40-more thieves.
written by Tano , April 03, 2008

Sad day for Kenya.

40 Ministers for what purpose?

...
written by ciru , April 03, 2008

Well why say it is a sad day when these are the same people who we shed blood for to rule us a few months ago. What an Irony! I do not think we should be holding pity parties of oh poor Kenyans. We chose them, that is the price!

Ok.
written by Tatenda , April 03, 2008

Well why say it is a sad day when these are the same people who we shed blood for to rule us a few months ago. What an Irony! I do not think we should be holding pity parties of oh poor Kenyans. We chose them, that is the price!

I do appreciate your disappointment. Lashing out is no way to communicate it. Pray do tell, what other solution did you (and others) have that was so conveniently ignored until now?

It is the law of the land that a president will be elected every 5 years.

We all know Kenyans did not vote with blood. It has been known worldwide that the voting process was relatively peaceful.What happened after that was not the doing of Kenyans.

The notion that post election violence was pare-planned remains a moot point. I do not believe it was while my next neighbor believes it had to be pre-planned. Other factors like allegiance to ethnic divide play a role in the sway we take.

At one point or another, those with a perceived notion of 'missing on the national cake', true or imagined were bound to push back. And like all around the world, politicians will always find an ignorant lot to play their card on. A characteristic also exhibited by preachers and pimps.

It did happen in 2007. Kenya is not the first country to see it either, and it will happen again.

We can engage in the 'who burned who in Eldoret and Naivasha' rhetoric until the proverbial cows return home, but it does not take away from the fact that 40 ministers is simply wrong. Pity party or no pity party.

...
written by ciru , April 03, 2008

Tatenda:

How many literatures are we going to write, how many solutions are we going to come up with but if we fail to implement what we write here or even what you have written here then it is useless. I'm not Lashing out but since beginning of 2007 we have talked about the state of Kenya and yet very few if any groups or forums internet or otherwise have initiated what we spend hours discussing about. When this happens then sorry but intellectual stimulations with no results have never made Kenya better. I'm sorry my "lashing" out means I cannot communicate but perhaps I'm tired of talking and not walking the walk and I'm walking the walk even with my lack of communication finesse'

Kibaki has destroyed the count
written by Wuod Aketch , April 03, 2008

Why don't you just say that Kibaki should go? The man has really hurt Kenya. Kenya will become a better place without him.

Kibaki was cornered
written by Tatenda , April 03, 2008

Raila has equally done the Kenyan in.

It is now becoming more clear that it is a matter of retaining the dynasties: Odingas, Mois, Kenyattas et cetera.

Kibaki was a cornered man, so was PNU in the matter of bloated cabinets.
What worse could he have possibly done? Unleash the military on Kenyans? We all know that force is divided.

This is not going well.

@Ciru
We have been teargassed and slaughtered, which walk do you now suggest we take on.

I have already fired a letter to the senator in my state: Feingold, to condemn this club; "Kenya & the 40 thieves". He chairs the African development committee in Washington.
My last radical addition that is generally viewed as violent, although it serves the purpose, is to go for political assassinations, simply remove the urgent of destruction.

Ciru - Walking the talk
written by Shiru , April 04, 2008

Ciru - I am with you on one thing: Our
obssession with intellectual debates and the absence of action (aka "walking the talk") is a Kenyan trademark. Rarely will Kenyans step out of their comfort zone to be instruments of change, especially when they don't have to sacrifice something. We are a nation of "talkers" not "doers". We expect somebody elst to implement the change so that we can critique it. We prefer "talking up" problems, and rarely engaging in solution. Guess why? We're basically selfish people, and of course in some cases ignorance just prevails. Our politicians are an extension of us. Or is it a reflection? We prefer condemning them rather than accepting the basic fact that they do not elect themselves. They just live down to our dangerously low expectations.

I am still hoping that some of the brilliant and passionate Kenyan patriots will form a grassroot political movement to send the recycled and tired political lot home in 2012. Maybe their bags will also be out of tricks and it won't be too much of a challenge. I am unable to visualize ODM without a few bags of tricks.

...
written by manta ray , April 04, 2008

Many of you who don't live in Kenya cannot understand the need to have tranquillity and calm. You did not see, smell, hear, taste and live the recent mayhem, nay, anarchic savage violence, and what you may have read in the media cannot possibly capture the terror and feelings of hopelessness Kenyans who were caught up in it underwent.
If it therefore needs 40 ministers to appease the beasts who contrived this sorry episode in our history and have held the country hostage since, then it is better that than the endless unpredictability and extreme tension! As we speak now, IDPs are being rained on, starving and dying in refugee camps, but who cares?
Our media in fact makes sure that WE DON'T CARE by feeding us endless and tasteless garbage on this and that political shenanigan, as if they are narrating a silent horror movie.
We can only hope that Kenyans have learned that they cannot continue putting their faith in politicians(only in my dreams of course) who inevitably have only their own personal interests in mind as they hold the country to ransom.
Kenyans only chance to take charge of their destiny is to make sure that the coming constitutional review is not hijacked(again) by the politicians, but i won't hold my breath waiting given the laziness, ignorance and inability to judge character by many Kenyans. Others think that writing to Senator Feingold will make a difference. How on earth would it do so and to whom? Just incredible.
I fear that Kenyans will be taken for another long ride and gang-raped once again with eyes wide open(or is it wide shut?).

Sharing the Spoils
written by Johnny B. Goode , April 04, 2008

It was to be expected. Real-politik. Which in Kenya means navigating between the 16 or so tribes with real political muscle, including the muslims who are likely to gain quite a bit from this arrangement. I expect to get 6 slots. 3 from each side. 4 from the coast and 2 from NEP.

On top of which there is the political parties headache. ODM has an advantage, on the PNU side, they are looking for a successor, and everyone wants to be in the best position for that. Central and the kikuyu diaspora in the Rift will probably get the worst of this arrangement. I expect no more than 7 slots for them, with 6 being the likelier number. That's including the President and one Deputy PM slot.
If Raila is a clever man, then the Luo will also be slightly underrepresented in favour of the RV.

The biggest beneficiary will probably be eastern. I expect them to get 7 slots on the PNU side, including the VP and 2 slots from ODM. Ngilu and Nyaga. All in all, that's the price you pay for this kind of political arrangements, but it's a much cheaper price than blood. The solution is to get all the institutions pertaining to law, meaning the police and the judiciary working, so that we can always get clear cut winners, or the grievances can be addressed in quick fashion.

tracks
written by tb , April 04, 2008

Ha,ha,ha Good reminder of the....and the 40 thieves.

Lakini, dear Kenyans, MTA DO????

...
written by aeichener , April 04, 2008

Who said the Kikuyus lost?

This is not about one ethnic winning or the other group losing.

All Kenyans lose through suich a bloated, conspicuously consuming cabinet.

And now go away. Your tribalism is not welcome here.

Alexander

re:
written by aeichener , April 04, 2008

Who said the Kikuyus lost?

This is not about one ethnic group winning or the other group losing.

All Kenyans lose through such a bloated, conspicuously consuming cabinet.

And now go away. Your tribalism is not welcome here.

Alexander

Stupid talk
written by owuor , April 04, 2008

Mkenyamjinga, your ideas are really befitting of your name. If you want to incite, leave the comfort of the laptop and call a kamukunji...see what audience u get...o'wise, your name is spot on..

...
written by jacob , April 04, 2008

until we elect leaders that honestly have the interests of kenya and its citizens at heart and who make decisions with the common man as his priority then we shall always remain in this terrible predicament.the kibaki/raila generation will not do anything for kenya.a time for action will soon come.

re: @Goode
written by Johnny B. Goode , April 04, 2008

Who said the Kikuyus lost? They have the presidency, Finance (and all its institutions) and will get a deputy PM amongst other additional key ministries.

I expect at most 7 posts in the cabinet including the president and deputy PM post. PNU's side of the cabinet will have a number of 23 (president, VP, DPM included). More than half of the people who voted for Kibaki were Kikuyus (1.7 million in Central, and a significant number from RV and Nairobi, of the 4.5 million votes that Kibaki got).

Most of all those who will be appointed will be old hands. Kibaki, Uhuru, Karua, Kimunya, Michuki and then there might be a new face or two max. Remember that a lot of Kibakis former ministers in central were kicked out and replaced by new blood. As I said though a leader can afford to ignore his people and it will be actually a non issue as far as I'm concerned. The same applies to Raila. In Kibakis case, there is also no consequence as he is not running again.

In the short term the Kikuyu will be in full control but in the long run they have lost for the simple reason that in the haste to defend their stranglehold on power, they have arrogantly forgot the wisdom of building a solid electoral alliance for future elections. The cries coming form even GEMA backyard is enough to inform you that these lot do not care what happens after them. Muite is on record cautioning them but as happened to Njonjo's advice Kibaki and Co. have no time for such niceties.

Most of the other posts will be used to build those alliances. Meru would get 3 posts by my count. Embu 1 post, Kisii should get 2 but more likely 1, Kambas 3 including VP Stephen, Luhyaland probably 3, RV 3, coast 2 and NEP 1.

On top of that there's the party balancing act to hold the PNU banner together. Thus I expect ODM-K to get 4 posts as well as KANU, FORD-K will probably get Kombo in. Safina should get at least a post and Narc-K will probably be very well represented. If the PNU side want to win the election, they'll rally behind Musyoka. That's the safest road to take.

There's no use building alliances with pro ODM folks. First of all ODM is really a huge force to reckon with and has held together through very difficult period. Praying for ODM to disintegrate is wishful thinking. With their portion of the cabinet,they'll easily accommodate all their proponents.

Kibaki as has been stated on this site did do a lot for a lot of folks, but that's not enough in Kenya for someone to retain power. Everyone wants to be King. That's why the move that was started of creating 210 Kings through the CDF should be continued, with the centre holding more of a co-ordinating role.

Their insistence to expand the cabinet is purely informed by their narrow view that as long as they give the other PNU affiliates a shell of a ministries they will count on them. This is how patronizing they are.

That's everyones view whether in ODM or PNU or KANU before. It's everyone's narrow view and it's the narrow view held by the majority of Kenyan. See how our Kalenjin brethren and sisters reacted to the sacking of their 'people'. It added to the bad blood that left a lot of people dead and a lot of houses burnt.

Meru MPs were quite forceful in suggesting that they get their fair share of posts as were Kalenjins in pushing for Rutos appointment as Deputy PM and as were Kikuyu MPs in asking Kibaki not to forget them. I've argued many a times that Kenya is not a monolithic unit and therefore should be constructed in such a way to represent that. Personally it's better people talk out in the open rather than pay off young men to commit atrocities. Let everyone put their true thoughts on the table and lets figure how we can come up with solution.

Besides Internal security which is a key ministry will go to Saitoti, who has been kikuyusized of late. Haji will probably retain Defence which is a key ministry. Foreign Affairs which is also a very high profile ministry, remember the late great Bob Ouko, who died after shining on the international stage possibly producing the one definite moment that everyone was proudest to be Kenyan? was held by Wetangula. The VP post while being mostly representative gives enough air time to sell yourself. That's what politicians do among other things and that will go to Kalonzo. The expanded cabinet also had to accomodate all those parties swimming around there.

PNU is made up of at least 12 parties in parliament. ODM can sit tight knowing it's a monolithic block which only has to offer Ngilu and Jirongo cabinet posts outside its own camp. They can also afford to take the high road by demanding a lean cabinet, knowing that they'll have little problems sharing spoils and knowing very well that they are weakening PNU which has shown little cohesion so far.

They only have 4 key constituents that have to be satisfied as far as ODM is concerned are Luo, Luhya, Kalenjin and Muslims, the rest are fringe players, even though the Kisii with their swing vote ability are also a small major player. Plus with the Speaker and Deputy Speaker slots in their hands, their people can be further appeased. They are very good tacticians ODM, I'll give them that. I can guarantee you that the lean cabinet thing will be central to their next campaign. My thoughts though is that the ODM move was a well calculated strategic move. Even they have big issues especially if the Kalenjin faction splits up.William Ruto has tpo get a post, unless he opts out, which he actually can because next time around they'll probably field Kinara wa ODM in the presidential race. The 2 Kosgeiswill also be a must. One is a woman and ODM can up their ante by choosing 4 women ministers to PNUs which I expect to be a max. of 3. Another nice campaign slogan for 2012. Women are a key constituent, although in Kenya like in the US, where race trumps gender, ethnicity trumps gender. At least so far.

My advice to the Kikuyus is to quickly grow out of Raila-Ruto phobia and address their future as Kibaki has proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he is either too senile or cares less about their collective interest. To him as long as he satisfies Saitoti and his Golf buddies the Kikuyu interest is well catered for.

Kibaki is old news. We are looking to the future. Kibaki just needs to do two things, expand his legacy as a president who brought in development, hang on for 5 years and leave with his dignity intact. Plus if calm remains for that period, history books will look upon him much more kindly as the man who compromised rather than throw the country to the dogs. We can ignore foreign pressure and Kibakis inability to contain violence. Memories are selective.

There's no love lost with Ruto , Raila, Balala, Henry Kosgei and Anyang Nyong'o but Mudavadi would probably find some favour.It's this politicians own fault, as they could have come out tops by condemning the ethnic cleansing while it happened. instead, even if their hands are completely clean, they exploited it and used it as a bargaining chip. What stopped William Ruto from embracing all his constituents in Eldoret North as Kenyans and rising to the level of a national figure rather than tribal kingpin? Big wasted opportunity if you ask me. Same goes for his partner in arms, Raila Amollo Odinga.

Any Kikuyu who doubts this should stand up and tell us why on earth did he not know about the alleged planning of violence against his own community? He staffed the entire security apparatus with his own kinsmen (or are they not up to scratch?) and yet did not get even a whisper!!!!!!!

That does not auger well for Kibaki but he is old news as said and his strengths lie in bringing back the economy and bringing about institutions, which if employed well could remove much of the recriminations evident in Kenyan tribal politics. Besides it is nearly impossible to defend any village anywhere in this country owing to the poor infrastructure and the poor staffing of the police units. This is compounded by the disintegration of the force into ethnic blocks.

If Kibaki had been wise though, he'd have devoted as many resources to Eldoret as he did to Nairobi, that way a lot of lives would have been saved. They were actually able to calm down Naivasha and Nakuru, in about 2 days, even though at the cost of losing almost 200 lives and a lot of IDPs. Lest we forget though, Raila had declared that he was going to get himself sworn in at Uhuru Park and form a parallel government.

Kibaki is not a war time president. However compromise was inevitable as one cannot rule effectively with almost 40% of the population being quite hostile. Legal win or not. The weakness of the judiciary and the police force not withstanding. Even the Brits who quite convincingly crushed the Mau Mau knew that in the long run, the very threat of such outbreaks would not keep them in Kenya for long. The fear of the settlers was not a conducive environment to do business, especially if you didn't know who the enemy was (maid, farm worker etc.).

Why on earth is he taking his luxurious time is settling the crisis and his own refugees? Has anyone heard Saitoti, Michuki, Njoka and co talk about the refugees plight? Or are they all like the president who lets his own sister work as a tea picker in Nyeri?

The cost of rebuilding homes alone destroyed in the post election period, if we take the number of 300 000 displaced at a family of 5 each, thus
60 000 homes, at roughly average of kshs. 500 000 a home would be kshs. 30 Billion. It's nice to talk to people but if you don't have that kind of cash, then it's nothing but empty talk which in itself is a bit destructive. Besides it will only weaken your stature as president when you are begging.

We have not included the cost of feeding folks on a daily basis. As I recall the president and the PM to be asked donors for that cash. The IDP problem is quite frankly a Kenyan problem and the sooner people handle it as such the better. This IDPs if left to carry their bitterness with them will at some point down the line lead to the birth of more clandestine groups.

Watoto wa Mombi YOU HAVE VERY FEW YEARS TO RID YOURSELF OF THE KIBAKIS SAITOTIS AND MICHUKIs It is time you send the sons of the collaborators packing and replace them with your real heroes.

Kibaki will be soon gone as said, personally I think the man did a fabulous job on his 1st 5 year stretch. Of course he has his faults and there were promises broken but even George Bush came in as a uniter.

Saitoti and Michuki are probably people who enjoy little if any support, well apart from in their home districts, and in Saitotis case, even that was doubtful. As for our real heroes, actually Kenyan heros at that, that was Kenyatta who set us on that path and Kibaki at least went a small way in correcting that. However most of those guys are dead or are quite old. The only thing you can do is set up a fund for their families, maybe and build a memorial. I read that Kimathi was pretty meticulous in keeping records. There are no pieces of land to give freely unless the powers that be want to carve them out of their extensive holdings.

Moi knew Matiba was different and made sure he wont tell his right hand from his left while he continued to feed akina Saitoti. Kenyatta also knew about JM Kariuki's threat to the home guards and you Wanjikus could not even tell the difference between Muites (PROPER LEADERS)from Mwenjes!

Dont count on the resettlement. Saitoti is already salivating for another chance to Goldenberg the refugees. If you doubt just go to Namanga and see for yourself how the sister of the billionaire is surviving.

Most politicians are corrupt fellows, IMO. There are no saints on either side of the divide. And neither is our history littered with any of them. Of course it's quite easy to shout peace and justice when you are not in the fold.

It's a different thing when you get your chance to eat, even Kenyatta might have espoused the virtues of the democratic Kikuyu society in his seminal work on that tribe but went on torule with an iron fist. He also talked quite a bit on the value of the education system in the pre-colonial Kikuyu society, yet when push came to shove he just imported an education system from Britain and did little if anything to try and intergrate the traditionl system of education. I also remember my history books saying some white men discovered this or that. Why are they discovering stuff and renaming them when there were people living there and who'd already named things?

As for ressetlement, that is up to Kibaki again more than anyone else and part of the solution is crafting a constitution that recognises the reality of the Kenyan state and looks for solutions accordingly.

As for Georgie, I might as well say that we have Saitoti one side of the ring and bwana Musalia Mudavadi on the other side as Deputy PM.Everybody will be well fed, make no illusions about it. The best thing we can do is push to change the system so that we have less politicians and more professionals running the show.
CDF was a huge step in the right direction but as we saw, it can come at a huge cost as in Orinas case.

Most politicians are crooks and the sooner people realize that the better. To get to the top and stay there, you are likely to have to be quite ruthless. Of course there are exceptions to the rule and I hope sincerely many, but our history is littered with dead politicians some who died quite brutally.

Orina was no politician but his murder was political. If you want to do right in a corrupt system you will have to be prepared to go any day to your ancestors. Quite frankly it's the last job on earth that any sensible person would think of taking which also reduces the pool of potential contenders to very questionable fellows.Pick your villain and lets get on with it.

...
written by aeichener , April 04, 2008

Johnny: your fine article would read more convincing if your praise of Kibaki were not as, ughhh, triumphantly overblown. Even Kamale assesses the sitting president a lot more critically.

One can fairly judge the government and appreciate what it did (also what it did not), without necessarily waving clouds of frankincense.

And I am not happy about the outspoken cynicism in your last paragraph. Too diasporic.

Alexander

re:
written by Wuod Aketch , April 04, 2008

I fear that Kenyans will be taken for another long ride and gang-raped once again with eyes wide open(or is it wide shut?).

Raped without anesthetic.

The Way
written by Johnny B. Goode , April 04, 2008

Johnny: your fine article would read more convincing if your praise of Kibaki were not as, ughhh, triumphantly overblown. Even Kamale assesses the sitting president a lot more critically.

Alexander, it is not really that overblown because I sincerely believe while not offering lasting solutions to the problems that face us, a way was provided that could solve a lot of the mess that we are in. The only fault is the lack of consequence in extending what was started through CDF to other parts of government. Quite apart from achieving some semblance of development.

The two funds that were created, I don't even know how they work in reality but I imagine quite naively that prospective candidates go their with some original ideas, get funding for them and then repay back the loan when they've gotten on their won two feet.

This would be one way of creating the much needed employment for the very idle young men. That is indeed empowering youth and women by giving them the necessary funds at very cheap rates. Instead of youth though, they need to make it into a strictly young men affair and set an age limit while raising putting the funding for the men fund to half of the women fund. If you can launch very many firms which employ 5-10 people each then you could integrate a lot of people that way. Youth and women ca have the ideas or a number can benefit from those whio have good ideas and have the opportunity to realise them.

Quite frankly I don't know why we don't have more inventors. I'm quite sure that we not only have very innovative folks but some who have gotten the education to do big things. There was a thread about Jua kali sometime which I think if they were well marketed could start leading this country towards the path of industrialization.

But then our traditional inventions are being patented by crooks around the globe like the Japanese who patented kiondo and some British company wanted to steal kikoi. The brave new world is quite treacherous. The thing is even this sort of articles have a lot of value if marketed well.

Quite frankly apart from this two methods with an equal emphasis on top notch infrastructure, there is not much more a government an do. In Italy, I hear that this kind of firms are the ones supporting the economy and in the town where I lived in Germany, they'd built a whole building that would be rented out to new emerging firms, for free I believe. When this got big, they'd then move out to new premises and a new firm would come in.

The government needs to educate the people by buying air time on TV, radio as well as taking advantage of the world wide web. The other way of doing it is getting big firms like Mercedes, Ford, etc to set up production sites in this country.Quite frankly the less foreigners we have controlling our destiny th better.

Even in the hotel and hospitality business, it's not our people profiting but foreigners. Yet the internet has leveled the playing field a bit. I remember that to get a place to stay in one European city on a short trip all I had to do was look up the internet, compare the rates, and call up. The next day I was in a completely strange town and thanks to the net and a map, I found my way to the youth hostel and spent 3 wonderful days in that town. That's the level of thought we need to be engaging in.

Your comment earlier about the bloated government, be realistic. I'm sure you are quite familiar that these kinds of governments have the reputation to be wasteful but the task ahead is not to create miracles in terms of development and they should of course, but to provide this country with the kind of constitutional framework that will guarantee long term stability and transparency and accountability in government workings. Kibaki being really a man with nothing to lose not completing his term or gain save for a couple of good paragraphs in the history books can do that.

Last sentence is just reality bite. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Politicians have been shown to be corrupt the world over but African politicians are especially stupid. Instead of investing the stolen money back into our economy or at least in neighbouring countries, they take the loot to Switzerland and then freeze over when freezing of assets is threatened. I've always wondered, how greedy can folks get? Another way of stealing without destroying the economy is putting money in a bank for some time, pocketing the interest and returning the principle. Politicians have to start stealing intelligently. They can start by reducing their salaries to no more than Kshs. 200 000 a month. Those are good wages for any occupation.

...
written by Shiroh , April 04, 2008

I am totally with everyone on this; the cabinet should be halved. Do you remember the hell opposition raised when Moi had a cabinet of 24?

...
written by Shiroh , April 04, 2008

As I said though a leader can afford to ignore his people and it will be actually a non issue as far as I'm concerned

I have always assumed the people of Kibaki, Raila are the Kenyans.

re: Agreements
written by aeichener , April 04, 2008

I am totally with everyone on this; the cabinet should be halved. Do you remember the hell opposition raised when Moi had a cabinet of 24?

With everyone? Have I said something stupid that you agree with me? I must reconsider...

Alexander

re:
written by Johnny B. Goode , April 04, 2008

I have always assumed the people of Kibaki, Raila are the Kenyans.

My bad. The politically correct thing on KenyaImagine would have been to say of their tribe which in Kibakis case this time around were his core supporters. 70 % by my estimate of Kibakis votes came from from GEMA, about 50% were from Kikuyus (again my estimates). Then look at the people said to be his kitchen cabinet, rightly or wrongly and finally look at the heads of the certain military units. Kibaki has his people which is fine. Raila can be given the benefit of the doubt. Most of his votes came from the North Rift and he hasn't been given a chance to rule yet, so we had chance to see who his people are.

re:
written by Johnny B. Goode , April 04, 2008

I am totally with everyone on this; the cabinet should be halved. Do you remember the hell opposition raised when Moi had a cabinet of 24?

The cabinet cannot be halved. I mean in what country are we living in, people have to be realistic. Never in the history of this country have two huge parties been forced to form a government. This is not the perfect way to run the country but it's a good solution to solve the huge crisis that the country is in because with all parties on board, you have everyone represented.

The situation cannot be compared to a case where only one major party or coalition side has to form the Government. What you do get realistically is what came out, 40 cabinet posts because each side wants to set up their support base. I did however argue that the cabinet including the President, VP, PM, DPMs could have been reduced to 33 and it would probably have worked for everyone.

Of course conveniently there is no opposition to raise hell apart from those busy bodies who call themselves the civil society, who are quite uncivil if you ask me. The purpose of this government however to me is just to put further instruments in place for the stranglehold of politicians in this country to decrease.

No tribe left behind!
written by Evans Mogendi , April 04, 2008

Why don't Kibaki and Raila just appoint one minister from each tribe - they're 40 right? And enact a no-tribe-left-behind law requiring that for perpetuity's sake? What they're doing with the cabinet appointments is just as ridiculous as the whole power-sharing farce.

As I said
written by James Macharia , April 07, 2008

How will the Kikuyus get all the plum jobs if at most they'll be only a maximum of 7 in the whole government, with one being the president himself and the other the deputy PM. The number of disputed high profile jobs were 8. And that's not all the plum joins there are. Foreign affairs, Information and communications, Defence, and all the ministries now going to ODM will not be occupied by Kikuyus and neither will most of the PNU slots.

Even cultural heritage if put under a visionary leader could be one of the best ministries in charge of putting proposals as to how our culture can be preserved. The Sports ministry is also a huge ministry. In developed countries, the sports industry is a multi billion industry sometimes a football team sustaining entire towns. If a visionary is put in place he might develop proposals that will see our sports, especially football become professional and start getting people into the stadiums.

Kibaki has been great for Kenya. For one he has broken the big man syndrome. He is not the strongman ala Kenyatta and Moi. 2nd as has argued structures were put in place, which if adopted for the entire government working could get us out of this murky waters we swim.

What I do agree is that PNU should go with the ODM list. You lose some, you win some.

As I said
written by mkenyamjinga , April 07, 2008

Kindly conform to the set standards, Eds.

...
written by Patrick Gathara , April 07, 2008

James Macharia,
How has Kibaki broken the "big man" syndrome? Doesn't he continue to act as if power is his by divine appointment? Didn't he pull a "Mugabe" on us? Wasn't that his government which attempted to silence the media through invasions and draconian legislation? Wasn't it him who reversed the ban on hawkers in the city centre when it became politically inexpedient? Wasn't it him who set the stage for our current problems when he refused to honour the IPPG and MoU agreements? Great for Kenya? Puhleez!!!

re:
written by Johnny B. Goode , April 07, 2008

James Macharia,
How has Kibaki broken the "big man" syndrome? Doesn't he continue to act as if power is his by divine appointment? Didn't he pull a "Mugabe" on us?

No. There was no Mugabe pulled if indeed Mugabe pulled anything at all and if he did then proof should be laid bare for all the world to see. if at all it's Mugabe who is pulling a Kibaki and not the other way around or a Moi for that matter. If the vote thievery was so obvious, then I fail to see what is so hard in producing concrete evidence. I have not seen much evidence to support that Kibaki stole anything. Until that day comes, he is innocent of all the allegations. Irregularities yes bu vote thievery requires a conspiracy where people are given huge rewards to change the out come.

Wasn't that his government which attempted to silence the media through invasions and draconian legislation?

What was draconian about it? It was a sensible legislation in a time when the country was exploding and so much hate was being transported via vernacular channels, who didn't have technological capacities to delay live transmission. There is independent reports from human rights organizations that this was being done.

Wasn't it him who reversed the ban on hawkers in the city centre when it became politically inexpedient?

He did? When? He actually told hawkers to go and sell in the city centre? I didn't know. Any links?

Wasn't it him who set the stage for our current problems when he refused to honour the IPPG and MoU agreements? Great for Kenya? Puhleez!!!

The IPPG and Mou were not set in concrete stone, as such there is nothing illegal about Kibaki doing what he did. What he did is more dishonest than really dictatorial. I can also guarantee you that no 'Big Man' would sit there listening to insults from a junior member of parliament young enough to be his grandson like Kibaki did during the opening of the 10th parliament.