Sukuma Kenya
written by Dipesh Pabari , March 31, 2008

Muthoni Wanyeki in her column this weeks does not mince her words. "Our Political Leaders are sick."
This has gone beyond even a debate on numbers. She is so right in saying that we are indeed a country close to having a non-existent state because the fact of the matter is they do not function for us as a state should. The questions above are not the most important at all. We should be asking how we can rid ourselves of all of them!

blind mice
written by ww , April 01, 2008

I agree with Dipesh.Where are these leaders who can be humble enough and for the sake of this nation tell Raila and Kibaki that they must not be in the cabinet so that they can make their work easy.But also for the two leaders we are looking up to, why can they not make decisions with all Kenyans in mind to please them and not to on please only 34 or 44 people?I thought we all voted!It is me and you who stand to suffer not the ministers.

new start?
written by Stephen Wanyama , April 01, 2008

Dipesh, Muthoni Wanyeki's article is really poor in my opinion, lots of passion and not much useful said, thanks for forcing me to the East African!

And it is thus no wonder that our state is sick. How does one explain claiming, on the one hand, that the organised violence in the North Rift was pre-meditated and, on the other hand, doing nothing to prevent it? Unless it was not premeditated.

And, if it wasn’t, how does one explain being utterly unable to provide those at risk adequate security — formally and within the boundaries of the Constitution and the law?

And yet being able to deploy what looked like hundreds of those ridiculous teenage mutant Ninja turtles around Uhuru Park for not less than two weeks? How does one explain the phenomenally ill advised idea of moving militia organisations from Nairobi and Central into the South Rift to counter the militia organisations in the North Rift?

If you asked me, I'd say she was merely angry that her constant 'there was no ethnic cleansing and there was no pre-meditated violence lines, have been widely discredited.

I am myself a little torn about this need to have a lean cabinet. Austerity especially as we enter a period of global financial doom should be on all our lips and minds, but the reality is that just as the ODM and the PNU insist on being in government, similar pressure is coming from the MPs. I am not sure that with the precedent the ODM set, we will not have new outbreaks of violence unless as great a number of communities as possible feel themselves a part of the government. There is a price to pay for national harmony, don't you think? The Rift Valley must be accommodated in large numbers for the IDPs to be resettled for example.

Perhaps the deal should be to increase the number of Assistant Ministers (with actual independent roles,powers and departments they are charged with) while leaving Ministerial positions at 16 even.

I certainly believe that most Kenyans would be happy not to have the likes of Kajwang', Ruto, Saitoti or Uhuru in the Cabinet. Older ministers like Michuki should also offer themselves up for retirement, Michuki can be placed as Chairman of the Roads Board to ease him into his sunset; if we must.

Finally, I strongly believe that the President is surrounded by some of the most obtuse people on the planet. Why, even now, are Martha Karua and Uhuru and Saitoti still chasing the Deputy Premiership?

...
written by Amir Ibrahim , April 01, 2008

It is true Wanyama that the Cabinet will be like a salve to bruised national harmony and community egos. Some even posit that the ODM is resisting the 44 Ministers idea because it wants to restrict the president to his immediate constituency and prevent him making allies across the board. There are it seems ODM MPs who will defect to the government side as soon as they get their little flags, which does make you wonder why are these people in the ODM at all? At the Speaker's election, the very same thing happened, ODM people had to be threatened and bullied into supporting their party! ?!!? For all that, part of the confidence building exercise, especially in light of the likely severe global economic downturn and the coming food crisis, involves the political class appreciating the need to make compromises for the good of the public.

Coalition Reality
written by Johnny B. Goode , April 01, 2008

I think there is a bit of misunderstanding bout democracy and representation and how it works in the Kenyan context. See every single elected person is not just there representing his own interests but also rightly or wrongly representing communities, gender, political party and age group. It's easy for folks to say they want a lean cabinet but let them come out and say who should be left out.

Even if the politicians were so unselfish as to come and take themselves out of the race, what about 'their' people. Mr. William Ruto took a very good move in terms of stepping down for the Deputy PM post. That in itself was a huge boost for the survival of ODM as a political entity. But what happens when the undisputed king of the rift valley steps down entirely from the cabinet. Even if he himself makes the sacrifice will the people who see him representing them in ODM understand and remain engaged until the next election. Will Raila himself accept such an offer, knowing most of his votes came from that region. Of course the ODM agenda for the RV, whatever it may be, does not need the express inclusion of William Samoei Arap Ruto in the cabinet for it to be carried out. I have personally always felt it is better to pull the strings than be a marionette. But what happens when ODM starts deviating from its aganda as far as the RV is concerned.The other thing is that coalitions of this nature, especially in a politically very immature country like Kenya are highly unstable.

You can thus be assured that no one believes in this construct (perhaps Kibaki who wants to build a legacy and who only really gains if the coalition goes the full distance), thus folks if they are any politicians worth their salt are looking to the future and those wishing to run for higher political office are looking to be in the best spot for that race. A ministerial post is the best way to position yourself.

That's not to discount the value of self sacrifice for nationalistic objectives in terms of achieving political clout, but a politician has to stay in the news. In deed it might be the road less travelled that might lead to the ultimate end.

Making state...
written by aeichener , April 01, 2008

We, I can agree with the statement voiced above: a lot of heartfelt feeling in this opinion piece, but too little substantial content.

The Kenyan state is a weakling when compared to Canada, whence Muthoni Wanyeki came. But in African comparison, Kenya still makes a lot more state than most other entities of colonial border graces. Of course, it's no comparison to South African, but there is never ANY comparison to South Africa, is there?

The main weakness is visible in WW's short posting above, rather than in Lynne's opinion piece: the incessant yearning of the Kenyan Lemming for liidaahsheep.

S.W.'s proposal for keeping a suitable number of ministers, but enhancing political control through empowered (!) assistant ministers, seems very sound.

Alexander

...
written by gichangi , April 01, 2008

JBG, Ruto's worth in the Rift Valley is made too much of. Remember that the Kosgeis, Kones, Kamama, etc are very ambitious people in their own right. Remember that some of these people did not even support Ruto's bid for the presidency.

If it is Ruto and other alleged criminals that are holding this up, then even calling in Annan may not solve the problem and I doubt very much that there will be international effort on Kibaki to appoint such men to the Cabinet. Can we go with a few professionals in the Cabinet, keep the politicians in the cooler for a while?

re: Sukuma Kenya
written by manta ray , April 01, 2008

Muthoni Wanyeki in her column this weeks does not mince her words. "Our Political Leaders are sick."
This has gone beyond even a debate on numbers. She is so right in saying that we are indeed a country close to having a non-existent state because the fact of the matter is they do not function for us as a state should. The questions above are not the most important at all. We should be asking how we can rid ourselves of all of them!

Muthoni may rant all she wants, but her views are typical of the self absorbed Kenyan civil society who always see themselves as somewhat detached from ordinary Kenyans and have arrogated themselves the role of Judge and Jury, handing out what they imagine are Zen like opinions from a pedestal.
Kenyan politicians may be sick, it is true, but they are simply an appendage of the rotten, cancer ridden body of Kenyan existence, and that includes civil society.
Muthoni and the likes of Maina Kiai should therefore not pretend to be ODM OR PNU negative. They have a full blown condition of the same disease they accuse others of and would do well to report for some Voluntary Counselling and Testing(VCT), preferably at KI.

My Ideal Cabinet
written by observer , April 01, 2008

Given Kenyans size and economy I believe that we should only have 15 Ministries with and average of 3 assistants per ministry (some might need 2 others more than 3). The total size of the government would be about 26% of the legislature.

I would like to see a clause in the constitution that states that new ministries can only be created with the approval of two thirds of the parliament. Departments within the ministries too, should be created with the approval of parliament but they would only require only a 50% approval by parliament.

This way MPs would have to give the rational for a bloated government and explain to Kenyans where they are taking the money from to create useless ministries and departments. Then again, I am assuming that they do in fact, care what we think of them.

I would like to see our leaders instead of campaigning to get their tribe a cabinet post explain to their constituents that the wasted money is better sent into the CDF Kitty which has a direct influence on them. Instead of hoping that there will me a miraculous trickle down of the goodies.


My Ideal Cabinet
Ministry of Home Affairs
Ministry of Defense
Ministry of Finance and Economic planning
Ministry of Agriculture
Ministry of Labor
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Works and Roads
Ministry of Energy
Ministry of Transport and Communications
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Housing
Ministry of Natural Resources
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Sports and Culture

Forgot to Add Foreign Affairs
written by observer , April 01, 2008

Opps,

I forgot to add Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so I guess 16 would do. I am not quite sure why we need a ministry of the office of the vice president.

My Ideal Cabinet - Take 2
written by observer , April 01, 2008

Ministry of Home Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Defense
Ministry of Finance and Economic planning
Ministry of Agriculture
Ministry of Labor and Human Resources
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Works, Roads
Ministry of Energy
Ministry of Transport and Communications
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Natural Resources
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Ministry of Sports and Culture
Ministry of Tourism
Ministry of Housing

Ministry of Justice* (Not quite sure due to AGs office, however given the conduct of the office does this make sense)

Thoughts

My ideal cabinet
written by Tumbo Kubwa , April 01, 2008

No MP should be a minister. The on going fights are due to conflict of interest. MPs are puting their greed ahead of the well-being of Kenya.

re:
written by Johnny B. Goode , April 01, 2008

JBG, Ruto's worth in the Rift Valley is made too much of. Remember that the Kosgeis, Kones, Kamama, etc are very ambitious people in their own right. Remember that some of these people did not even support Ruto's bid for the presidency.

If it is Ruto and other alleged criminals that are holding this up, then even calling in Annan may not solve the problem and I doubt very much that there will be international effort on Kibaki to appoint such men to the Cabinet. Can we go with a few professionals in the Cabinet, keep the politicians in the cooler for a while?

That wasn't my point. My point was that the nature of democratic governance places certain constraints on the person in charge of making ministerial appointments. In Kenya, this means navigating between the 42 tribes, or to be more honest the 8 or so big ones.

On top of that the leader has to struggle with the issues that confront all other democrats who have to go seek out votes every other year, gender balance, age and political parties.This things are worse on the PNU side the the ODM. ODM only needs to balance between, Nyanza, Western, Rift and Coast, giving Joe Nyaga and Charity Ngilu token seats. Jirongo can settle for an assistant ministers post.

My statement was basically that the relationship between politician and the masses is a 2 way street. Give and take. They give you the votes, they expect to be rewarded and the rewards come in form of ministerial posts and development projects. That is fact. ODM drew a lot of mileage when they said that Kibaki hired only kikuyus. Kibaki also drew a lot of wrath when he went around firing some of the kalenjins in government.

Ironically with this arrangement and with the kind of political power that tribes have, the most mileage that someone has is with his own tribe.

So a politician like Raila or Kibaki can afford to disadvantage their tribesmen with little if any consequences. Ignoring key alliances would be however foolish. By that reasoning there's no way Ruto won't make into the cabinet unless he takes himself from the race for jobs.

The Cabinet
written by Johnny B. Goode , April 01, 2008

It's interesting how well the country is running without a full cabinet.

re: The Cabinet
written by Ndorobo , April 01, 2008

It's interesting how well the country is running without a full cabinet.

True that!
What do Minister's do anyways? Is theirs not a token/ceremonial role while the real brains and brawn are the PS's and the civil servants that report to them?
Ok, I know Ministers cut the ribbon when new buildings are opened, pull the ka-flag for the inscripted stone, drive (or get driven) in nice Mercs. I know they also sign already negotiated agreements and pacts. Other than these mundane tasks that even Kariuki Chotara could perform -(he of Karl Marx and University of Nairobi infamy) - what else do they do?

re: My ideal cabinet
written by benadede , April 01, 2008

No MP should be a minister. The on going fights are due to conflict of interest. MPs are puting their greed ahead of the well-being of Kenya.

I agree. Kenyan politicians do not. This was one of the recommendations in the original Ghai draft that the politicians across the political divide rejected at Bomas.

At times I do not know whether to laugh or cry for my country. When I heard that ODM was taking the moral high ground because they were supporting 34 against PNUs 44 proposal I was shocked. At most we need 24 ministries. At best we should let the permanent secretaries run the show and form powerful committees of MPs to act as watch dogs over the Ministries. You can be sure they will keep the civil servants on their toes. This will be something akin to the US system.

Finally if i am Kibaki, I would make sure for my side I appoint a clean set of individuals and let ODM self destruct in the eyes of the public if they do not do the same.

re: re: My ideal cabinet
written by Wuod Aketch , April 01, 2008

Finally if i am Kibaki, I would make sure for my side I appoint a clean set of individuals and let ODM self destruct in the eyes of the public if they do not do the same.

Clean set of individuals in PNU? Trying to find one within these bunch of thieves is liking looking for a needle in a hay stack!!!

re: My ideal cabinet
written by Wuod Aketch , April 01, 2008

No MP should be a minister. The on going fights are due to conflict of interest. MPs are puting their greed ahead of the well-being of Kenya.

I propose that salaries of ministers should not be cumulative i.e am MP who is minister should earn only his ministerial salary. I think this will discourage many MPs from demanding ministerial positions!!!

The Cabinet
written by Johnny B. Goode , April 02, 2008

I think under the present situation, forced marriage government, they could probably form a cabinet of 33 including everyone, the president and the PM. Since the president and the PM won't have ministries to run, that would work out to about 31 ministries.

We can take the VP ad the 2 deputy PMs out of the equation first. These will also be given ministries to run. That will leave 28 ministers to be selected. Nairobi can afford to be ignored. Thus the 28 ministries would be shared among 7 provinces at 4 a piece except NEP which would get 2 and thus create 2 joker posts for any sort of balancing act that needs to be done. In most provinces, each party will get 2 slots each but in some, some batter trade off can be done , eg. ODM can have the whole of Nyanza while PNU takes the whole of Central. I could even name most of the PNU side of the cabinet which and some on the ODM side.

In Eastern ODM would be represented by Ngilu and Nyaga. PNU by Kilonzo and Murungi in addition to the VP. Central would be the usual suspects, Uhuru, Karua, Kimunya, and to appease Safina one of the young MPs from there. One of the joker spots can go to the Kisii while the other goes to the Meru. In RV, the spots on the PNU side will go to prof. Saitoti and Phoghisio. In coast to Shaban and Makwere. NEP will have Haji on the PNU side. And so on.

re: re: My ideal cabinet
written by manta ray , April 02, 2008

No MP should be a minister. The on going fights are due to conflict of interest. MPs are puting their greed ahead of the well-being of Kenya.

I agree. Kenyan politicians do not. This was one of the recommendations in the original Ghai draft that the politicians across the political divide rejected at Bomas.

At times I do not know whether to laugh or cry for my country. When I heard that ODM was taking the moral high ground because they were supporting 34 against PNUs 44 proposal I was shocked. At most we need 24 ministries. At best we should let the permanent secretaries run the show and form powerful committees of MPs to act as watch dogs over the Ministries. You can be sure they will keep the civil servants on their toes. This will be something akin to the US system.

Finally if I was Kibaki, I would make sure for my side I appoint a clean set of individuals and let ODM self destruct in the eyes of the public if they do not do the same.

Very well said. If Kenya is to get ahead, there is need to remove the politicians from policy making influential positions, a very difficult proposition, to be sure.
What I find interesting and equally infuriating amid all this hideous noise-making is that focus on the envisaged constitutional reform has suddenly shifted. The urgency for this task to begin cannot be gainsaid.
However, in the noise over Cabinet positions, politicians have conveniently and cleverly managed to hoodwink Kenyans into forgetting about that far more serious reform matter, and their civil society and media lapdogs are in the forefront of this deceit. Witness Wangari Maathai and Maina Kiai attempting futile publicity stunts like demonstrations to Harambee House to force Kibaki to name a Cabinet, lean, clean or whatever. The media is even worse.
The politicians will finally reach an accommodation, and because they will all be so busy gorging themselves silly, the constitutional review process will be dragged out until the next conflagration, and then Kenyans will be subjected, again, to the same circus. People have completely forgotten that this envisaged Cabinet was expected to be a temporary arrangement to enable the review of the constitution and then have a new General election. Even ODM MPs are saying the next election will be in 2012. Just hilarious!
It is apparent that the whole drama was just theatrics for everyone to find space and jump into Wanyama's mud pool.

Clean? Really?
written by Kim G , April 03, 2008

[quote=Wuod AketchClean set of individuals in PNU? Trying to find one within these bunch of thieves is liking looking for a needle in a hay stack!!!

Yeah, right ... and I suppose ODM is made up of angels

Ntimama: lie low like envelopes fame
Henry Kosgey: Kenya National Assurance, All Africa Games
William Ruto: The name speaks for itself.
Sally Kosgey: Slapping cabinet ministers.
Jakoyo Midiwo: K street infamy.
Kajwang: Bouncing cheques lawyer.
Kapondi Fred: Ex convict moonlighting as advocate for the Sabaot Land Defence Forces
Najib Balala: Lesotho war mongering
Mudavadi: Goldenberg
Orengo James: Political violence

This list could run on and on and on ...