So it is with the contest of truth and falsehood. As Churchill said, the lie is usually halfway round the world before truth has put its trousers on.

I will, as usual, stick my neck out and make certain deductions based upon certain claims that the redoubtable Martha Karua has, in the recent past, made.

For those recently alighted from a space shuttle, or MV Faina, Martha Karua has been up to some quite refreshing political escapades in her bid to bolster her 2012 chances. Most notably, she has made a valiant attempt to edge the question of political responsibility onto our governance agenda, and, in tandem, to set ethical probity as a cardinal parameter in deciding whom to elect come 2012. All good, I say.

In this regard, our Martha has done some brave things, including publicly challenging her cabinet colleagues to take political responsibility for ethical failures in their dockets and resign. Her foremost targets have been Hon Kiraitu Murungi of Imenti South and Energy, and William Ruto of Eldoret North and Agriculture. In the latter instance, she took credit as the only cabinet minister to support the censure motion nominally sponsored by Bonny Khalwale last week. I say nominally because she seemed more devoted to its success than good old Bonny ever was, and because she has not bothered to reply to allegations that the motion was her baby.

Ruto went one further and claimed that Martha authored the censure motion as revenge for his refusal to enter into a pact in anticipation of the 2012 race. I thought that, even for politics, that was an outlandish claim indeed. I am sure that many Kenyans thought so too, and would have dismissed the claim as the desperate noises of a man under pressure. Martha would have benefited from this skepticism by just letting Ruto's claim slide.

But no. She had to have the last word. She had to rub in the salt. She had to tell us what she really thinks of Ruto. And so she found audience with the media, where she asserted that Ruto's problems are issues of corruption and he should bear his own cross and take political responsibility. She denied ever meeting Ruto, and added that no politician worth their salt would seek an alliance with someone who has so much baggage over corruption and violence. Oh dear.

This she reiterated over and over again. The media dutifully amplified the jarring refrain.

Two consequences arose from that little history. One was that Martha duly offered herself as The Probity Candidate. On that account, two: Martha is, therefore, clean as a whistle, above reproach, like Caesar's wife and so forth. Incorruptible. Washed in the blood. White as the driven snow. Spotless.

Now this was going to be a novel candidature indeed. Something worth the wait.

But Ruto stuck to his guns and repeated his allegations, which now seemed even more outlandish, saying that he had no reason to lie. Oh well, everyone is entitled to his opinion, I thought.

And then Jirongo spoke. Cyrus, of Lugari, KADDU, Sololo Outlets and YK '92. He said things.

First, Jirongo said he arranged a meeting between Martha and Ruto at his house in New Muthaiga, which duly happened, and was repeated at least twice. At night.

Jirongo's intervention was intended to show that Ruto was lying. 'Hiyo ni uongo", he said of Ruto's assertions. The night meetings were aimed at resettling IDP at Turbo, in Lugari constituency. However, Ruto demanded that the corruption cases against him be terminated if he were to cooperate with Martha for 2012, he added.

Based on the foregoing, two things became immediately clear to my mind.

First, is that Cyrus Jirongo is not the sharpest knife in the box. He is innocent of any and all accusations of brilliance. His political responsibility can never include genius. While attempting to help Martha and 'kill' Ruto, he achieved the opposite. I am quite sure he is having a Homer Simpson 'Duh!' moment as to why Martha cannot pick his calls.

Second is that Martha Karua proposed to, and actually did lie contemptuously to the public in the full glare of the media.It is now a matter of fact, with third party corroboration, that she met Ruto. At night. At Jirongo's house. At least thrice. Once that fact became clear, and considering the dripping venom with which she had dismissed Ruto's claim, the latter earns the benefit of the doubt regarding the agenda of the meetings.

And the benefit of the doubt, aside from a general hunch arises from the following questions:

Why Martha and Jirongo if it were IDPs?

Why at Jirongo's house?

Why at night?

Why, despite meeting again and again, were the Special Programmes and Internal Security ministers not invited?

After flatly declining to help Ruto with his cases, why did Martha return to Jirongo's house at least twice to meet Ruto?

And what was so critical about the Lugari IDP that they eclipsed the Molo, Nakuru, Eldoret and Burnt Forest ones, and compelled Martha to set aside her scruples and fraternise with people she thinks to be toxic?

I will not answer those questions. But I will say this: Martha lied.

Having admitted that the government has no will to deal with corruption, meeting someone she frequently and gleefully declares a corruption suspect at least thrice, at night, in another suspect's house, is a dangerous thing indeed for Martha. Even before the bungled election of 2007 is added, Martha, if she were sincere about this political responsibility thing, would be out of town by now.

But because everyone sees it to be a gimmick, a ruse, a ploy, a cynical device, a prank and a joke, she will continue making selfrighteous protestations and continue losing credibility as time goes by. And that will be another sad political story. We are getting used to them now. So promising. So steadfast. So clean. So noble. And so ultimately dissolute. Martha is now an ordinary politician.

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