Johann Kriegler
What I would mainly like to dwell on today is one Afrikaan conman judge who came into town and had Kenyans eating out of his hand in no time at all. His name is of course Johann Kriegler.
Anybody who had a chance to view any of the TV call in shows the judge participated in would not have missed the anger at the judge from many Kenyans calling in. And with good reason.
There are many things about Kriegler and his report that are very annoying but top on the list is the man’s insistence that he found no evidence of fiddling at the vote tallying centre at KICC. What hog wash!!! Mutahi Ngunyi’s grandmother would have found plenty (and she has no legal training).
Let us for a minute replay some of the telling eerie events of last December.
As Kenyans were anxiously waiting for the election results, the police commissioner, Major Gen Hussein Ali held a lengthy press briefing at the KICC with journalists where representatives of the political parties were present. The gist of it was to tell Kenyans that they must accept election results irrespective of which candidate was declared winner. Nobody paid much attention to this because at the time the ODM candidate Raila Odinga was leading by a wide margin. But looking at it in retrospect and looking at what happened next, it is quite clear what was going on. Kenyans were being prepared for big time fraud.
The good judge has also insinuated with a straight face that one of the main problems that could have created mistakes in the tallying at the constituency level was the fact that returning officers did not have electronic calculators to add up the numerous votes.
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To cap this whole comedy, many Kenyans have received the Kriegler report with open arms because according to them the judge was “very wise” in not “rocking the boat” so soon after the horrors we saw early this year in post election violence.
Excuse me, this is the exact same attitude that culminated in those very troubles. If you take time to review many comments in this blog in the run up to the ill-fated general elections, you will realize that there were many people who felt that it was very wrong for us here to dare discuss tribal tensions which in their view did not exist at all. In fact the general feeling was that it was this writer who was creating and fanning those tribal tensions.
Well now we want to sweep under the carpet what happened last December. That is Kenyans for you.
Personally I am still very angry that somebody would have wasted my time getting me to vote when the election results had already been “fixed.” And now to make matters even worse, we have invited an Afrikaans judge (remember the guys who legalized apartheid?) who in private has shown lots of contempt for Kenyans and in public the same by trying to hoodwink a whole nation in telling us about pocket calculators and absolutely nothing else at the end of a high profile tour of our country.
The sooner Kenyans looked in the mirror and cut the cow waste and faced the truth, the better it will be for all of us. Nay, at least we will have a fighting chance of saving this great country. There is absolutely no hope if we continue to bury our head in the sand and pretend that the forest is not already burning.
General biographical information on Kriegler
Raila moves into the premises traditionally reserved for leader of the official opposition
Now US says arms in hijacked ship were headed to South Sudan
The reason given for this is that the president is currently out of the country.
Now, now, one of the reasons why this development is so fascinating is that there was a time former Vice President Prof Josephat Karanja (now deceased) got into serious political problems with claims that he had called himself acting president when president Moi had traveled on a foreign trip. A terse statement from State house made it clear that the president remained commander in chief even when he was overseas. Indeed even in advanced democracies like the United States, the Vice President can only act as president when the president is seriously incapacitated and unable to govern. It happened some years back when a US president had to undergo a medical operation.
This is what makes the issue of Kalonzo Musyoka acting as commander in chief so fascinating.
Still, in my view Kalonzo is much more capable of handling the delicate crisis that is still unfolding over the Somali waters as both Russian and US war ships close in on the hijacked ship which is carrying tanks, arms and so much ammunition that shooting at it would cause a huge explosion and the destruction of cargo valued at over Kshs 2.4 billion. What complicates matters further and probably explains the interest of the Americans are the reports that the pirates were working with a Somali organization known as Al Shabaab which has been linked to Al Qaeda.
Regular readers will know that I am no Kalonzo fan, but I am trying to illustrate a point here.
The reason why Kalonzo is obviously a more qualified decision-maker than his boss in a crisis of this magnitude (at least in my view) illustrates an important point that Kenyan voters should take careful note of. And that is the fact that it is becoming increasingly clear that the country would be much better off with a new crop of younger more vibrant leaders who understand the new increasingly complex world much better than the old prejudiced crop who have desperately been hanging on to power for decades on end and having nothing new to offer to Kenyans.
P.S. It is rather fascinating that the government and the Department of defence seem to be reading from different scripts. DOD insists that the arms in the hijacked ship were NOT meant for the Kenya army while government spokesman Alfred Mutua says they are. So who is telling the truth?
Dr. Joyce Laboso and Mrs. Beatrice Kones (pictured above) are the new MPs elect for Sotik and Bomet constituencies respectively.
As a matter of fact, while the Luo have never communally embraced this type of surgery, they have never been wholly against it either. In Luo land, circumcision has been a ‘none issue’….. more like whether one wears a pair of black or white pants i.e. personal decision. Unlike the case in other communities, this practice has never been associated with bravery, social status or rite of passage. The cut will not erode or enhance the Luo culture. It is of no cultural consequence.
For the last 3 years Sylvester Muithya Matheka has lived every day fearing for his life. Last Thursday morning the Machakos businessman received a visit from 5 people armed with an AK47 in his rural home up in the hills about 15 Kms from Machakos town in a place called Lita. The kind of deep rural neighborhood where folks don’t lock their doors at night because violent crime is unheard of. One of the gunmen shot him twice. The second time apparently to make sure. He died on the spot.
Read the account of the incident in the East African Standard.
The most telling comment came from his grief stricken first born son currently doing a masters degree at a local university, who with tears in his eyes told our Kumekucha informant that he was happy for his dad. The reason was that the poor man had finally rested. From the fear. From looking over his shoulder constantly. A terrible thing for a son to say about his slain father, but a clear illustration of the kind of life Muithya (as everybody called him) lived.
He is not the only one. There are numerous businessmen in Kenya today who live the kind of life the deceased lived. Never spending the night in their homes. Constantly moving, always afraid for their lives. The police who are paid by tax payers to protect all citizens of our great nation are mostly overwhelmed and many times compromised so that the people with the real power in Kenya today are those who pedal fear.
Indeed there is a budding industry in the country for blackmailers as well as paid hitmen. Muithya received one sms message from a cell phone with Tanzanian numbers about 8 months ago. The eerie message told him that the sender had been paid Kshs 300,000 to deliver his head and he would never return to Tanzania until he had accomplished his mission. The SMS was shown to the police who never even made any effort to try and trace the source of the SMS message.
That is the view I have been trying to get of the currently chaotic Kenyan political landscape as I stayed away from penning anything in my beloved Kumekucha blog (because the truth is that I can make posts from anywhere in the world. Even the Sahara desert as long as I can get an internet connection). You see I hate to write any politics when I don’t have a bird’s eye view of what is really happening.
What I can tell you my dear friends is that I have emerged from this hiatus with a much clearer mind and with numerous clear ideas to make Kumekucha even better. Briefly on the subject of improvements in this blog, I will regularly do a news round up where I will link to other news sources online. Just like I did this morning to the disappointment of some readers here and the delight of our enemies who took the opportunity to declare the death and burial of Kumekucha (poleni sana, mambo bado).
But for today I want to talk about Martha Karuas bid for the presidency. The first thing is that it excites me very much. It is a sign that Kenyan politics is about to change and to change dramatically. Mainly because her politics are different from the old school politics everybody else is playing. Indeed she is a breath of much needed fresh air. Regulars here will know that I have a clear bias when it comes to choosing between a man and a woman in politics. I think history and the track record in Kenya clearly shows us that women make better leaders most of the time.
However I have a few serious problems with Ms Karua’s bid. Top on my list is the fact that she was a chief architect of the events of last December 29th and thereabouts. She used her sharp legal mind to steer a ship called Mwai Kibaki safely through some sharp jutting rocks and right back into State House. Of course it was all at great cost to human life, not to mention financial cost to the country. I will say nothing further on that subject.
But back to my excitement. Karua’s effort will of course fail. Not because she is a woman. But because the strategy being used by her and her backers will not work in 2012. It is the same strategy that ODM used. Which means that we should expect many more declarations of intent in the months to come and then finally all these presidential candidates will declare one of their own “tosha.”
Time and again it has been proven that politics is too fluid and I will repeat again that the tactics of 2007 will NOT work in 2012. Incidentally I need to ask the million shilling question. Does the fact that everybody is adopting the tactics Raila used in 2007 mean that they are all telling us it was Raila who won those elections by a near land-slide? You tell me? Ama does it mean that they are adopting a loser’s strategy?
Finally I will say something about our beloved Prime Minister. Again this is NOT personal. Just pure cold political analysis. The truth of the matter is that immediately somebody gets into government in an environment where there is competitive politics (and NOT the mama na baba days of Kanu) it simply means that they are in the twilight years of their political careers. This is the situation with Raila. It is unlikely that Agwambo will garner the same support he received in 2007 and you can take that to the bank. I already feel the barbs flying through the air towards me but let me ask two simple questions before I take cover. Why is it that the Prime Minister has said nothing about the shoddy treatment meted out to Jacinta Mwatela the former deputy governor of the Central Bank? His silence has been way too loud. My second question is why is it that the Prime Minister was initially against a similar move made at NSSF against another woman only to backtrack a few days later and support his cabinet colleague? The answers to those questions are explosive to say the least and are published in my raw notes which will be released early next week.
Also published recently in Kumekucha: Chris is back
THE KENYANS FOR PEACE WITH TRUTH AND JUSTICE
THE NATIONAL CIVIL SOCIETY CONGRESS
PRESS RELEASE
THE PROGRESS OF THE MEDIATION PROCESS AND THE POST-ELECTORAL COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY
“The Kriegler Commission must faithfully fulfil its mandate”
Nairobi, September 16, 2008 : Kenyans await the imminent release of the Independent Review of the Elections Commission (IREC) report to His Excellency the President as well as to His Excellency Kofi Annan, the chair of the African Panel of Eminent African Personalities that crafted the National Accord.
However, that wait is tinged with reservations. Reservations informed by the long and disappointing experiences with commissions of inquiry which never fulfilled their mandates or whose recommendations were never implemented. In addition the conducting of the inquiry and the public pronouncements of its chairman, Justice Johann Kriegler have fuelled public scepticism about the likely quality and impact of findings and recommendations emerging from this Commission of Inquiry. In all fairness, Kenyans must wait and hear what Justice Kriegler and his colleagues have to say. But we wait in the consciousness of the historical significance of this report and of the heavy negative consequences that could attend an insufficient fulfilment of IREC’s mandate.
The 2007 General Election in Kenya was, arguably, the most closely contested ever. The consequences of that election nearly tore the country apart.
Many Kenyans quickly came together upon the eruption of violence to seek peace. One such group stressed that achieving peace alone would not be sustainable without the telling of Truth and the search for Justice. This is how a group of civil society organizations and individuals evolved into the Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice (KPTJ). We are joined on our concerns by the National Civil Society Congress (NCSC).
We still do seek truth, which we believe will only return Kenya to durable stability and peace if it is told and known. Electoral truth, truth on the processes, voting and tallying truth, as well as the truth of the roles played by individuals as well as institutions must be told.
KPTJ and NCSC also seek justice for the people of Kenya. Electoral justice will, in our view, be the foundation of growth in democracy and freedom. This justice must include the final determination of what exactly happened to the ballot and who may have won the election insofar as this can credibly be ascertained.
We, too, seek justice for the people that were violently deprived of their lives, livelihoods and property. We hope that the Internally Displaced Persons shall have their share of justice through the report of the Commission on Post-Election Violence (CIPEV). We deplore the continuing suffering of the IDPs and condemn the inadequate attention which is being paid to finding speedy and sustainable resolution of their plight.
In order to heal itself, Kenya accepted a grand coalition government, which resulted from the Kofi Annan led mediation process. In addition, the abovementioned commissions, IREC and CIPEV, were set up to deal with outstanding issues.
The mandate of the Independent Review Commission includes the investigation of ALL aspects of the 2007 presidential elections and the making of findings and recommendations to improve the electoral process.
We do expect that IREC shall provide a faithful report that will, among other things, do the following:
Whereas we are hopeful that the IREC will acquit itself in respect to the foregoing, we are aware that the commission faces some key challenges. These include:
In conclusion, the KPTJ and NCSC fully expect the Commission to be faithful and forthright to its mandate and to the people of Kenya so as to safeguard democracy and the fidelity of the electoral system and responsibly use the considerable public resources allocated to it.
We also urge the President to immediately publish the report to its true principals, the Kenyan people, so that Kenyans can evaluate it, respond, and take the necessary steps to heal and reconstruct their nation.
The same demand will be made over the CIPEV headed by Justice Waki, which is also soon completing its report.
Signed:
Gladwell Otieno
Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice
Njeri Kabeberi
National Civil Society Congress
President John Kufour of Ghana is entertained at the White House during his three day visit.
Minister for Information & Communication, ODM-Kenya Chairman and MP for Kacheliba Samuel Poghisio, gestures during an interview with Reuters in Nairobi February 6, 2008.
Narc-Kenya Chairman Martha Karua (right) addresses the Press at the DP party headquarters after a meeting with other PNU affiliate parties officials in Nairobi on Wednesday. With her are Narc-Kenya secretary general Danson Mungatana, DP’s Wilfred Machage and the DP organising secretary Jacob Haji. Photo/STEPHEN MUDIARI (Nation Newspapers)
The latest GALLUP POLL released this afternoon shows a huge majority of Kenyans rate Prime Minister Raila Odinga far much ahead of President Mwai Kibaki in approval of their leadership. The same poll indicates Raila to be much more popular than Kibaki.
William Samoiye Ruto may have made history in 2006 by defying his godfather ex-President Moi while still serving as KANU secretary general to declare that he would be vying for presidency; but this history is something Raila Odinga had done way back in 2001, while Moi was still a serving powerful president, and even went further to persuade reluctant KANU hawks like Kalonzo Musyoka, Joseph Kamotho, William Ole Ntimama, Mody Awori, George Saitoti ,et al to defy Moi and join opposition – five whole years before William Ruto could master any guts.
Warm wishes to all our Muslim Brothers and Sisters who started the holy month of Ramadhan yesterday. SAUM MAQBUL.
‘Fasting enhances through creation of artificial non-availability, the value of the bounties of God which man often takes for granted. This inculcates in man a spirit of gratitude and consequent devotion to God. Nothing else can bring home to a man the worth of God’s bounties than a glass of water and a square meal after a day long fast. This also reminds man that the real joy in enjoying God’s bounties lies in moderation and restraint and not in over indulging’ - Marhum Ahmed Sheriff Dewji.