Update This tweet from Kethi Kilonzon on her twitter page
A child does not compete with the mother. It is a curse. I will not support Jubilee. To stand with my father's enemies is a worse curse.
— Kethi D. Kilonzo (@finclegal) June 11, 2013
One of the testsof leadership is the ABILITY to recognize a problem before it becomes an EMERGENCY. I love my family MORE. Thank you.
— Kethi Diana Kilonzo (@KethiKilonzo) June 11, 2013
I shudder at the thought that a future regime may eject Jaduong’
Mwai Kibaki or Jaduong’ Moody Awori from our VIP facilities merely
because they no longer hold high state offices. The Luo honorific
jaduong’ is highly illustrative of my point. The adjective duong’ refers
primarily to physical size and chronological age – the two things into
which we all grow after birth. But chronological age also confers knowledge, memory, wisdom and, in many cases, power, authority and respect. In
tradition, I think, this is true of all African communities – indeed,
of all human peoples at the gentile level of socio-economic formation. I
am told that the Kikuyu word munene and the Kiswahili word mkubwa have
the same semantic career and social significance. What’s more,
unless he commits a sacrilegious act, a man who acquired such a title of
power, authority and respect retained that title even after he left
office (including through death). That is why human societies
raise monuments to their warriors, liberators, magi of knowledge and
technique and other heroes of yore. That is why we, in Kenya,
have mounted statues to commemorate Dedan Kimathi, Jomo Kenyatta and Tom
Mboya and should mount them for our other heroes and heroines of the
struggle to defeat British imperialism in Kenya. By the same
token, whenever a person is in authority – notwithstanding his body
size and chronological age – all gentile communities traditionally bowed
in front of him as munene, mkubwa, jaduong’, ruoth, omwami, suchlike. That
is why – although Uhuru Kenyatta is spindly in body and more than two
decades my junior – I have no problem recognising him as Jaduong’
Maduong’ (“paramount chief”). Although I have frequently
criticised his activities, I have no problem thinking of him as my elder
brother – in social status – and thus giving him every due that I owe
him as such. On the other hand, against the resources we fritter away in
useless “projects”, privileged treatment of individuals who have
vitally served this country in all fields costs virtually nothing. This
mutual service respect – from the younger generation to the older and
from the older to the younger – was what Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto
themselves promised this country when they campaigned on the platform
of youth taking over from Mr Kibaki’s gerontocrats. It was thus that Mwalimu Julius Nyerere introduced the expressive Zanaki word ng’atuka into Kiswahili. Kung’atuka
is to progressively retire from active leadership in favour of more
energetic blood and more idealistic brain. Those who ng’atuka continue
to serve vital roles through avuncular sanction, through caution,
through tuition. That is why the generation which takes over
cannot afford to treat its immediate predecessors as ignominiously as we
have just treated our former Prime Minister. A wise management
group cannot subject its Kalonzos, Musalias and their opposite numbers
in other walks of life to the embarrassment Mr Odinga suffered this last
week. If the urge is merely to wreak revenge upon your election rivals,
then it is astonishingly thoughtless and childish. First, you succeed merely in undermining the same government in the international public’s eyes. Secondly,
you are playing the pro-Odinga-Musyoka communities against the
government. By mistreating their perceived leader(s), you are making
them feel that Uhuru Kenyatta is not their President. You are suggesting
to them to withdraw their cooperation and support. Uhuru
Kenyatta’s government also requires the entire world’s goodwill. But
this week we received headlines the world over which depict our MPs as
Maneaters of Tsavo and our State House as bent on wreaking revenge upon
its election rivals. That kind of headline can only undermine the
very government you think you are helping by your juvenile behaviour.
That is why Uhuru needs to punish those responsible for this juvenile
disorder. ochiengotani@gmail.com
It is now official. If Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of
Ethiopia, Portia Simpson-Miller of Jamaica, David Cameron of Britain,
Manmohan Singh of India, or Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel paid us a
visit, the government would deny them the use of the presidential
pavilion and the top VIP lounge at the Jomo Kenyatta International
Airport. The official Kenya Government position is that a Prime
Minister is a second-rate leader who can never be accorded the
privileges befitting a president. Therefore as merely a former
prime minster, Mr Raila Odinga cannot enjoy the same access to the VIP
sanctums granted his co-principal in the defunct Grand Coalition
government, retired President Mwai Kibaki; or the other ex-president,
Daniel arap Moi. That was the gist of the government stand
delivered in Parliament last Thursday by ever-garrulous Majority Leader
Aden Duale in response to the brouhaha over the former Prime Minister
suddenly being shut out of government VIP lounges at Kenyan airports. Mr
Duale took the House through the various VIP facilities at the airports
and made it clear that a prime minister, or a former prime minister, in
the officially-recognised hierarchy, ranks nowhere near the President,
Deputy President or retired presidents. From Mr Duale’s argument,
the operative rank is ‘president’ and therefore no mere minister, even
if ranked as prime, should dream of accessing the top VIP facilities. The
argument advanced by Mr Duale would be laughable, but for the fact that
he was not demonstrating his own ever-vacuous reasoning, but the
official view of the government. What the government forgot is
that the title prime minister is not exclusive to Mr Odinga, but to many
leaders from around the world, who will sooner or later be paying
official visits to Kenya. The Majority Leader was actually
echoing, with suitable embellishment, a letter written last month by the
Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia warning airport officials
against allowing unauthorised persons to use VIP lounges. Mr
Kimemia did not have to mention Mr Odinga by name, but that he appended a
list of ranks of ‘authorised’ VIP’s, who included the former presidents
but not the former prime minister, was enough evidence who was
targeted. Airport officials, under threat of summary dismissal, got the message and acted on the letter. Now,
this rally should be no big deal under any circumstances. If President
Kenyatta’s minions insist on infantile displays of power, it might have
been better for Mr Odinga to stand above the useless din and ignore
them. Mr Odinga’s aides need not have gone to histrionics reminiscent of the nusu mkeka affair. However,
there is an important principle at play. The VIP lounge affair reminds
us that Kenya’s government policy is sometimes being driven by an
amazingly petty and vindictive mindset. Leaders at any level deserve a modicum of respect even if one disagrees with them. That
is why, when President Kibaki took power in 2003, he had no problem
assenting to President Moi’s retirement benefits, and privileges such as
security and staff. He even allowed him to remain in the government
house he had used since his days as Vice-President. In retirement now, President Kibaki too enjoys all the perks due to him. Granted
that Mr Odinga is not retired yet, but there is still no reason to
hound him and humiliate him. The elements who so fiercely opposed his
status as President Kibaki’s co-principal on the coalition government
are clearly intent on keeping him in his place even after that shot-gun
marriage served out its term. Treating a vanquished election rival so is
primitive behaviour unbecoming of modern democracy. One must
wonder why backward elements in the Uhuru Kenyatta regime hate Mr Odinga
with such venom. Or is there something they instinctively fear in
having him still around as an opposition leader? After the
disputed electoral victory and the Supreme Court decision, they were all
over with their new ‘accept and move on’ creed. But it is clear now
they are the ones refusing to accept and move on. mgaitho@ke.nationmedia.com
Kenya is waiting to hear from the UN Security Council on its request to
end criminal charges facing President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy
William Ruto. The ICC has rebuked Kenya’s attempt as unfounded and
incorrect.
Kenya is awaiting a response from the United Nations Security Council,
after it sent an official request for charges of crimes against humanity
facing the country's newly elected leaders to be dropped. The letter,
dated May 2, 2013 and stamped 'confidential', is the first such official
request for the cases to be abandoned.
"What this delegation is asking for is not deferral; what this
delegation is asking for is for the immediate termination of the case at
The Hague." Kenya's ambassador to the UN, Macharia Kamau, wrote in a
letter to the Council. "The implications of Kenyatta's trial for the
viability and continuity of the state should be self evident," the
letter said. Kamau argued that a lot had changed since the ICC confirmed the
charges in 2010, and that Kenya now had the "capacity to offer a
homegrown solution." He also reiterated Kenya's commitment to "continue
cooperating with the court."
Unstoppable case
However diplomats from the Security Council who discussed the request
said even the world's most powerful body could not stop the proceedings.
"The letter from the Kenyans is slightly bizarre because they are
actually asking the Security Council to do something that it has no
authority to do," a senior council diplomat told Reuters news agency.
The Security Council is only able to defer International Criminal Court
proceedings for one year under article 16 of the Rome Statute, which
established the Hague-based court a decade ago. "No formal response has
been made yet, but the Kenyans will be told their request is going
nowhere," one diplomat said on condition of anonymity. The UN Security Council would need to adopt a resolution to have the Kenyan case deferred.
International legal experts view the letter which criticizes the court's
legal process, as "neither impartial nor independent", but as a
political appeal to drum up support among allies rather than a practical
step towards dropping the ICC charges. "I think they are hoping to get
enough pressure on the ICC to drop the case," Leslie Lefkow, deputy
director for Human Rights Watch's Africa Division, told DW in an
interview. "They argue that because the two leaders were elected, this
is evidence for the case to be dropped. But if you follow that logic,
then what you are saying is that anyone who is elected should be immune
from prosecution."
Rwanda, currently a temporary member of the 15-nation Security Council,
raised the Kenyan case in a meeting with ICC prosecutor Fatozu Bensouda
on Friday (10.5.2013). Eugene Gasana, Rwanda's ambassador to the UN,
said Kenya's letter contained "a compelling case against the methods of
work of the office of the (ICC) prosecutor on the Kenya cases." ICC 'not politicized'
Bensouda hit back at suggestions that her office was politicized. "The
ICC has always and will always continue to respect the sovereign
equality of all states, Bensouda said. She warned that she will not "shy
away from investigating individuals for any alleged crimes irrespective
of their status." Bensouda, who admitted she had not officially seen
the letter, gave a strong reaction to the Rwandan envoy's comments
saying they were "unfounded and incorrect."
"It is a backdoor attempt to politicize the judicial processes of the court," Bensouda said.
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has been criticized for mishandling the case
ICC judges have so far rejected suggestions to move the court
to another country. Human Rights Watch's Leslie Lefkow believes that
Kenya's case is different because up until now "both men have
voluntarily presented themselves for proceedings." However she says
Kenya's letter gives cause for alarm. "It needs to be met by a strong
and united response from the international community."
Uhuru Kenyatta, 51, who was recently sworn in as Kenya's fourth
president, his deputy William Ruto, 46, and another six suspects were
initially charged by former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo with
orchestrating tribal violence after the 2007 election. Kenyatta and Ruto
both deny the charges. Should the charges against Kenyatta stand, he
will become the first-ever president to have to travel to The Hague for a
trial that could last at least two years.
Some 1,200 people were killed during the post-lection violence of
2007-08. The clashes shattered Kenya's image as a beacon of regional
stability and plunged the East African nation into its worst wave of
violence since independence in 1963.
Ever heard of a “Hail Mary” pass? It’s a desperation heave made
by a quarterback in American football. It’s made at the end of a game –
when defeat stares you in the face – and there’s virtually no chance of
victory.
That’s what Kenya has done in asking the UN to
terminate The Hague cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy
President William Ruto.
But, in a very strange twist, Mr Ruto denied being party to the request to end the cases. Make no mistake.
The truth is that the UN legally can’t – and won’t
– terminate the cases. I know this – hell will freeze over before the
UN makes such a bone-headed play. I have five reasons why Kenya’s plea
will fail.
First, Kenya’s request will fail because it’s made by Mr Kenyatta. Kenya’s UN mission in New York represents the Head of State.
Kenyatta’s mouthpiece
The Kenya mission is an extension of Mr Kenyatta.
Every action – or word – from the mission is Mr Kenyatta’s. The mission
is nothing but Mr Kenyatta’s mouthpiece.
The Kenyan envoys to the mission – Mr Macharia
Kamau and Ms Koki Muli Grignon – are Mr Kenyatta’s factotums. An
indictee like Mr Kenyatta can’t sit in judgment of himself. The
equivalent would be throwing open the doors to Kenya’s police holding
centres and letting all suspects go scot-free.
The rule of law would go out the window. The inmates would be fully in charge of the asylum.
Second, Kenya’s argument is deeply convoluted and
disingenuous. That’s because Mr Kenyatta has maintained that he will
cooperate with the International Criminal Court. But now he wants to pit
“democracy” against “justice”.
The petition argues – incredibly – that Kenya
would go down in flames if he was forced to go on trial after winning
the March election.
Entire region
There’s more. The request opines that violence in
Kenya would destabilise the entire region. This is what’s called “taking
a hostage”.
It’s a false dilemma – you let a suspected
criminal go free, or risk hell from his supporters. That’s a blatant
articulation of the “republic of fear” in the offing.
The message is clear – leave us alone, or we’ll
set the place on fire. I don’t see the UN succumbing to such naked
blackmail. If so, the UN might as well close shop and its members return
home.
But this was my argument all along. Mr Kenyatta was determined to win the election to save himself from the ICC.
He’s discovered that ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda
won’t let go. She’s drafted additional charges against him. Like all
good prosecutors, she’s great at her job.
More unsettling for Mr Kenyatta is that the ICC
judges have rejected his key arguments. He’s lost virtually every major
objection he’s raised in court.
That’s because the evidence against him – which the judges have
seen – is very solid. The judges don’t believe his claims the evidence
was fabricated.
Third, the Rome Statute doesn’t give the UN
Security Council the power to “terminate” a trial. The Security Council
can only “defer” a trial for 12 months, but not terminate it. Such
“deferrals” can be renewed.
But it is the ICC itself – not the UN – that can
end a trial. That’s why Kenya’s request is really a plea that asks
powerful states to “lean” on the ICC to end the cases.
But there’s nothing powerful states can do “to
make” the ICC drop a case. Attorney-General Githu Muigai has run out of
tricks, and has now advised Mr Kenyatta to resort to the political
“tactics of fear”.
Fourth, the UN knows that it will destroy the ICC
or turn it into a laughing stock if it defers the Kenya cases. Why would
a suspect, or state, ever respect the court if it let an indictee off
simply because they won an election? Mark my words – the ICC would
itself collapse if the UN were to grant Mr Kenyatta’s wishes.
Security fears
No amount of pleading – or threats based on fake
regional security fears – will move the UN to cut the legs from under
the ICC. This is what my crystal ball tells me – and you can take it to
the bank. To do otherwise would abandon victims to the whims of brutes.
The idea of international justice would die. Fifth, the UN is aware that
Kenya has been trying to scuttle the ICC cases from the very beginning.
Under former President Mwai Kibaki, Kenya tried
every trick – including VP Kalonzo Musyoka’s “shuttle diplomacy” – to
kill the cases.
The Kenya Government acted – and still does – as
though it was on trial as a country. Now Mr Kenyatta has made it clear
that Kenya’s stability and future – and the region’s – depends on
whether he can evade the ICC.
Kenya’s petition says in effect that Mr Kenyatta
is Kenya, and Kenya is Mr Kenyatta. This is total hubris, and I bet the
UN will make Mr Kenyatta carry his own cross. No single man should
equate himself to a country.
I knew that Mr Kenyatta would defy the ICC if they
ascended to power. I was right. I believe that he won’t cooperate with
the ICC if his request to the UN is denied – as it surely will.
Then this will be the big question – will Mr Kenyatta be shunned across the globe, and Kenya isolated?
Mr Kenyatta’s camp was ecstatic when British PM
David Cameron invited him to London. But they were apparently infuriated
that PM Cameron wouldn’t give him a photo op. Such snubs can only
increase if he shuns the ICC.
Makau Mutua is Dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of the KHRC. Twitter @makaumutua.
"Which brings me to Senator Kilonzo’s death. There’s speculation
that he may have been poisoned. I hope the family will rely on the
independent expert to determine the cause of death, and not on the
government chemist.
Cover-ups can also take place at times. Mr Kilonzo rubbed many powerful people the wrong way.
No sooner had he become minister for Justice in 2009 than he started opposing the status quo.
My view is that he got on the road to redemption
and “headed to Damascus”. Minister Kilonzo became a vocal opponent of
The Hague indictees Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto.
He urged they step down, and argued that they were
unfit to run for the State House. He vigorously opposed then VP Kalonzo
Musyoka’s “shuttle diplomacy” to defer The Hague cases against Mr
Kenyatta and Mr Ruto, or bring them back to be tried locally in Kenya.
He strongly advocated Kenya’s full co-operation with the International
Criminal Court.
In March 2012, President Kibaki kicked Mr Kilonzo out of the ministry of Justice and moved him to Education.
The movers Mr Kilonzo was one of the movers that yoked Mr Musyoka’s Wiper party with then Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s ODM.
He was part of the legal team that challenged Mr Kenyatta’s election before the Supreme Court.
His daughter, the eloquent and erudite lawyer Kethi Kilonzo, led Africog’s legal team against the IEBC at the Supreme Court.
Was someone blinded by rage at Mr Kilonzo’s
political positions? Who was threatened by him? Did he have any damning
ICC information?"
Daniel Owira was in the right place, at the right time, with his raw talent. He got the exposure he deserved, performing at State House Mombasa, and making the President laugh, has changed his life, with Jaguar, and others helping him. It is fantastic.
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 1 – Daniel Owira who was made famous by
his National Drama Festival performance that had President Uhuru
Kenyatta and his wife Margaret Kenyatta laughing out loud has had the
rare second personal encounter with the Head of State. Owira accompanied by his mother and sister Susan were invited
to State House on Wednesday afternoon where the president awarded Owira
with a full scholarship, all the way through to university.
“You are now one of my sons. Make sure you give me your report form
every end of the term,” President Kenyatta said at the meeting on coming
from the Labour Day celebrations held at the Uhuru Park grounds. The President will also pay for Owira to board at Highway Secondary
School where he is in his second year so he no longer has to walk to
school daily from the Fuata Nyayo slum of South B. The rest of Owira’s family will soon also have the opportunity to
leave Fuata Nyayo after Kenyatta, considered the richest man in Kenya,
promised to finance his mom’s business. “My mother had a fish business which burnt to the ground so now she can have a fresh start,” Owira told Capital FM News. Susan was not left out either and the single mother of one also
stands to benefit from the President’s generosity, “I got pregnant when I
was 15-years-old in the slum and now I have a seven-year-old daughter
to care for.” Susan was forced to work as a house help on completing her primary
school after her father passed away, “I came from Kisumu to Nairobi
looking for work so I could help my mom and step mom who sold samosas to
support us. There are 11 of us and there just wasn’t enough money for
school. Let alone for food.” Susan currently works with teenage girls in the slum so they can avoid unplanned pregnancies and drug abuse. “I had to pinch myself the first time I shook the President’s hand
and now to talk and walk with him a second time I feel like the luckiest
boy in the world,” Owira told Captial FM News over the phone just
before he was taken on a personal tour of State House by none other than
the President himself.
Mr Mutula had many enemies because he always did not conform to
some people’s wishes. His death is quite puzzling since he was not sick.
He drove himself to his ranch, inspected flower beds, took supper and
retired to bed. He did not complain of any illness, yet he did not wake
up!
Kenya has a history of mysterious deaths of
prominent people most of which remain unresolved today. The deaths of
the late Pio Gama Pinto, Ronald Ngala, Argwings Kodhek, J.M. Kariuki,
Tom Mboya, Tony Ndiringe, Mugabe Were, Bishop Alexander Muge and many
others are still fresh in many a Kenyans’ minds.
Hardly had the government resolved the
circumstances surrounding the late Saitoti’s death when the nation woke
up again to another shocking news.
If prominent people can lose their lives just like
flies how safe are ordinary wananchi? Why has life become so
unpredictable for Kenyans? People are not safe at places of work, and
they are not safe in their beds either. Next time one goes to sleep, he
is not assured of waking up the following day! Who else will follow
suit?
East African Law Society President James Mwamu has called for independent and speedy investigations into the death of Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo.
“There were no reports of him being sick. His death is a surprise and shock to the county,” he said in Kisumu. Mwamu said the death was uncharacteristic, as the deceased was healthy,
adding that he had known the Senior Counsel for 21 years.
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I have decided to start this blog, because since December 30th 2007, my life and the life of most Kenyans took a massive turn. I have been inundated with calls and emails from friends , relatives outside Kenya, and colleagues, to check on the situation in Kenya. I find that I am giving daily updates to everyone, relaying the same information daily, and it will be easier to use the blog as an information source.
Feel free to leave comments or email me your opinion at tamtam754@gmail.com
