So, theinsurer's liability to settle a claim, or to make good your drunken, reckless,murderous actions and omissions on the road depends on their having fullcontrol of the claim. Your precious right to call the other driver 'jingawewe!' is assigned to the insurer. Even if you think you are a Christian whoconfesses their wrongdoing and seeks a brother's forgiveness and the Lord'sredemption, your admission of liability would violate the insurance contractand render you liable to all sorts of burdens. Therefore, brothers and sisters,in case of an accident, do not admit liability.

Now ODM are a bunch of politicians who, like allpoliticians, are insured by the electorate, civil society, arsonists, lootersand other rowdy, unwashed mobs out there. In its hurry to board the MercedesBenz limos, with a state pennant fluttering away on the bonnet, ODM signed whateveryone agreed was a bad deal. At the time, they justified their greedyimpatience as 'sacrificing for the sake of peace', 'accepting half a loaf',etc, etc. It was a lousy deal, full stop. They were desperate to get intogovernment. Even the negotiators drafters of the National Accord from the ODMside were at material times jobless, while those on the PNU side were verynicely taken care of. Odinga was an MP-elect, Kibaki was, and still is, theCommander-in-Chief, Head of State and Government, etc, etc. Martha was aminister, so were Wetang'ula, Ongeri and Mutula, while Ruto, Dr Kosgey, Musaliawere MPs elect. Inequality of bargaining positions is a well known recipe for atotally bad deal. Orengo was an MP-elect, coming in after many years in thecold. Amos Wako was the Attorney General, ex-officio member of parliament andex-officio member of the Cabinet.

Now, what ODM wanted for Odinga are powers similar to thoseenjoyed by the permanent secretary in the office of the president and head ofthe civil service and cabinet secretary, only repackaged and sold as 'ExecutivePrime Minister.' They did not ask for the abolition of the former office. SoPNU giggled helplessly and said, "Ngai! Mundu uyu ni naive namnagani?"

We saw Orengo showing Odinga where to sign. We also saw Wakoshowing the President where to sign.

It turns out that ODM are just spectators in government.Very expensive spectators. And they would have been happy to remain that waytill 2012, except that they have realised that Kenyans hold them equallyaccountable for whatever the Government does.

The bus has hit something. ODM want to deny liability andrun to their insurers. The insurers are having none of it, because ODM rushedinto a contract that the insurer would not have accepted had they beenconsulted.

Coming so soon after the opinion poll which showed thatKenyans see PNU and ODM as equal failures, ODM's cheap appeal to the masses isthe height of unafiki.

You are either in, or you are out. 

* * * * * *

The trashing of the IPPG, the rigging of elections, thefailure of state during PEV, the extrajudicial killings which have so exercisedthe minds of the chattering classes lately, constitute a problem that ought tobe solved by the very ambitious programme known as the Governance, Justice, Lawand Order Sector reform programme, or GJLOS for short. This programme wasnearly entirely funded by donors and had multisectoral, broad spectrum mandateto reform the mess in the critical areas of governance, justice, law and order.It was run under the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. It was HonKiraitu Murungi's brainchild, and he nurtured it well.

Martha took over the docket and GJLOS went to the dogs.Donors pulled out en masse following her conduct in the period surrounding PEV,up to and including allegations of improper interference in the appointment ofjudges, the appointment of ECK commissioners, the rigging of the 2007 election,the vicious, trenchant and disingenuous positions she took at that time andduring the Serena talks.

Now, GJLOSis defunct, and she does not care about it. As a result, reforms that wereunderway at the Police, Lands, State Law Offices and other departments havedissipated, and mediocrity is back. Even a bill for the constitution of theJudicial Service Commission is unattended and yet she makes such noise aboutthe independence of the judiciary, reforms and the war on graft.

Even now, KACC lacks prosecutorial powers. The AttorneyGeneral regularly returns files to the police for insufficient evidence toprosecute. The police are few, overstretched, underfunded, ill equipped and themost unmotivated category of our national human resources. They know that centfor cent, the criminal will have a better day in court, and will be acquittedto continue threatening them; they feel that the most expeditious course ofaction is to execute suspects. The only organisations that have endorsed thereport of the United Nations' Rapporteur on Extra-judicial Killings are KNCHRand Mungiki. No surprises there. I have said this before and will say thisagain: We treat our policemen and women extremely shabbily. We will never knowhow good they are because we have not created an environment that discouragesmediocrity, motivates diligence and lets talent shine. And according to marketeconomists, you only get the quality you can afford.

I wish to go on record that Ms Karua is one of the personsin public office today whose conduct, pronouncements, acts and omissions areconsistently antithetical to her official title, and will turn out to be thesingle most important challenge to the reform agenda.

* * * * * * *

No foreign, independent forensic auditor has yet beenappointed to look into the Triton saga. In fact, the PM has publicly clearedthe minister for energy of any involvement in the matter. Yet KACC,Inspectorate of State Corporations and the CID are yet to concludeinvestigations.

I do not know whether it properly falls within the PM'soffice to pass verdicts on corruption scandals, and whether his pronouncementsamount to an improper interference in investigations with intent to, or theeffect of, preempting findings. Not because I am ignorant, but becausenowadays, in an environment of blatant double standards, and wink-wink self-righteousness,it is hard to know what is what.

* * * * * * 

Listen to Michael Rannenberger, Walter Lindner, Eric van derLinden and Philip Alston speak: clearly, they have a low opinion of Kenyans ofall walks of life. Their condescension stems out of a raw racism: that we arestupid, thieving, lynching, AIDS-ridden; that we haven't the slightest bit ofself-interest, and that on account of their skin colour, all wisdom,philanthropy, wealth and ethics innately repose in them, with the onerousmandate to save Kenyans from themselves.

See Telkom Kenya. A sixth executive resigned yesterdayciting a difficult working environment, defective corporate vision, impingementof business practices and a recklessness at the top.Telkom is still publiclyowned. The resignations come after complaints about the arrival ofextravagantly pampered, over-remunerated, utterly unskilled, white expatriates.The jobs they do so poorly can be done by Kenyans for less. Telkom hurtlesinexorably to ruin. Somebody at Immigration is busy giving away Kenyan jobs toforeign nincompoops purely on account of their skin colour. And we talkeveryday of job creation.

Yet the culture of self-prostration before White Men is notnew for us in Kenya. Our introduction to western education unstintingly drilledinto us the White Man as our Big Brother, Benefactor, Guide, Image of God andGenius. Who brought us the Word of God? Who established the first schools? Who wroteour laws? Who discovered Lakes Turkana and Victoria, Mount Kenya, the Nile? Whoestablished Nairobi? Who built All Saints Cathedral? Who?

Christianity, historically, and with a more poignantrelevance here at home, has always been about the adulation of the White Man asa critical function of service to God. That is why churches that post noticesof white preachers from USA, and wherever else, boast enormous congregations.That is why we would rather hear the poisonous, depraved emanations of RevHagee, Graham and McRepublican, when we can have the myopic and virulentlyignorant and intolerant Rev Dr Githii.

Those Kenyans directly educated by white teachers holdthemselves superior to the rest of us; those whose children go to school withwhite children are better human beings; those who fornicate with white peopleare nobler; those companies with white directors and whatnot are more'blue-chip'; the KFF faction with more white skin is more legitimate; theverdicts of Kriegler, Alston, Hey, and all the other white skinned men the PMis yet to invite and the dictatorial, illegal, shameful uninvited interferencesof white ambassadors are somehow good for us.

I want to know what the Ugandan High Commissioner, Djiboutiambassadeur, Moroccan Consulate and other AU envoys think, if we must submit tothis abject self debasement before foreigners. But my chances of hearing whatthe Burkinabe Mission in Kenya want the Coalition government to do, or not todo, are slim indeed.

That, ladies and gentlemen is what I would callConstitutional Racism.

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