What Exactly Is Annan Brokering?

One of the things that has perennially bothered me about the way we do things in Kenya is that we seem to have a horizon of only about a week and a half. Kibaki's reneging on the MOU was probably about the most short sighted thing I ever saw -- did he think that he would be in power for ever. On the other hand, Raila's campaign to overturn the proposed constitution which -- and I did read it myself -- was far superior to our current constitution, was based primarily on trying to prove a point to Kibaki (which he did).

I worry that Kofi and the deal negotiated at Serena/Mt. Kenya Safari Club Kilaguni will focus only on what we need to do to resolve this crisis and not work to put in place a solution for the ages.

There is a day after the day after tomorrow.

-S

Jirongo Again, How Can We Recognize This Surprising Hero?

I am a sporadic blogger at best. I only write when I feel that I have something to say. So my apologies to you folks who regularly visit to see if I have anything new to share.

I recently posted about Cyrus Jirongo's amazing and exemplary behavior in actively dissuading his constituents from hating on the Gikuyu in their area. That one posting has resulted in the most hits to my blog to date. Clearly Kenyans are earning to read about their compatriots who are making a difference in a positive sense. Enough about Kibaki and Raila! This has now become about Wanjiku and Onyango, and those wazees are not looking out for their interests.

Anyway... it seems that as I search for more positive stories about the goings on back home I keep coming back to Jirongo (who quite frankly I did not think very highly of prior to this year -- I mean, YK-92 is not exactly a great resume builder!) Here's the latest Jirongo-bite. (From here.)

In November of last year, I lent my son-in-law, Job, (Beverly's husband) the funds to buy a motorcycle so that he could go into the motor cycle taxi business. By now I know a lot about the motorcycle taxi business which in calmer times I might describe. There are 58 motorcycles and 67 motorcycle drivers and he has been elected chair of the motorcycle taxi drivers association in Lumakanda. He said that all the motorcycle taxi drivers stayed out of the violence, partly because they were charging double for rides and thus making a good income. Also the winning MP from this area, Cyrus Jirongo, had met with the drivers and told them not to participate in any tribal violence due to the election. According to Job, most of the bicycle taxi drivers also stayed out of the looting, but of course in terms of class, a motorcycle taxi driver is far above a bicycle taxi driver.

Another MP Shot Dead...

This just in...

Ainamoi MP David Kimutai Too has been shot dead by a traffic policeman in West Indies estate in Eldoret.

Jirongo On A Bicycle: An Example For Us All

Cyrus Jirongo has been setting a great example for all our leaders. Read these two stories and ask yourself why your MP has not been demonstrating such exemplary leadership.

This has been going around in email.

In the midst of the hopelessness that we have watched helplessly, there are rays of hope.

This morning at a meeting, a friend who is Kikuyu but was born and brought up in Lugari (an area where the Kalenjin and several dialects of Luhya are dominant and borders Eldoret), shared with
us a story that I wish could be heard on national radio and TV as we have only been treated to the negative aspects.

After the major eruption of violence on Dec 30, his mother’s two buildings including the granary with the year’s produce was burned and her 8 cattle and 20 goats stolen. This was horrifying as she had always been assimilated into that community even though she is of a diffrent tribe.

Their local MP, Hon. Cyrus Jirongo who was voted in the small KADDU party, however decided to give leadership to his constituents. He put away his limousine and rode a bicycle to every village speaking to the people and showing them the folly of what they had done. They took the cue! They invited back the Kikuyu lady (as well as others who had been chased away) and different members of the community, in remorse and as a sign of their repentance, who are mainly peasant farmers took from their own produce and animals and restored what the lady had lost!

This is the only way for Kenya to heal back into a nation afre the divisions we have seen! We need more of these kinds of transformational leaders! Pray for more....!

It is such things that make one believe in Kenya, its leaders, and ultimately, in its people. As I see it, WE are all we have!

A few weeks ago there was another story on Jirongo in the Standard.

Lugari MP-elect Mr Cyrus Jirongo intervened to avert bloodshed in his constituency.

He dissuaded enraged youths out on a revenge mission on Saturday.

Jirongo, who had just addressed a peace rally at Lumakanda township, was on his way to Eldoret when his entourage ran into hundreds of people chanting war songs.

The Kaddu chairman alighted from his vehicle and began talking to the rowdy group to abandon its mission.

The move, at first, did not go down well with a section of them.

"Please I am begging you to go back to your homes. I am your MP and I promise to address all your grievances later but not in a charged atmosphere like the one we are in," pleaded Jirongo.

The MP confronted a group of young men, who were wielding machetes and took away their weapons. He warned them against harming anyone.

He pledged to establish a common fund that will assist victims of the recent skirmishes.

Luos Must Go, We Don't Need Them I Am Convinced Of That

I worry that voices of moderation are disappearing as this crisis drags on. Here is a log of an instant message chat I had with a Gikuyu colleague of mine who is in Kenya. He is truly a progressive moderate -- or at least he was until December 30, 2007.

When I read this I worry and I fear for our country. Where have all the sane people gone?

HIM: Luos must go.
ME: Nonsense.
HIM: We don’t need them I am convinced of that.
ME: You should not say that, we do need them. They are as Kenyan as the Gikuyu.
HIM: We are as Kenyan as them.
ME: True, but the Gikuyu did steal this election. No doubt.
HIM: But the truth is the Gikuyu manage resources better than they do. They stole also.
ME: There is no evidence of that.
HIM: We are all thieves but we make better thieves.
ME: LOL.

(I read online about Mugabe Were’s murder)

ME: Oh dear, taabu, why did they kill Were.
HIM: I don't know.
ME: This thing is getting out of control.
HIM: I tell you.
ME: The Gikuyu mobs in Naivasha, Nakuru and Huruma, who is controlling them?
HIM: We are financing them.
ME: Why, why, why? Self defense I can understand, but burning helpless people in their homes is not right.
HIM: It’s for self defense.
ME: Nonsense, the killing of unarmed women and children huddled in a house in fear is not self defense.
HIM: They wanted to make a point which they have made.
ME: Sawa, then the Gikuyu need to have many kids otherwise in a generation or two they will be wiped out by the some other tribe.
HIM: Hence the self defense.
ME: No. You cannot kill me today because someone of my ethnicity may or may not kill you 10 or 50 years from now.

If Kibaki Is A Demon Are Raila & Ruto Saints?

I am astounded that so many people in the blogosphere are steadfastly holding to the claim that Kibaki is solely responsible for all that has befallen Kenya since December 27th. I find that a naive and simply untenable view.

Gikuyu were going to die in North Rift irrespective of the outcome of the election. How on earth can Kibaki be responsible for the arming and organizing of these Kalenjin thugs? Why are we not holding Ruto responsible for his actions, or at the very least those of his people?

You know what, maybe these folks are right. Maybe we should charge Kibaki for the killing of the women and children in that church in Eldoret. We should charge him for organizing the destruction of Kisumu and the burning of Kibera. We should hold him culpable for the riots in Likoni and elsewhere. And lest we forget the atrocious burning of terrified residents in Naivasha is his doing too.

We should similarly hold Kibaki responsible for all acts of election malfeasance including those in his favor and those against. He should be held responsible for all those Gikuyu voters in North Rift who were not allowed to get to their polling stations. The amazing >100% turnout in Nyanza and Western are clearly have his paw prints all over them.

While Kibaki's trials are ongoing, I suggest we nominate William Ruto for the Nobel Peace Prize for going above and beyond the call of duty in ensuring that the situation in North Rift did not get out of hand. Clearly his speech in Eldoret this weekend was timely and just what the country needed.

And lest we forget, Raila Amolo Odinga should get the MLK Freedom Award (that recognizes residents dedicated to promoting justice, peace, freedom, nonviolence and racial equality) for his magnanimity in making 2 unforgettable statements. Clearly he too is a class act.
1) " I refuse to be asked to give the Kenyan people an anaesthetic so that they can be raped."
2) "We should have seven of the 10 parliamentary seats in Kisii, but Kibaki men stole the votes and we only got four. The Kisii are our people. We must not touch them."

People, only one politician. ONE. Has shown that he is a true peace lover through this whole debacle. Cyrus Jirongo who supposedly took to riding a bicycle in Lugari to admonish his constituents from carrying out acts of violence.

I am disgusted at how we are acting in the face of this crisis. We're supposed to be the educated ones, the more sober minded but we act just like those thugs on the Nairobi-Malaba highway.

Melitus Mugabe Were, RIP

Melitus Mugabe Were. Shot dead at 39.

Were, a newly elected Member of Parliament for Embakasi, was the founder and director of Villa Teag Center for Orphans in Dandora. He is pictured alone and with his brothers who are also philanthropists (the deceased is on the left).

What has our country come to when we kill such honorable men?

Source: Soulfari Kenya website

Where Is Kibaki? Or The Return of General Kiguoya

[Unlike what was suggested on Misterseed, I need to clarify that these are not my words. These are the words of a Gikuyu man with whom I was speaking. Certain possibly identifying details have been changed but not one word is my own. His thesis was not that "Kibaki should kill all the other tribes" as someone said on Mashada, but how can Kibaki as president watch his own being killed by the Kalenjin and do nothing to protect them. I was astonished to see that this die-hard Kibaki supporter was now extremely bitter about the perceived lack of action on Kibaki's part. -Silaha]

A Gikuyu's rant captured almost verbatim

What is wrong with Kibaki, why is he just sitting in State House? We voted for him and we're dying for voting for him yet he is doing nothing. He should protect his people. Kibaki is a do nothing president. Please try and tell me one thing that this guy has done. Useless Kibaki. One month and what has he done? The only places he has gone even in Nairobi are to Harambee House (because Kofi Annan insisted) and to open Parliament.

If there was a vote to be done again, Gikuyu would not wake up at six o'clock to vote for him. We would vote for Kalonzo or Uhuru before we vote for Kibaki who has shown such weakness it is unbeliveable. All he does is to drool and sleep, what a useless guy. What kind of president do we have? Or is he so sick that he cannot function? Did the grind of the campaign take a toll on him? Is he getting senile?

And you're telling me he is a normal guy? No way, this is not leadership. Visibility is important. Think about George W. Bush during Hurricane Katrina, during a crisis visibiliy of the leader, the CEO, is critical. Kibaki is doing zero, nothing. He is not even talking to people in Nairobi. The country is being run by thugs, Kalenjin thugs, Gikuyu thugs, Luo thugs ... being run by thugs.

Why is Kibaki not talking? Why is he not being presidential? Raila makes more statements than our own president. Maybe he should just go back to Muthaiga or to Othaya. That guy has lost marks ... he is a good president when things are good, but when there is a crisis he is a coward big time, or he is senile or sick, I don't know what he is.

Not even one Gikuyu MP is talking, they are shutting up. Is the collective Gikuyu leadership stupid or why are they not talking? During the 1992 clashes Nyanja and company used to talk, they used to say for every one Gikuyu who dies we'll kill two of theirs. Where is Martha Karua? Only Wangari Maathai has the guts to talk.

The Gikuyu have totally forgotten about Raila -- the Luo have been taken care of -- he's not the one who has sent Kalenjins to fight. Since Thursday last week when Nakuru erupted Raila has not been in the picture. There are two things on the Gikuyu mind, we are we being killed by the Kalenjin and where is our president? Where is he sleeping and why? Could you imagine this happening in Kenyatta's time? No way.

Even if this killing of the Gikuyu stops we know one thing, we don't have a leader, this guy cannot even control his own house. We'll have an enemy in the Luos and the Kalenjin, but we'll have an enemy in our own house. We do not have respect for our own leader. We should take things into our own hands, we should not expect help from any quarters.

No business is flowing? The Kalenjin have said that no business will go on. How are the Kalenjin able to function with impunity? Burning houses in front of the President. That day that the President was in Eldoret the Kalenjins had surrounded that location. The Gikuyu were afraid when the President was there. These Kalenjin are warriors.

What government do we have? Is this a government? And we're supposed to have a president? What president? Could you imagine what this would have been for the Agikuyu had Raila been elected president? We would have been destroyed. The Gikuyu right are undergoing crazy things right now all because of Kibaki's inaction. How can these things happen to the Gikuyu during the term of a Gikuyu president?

***

My brother had construction equipment in Sotik and he went there by matatu to go pick it up. When he got there the people told him not to talk Gikuyu. He had to hire a Luo flatbed truck to ship his equipment to Nairobi, but they insisted on driving through Narok to avoid Nakuru and other parts of North Rift. In Molo he saw Gikuyus walking towards Nakuru with their belongings on one side of the road, on the other side were Kalenjin youth with bows and arrows ensuring that all the Gikuyu vermin had left. What astounded him was that while the matatu he was in were being escorted by police but they did nothing about the thugs with bows and arrows.

In Nakuru a few nights ago Kalenjin youth came there in trucks in groups of 200 and they terrorized Nakuru. They only left when the Army was deployed because the police officers, who are mostly Kalenjin, would not do anthing to stop their Kalenjin compatriots from killing Gikuyu. I have relatives in Nakuru town who will not sleep in their houses because they are so afraid of Kalenjins burning their houses down in the middle of the night.

My own relatives are moving from Warubaga (Elburgon) and moving to our home in Kabete, because we have a useless president.

***

Things will return to normal when the Gikuyu and the Kalenjin decide that things will return to normal. The next move is that the Gikuyu will begin to protest against the President. And this will play right into ODM's hands.

Why Not Disarm The Mobs? And Who Polices The Policemen?

Since the beginning of this fiasco I have watched many news reports and I have been wondering why the security forces are not disarming those people walking down the streets with machetes? What else could these thugs be using those weapons for if not to hack fellow Kenyans to death.

Then the security forces themselves are acting in an unacceptable manner. I am sure we have all seen the shocking footage of the policeman executing the "Man in Black". Simply shocking, but in my mind simply a continuation of the extra-judicial killings that began last year. What happened to the gentlemen policemen like the GSU bloke I saw on footage chatting firmly but amicably with Charity Ngilu. What have we become?

Neo Mau-Mau Presidential Candidate or The Wazees and Mugiki

Do you know who got the fourth most votes in the recent presidential election?

I did not think you did. Joseph Ngacha Karani received 14,232 votes (according to the ECK – and we all know how well they count). His party has an innocuous sounding name Kenya Patriotic Trust Party, yet a little time spent on Google will disclose that Karani is the chairman of the Mau Mau Original Trust that has been raising money from ex-Mau Mau and their sympathizers ostensibly to fund a case for retribution against the British. In one newspaper article he is reported to have said:

We operate the way Mau Mau operated – secretly. Why should we disclose our secrets?

I originally became aware of this when Kivuitu mentioned it soon after the election. So why has nobody else picked up on that -- except for 14,232 other souls.

...

My heart bleeds for my country, our Kenya. This is not, however, a time for much reflection. We need to act and act with haste. The events in Nakuru yesterday and in Huruma Nairobi last weekend are not isolated incidents. They signal the rise of the militant Gikuyu response to the post election mayhem and with that Raila and Kibaki may have unleashed a monster that will not easily be contained.

Could it be that the Gikuyu have been planning a resurgence of the Mau-Mau for a while now? What the Luo/Kalenjin foot soldier may not realize is that they cannot eliminate the Gikuyu. The Railas and Rutos know this, but the average Onyango and Kip-whatever does not. They are fighting against an army that has been intact for 15 years. They will lose -- or more likely -- we will all lose.

The Wazees hated Mungiki when it was a "menace" and it interfered with their business interests, but now that a greater threat has come against Gikuyustan they will form (have formed?) an unholy alliance against the Kalenjin primarily but also the Luos and to some extent others. But they need to be careful. Michuki (one of the Wazees if there ever was one) said once "if you step on a snake expect to be bitten", well what happens when you get into bed with a snake?

Food for thought: Kenyatta knew nothing about the Muhimu the central Mau Mau leadership until it threatened him in September of 1952. What do the Wazees really know about Mungiki? Or, as earlier news reports suggested, have they already been threatened.