way to fight it out for the next elections. We then discussed her website (which had been hacked a while back), mzalendo, facebook and her online strategy in general - she admitted she was clueless when it came to using the internet to campaign but that she was very aware that it was a powerful medium and that she needed to be on point.
I wish her well in her run for office, like her or not, she has the potential to be a gamechanger.
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Workshop on the Truth Commission
» Kenyan Pundit I am currently attending a workshop on lessons Kenya can learn from the South African Truth and Reconciliation process. I’m here wearing my concerned Kenyan citizen hat (otherwise my Saturday mornings are precious family time) and my Ushahidi hat…focusing mainly on the process of documentation and on how we can help ensure that information collected through the process is easily accessible. The following are quick notes I’m taking as the workshop proceeds:
- Civil society needs to start simplifying the process of Agenda 4 and of the TRJC to the ordinary mwananchi e.g. explaining the open forums and how they would work to the people, articulating the agenda to the people.
-There is a big danger that Kenyans (and not the govt) are in the its time to move on mode, growing sense that Kenyans feel agenda 4 items are pointless, the crisis is over and Annan needs to butt out. If this sentiment was from govt, that’s expected but from citizens that’s a big problem.
- Agenda 4 items really depend on a new constitution (whether we will have one is another question altogether)
- Active engagement with the media is required as the process unfolds.
- One needs to remember that the TJRC was part of a political settlement so politicians / partisan interests are necessarily part of the process and have to be managed.
- Important to remember that once the work has started, it must be finished otherwise the work of the TRC would have failed. -
Update 4 from Geneva- Waki Speaks
» Kenyan Pundit 
[I really should have been done now, but my in box is a mess, fired the nanny on my return and dealing with a semi-sick Gabi...did I say I have 10,000 things on my plate? I need a clone. STAT!]
The Geneva conference marked the first time that Waki has spoken publicly on the CIPEV (Waki) report. He was understandably measured, given the controversy surrounding his report - or as he corrected us - the Commission’s report. He reminded the audience that many recommendations were made by the Commission beyond the local tribunal that could be acted upon NOW and was disappointed that these are being ignorede.g.
- recommendations on issues around IDPs
- recommendations on addressing the sexual and gender based violence
- recommendations on police reformHe noted that the fact that they recommended a local tribunal that by-passed the criminal justice system, does not mean that the Commission had zero confidence in the judiciary as some claim…they just felt that a tribunal would be the most expedient way to deliver justice.
He said that they were deliberately bold as a Commission because they wanted to be unlike other Commissions whose recommedations disappeared into thin air. He also said that they had a responsiblity to deliver because they had reassured Kenyans who were reluctant to testify before them that something would come out of the Commission.
[A bit of goss - the Commission's secretary, George Kegoro, did an outstanding job as far as marshalling the testimony and keeping things on track]. -
Update 3 from Geneva Conference
» Kenyan Pundit [Back home in Joburg, and playing catch-up]
Orengo speaks:
People must remember that the accord was a ceasefire document.
- At the time the State and its organs were unable to control the situation and were also engaged in the violence. The lack of confidence in the judiciary also eliminated it was an option.
- The problem has always been the State and its nature and this still remains the same.
- They tackled the composition of Cabinet but not of government and this is problematic.
- Issue of corruption / impunity the biggest challenge
- The principles are too far removed from the process
- He urged the media to take advantage of a more open parliament to really highlight the performance/non-performance of MPsSally Kosgei made a brief / interesting comment on how they - a group of 6 individuals including head of National Intelligence, Army Chief - managed the transition in 2002. Apparently they had been working on Moi to prepare him psychologically to hand over power since October. In her view Kibaki/PNU were never prepared to leave no matter what the results were and the “kitchen” Cabinet reinforced this.
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