With friends like these, who n
written by Evans Mogendi , April 28, 2008

Mike Ranneberger should explain whether he is ambassador to the Republic of Kenya or whether he's ODM's foreign errands-boy. His style of diplomacy betrays his misplaced notion that Kenya is a dependency of the United States which it isn't. He has blatantly engaged in illegal activities and has actively supported known sympathisers and abetters of genocide.

Someone should make him account for his actions and should let George Bush know that his representative in Kenya has been a supporter of those who perpetrated the genocidal violence in Kenya.

Gluttons for punishment
written by observer , April 29, 2008

American foreign policy has proven time and time again to be criminally inadequate in reading the political situations in developing countries. US foreign policy has proved to be susceptible to self seeking individuals masquerading as champions of democracy, apple pie, motherhood and all that is holly. Time and time again they get burned by their infertile world view of that sees all third world political conflict as good vs.evil especially in cases where there is no mineral wealth to exploit. The examples are too numerous to mention, but Ahmed Chalabi definitely comes to mind as the latest in a long list of self serving rascals to pray on their naivete and misinformation.

re: With friends like these, w
written by Wuod Aketch , April 29, 2008

Mike Ranneberger should explain whether he is ambassador to the Republic of Kenya or whether he's ODM's foreign errands-boy. His style of diplomacy betrays his misplaced notion that Kenya is a dependency of the United States which it isn't. He has blatantly engaged in illegal activities and has actively supported known sympathisers and abetters of genocide.

Someone should make him account for his actions and should let George Bush know that his representative in Kenya has been a supporter of those who perpetrated the genocidal violence in Kenya.

Mike Ranneberger says what any sane and educated person would comment about the political situation in Kenya. If you are not comfortable with what he is saying then muzzle him. Remember that this will be difficult as Kenya is "democratic" and free speech is the order of the day. You should instead complain about those PNU fools who spew dung whenever they open their smelling mouths.

ahem
written by Stephen Wanyama , April 29, 2008

Good to see you Aketch. Now I will have you know that there is good evidence that Ranneberger knows that Raila did not win the election. How about that, hmm?

re: US Foreign Policy
written by aeichener , April 29, 2008

American foreign policy has proven time and time again to be criminally inadequate in reading the political situations in developing countries.

Very correct. Often, it was indeed more of "criminal inadequacy" than of true malice. However, the former was frequently far deadlier and more destructive than the latter.

US foreign policy has proved to be susceptible to self seeking individuals masquerading as champions of democracy, apple pie, motherhood and all that is holy.

Just see the history of post-colonial Angola as a very sad prime example.

Alexander

Angola
written by Stephen Wanyama , April 29, 2008

How cheeky Alex, but apt too. In my honest opinion, we deserve every interference because we continuously prove ourselves incapable of governing our affairs.

Take the present mess for example. Say his excellency was to move on, what would happen? What is the guarantee that we will not be landed in a similar mess again? Have measures been taken to ensure a coalition against evil is built up? I keep insisting this is such a simple task, build a broad coalition of the GEMA, the Akamba, the Gusii and the Bukusu, all the people who suffer from Majimbo, de-tribalise Kenyan politics in one fell-swoop, even the ODM will fall in line against those numbers. Pass a law in parliament outlawing ethnic references for demonisation on the public stage or in the media. That is all it takes, over-reward the Akamba, the Ameru, the Kisii. Buy Raila a dacha on the slopes of Mt. Kenya, happy days.

P.S. Do the Kenyan people even know that Raila was beaten at the election?

Not about democracy
written by Kim G , April 29, 2008

I have seen the argument that since we are not able to manage our affairs, somebody else should. But I still dont see the logic behind the US action. After all, isnt the man they are funding part of the problems in Kenya? Also, direct funding of a ministry while bypassing the Treasury is an unprecedented move that can only sow the seeds of distrust within the coalition. But like stated above, the Americans have an amazing knack for "criminal inadequacy," the tendency to believe persons who outwardly display pro Americanism. Do you remember when ex-President Moi held a demonstration in Nairobi to "protest" global terrorism? Didnt we all laugh at it? And didnt the Americans open up the aid taps just days later?

Kim G
written by Stephen Wanyama , April 29, 2008

Well, I do not think the interference is a good thing, but we can hardly make a fuss and cry about sovereignty when our incompetence at managing our affairs threatens regional stability and when, as our people are roaming the country-side butchering their neighbours the State finds itself impotent.

...
written by manta ray , April 29, 2008

The neo-cons in charge of America are stupid enough to believe that they can influence events in Kenya by coddling one section of the Govt at the expense of the other. Their foreign policy is akin to an aggressive rhino once you identify the target; bow your head and charge, even if the target will have moved on to another spot.
They have forgotten that as they prepare to attack Iran before Bush leaves office and even after, they will need the port of Mombasa for supplies, and they will still need the base at Lamu naval station to monitor the horn of Africa and the middle east. Raila has no capacity to guarantee that access.

re: ahem
written by Wuod Aketch , April 29, 2008

Good to see you Aketch. Now I will have you know that there is good evidence that Ranneberger knows that Raila did not win the election. How about that, hmm?

Alright, give birth.

Rannebergerlets
written by kobangoshe , April 30, 2008

Ranneberger is a hypotonist and he is simply taking some guys for a long dream ride. Just fathom this? How would he and his ilk empower PM by making him visit US? What real or imagined actions will make PM appear different than he is and has been. Did you not he lacked personality and character of a PM when he was lamenting in public who he is relative to the VP? What nonesense to come from a PM who is claiming to be equal to Prezzy? It looked silly I am sorry to say for the PM to focus his mind on such a petty issue at a time and in a place where his message should have been 'peace and reconciliation' as a way to forgiveness.

So what will happen when US is finally done with him and dump him like they have trashed many others before him elsewhere?

re: Rannebergerlets
written by Wuod Aketch , April 30, 2008

Ranneberger is a hypotonist and he is simply taking some guys for a long dream ride. Just fathom this? How would he and his ilk empower PM by making him visit US? What real or imagined actions will make PM appear different than he is and has been. Did you not he lacked personality and character of a PM when he was lamenting in public who he is relative to the VP? What nonesense to come from a PM who is claiming to be equal to Prezzy? It looked silly I am sorry to say for the PM to focus his mind on such a petty issue at a time and in a place where his message should have been 'peace and reconciliation' as a way to forgiveness.

So what will happen when US is finally done with him and dump him like they have trashed many others before him elsewhere?

Stop whining. Raila is now PM and is more useful to Kenya than the sleeping Kibaki. Ambassador Ranneberger represents the US government in Kenya and would have already been recalled if Washington felt that he was not doing his job.
The PM's office is being strengthened by donors so that it becomes a real center of action and power of the government. If I was PNU and minister, I would do my job as it is expected not the way I think it should be done. The PM is the actual boss of all ministers. Those who refuse to work under him will soon be sidelined and their political careers will live the same fate.

Sober up!
written by mkosakabila , April 30, 2008

It is never about democracy and/or the will of the Kenyan people. Its about one party's short term interest in Kenya. The longer term can be negotiated and/or bombed into compliance. And what happened to the Brits/Germans anyway? Cat got their tongue?

importantly
written by Amir Ibrahim , April 30, 2008

The Prime Minister's Office was never denied funding by the Treasury, it was granted them in excess of Ksh 300 million. Whether or not the toon is given money is neither here nor there, what is really important is whether this is a grant, or a loan. If we can get some foreign busybody to grant money for government operations then I am all for it, what we cannot afford is to keep borrowing, our external debt is already far too high, the Ministers, PSs, judges and so on had really better get a cut in their compensation packages.

re:
written by manta ray , May 02, 2008

Do you guys remember those old days when ODM was busy telling their supporters that all Kikuyus are Mungiki and they are criminals and all that? People did get convinced and of course they voted for him to get rid of these criminals. Imagine the shock his faithful are going through on the disclosure that Mungiki are actually ODM supporters! Link here

No wonder Njenga kept referring to Raila as a like-minded person. Anyway, you have to wonder about our leaders who are so shamelessly in cahoots with gangsters. Is the Ambassador aware of this ama he's just shooting off at the hip?

When the true story of who has been in bed with Mungiki comes out, the shock will truly stun the country.

...
written by kanyonikanja , May 02, 2008

Do you guys remember those old days when ODM was busy telling their supporters that all Kikuyus are Mungiki and they are criminals and all that? People did get convinced and of course they voted for him to get rid of these criminals. Imagine the shock his faithful are going through on the disclosure that Mungiki are actually ODM supporters! Link here

No wonder Njenga kept referring to Raila as a like-minded person. Anyway, you have to wonder about our leaders who are so shamelessly in cahoots with gangsters. Is the Ambassador aware of this ama he's just shooting off at the hip?

re: re:
written by anonymous , May 02, 2008

Do you guys remember those old days when ODM was busy telling their supporters that all Kikuyus are Mungiki and they are criminals and all that? People did get convinced and of course they voted for him to get rid of these criminals. Imagine the shock his faithful are going through on the disclosure that Mungiki are actually ODM supporters! Link here

No wonder Njenga kept referring to Raila as a like-minded person. Anyway, you have to wonder about our leaders who are so shamelessly in cahoots with gangsters. Is the Ambassador aware of this ama he's just shooting off at the hip?

When the true story of who has been in bed with Mungiki comes out, the shock will truly stun the country.

I agree with manta....the TRUTH will shock the country...some of us stumbled on it via neighbours in December and wondered aloud but were not listened to....I can't wait to see it hit the headlines, assuming the mainline press will publish it.

PNU quarter truths
written by Wuod Aketch , May 02, 2008

Do you guys remember those old days when ODM was busy telling their supporters that all Kikuyus are Mungiki and they are criminals and all that? People did get convinced and of course they voted for him to get rid of these criminals. Imagine the shock his faithful are going through on the disclosure that Mungiki are actually ODM supporters! Link here

No wonder Njenga kept referring to Raila as a like-minded person. Anyway, you have to wonder about our leaders who are so shamelessly in cahoots with gangsters. Is the Ambassador aware of this ama he's just shooting off at the hip?

When the true story of who has been in bed with Mungiki comes out, the shock will truly stun the country.

I agree with manta....the TRUTH will shock the country...some of us stumbled on it via neighbours in December and wondered aloud but were not listened to....I can't wait to see it hit the headlines, assuming the mainline press will publish it.

Sometimes I wonder what some of you PNU supporters have in the place of the brain in yours skulls. Or is it the fact that you live far from information media? I have the impression that you do not want Kenya to move ahead.
May I remind you that Raila proposed that the government negotiate with mungiki. He realized that muscle flexing that has been the order of the day, has not brought the sect to it's knees. He also added that most young men were engaging in mungiki activities due to lack of employment.

Mungiki leaders then asked for a ceasefire. Raila's intervention was serious and bore results, a day or two later - read below:

Mungiki calls for ceasefire

The Mungiki leadership has called off the four-day violence, moments after Prime Minister, Mr Raila Odinga, pleaded with the sect to stop the killings and destruction.

Bonyeza hapa http://216.180.252.4/archives/...43&catid=4

In one of my previous posts, I was on accord with Tinga's way of doing things. The mungiki are Kenyans like any of us and deserve better than just being shot by our trigger happy policemen.
Given real jobs, they will participate actively in nation building. We need every able person to participate in building this nation.

...
written by Stephen Wanyama , May 02, 2008

Aketch, I, well most of us here were against Michuki's campaign of violence, and in the same way that we insist taking the gun into the Rift Valley is no solution, so it is that it would be foolhardy to take a gun to Mungiki. I do not know that anyone here opposes what you have written especially with regard to the Mungiki rank and file, the errand boys.

On the other hand, it is difficult for most of us, apart from Mungiki and those who think like them here, to conceive in Raila anything but a man-of-war. Peacemakers do not laugh at people who are hurting and say, oh, it's just like Manchester United fans fighting Chelsea after a match. They do not refuse to anaesthetise the people after they have been raped. Raila has a decades long history of the worst violence, forgive us for not taking his overtures to Mungiki seriously; after all he has a gang of similar designs does he not?

re:
written by Wuod Aketch , May 02, 2008

On the other hand, it is difficult for most of us, apart from Mungiki and those who think like them here, to conceive in Raila anything but a man-of-war. Peacemakers do not laugh at people who are hurting and say, oh, it's just like Manchester United fans fighting Chelsea after a match. They do not refuse to anaesthetise the people after they have been raped. Raila has a decades long history of the worst violence, forgive us for not taking his overtures to Mungiki seriously; after all he has a gang of similar designs does he not?

Wanyama,
I do not see difference between what you call US and the mungiki.
Please do me a favor by elaborating on what you know about the decades long of Raila's history of violence.
I am also waiting for the info you promised on the secret about Raila's defeat in the presidential elections.
As concerns English football, the two teams (Chelsea and MU) are composed of foreign mercenaries mostly from Africa and France - all of them passed through the French league especially on the side financed by Roman Abramovitch (Drogba and Makelele - olympique of Marseille, Anelka Paris St Germain, Essian, Maulida Lyon). The first final of Chelsea leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Is it the the effort of Jos Mourinho that is paying or that of Avram Grant? Given the number of French football players in the final, is France going to win the European nations cup in Switzerland this summer?
I think that the match between Chelsea and Liverpool was the best in the annals of the Champions League. My monuments of Chelsea are Didier Drogba (the extraterrestrial - the man who shoots faster than his shadow), Essien, Makelele, Ballack and Lampard. The power of Ballack and Essien and the distribution of balls by Makelele in the midfield are unmatchable. The finals in Moscow will be a big spectacle of football - on paper. Were it for individual talent alone, MU does not stand any chance of winning. But Sir Alex Ferguson has some of those secrets of orchestrating the 10 MU players to attack and defend as a single compact block.
Excuse me for the slight diversion - Wanyama's fault.

jekyll & hyde
written by ezz , May 02, 2008

We can see Wuod is comfortably back into the Mr Hyde role. The Dr Jekyll episodes had many of us worried!

re: re: With friends like thes
written by John Karau , May 03, 2008

Mike Ranneberger says what any sane and educated person would comment about the political situation in Kenya. If you are not comfortable with what he is saying then muzzle him. Remember that this will be difficult as Kenya is "democratic" and free speech is the order of the day. You should instead complain about those PNU fools who spew dung whenever they open their smelling mouths.

Only the insane could work with killers and Rannenberger knows who those killers are. Aketch why don't you go back to your archaic ways of cowardly shooting poisoned arrows, using pangas to hack, maim, burn and kill innocent women and children under the guise of murdering so called or muzzling "PNU fools" or paying Mungiki youths to carry out gruesome murders against your fellow supporters in an attempt to camouflage your bloody hands. The CIA regime change agents like the Joel Barkan's working hand in hand with Ranenberger who perpetrated a cover up of the killers atrocities before the US congress will no doubt be exposed.

You're absolutely right, the ambassador says what any sane killer or supporter of killers would say to cover up their deeds. You may run today from murders you commit or aid in committing but you will pay the ultimate price for taking someone's life, why is it that William Ruto was begging for amnesty the other day? Raila deferred to the President and the President said nothing, the writing is on the wall and the chickens are coming to roost for killers and their supporters be they Mugiki, Sabaot or Kalenjin Land Defense forces. When the Hate crimes, ICT, Genocide and Ethnic crimes bills are passed, those Kenyans who thought they could hide behind computers and mobile phones at home and in the diaspora and fanned the flames of hate will no doubt face the wrath of justice, Kenyans will not rest until all those responsible are brought to book and made to pay for their sins and crimes against humanity.

"If the law is passed, the authorities would investigate and prosecute crimes committed in Kenya, or overseas by a Kenyan or committed anywhere against a Kenyan."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200804281431.html

Arms for peace
written by aeichener , May 03, 2008

in the same way that we insist taking the gun into the Rift Valley is no solution, so it is that it would be foolhardy to take a gun to Mungiki.

Bad expression.

Of course it is utterly necessary. It is the fundament upon which all other work will then be built. It just is not - in and by itself - a solution to all the underlying problems.

Alexander

The good ambassador
written by mkosakabila , May 04, 2008

Did anyone read this in today's standard:
See the good ambassadors solution. Some of it is ok, some of it is quite out of line, with all due respect. I resent the notion that for every bag of fertilizer/seed given out in a bid to resettle the violently displaced, a school and/or dispensary be built for the aggressor. How perverse!
In the end, it might help to have the locals negotiate their terms of engagement.

re: The ... ambassador
written by aeichener , May 04, 2008

Some of it is ok, some of it is quite out of line, with all due respect.

Once again for the editors:
no respect due here, none at all.

A.