The Eagle has landed-Kenya and the ICC by John Githongo

ON September 10, Deputy President William Ruto's case at the International Criminal Court starts. In November, President Kenyatta's is due to kick off as well.
All this is pretty unprecedented globally. To have a sitting head of state and his deputy at the Hague as defendants before the successor to Nuremberg Court that tried the Nazis who engineered the Second World War and holocaust is massive in ways we haven't fully appreciated. It has and will further shake up Kenya. It is doing the same to the ICC too, which in the Kenyan cases, is facing some of the severest tests in its relatively brief history. History is being made.
The ICC has redefined Kenya's foreign policy totally and turned domestic politics inside out. Immediately after the post-election violence in 2008, Kenyans were clamouring for the ICC to intervene given the horrors that had just taken place.
Accountability, justice, impunity, reconciliation and other such words were the primary fodder of political discourse as we headed into the referendum on the constitution in 2010. Indeed, it can be argued that even among those most strongly opposed to the new constitutional dispensation, the dark looming cloud of the ICC and all its implications, especially the public mood that accompanied it through 2008 into 2010, all served to soften them up to demonstrate their pro-change, reformist credentials at a time when the country's leadership and the messy albeit negotiated coalition arrangement was particularly unsatisfactory to the population.
If it hadn't been for the ICC, perhaps more of the so-called 'watermelons' who pretended to support the new constitution while secretly being opposed to it, would have come out into the open with their true position.
As the US and its allies prepare to strike Syria on behalf of a world where the use of weapons of mass destruction constitutes an intolerable escalation, one is reminded of how narratives can flip; how a new memory is reconstructed by elites from the strands of old more powerful narratives.
Note that the Syrian war has lent the ICC added relevance and urgency in the architecture of global accountability and standards of human rights and good governance. Some experts warn that the necessity of these military strikes may also serve to galvanise Arab public opinion against the West in powerful ways despite the unmitigated horror of a leader dropping chemical weapons on his own people - if it is convincingly proved that Bashar Assad pushed the button.
There shall be some 'reasonable people' in the Arab world for whom US interference in the affairs of the Middle East will prove harder to swallow than the hideousness of a chemical attack on fellow Arab civilians. Thus is the world. Parts of the Kenyan population are in just such a trap: caught between our preaching about and, yes, belief in, good governance and accountability; and its realities when brought to bear in our tribalised, politicised and fragmented political economy. Grimly put - 'it hurts like hell when it is my tribesman who is being held accountable'. It hurts so much it leads to some of the most gibbering rationalisations of absurdity possible.
As we walk around these days we know part of the new contrived reality that is being spun with such professionalism and determination means we have to con ourselves. I went through our airport the other day and felt proud to be Kenyan. The place had almost burnt down some weeks ago but in 48 hours it was up and running again. It took me a while before the reminder came: what were we doing letting the place burn down; how come the systems meant to prevent this failed? One cynical Kenyan whispered to me: "It all looks very good but can you imagine the contracts that have been eaten and will be eaten?"
FROM SUSPECTS TO VICTIMS
One of the most brilliant political manipulations we have ever seen took place in the run up to the last polls. It was the transformation of Uhuru and Ruto - who emerged as the primary ICC suspects - into tribal Kingpins on an unprecedented scale on the back of the emotions of victimhood thrown up around the ICC cases. Combined with the carefully cultivated narrative of the 'tyranny of numbers' that lulled the voting population and media into accepting what may have been pre-arranged electoral outcomes that were being feverishly cooked up behind the scenes, the scene was set for the most virulently divisive election in Kenyan history in tribal terms at least.
The transformation of UhuRuto from suspects to victims was partly achieved by the fact that Raila Odinga, who had contested the 2007 election with Ruto as his turbo charged key ethnic sidekick, was not on the initial list of ICC suspects. The unspoken narrative too - and far more compelling than all the academic reasoning - was that in the post-election violence Uhuru generally was a political 'first responder' as the Gikuyu, as it were, faced hordes of tribal opponents across Kenya but especially in the Rift Valley. These opponents were ostensibly led by Mr Ruto who had found common cause with Mr Odinga in ODM at the time. Thus is today's alliance between the two previous political 'foes' on whose behalf blood has flowed, rationalised. It is deeply frustrating for some that this argument can't be taken to the ICC, which represents a process into which we walked into with our eyes closed and mouths wide open.
A host of sub-narratives had to be manufactured to complete the transformation of suspects into victims and the victims into candidates and the candidates into an administration that 'won' an election and is now running a government. All required large doses of selective amnesia on the part of large sections of the population, which is part of the reason we Kenyans currently continue to mystify ourselves at our ability to apparently believe our own nonsense. The most potent of these narratives were that the ICC was an imperialist anti-African tool in the hands of the West intent to continued subjugation of Africans. A concerted and well-articulated campaign along these lines has gathered a genuine head of steam at the African Union. It was conveniently forgotten that the ICC was the best friend of millions in 2008 and 2009. When Judge Philip Waki handed over his 'envelope' to Kofi Annan, the country was gripped by the kind of excitement that overcomes people watching a cliff hanger at the end of a Mexican soap. The other narrative, though, was that the ICC cases were false anyway: manufactured by 'NGOs' who had coached individuals to bear false witness together with other derisively dismissed 'civil societies'. Again it was forgotten that in the worst days during and after the PEV, it was these 'civil societies' who were out in the IDP camps with victims; rolling out massive peace-building and reconciliation programmes etc.
These new narratives are being disseminated most vehemently by those who bristled with venom and anger immediately after the post-election violence, against those they now defend so vigorously. There are those too, mainly in the business community both local and international, for whom all this 'talk about good governance, accountability, rights and "hulabaloo" about impunity is simply bad for business and doesn't take into sufficient account 'African realities'. Then there are those who argue that the current situation is preordained - God's work - and therefore beyond comprehension of mere mortals.
OPS! ICC HAS ARRIVED
Yet, a few weeks ago as I travelled I found myself confronted by Kenyans who seemed sincerely surprised that the ICC cases 'have arrived' as it were. The implicit argument here which has been spread with clever language in multiple media spaces - once the elections ended peacefully, Kenyans came together and then need for the ICC process effectively ended - period. But this alchemy is hard for even the remotely honest to countenance. And so a more nuanced argument is being put forth that is more compelling in a realpolitik reading of matters: that the ICC, at the current time, given current circumstances (that are being massaged feverishly to fit immediate political ends), will be fundamentally destabilising to Kenya. This reminds me of a story a wise man told me recently:
There was once a mouse that found a mouse trap in the farmer's house. The mouse rushed out and shouted to the pig, "There's a mouse trap in the house!" The pig responded, "Well, you have a problem". The mouse rushed to the cow and raised the same alarm, "There is a mouse trap in the house!" The cow responded as the pig had - "Your problem not mine". That afternoon a viper's tail was caught in the mouse trap. The snake lay there writhing with rage not dead but unable to escape. The farmer's wife came along and the viper bit her. The farmer came home and found his wife deeply ill from the bite. He called the local witchdoctor who told him, "feed her some pork and she'll recover". So the farmer slaughtered the pig, cooked the pork and fed it to his ailing wife. She died anyway. A huge funeral took place. To feed the multitude the farmer slaughtered the cow and cooked its meat for mourners.
We seem to find ourselves in the same position as that cow. We could face a constitutional crisis with the possibility of the head of state and his deputy out of the country at the same time. These constitutional logistics could turn into a problem for us. Kenya will undoubtedly be brought low by having both its head of state and his deputy endure a global judicial process of such as the ICC. This will be attenuated by the challenges our own judiciary has been facing at home with splits, in-fighting, allegations of corruption and generally a poor state of affairs. The Hague process will be tighter and remind us of what we don't have here.

The Eagle has landed-Kenya and the ICC by John Githongo

Kenya's soft Insurgency by John Githongo

Some weeks ago a Cabinet Secretary tried to address belligerent mourners at a funeral in Kisii and was shouted down even when forced to revert to his native tongue in an attempt to calm them.
Government officials who tried to address members of the Maasai community who'd been evicted from their homes in Naivasha met a similarly hostile reception and were forced to beat a hasty retreat. This was followed not long after by a by-election in Makueni in what was Eastern Province, where a CORD candidate who had campaigned for merely four days and won over 90 percent of the vote pulverized the ruling Jubilee party's candidate.
All this transpired as the government and our Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) went back and forth in an increasingly acrimonious negotiation over salaries. Eventually, it took the intervention of the Deputy President and President themselves to work out a solution which nevertheless left a bitter taste in the mouth when teachers realized the government had deducted the days they had been on strike from their July salaries.
This was eventually sorted out and the salaries paid in full in August. Curiously, one of the 'conditions' of the deal was that the teachers support the Jubilee government's ambitious school computerization programme - not a sign of confidence.
I spent a week in Western Province recently. Mainly listening to groups of citizens of all ages as they analyzed their condition and the general Kenyan one as well. I was particularly keen on visiting friends in Bungoma and Trans Nzoia where episodes of criminality and violence against individuals and families had seemingly escalated dramatically since the election in March.
People I knew had lost their lives in the spate of insecurity that is ongoing to this day. Indeed, as I left a gang raided Kumukuywa Market in Bungoma North and killed one administration policeman and injured another. The officers were reportedly responding to calls for help by villagers who were under attack by the gang.
This violent incident was merely the latest of many since the election that have turned the lives of many Kenyans from Trans Nzoia, through Bungoma and into Busia Counties upside down. More than the violence itself and the succession of funerals it has caused, the apparent helplessness of the security forces in the face of it has been the most confusing and disconcerting. It has done much to undermine already low confidence in the security services and administration generally.
"LET THE AIRPORT BURN!"
Then a week and half ago the arrivals terminal of the region's main transport hub, our Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) burnt down. I was late in catching up with this shocking news. The fire happened on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998 so unsurprisingly initial speculation was that they'd struck again.
Such ideas were quickly set aside, however, as it became clear the cause may have been very domestic and the response hugely embarrassing in its ineptitude. What struck me, however, was when I raised the issue with individuals who don't support (some don't even recognize) the Jubilee government as 'theirs'. The attitude was, "Let it burn! Let them learn!" The them here being very much the Jubilee administration and more specifically when pressed, them being Gikuyus first and Kalenjins second. This depth of polarization astounded me.
When the Ufundi Cooperative House collapsed as a result of the 1998 attack on the US Embassy I remember the way Kenyans rallied together in one of the most inspiring moments of national unity and pride in decades. Even President Moi, Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga, Charity Ngilu and Kijana Wamalwa temporarily set aside their political differences and in a tremendously shrewd and unifying move - all visited the site of the collapse together.
The current atmosphere most certainly doesn't seem to allow for such episodes of nation-building displays of leadership. This should be of considerable concern to all of us all. This is especially the case, when one considers the fact that the divisive ICC process kicks off next month with the start of William Ruto's case.
I was struck this week by the number of questions put to me about what this case would mean if it emerges that some of the over 40 witnesses the Chief Prosecutor has lined up against him are Gikuyu or Luo etc... This disconcerted quizzing is caused primarily by the fact that, in my opinion, in an effort to 'keep the peace' and play down the ICC cases as interrupters of national events, supporters of the President and Deputy President and elements of the media have played up the fact that with every witness who falls by the wayside, the cases will collapse.
So much so that in some parts of the country there are those who believe such a collapse to be inevitable. It may very well be. I don't know. On the other hand it may very well not be the case. Then what? Similarly, with regard to the Makueni by-election, the comportment of area residents that I have spoken to changes immediately you gently enquire into why the community voted so overwhelmingly against the government; for it was more a vote against than for anybody or anything; it was a demonstration of feelings collectively and deeply held. One voter told me, "In Makueni we could have elected a dog as Senator to teach them a lesson!" In the same vein Kisii acquaintances I ask about the fate of government officials who found themselves on the receiving end of epithets at the funeral last month are more likely than not to respond saying the incident filled them with pride and satisfaction.
This attitude "We need to show them" emerges out of a narrative among many non-Gikuyus that 'the Gikuyu are the problem'. Prior to the elections there was much talk of the 'consequences' of electing individuals who are defendants before the International Criminal Court (ICC) especially from the international community.
These have not materialized in a manner that Kenyans feel or take seriously. Indeed, the more profound consequences have emerged out of the toxic narrative of 'the tyranny of numbers', which essentially holds that the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru plus one other large community and a pliant electoral body have elections sown up in perpetuity.
A soft insurgency has grown out of this that has gained a currency so compelling that in entire swathes of the country - especially in Eastern, Western, Coast and Nyanza - one can ask if there exists in coherent form any legitimate and functional central authority in Kenya. For indeed, it is the central authority of the regime that has suffered the most dramatic attrition as a result of the accompanying process of devolution. Among the security services, one senses an almost existential discombobulation on the part of forces - the provincial administration and police in particular - that are at sea in this new order. It almost makes one conclude that it shan't be long before the Counties - which are political units in which wananchi have most vested their ownership and legitimacy, make a robust claim to the provision of security at the County level too.
In some of these areas, Gikuyu traders have already started to complain of a 'cold war' on the business front, for example, with non-Gikuyu customers opting to take their business elsewhere.
Regimes whose legitimacy is questioned by certain communities and in certain parts of the country are not new to Kenya. During the Moi era, especially after the reintroduction of political pluralism, much of Central Province and other parts of the country inhabited by the Gikuyu community effectively 'checked out' and turned their backs to the regime. The provincial administration in these areas treaded carefully in the understanding that they were in politically hostile territory. A similar fate has befallen the Kenyatta presidency this time around. There are parts of the country where people can't utter the words: "Rais Uhuru Kenyatta". This 'belligerent' turning of backs to the administration is, however, received on the ground by the President's backers with a similarly belligerent - "mta do?!"
UHURU HAS THE ANSWER:
These two belligerent narratives are bound to clash. The ICC process may kick them off. What's clear is that they don't have a technical fix, only a political one. President Kenyatta has the instruments and wits to appreciate this and act on it. He really doesn't have an option, as the machinery doesn't exist to protect his tribesmen from opprobria directed against the most dispersed ethnic group in the country. It will be an exercise of managing the end of the post-colonial state that will be as messy as he and his advisors decide it should be.

Kenya's soft Insurgency by John Githongo

Some weeks ago a Cabinet Secretary tried to address belligerent mourners at a funeral in Kisii and was shouted down even when forced to revert to his native tongue in an attempt to calm them.
Government officials who tried to address members of the Maasai community who’d been evicted from their homes in Naivasha met a similarly hostile reception and were forced to beat a hasty retreat. This was followed not long after by a by-election in Makueni in what was Eastern Province, where a CORD candidate who had campaigned for merely four days and won over 90 percent of the vote pulverized the ruling Jubilee party’s candidate.
All this transpired as the government and our Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) went back and forth in an increasingly acrimonious negotiation over salaries. Eventually, it took the intervention of the Deputy President and President themselves to work out a solution which nevertheless left a bitter taste in the mouth when teachers realized the government had deducted the days they had been on strike from their July salaries.
This was eventually sorted out and the salaries paid in full in August. Curiously, one of the ‘conditions’ of the deal was that the teachers support the Jubilee government’s ambitious school computerization programme – not a sign of confidence.
I spent a week in Western Province recently. Mainly listening to groups of citizens of all ages as they analyzed their condition and the general Kenyan one as well. I was particularly keen on visiting friends in Bungoma and Trans Nzoia where episodes of criminality and violence against individuals and families had seemingly escalated dramatically since the election in March.
People I knew had lost their lives in the spate of insecurity that is ongoing to this day. Indeed, as I left a gang raided Kumukuywa Market in Bungoma North and killed one administration policeman and injured another. The officers were reportedly responding to calls for help by villagers who were under attack by the gang.
This violent incident was merely the latest of many since the election that have turned the lives of many Kenyans from Trans Nzoia, through Bungoma and into Busia Counties upside down. More than the violence itself and the succession of funerals it has caused, the apparent helplessness of the security forces in the face of it has been the most confusing and disconcerting. It has done much to undermine already low confidence in the security services and administration generally.
“LET THE AIRPORT BURN!”
Then a week and half ago the arrivals terminal of the region’s main transport hub, our Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) burnt down. I was late in catching up with this shocking news. The fire happened on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998 so unsurprisingly initial speculation was that they’d struck again.
Such ideas were quickly set aside, however, as it became clear the cause may have been very domestic and the response hugely embarrassing in its ineptitude. What struck me, however, was when I raised the issue with individuals who don’t support (some don’t even recognize) the Jubilee government as ‘theirs’. The attitude was, “Let it burn! Let them learn!” The them here being very much the Jubilee administration and more specifically when pressed, them being Gikuyus first and Kalenjins second. This depth of polarization astounded me.
When the Ufundi Cooperative House collapsed as a result of the 1998 attack on the US Embassy I remember the way Kenyans rallied together in one of the most inspiring moments of national unity and pride in decades. Even President Moi, Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga, Charity Ngilu and Kijana Wamalwa temporarily set aside their political differences and in a tremendously shrewd and unifying move – all visited the site of the collapse together.
The current atmosphere most certainly doesn’t seem to allow for such episodes of nation-building displays of leadership. This should be of considerable concern to all of us all. This is especially the case, when one considers the fact that the divisive ICC process kicks off next month with the start of William Ruto’s case.
I was struck this week by the number of questions put to me about what this case would mean if it emerges that some of the over 40 witnesses the Chief Prosecutor has lined up against him are Gikuyu or Luo etc… This disconcerted quizzing is caused primarily by the fact that, in my opinion, in an effort to ‘keep the peace’ and play down the ICC cases as interrupters of national events, supporters of the President and Deputy President and elements of the media have played up the fact that with every witness who falls by the wayside, the cases will collapse.
So much so that in some parts of the country there are those who believe such a collapse to be inevitable. It may very well be. I don’t know. On the other hand it may very well not be the case. Then what? Similarly, with regard to the Makueni by-election, the comportment of area residents that I have spoken to changes immediately you gently enquire into why the community voted so overwhelmingly against the government; for it was more a vote against than for anybody or anything; it was a demonstration of feelings collectively and deeply held. One voter told me, “In Makueni we could have elected a dog as Senator to teach them a lesson!” In the same vein Kisii acquaintances I ask about the fate of government officials who found themselves on the receiving end of epithets at the funeral last month are more likely than not to respond saying the incident filled them with pride and satisfaction.
This attitude “We need to show them” emerges out of a narrative among many non-Gikuyus that ‘the Gikuyu are the problem’. Prior to the elections there was much talk of the ‘consequences’ of electing individuals who are defendants before the International Criminal Court (ICC) especially from the international community.
These have not materialized in a manner that Kenyans feel or take seriously. Indeed, the more profound consequences have emerged out of the toxic narrative of ‘the tyranny of numbers’, which essentially holds that the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru plus one other large community and a pliant electoral body have elections sown up in perpetuity.
A soft insurgency has grown out of this that has gained a currency so compelling that in entire swathes of the country – especially in Eastern, Western, Coast and Nyanza – one can ask if there exists in coherent form any legitimate and functional central authority in Kenya. For indeed, it is the central authority of the regime that has suffered the most dramatic attrition as a result of the accompanying process of devolution. Among the security services, one senses an almost existential discombobulation on the part of forces – the provincial administration and police in particular - that are at sea in this new order. It almost makes one conclude that it shan’t be long before the Counties – which are political units in which wananchi have most vested their ownership and legitimacy, make a robust claim to the provision of security at the County level too.
In some of these areas, Gikuyu traders have already started to complain of a ‘cold war’ on the business front, for example, with non-Gikuyu customers opting to take their business elsewhere.
Regimes whose legitimacy is questioned by certain communities and in certain parts of the country are not new to Kenya. During the Moi era, especially after the reintroduction of political pluralism, much of Central Province and other parts of the country inhabited by the Gikuyu community effectively ‘checked out’ and turned their backs to the regime. The provincial administration in these areas treaded carefully in the understanding that they were in politically hostile territory. A similar fate has befallen the Kenyatta presidency this time around. There are parts of the country where people can’t utter the words: “Rais Uhuru Kenyatta”. This ‘belligerent’ turning of backs to the administration is, however, received on the ground by the President’s backers with a similarly belligerent – “mta do?!”
UHURU HAS THE ANSWER
These two belligerent narratives are bound to clash. The ICC process may kick them off. What’s clear is that they don’t have a technical fix, only a political one. President Kenyatta has the instruments and wits to appreciate this and act on it. He really doesn’t have an option, as the machinery doesn’t exist to protect his tribesmen from opprobria directed against the most dispersed ethnic group in the country. It will be an exercise of managing the end of the post-colonial state that will be as messy as he and his advisors decide it should be.
- See more at: http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-132364/kenyas-soft-insurgency#sthash.kskNgJgJ.dpuf

Some weeks ago a Cabinet Secretary tried to address belligerent mourners at a funeral in Kisii and was shouted down even when forced to revert to his native tongue in an attempt to calm them.
Government officials who tried to address members of the Maasai community who’d been evicted from their homes in Naivasha met a similarly hostile reception and were forced to beat a hasty retreat. This was followed not long after by a by-election in Makueni in what was Eastern Province, where a CORD candidate who had campaigned for merely four days and won over 90 percent of the vote pulverized the ruling Jubilee party’s candidate.
All this transpired as the government and our Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) went back and forth in an increasingly acrimonious negotiation over salaries. Eventually, it took the intervention of the Deputy President and President themselves to work out a solution which nevertheless left a bitter taste in the mouth when teachers realized the government had deducted the days they had been on strike from their July salaries.
This was eventually sorted out and the salaries paid in full in August. Curiously, one of the ‘conditions’ of the deal was that the teachers support the Jubilee government’s ambitious school computerization programme – not a sign of confidence.
I spent a week in Western Province recently. Mainly listening to groups of citizens of all ages as they analyzed their condition and the general Kenyan one as well. I was particularly keen on visiting friends in Bungoma and Trans Nzoia where episodes of criminality and violence against individuals and families had seemingly escalated dramatically since the election in March.
People I knew had lost their lives in the spate of insecurity that is ongoing to this day. Indeed, as I left a gang raided Kumukuywa Market in Bungoma North and killed one administration policeman and injured another. The officers were reportedly responding to calls for help by villagers who were under attack by the gang.
This violent incident was merely the latest of many since the election that have turned the lives of many Kenyans from Trans Nzoia, through Bungoma and into Busia Counties upside down. More than the violence itself and the succession of funerals it has caused, the apparent helplessness of the security forces in the face of it has been the most confusing and disconcerting. It has done much to undermine already low confidence in the security services and administration generally.
“LET THE AIRPORT BURN!”
Then a week and half ago the arrivals terminal of the region’s main transport hub, our Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) burnt down. I was late in catching up with this shocking news. The fire happened on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998 so unsurprisingly initial speculation was that they’d struck again.
Such ideas were quickly set aside, however, as it became clear the cause may have been very domestic and the response hugely embarrassing in its ineptitude. What struck me, however, was when I raised the issue with individuals who don’t support (some don’t even recognize) the Jubilee government as ‘theirs’. The attitude was, “Let it burn! Let them learn!” The them here being very much the Jubilee administration and more specifically when pressed, them being Gikuyus first and Kalenjins second. This depth of polarization astounded me.
When the Ufundi Cooperative House collapsed as a result of the 1998 attack on the US Embassy I remember the way Kenyans rallied together in one of the most inspiring moments of national unity and pride in decades. Even President Moi, Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga, Charity Ngilu and Kijana Wamalwa temporarily set aside their political differences and in a tremendously shrewd and unifying move – all visited the site of the collapse together.
The current atmosphere most certainly doesn’t seem to allow for such episodes of nation-building displays of leadership. This should be of considerable concern to all of us all. This is especially the case, when one considers the fact that the divisive ICC process kicks off next month with the start of William Ruto’s case.
I was struck this week by the number of questions put to me about what this case would mean if it emerges that some of the over 40 witnesses the Chief Prosecutor has lined up against him are Gikuyu or Luo etc… This disconcerted quizzing is caused primarily by the fact that, in my opinion, in an effort to ‘keep the peace’ and play down the ICC cases as interrupters of national events, supporters of the President and Deputy President and elements of the media have played up the fact that with every witness who falls by the wayside, the cases will collapse.
So much so that in some parts of the country there are those who believe such a collapse to be inevitable. It may very well be. I don’t know. On the other hand it may very well not be the case. Then what? Similarly, with regard to the Makueni by-election, the comportment of area residents that I have spoken to changes immediately you gently enquire into why the community voted so overwhelmingly against the government; for it was more a vote against than for anybody or anything; it was a demonstration of feelings collectively and deeply held. One voter told me, “In Makueni we could have elected a dog as Senator to teach them a lesson!” In the same vein Kisii acquaintances I ask about the fate of government officials who found themselves on the receiving end of epithets at the funeral last month are more likely than not to respond saying the incident filled them with pride and satisfaction.
This attitude “We need to show them” emerges out of a narrative among many non-Gikuyus that ‘the Gikuyu are the problem’. Prior to the elections there was much talk of the ‘consequences’ of electing individuals who are defendants before the International Criminal Court (ICC) especially from the international community.
These have not materialized in a manner that Kenyans feel or take seriously. Indeed, the more profound consequences have emerged out of the toxic narrative of ‘the tyranny of numbers’, which essentially holds that the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru plus one other large community and a pliant electoral body have elections sown up in perpetuity.
A soft insurgency has grown out of this that has gained a currency so compelling that in entire swathes of the country – especially in Eastern, Western, Coast and Nyanza – one can ask if there exists in coherent form any legitimate and functional central authority in Kenya. For indeed, it is the central authority of the regime that has suffered the most dramatic attrition as a result of the accompanying process of devolution. Among the security services, one senses an almost existential discombobulation on the part of forces – the provincial administration and police in particular - that are at sea in this new order. It almost makes one conclude that it shan’t be long before the Counties – which are political units in which wananchi have most vested their ownership and legitimacy, make a robust claim to the provision of security at the County level too.
In some of these areas, Gikuyu traders have already started to complain of a ‘cold war’ on the business front, for example, with non-Gikuyu customers opting to take their business elsewhere.
Regimes whose legitimacy is questioned by certain communities and in certain parts of the country are not new to Kenya. During the Moi era, especially after the reintroduction of political pluralism, much of Central Province and other parts of the country inhabited by the Gikuyu community effectively ‘checked out’ and turned their backs to the regime. The provincial administration in these areas treaded carefully in the understanding that they were in politically hostile territory. A similar fate has befallen the Kenyatta presidency this time around. There are parts of the country where people can’t utter the words: “Rais Uhuru Kenyatta”. This ‘belligerent’ turning of backs to the administration is, however, received on the ground by the President’s backers with a similarly belligerent – “mta do?!”
UHURU HAS THE ANSWER
These two belligerent narratives are bound to clash. The ICC process may kick them off. What’s clear is that they don’t have a technical fix, only a political one. President Kenyatta has the instruments and wits to appreciate this and act on it. He really doesn’t have an option, as the machinery doesn’t exist to protect his tribesmen from opprobria directed against the most dispersed ethnic group in the country. It will be an exercise of managing the end of the post-colonial state that will be as messy as he and his advisors decide it should be.
- See more at: http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-132364/kenyas-soft-insurgency#sthash.kskNgJgJ.dpuf

Some weeks ago a Cabinet Secretary tried to address belligerent mourners at a funeral in Kisii and was shouted down even when forced to revert to his native tongue in an attempt to calm them.
Government officials who tried to address members of the Maasai community who’d been evicted from their homes in Naivasha met a similarly hostile reception and were forced to beat a hasty retreat. This was followed not long after by a by-election in Makueni in what was Eastern Province, where a CORD candidate who had campaigned for merely four days and won over 90 percent of the vote pulverized the ruling Jubilee party’s candidate.
All this transpired as the government and our Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) went back and forth in an increasingly acrimonious negotiation over salaries. Eventually, it took the intervention of the Deputy President and President themselves to work out a solution which nevertheless left a bitter taste in the mouth when teachers realized the government had deducted the days they had been on strike from their July salaries.
This was eventually sorted out and the salaries paid in full in August. Curiously, one of the ‘conditions’ of the deal was that the teachers support the Jubilee government’s ambitious school computerization programme – not a sign of confidence.
I spent a week in Western Province recently. Mainly listening to groups of citizens of all ages as they analyzed their condition and the general Kenyan one as well. I was particularly keen on visiting friends in Bungoma and Trans Nzoia where episodes of criminality and violence against individuals and families had seemingly escalated dramatically since the election in March.
People I knew had lost their lives in the spate of insecurity that is ongoing to this day. Indeed, as I left a gang raided Kumukuywa Market in Bungoma North and killed one administration policeman and injured another. The officers were reportedly responding to calls for help by villagers who were under attack by the gang.
This violent incident was merely the latest of many since the election that have turned the lives of many Kenyans from Trans Nzoia, through Bungoma and into Busia Counties upside down. More than the violence itself and the succession of funerals it has caused, the apparent helplessness of the security forces in the face of it has been the most confusing and disconcerting. It has done much to undermine already low confidence in the security services and administration generally.
“LET THE AIRPORT BURN!”
Then a week and half ago the arrivals terminal of the region’s main transport hub, our Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) burnt down. I was late in catching up with this shocking news. The fire happened on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998 so unsurprisingly initial speculation was that they’d struck again.
Such ideas were quickly set aside, however, as it became clear the cause may have been very domestic and the response hugely embarrassing in its ineptitude. What struck me, however, was when I raised the issue with individuals who don’t support (some don’t even recognize) the Jubilee government as ‘theirs’. The attitude was, “Let it burn! Let them learn!” The them here being very much the Jubilee administration and more specifically when pressed, them being Gikuyus first and Kalenjins second. This depth of polarization astounded me.
When the Ufundi Cooperative House collapsed as a result of the 1998 attack on the US Embassy I remember the way Kenyans rallied together in one of the most inspiring moments of national unity and pride in decades. Even President Moi, Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga, Charity Ngilu and Kijana Wamalwa temporarily set aside their political differences and in a tremendously shrewd and unifying move – all visited the site of the collapse together.
The current atmosphere most certainly doesn’t seem to allow for such episodes of nation-building displays of leadership. This should be of considerable concern to all of us all. This is especially the case, when one considers the fact that the divisive ICC process kicks off next month with the start of William Ruto’s case.
I was struck this week by the number of questions put to me about what this case would mean if it emerges that some of the over 40 witnesses the Chief Prosecutor has lined up against him are Gikuyu or Luo etc… This disconcerted quizzing is caused primarily by the fact that, in my opinion, in an effort to ‘keep the peace’ and play down the ICC cases as interrupters of national events, supporters of the President and Deputy President and elements of the media have played up the fact that with every witness who falls by the wayside, the cases will collapse.
So much so that in some parts of the country there are those who believe such a collapse to be inevitable. It may very well be. I don’t know. On the other hand it may very well not be the case. Then what? Similarly, with regard to the Makueni by-election, the comportment of area residents that I have spoken to changes immediately you gently enquire into why the community voted so overwhelmingly against the government; for it was more a vote against than for anybody or anything; it was a demonstration of feelings collectively and deeply held. One voter told me, “In Makueni we could have elected a dog as Senator to teach them a lesson!” In the same vein Kisii acquaintances I ask about the fate of government officials who found themselves on the receiving end of epithets at the funeral last month are more likely than not to respond saying the incident filled them with pride and satisfaction.
This attitude “We need to show them” emerges out of a narrative among many non-Gikuyus that ‘the Gikuyu are the problem’. Prior to the elections there was much talk of the ‘consequences’ of electing individuals who are defendants before the International Criminal Court (ICC) especially from the international community.
These have not materialized in a manner that Kenyans feel or take seriously. Indeed, the more profound consequences have emerged out of the toxic narrative of ‘the tyranny of numbers’, which essentially holds that the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru plus one other large community and a pliant electoral body have elections sown up in perpetuity.
A soft insurgency has grown out of this that has gained a currency so compelling that in entire swathes of the country – especially in Eastern, Western, Coast and Nyanza – one can ask if there exists in coherent form any legitimate and functional central authority in Kenya. For indeed, it is the central authority of the regime that has suffered the most dramatic attrition as a result of the accompanying process of devolution. Among the security services, one senses an almost existential discombobulation on the part of forces – the provincial administration and police in particular - that are at sea in this new order. It almost makes one conclude that it shan’t be long before the Counties – which are political units in which wananchi have most vested their ownership and legitimacy, make a robust claim to the provision of security at the County level too.
In some of these areas, Gikuyu traders have already started to complain of a ‘cold war’ on the business front, for example, with non-Gikuyu customers opting to take their business elsewhere.
Regimes whose legitimacy is questioned by certain communities and in certain parts of the country are not new to Kenya. During the Moi era, especially after the reintroduction of political pluralism, much of Central Province and other parts of the country inhabited by the Gikuyu community effectively ‘checked out’ and turned their backs to the regime. The provincial administration in these areas treaded carefully in the understanding that they were in politically hostile territory. A similar fate has befallen the Kenyatta presidency this time around. There are parts of the country where people can’t utter the words: “Rais Uhuru Kenyatta”. This ‘belligerent’ turning of backs to the administration is, however, received on the ground by the President’s backers with a similarly belligerent – “mta do?!”
UHURU HAS THE ANSWER
These two belligerent narratives are bound to clash. The ICC process may kick them off. What’s clear is that they don’t have a technical fix, only a political one. President Kenyatta has the instruments and wits to appreciate this and act on it. He really doesn’t have an option, as the machinery doesn’t exist to protect his tribesmen from opprobria directed against the most dispersed ethnic group in the country. It will be an exercise of managing the end of the post-colonial state that will be as messy as he and his advisors decide it should be.
- See more at: http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-132364/kenyas-soft-insurgency#sthash.kskNgJgJ.dpuf

Some weeks ago a Cabinet Secretary tried to address belligerent mourners at a funeral in Kisii and was shouted down even when forced to revert to his native tongue in an attempt to calm them.
Government officials who tried to address members of the Maasai community who’d been evicted from their homes in Naivasha met a similarly hostile reception and were forced to beat a hasty retreat. This was followed not long after by a by-election in Makueni in what was Eastern Province, where a CORD candidate who had campaigned for merely four days and won over 90 percent of the vote pulverized the ruling Jubilee party’s candidate.
All this transpired as the government and our Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) went back and forth in an increasingly acrimonious negotiation over salaries. Eventually, it took the intervention of the Deputy President and President themselves to work out a solution which nevertheless left a bitter taste in the mouth when teachers realized the government had deducted the days they had been on strike from their July salaries.
This was eventually sorted out and the salaries paid in full in August. Curiously, one of the ‘conditions’ of the deal was that the teachers support the Jubilee government’s ambitious school computerization programme – not a sign of confidence.
I spent a week in Western Province recently. Mainly listening to groups of citizens of all ages as they analyzed their condition and the general Kenyan one as well. I was particularly keen on visiting friends in Bungoma and Trans Nzoia where episodes of criminality and violence against individuals and families had seemingly escalated dramatically since the election in March.
People I knew had lost their lives in the spate of insecurity that is ongoing to this day. Indeed, as I left a gang raided Kumukuywa Market in Bungoma North and killed one administration policeman and injured another. The officers were reportedly responding to calls for help by villagers who were under attack by the gang.
This violent incident was merely the latest of many since the election that have turned the lives of many Kenyans from Trans Nzoia, through Bungoma and into Busia Counties upside down. More than the violence itself and the succession of funerals it has caused, the apparent helplessness of the security forces in the face of it has been the most confusing and disconcerting. It has done much to undermine already low confidence in the security services and administration generally.
“LET THE AIRPORT BURN!”
Then a week and half ago the arrivals terminal of the region’s main transport hub, our Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) burnt down. I was late in catching up with this shocking news. The fire happened on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998 so unsurprisingly initial speculation was that they’d struck again.
Such ideas were quickly set aside, however, as it became clear the cause may have been very domestic and the response hugely embarrassing in its ineptitude. What struck me, however, was when I raised the issue with individuals who don’t support (some don’t even recognize) the Jubilee government as ‘theirs’. The attitude was, “Let it burn! Let them learn!” The them here being very much the Jubilee administration and more specifically when pressed, them being Gikuyus first and Kalenjins second. This depth of polarization astounded me.
When the Ufundi Cooperative House collapsed as a result of the 1998 attack on the US Embassy I remember the way Kenyans rallied together in one of the most inspiring moments of national unity and pride in decades. Even President Moi, Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga, Charity Ngilu and Kijana Wamalwa temporarily set aside their political differences and in a tremendously shrewd and unifying move – all visited the site of the collapse together.
The current atmosphere most certainly doesn’t seem to allow for such episodes of nation-building displays of leadership. This should be of considerable concern to all of us all. This is especially the case, when one considers the fact that the divisive ICC process kicks off next month with the start of William Ruto’s case.
I was struck this week by the number of questions put to me about what this case would mean if it emerges that some of the over 40 witnesses the Chief Prosecutor has lined up against him are Gikuyu or Luo etc… This disconcerted quizzing is caused primarily by the fact that, in my opinion, in an effort to ‘keep the peace’ and play down the ICC cases as interrupters of national events, supporters of the President and Deputy President and elements of the media have played up the fact that with every witness who falls by the wayside, the cases will collapse.
So much so that in some parts of the country there are those who believe such a collapse to be inevitable. It may very well be. I don’t know. On the other hand it may very well not be the case. Then what? Similarly, with regard to the Makueni by-election, the comportment of area residents that I have spoken to changes immediately you gently enquire into why the community voted so overwhelmingly against the government; for it was more a vote against than for anybody or anything; it was a demonstration of feelings collectively and deeply held. One voter told me, “In Makueni we could have elected a dog as Senator to teach them a lesson!” In the same vein Kisii acquaintances I ask about the fate of government officials who found themselves on the receiving end of epithets at the funeral last month are more likely than not to respond saying the incident filled them with pride and satisfaction.
This attitude “We need to show them” emerges out of a narrative among many non-Gikuyus that ‘the Gikuyu are the problem’. Prior to the elections there was much talk of the ‘consequences’ of electing individuals who are defendants before the International Criminal Court (ICC) especially from the international community.
These have not materialized in a manner that Kenyans feel or take seriously. Indeed, the more profound consequences have emerged out of the toxic narrative of ‘the tyranny of numbers’, which essentially holds that the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru plus one other large community and a pliant electoral body have elections sown up in perpetuity.
A soft insurgency has grown out of this that has gained a currency so compelling that in entire swathes of the country – especially in Eastern, Western, Coast and Nyanza – one can ask if there exists in coherent form any legitimate and functional central authority in Kenya. For indeed, it is the central authority of the regime that has suffered the most dramatic attrition as a result of the accompanying process of devolution. Among the security services, one senses an almost existential discombobulation on the part of forces – the provincial administration and police in particular - that are at sea in this new order. It almost makes one conclude that it shan’t be long before the Counties – which are political units in which wananchi have most vested their ownership and legitimacy, make a robust claim to the provision of security at the County level too.
In some of these areas, Gikuyu traders have already started to complain of a ‘cold war’ on the business front, for example, with non-Gikuyu customers opting to take their business elsewhere.
Regimes whose legitimacy is questioned by certain communities and in certain parts of the country are not new to Kenya. During the Moi era, especially after the reintroduction of political pluralism, much of Central Province and other parts of the country inhabited by the Gikuyu community effectively ‘checked out’ and turned their backs to the regime. The provincial administration in these areas treaded carefully in the understanding that they were in politically hostile territory. A similar fate has befallen the Kenyatta presidency this time around. There are parts of the country where people can’t utter the words: “Rais Uhuru Kenyatta”. This ‘belligerent’ turning of backs to the administration is, however, received on the ground by the President’s backers with a similarly belligerent – “mta do?!”
UHURU HAS THE ANSWER
These two belligerent narratives are bound to clash. The ICC process may kick them off. What’s clear is that they don’t have a technical fix, only a political one. President Kenyatta has the instruments and wits to appreciate this and act on it. He really doesn’t have an option, as the machinery doesn’t exist to protect his tribesmen from opprobria directed against the most dispersed ethnic group in the country. It will be an exercise of managing the end of the post-colonial state that will be as messy as he and his advisors decide it should be.
- See more at: http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-132364/kenyas-soft-insurgency#sthash.kskNgJgJ.dpuf

Some weeks ago a Cabinet Secretary tried to address belligerent mourners at a funeral in Kisii and was shouted down even when forced to revert to his native tongue in an attempt to calm them.
Government officials who tried to address members of the Maasai community who’d been evicted from their homes in Naivasha met a similarly hostile reception and were forced to beat a hasty retreat. This was followed not long after by a by-election in Makueni in what was Eastern Province, where a CORD candidate who had campaigned for merely four days and won over 90 percent of the vote pulverized the ruling Jubilee party’s candidate.
All this transpired as the government and our Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) went back and forth in an increasingly acrimonious negotiation over salaries. Eventually, it took the intervention of the Deputy President and President themselves to work out a solution which nevertheless left a bitter taste in the mouth when teachers realized the government had deducted the days they had been on strike from their July salaries.
This was eventually sorted out and the salaries paid in full in August. Curiously, one of the ‘conditions’ of the deal was that the teachers support the Jubilee government’s ambitious school computerization programme – not a sign of confidence.
I spent a week in Western Province recently. Mainly listening to groups of citizens of all ages as they analyzed their condition and the general Kenyan one as well. I was particularly keen on visiting friends in Bungoma and Trans Nzoia where episodes of criminality and violence against individuals and families had seemingly escalated dramatically since the election in March.
People I knew had lost their lives in the spate of insecurity that is ongoing to this day. Indeed, as I left a gang raided Kumukuywa Market in Bungoma North and killed one administration policeman and injured another. The officers were reportedly responding to calls for help by villagers who were under attack by the gang.
This violent incident was merely the latest of many since the election that have turned the lives of many Kenyans from Trans Nzoia, through Bungoma and into Busia Counties upside down. More than the violence itself and the succession of funerals it has caused, the apparent helplessness of the security forces in the face of it has been the most confusing and disconcerting. It has done much to undermine already low confidence in the security services and administration generally.
“LET THE AIRPORT BURN!”
Then a week and half ago the arrivals terminal of the region’s main transport hub, our Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) burnt down. I was late in catching up with this shocking news. The fire happened on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998 so unsurprisingly initial speculation was that they’d struck again.
Such ideas were quickly set aside, however, as it became clear the cause may have been very domestic and the response hugely embarrassing in its ineptitude. What struck me, however, was when I raised the issue with individuals who don’t support (some don’t even recognize) the Jubilee government as ‘theirs’. The attitude was, “Let it burn! Let them learn!” The them here being very much the Jubilee administration and more specifically when pressed, them being Gikuyus first and Kalenjins second. This depth of polarization astounded me.
When the Ufundi Cooperative House collapsed as a result of the 1998 attack on the US Embassy I remember the way Kenyans rallied together in one of the most inspiring moments of national unity and pride in decades. Even President Moi, Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga, Charity Ngilu and Kijana Wamalwa temporarily set aside their political differences and in a tremendously shrewd and unifying move – all visited the site of the collapse together.
The current atmosphere most certainly doesn’t seem to allow for such episodes of nation-building displays of leadership. This should be of considerable concern to all of us all. This is especially the case, when one considers the fact that the divisive ICC process kicks off next month with the start of William Ruto’s case.
I was struck this week by the number of questions put to me about what this case would mean if it emerges that some of the over 40 witnesses the Chief Prosecutor has lined up against him are Gikuyu or Luo etc… This disconcerted quizzing is caused primarily by the fact that, in my opinion, in an effort to ‘keep the peace’ and play down the ICC cases as interrupters of national events, supporters of the President and Deputy President and elements of the media have played up the fact that with every witness who falls by the wayside, the cases will collapse.
So much so that in some parts of the country there are those who believe such a collapse to be inevitable. It may very well be. I don’t know. On the other hand it may very well not be the case. Then what? Similarly, with regard to the Makueni by-election, the comportment of area residents that I have spoken to changes immediately you gently enquire into why the community voted so overwhelmingly against the government; for it was more a vote against than for anybody or anything; it was a demonstration of feelings collectively and deeply held. One voter told me, “In Makueni we could have elected a dog as Senator to teach them a lesson!” In the same vein Kisii acquaintances I ask about the fate of government officials who found themselves on the receiving end of epithets at the funeral last month are more likely than not to respond saying the incident filled them with pride and satisfaction.
This attitude “We need to show them” emerges out of a narrative among many non-Gikuyus that ‘the Gikuyu are the problem’. Prior to the elections there was much talk of the ‘consequences’ of electing individuals who are defendants before the International Criminal Court (ICC) especially from the international community.
These have not materialized in a manner that Kenyans feel or take seriously. Indeed, the more profound consequences have emerged out of the toxic narrative of ‘the tyranny of numbers’, which essentially holds that the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru plus one other large community and a pliant electoral body have elections sown up in perpetuity.
A soft insurgency has grown out of this that has gained a currency so compelling that in entire swathes of the country – especially in Eastern, Western, Coast and Nyanza – one can ask if there exists in coherent form any legitimate and functional central authority in Kenya. For indeed, it is the central authority of the regime that has suffered the most dramatic attrition as a result of the accompanying process of devolution. Among the security services, one senses an almost existential discombobulation on the part of forces – the provincial administration and police in particular - that are at sea in this new order. It almost makes one conclude that it shan’t be long before the Counties – which are political units in which wananchi have most vested their ownership and legitimacy, make a robust claim to the provision of security at the County level too.
In some of these areas, Gikuyu traders have already started to complain of a ‘cold war’ on the business front, for example, with non-Gikuyu customers opting to take their business elsewhere.
Regimes whose legitimacy is questioned by certain communities and in certain parts of the country are not new to Kenya. During the Moi era, especially after the reintroduction of political pluralism, much of Central Province and other parts of the country inhabited by the Gikuyu community effectively ‘checked out’ and turned their backs to the regime. The provincial administration in these areas treaded carefully in the understanding that they were in politically hostile territory. A similar fate has befallen the Kenyatta presidency this time around. There are parts of the country where people can’t utter the words: “Rais Uhuru Kenyatta”. This ‘belligerent’ turning of backs to the administration is, however, received on the ground by the President’s backers with a similarly belligerent – “mta do?!”
UHURU HAS THE ANSWER
These two belligerent narratives are bound to clash. The ICC process may kick them off. What’s clear is that they don’t have a technical fix, only a political one. President Kenyatta has the instruments and wits to appreciate this and act on it. He really doesn’t have an option, as the machinery doesn’t exist to protect his tribesmen from opprobria directed against the most dispersed ethnic group in the country. It will be an exercise of managing the end of the post-colonial state that will be as messy as he and his advisors decide it should be.
- See more at: http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-132364/kenyas-soft-insurgency#sthash.kskNgJgJ.dpuf

The Great Hustle by John Githongo

 Sad, that this is what appeals to the youth these days.


Just before the 1992 election, I remember meeting an old friend standing outside a supermarket in city centre. An academic high flier in school he'd attended one of the top government schools in Kenya and then gone on to obtain a top degree in the sciences from University of Nairobi.
'JUA KALI' FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS:
The sun was hot, and from his dusty shoes, it seemed as if he'd done quite a bit of walking. We exchanged warm pleasantries and quickly recapped on what had happened in our lives since we'd last met.
When I asked what he was waiting for standing in the sun he explained that he'd gone into 'real estate'. As part of this he'd brokered a deal to sell a plot of land to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
The NSSF was the biggest repository of long-term capital in Kenya. It was widely accepted that selling anything to them meant you could charge the earth: many grew rich from this.
So my friend was standing there, and had been for hours, waiting for a 'guy' who was due to show up so they could seal the deal. He'd put his life on hold waiting for one dodgy transaction. It was "jua kali" for the middle class.
Prior to the 1992 well-connected businessmen and politicians made a killing selling land to the NSSF at hugely inflated prices. It was Kenya's most lucrative hustle at the time.
The president or commissioner of lands would allocate you a plot of land and you didn't even need to process a title deed. All you needed to do was take the documentation of allocation to the buyer and millionaires were made overnight.
The fall of the Berlin Wall had caused the Cold War's primary protagonists to abandon many of their client states and leaders, Kenya included.
All of a sudden, much to his chagrin, in 1991 President Moi found himself under pressure to liberalise politically. A number of brave leaders from the political, religious and legal fraternities, following the initial lead of probably one of the biggest brains in the church at the time, Reverend Timothy Njoya, started calling for the reintroduction of multiparty politics in Kenya.
Politicians like Ken Matiba and Charles Rubia stuck their necks out too and at great personal cost. Political pluralism was understood by some to be some sort of silver bullet that would end what had turned into 18 years of repression under Moi.
YK92: THE GREATEST HUSTLE MACHINE EVER:
Moi, ever the pragmatist, eventually announced that the constitution would be repealed to allow for other political parties. But this wasn't until he had put in place the machinery to ensure that he emerged victorious from the polls that were held in 1992.
A group of hard driving and ruthless young Kanu supporters formed a group called Youth for Kanu'92 - YK92 - to campaign for the president and his party.
The resources that were made available to them from the State were mind-boggling. Our current Deputy President, William Ruto, and politicians like Sam Nyamweya and Cyrus Jirongo were so flush with cash that, when combined with the infamous Goldenberg scandal that saw roughly 10 percent of GDP extracted from the economy to help finance Kanu's election bid, they had the effect of literally changing Kenya's political moral landscape. No one had ever really heard of these individuals before, but their cash and ruthless political tactics, accompanied by the ethnic cleansing of opposition supporters in various parts of the country considered 'Kanu zones', dislocated entire institutions like the judiciary and police. YK'92 became the ultimate hustlers.
The hardest working of them had come up from not only obscurity but also the humblest of beginnings to make good in a very short time.
This gave them a resilience that has seen them not only survive until today but also prosper fantastically while doing so, both in political and financial terms.
For the last two decades, their faces have filled our screens and taken up newspaper column inches as they have fought all manner of fraud and corruption charges.
Since Jubilee came into office we have witnessed behaviour not dissimilar in spirit to that which prevailed in the early 1990s during YK92's heyday. From scandals involving land, the refurbishment of official homes, the renting of jets etc; the figures involved are big, attitudes unapologetic.
Though the media reports these scandals, little overt outrage accompanies them. The most organised opposition thus far was Boniface Mwangi's captivating attempt to stop the newly elected MPs making the raising of their own salaries the first order of substantive business by the House.
Despite being baptised "MPigs" by this creative campaign that captured the imagination - and news headlines - the world over, the politicians still managed a major hustle that saw them receive, at the end of the day, more or less the bloated salaries they had been seeking in the first place.
SONKOISM & CONSOLIDATION OF RETAIL SIASA:
Though we are loath to admit it to ourselves too loudly, even shallow bouts of introspection force us to come to terms with the fact that Gideon Mbuvi aka Mike Sonko was elected senator in Nairobi with over 800,000 votes!
This senator's blatant exhibitionism and other antics had previously caused the educated middle class to recoil. They recoil in part because he has emerged a more compelling role model to the youth than the so-called Captains of Industry.
At one time, when he found himself arrested his supporters were televised outside the police station where he was being held shouting: "Mwizi wetu! Tunataka mwizi wetu!" (Our thief! Give us our thief!) To the poor of Nairobi, Sonko is a Robin Hood character accused of corruption by the traditional ruling elite who don't appreciate a young man who has made good on the street and shares his largesse generously with his constituents.
The 2013 election saw more of such individuals elected to public office than ever before. It introduced a retail politics of systematically dishing out the goodies on a scale unprecedented since 1992.
A cultural shift would seem to have taken place, especially among the generation below the age of 34 which, good students of its parents, measures success using wealth no matter how it is acquired.
No other group typified this sociopathic attitude towards corruption more than YK92 and the changes it wrought on our national culture with regard to what holding public office means. A generation later, youth are eager to embrace the kind of politics that will lead them down the path these role-models have pioneered.
And thus, anecdotal evidence, especially from the vitriol on social media, would suggest that Kenya's most committed tribalists, thieves, liars and anti-Kenyans, swirl in the toxic broth of self justifying, iPad carrying, enterprising, mortgage paying, night clubbing, articulate, English speaking, facebooking, twitter using, café latte sipping, flat screen owning, MNET viewing, English football league following well educated, internationalised, twittering class of Kenyans between 30 and 40.
The veneer of civility isn't even skin deep, a simple casually dropped comment or question will cause a response pregnant with bigotry and a sense of entitlement. Ask them what the British government's planned payout to the victims of imperial Britain's worst excesses means and their eyes glaze over which a profound and implicit 'so what?'
That this has happened has caused an existential crisis among Kenyans who've been involved in activism for constitutionalism, the rule of law, human rights etc.
One asked me last week (and I paraphrase): "John, I've been in this good governance industry for over 20 years. Humiliating myself every year begging foreigners for cash so we can do civic education, preach human rights and peace and worth of citizenship and in the end so what?! Ive nurtured a generation that cares only about money and tribe."
In Sonkoism then, a retail politics kicked in and reached its nadir in the just completed election: where money was shown to buy people and our votes and we don't decry this condition.
Indeed, we have seen it blessed by segments of the church, creating over the last five years the most noxious mixture of religion, money and politics in Kenyan history.
Indeed we revel in the gospel of money. The deadly lessons of the post-election violence apparently unlearnt and in a cynically brilliant strategy a narrative was cultivated that God was backing one side in the past election and the result was therefore divine. All this turns many of us into what we often like to decry - hustlers through and through.

The Great Hustle by John Githongo

http://allafrica.com/stories/201307080308.html

Obama: 'Kenyan in the House' by John Githongo

When Barack Obama was elected President of the United States in 2009, the celebrations in Kenya were so enthusiastic that one could have been forgiven for thinking he'd just taken over from President Kibaki.
The outpouring of joy and pride among Kenyans was a massive boost to the national ego coming after the debacle of the previous year's post-election violence. "There is a Kenyan in the [White] House!", many of us crowed. Being a committed tribal nation too this call was also accompanied by "There's a Luo in the House!"
We were blissfully unaware that American politics has become toxically partisan and there are nutters about in the US trying to question President Obama's credentials arguing he is not an American! His Kenyan roots are being used as part of a wider concerted campaign to discredit him.
The joyful delirium after his election lasted around 48 hours and grim reality set back in. In fact when people thought it through properly, they realised that had Obama been a Kenyan politician, he probably would never have been elected: he comes from the wrong tribe; attacks corruption a little too energetically; supports a woman's right to choose and gay marriage; and, has never been accused of or prosecuted for grand corruption or fraud.
OPS! THE 'JUNIOR' SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS GETS ELECTED PRESIDENT!
When he had visited Kenya in 2006 and made remarks criticising tribalism and corruption, some government officials dismissed him 'as a mere junior Senator from Illinois'.
It earned him the enduring antipathy of some of Kibaki's diehard supporters. Among the older generation the consternation was compounded by the fact that they had never imagined a black man in the White House. Actually, to this day, some still haven't come to terms with it, especially those wazee who were educated in the US in the 1950s and 1960s.
They simply did not have the political frequencies in their heads to grasp the sheer magic and scale of the historical moment that Obama's election implied. That said, there are also many Americans with the same political 'bandwidth problems'.
It remains a testament to the robustness of America's democratic model - with its multitude of imperfections - that an African American could be elected to the White House three decades after Martin Luther King was gunned down in Memphis Tennessee. It's a place where dreams do indeed come true and on a massive scale. The shock of his election among those who had abused him when he visited in 2006 was such that the government did an urgent about face and declared a public holiday to catch up with the real mood on the ground and celebrate together with the rest of the population.
OBAMA, KENYA AND THE ICC:
This is President Obama's second visit to Africa. Last time, in 2009, he passed through Ghana for one-and-a-half days. There was disappointment if not too much surprise that he chose not to drop in on his 'home country' of Kenya. This time he is going to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.
Once again he is not coming to Kenya. Most knew why - state visits to countries where the head of state and his deputy are defendants at the ICC for crimes against humanity is bad politics and poor diplomacy. The White Houses' Ben Rhodes told journalists: "We also as a country have a commitment to accountability and justice as a baseline principle.
And given the fact that Kenya is in the aftermath of their election and the new government has come into place and is going to be reviewing these issues with the ICC and the international community, it just wasn't the best time for the president to travel to Kenya at this point." That the White House chose to press this point was taken as significant by some observers given that silence would have been understood in the same way.
The anecdotal evidence is that among ordinary wananchi disappointment that Obama wont be visiting his 'home country' is real. It reminds us all too painfully that 'normal' ended with the last election and we are in uncharted political waters. Such is the slap in the face that one prominent businessman hallucinated himself into having received an invitation to meet President Obama so he could 'reject' it in a contrived episode of patriotic pique. In real terms too, though the government will put a brave face on it, it's a reverberating blow to the Kenya government.
Kenya is the most important country on this side of the African continent in economic and military cooperation terms. It is also one of the oldest and most consistent allies the US has ever had in Sub Saharan Africa. The war against terror has only served to attenuate the critical importance of this relationship. Much to the chagrin of the human rights fraternity and important elements of the Muslim community, for example, Kenya's security forces seem to generally pick up anyone the US tells them to.
The leading Kenyan Muslim human rights advocate, Al-Amin Kimathi of the Muslim Human Rights Forum, for example was arrested and held for months in Uganda a couple of years ago when he travelled there to inquire after the conditions of a group of Kenyans allegedly illegally renditioned there. When his lawyer Mbugua Mureithi showed up to assist Kimathi, the Ugandans arrested him too! This blatant subordination of the constitutional rights of Kenyans continues to be deeply unpopular and rightly so.
A former US government official I chatted to last week also explained that an influential domestic constituency in America - both in the corridors of power, civil society and media - would not have reacted kindly to President Obama meeting with Messrs. Kenyatta and Ruto. The 'consequences' former Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Johnnie Carson, warned about have clearly started to kick in.
KENYA AND THE WEST: LOSE-LOSE
The ICC and the fact that Kenya's head of state and his deputy are defendants before it, has caused an unprecedented diplomatic quagmire, and in terms of relations with the West - a lose-lose situation for both sides.
The Jubilee coalition was created by the situation the ICC cases presented - possibly a first-time conundrum for the ICC. It is unprecedented for the Kenya Government too: we have the clearest and most aggressively articulated foreign policy in our country's independent history. Our diplomats are working overtime to very clear objectives.
Their most important success thus far has been to get the African Union, while celebrating its golden jubilee last month, to get Kenya and the ICC to the top of the agenda and belligerently so without the slightest hint of irony considering that it was Kenya's own leaders who chose the ICC route. They have then proceeded to stare down the West by constructing the narrative of the ICC as an anti-African political tool of the West.
Thus the push for 'Kenya to look East'. In and of itself this fits with aspirations African progressives have had since the 1960s and 70s when there was much talk about South-South cooperation led by Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad and Tanzania's Julius Nyerere. A criminal case is fast tracking the cooperation! Kenya has an ancient relationship with the 'East'. China's relationship with East Africa, for example, goes back to the 15th century. In the 17th century the Omanis showed up and their Sultan actually made Zanzibar his capital in 1837.
The West is in a lose-lose relationship with Kenya for now. They are helpless: at once trapped by their need to adhere to international norms of human rights and good governance that they articulated and have exported globally, and powerful interests that must be massaged continuously. At the same time playing off the East versus the West is slightly more complicated than things were during the Cold War because of the interdependence globalization has created. Still, as Kenya courts 'new' friends its becoming clear that this means the creation of new enemies as well.

Obama: 'Kenyan in the House' by John Githongo

Mind speak John Githongo

Did a million ghosts vote does it matter by John Githongo

 Have Kenyans really given up the ghost, we have promise despite our two fraudulent elections. The numbers do not add up.

The article below by John Githongo.

Did a million ghosts vote does it matter by John Githongo

Last Thursday, The Star published a seemingly innocuous piece titled ‘IEBC wants Political Parties Act amended’. The amendment, the report explained, was because the IEBC is now considering changing the way of "calculating funding for the parties".

Currently, the Act ‘provides that political parties’ funding should be computed on the basis of election votes. The new proposed formula is based on the number of elected representatives that each party has.

"As a result, and unsurprisingly, political parties have been pushing the IEBC to hurry up with its final release of results ‘so that they can work out how much state funding they are entitled to".

To date, however, the IEBC has not ‘finalised’ the exact figures from the March 4 election and "there are allegedly still substantial differences between the presidential and parliamentary numbers."

IEBC MUST MOVE QUICKLY TO RECONCILE DATA

The report carried what I, in hindsight, considered a startling revelation. One of the IEBC’s commissioners was recorded as having said, "We are having sleepless nights reconciling the presidential results and those of the other positions. Over a million votes must be reconciled with the others and if the requirement is not changed, then it will cast the IEBC in a negative light…"

The IEBC was thus reported to have devised three options that would resolve the impasse. The concern ‘of casting the IEBC in a negative light’ was a little rich. That said, the commissioner’s admission itself was deeply troubling about the overall integrity of the polls.

A million irregularly introduced ie rigged votes would take the overall result of the presidential election closer to the scientific pre-election opinion polls and the exit polls that have emerged since, like that from Harvard University that called a close race between Uhuru and Odinga.

Then, last weekend the Daily Nation carried a long interview with Raila Odinga in which he discussed both the elections and his future plans without a hint of bitterness. Here too my attention was captured by the remarks he was reported to have made:

“But this idea that there were some areas where there was 95 per cent or 100 per cent turn-out is a myth. Because if you look at the records, the average turn-out was 72 per cent for county reps, for women reps, for MPs, for governors, for senators but only for the presidential 86 per cent. What accounts for that difference?... They were stuffing ballot papers and that was the evidence that we wanted to adduce in court that over one million people turned up for the ballot and only voted for the presidency and not for the others.”

Some of the top experts on election matters – both Kenyan and foreign – have been pleading ever more insistently for the IEBC to release the full results of elections held almost three months ago.

To them, this admission that essentially around one million more Kenyans voted for the presidential candidates but did not vote for any of the other offices (Governor, Senator, MP etc) was a bombshell. After all, none of the multiple teams of election observers noted what surely would have been difficult to miss: one million voters casting presidential ballots and deciding not to vote for any other of the offices.

Nor has IEBC reported five million spoilt votes spread out amongst the other five offices, which would have been the expected result if all these voters had somehow managed to cast only one of their allotted six ballots right – the other plausible explanation. So the one million ghosts in the books are a problem.

SO WHAT NOW FOR KENYA?

It is ironically comforting to many that the gut feeling that something slick, big and nasty was likely pulled off at the last election is seemingly now proving to be more and more likely correct.

This is notwithstanding the sometimes garbled reassuring statements by both local and foreign observers whose positions at the time were not backed up by what Kenyans saw with their own eyes. It is always a relief to realise you did not dream something up.

Little can be changed at this stage; we need to “move on” as Kenyans are being constantly urged to do. I am among those who believe national cohesion can only be achieved if a majority of Kenyans don’t believe in the malevolent ‘tyranny of numbers’ narrative that seems to have laid the ground for subsequent events.

To be blunt, it is important that the majority of Kenyans from all races and tribes believe that there are enough Gikuyus who don’t appear to ascribe to the conviction that one ethnic community must lord it over all others in perpetuity.

That so many are not convinced that this is the case is the source of the most furious resentments among non-Gikuyus – and the source of a rapidly dwindling interest in the project of nationhood – ironically at the very historical moment that the country celebrates a significant milestone – 50 years since the end of colonial rule.

All this brings us to grips with our present condition, for better or for worse. That we reached here without the kind of violence we saw in 2008 is a good thing. Second, we acknowledge the reality that Kenya has a legally sworn-in head of state; cabinet secretaries and other functionaries are being appointed.

We have a government and matters of everyday life can proceed. On the economic front, the government has been making all the correct noises. It is now in an enviable position of translating its pre-election promises to reality - ensuring that our growth delivers jobs for the youth, for example.

Potentially exciting times indeed, what with the huge economic potential promised by the combined coincidence of a critical mass of energetic, young, educated and entrepreneurial African ‘human capital’; massive external economic interest in Africa; the discovery of a range of minerals etc – there is indeed great promise that Kenya could be on the verge of a take-off to that dream envisioned at independence.

However, there still remains important cleaning up to do with regard to our election processes and institutions. Indeed, I would argue, we need to rethink the first-past-the-post system in its entirety.

It has brought us much grief: a more volatile polity; tribal division compounded by festering anger and generally less social cohesion, ironically, than when Moi was president of Kenya.

No election is perfect, however, this one was the worst ever in terms of the sheer scale of divergence between public expectations and actual performance by the electoral body.

We have now had two apparently fraudulent elections in a row where the fraud was televised, SMSed, tweeted and generally widely reported on, especially during and since the court case that followed contestation of the presidential results.

That said, regardless of the manipulations, the voting pattern – largely along tribal lines – told us a great deal about ourselves. It also forces difficult questions upon us.

THE FIRST KENYAN REPUBLIC HAS GIVEN UP THE GHOST

For starters, what is the point of people participating in national elections if it is believed by a critical mass of the population that certain pivotal positions are reserved for certain communities, based not on ability but on ancestry?

What does people believing this mean for Kenya? First it explains the generally foul mood of many middle class Kenyans who are neither Gikuyu nor Kalenjin.

A Nigerian friend made the observation last week that the contradictions inherent in the current ruling tribal alliance are so vast that it shall wobble too with time forcing a ‘militarisation of consent’ both formally and informally; both judicially and extra judicially.

I’m not so sure it is possible to militarise consent in Kenya. It has been attempted in northern Kenya since before independence and the project has never really been a total success.

Trying the same in say, the Rift Valley, would be an ambitious prospect. Instead, crime and ethnic cleansing on a voluntary basis has swept across entire swathes of the country.

Secondly, we are slowly coming to terms with the fact that the First Kenyan Republic has given up the ghost. The Second Republic under our 2010 constitution is the Tribal Nation – before all things in the way we relate to one another outside the realm of simple transactions.

Prof. Ogot was correct in April 2006 when he declared the Kenya Project as conceived by the African nationalists who breathed life into the attempts at Nations that colonialism left behind - dead. A more complex beast is emerging. More on this next time…

Moving on welcome to Kenya Inc by John Githongo

When the Supreme Court decided against those who were contesting the election of Uhuru Kenyatta anticipated jubilation broke out in Jubilee’s ethnic strongholds. Gloom overcame other parts of Kenya. This was the natural reaction and continues to play out. The new government’s supporters both within and outside Kenya urged everyone to ‘move on’ and focus on the future. Essentially, forget the past, accept the new reality, find your space in it and get on with life. 
‘LETS MOVE ON’ INTO UNCHARTED WATERS
Kenyans are a resilient lot and many have done just this.
To many, however, the ‘let’s move on’ clarion has literally come to be understood as an abuse, in part because they have yet to come to terms with the legitimacy of the President and Deputy President in particular.
This is because the election was so ethnically divisive; it sunk the Independent Election and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) like a canoe into which too many bundles of cash had been thrown; and, for many, it moved one of the new constitution’s most heralded novelties - the Supreme Court – from the winners’ podium into a sort of governance pit-latrine.
The anger fuelled by this and the sense of helplessness to do anything about it is existential and therefore durable. In the 1990s, and first decade of the new century, flawed elections were held every five years but Kenyans ‘moved on’ because in the horizon there was end to the Moi era; there was a new constitution; there were so many reforms coming into realisation after the elections.
Only to find, as a character in Francis Imbuga’s masterpiece “Betrayal in the City” so memorably put it, “It was better while we waited. Now we have nothing to look forward to. We have killed our past and are busy killing our future”.
2013 was the transition of multiple tyrannies, both real and imagined, from the tyranny of tribal numbers, to the terrorism of peace, to the blatant dictatorship of ‘mta do?!’
It will take some time too, to come to terms with this present dispensation for the many of considerable credibility, intellect, analytical expertise and patriotism who honestly believe the election was stolen; stolen massively and stolen well.
For now, the constant demand to let the nation ‘move on’ seems to have bought Kenya the ‘peace’ so many so badly crave. However, it is not unlikely that the reputation of the gaggle of ‘experts’ and their institutions who opined authoritatively on a process that is still fraught with so many questions that refuse to go away will fall into serious doubt.
It will also force many of us to admit that over two decades of good governance advocacy, anti-corruption work, constitution building, democracy promotion, all costing billions, has seemingly brought us backwards. For, as I mentioned some weeks ago, as a nation-building exercise, the election failed badly.
These contradictions comprise the uncharted waters into which the Kenyan ship has sailed. For the constitutional reality is that having properly sworn their oaths of service, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto are Kenya’s President and Deputy President, notwithstanding the encumbrances of the ICC, or the existentially divisive election and its aftermath. It is a reality that we’ll have to make work for Kenya’s sake.
UHURU FINDING HIS GROOVE
Indeed, distracted by their considerable excess political baggage, it has been interesting to watch what have been some initial deft moves by the UhuRuto duo. Kenyatta’s regular emphasis on the fact that he is the President of all Kenyans is spot on. He now needs to get all Kenyans to believe him.
Similarly, his attending events in opposition strongholds, has been just the kind of move the country needs. He should try camping out at the State Lodge in Kisumu for a week or two to build on this. Then those in Kakamega, Mombasa etc. One of the good things about being flat on your back in terms of expectations vis-à-vis national vision is that the only way you can look is up.
That’s the theory. It is especially important now as a wave of insecurity sweeps across the country, ironically, in some of the very Counties where violence had been anticipated around the elections.
Under the previous constitution 90 days was all it took for a head of state to consolidate power to the point that their overall direction in terms of governance was clear. It’s been slightly more convoluted for the Jubilee team partly because the constitution doesn’t allow the same discretion their predecessors enjoyed. Still, a couple of trends have become clear.
OUTSOURCING GOVERNANCE
First, the ‘private sector’ is clearly the primary client of this administration in terms of policy. We are now Kenya Inc. and open for business – in itself actually genuinely exciting for many. Indeed, outside strongholds in the Rift Valley and Central Province, it is in the boardrooms (not all but a critical mass of them) where Jubilee’s victory has been most enthusiastically celebrated.
Some populist pledges have been made, but there appears to be an understanding especially within the wing of our private sector with the most reactionary tendencies – the owners of really large illegally or irregularly acquired tracts of land and the service sector – that these won’t be allowed to get in the way of business.
To their credit too, the Jubilee government’s leadership has been careful to avoid any statements that may be misunderstood to mean that an anti-corruption campaign is in the offing.
This, it can be argued, is one of the necessities when the intellectual underpinnings of governance are outsourced to the private sector, in what is actually a sophisticated condition of entrenched crony capitalism for lack of better words. This typically has its accompaniments - and graft is one of them.
The President and Deputy President have presented images of corporate efficiency of the vein in which they ran their impressive election campaign. Even the propaganda has been dished out with a slickness that is without precedent.
The defining policy imperative underlying it all is the ICC of course, which helped forge the central tribal alliance that in turn came to define Jubilee. So critical is this self-imposed reality that it has discombobulated diplomacy – internally and outside Kenya.
Indeed, it caused Kenya’s Representative at the United Nations to pen a request to the Security Council that was so bizarre, some at first questioned its authenticity.
RUTO: THE REAL ‘HALF LOAF’
The second issue that stands out about the new administration is that even though he is called Deputy President, William Ruto, is actually, for all intents and purposes, a co-principal.
Indeed, he is more of a co-principal than Raila Odinga ever was under the old order of the post-2008 coalition. While ODM had settled for ‘half a loaf’ in political terms, what they seem to have got was a couple of slices, larger and noisier motorcades and the chance for some at individual self -enrichment on an unprecedented scale.
This latter attribute, some analysts argue, softened them up to the point that they were unable to prepare properly for the 2013 poll; they weren’t hungry enough. Their opponents on the other hand, were tremendously focused.
After all, they were facing the successor to the Nuremberg Court that brought down the likes of Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Slobodan Milosevic and others whose exploits tilled the earth that gave birth to the state of Israel and continue to be the subject of PhDs, academic tomes, novels, documentaries and sombre public holidays in countries that consider themselves the most civilised in the world.
Ruto delivered and has firmly gripped his half loaf as evidenced by his own statements and the line-up of Cabinet Secretaries that were rolled out.
Those who doubt his grip and the extent of his leverage need only consider the fact that despite the alliance of ‘peace’ and ‘reconciliation’ between the Gikuyu and the Kalenjin that now prevails – Rift Valley IDPs aren’t racing back to farms from which they were evicted in 2008.
All of us know, quietly and without too much fuss, that we aren’t quite there yet; we aren’t even close. It is such inconveniences that interrupt the ‘move on’ narrative for now.
One Gikuyu resident of the region not far from where Ruto was born summed it up best when he told me: “Everyone was happy that Kenyatta and Ruto were on the same side during the election because it reduced the chance (likelihood) that Ruto’s Kalenjin supporters would attack us… Here on the ground the mistrust is still strong.”
Incredibly, considering its credibility challenges, in this environment even the much maligned TJRC is having difficulty handing over its report to the President. In some sections of the media, it was reported that they might have been thinking of ‘massaging’ the chapter on land.
IDPs, for their part, are not shareholders in Kenya Inc. just yet. They remain part of those either too angry to move on or are simply suspicious of the hand they have been dealt and are waiting to understand what it really all means. Time, they say, heals all things. When the clock is working.

Moving on welcome to Kenya Inc by John Githongo