Why Kenya’s Kleptocrats, Kakistocrats and Kratocrats cannot wait for Raila to retire from Politics.

RE: Why Kenya’s Kleptocrats, Kakistocrats and Kratocrats cannot wait for Raila Odinga to retire from Politics.

There is this popular narrative peddled mostly in the Mt. Kenya/Central parts of the country that “if Raila Odinga retires from politics, Kenya will ‘excel’ and ‘rise’ to the heights ‘God has in store for it’…”

It is a feel-good storyline much like the “Kenya Rising” or Kenya is a “sovereign and independent pan-African nation”, “God-fearing nation” led by a “God-chosen president – Uhuru Kenyatta” – storylines designed to demonize the former Prime Minister even as it detracts from the very real darkness that IS Kenya’s presidents – past and present.

The portrayal of a “Kenya rising once Raila retires from the country’s political scene” also has a Stockholm Syndrome-like attribute to it that further underscores the now-permanent insidiousness of ethnic chauvinism and tribalism. I say this because the very people who have BEEN on the receiving end of the brutality, kleptocratic, kakistocratic and now kratocratic ways of ALL four governments/presidencies of Kenya are the same ones willing to lose their lives to return the same avaricious brutes back into office – this as evidenced by the support they offered the regimes of Jomo, Moi, Kibaki and now Uhuru.

To state the obvious, nowhere in that list of the country’s (past) chief executives does Raila’s name appear unless one points to his tenure as Prime Minister – during the Coalition Government.
And even then, as evidenced by an observation offered by Mwai Kibaki’s former Economic Advisor Hiroyuki Hino in the book “Ethnic Diversity and Economic Instability in Africa”, the power – military and economic – rested with Mr. Kibaki – because “ministries and states agencies (were) packed with (Kibaki’s) fellow tribals, particularly in strategic institutions such as Treasury, ministries of State, Land, security agencies and state corporations” – effectively neutering the PM’s power and influence during Kibaki’s second term.

The same tribalization of the government agencies and institutions occurred under Jomo and Arap Moi.

We now have a president (Uhuru Kenyatta) whose political mentor Daniel Arap Moi presided over a 25-year-old reign of terror that included massive theft of public funds that almost bankrupted the country and persistent abuse of human rights as embodied by the creation of the dreaded Nyayo House torture chamber and police brutality, political assassinations of which Robert Ouko’s was the most prominent, disappearances, whimsical amendments to the Constitution to serve the interests of an equally whimsical executive. And unsurprisingly, the country’s 4th president must have taken copious notes while under Moi’s tutelage. Consider the following report card of Uhuru’s past four years:

– Nepotism/tribalism – Check!
– Theft of public funds – Check!
– Abuse of human rights – Check!
– Police brutality – Check!
– Assassinations/murders – Check!
– Whimsical amendments of the Constitution – Check!

Given the foregoing list, I am really curious to hear/read how exactly things will change, ostensibly for the “better” once RAO is no longer actively engaged in the country’s political discourse and the military and “divine God-chosen” powers and avarice of Uhuru Kenyatta and his family are left unchecked.

And no, the country’s parliament has just proven that it does not have the huevos to stand up to the executive let alone the moral authority to claim the higher ground!

Will theft of public funds – oftentimes emanating from Uhuru’s own Office of the President AND occurring within his own family miraculously cease?

What of theft at the various departments – NYS, Devolution & Planning, Afya House etc. Will RAO’s absence from the scene see an end to Waigurugate or NyoKihanyagate?

Assassinations? Extra-judicial killings? Eurobond?

What of manipulation/rigging/ballot-stuffing during elections?

How will Kenya “rise juu mpaka iwe ‘developed’ kama wale countries majuu” if close to 30% of its GDP is lost to corruption and there is no one with Raila’s gumption to (a) call out the theft like he did with Waigurugate and Eurobond and (b) rally the rest of the country against the powerful/connected perpetrators?

I, for one, am not fooled.

Those waiting for, make that salivating over the prospects of Raila’s retirement are doing so because they want to steal and violate the country’s laws without someone calling them out – publicly so!

That is what the BS over waiting for “Kenya to ‘rise juu’ once Raila Odinga retires from politics” is all about and nothing else.

To paraphrase a popular song now doing the rounds:

“These people want to steal unencumbered” and that’s why they cannot wait for Raila Odinga to retire!

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Exposed: What Keeps Raila Going Strong As Others Get Angry Drinking Themselves Silly

This is one of the best set of advice l have ever read.

1. Take risks in your life. If you win, you can lead; if you lose, you can guide.

2. People are not what they say but what they do; so judge them not from their words but from their actions.

3. When someone hurts you, don’t feel bad because it’s a law of nature that the tree that bears the sweetest fruits gets maximum number of stones.

4. Take whatever you can from your life because when life starts taking from you, it takes even your last breath.

5. In this world, people will always throw stones on the path of your success. It depends on what you make from them – a wall or a bridge.

6. Challenges make life interesting; overcoming them make life meaningful.

7. There is no joy in victory without running the risk of defeat.

8. A path without obstacles leads nowhere.

9. Past is a nice place to visit but certainly not a good place to stay.

10. You can’t have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time.

11. If what you did yesterday still looks big to you, then you haven’t done much today.

12. If you don’t build your dreams, someone else will hire you to build theirs.

13. If you don’t climb the mountain; you can’t view the plain.

14. Don’t leave it idle – use your brain.

15. You are not paid for having brain, you are only rewarded for using it intelligently.

16. It is not what you don’t have that limits you; it is what you have but don’t know how to use.

17. What you fail to learn might teach you a lesson.

18. The difference between a corrupt person and an honest person is: The corrupt person has a price while the honest person has a value.

19. If you succeed in cheating someone, don’t think that the person is a fool…… Realize that the person trusted you much more than you deserved.

20. Honesty is an expensive gift; don’t expect it from cheap people.

This is very interesting post and I want all my friends and family to benefit.

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“Dear Uhuru, Stop Masquerading That You Had Numbers In August, Those Were Fake” – Kipkorir Donald

Supreme Court Declared Presidential Results Void: Legal Meaning

The Supreme Court under Chief Justice David Maraga declared the August 8 Presidential Elections Void ab Initio. The Elections to be held on October 26 are Fresh Elections. They are not Re-run or repeat.

In law, “Void ab Initio” means what is cancelled is made zero, nugatory, naught, nihil, non-existent, lacking in validity.

In commercial contracts, when the Court or Arbitration declares a contract void, it means there is no contract. In Family Court, when marriage is declared void it means there was no marriage. In Land Division Court, when a Title Deed is declared void, all rights under it disappear.

When CJ Maraga in majority decision said the August 8 Presidential Elections are void, there are no results then. No one can speak of any figures. No candidate got any number of votes. The results were voided. You cannot claim to own a title Deed that has been cancelled. You can’t claim to have a contract that has been voided.

At all times, we must have fidelity to the law. If we can’t respect the legal meaning of Void in Elections, how will we respect decisions of Commercial, Family & Property Courts. How will we make Nairobi a Financial Centre? People must have confidence that decisions of our Courts mean what they say.

The saddest part is when Senior Lawyers mislead and misadvise their clients on meaning of VOID. Tragedy is that the whole public is likewise misled. When results or certificates or degrees or Title Deeds are voided in law, you have nothing. It is ZERO.

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WATCH Live Raila DISMANTLE Uhuru In Luanda Vihiga County, Thousands Accord NASA Super Reception

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”Uhuru Will Be Lethal, Brutal and Ruthless Like President Museveni If Re-elected”- Hon David Murathe Lets The Cat Out

Jubilee vice chairperson David Murathe has insinuated that President Uhuru Kenyatta should be a dictator “to save Kenya”.”What this country needs now is a benevolent dictator. People have been too soft so that things have gone rogue,” he said during a Friday interview on KTN.

Murathe said countries like Rwanda, headed by President Paul Kagame and Uganda (Yoweri Museveni) are too stable because of the leadership style employed by the presidents.

On Tuesday, Ugandan MPs came to blows in rage over the proposed changes to the Constitution to remove the presidential age limit currently set at 75.

This would make Museveni, 73, ineligible to stand in the 2021 election.

The move has been met with widespread opposition from civic rights activists, the political opposition, religious leaders and even some members of Museveni’s own ruling party.

Murathe said Kenya should borrow a leaf from such states adding that the situation where people demands without considering issues at hand is untenable.

In a quick rejoinder, NASA chief executive officer Norman Magaya told off the Jubilee vice chairman saying they will not accept dictatorship.

“We will defeat you David and you will not introduce dictatorship in Kenya. You better tell this to your man (Uhuru),” he said.

Magaya said the NASA leadership will not be intimidated by Jubilee threats.

“…we will not take threats and you will not intimidate us…we will have an election that conforms to the Constitution, not an election that pleases Uhuru and DP William Ruto,” he said.

IEBC talks with stakeholders collapsed on Thursday after NASA representatives walked out of the meeting.

Siaya Senator James Orengo said the Jubilee party has come up with a proposed Bill they cannot accept.

The Bill states that the results of the next presidential election will be determined by what is transmitted manually.

It seeks to amend the IEBC Act, the Election Act and the Elections Offences Act by giving manually transmitted results more clout than the electronically transmitted ones.

“The rules of the game should be agreed by all players. They should be fair and justifiable. Jubilee Party is arrogant,” Orengo said.

Civil society groups in support of the reforms on Friday said Jubilee must not be allowed to use parliamentary privileges to change the rules of the game halfway.

Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu’s Njonjo Mue said they will not accept amendments to the electoral law adding that the election must be held as directed by the Supreme Court.

“The October 26 election is a continuation of August 8. We cannot change the laws midway,” he told journalists in Nairobi.

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Election Rigging and Use Of Excessive Police Force; Who Exactly Is Power Angry? Raila Or Uhuru?

By Dorcas Sarkozy
The Return of Fanya Fujo Uone as a Governing Tool.

So it has come to this:

The Uhuru Kenyatta-commanded Kenyan law enforcement and security personnel frog-marching and assaulting young college students exercising their freedom of speech rights and a sycophantic legislature rubber-stamping the whims of an insecure regime desperately struggling to remain relevant and legitimate.

Let’s be clear, these two machinations originated from the dark recesses of the current State House – the most corrupt and fast-becoming most despotic in Kenya’s history.

Yet the foregoing notwithstanding, there are some pockets of the country that thought (and still think) that “Uhunye was/is so cool” and “hip”; that he is a “good man surrounded by ‘bad’ people”, “a God-fearing God-chosen leader”.

To repeat myself and re-state the obvious: Kenyans have been had – AGAIN!

What is even more Stockholm Syndrome-esque is the fact that the same pockets of the country, some whose sons and daughters are among the students who were bloodied by the marauding band of security personnel, are poised to vote for the same person who unleashed the troops on their children come October 26th or whenever the tyranny of the majority in Parliament and/or IEBC decides to conduct the re-election!

On the other hand, it should not surprise anyone given the 2013 “election” of two individuals accused of committing atrocities worse than the forces they now command – crimes-against-humanity!

Now with the ruling that bars the Supreme Court from annulling an election “without a recount of votes” and another one “ensuring election results are concurrently transmitted manually and electronically”, Kenya is poised to have a “Cabal for Life” presidency – most likely between the two most populous communities and whoever the incumbency chooses to rig or ballot-stuff in to office.

Plainly put, this move by the majority Jubilee legislature is a prelude to ballot-stuffing and vote rigging – plain and simple.

The president and his deputy know that.

The MPs know that.

More importantly, Kenyans, regardless of their political persuasion, know that!

Sometimes I wish Raila would just say “eff it” and leave Kenyans to their own device/s. Maybe then those who are hell-bent on denying others their democratic and civil rights will appreciate (a) what they have as a country – relative to say, Somalia or Myanmar or the Philippines (b) what the man RAO, for all his faults, has done to get them the socio-political space they currently take for granted – relative to say Uganda, Russia or our latest BFF China and (c) what they, the relatively weak, disempowered and un-connected majority Kenyans, stand to lose once RAO exits the scene and the current leadership and related and/or co-opted remnants do not have to worry about a counter-weight; an opposition of the man’s heft and gravitas.

Some of us are so wrapped up in our ethnic cocoons that we cannot see the forest for the trees.

Like the “Red State” Americans who voted into office the incompetent white supremacist Donald Trump because they “wanted their country back”, Jubilants are willing to cut their collective noses to spite their faces because they have convinced themselves that “Raira wiru nefa be plesident!”

Jubilants, like Americans who voted for Trump, are directly responsible for empowering the corrupt, incompetent and insecure leadership now overseeing the slow but steady erosion of the constitutional protections afforded individuals and institutions that serve and protect them from the tyranny of the majority.

Make no mistake about it, the brutal bloody assaults on the university students by the jittery but malleable law enforcement and security apparatus, the power grab by a power-hungry majority in Parliament, not because it is good for the country’s democracy, but because it ensures their (incumbency) stay in power, will eventually come back to haunt Kenyans and their country.

The success of the world’s foremost democracies that Kenyans love to cite albeit conveniently – UK, US, West Germany, Scandinavian countries, India etc. – lie, not in individuals, but in the strength, competence and independence of their various branches, institutions and agencies of said governments not to mention their fidelity to the constitution.

A strong and independent legislature, judiciary, law enforcement etc. is the perfect antidote to a power-hungry and insecure executive.

Unfortunately for Kenya, two of its main branches of government – Parliament and executive – are controlled by the one party – Jubilee. The president’s party is determined to usurp and centralize power, not because of any altruistic or for-the-greater-good aspiration/s, but because the third branch of government, SCOK, caught both with their hands in the cookie jar i.e. attempting to rig an election!

Ashamed and embarrassed, the presidency unleashed the troops it commands onto protesting college students in a textbook example of disproportionate response to perceived violation/s of the law.

For its part, the legislature voted to curb the powers of SCOK and facilitate the stuffing of ballot boxes and rigging of elections.

Combined, these two moves by Jubilee are a slippery slope towards despotism and authoritarianism – period!

And Raila Odinga is the one who is “power hungry”?

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BREAKING DRAMA: Daughters Of Raila Arrested in Kakamega, Vehicles Impounded Till Uhuru Leaves Town

Uhuru ‘Screws’ Kisii Community Again, Skips Burial Of Jubilee Strongman The Late Hon Onyancha

Hon. Joel Onyancha, longtime Kisii pointman for President Uhuru and Jubilee who died of heart attack moments after Supreme Court final judgement, was laid to rest yesterday.

It was a quiet, somber event; unlikely and unexpected, of a man who sat on same row with the President. This made it even more sorrowful.

Not only did Jubilee leaders, including President Uhuru, snub his burial, they were actually campaigning in nearby Busia, where they received Paul Otuoma, whom, if he were to die today, Jubilee will move to nearby Trans Nzoia to campaign, oblivious of the finality of death.

Contrast this with the recent burial of Rachel Shebesh’s father, Samuel Mbugua. President Uhuru attended. Other recent burials are those of Biwott and GG Kariuki.

The late Mbugua, a longtime ODM Chairman for Kiambu Branch, also saw his longtime friend and Party Leader Raila Odinga attend.

Lesson to my ‘western Kenya’ friends who pretend to be more Jubilee Mt Kenya people themselves

Of Onyancha it must be said: Here is a man who served Uthamaki diligently for the last 15 years but who, on his resting place, saw neither Uthamaki nor Uthamaki surrogates!

Go deep, and never forget.

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Uhuru Failure To Attend The Late Hon Onyancha Burial Left CS Matiangi Gusii Jubilee Hanging

Hon Joel Onyancha was buried yesterday , he was known as the only Kisii leader who has always stool with PNU – TNA -Jubilee in Gusiiland back then during Kibaki era while every politician in kisiiland was vying on an ODM ticket he stood firm with TNA and was elected, he remained steadfast in Jubilee, was a dallying to Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, he traversed the entire Kisii and nyamira county campaigning for Jubilee.

His sudden death last week was received with a lot of shock and pain but what worries most is the manner in which the Jubilee government has vilified his demise, there has not been much attention paid. The president and his deputy yesterday were seriously campaigning in western region while one of their staunch footsoldier was being laid to rest, no media was even covering the event live,

This makes me imagine what could this be the case if it was someone from Central province or Rift Valley, the scenario could have been different, you could have seen the president postpone all his engagements and attend the burial with all the Jubilee top officials, all media houses would by now be giving a live coverage, the same happened during the burial for Biwott, G.G Kariuki, Nkaissery and many others,

This should be a learning experience to our Kisii brothers and sisters, Jubilee does not have our interests as Abagusii community at heart, to them we are just a bridge to presidency and the moment they will reach the other side the will dismantle the bridge please Gusii Nation let’s wake up and open our eyes

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How SONU Chairman Escaped Assassination From Killer Police Squard Along Mamlaka Lane

After the bloodiest Saba Saba day of 1997 a squad of armed police thugs attempted to abduct me along Mamlaka within the precincts of the University of Nairobi in the pitch of darkness at night,one of them whispered to me in my tongue..Jogi Dwaro negi..(These men are on a mission to finish you)…Young and energetic, I fought gun trotting thugs..

That was the fight of my life..It left me drenched in my own blood,with a deformed face..

One female student helped me, can’t remember her name but she was a first year,Dental Surgery student…the thugs pulled her Rastas,almost to the last thread ..but she remained true to her mission and stood by me..Wailing all the while…Her boyfriend took off at lightening speed to the safety of his room in Hall 13…The friendly cop did his bid in foiling the whole mission.

Solomon Muruli had mysteriously died at Kikuyu Campus 5 months earlier..

We had just returned from the burials of Andrew Ogada and Mugendi the two comrades who were murdered by the police on 7/7/1997…Christopher Owiro aka Karl Marx was the first person I sent for and true to his nature he swung into action…

My treatment was the most urgent and immediate business before alerting the media…Dennis Onyango, the current Press Secretary to Hon Raila Odinga, then working at the Nation Newspapers was the first to arrive…The Rest is history…still alive and in the struggle 20 years later…

As the clarion call then was #No reforms No elections so it is in 2017…Aluta Continua and Quick Recovery to the injured comrade!

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Oil Libya –Bellevue Station, Has Con Attendants, This Is A True Story

Oil Libya –Bellevue Station has Con Attendants

At exactly 4:50 am on Friday 22/09/2017, I drove into Oil Libya Petrol Station at Bellevue. I parked on the rear fuel pump where I signaled the fuel attendant to fill my car with fuel worth ksh. 3,000. As a custom, I always look at the fuel pump to see whether I’m getting value for my money. On this particular day since we were travelling out of town with a colleague, I had requested him we meet at the same petrol station. I delved into my phone to alert him that I was at the station. A few moments after placing the fuel nozzle into my car tank (and as I was on phone) the fuel attendant proceeded to clean my windscreen (never mind it wasn’t dirty). After cleaning the windscreen, he proceeded to remove the nozzle and approached my window where I parted with ksh. 3,000. Normally, fuel worth ksh. 3,000 is about 30 litres (half of my car tank). That morning my tank was a quarter full, meaning an additional of 30 litres would have been more than half the tank and consumption-wise that could have covered more than 300kms.

After parting with the ksh. 3,000, I moved for about 10 metres and allowed my colleague to occupy the driving seat as we exited the petrol station. After driving for about 90 kms, my colleague asked me where we were going to refuel to which I responded that there was no need as we had enough fuel to bring us back to Nairobi later in the day. He then signaled me to the dash board light showing we were running short of fuel! But didn’t I fuel an hour or so ago? That’s when it dawned on me that the fuel attendant never refueled my car. All along we have been driving on the quarter tank that existed before getting into Oil Libya!! So I realised.

That evening after getting back to Nairobi, we drove straight to Oil Libya where after inquiries I was directed to a Mr. Njogu, who after listening to my ordeal promised to investigate and get back to me. After two days, without the promised communication and failure to pick my calls, I went back to the Station where I met Mr. Njogu who admitted that indeed the CCTV cameras captured my car at the station, the duration I stayed and the movements of the fuel attendant but had very little to do to help my cause.

I reminded him that I was not only seeking the ksh. 3,000 rip off but alert the management to be wary of their employees who are out to fleece their customers. He seemed unperturbed. So, next time you want to fuel, be wary of Oil Libya Petrol Station – Bellevue. Always keep an eye on the fuel pump!!

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A Friend Of The Woman Who Stripped Naked During Anti-Ezra Chiloba Demonstrations Speaks Out, Why She Could Not Do It.

“If Babu Owino doesn’t apologize to the president within 24hrs. I’ll strip naked in his constituency and run around naked. The president must be respected” ~ Sabina Joy
This socialite is going to run around naked demonstrating on behalf of uthamakistan. And you will agree with me that the Nasarites must be represented by a worthy competitor.

Well, that is what prompted us to think of also stripping naked during the anti-IEBC Ezra Chiloba demonstrations.

We volunteered to represent NASA… Since it seems to be the trend nowadays to strip and parade your goodies to all and sundry.

However I developed cold feet as my friend proceeded to partly show off a section of her bare bottom.

I’m afraid that may never gather courage to do it like my friend owing to several reasons:

1. My breasts having nurtured and breathed life into a child have since gone south. I need to raise them to the north and enlarge them to a DD cup for tremendous TIBIM impact…

2. My thighs having been stretched during pregnancy may be looking a wee bit stripped like those of a zebra

3. My punani…dare I talk about this? I once had a Ugandan friend and you all know they like to elongate them by pulling on them. The reason I don’t go commando…ok let’s not go there…

4. My waistline…oh I weep…having listened to tales that men like something they can grab onto as they ride with abandon, I am afraid I may have eaten excessively…

And so yes I am here to plead for a little money to sculpt this body into a dreamy shape that can take part in the new type demonstrations…

The paybill number is my Wells Fargo account…

The post A Friend Of The Woman Who Stripped Naked During Anti-Ezra Chiloba Demonstrations Speaks Out, Why She Could Not Do It. appeared first on Kenya Today.

Veteran Marathon Legend Paul Tergat Elected NOCK President, He Is Avery Very Good Man (Trump Accent)

Veteran marathon legend Paul Tergat has been elected the new National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) president unopposed, a very very good man (insert Donald Trump accent)

He replaces Kipchoge Keino at the helm of the Olympic committee following the Friday poll. Keino has been NOCK President since 1999 goes into retirement.

Tergat’s sole challenger Patrick Muyah who is also the Kenya Swimming Federation vice chairman was declared unsuitable by the General Assembly.

Meanwhile, 5000m world champion Hellen Obiri and and rugby superstar Humphrey Kayange were elected unopposed as Female and Male Athletes representatives respectively.

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BREAKING: Tear Gas And Gunshots Inside Egerton University Njoro Campus, GSU Police Brutalizing Comrades Again?

Breaking:

Tear gas and Gun shots right inside Egerton University, Njoro campus.

Students are engaging GSU. Are Police brutalizing comrades again?

More to follow

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If the police want war with the University of Nairobi comrades, I challenge them to name a place and time

By Gab O via FB

I have watched a sad video. The Kenya police rounding up students at the University of Nairobi hostels and beating them up with jembe handles.

The building in that picture is Prefabs 4, you can see number 4 written over that door. At the time I was there, and it was not long ago, Prefabs was the hostel that housed junior engineering students before they graduated to the fortified Mamlaka Hostels just up the hill. Prefabs also temporarily housed first year medical students before they joined Chiromo Campus hostels.

I put my hand over my heart that if the police were to look for a trouble-maker to bludgeon to death, at the University of Nairobi today, Prefabs would be the last place their suspect would be found.

They are cowards, the cops. They picked the weakest of the weak, went right inside their most vulnerable zone, and unleashed terror on the juniors. We shall revisit that brutality. There is no single day one comrade has ever been molested and the rest sat back and waved the crime away.

If the police want war with the University of Nairobi comrades, I challenge them to name a place and time;

And we shall be there.

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”The Pigs Are Mad That Other Animals Have Discovered The Joys Of Rolling In The Mud”- Hon Sifuna

By Edwin Sifuna via FB
It is either serious abdication of duty by the DPP or outright malicious connivance with the executive to abuse his prosecutorial powers in the manner charges are being laid against Hon. Babu Owino.

We know egos were seriously bruised by Babu’s alleged utterences and police power is being used to assuage their anger.

The pigs are mad that other animals have discovered the joys of rolling in the mud.

Using insults against other leaders is not right but let me reiterate that on this score, the rest of the country will follow the example Uhuru himself sets.

We have taken enough insults and must now cease our pretensions to morality, climb down, and meet the pigs in the mud baths.

Wakitupa tunatupa.

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STATEMENT On Police Brutality On University Of Nairobi Students

By Silas G Nyanchwani

On March 5, 2009, a beautiful, sunny Thursday evening I witnessed something that would be permanently be etched in my mind as long as I live.

I had just finished some end of the semester paper, probably Communication or Political Science and we had walked up to our hostel, Hall 11, along State House Road. As was the habit, I went to my friend Plato’s room to shoot some breeze. I used to live on Ground Floor, Room 001. And my friend lived on the right wing of first floor, facing State House Road.

I had barely settled in his room, when we heard what sounded like gunshots. Looking outside we saw some men in suits running shooting to the sky. We ducked under the bed, lest a stray bullet greeted our eyes. The gun shots rent the air for a few minutes, then we saw the men in black disappear. A few minutes later we went down to State House Road to witness what had just happened.

Arriving on the scene, we noticed that two men had been shot dead. Shot dead on STATE HOUSE ROAD. Shot dead barely a kilometre where the president lives. Shot dead inside the country’s biggest and oldest university. Shot dead in one of the safest grounds in the country. In broad daylight. Never imagined a more brazen impunity. We stood there frozen.

Killers always intrigue me. When you kill, do you go back to your family, sit down with your wife and kids, have dinner and live like you have done nothing. Do you get to bed with your wife, have an erection and have sex with your wife? Do you live a normal life? Like do you take your kids to school with the money you have been given? Do you go to church and sit through a sermon? Do you cry when you lose a loved one?

My family pushed me, for nearly the eight years I was eligible, to join the military. I had the height, the right credentials and may be a godfather somewhere who would have seen to it that I am taken. But other than being a weakling, I can’t kill deliberately. So, two careers I knew I will never take up were military or any police work and Law. In the old days, I would have been a conscientious objector. I hate any form of pain or torture. Even as a prefect in high school, a student had to really provoke me, before I raised my hand and even when I did, guilty consumed. Man, I hate pain, or inflicting pain on anyone…anyway, I digress.

The two who had been shot were soon to be identified as Oscar King’ara and GPO Oulu, both working with an NGO that provided evidence to the UN Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings of Mungiki. Earlier that afternoon, the then Government Spokesperson, future governor of Machakos, Alfred Mutua had warned the duo, and barely two hours later, while leaving Ufangamano House, they sat dead in the car.

Oscar had a bullet through his forehead, and whatever expression he wore when the bullet came in, is what remained on the face. For GPO, the bullet had gone through the neck and his pulse was still discernible. And comrades did try to take him to the nearby student clinic, but treating a bullet wound is not possible with police clearance, and moving him around was not helpful and he died anyway. The people sent to kill, went to school to learn how to kill, so it was a mortal wound. Hope springs eternal and the comrades tried everything to save him, but he died.

Back in campus, now thousands of comrades had taken over State House Road, and one of the greatest student-police battle was about to take place. As usual the first contingent arrived, but it was easily overpowered. And then the GSU, trained to contain spreading violence announced their presence by throwing multiple teargas canisters, but there is nothing the comrades love more. Comrades pushed the Mercedes Benz with Oscar still strapped to the driver’s seat and it was pushed inside the university compound, and Oscar’s body was taken off and hidden in some corner, near the university swimming pool.

By 7.30 p.m., the university was inhabitable. Students were engaging the police in running battles, students hurling stones and police hurling teargas, the Lower State Unit of housing of the university was a cloud of teargas, there was nowhere to run to. By 8, the crowd, now uncontrolled, the police shot at student with live bullets, and one died on spot. And at that point realized that we were fighting a losing battle and withdraw to our hostels, misty eyed from the teargas that been lobbed into the hostels.

Around this time, my cousin who is older than me (bless his soul), then a police constable at Kamkunji Police Station, called me, and being older, it was an order.

“The GSU have been sent to the university, find a way and disappear as fast as you can,” he ordered me. From his tone, I knew the GSU were not coming to crack jokes with us, rather they were coming to crack our heads.

I told my friends that we should ran away, but they dismissed me as an alarmist, coward. But Alex Kirui, did heed my call and I don’t how we found our way out of the university and ran up State House Road, to the staff quarters where my uncle and his family lived. Alex thankfully ran into some member of staff leaving the staff quarters, going to his estate, South C and he boarded and left. For that cowardly act, my friends never quite forgave me. But my fear was informed by a story told me when I was a child by my other favourite uncle who is a police officer.

He told me that in the late 1990s, President Moi was going down State House Road when some cheeky students threw a stone at his motorcade. All the policing units within Nairobi were summoned and dispatched to reign terror on students, and he told me, students were beaten and raped properly, for that small misdemeanor.

So, I always lived in mortal fear of the police. Two years ago, when I saw students of the University of Nairobi being caned like primary school kids in the 1990s, near St Paul’s Catholic Church, my heart sunk.

To the police, university students are a nuisance, and anytime called upon to quell violence, they never hesitate using maximum force.

So yesterday, we saw them fishing students out of Prefabs 4 and brutally beating the hell out of them. And then more footage surfaced from ADD Building where the country’s top Architects, Quantity Surveyors, Landscapers, Construction Managers, Interior Designers, are made. Those are A students we are talking about. It takes about six years of hard work and sweating for one to finish an architectural degree.

They are one of the busiest people in Kenya. While in campus, I tried to date two girls from ADD, but it would simply not work. They were too busy for life. There is a labour of work and ADD that particular college in the university is one of the most functional colleges in Kenya.

So, to see the police so brutally beating the kids, and their lecturers, it shows the kind of country we have been living off. We may have changed the constitution and some of us, have assumed that things like police brutality are behind us. Alas!
Few people will notice the connection between the parliamentary desire to reverse the clock, taking us back to the dark days and police brutality. Few people can notice the connection between the president threatening the Judiciary and the manhandling of Babu Owino and lawyer Otiende Omolo, for all his faults. For some, as long it does not involve their ‘person’, they rarely bother.

Nairobi Governor said very unkind things about Babu, calling him every expletive in the book, and alluding to rape and sodomy, as people cheered. Few people notice how having a rogue leadership, emboldens police to be as brutal as they wish.

Only few people get to be held accountable. Usually, the underdog. Few people notice how the use of excessive force of the police beats the very logic that we have them. Few people see anything wrong with the police clobbering to death a six-month-old baby and shooting a teenager playing in the balcony of their houses.

Yesterday, it was Baby Pendo. Yesterday it was the university students. Tomorrow it will be your turn, and if you think that your ethnicity or class will save you, you can’t be mistaken. You can be middle-class, but the child, you paying top dollar for at the university of Nairobi will be shot dead, or disabled by the brutality. Nobody is immune from police brutality, and in some things, whatever our differences we must be united to fight against.

For instance, it should be made legal to enter university hostels or lecture halls. There ought to be spaces where our children can be safe. Once they have been taken out of the streets, the police should be stationed where they can stop them from gaining access to the streets. But going after kids in lecture halls, hostels, caning, torturing, raping female students should not be normalized as to assume that it is student practice.

Police were beating university students in the 1980s. In the 1990s, in the 2000s, and now in the 2010s. When shall this end.
Two successive governments have not stopped it. The new constitution has not stopped it. Forming IPOA has not improved the way the police force works.

Something gotta give. We can resign in desperation. Or we can stand for what is right.

The police kill, rape, steal, pillage because they know, in chaos, they are not accountable to anyone. Unless, a citizen stands up to oppose their brutality, we, our friends, enemies, relatives, fellow Kenyans, children, will always be victims.

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Exposed: The Big Picture Uhuru Statehouse Operatives Missed By Harrassing Babu Owino

Is Babu Owino the future of Kenya?

By Abeid Ngore

“I met Babu Owino three times when he was still a student leader at UoN. The first time I met him was in February of 2015. He was in Parklands (UoN School of Law), having lunch with Jim Akach (former SONU Secretary General) and other students leaders I cannot remember. I went to greet him and he was so intrigued by my accent he bought me lunch and told me to sit down so that we could converse.

What I can remember about this conversation is that I was very open with him and told him that I was not such a huge fan of his politics. He laughed it off casually. I then asked him what plans he had for his future, where he would be in the next ten years. Babu Owino looked me straight in the face (his eyes were bloodshot) and told me that he would be President of this country one day.

Later that day, I shared this encounter with a few of my classmates. We were so convinced that after College, Babu would cease to be relevant. We thought that his politics only appealed to students. I mean, Babu had no agenda, no ideology, and no substance. The only product he sold to students was Riaaaaah, Tibim, and Tialala. He was a demagogue, and rightly so. No Kenyan, in his right mind, would vote Babu Owino to public office.

When he announced that he would go for the Embakasi East parliamentary seat, we thought Babu was biting more than he could chew. Then as fate would have it, Onyango Jalamo released the NASA campaign song a few months to the election. Like Babu Owino, the song was one the greatest jokes of the 2017 election. Echoing no form or substance, it was the most atrocious piece of music ever created in the history of Ohangla.

What we didn’t realise is that Onyango Jalamo nationalised Tibim and Tialala. And in the months leading to the general election, Tibim had evolved from a war cry that Babu Owino utilized in rallying students to harass innocent motorists along State House Road to an expression that would be used over and over again in NASA rallies. In a nutshell, Babu Owino redefined campaign stratagem for the NASA coalition. I knew at that point that he would win the Embakasi East constituency parliamentary seat by 9am.

But who is Babu Owino? What is his politics? This is a question that the Jubilee administration is finding too difficult to answer. If they could answer these questions, they would leave Babu alone. Because at the moment, Jubilee is playing a game whose script Babu Owino wrote several years ago.

Babu Owino has nothing to lose in life. That is who he is. Babu was raised in the worst of Kisumu slums where getting anything was through sweat, blood, and tears. He mastered the art of thriving in chaos. Babu Owino is at his best in hostile environments. Take him to prison; he comes out refined and better than he walked in. Use violence against Babu Owino –he is violence. Intimidate Babu Owino –he doesn’t cower. Put a gun to his head –Babu will probably laugh at you and ask for a bottle of Black Label (his best brand of alcohol).

Further –and most importantly- Babu Owino practises populist politics. To understand what populism is, you have to critically analyse the Freudian philosophy of mass psychology. A populist doesn’t need an agenda –Babu has no agenda. What a populist needs is an understanding of the ideas of repression, ego, regression, and the unconscious. Thus, a populist studies the society and what ails it, looks for ways in which he/she can tap into these ailments, then stirs emotions and collective energies into explosive directions.

A politician like Babu looks at a crowd and realizes that there are certain archaic regressions –primitive and animalistic instincts- that reside in all of us. Once he has made that discovery, he looks for ways through which he can awaken these primordial and archaic instincts. And so when Babu insults Uhuru Kenyatta, it doesn’t mean he has a problem with the Man. Babu has studied the crowd and realised that there is widespread dissatisfaction with this government.

The next question he asks himself is how he can appeal to this sense of dissatisfaction. And this is where he really gets it. You cannot be rational with a dissatisfied young person who’s been jobless for the past ten years. You go back Sigmund Freud who tells you that it is impossible to win the masses through rationality. To appeal to the dissatisfied masses like Babu does, you mobilize the irrational, unconscious, and regressive processes. You come up with phrases like Tibim and Tialala.

As Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe says, “the age of humanism is ending and the world is welcoming the age of anger.” The future of global politics lies in the hands of people like Babu who carry no sensible political aims. If Jubilee is not careful with how they handle Babu Owino, he’s going to be Nairobi Governor in 2022. For the past two days that they have had him in custody, he’s been more relevant politically than ever before. And like he told me so many years back, Babu Owino might just be President in the years to come”

President Paul Ongili Esq ! I like the sound.

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WHAT MEDIA Did Not Show You, Behind The Scenes At Kibera Law Court as Babu Owino Was Charged Over Assault

Behind the scenes as Babu Owino was produced in court facing s charge of assaut; first it was no secret that the rogue police officers were determined to arrest Babu Owino yet again. But the people were more determined to block any such plans. During the hearing, all road exits were closed{TukTuk and Matatus} parked in the middle of both ends of the roads. The angry youth would also take over the operations of the main gate where all cars leaving the premises were thoroughly being searched in case Babu was being hidden somewhere in the boots. Inside the premises the hungry mean looking police officers were kept reminded that “Watajua Hii Ni Kibera sio Milimani”. One of the youth pulled a show when he walked over to a police officer, tried to grab his gun, not to take it away , but was asking the cop to dare shoot him if he thinks he got balls. The cop and his colleagues silently walked away for their ‘safety’.
Babu Owino was never going anywhere!
Well, the most interesting part was when Babu was released on bail. The kind of ring fence that surrounded Babu Owino on his way out was one of its kind. I could see the shock in the eyes of the flying squad officers.They were taken by surprise. They were left gnashing their brown teeth with anger and bitterness. A group in front were literal pushing away riot police who were manning the premises to pave way for Babu Owino. The flying squad officers had 50 police cars, 200armed GSUs to arrest and whisk Babu away, but through the power of the people, Babu Owino walked away with chants of ‘Wakuje Sasa Waone’! Those boys who were appointed by the size of their teeth today witnessed something they have never seen in their career.!
Now that was for Babu Owino, You dont want to imagine when it comes to Raila Odinga….Omera Ouru Okcham!

Credit Phelix G-cord

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BOMBSHELL: Hon Babu Owino Press Statement

Babu’s PRESS STATEMENT …

Today, I have been released from the shackles of oppression following a three day incarceration at the hands of a crumbling Jubilee regime.

During my time behind bars, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of messages of goodwill from Kenyans all over the country. I thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

I wish to state categorically, that I will not let you down. I will not relent in the struggle for democracy and good governance in Kenya.

I stand for the Bill of Rights as enshrined in the Constitution of Kenya 2010.

I stand for unfettered Freedom of Speech.

I stand for the right of every Kenyan to speak their mind without fear of reprisal from a rogue administration.

I stand for the right of Kenyans to say what you may not like because that is their inalienable right guaranteed under our supreme law.

I wish to tell the Inspector General of Police and his officers acting under a misguided sense of sycophancy to Jubilee, that I forgive them. I forgive them and pray for those who sent them to be freed from the shackles of hatred and intolerance in which they are bound.

And to the young people of Kenya, in the paraphrased words of Dr. Martin Luther King, this is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of dictatorship to the sunlit path of justice.

Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of executive and parliamentary dictatorship to the solid rock of brotherhood and nationhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all Kenyans.

God bless our youth, God bless Kenya!

Hon. Babu Owino
MP, Embakasi East,
Leader of the Young Revolutionaries of the Republic of Kenya,
Thursday, September 28, 2017

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BREAKING: Freed Babu Owino Addresses 1 Million Supporters In Kibera, Watch VIDEO.

Freed Embakasi MP Hon Babu Owino is currently addressing 1million supporters in Kibera, Watch Video

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LIVE: BREAKING CELEBRATIONS Hon Babu Owino Is FREE ! Court Orders Police To Release Him On A Sh500000 Bond

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino released on a Sh500,000 bond or Sh200,000 cash bail as no compelling reasons given by the prosecution on why he should be detained

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BREAKING: Raila Calls For Countrywide Mass Action, Monday and Fridays to Protest Against Uhuru Regime

Dear Chiloba And Your Statehouse Sponsor, A Gentle Reminder; We Shall See Who Will Have The Last Laugh.

By Gab O
You all know Harry Truman. He was the 33rd President of the United States of America.

Harry Truman is the first, and only, US President the State of Missouri has ever produced. He is also the only US President, to-date, that a Secret Service Agent has ever died while protecting. They would have been two, but Special Agent Tim McCarthy, who stepped in front of President Ronald Reagan during the assassination attempt of 1981 and took a bullet to the abdomen, made a full recovery. He is now the Chief of Police of Orland Park, Illinois.

Harry Truman is credited with making several historical decisions that changed the course of American history. He is the guy who okayed the use of those atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those two bombings, which killed in excess of 129,000 people, remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in world history. Donald Trump is about to break that record very shortly.
You could argue that Harry Truman had lots of responsibility to take, and never never shied away from doing so, but for the young boy who broke his collar bone when he fell out of a chair while combing his hair, and whose eyesight was severely impaired by a searing Diptheria attack, Harry Truman is, perhaps, best known for his famous rallying cry;
“The Buck Stops Here.”

The phrase “The Buck Stops Here” is based on the metaphorical expression “passing the buck”, derived from poker game-play, that came to mean “passing blame”, or absolving oneself of responsibility or concern by denying authority or jurisdiction over a given matter.

President Harry Truman had “The Buck Stops Here” sign on his White House office-desk, made in the Federal Reformatory at El Reno, Oklahoma. That sign, Harry Truman told Americans, was a personal statement from him that no excuses will be made, that he was going to take direct responsibility for matters affecting American citizens, rather than pass the responsibility to anyone else.
Ezra Chiloba thinks he is a god. I have seen in The Star headline today his display of unbridled arrogance telling those calling for his resignation to go ride a cactus; and that he is not going anywhere.

There is no problem.
We are all in this country. We shall see who will have the last laugh. When the time will come for the IEBC to take responsibility and it will be too late in the day, let Ezra Chiloba not come running to Kenyans pleading for clemency and favor from the Lord.

The silver-back gorilla entered the dense forest and thumped his hairy chest screaming for a challenge. Squirrels are cowering in their holes thinking who will save them from that arrogant show of tin-pot impunity. The grizzly bear hears a commotion, gracefully checks into the forest while picking his teeth, and the gorilla now feels like a toddler trying to wrestle with a 150kgs man.
Salvage everything you can gather and run, before it’s too late, Ezra Chiloba. Because when the whirlwind of reforms begins to gather momentum; even your godfathers at State House will not know the identity of the tsunami that blew their dictatorial roofs far-away. It’s a race you have a clear head-start on;
But not for long.

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BREAKING: VP Kalonzo Musyoka Detained At JKIA Airport, Forced to Clear Told Get Permision From Uhuru To Travel Abroad

PRESS RELEASE;
SEPTEMBER 28, 2017
NASA CONDEMNS ATTEMPTS TO BAR HON KALONZO MUSYOKA FROM TRAVELING ABROAD:
Earlier today, authorities at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport tried to stop NASA co-principal Hon Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka from travelling to Uganda where he is to preside at a graduation ceremony of the Uganda Technology and Management University (UTAMU) as Chancellor.
Although Mr. Musyoka and Sen. Moses Wetangula who accompanied him were later allowed to travel, the authorities disclosed that henceforth Hon Musyoka and I, the NASA candidate, would need clearance from State House before leaving the country.
These attempts point to a rapid deterioration of the political situation in the country and the emergence of an all-out effort to create an atmosphere of fear. They point to a resurgence of the old order, with the Executive giving itself powers that do not exist in our laws.
NASA condemns this latest infringement on the freedoms and liberties and the harassment of its top leadership. The attempts to prohibit opposition leaders from leaving the county and to control their movement through State House clearances are illegitimate maneuvers by an increasingly paranoid regime.

NASA wishes to inform the Jubilee administration that its leadership does not intend to seek any clearance from State House to travel abroad. The Kenyan Opposition must remain free as a legitimate part and parcel of the Kenyan political land scape and be allowed and enabled to pursue its mandate as an alternative government and voice of the people in line with the Constitution.

RT. HON RAILA ODINGA
SEPTEMBER 28, 2017.

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”Top Official In The Office Of The President Wants To Kill Me”- Hon Elijah Memusi ODM

Kajiado Central MP Elijah Memusi Kanchory (ODM) has recorded a statement at Parliament police station over threats to his life.

Hon Memusi claimed a top office of the president official who s also Kajiado county commissioner Harsama Kello, has “has instructed hitmen to come and kill me”.

“I have received information that Commissioner Kello has asked hitmen to come for me. I had exposed him for abuse of office. He has used his office to enrich himself,” he claimed.

The MP went to the station on Thursday accompanied by leaders including Nominated MP Judith Pareno.

He further claimed Kello held a meeting on killing him and that he is involved in land grabbing.

The MP has been embroiled in a war of words with Kello over accusations of land grabbing and election rigging.

On Monday, Memusi accused the commissioner of being a Jubilee Party agent executing a plot to rig the fresh October 26 vote in favour of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

On Monday Hon Memusi led Maa community leaders in declaring that the Masai were in NASA and will vote Raila Odinga in October polls , they also revealed how Jubilee rigged votes in Kajiado and Narok counties

The Supreme Court ordered the repeat election after NASA leader Raila Odinga filed a petition saying there were massive irregularities.

Memusi told journalists: “We have information that this commissioner has been travelling all over the region and forcing chiefs to campaign for Uhuru, against the constitution.

He said today: “… the information is with police…police should quickly investigate this matter…we are telling Jubilee that we will continue fighting for our people.”

Memusi noted his work as a legislator entails representing the Kajiado Central population so nobody will intimidate him.

“Kello is just is fighting back. We are ready for you. We want acting Interior CS Fred Matiang’i to quickly take up this matter and investigate. Kello should be transferred or we will evict him from office.”

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DRAMA In Parliament as NASA MPs Walk Out Protesting Uhuru Introducing Laws To Facilitate Rigging October Presidential Election

NASA MPs after they walked out of parliament chambers protesting illegalities in the passing of the Election Laws amendment Bill

The empty propaganda being spun around by Uhuru, Ruto and Jubilee that Uhuru’s election was annulled by Supreme Court due to difficulty in technicalities arising from transmission failures is a total farce.

Uhuru purported election was annulled not because electronics failed but because Uhuru and his network were caught red handed engaging in massive electoral fraud by circumventing the electronic architecture laid out by IEBC.

The court exposed how physical F34s could not match electronic F34s. The Military Intelligence Officers they had secretly appointed as special Returning Officers totally failed in their election chicanery assignment. That is why Jubilee and their agents in IEBC defied Supreme Court orders to open the RTS server for scrutiny or avail verifiable server logs for examination by experts. Shameless thieves!

Today, many ordinary people who followed the petition know that it is simply because of electoral laws that they were unable to get away with the theft this time around.

Therefore the election law amendment currently being pursued by Uhuru is to enable fraud to take place without detection and to disable and incapacitate courts of law from annulling such sham elections.

Basically Uhuru is nurturing a dictatorship disguised as a democracy. For his part, Ruto has panicked as he watches his 2022 election rigging network being dismantled.

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WATCH LIVE Court Proceedings BABU Owino Charged in Kibera Law Courts

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EXCLUSIVE: Hon Babu Owino Charge Sheet, Accused of Assaulting A Mr Otieno Obiende at Soweto Social Hall on 8th August

The charge sheet reads:
“On the 8th day of August 2017 at Soweto social hall. Kayole sub county within Nairobi County in the republic of Kenya jointly with others not before the court unlawfully did grievous harm to Joshua Otieno Obiende”

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Ignore Edited Video Of Governor Sonko Insulting Babu Owino, Watch RAW VIDEO, Calls for Respect of President Uhuru, NASA’s Raila and Kalonzo

BREAKING: Hon Babu Owino Inside Kibera Law Court, James Orengo, 15 Lawyers Representing

Police have produced Embakasi East MP Hon Babu Owino at Kibra law courts and is set to appear before Chief Magistrate Joyce Gandani over an alleged assault -causing grievous bodily harm on a voter during August 8 polls

He will also face another election-related charge that he allegedly committed during the campaign period in Embakasi East constituency.

Owino was re-arrested on Wednesday, minutes after he was released on a Sh500,000 cash bail in another cooked up case of subversion, insulting the President and incitement.

The MP is represented by more than 15 lawyers.

The file is however not before court yet

Tension is high inside and outside the court building as Owino’s supporters arrive to offer sympathy and to be in solidarity with the fiery ODM MP.

Meanwhile lawyer Atiende Amollo is said to have lost a wallet and mobile phone during Babu Owion re-arresting incident at Milimani Law courts yesterday, only police were present in an even that was captured by media.

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”We Shall Hold You Individually Responsible If You Harm or Kill Hon Babu Owino, Aladwa, Any MP Judge etc”- Governor Joho Warns

Mombasa governor Ali Hassan Joho has was warned rogue police officers that they shall be held individualy responsible if they harm Hon Babu Owino, any other MP or Judge.

Governor was reacting to rumours widely circulating in social media that there plans by top political operatives to kill a sitting ODM MP representing Nairobi and a top High Court Judge.

Here is governor Joho’s brief but powerful statement.

WE ARE STILL A NATION OF LAWS

As ODM Deputy Party Leader, I am concerned by the rearrest after discharge of Embakassi East ODM Mp Hon. Babu Owino.

I am particularly concerned by the conduct of the police involved in this incident. I would wish to remind security officers that we will hold each one of you individually culpable in the event of any harm to the member of parliament.

I would like to remind everyone in the security services, that through the will of God, everything eventually comes to an end. It always does. We are a nation of laws and should behave as such.

Finally, Let it be known to all. That we shall not relent in our pursuit of electoral justice. This country SHALL and MUST have free and fair elections.

HASSAN ALI JOHO
ODM Deputy Party Leader

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STALEMATE At Bomas IEBC Talks As Jubilee Insisted on Introducing New Laws To Cage CJ Maraga, Talks Resume Today

By Jeff Mosoku for SMG

Talks between the electoral agency and presidential candidates were suspended on Wednesday after the Opposition said they could not proceed in light of Jubilee’s push to change electoral laws. The meeting to bridge the rift over the October 26 presidential repeat poll stalled after the National Super Alliance (NASA) said whatever they were discussing was futile following the drafting of a bill sponsored by Jubilee seeking to amend electoral laws.

NASA insisted the talks could not proceed as the proposed changes would fundamentally affect the issues that were part of the consultative meeting. Consequently, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) resolved with Jubilee and NASA representatives to begin the talks on Thursday with the amendments being part of their agenda. “We have resolved to postpone this meeting until tomorrow (today) at 10am so that the bill can be part of the agenda,” said IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati.

Jubilee is expected to table the bill that seeks to introduce radical changes to the electoral laws with less than a month to the polls. This is after the ruling party used its numerical strength to push a procedural motion to have a sitting this morning for the introduction of the bill. Some of the changes Jubilee is seeking to make include entrenching manual transmission of election results as the primary means, while the electronic transmission will be in place for backup purposes. The ruling coalition also wants to include a clause in the law that will make it mandatory for the Supreme Court to order a ballot recount in the event of a presidential poll petition.

NASA secretariat Chief Executive Norman Magaya said in a tweet shortly after leaving Bomas, the venue of the talks: “It’s a golden rule of the thumb: You can’t change rules of the game at half time. This impunity by Jubilee will be fervently resisted & defeated.” It highlighted the hardline positions the parties are adopting.

The NASA team was led by Siaya Senator James Orengo, lawyer Paul Mwangi and Magaya, while Jubilee was led by Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen, Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju and chief presidential agent Davis Chirchir.

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BREAKING SAD: Public Works PS Mariam El-Maawy DIES at SA Hospital, Had Sustained Severe Injuries After Alshaabab Attack

Spokesperson’s Office

State House

Nairobi

27 September 2017

Passing on of PS Mariam el-Maawy

President Uhuru Kenyatta is deeply distressed to learn that Mariam El Maawy has passed away. She was a dedicated public servant; an accomplished architect; and a patriot.

Early in her childhood, she showed a real aptitude for study, and the diligence, which drove her to qualify as an architect at the University of Nairobi, and later to earn a Masters degree in South Africa.

She established a successful practice, which she led for many years, but she never allowed her work to get in the way of public service. Whether serving as a council member at Mombasa Polytechnic, or leading efforts to conserve Mombasa’s architectural heritage, she found ways to put her knowledge and skill at the service of her community.

Her achievements, her expertise, her public spirit, and her patriotism meant that it was a pleasure for President Kenyatta to invite her to join his administration, as Principal Secretary for Lands — and later as Principal Secretary of Works — in the Ministry of Lands and Housing. She served with distinction in both offices, and her loss will certainly be felt.

President Kenyatta and all who had the honour of working with her will remember her warmth, and her quiet, firm dedication to serving Kenyans to the very best of her ability.

The President prays that Allah rests the soul of PS el-Maawy in peace, and that Allah comforts her family, and all who knew and loved her, in this moment of sorrow and grief.

Manoah Esipisu

Spokesperson

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DRAMATIC VIDEO: How Hon Babu Owino Was Re-Arrested Inside Court Building

BREAKING: Raila Statement on Re-arrest of Hon Babu Owino By Special Police

ARREST OF HON. BABU OWINO:
The National Super Alliance is deeply disturbed about the decision of the State to re-arrest Embakasi East MP Hon. Babu Owino shortly after his release on bail this afternoon.

We are concerned that the State is resorting to persecution, banditry and torture tactics where application and observation of the rule of law would suffice.

There is no justification whatsoever why the State did not consolidate its cases against the Hon Babu Owino and present them in court at once. The re-arrest of the MP is an act of intimidation of Members of Parliament with a view to having them toe the line of the Executive.

NASA condemns this trend and demand that it stops immediately. We call on President Kenyatta to lead the way in ensuring the rule of law is adhered to and that the State does not abuse and use the courts to intimidate legislators and all citizens.

RT. HON RAILA ODINGA

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

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”SAFARICOM Are Guilty, They Are Not Answering Questions Over Role in Election Rigging”- Raila Odinga

Opposition leader Raila Odinga on Wednesday rubbished Communications Authority of Kenya’s rebuttal of allegations that Safaricom engaged in electoral malpractices during the August 8 elections. During a press conference in Nairobi, Raila said the Authority was under pressure to defend Safaricom. On Wednesday Safaricom placed full page in daily newspapers to rebut Raila’s claims that it was involved in the bungling of the polls.

Below is Raila full statement that he delivered after meeting Maa community leaders at Okoa Kenya offices in Nairobi.
REMARKS OF RT. HON RAILA ODINGA AT MEETING WITH MAA COMMUNITY LEADERS; SEPTEMBER 27, 2017.

This was a meeting with leaders from the Maa community to discuss the August election and the next steps.

Their concern, the main issue exercising their mind is the question of what happened to the votes they cast on August 8th.

They are convinced that the results declared did not reflect their preferences and that leaders were imposed on them.
Those concerns are reflected in the results we shared with them from some of the polling stations that we were able to share with them from the IEBC’s own records.

One laughable one was a polling station in Narok North called NAITUYUPAKI PRIMARY SCHOOL IN OLOKURTO WARD.
There, registered voters were 507. But IEBC records indicate that votes cast for President were 5,527.

There are very many such cases that only confirm that there were no elections in Kenya in August. As long as IEBC, OT- Morpho, Safaricom, Al Ghurair are in charge of elections, nothing will change in October.

The question the Maa community is struggling with is the same one many other communities are asking; why should Kenyans expect IEBC to do the right thing in October? And this is the question Uhuru Kenyatta and his team do not want to answer.

The reason Uhuru and Ruto are defending the IEBC is because they know that is the only team that can steal votes for them.

Uhuru is telling us that IEBC is independent and should be left to do its work. But they are busy attacking judges of the Supreme Court who are also independent.

Yesterday, we said Kenyans are being treated to a huge conspiracy that incorporates local and global players including big businesses.
We specifically said Safaricom colluded with OT-Morpho and routed results to servers abroad but made no provision to return those results to Kenya.

Safaricom has today bought space in all print media to lament that it is being targeted. The question we asked has not been answered. Did Safaricom route results to server in Paris or anywhere in Europe? Did it route those results back to Kenya?
Big corporations are part and parcel of the killing of democracy in Kenya.

We will not allow Kenya to be the playground for forces that want to stifle our progress as a nation.

In fact, we are considering beginning a period of economic boycott of products and corporations that are working against the interests of the people of Kenya.

South Africans did it in their struggle against Apartheid. We may be forced to do it in our struggle for democracy and progress. That time is coming.

RT. HON RAILA ODINGA
HON. MUSALIA MUDAVADI
SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

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BREAKING: Hon Babu Owino RE-ARRESTED Minutes After Being Released By Court on Cash Bail

Teargas at Milimani Law Courts as Embakasi East MP Babu Owino is re-arrested just moments after being released on bail.

More to Follow>>

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BREAKING: Court Orders Police To Release Hon Babu Owino After Paying Cash Bail of Sh500000

Court orders that Embakasi MP Babu Owino is released after paying a cash bail of Sh500,000 and two sureties of Sh1 million each deposited.
Well, Political pundit Onyango Ochieng Jr had this to say has hearing continued;

“If you listened to the judge keenly, he could not understand any sense on the prosecution arguments (Bail Denial plea) against Hon.Babu Owino. He in fact got to a point of lecturing the deputy DPP and the entire prosecution about constitutional law and bond and bond bail policy 2015 citing authoritative examples that made these accusers look like coerced idiots. Which begs the question; is Tobiko really sane or he is bringing these poorly written and argued charges to appease the govt! Evidently, he has joined the ever growing list of Uhuru’s housemaids. Just like that, they have given Orengo the stage to prove that he is brighter than the entire Directorate of Public Prosecution.

Orengo is brighter than DPP and the entire workers in his office; jointly and singly. By the way, anybody who studied law or passed near a law school or bumped into any criminal law book will tell you this case is going nowhere. Babu’s comments were so vague, general and ambiguous that unless the standard of proof is lowered to placate state whims….these charges will be flashed out like feces are flushed from the anus. Unless Babu is tried in a kangaroo court of Kikuyu council of elders….this case is purely based on emotions than law, logic or proven fact. I told you last time about METAPHORS”-Onyango Ochieng Jr.

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The Striking Resemblance, Hon Babu Owino and Former USA Congressman Hon Anthony Weiner

Bloggers Moses Wambui has posted an a photo of Hon Babu Owino and Anthony David Weiner (born September 4, 1964) an American former congressman who represented New York’s 9th congressional district from January 1999 until June 2011. The Two Legislators have a striking resemblance, but then again one another striking coincidence, they both appeared in court this week with Hon Babu Owino charged with fake cooked up charges subversion while Anthony Weiner was found guilty of a single charge of transferring obscene material to a minor on Monday 25th September.

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BIG QUESTION: Is This The Man Moses Kuria Ordered To ‘Shoot and Kill’ Raila During Anti-IEBC Demonstrations? Real or Fake?

Many Kenyans woke up to this trending photo of a police officer who seemingly is a true copy of a member of alleged Nairobi Business Community (said to be Mungiki) who was yesterday tasked with dealing with anti-IEBC riots along University way. Well, Moses Kuria had ordered Police to shoot and kill Raila if he ever dared storm IEBC offices to smoke out CEO Ezra Chiloba.

Now, the big questio is ; have Mungiki infiltrated the Police force? how save are even the Police officers?

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Communications Authority Agrees With Raila On Safaricom And IEBC, Confirms No Cases Transmission Failure Were Reported

PRESS RELEASE BY COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY OF KENYA (CA) DIRECTOR GENERAL MR. FRANCIS W. WANGUSI ON ALLEGED MANIPULATION OF ELECTION RESULTS BY MOBILE OPERATORS

The attention of the Authority has been drawn to claims attributed to the National Super Alliance (NASA) leadership that the local mobile telecommunications operators were involved in the manipulation of the August 8th general elections results in favour of Jubilee Party.

The Authority is aware that IEBC contracted the three mobile operators to provide a medium of the end-to-end transmission of election results in line with the Elections (Technology) Regulations, 2017.
Upon our advice, the country was divided into three zones and each of the three mobile operators was assigned one region to support the transmission systems of the IEBC. In each of the three zones, an additional mobile operator was assigned the responsibility of providing back up services in case of technology failure.

In line with our oversight responsibility as the ICT sector regulator, the Authority directed the mobile operators to report any cases of transmission failure to us. No cases of transmission failure were reported to us.

As the country prepares for the repeat presidential poll, CA wishes to implore on Kenyans not to lose faith and confidence in technology. ICTs have been successfully deployed and embraced in all facets of life in the country, including banking, business, education, health, agriculture and government services just but to mention a few. Elections are no exception and the Authority is confident that ICTs can be deployed successfully to support this important national activity.

The country stands to benefit in a big way if the current levels of investment and adoption of ICT are sustained. It is therefore the responsibility of all well-meaning Kenyans to support investors in the sector and to underline public confidence in ICTs.

In this regard, we urge political actors to canvass their agenda in a responsible manner in order to avoid putting into jeopardy the impressive investment and other gains that Kenya has made in the local ICT sector. In the same vein, we implore politicians to report any alleged election malpractices on the part of industry players to the relevant law enforcement agencies instead of engaging in blanket ‘lynching’ of investors in this strategic sector.

Issued by,

Francis W. Wangusi, MBS
Director General

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Summarized Trail Of Uhuru Jubilee Falsehoods And Plot To Keep Power

Response to Jubilee Party Presidential Candidate Uhuru Kenyatta trail of falswehoods and derision to Supreme Court of Kenya

1. Jubilee Party Presidential Candidate Uhuru Kenyatta must cease playing the victimhood politics after Supreme Court of Kenya decision on presidential election. He is trying to recast the International Criminal court (ICC) narrative of unjustly persecuted.

In this case he has localized his ‘victimhood’ claiming to be victim of unfair court’s decision of invalidating his reelection win. This is both ingenious and fraudulent. His reckless and poisonous attempts to whip his supporters’ political emotions against the Supreme Court of Kenya as well as re-litigate his case both in public square and in Court are futile.

Presidential election petition was litigated and closed within the timelines provide by the Constitution of Kenya.

2. Uhuru is under the illusion that he can repeat the false victory he chalked up with the ICC in 2013 after profiling segments of Kenyans as being the source of his indictment, plying victim of Western imperialism, invoking the false spirit of pan-Africanism and vilifying the ICC as an instrument of Western hegemony.

This time round, he has, unprecedented malice, trained his guns on the Supreme Court – enlisting the combined executive and legislative jurisdictions to malign and delegitimize the judiciary and thereby undermine the rule of law. To an authoritarian, rules that block what he wants to do are always “bad for the country”. Mr. Kenyatta is sliding Kenya to authoritarianism.

3. It must be made clear that upon the expiring of the 60 days Constitution window to conduct fresh presidential election, Mr. Kenyatta’ presidency will be illegitimate. At the moment Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta is holding temporary incumbency for the simple reason that his exercise of the delegated sovereign power of the from the people of Kenya for the period of constitutional set Five year term has expired. He does not enjoy the consent of the people of Kenya to govern and run the government of their behalf.

4. The Jubilee Party candidate Uhuru Kenyatta, who does not seem to distinguish presidency from his candidature, is pedaling an inconsequential minority dissenting opinion of the Supreme Court of Kenya which was written to give him (Uhuru) the political propaganda with legal gravitas. Justice Njoki Ndung’u wrote dissenting opinion that is in contravention of the Constitution Article 163(3) and (8) and should lead to her facing censure. The Judge turned herself into lawyer, investigator, prosecutor and judge of a case away from one before her.

5. Jubilee Party candidate Uhuru Kenyatta is engaging in unjustly, unfounded and dangerous politics of delegitimizing Courts with intent of destroying the institution. Hence leading the country to the path of anarchy and lawlessness. His claims that the Court subverted the will of the people are baseless, feeble and untenable. The Court found out that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) never conducted an election in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Kenya. IEBC announced results on the basis of the Forms 34B without receiving and verifying the Forms 34A, which are recognized by Constitution as the final primary results. IEBC never gave the Court any plausible explanation why it disregarded Forms 34A and exclusively relied on FORM 34B whose authenticity and source was never provided.

6. Supreme Court of Kenya gave both Uhuru Kenyatta and Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) a unique opportunity to demolish the allegations of Petitioner. They both did not. IEBC was ordered to supply the petitioner and the Uhuru Kenyatta with all the scanned and transmitted Forms 34A and 34B from all the 40, 883 polling stations. It defied Court orders!

7. Uhuru Kenyatta is claiming Court failed to scrutinize all the documents supplied to the Court to challenge the Petition. This claim is false, malicious and intended to cast judges as compromised and corrupt. When Petitioner’s lawyers filed application seeking examination of the ballot boxes to confirm how widespread the alleged illegalities were, the IEBC lawyer (PAUL Muite) agreed BUT Uhuru Kenyatta’s Lawyer( Fred Ngatia) interjected and objected saying and quote “ him (IEBC Lawyer) has not sought our views and it is our contention that such a request is objectionable by our client. We request that the court adjourns for 30 minutes to enable us consult with our client. This is a monumental request that may jeopardize my client”. Court agreed to adjourn. On return both Uhuru Kenyatta and IEBC lawyers objected to the request by Petitioner to open the ballot boxes. The Petitioner’s lawyers withdraw the application.

Further if both IEBC and Uhuru Kenyatta had nothing to hide, why didn’t they readily accept and provide access to ICT logs and servers to disprove the petitioners’ claims? How can Mr. Kenyatta now shamelessly dupe the public with the dishonest question as to why the ballot boxes were not counted and verified? How can fraudulent documents be made the subject of verification!

8. On Uhuru Kenyatta’s claims that Court invalidated genuine win, the evidence and proof before the Court shows clearly this claims is false. Neither the IEBC nor the Uhuru Kenyatta had offered to the Court any plausible response to the question as to whether all Forms 34A had been electronically transmitted to the National Tallying Center as required by Section 39 (1C) of the Elections Act.

What remained uncontroverted however, was the admission by Ezra Chiloba, that as of 14th August 2017, three days after the declaration of results, the IEBC was not in a position to supply the petitioner with all Forms 34A. Curiously, Uhuru Kenyatta insisting that the presidential results were declared on the basis of Forms 34B, all of which were available, but implicitly admitted that not all Forms 34A were available by the time the IEBC declared the “final results “for the election of the president.

9. On claims about vote number, the propaganda and lies by Uhuru Kenyatta are unsustainable. Court was categorical that elections are not only about numbers as many would like the country to believe. Even in numbers, as taught in school that to arrive at a mathematical solution, there is always a computational path one has to take, as proof that the process indeed gives rise to the stated solution. Elections are not events but processes. The law set the formula of arriving at authentic numbers and outcome to be “simple, accurate, verifiable, secure, accountable and transparent” process. Both IEBC and Uhuru Kenyatta could not proof how final results’ numbers were arrived at. It is very strange that Mr. Kenyatta does not find anything wrong with IEBC despite the Court finding it culpable of bungling election. Why would he furiously attack the Court while the main culprit has been established to be IEBC? Why is he not seeking accountability from the IEBC? Why is he protecting IEBC?

10. Finally, IEBC admitted two days to the election date that it was going to be unable to electronically transmit results from 11,000 polling centres because they were off the range of 3G and 4G network. It emerged clearly in Court that from the information posted in IEBC’s website, among the 11,0000 polling stations IEBC claimed were off the 3G and 4G range are in Bomet; Bungoma; Busia; Homa Bay; Kajiado; Kericho; Kiambu; Kisumu; Kisii; Kirinyaga; Nyeri; Siaya; and Vihiga Counties and whose results came late and were proved to be problematic.

11. Both the top leadership and Secretariat of the IEBC must accept full responsibility for bungling presidential election and wasting KSHS. 49.9B. It is complete escapism and living in denial for the top officials of IEBC to assume there are no problems with how election was handled and pretend to be busy preparing for fresh presidential election. Court found gross mismanagement, fraud and violation of laws in conduct of election. With these findings of the Court, it is inconceivable that nobody in the Commission has slightest sense of responsibility. IEBC’s ineptitude, arrogance and unconcerned attitude is very dangerous and creating uncertainty to the Kenya.
END//

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Governors Must Ensure Gender, Youth And Minority In Appointments And Equal Access To Economic Opportunities

By Ndung’u Wainaina

International center for Policy and Conflict (ICPC) observes that devolved governance is introducing greater participation, accountability, and transparency in local governance and economic development, and providing an empowering voice to the historically large portion of marginalized population in Kenya.

We note that County governance is going to be the major driver of the Kenya political and economic development considering that crucial sectors of economy and social/public services are under the jurisdiction of the County government.

The key to effective political representation and meaningful participation, especially women, youth and other minority groups, in a democracy at work is to engage all citizens, so that they feel that they are part of the society and governance processes.

Gender equality is central to representation, participation, accountability, responsiveness and transparency in nascent devolved governance in Kenya. These in turn hold the key to better policies and services that will begin to normalize women, youth and other minority groups in equal participation in policy and decision making.

ICPC is calling upon all Governors and County Assemblies to ensure no gender occupies more than a third of all key top positions in both County Executive and County Assembly. We are further urging that young people and other minority groups be given priority in the County appointments.

ICPC is challenging the women, youth and other vulnerable groups in the Counties countrywide to rise up and hold public campaigns, processions and file petitions to the Governors and County Assembly Speakers to demand bigger role in top positions at the highest table of decision and policy making in the County.

Sustainable Development Goal 5 relates to many of the direct responsibilities of county governments and is an opportunity for them to build on existing international commitments and demonstrate their vital role in the achievement of gender equality.

Women, youth and other marginalized groups have greater chance to directly influence policy and decision making on critical socio-economic and governance issues that affected them daily at the County governance level. They have a greater sense of social issues and the well being and welfare of their communities. Their priorities are more likely to centre on housing, safety, clean water, sanitation, education, social implications of policies, health services, poverty alleviation and community development. Therefore, they have to be adequately represented and participate the highest policy and decision making level of the county.

ICPC notes that women and youth will focus on change, preferring a more democratic and transparent approach to governance in an effort to move away from the adversarial and, in some cases, corrupt image of politics. The trend shows that women and young people are likely to make a change through participation and their leadership styles, increasing transparency and less corruption.

It should be emphasized that the end goal is not merely increasing the number of women and youth in policy and decision-making positions, but rather enabling women and youth to meaningfully participate and bring to the discussion how to address issues affecting them directly and tackling inequalities and changing social norms, as well as effectively influence and contribute to government policy and decision-making towards the achievement of gender equality, inclusive growth and development.

Studies indicate that political participation, especially women, may lead to qualitative and substantive changes in the quality of governance at the local level significantly contributing to creation of an environment, which is more sensitive and responsive to people’s needs, ensuring better quality and inclusiveness of service delivery. Women leadership is viewed reliable, responsible and honest.

ICPC is therefore urging the County governments to:
1. Act as best model in labour practices. As major employers and service providers, County governments have a significant impact on women, youth and other minority groups’ lives by using fair employment practices and ensuring non-discriminatory service provision to local citizens
2. Be at frontline of tackling inequalities, discrimination and violence practices against women. County governments have an important role to play in identifying women and girls affected by violence and providing them with the appropriate support and services to escape it and rebuild their lives.
3. Take action immediately to improve women and youth representation and participation in all key administrative and policy making county institutions
4. Ensure equal access to economic and resources. County authorities must establish mechanisms to make it easier for women and youth to obtain basic legal documents, facilitate fairness in property and business rights, and guarantee women’s participation in land governance institutions, county planning and economic policy-making processes.

END//

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On Freedom of Speech, Presidential Gravitas, Donald Trump and Uhuru Kenyatta.

By Dorcas S

You cannot make this stuff up.

The president of the United States goes to one of the most racist states in the union – Alabama – and in front of a mostly white crowd, calls the protesting and predominantly African-American players of the National Football League (NFL) “sons of bitches”. Mr. Trump did this because some players, led by former Super Ball quarterback Colin Kaepernick, have been, since 2016, kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice perpetrated against African American men.

Approximately seventy-two hours later, some eight thousand five hundred miles south-eastwards in Kenya, one Babu Owino, less than eight weeks into his term as the member of parliament (MP) for Embakasi East goes off on an unnamed person calling them “mtoto wa mbwa” – translated by the Standard newspaper to mean “son of a bitch”. Babu’s speech is in response to a host of issues ranging from police brutality against supporters of the opposition (NASA), the intransigence of the IEBC commissioners in the wake of their incompetent handling of the August 8th election and slights & abusive language including “mganga” and “ule jama wa vitandawili” – mostly directed at Uhuru Kenyatta’s nemesis Raila Odinga.

In both countries, America and Kenya, one could have seen the reactions to either utterances taking shape miles away.

Americans love their freedom of speech – almost more than they love their guns, hamburgers and fries. Even a whiff of an attempt to suppress said freedom will be met swiftly and sans equivocation. Forty-eight hours after abusing NFL players (and by extension, the teams’ ownership and worst of all, the players’ mothers), the erstwhile enemies – NFL players and club owners – stood side-by-side, arms locked in unison, teeing off on President Trump.

Kenyans love their tribe and their hypocrisy – almost more than they love tenderpreneuring. Less than twenty-four hours after Babu’s utterances, he had a visit from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over yet-to-be-formalized charges. If memory serves me well, it took almost 7 days for the DCI/NCIC to act against Moses Kuria’s late evening tribal rants some 2-3 weeks ago.

In both countries, the fracture occurred along the very predictable tribal and racial lines with the president of either country demonstrating their love for firing up their base and knowingly or otherwise, exacerbating already fractured polities.

The foregoing chain of events got me thinking about the similarities between Donald Trump’s America and Uhuru Kenyatta’s Kenya. I’d argue that the similarities are eerily spot on.

1. The most obvious similarity is the privilege and sense of entitlement that pervades both leaders (and I use the term “leader” very generously). In either case, the privilege and sense of entitlement is a function of their birth – race in DJT’s case and tribe in UMK’s.

2. The two men have fathers with seedy pasts. Trump Sr. has been linked to white supremacists and the KKK and Jomo has been linked to – take your pick – land-grabbing, assassinations, tribal-based governance, oathing, setting Kenya on its current path of ethno-kleptocracy and kakistocracy.

3. Both countries are beholden to China!

4. Both leaders have incompetently discharged their duty as their country’s chief executive. In Trump’s defense, he has only been in office for nine months.

5. Both have past lives as “playboys” – and the impact of said hard living of yesteryear is only too evident. DJT and RAO are septuagenarians and while “black don’t crack”, Raila looks markedly younger and full of vitality when compared to the rotund pale-skinned and slothish orange-haired POTUS.

Uhuru Kenyatta and Barack Obama are the same age – enough said.

6. The nepotism and use of state resources as familial piggy bank is yet another similarity between the 2. Whether it’s use of national resources to further personal/familial wealth or hiring family members into positions of power, the two men have “zero chills” about using their office to line their pockets and those of their families and friends.

7. Their repeated use of language unbecoming of a president only to display thin skin when the tables are turned. Whether it’s calling an opponent “mganga” (UMK) or their foil de jour “sons of bitches” (DJT), the two leaders oftentimes spout abuse at their opponents – perceived or real – only to cry foul when someone responds in kind; in some case, siccing government agents at said opponents!

8. The use of xenophobic and bigoted symbology in the Machiavellian tradition of dog-whistle politics – at once appealing to their respective base while “otherizing” opponents or those who disagree with either.

DJT cannot help himself winking at and nodding towards America’s worst angels: KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

UMK is only less atavistic but has been known to default to the calling card of tribalism and ethnic chauvinism like he did on June 1, 2017 in Nyeri when a national (Madaraka Day) holiday degenerated, unapologetically, into an ethno-cultural event replete with language and entertainment.

9. Both leaders are morbidly terrified of their predecessors and/or opponents.

Donald Trump wakes up and falls asleep thinking of, in order, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Uhuru Kenyatta is a tad more fortunate. He wakes up and falls asleep worried about only one person – RAO – and that alone has driven the one-term president batty!

The irony in either case? Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Kenyatta ARE the presidents of their respective countries i.e. they have the power – symbolically and literally – and their nemeses are private/public citizens.

10. Tacit support of police brutality against minorities. Only their respective support base believes otherwise.

11. Both have used faux nationalism/patriotism to galvanize their fast-dwindling base. Whether at a campaign rally in Alabama or seeking support at the Big Man’s Club (AU), DJT and UMK have perfected the art of appealing to “patriotism” and “pan-Africanism” while abrogating the rights of others who disagree with them.

“You can outdistance that which is running after you, but not what is running inside you.” – Rwandese proverb.

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