It is difficult if not downright impossible to get a true reflection from the sound-bites that the media allows through, but this is an effort to capture as much as possible what was shown on the tube.

Kibera Party for Prime Minister

The event was very well attended.  A section of the Pentagon showed up, the Prime Minister of course, his deputy Musalia Mudavadi was there too, as was Agriculture Rinister William Ruto and Cooperative Minister Joseph Nyagah.  The Speaker of the National Assembly showed up, resplendent in white, the day after he was declared the black sheep even of a much loathed parliament.

Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua came and did the jig we remember from the 2002 NARC campaigns, all robed in NARC-K colors.  Minister of Lands James Orengo was also in attendance, as were Ministers Fred Gumo and Mohammed Elmy. Also in attendance was Kiambaa MP Stanley Githunguri, Medical Services Minister Anyang' Nyong'o and Bishop Margarent Wanjiru of JAM and the Ministry of Housing.

As expected there was plenty of sing and dance. There was this little video of a lady singer in orange and the guests danced up to her and handed her what one assumes was money. She was one of the few people who would have left the event happy.

Kibera residents have taken to pointing the finger of blame for the food crisis squarely at the Minister of Agriculture. Some of their placards were labeled Ruto, and declared the disparity between earnings in the slums 100/- and the price of maize meal on shop shelves allegedly 120/-. They were joined in this finger pointing by Kathiani MP Wavinya Ndeti who in her speech turned around and announced that it was common knowledge that the Minister responsible for food was Hon. Ruto.

Justice Minister Martha Karua weighed in, promising the distressed crowd that the Cabinet, pointing at herself and the other ministers, who she declared were responsible for the resolution of the crisis, would sit in a committee led by the Prime Minister and come up with a solution. It is difficult to tell the chronology from a news item, but she was likely responding to one of the most bizarre speeches you will ever see on television.  Medical Services Minister Anyang' Nyong'o told the agitated crowd that he would be asking the Prime Minister soon, for permission to initiate mass action if food prices did not come down.Minister Karua stole the show for a resolute show of leadership, including running counter to the prevailin wisdom in Kibera with regard to landlord-tenant relations.

The previously described Speaker of the National Assembly asked the crowd's permission to say what he said he knew may not go down well with them. He called out as hypocrites MPs who were now declaring their support for the taxation of MPs allowances. He asked that Kenyans demand the truth from their legislators, and asked where these MPs, now supporting the taxation measures were when the bill was presented before parliament and the proposal defeated.

Still on salaries, Bishop Wanjiru lamented that the media were not giving Kenyans the true picture on MPs incomes.  She told the crowd that her payslip, she stressed as an Assistant Minister displayed the same deductions, PAYE, NHIF, etc as did those other Kenyans.

Land Minister Orengo on his part, was shown in his usual refrain, lamenting the existence of interfering parties (The head of the civil service, Francis Muthaura) and the government spokesperson Alfred Mutua) between the Prime Minister and the President.

The KTN shot ended with a picture of a smiling Prime Minister in his seat, nervously holding the same placard that had announced the hunger-filled chasm between a daily wage (100/-) and the price of unga (120/-). For some reason, unexplained in their rendition of the event, the KTN ticker declared that ODM leaders had sought to blame each other for the food crisis.

The early papers helped explain this blame game. The Sunday Nation has the agriculture Minister lobbing the responsibility for the redutcion of the price of the 2kg packet (to 40/- as the crowd demanded) to Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The Prime Minister and his Deputy then threw this at Ruto, declaring as is the present spirit in the media, that it is his responsibility.

 ODM-K race to comply

The Vice President was declared ODM-K party leader, with Information Minister Phogisios Party chairman, former Bahari MP Joe Khamisi as Deputy Chairman and Nairobi Metropolitan Minister Mutula Kilonzo as Secretary General. There was little contest at the Kasarani event although delegates from North eastern province did stage a brief walk-out before being ushered back in.

The highlight of the event was a resolution by the party's MPs, read by Defence Assistant Minister David Musila, and  declaring among other things that ODM-K MPs would back the measures to put a tax on MPs allowances when the matter next came up in parliament.

Thankfully, there was none of those meaningless KTN polls that come with week time news shows.