Sunday, February 27, 2005

Did Raph Knock Out Agwambo at Aram?

Onyango Oloo Looks at Mainstream Fisticuffs in Western Kenya

1.0. A Criminal Farce in Kakamega....

Let us begin on a very comical note. This is a VERBATIM report from the Standard newspaper(February 27, 2005)

An assistant minister and an MP almost came to blows in a bar at midnight yesterday.

Transport assistant minister

Andrew Ligale was forced out of the Golf Hotel in Kakamega by Ford Kenya MPs who claimed that he had no right to be drinking in their territory.

Yesterday, Ikolomani MP Bonny Khalwale and Malava MP and assistant minister Soita Shitanda were informed that Ligale, who had been campaigning for the Liberal Democratic Party(LPD) candidate, was drinking at the bar. They left Kakamega Sports Club with Ford Kenya official Yvonne Khamati and stormed into Golf Hotel to confront Ligale.

"Why are you interfering in my constituency? I want to teach you a lesson today!" said Khalwale.

"Why are you bringing LDP affairs to Western Province? This is a Ford Kenya zone," shouted Shitanda.

Shitanda later retreated as Khalwale went on to physically pull at Ligale. Ligale pushed him away.

After being pushed, Khalwale shouted: "Leave me this man. I want to floor him."

At this point, Shitanda shouted: "Khalwale tosha. Imetosha. You just hit once and retreat. Don’t continue. You are a respected MP."

"I will make sure that Ligale does not buy a beer here. He will do it over my dead body," shouted Khalwale.

Ligale was drinking whisky while Khalwale was taking a Tusker and Shitanda a Tusker Malt. "Khalwale! Please, behave!" Shitanda shouted as patrons abandoned their beers.

Shitanda held Khalwale’s hand as Khalwale pulled a fist on Ligale.

"I didn’t come for a fight, but dare me," said Ligale, who summoned his security detail as Khalwale ordered him to pay his bills and leave the hotel.

Khalwale was shouted down by the patrons as Ligale hurriedly paid his bills and left.

By the way, Bonny Khalwale's thuggery recently forced the Kenyan Vice President,

Moody Awori, who hails from Western Province to cancel a tour of that region after physical threats.

Memo from the Kenya Democracy Project to

Brigadier Ali, native of Bungoma and current Commissioner of Police:

We believe the Kenyan police have ENOUGH evidence to arrest Dr. Bonny Khalwale and charge him with conspiracy to commit assault causing grievous bodily harm. So what on earth are they waiting for? For the quarrelsome physician to actually fell a political rival with one vicious swing of a reckless rungu? Mshikeni sasa, before this dangerous maniac MURDERS someone!

2.0 A Showdown of Nyanza Cowboys in Aram Market

Here is a link to a story featuring a standoff between two cabinet colleagues-


Raphael Tuju

and

Raila Odinga.

The standoff in Rarieda constituency earlier today(I am starting on this essay at around 11:28 pm Saturday, February 26, 2005) is of course the latest skirmish in a series of political running battles between the two Luo politicians- one seen as a thorn in the flesh of the NAK establishment and the other seen as a suave counterweight to the LDP heavyweight.

Ironically, Raphael Tuju owes his political emergence to none other than Raila Odinga. During the NARC nominations of 2002, many ordinary people felt that Raila IMPOSED Tuju on the Rarieda electorate. As my younger and only surviving brother observed in an email from Kisumu (where he was then resident) he dispatched on 17th December, 2002, exactly ten days BEFORE the elections that swept NARC to power:

Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 11:23:28 +0000 (GMT)
From:"washington oloo"
Subject:Re: MY POINT OF VIEW
To:"oloo oloo"
CC:"Sarah Oloo" "Janet Okeyo"
Dave: Let me take this opportunity to thank you once
more, for the Buganas and taking your time to call me
twice, inspite of the expense and time difference.

As the saying goes BE GENEROUS, AND YOU WILL BE
PROSPEROUS. HELP OTHERS AND YOU WILL BE HELPED PROV:
11:25. I ask God to bless you and your family.

My point of view in regards to political situation in
the country is:-
· Kibaki is going to head the next government,
opinion polls has given him 68% to Uhuru 22%.
· There is going to be a power struggle for cabinet
posts, especially given the fact that they will require
more than two thirds to adapt Prof. Ghai's draft and
make it into a constitution. They will need, Nyachae's
“Ford People,” Orengos “SDP” and Uhuru's “Kanu” to make
this possible.
· Your Pal, Dr. Willy Mutunga is the most likely
candidate to be our next Attorney General.
· Kibaki might be forced to get rid of some of the king
makers to establish authority. At the moment Raila,
Awori and Kalonzo are calling the shots.
· The cabinet he is likely to form will comprise of
respected intellectuals such as Prof. Anyang Nyongo, Dr.
Kituyi, Wamwere, Kirwa, Kombo, Balala and many others.
· Political heavy weights such as Al Haji, Shariff
Nassir, are likely to be left behind this time. You
remember Nassir was elected in 1974 after defeating
Mohammed Jahazi. He has been in parliament for over
27 years.
· The only sad thing is that NARC lost popularity in
Nyanza, by the way they conducted their elections. So
many people who had won are overlooked, and unpopular
leaders like, Gor Sungu, Adhu Awiti, Job Omino were
given direct nominations. Koyoo won in Muhoroni,
George Onyango Oloo in Kisumu East, Owiti in Rarieda
and so on.

As one political scientist Prof. Wanyande, put it, if
you want to be democratic you have to be undemocratic
in order to establish democracy. We accept their
decision no matter how harsh they are for we are
desperate for changes.

Otherwise I expect very little changes in the first 5
years. Experience in Zambia and Malawi is a good
indicator. Zambia's economy is at it worst more than
a decade after the departure of Kaunda-the same goes
for Malawi....


OTHER FAMILY MATTERS EXCISED

The dramatic show of force between Raphael Tuju and Raila Odinga was interesting in at least a couple of ways.

For quite some time, it had been next to impossible for Raphael Tuju to actually visit his own constituency on his own with persistent reports that there were people in his neck of the woods waiting to lynch him for his alleged dalliance with NAK and therefore perceived "betrayal" of the LDP. I remember writing an essay over a year ago, on the 17th of January 2004. I called the essay, Lift the Fatwa Against Raphael Tuju!

Here is how one Nyanza commentator, Leo Odera Omollo summed up Raphael Tuju's woes in an op-ed article published by the Kenya Times in December 2003 while this August 15, 2004 Standard report pretty much summarizes Raila Odinga's beef with his youthful former protege and upstart provincial rival.

Many observers noted the political symbolism of Mwai Kibaki sending Raphael Tuju, rather than Raila Odinga to lead the official Kenya government delegation at the inaugration of the Kenya-American first time senator Barrack Obama(whose own father was close to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga).

Since coming to office Mwai Kibaki and his NAK back room boys have deliberately set out to groom an alternative Nyanza power elite not beholden to the Odinga juggernaut in that politics soaked patch of Kenya. In doing this, Kibaki is merely following the nyayos of Mzee Kenyatta who had his Omamos, Ogutus, Mboyas, Okwanyos, and Okeros and Nyayo himself who had his Oyugis, Dalmas Otienos, Okiki Amayos and so on.

In his path to ascendancy in December 2002, Kibaki could not have relied on the old nemeses of the Langata MP scattered throughout Nyanza for these were all in KANU.

Ironically, the President and his handlers like Kiraitu, Matere, Muthaura and the like had to wait and feast on the very youngish middle-class professional and business elite that had anchored the Nyanza leg of the NARC relay team in 2002.

In a sense, with the growing autonomy of Raphael Tuju, Raila Odinga is getting his just desserts for ignoring popular and local democratic sentiments and imposing "jomeyo machamo maleny" on the Nyanza electorate. Let us not forget that Raila got some major flak for elbowing out the people's choice in Rarieda, Owiti in return for the suave NAIROBI based businessman and former TV personality, Raphael Tuju. Many people, including this writer were actually surprised that this apolitical technocrat was trying his inexperienced hand at politics and there is little doubt that without the political heavy breathing and heavy leaning from Langata, Tuju would have been mikono tupu not even making it past the stage of the initial NARC nominations.

Why did Raila Odinga groom someone who did not have a history of political activism to vie for the Rarieda seat? I have no personal knowledge of local Uyoma and Asembo politics, so I will just speculate that it had more to do with Raila's need for a Nyanza based Brains Trust/Dream Team of up and coming professionals, businessmen, academics and technocrats. Indeed, even though I am from the Western Province and Nyanza respectively, I knew of the existence of the Nyanza Professional Elite sometimes simply called the Luo Elite to specify that it did not include the Kisii or the Kuria elite from the same province.

Surely Raila Odinga must have known, because he is a savvy streets smarts mwanasiasa, that the class aspirations of the Tujus of the so called "Luo Nyanza" would propel them to the faction in the government that was tenaciously obsessed with private wealth accumulation-and that faction was not the LDP.

In this sense therefore, it is technically wrong to accuse Raphael Tuju of "selling out" to anyone- he is just pursuing his class aspirations openly and consistently and his political alliances are honest and consistent with his comprador bourgeois class aspirations. Tuju, already a self-made millionaire by Kenyan standards does not see anything wrong or criminal with joining the rarefied ranks currently populated by the Mois, Biwotts, Nyachaes, Njonjos, Kibakis,Karumes, Michukis, Wamaes, Sajjads, Meralis, Bayusufs, Aworis and dare we say it, the Raila Odingas.

When I was in Kenya in September and October 2003, I met several members of the Luo community who are determined to swell the ranks of the most affluent people in this country. Without mentioning any names, one of my good friends took me to see another pal of his who was putting the finishing touches on this palatial residence in one of Nairobi's most exclusive suburbs. The owner of the place had put a lot of his own hard won savings and gallons of his own sweat and tons of soil from his own hands on this property and anyone who had toiled that hard would have been justifiably proud that they managed to erect this edifice without resorting to any of the shady dealings that we now associate with the thievery going on in senior state circles. This real estate splendour provided the backdrop of a conversation between myself and my good friend, a veteran Kenyan political activist whose eyes were now locked on the prize of catapulting himself right into the comprador bourgeoisie. While at that location, I was introduced to a third friend who arrived in a sleek SUV with dainty cellphone and all the accessories of your uppity KUPPIE( my coinage to evoke Kenyan Urban Professional as opposed to YUPPIE- young urban professional) Perhaps in this context LAPPIE is even more apt-Luo Aban Profesonol... My nameless pal, who currently serves the Kenyan government in a distinguished capacity was for years a very close aide to Raila Odinga but is now seen as one of the insiders of the Raphael Tuju camp. When I asked him about this apparent rift, he said there was no rift, just a difference in perspective that had never been personalized.

3.0. The Politics of Development in So Called Luo Nyanza

The section title is DELIBERATE to berate those who juxtapose "politics" to "development" as if you can have "development" without "politics".

I will be using the following working definitions of "politics" and "development" throughout the remainder of this essay.

When I say "politics" I will be referring to all that deals with the way a people talk about, formulate and implement policies of how they want to run their lives at a local, provincial, national and even international level.

When I say "development" I will be referring to that people driven process of formulating and implementing a range of social, political, economic, cultural, technical, educational, infrastructure and other interventions to create a self-sustaining local, provincial and national economy that leads to higher and better standards of living predicated on a base of progressive moral, ideological, community and other shared values and beliefs.


Please do not bother googling for the above two paragraphs- they are my own, freshly penned and therefore open for scorn, derision and all the familiar knee-jerk reactions that my digital interventions provoke especially in the murky crevices of cyberspace.

Let us go back to the weekend standoff between Tuju and Raila at Aram.

Let us quote an excerpt from the Kenya Times story filed today by Fredrick Odiero:

CABINET Minister Raphael Tuju yesterday stormed out of a meeting that was being addressed by his colleague Raila Odinga in his Rarieda constituency, claiming he was being undermined in his backyard.

Before storming out, a fuming Tuju deepened the gap and mistrust between him and Mr Odinga by accusing the Langata member of parliament of undermining him by visiting Rarieda without informing him in advance.

The minister was also incensed by the presence of a Nairobi-based engineer, Fred Gumo, in Mr Odinga’s entourage. Mr Gumo is Tuju’s political nemesis who seeks to oust him at the 2007 polls.

Tuju was also not amused by the presence of members of parliament, Dr Oburu Odinga (Bondo) and Jakoyo Midiwo (Gem) at Aram trading centre in Rarieda where the Langata MP was addressing a Liberal Democratic Party, LDP rally.

The two MPs are Mr Tuju's critics from the region. Within LDP circles, Tuju is considered a traitor for his close links with the ruling elite and accommodative tactics towards Central Kenya politicians dominating the government, commonly known as the Mount Kenya Mafia.

Frustrated but composed, Mr Tuju who came to the meeting accompanied by 29 Italian water experts and bodyguards, did not arrive or leave without ceremony. No sooner had he arrived and greeted the Langata MP than he reached for the microphone to address the gathering.

Amidst applause from his constituents, Mr Tuju descended into a brief tirade, masking his anger with diplomatic language. He claimed that the Roads minister had not informed him about his intended visit to Rarieda in advance.

Because he was not briefed about the rally, Mr Tuju concluded that he had been “invaded”. “Etiquette requires that you inform your colleague in cabinet before you visit his constituency,” he fumed before he walked out on Raila.

But the minister did not leave without introducing the Italians who he said had come to sponsor water projects "to alleviate chronic shortages and build a mobile health clinic.” The clinic is expected to cost Ksh 12.5 million. It will consist of an X-ray and malaria diagnosis and treatment facilities.

The Roads minister however maintained that he was not undermining his cabinet colleague. Mr Raila claimed that he was at Aram trading centre at the invitation of local LDP supporters and members.



There is a point I want to make about this tense face off and perhaps Anderson Ojwang and Rashida Nakabuga writing in the February 27, 2005 edition of the Standard zeroes in on for me:

Apparently annoyed that a Cabinet colleague was visiting his constituency without his knowledge, Tuju cut short his tour and headed straight to the podium where he shook Raila’s hand, greeted MPs Oburu Odinga, Jakoyo Midiwo, and Nicholas Gumbo, who is reportedly being groomed to run against him.

Tuju then grabbed the microphone from councillor Omollo Kowii, who was speaking, and started addressing the gathering amid applause as Raila and his brother Oburu watched in disbelief.

Speaking in Dholuo, Tuju said he had not been invited to the function but found it "courteous to pass by" and greet people.

"I have come to the constituency with guests who are willing to fund various development projects and I cannot sit here and politic with you today," he said. Then Tuju asked: "Do you want clean water to be supplied to your homes and better health services to be given to you or do you want only politics, my people?"

There was resounding approval for Tuju’s projects. He then excused himself to join his guests and waved to the crowed as some LDP supporters chanted " Just go! Just go!"


Tuju's barb, directed no doubt at Raila Odinga:

"Do you want clean water to be supplied to your homes and better health services to be given to you or do you want only politics, my people?"

Was the manifestation, within the Nyanza context, of the simmering ideological feuds that has ripped the Kenyan government apart. We have heard the same technocratic utterances from the likes of Mwai Kibaki, Chris Murungaru and other NAK lynch pins. Tuju himself not too long ago haughtily announced that he would not attend an LDP retreat for largely the same ideological reasons.

What leaves me quite astonished with my mouth agape is the actual SILLINESS of the remark, if you think about if for more than a brief second.

If I use my working definition of "politics"(all that deals with the way a people talk about, formulate and implement policies of how they want to run their lives at a local, provincial, national and even international level.) and "development"(that people driven process of formulating and implementing a range of social, political, economic, cultural, technical, educational, infrastructure and other interventions to create a self-sustaining local, provincial and national economy that leads to higher and better standards of living predicated on a base of progressive moral, ideological, community and other shared values and beliefs), I TOTALLY FAIL TO COMPREHEND how Raphael Tuju thinks the good people of Rarieda can have clean water supplied to their homes and better health services "given" to them WITHOUT talking about the POLITICS of a democratic constitution, the politics of the devolution of powers, the politics of local control of resources, the politics of debt and debt forgiveness, the politics of structural adjustment, the politics of globalization.

"Politics", and again, if I use my broad working definition, is actually the sine qua non for "Development".

In any case, it is about time that politicians ceased seeing ordinary wananchi as pitiable waifs waiting to be showered by the personal generosity of this or that deep pocketed MP who may or may not arrive with a battery of foreign "experts" waiting to dish out their overseas manna to an overly awed local populace. Without taking ANYTHING away from the many DOCUMENTED initiatives of Raphael Tuju in Rarieda, one needs to appreciate that an MP cannot be seen to be a miracle worker on whose largesse the entire constituency relies on. It is this expectation of a one way dependency that is a catalyst for all those inflated salaries, perks and marupu rupu. While it is true that what the MPs are paying themselves is OBSCENE, considering what the vast majority of their voters get to subsist on, it is also a fact that the same constituents, including those WHO DID NOT vote for him expect at least ONE PERSONAL HANDOUT while that MP is still breathing- and more importantly, still in parliament. There is always the younger brother of so and so who is quite willing to be Mshehimiwa's guard, cook, shamba boy or goat's herd and the younger sister of so and who will be more than happy to be a secretary, a personal assistant or even a third wife or second semi-official ndogo ndogo.

Why then, are we shocked when read of scandals implicating the Mwirarias and Ndwigas? Who among the current sitting first time MPs does not want to be the next Mulu Mutisya, the next Simeon Nyachae, the next Shariff Nassir, the next Jackson Angaine who will have hundreds of people at his home or camped outside his office before dawn whenever they hear Mheshimiwa is around.

In early February 2005 James Onyango (no relation to the present writer) set off a fire-storm of political controversy carried on with vim and vigour. This was in the form of an opinion piece titled, "Luos Tired of Empty Talk" carried in the Kenya Times on the 5th February 2003.

For the purposes of my essay, I would like to reproduce the following chunk:

Indeed that is how the trend has been since Jaramogi failed to capture the presidency in 2002 and with the new dispensation where Kibaki was elected President and Raila allegedly promised Prime Ministerial post, hope had been growing that perhaps with the “powerful” post of prime minister for their take, Luo Nyanza was set to witness development. But at it stands now, it would certainly take another three to four years before any sensible and real talk on developing Nyanza took center stage. If anything the real Luos have never known any development since they are used to muddy roads, homes are without electricity and if you ask the why that is so they will aptly respond that that is how things should be.

If anything the current crop of leaders from the region continue to concentrate on nothing else but politicking at the expense of development to the extent that issues that revolve around development does not even excite the local citizens who have become addicted to the empty rhetoric by the lakeside leaders.

Granted that the leaders are united, it is imperative to note that they have never came out strongly as bloc to host any economic forum or constitute committees that could perhaps serve to help bring help to the region. The likes of MPs like Ken Nyagudi and his ilk that probably were voted in on a platform of economic restructure have also ended up being sucked in the symptomatic empty rhetoric while their constituents wait in vain to realize the pledges that were made.

But whatever the case it is high time that Luo leaders stopped hijacking funeral ceremonies and other similar occasions as political platforms to hoodwink their people that all is well when in actual fact Luo Nyanza continues to lag behind in development. The locals can no longer rely on fish as it was in the past since the fish population has drastically gone down and is no more. The lake has developed its won brand of politics and ecologically no longer supports a wide variety and huge amounts of food in the name of fish as it were due to increased levels of pollution from the towns and cities that border it.

Even though the cost of living is low, business in a major town like Kisumu is lukewarm with poor circulation of money since there are very few big size investments. This has let a number of many Luos who may have wished to stay and live in Kisumu and running their business move out to other towns like Nairobi and Mombasa.

HIV/AIDS is wreaking havoc with high number of orphans being left to fend for themselves at the expense of going to school to help reduce illiteracy and be better placed to gun for the dwindling employment opportunities in the larger republic. Luos used to post some of the highest numbers of students to study at the local universities in which many were going for professions such as engineering and medicine and one could find a lot of Luo doctors in the many public hospitals. Today, that is literally a history!

Yet in the face of all these, Luo leaders still believe they are untouchables whose failings should never be pointed out. Those who dare are subjected to the public wrath and could even be suspended or expelled from visiting the region.

Raila and his team are very shrewd technocrats himself being a civil engineer of repute and if they don’t work towards restoring the region’s lost glory in education and economic fronts then history will judge him and his team very harshly.

Luos are silently tired of the empty talks and chest thumping exercises which not only continue to eat into their precious time without helping them put food on the table but also reduce their lifespan as they take too much time thinking into stress about petty politics and wondering when the presidency or is it the prime minister would eventually come to the lakeside. These leaders must wake up and see the light!


James Onyango
's piece was very widely followed especially on certain online Kenyan forums. I remember lurking, without letting out one squeak on a certain ad hoc email listserv a couple of weeks ago seeing Kenyans from the Luo community going back and forth on this issue. By and large, many, if not most of the people on that e-mail list echoed the sentiments of James Onyango.

As a non-Nyanza Luo from the Gem sub-group of this Kenyan nationality, I would like to weigh in also on James Onyango's opinion piece.

He makes many cogent points that are right on and do not bear being contested for their own sake-I am not one of those people who will automatically argue a contrary side just because someone else has said something.

For instance, in a recent essay of my own, I recounted how people in Gem were very frustrated with their MP, Jakoyo Midiwo who they accused of being engaged in "empty talk" while the people of Gem wallowed in poverty etc. I remember back in the early 1970s when I was living in Kisa Location and many of the people of Luanda Doho, Ukura, Muhaka and elsewhere would grumble that our then MP, Martin Shikuku representing Butere was famous as the People's Watchman at the national stage while very little tangible "development" took place in his constituency. My friends from Ugenya used to lob the same charge at their maverick MP, James Orengo saying that the mass action Mageuzi doyen was missing in action in Ukwala, Sihany, Uholo etc even though the respected Institute for Education in Democracy made the following observation in the last assessment of the constituency:

The residents of Ugenya think more of personalities and infrastructure. The incumbent James Orengo is an experienced politician and accomplished orator. Development record is not a factor in Ugenya as most constituents concur with Orengo that the government should develop all parts of the republic. They agree with their MP that the problems facing them are attributable to bad governance by the past and present KANU governments. Orengo has distinguished himself in fighting for reforms and engaging in concerted national action, the latest being a Motion of No Confidence in the government in October 1998. Although the motion never succeeded it is testimony to his determination and shows the mettle that ensured him a clear victory against an NDP onslaught in Luo Nyanza.


SOURCE.

Ugenya as we all know is one of three constituencies in Siaya District. Here is how the socio-economic vital statistics of the district were summarized in a presentation to the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission by a delegation from the neighbouring Alego-Usonga constituency:



· Is the 6th most densely populated district in the province;

· Has a primary school enrolment rate of 80.9%, being ranked 2nd in the province and 17th nationally;

· Has a secondary school enrolment rate of 21.7%, being ranked 4th in the province and 25th nationally;

· Experiences the following main diseases: Malaria, respiratory tract infections, and HIV/AIDS;

· Has a 24.7% malnourishment rate of children under 5 years of age, being ranked 26th of 42 of the nationally ranked districts;

· Has 135 of 1000 of its live babies dying before the 1st birthday, being ranked 40th of 44 of the nationally ranked districts;

· Has a life expectancy of 45 years, being ranked 43rd of 45 of the nationally ranked districts;

· Has the lowest monthly mean household income, Ksh. 3,041 of all the 44 districts for which there are such statistics;

· Has a high absolute poverty level, 58%;

· Is on the edge of Lake Victoria. Much of its land is suitable for subsistence agriculture;

· Economic mainstay is fishing and peasant farming as well as mining of construction materials like stones. However, the water hyacinth in the Lake Victoria has affected fishing; and

· Has three quarters of its people having access to safe sanitation and over a third have safe drinking water
.

SOURCE.

When Luo commentators decry the parlous development status of large chunks of Nyanza, they are spot on.

When they start looking to MPs to be the angels with magic wands doing the miracle work of rapid rural transformation that is precisely the point where I think they take official leave of their common sense.

In so doing they buy right into the claptrap that Kenyatta, Moi and now Mwai constantly preached.

The sermon can be summarized in a simple sentence:

'Wacha siasa na ufuate nyayo ukitaka maendeleo." Rough translation- Forget politics and suck major political ass if you want your constituency to develop."

This stipulation is not only inaccurate, it definitely belongs in the STUPID and ABSURD column of DEMENTED KENYAN POLITICAL ADVICE.

Why do I say this?

One, because I believe that what have just said is true.

Less flippantly, it is because if you unpackage that dictum you find at its core one of the root causes of underdevelopment and poverty not just in Siaya and the rest of so called Luo Nyanza but all over the country.

What is that?

It is the official state FICTION that the keys to maendeleo are obtainable in a certain room in the State House where MPs go to supplicate themselves to the head of state, pleading with him, as if he(Mzee, Nyayo, Kiguoya fill in the blanks for the next Prezzo) was like a National Super Rainmaker endowed with powers of unleashing rapid socio-economic progress as a "reward" for sycophancy.

Unfortunately this fiction has been perpetuated for the last 41 years by actual neo-colonial state practice of "rewards" and "punishments" meted out in the context of a corrupt paradigm of top down presidential patronage system that decrees that roads, hospitals, schools, factories should only be built where state loyalists congregate- and even then, this did not prevent Baringo from being among the most BACKWARD sections of the Rift Valley and Gatundu not necessarily the richest section of Kiambu district. Today the people of Othaya are seething at an MP who has officially and very publicly snubbed them when they have demanded the same "development progress" he keeps touting in his myriad two faced speeches in other parts of the country.

In actuality the socio-economic backwardness of chunks of so called Luo Nyanza, North Eastern province, Coast and certain outlying areas of the Rift Valley have little to do with the political stances of ANY of the sitting MPs but more to do with the downloaded legacy of colonialism that is today used as a POLITICAL weapon by the comprador wishy washy elites misgoverning the country from Nairobi.

It would be useful for ALL political commentators, not just the Luo speaking ones, to EQUIP themselves with a clear ideological understanding of the dynamics of "development" when one is referring to a backward neo-colonial economy such as Kenya.

First of all, in the global scheme of things, Kenya is part of an Africa which is part of a marginalized underdeveloped South which is witnessing a growing gap with the avaricious, resource grabbing and short-changing North.

Secondly, we see the development of underdevelopment in Kenya being driven by the dictates of uneven development- in other words, even as Kenya as a whole continues to wallow in poverty, the overall national economy "develops" in an uneven fashion with certain areas "prospering" not because their politicians are yakking "empty politics" ladies and gentemen, but because of the demands of imperialism at local and sub-regional levels. There is a reason, for instance why Lokichoggio in remote north western Kenya is experiencing a boom town phenomenon, while Lodwar which is in the same northern reaches of the country is NOT. Lokichoggio is the Kenyan gateway to oil and resource rich southern Sudan and therefore a conduit not only for the NGO vultures and UN related expatriate parasites that swarm that conflict prone African state, but also a launching pad for the machinations of Kenyan based neocolonial and monopoly capitalist forays into a post-civil war Sudan.

Thirdly the lack of "development" in places like Ugenya, Alego, Gem and other parts of the so called Luo Nyanza is DIRECT PAYBACK for a very long established system of official state VENGEANCE by past and present Kenyan governments using a carrot and stick blackmail policies of rewards and punishments to keep Nyanza in check because this region of the country was seen to be a hotbed for MILITANT and PROGRESSIVE, PATRIOTIC politics that produced the likes of respected NATIONALISTS like Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, James Orengo and of course Raila Odinga. One must be a Luo in very deep political psychosis to turn around and BLAME this official system of central government NEGLECT- these near genocidal policies of specific ethnic and regional targeting on the very politicians who have been pointing out that some parts of Nyanza have not developed precisely because of deliberate stale policies to thwart development in Nyanza! I mean how unhinged does someone have to be not to see what has been instituted since the times of the KPU? All three presidents have boasted openly of using state power to keep Luos in Nyanza poor and in 2005 we witness young educated Luos on the internet the majority of whom witnessed these policies first hand turn around to blame it all blithely on "empty talk"? Is this how shallow we can get in our political and socio-economic analysis or can we get even more shallower?

I happen to hold on to an ALTERNATIVE analysis about poverty and underdevelopment in Nyanza. In fact, sometime in 2004, I devoted an entire full length essay to it. Instead of rehashing that digital contribution, let me just provide a link to that essay plus another link to some of the rejoinders and subsequent debates that followed the appearance of that essay.

In the very last section of that essay, here is what I offered in summary as a way out of the poverty and underdevelopment in Nyanza:

If one takes an objective look at the myriad problems facing Nyanza at the moment from poverty to AIDS indicates very clearly that A ONE TRACK MINDED APPROACH will NOT and cannot do anything to advance the progressive agenda in this part of the country.

We need to develop a multi-pronged team approach that carves out roles for both the national and regional government; policies that will have a place for the private sector, the civil society sector and even the so called informal economy; it is an approach which will be cognizant of Nyanza’s box in a box interconnectedness as planners look at the region, Kenya as a whole the sub- continental region, the whole Africa the South and finally the global economy.


4.0. What is at the Base of The Raila/Tuju Rift in Nyanza?

From the foregoing it is obvious that I do not share the facile reductionist view that the tensions between Raila and Tuju are between two politicians who hold on to different approaches to development- ati one(Tuju) prefers to do things while another(Raila) prefers empty talk.

If certain minds are getting rusty, when it comes to recalling the contemporary history of Nyanza mainstream politics, perhaps I can jump in, because I have discovered that there is actually nothing wrong with my memory.

Barely four years ago, there was a similar rift between politicians who like to "bring development" to Nyanza and politicians accused of "empty talk". Remember who the protagonists were?

Raphael Tuju was busy in his Action Aid offices at Karen so he was not even in the picture. But Raila Odinga was. Who was the other politician?

It was

James Orengo.

How quickly have we forgotten the rationale that Agwambo gave for his abject capitulation to the rancid Moi-KANU one party dictatorship? The big plus for the NDP's "Kopareson" strategy was that Nyanza politicians were tired of empty talk and now wanted to cooperate with the repressive neo-colonial regime ati to bring development in Luo Nyanza. Some of us did not buy that argument then when Raila Odinga was attempting to sell us that snake oil and we do not buy it now when Raphael Tuju is attempt to smuggle it past our throats again.

The fact of the matter is that Raila Odinga and Raphael Tuju have almost IDENTICAL views about how to tackle development in Nyanza-a largely technocratic top down elitist approach that is moored in affiliation with the key players in the state. Both are wrong in my estimation.

Incidentally, since I have already commented extensively on The Raila Odinga Factor in Kenyan Politics (from as far back as December 24, 2003) I am not going to say much more here on that favourite internet topic.

Let us remind Raphael Tuju and his NAK handlers that it was Raila Odinga who plucked Tuju from his Karen lair and thrust the reluctant businessman into the Rarieda limelight. Quite simply, if Raila Odinga had RESPECTED the DEMOCRATIC ASPIRATIONS of the Rarieda people, Raphael Tuju WOULD NOT be today sauntering, swaggering and prancing in Aram market, expatriate so called experts in tow boasting of how HE, is the godfather of maendeleo who has no time for "empty politics". It was the same "empty politics" which allowed him to rise mpaka sasa he is one of the rising stars on the national political scene in the country.

It is for this reason that I charge Raphael Tuju with political hypocrisy and crude grand standing as he poses as the leader of the anti-Raila forces in Nyanza.

Given the FACT that they are ministers in the same government, Tuju lacks the one thing that is guaranteed to Raila even though the latter DOES NOT ACTUALLY represent a constituency in Nyanza- a mass base in Rarieda.

It is true that the populist shtick he pulled in Aram on Saturday tugged at the rural heart strings of his impoverished constituents. But it was all PR and we do know that Raphael Tuju used to run a marketing and public relations operation.

The big difference between Raphael Tuju and Raila Odinga has to do with the fact that the latter, more experienced politician understands fully well that the key to the success of the kind of projects that Tuju is touting lies first and foremost in the POLITICAL arena. At the mainstream level, it is astounding that Raphael Tuju imagines that ANY kind of development can be sustained given the current constitutional dispensation in the country.

Without a new constitution that provides a legal framework guaranteeing local control, popular participation, regional autonomy, transparency and other democratic safeguards, development priorities in Rarieda and other parts of Nyanza will be skewed by the ramifications of more Anglo Leasing scandals and other instances of grand graft from the heart of the very cabinet that Tuju naively deludes himself to be holding the key to his political clout in Nyanza.

Raphael Tuju should understand that the credibility of the NAK wing of the Kenyan government that he is openly associating himself with is completely gone KAPUT. I mean, seriously jamani let us be honest:

Who seriously believes that a government led by Kibaki and populated by the ilk of Murungaru, Mwiraria and company can "bring development" to the people of Rarieda?

Why is that TEN MILLION Kenyans are facing STARVATION today?

Is that because of "empty talk"?

Whose empty talk?

When the likes of Tuju, Khalwale and other NAK mandarins criss cross the country touting a discredited agenda that would have Kenyans plod on without a democratic constitution are they engaging in empty politics or not?

One also needs to give Raila Odinga a public tongue lashing.

Since very few Luos think they can survive that feat, let Onyango Oloo do it now:

Agwambo Tinga Tinga we hope you have learned the lesson of IMPOSING your relatives, associates and sidekicks on the Nyanza electorate. Next time, stay away from Bondo and let the voters kick out your older brother Oburu because some people think he is actually useless- just like your cousin Jakoyo Midiwo in Gem. Your son in law Gor Sunguh( married to your niece) should face my namesake George Onyango Oloo in a free and open contest in Kisumu East without your interference. My fellow Kamiti alumni Adhu Awiti is reportedly very unpopular in Karachuonyo. Please let him go down to certain defeat the next time around. And even in Rarieda, stay away and let the people decide whether they actually like Raphael Tuju or not. I still believe that it was a mistake for you to campaign against James Orengo in Ugenya. Today he would have been one of your staunchest allies as you battle your rivals in NAK over the stalled constitutional review process. And on a more personal note Agwambo, stop surrounding yourself with SYCOPHANTS. There are people like Adongo Ogony and others who have been accused of being your stooges, yet these radical, anti-imperialists Kenyans( and Adongo is from Bondo like yourself) have never managed to get an audience with you to give you direct critical feedback. There is more that I, Onyango Oloo would like to tell you, but I will be patient until I have another chance for a face to face meeting- like we had in Toronto on Friday, August 25, 2000.



5.0. Conclusion: Raphael Tuju Cut His Political Throat at Aram

It is simply unbelievable that Raphael Tuju imagines that he will emerge from the PR gimmick at Aram unscathed. If Kibaki was more popular; if the funders were more sanguine; if the political crisis in Kenya was less acute, that grand standing would actually have catapulted Raphael Tuju to the heights very close to what pro-establishment sychophants from Nyanza like Tom Mboya and Robert Ouko achieved. Unfortunately the political lightweight and neophyte known as Tuju is NO TJ and does not command the charisma and personal popularity of Robert Ouko who we often forget was one of the most shameless worshippers of the same Moi dictatorship that eventually killed him. The lesson from Nyanza about political turn coats is a lesson that Raphael Tuju has not yet grasped- sooner or later NAK will drop him and seek an accomodation with Raila Odinga for NAK's own survival while his public snub of Agwambo is very unlikely to be erased from the minds of the folk who control the Tinga Tinga political machine in Nyanza.

Onyango Oloo
Montreal

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Have The Chinese Thrown A Life Line to Kibaki?

CLICK HERE to Listen to the February 23, 2005 DUNIA Show featuring political poetry, music by Kahoro wa Kibochi, Youssour Ndour, Lizzie Mahashe, Yan Kuba Saho, Aron Ntunga,Real Sounds, Ricardo Lemvo&Makina Loca, Samba Mapangla, Kofi Anang and Others...


Onyango Oloo Deciphers China's True Agenda in Kenya

1.0. Kenyans from the Mountain Should Denounce the Andu Aitu Arrogance Now:

I have a question for my comrades from the Gikuyu, Embu, Meru, Chuka, Tharaka and affiiated ethnic communities whether in Central, Eastern and Rift Valley Provinces or wherever in Kenya and around the world they be based. Yes, I am talking to you, Njuguna Mutahi, Micere Mugo, Kangethe Mungai, Nganga Thiongo, Kamoji Wachiira, Waikwa Wanyoike, Njeri Kabeberi, Ndungi Githuku, Wahu Kaara and yes you too, Kathure Kebaara with whom we have a fourteen year old son called Sankara.

Here is my question:

Why are you keeping quiet even as the

Chris Murungarus,

Amos Kimunyas,

Kiraitu Murungis,

David Mwirarias and

Mwai Kibaki plunge this country closer and closer to precipice of ethnic conflagration?

When will you remind Murungaru that he does NOT speak for the Agikuyu?

When will you tell Mwiraria that his interests are NOT synonymous with the interests of the Meru people?

When will you tell Mwai Kibaki that he was NOT elected as a Gikuyu President or a leader for the GEMA communities?

Comrades and friends from the Mount Kenya region: your voices must get louder in castigating the dangerous swaggering and posturing of haughty windbags like Amos Kimunya.

The other day, the beleagured Chris Muranguru chose to go on the radio and speak his mind. He did not choose the state owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation-even though he remains one of the most powerful ministers in the NAK ruling clique. He did not speak on the English or Kiswahili service of KTN, which has a national reach. He chose to take his message to Kameme FM-the Gikuyu language radio station.

Now there is NOTHING wrong with that-only that by CHOOSING Kameme, Murungaru targeted a Gikuyu speaking audience. He had a message to convey in Kikuyu to a Gikuyu audience. Nothing wrong with that-Ngugi wa Thiongo and Wahome Mutahi among others have had NATIONAL messages conveyed in the Gikuyu language.

But wait, there is more-someone I know likes to say.

Chris Murungaru who is a Mgikuyu serving in a cabinet which is largely seen be tilted to the interests of the GEMA elite had a very tribal, a very narrow, a very backward message to convey to his Gikuyu listeners.

What was that message?

He was ranting and raving against Sir Edward Clay. Again nothing wrong with that. Onyango Oloo has also been ranting and raving against the imperial arrogance of the British envoy.

I was just flabbergasted when I read a report of what Murungaru said on Kameme. To my mind, these sentiments were almost a bad, if not actually worse than the gaffe by Kiraitu Murungi about women who are only too willing to be raped.

So what did Dr Murungaru say?

Well here is a link to a report published on a South African web site.

Here are some consolidated quotes:

"This is a fight against the British and the Kikuyu. They previously divided our own between loyalists and terrorists and made us turn against each other. Today, they are dividing us using corruption and they want us to tear each other apart," he said. "The British high commissioner is spy number one fighting for the interests of his government. Edward Clay was appointed in 2001 but he never criticised the grand corruption that existed here during the Kanu regime. But now that it is a Kikuyu leading, his government is not happy since we are making international tenders for government contracts that were once exclusively British,"

Let us review that piece of TRIBAL UJINGA line by line.

Is Murungaru ACCURATE in saying that this is a fight pitting the British against the Kikuyus?

Is he trying to suggest that it is the Kikuyus, en masse who are implicated in corruption and that the British are targeting the tribe en masse?

Is Mwiraria a Mgikuyu?

How about his accomplices at the Coast?

Are all the principals named in AngloLeasing Kikuyus?

How about all the other scandals?

Is Murungaru therefore implying that when John Githongo resigned he was betraying the House of Mumbi?

Is that why Githongo feared for his life?

Was Murungaru planning to have the former Anti-Corruption Czar eliminated for ethnic treason?

Has there been an oathing ceremony among the Agikuyu binding each and every Mgikuyu to defend each corrupt practice by a Mgikuyu in the Kibaki regime?

Second piece of Murungaru CRAP. Is it true that it was the British who "divided" the Agikuyu and was the division between "loyalists" and "terrorists"???

Who were these "terrorists"?

Could Murungaru be referring, by chance, to people like General Muthoni, Stanley Mathenge, Karari Njama, Kimathi wa Waciuri and General Bamuinge as "terrorists"?

And could he be referring to sellout homungati collaborators like the Gethis, Mahihus, Hingas, Njonjos and Michukis as "loyalists"?

Loyal to who?

These are people who had betrayed their fellow Kenyans and a minister in so called independent Kenya still referring to them as "loyalists"???

Third piece of Chris gibberish...So when Clay says that Murungaru should be fired because he is one corrupt DOG, is the British envoy "dividing" Murungaru from say,

John Githongo or

Jane Kiragu who are both Kikuyus but want NOTHING to do with a corrupt regime?

Fourth piece of fear mongering baloney. Is Edward Clay the number one spy? Do you need to be a "spy" to spy the open corruption among the NAK parvenu thugs and hoodlums?

Fifth and the most odious piece of andu aitu drivel. So are Kibaki's critics right along when they say that his regime is actually a Kikuyu government? Is that why Murungaru went to speak to his fellow Gikuyus-because the British wanted to bring down a Kikuyu government? Some of us have been railing at Clay for trying to bring down an elected Kenyan government, kumbe all along Murungaru and company are busy defending this Kikuyu government?

Well, if the Kibaki regime is indeed a Kikuyu government as opposed to a Kenyan one, then it should be overthrown as soon as possible because I was not aware that millions of Kenyans who are not Wagikuyu stood in line for hours in Kisumu, Kakamega, Mombasa, Kajiado and elsewhere to elect a Kikuyu president. Let us refresh our memory. in 2002, the Kikuyu candidate went by the name of Uhuru Kenyatta and at one point Mama Ngina openly told voters in Gatunda that they should elect her son to prevent the Luos ruling through Kibaki.

As if that was NOT enough, we then see Amos Kimunya's rather strange call for the arrest of Edward Clay-an envoy who enjoys diplpomatic immunity. Today (Wednesday, February 23, 2005) Murungaru repeated the same junk - these are the people who have been obstructing justice on corruption scandals.

For what?

APPARENTLY, for the capital offence of stealing andu aitu corruption secrets.

Even the normally pro- NAK establishment Daily Nation came out with a scathing anti-Kimunya editorial.

To get an idea of how the Amos Kimunya angle is playing in Britain, take a look at how the conservative rag, the Daily Telegraph depicted the whole sordid scenario:



Kenya threatens to arrest British envoy for 'theft and corruption'
By Adrian Blomfield in Nairobi
(Filed: 23/02/2005)

Relations between Britain and Kenya plunged to their lowest point in decades yesterday after a senior minister in President Mwai Kibaki's government threatened to arrest the British high commissioner on charges of theft and corruption.


In an outburst reminiscent of an angry tirade by Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, Kenya's lands minister, Amos Kimunya, claimed that Sir Edward Clay had used stolen government files to prepare a controversial dossier alleging corruption in the cabinet.

Sir Edward has become the bane of Mr Kibaki's administration since he began a crusade against top-level corruption last year. This month he accused ministers of "massive looting" and said he had handed over details of 20 major scandals to the president.

The government was quick to brand Sir Edward "an incorrigible liar" and "an enemy of the state" but was alarmed by the overwhelming support he received among Kenyans.

In what amounted to the first tacit admission that Sir Edward's allegations were true, Mr Kimunya said senior civil servants leaked the details that formed the basis of the dossier. "The information was corruptly obtained," Mr Kimunya said. "He should be taken in."

Mr Kimunya is seen as one of President Kibaki's closest allies. Both men are members of the Kikuyu, Kenya's largest tribe. A cabal of Kikuyu ministers is accused of cashing in on a series of procurement tenders, costing Kenya up to £500 million half the government's annual budget since Mr Kibaki came to power two years ago.

It is unlikely that the government would be rash enough to fulfil its threat and breach diplomatic immunity by arresting Sir Edward. But there are signs that Nairobi is prepared to ignore international condemnation and assume a policy of defiance similar to that practised by Mr Mugabe.

In a worrying sign of a return to the repression that characterised Kenyan politics in former years, Mr Kimunya announced that all civil servants who leak information on corruption to foreign diplomats or the press would be charged with treason, a hanging offence.

The move is seen as particularly targeting the former head of the anti-corruption unit, John Githongo, who resigned this month and fled the country. His departure prompted the United States, Britain and Germany to suspend aid.

The British High Commission has ignored Mr Kimunya's threat but there is growing concern among the 30,000 British residents in Kenya that they could become victims.

Kenyan ministers claim that the British Government is behind all corrupt deals in the country and there have been veiled threats against British business interests.

There are fears that Mr Kibaki could seek to deflect anger among Kenyans by demanding the redistribution of white-owned farms, as has happened in Zimbabwe.


Kimunya's outburst was almost as in your face as Mwiraria's own defiant, I will NOT QUIT No Matter What defiant pep talk to the media.

Make no mistake- it is a coordinated NAK response, right from the top.

Mwai Kibaki publicly announced that he was going stand loyally by each and every corrupt minister in his discredited regime.

The clear message from Kibaki, Kiraitu, Murungaru, Kimunya and Mwiraria to their local and overseas critics is:

"FUCK YOU! The Andu Aitu Gang is in Power, Deal With It! If we feel like providing waivers for our friends, we will do exactly that! If we want to skim something off the top, kwani mutaupeleka wapi? Tunatamba kumanyoko zenu!"

You heard Kibaki ask Kimunya or was it Ndwiga sarcastically the other day:

"Kwani ulikula mbuzi ya nani? Whose goat did you eat?"

This massive TRIBAL arrogance, in face of the national outcry against the return of grand corruption is simply unbelievable.

Surely, Kibaki and his fellow thugs know that they have very little support within the country and that if an election was held right now, they would be completely vanquished.

As we speak, a contingent of Kenyans from the Mount Kenya region are on a 150 Km trek from Meru to President Kibaki's home town of Nyeri over some pressing land allocation issue. Clearly the bunch in power has very little in common with the interests of millions of ordinary Merus, Agikuyu, Embu,Chogoria, Tigania and affiliated ethnic groups from the Mount Kenya region on whose behalf they have so arrogantly arrogated the irresponsibility of looting and theft by public servant.

They know that they have zero credibility among the British, the Germans, the Canadians, the Scandinavians, the Japanese and the Americans.

So why are the Kibakis, Murungarus, Mwirarias, Ndwigas and Kimunyas so smug? Especially now, when 10 million Kenyans are facing starvation?



2.0. The Chinese Trump Card


The answer lies in the largest country in the world in terms of population- a country that has been experiencing annual economic growth rated hovering near 10%.

We are talking about China.

Here are some pointers.

A few days ago, the Chinese gave the Kibaki regime a huge gift in the form of special concessions for Telkom Kenya as you can in this story.

This commentary from South Africa does not mince any words in talking openly about China's quasi imperialist forays into the deepest Africa.

Another commentator from Namibia weighs in along similar lines.

China is ostensibly a socialist country-the ruling party is still called the Chinese Communist Party.

Anyone who has been following global events will not have missed the rather cozy relationships between China and US imperialism. In the 1960s, the conventional wisdom was that it was the Chinese who were to the "left" of the ideological spectrum in terms of the Sino-Soviet split and many socialist militants in Africa and Asia were proud to call themselves Maoists-seeing this as an intensfication of their Marxist-Leninist political radicalism.

In practice however, China did play right into the machinations of US led imperialism, acting as a counterweight against the Soviet Union in Asia even as the European Union consolidated itself visavis the Warsaw Pact states. The People's Republic of China benefited materially and politically from the Cold War and the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. In Africa we saw the strange phenomenon in Angola where the Chinese AND the CIA were both supporting the UNITA murderous thugs largely because the Soviet Union, East Germany and their allies at that time backed to the hilt the MPLA led by the communist physician-poet, Dr. Agostinho Neto.

One person who has looked closely at China's emerging dominance in the world today is the African-American progressive historian who happens to be a veteran member of the Communist Party USA

Gerald Horne. In the February 2005 issue of Political Affairs(the theoretical journal of the CPUSA) Prof. Horne has an article entitled Tug of War which shows the growing tensions between US imperialism on the one hand and European Union and the China.

In my view, Prof. Horne's article is one of the most insightful contributions offered in the ongoing debates about global power dynamics as we re-examine the nature of contemporary imperialism and geo-political situation globally. We therefore must transcend the easy reductionist appellations that is so tempting when we get intellectually lazy on the Left. An obvious pointer to this is the reluctance of France and Germany to play ball in Iraq even though both European states are imperialist to the core, with the government in France led by an unabashed right winger. The possibility of China hooking up with Malaysia and even Japan to create an Asian Monetary Fund is a scenario that even the most over-confident neo-con in Washington is likely to view with poorly disguised trepidation-especially if you throw in the fact that China is essentially helping to pay the expenditure of the US government through the Treasury bonds.

When one takes a closer look at Sino-Kenyan relations, one notices that things started going closer many years during the time of Daniel arap Moi.

In 2001 the two countries signed a pact on academic exchanges;in

April 2002 the Chinese Premier met with Moi on the same day that he met with Francis Ole Kaparo the speaker of the National Assembly; five months later the Chinese ambassador was outlining the broad areas of bilateral relations with Kenya; by March 2004, the Kenya Tourism Board was inking a deal with its Chinese counterpart and that is why when I saw the

Zeng Peiyan the Chinese Vice Premier being enthusiastically greeted in Nairobi the other day by Chinese nationals residing in Kenya waving KENYAN and Chinese flags, I knew that the guy was not just in town for the UNEP shin dig, especially since there was a
parallel China-Africa Environmental Cooperation Conference taking place in Nairobi at the same time.

And my hunch was right.

Today,(February 23, 2005)Zeng Peiyan called for enhanced ties with Kenya after meeting with Mwai Kibaki.

When and if we do get a Second National Carrier to compete with Telkom Kenya what are the chances of the tender being "won" by a Chinese entity? I want to bet that it will be better than 60%. Am I just talking through my non-existent kofia? Not really. I like looking at the implications of obscure hard facts-for example this small news item about a function that took place in the sleepy town of Thika last October which therefore does not make the big news of this week that surprising in retrospect. People like Ayisi Makatiani are already lining up to take advantage of this opportunity when it happens.

3.0. Chinese Foreign and Business Policies Towards Africa Are Opportunistic and Social Imperialistic in Character

Many years ago, when

Enver Hoxha(pronounced Ho-ja) the late Albanian leader used to rail against BOTH the Soviets and the Chinese for being "revisionist" and "social imperialist" I was not sure if it was not just ultra-leftist rhetoric. Today, with the Soviet Union gone with only bitter after taste left behind and China becoming prosperous at the expense of American workers and cheap African and Third World resouces-deftly moving forward with cynical alliances with union busting corporate behemoths like Wal-Mart, and cutting deals with shady African dictatorships like Zimbabwe, the Sudan and being involved in Sierra Leone and now getting ready to prop up the corrupt NAK regime in Nairobi, it is quite clear that China is "socialist" in name largely. Ironically, Wal-Mart recently agreed to unionize its Chinese operations, while being adamantly anti-union in North America to the extent that they shut down their operations here

in Quebec rather than countenance a unionized work-place.

Here is a synopsis of the book

China and Socialism new book that is being published in March 2005,by Martin Hart-Landsberg and Paul Burkett:

The fastest-growing economy in the world today is that of China. For many on the left, the Chinese economy seems to provide an alternative model of development to that of neoliberal globalization. Although it is a disputed question whether the Chinese economy can be still described as socialist, there is no doubting the importance for the global project of socialism of accurately interpreting and soberly assessing its real prospects.

Hart-Landsberg and Burkett's China and Socialism argues that market reforms in China are leading inexorably toward a capitalist and foreign-dominated development path, with enormous social and political costs, both domestically and internationally. The rapid economic growth that accompanied these market reforms have not been due to efficiency gains, but rather to deliberate erosion of the infrastructure that made possible a remarkable degree of equality. The transition to the market has been based on rising unemployment, intensified exploitation, declining health and education services, exploding government debt, and unstable prices.

At the same time, China's economic transformation has intensified the contradictions of capitalist development in other countries, especially in East Asia. Far from being a model that is replicable in other Third World countries, China today is a reminder of the need for socialism to be built from the grassroots up, through class struggle and international solidarity.


A November 2004 report on energy security by the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security indicates that the Chinese quest for crude oil is what drives its renewed interest in Africa. And we do know that there is a serious prospecting for oil off the Kenyan coast which has been yielding encouraging results.

One can therefore assume that there is a confluence of interests between the national strategic interests of China(in terms of trade and energy security) and the need for the Kibaki regime to outflank its internal rivals and overseas critics to carve a Macchiavelian survival plan built in my opinion on a platform of andu aitu ethnic demagoguery, banking of the wishy washy political umalaya of the likes of Ndingi Mwana a Nzeki and other wobbly civil society figures, the opportunism of certain elements of the Nyachae linked Kisii elite, the power maniacs in the Biwott faction of the Rift Valley Mafia, the anti-Raila social climbers in Nyanza close to people like Raphael Tuju, Odongo Omamo and Dalmas Otieno and individual sell outs from the Somali, Maasai, Kalenjin, Dawida, Swahili, Mijikenda and Abaluhyia communities.

I am therefore revising my earlier prognosis regarding the catastrophe facing NAK, Kibaki and his acolytes.

I can now begin to appreciate afresh the open disdain and sneering posturings of the Kimunyas and the Murungarus.

On closer examination, one can see that the reshuffle in the Kibaki regime was only partly driven by donor pressure-it is an internal strategic realignement within the andu aitu MKM cabal. Michuki and Murungaru will actual wield greater power rather than less.

But there is a VERY BIG IF.

4.0. How the Wananchi Can Scuttle the Devious Agenda of the Corrupt Kibaki-Murungaru-Mwiraria-Kimunya-Ndwiga Gang

If all the political machinations happen ENTIRELY within the Kenyan comprador elite, then MOST DEFINITELY the andu aitu gang will survive because they realize like Mugabe that they can try to play the nationalist card(yes these offspring of the homungati who include Mau Mau era colonial police torturers like John Michuki will try to put on the "anti-imperialist" cloak). If all the so called "Yellow Movement" are waiting for is more vomiting speeches from Edward Clay, then we may as well give the NAK regime a second mandate.

But this particular gang happens to be even MORE UNPOPULAR than the Moi dictatorship- something that no one ever thought was possible. This is a selfish, narrow minded, elitist and tribal coterie who do not even have a mass base within their own ethnic constituencies.

That is why the real key to removing this Kibaki misleadership(make no mistake: THEY HAVE TO GO!) is not to be found in any of the lobbies of any of the embassies of the Western donors.

The answer lies in Uhuru Park, in Tononoka, in Kamkunji. The answer lies in mass democratic action.

China may plot with Murungaru and Michuki all they like- at the end of the day, if Kenya is ungovernable, they will be nobody to cut deals with. Those of us who are outside the country must start putting pressure on China to links its trade policies in Kenya to some social justice principles. We did that with apartheid South Africa- why not with a venal regime that happens to be headed by Black Africans?

This is where the roles of Kalonzo Musyoka, Charity Ngilu, Wangari Maathai, Raila Odinga, Koigi wa Wamwere, Musikari Kombo, Najib Balala, Kivutha Kibwana- if they were serious Kenyan patriots as opposed to people waiting for a signal from the imperialists, this would be time to go back to the mass wananchi base to the days of the UNBWOGABLE public rallies and demonstrations. If they stay within the coalition they will play into the devious hands of the NAK forces.

Will this actually happen?

Let's wait and see...


By the way, before I go, I have TWO poems dedicated to political fence-sitters.
Here is the first one. And you can click here for the second poem.

Onyango Oloo
Montreal

Saturday, February 19, 2005

We are UnDWOKABLE and Completely UnDWOGABLE!!


Oloo Goes Two Strides Past UNBWOGABLE...


1.0. February 18th Should Be a Siku Kuu.



















I have four proposals:

1. Scrap Kenyatta Day.
2. Scratch Moi Day.
3. Proclaim February 18th as Kimathi Day
4. Declare October 20th as Wazalendo Day


While we wait for the Kenyan government to catch up with the Kenyan people why don't we go ahead and join other wazalendo who are ALREADY celebrating Kimathi Day today, Friday, February 18th, 2005?

Exactly 48 years ago, the British colonialists hanged Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi wa Waciuri at Kamiti prison. At the time he was killed by the imperialists, he was the Kenyan equivalent of Nelson Mandela-forget about that impostor called

Jomo Kenyatta who had DENOUNCED the Mau Mau in this July 1952 speech and later on sold out to the British while serving time in colonial dungeons.

Here is how one of his white colonial jailers remembers Kimathi's last days.

It is shocking how little Kenyans know about one of Africa's pre-eminent anti-colonial heroes.

How many Kenyans know when and where Kimathi was born?

Yet we can pinpoint the exact second and the exact location where

Princess Diana died and how
her Greek father in law was the mastermind of her untimely demise.

Who was Kimathi's mother?

What was the name of his father?

Yet we know the name of the dude starring
in the nuptials that launched Britney Spears'non 55 hour marriage.

Did Kimathi get married?

Did he have any children?

What was his educational background?

Yet we know all the words in
Sisqo's Thong Song.

How did Kimathi emerge as the leader of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army?

Yet some of us could rattle off the number of free kicks



Beckham has curled deviously past many a surprised goalie.

Fortunately, someone somewhere has stepped forward to SAVE YOU from acute embarrassment the next time your own kid, cousin, nephew or niece asks for your help with their "Do a Profile of Kimathi" homework.

Save face quickly by clicking here.

The other day, I practically called


John Githongo a British agent. Having come across this moving tribute to our heroes and sheroes, I am inclined to take SOME of my words back.

A news item in the Nation newspaper of Sunday, February 20, 2005 features revelations from Kimathi's widow,

Mukami that are startling-but only to those unfamiliar with Kenyatta's long history of duplicity.

When I was in Kenya in September and October 2003, I was talking to friends like

Njuguna Mutahi and new acquaintances like

Andiah Kisia about the search for Kimathi's remains at Kamiti. But veteran journalist Joseph Karimi has another theory-Mzalendo Dedan was buried at Langata, at least according to this 2001 piece.

The only problem with Karimi is that his credibility currently languishes at minus 26 ever since that fiasco when he tried to pass off a befuddled


Ethiopian farmer as long lost Mau Mau hero and Kimathi contemporary, Stanley Mathenge.

That travesty inspired one of my many digitals, as I mused on how we as Kenyans deal with our national legacy of the Mau Mau.

Earlier on the same theme had made me compose a Jamhuri Day poem about five years ago.

More recently, I was compelled to fire off an angry missive to the editor of the Daily Telegraph when I came across news reports of an aging kaburu spouting racist hatred against Kimathi and the movement he led...

Speaking of the Mau Mau, it is worth reminding the Edward Clays of this world that what the British did to Kenyans in the 1950s is far, far worse than the horrors of Abu Ghraib.








John Newsinger has documented these atrocities.





Did you know that the notorious Ian Henderson, the butcher of the Mau Mau went on to have a distinguished career in Bahrain after

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga had him deported in 1964?

Incidentally,were you also aware that it took the neo-colonial Kenyan political rulers FORTY YEARS to lift the colonial ban on the Kiama Kia Muingi?

2.0. What Happened to the Wahu Kaara wing of Katiba Watch?

These days, I cringe when I read some of the pronouncements from the constitutional pressure group known as Katiba Watch. When I hear certain men associated with that outfit pledge how they are going to "defend" to the death the reactionary clause that denies Kenyan women reproductive rights including termination of pregnancy services I keep wondering what happened to the most progressive, the most militant and most consistent voice that made me want to associate myself with Katiba Watch so much in the heady days of last summer?

Where is

Wahu Kaara and why has her feminist, anti-imperialist female voice been drowned by the bass baritones of right-wing nationalists and wishy washy male pro-lifers? Why is it that people like Mwandawiro Mghanga and Oduor Ongwen who used to be linked to the group are no longer seen or heard from during Katiba Watch affiliated events?

For a glimpse at the militancy, dynamism and ideological clarity of this Kenyan comrade, please click here to listen to this interview and then go to this link to drink in a continuation of the same flavour...

Many of you remember this online movie that was shot by activists in Nairobi during the Uhuru Park rally that was brutally suppressed








by goons in riot police uniform ordered into action by the Kibaki/Murungaru/Kiraitu forces

What was macabre was to realize that the a big percentage of those being tear-gassed had probably chanted "Kibaki Tosha!" singing "We are UNBWOGABLE" as they went to vote for NARC in 2002.

It has been more than passing strange, at the same time, to see the sullen reluctance of veteran Kenyan social justice campaigners many of them running their own NGOs and CBOs to come to the fore and bolster people like Wahu Kaara and other campaigners for a new democratic constitution.

I simply DID NOT BUY the EXCUSE from some of my very close comrades in Nairobi that they refused to go to Uhuru Park because of the "2 Rutos"-William and Isaac- insiders and left-overs from the Moi-KANU dictatorship. They could have been marching next to Wahu, next to hundreds if not thousands of other pro-democracy activists who too bore the brunt of the one party dictatorship.

To my mind, many of these comrades and friends have been abject FENCE SITTERS, unable to overcome their own political prejudices about the role of people like Raila Odinga in Kenyan democratic struggles and further hobbled by the fact that their pay cheques were essentially being signed by imperialist funders in places like Canada, the United States, the UK, Scandinavia and elsewhere and they have to be very careful about the ideological timbre of their public pronouncements.

But guess what?

It is now the foreign envoys of the UK, the United States, Japan, Canada, the European Union and elsewhere who SOUND as if THEY are champing at the bit IMPATIENT for some feisty mass action!

And that is why I have been completely UNSURPRISED to see people changing tack slowly. These days Makau Mutua is no longer an apologist for NAK, but on the contrary one of its most vituperative public critics; these days Prof. Kivutha Kibwana is no longer a Kibaki attack dog, but rather, one of the leading lights of the shifty so called "Third Progressive Force". I wonder, first, where are the First and Second Progressive Forces and whether or not Messrs. Mungatana, Kibwana and Co. are aware that the term THIRD FORCE is associated in African progressive circles with a shadowy RIGHT WING Death Squad bankrolled by the apartheid state in the closing years of white minority rule in South Africa.

I am therefore openly suspicious about the TRUE AGENDA of the recently formed, unfortunately named YELLOW Movement on Constitutional Review. Who is the GENIUS who came up with a name which is SYNONYMOUS with political cowardice? For the last two years these very same civil society groups have fought tooth and nail to defend the Kibakis and Kiraitus in opposing the Bomas process- even though some of them continued picking up their allowances regularly even as they rushed to the media to trash the constitutional conference as soon as they got back to downtown Nairobi after a session at Bomas.

Many of the people associated with the Kenyan YELLOW Movement regularly read the Kenya Democracy Project blog so I know they are already bursting with rage as they scan these very lines. If you find that upsetting, wait until I give you a massive coronary by asking you to HONESTLY answer the following question:

HOW MUCH OF YOUR AGENDA IS BEING DRIVEN BY THE MACHINATIONS OF THE WESTERN DONORS-and specifically the British, American, Canadian and European Union envoys?

I do not like political GOSSIP and that is WHY I am asking these questions LOUDLY and in the OPEN and in my own name so that you can know that yes, it is that "paranoid ultra leftist" in Canada who has the audacity to QUESTION the moral probity of the so called YELLOW Movement on Constitutional Review.

Believe me, I am TOTALLY JUSTIFIED to be skeptical, if not outright cynical. The Kenyan political scene is replete with copious examples of renegades, opportunists and fence-sitters wanaofuata upepo kama bendera.

More than that, we have seen, in other parts of the world, imperialists using NGOs and civil society movements to execute the uniquely early 21st century NGO coups like the recent example in Georgia and to a certain extent in the Ukraine and the leadership of people like Yushchenko is becoming more and more common place.

Closer to home, many progressive commentators (who hold no brief for the despot Robert Mugabe) have documented the role of the imperialists in the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe- transforming a once vibrant pro-democracy formation into a neo-colonial conduit riddled with unreconstructed and unrepentant racist Rhodesians. Patrick Bond and Masimba Manyanya in their book



detail not only the empty rhetoric of the neocolonial Mugabe dictatorship, but also of the imperialist clout behind the MDC.

Last July, when Shikuku, Mwachiro and other leading lights of Katiba Watch were sipping English tea with Edward Clay at a posh Nairobi hotel I loudly complained of a danger of the imperialists hijacking the Kenyan democratic movement. Very few people listened to what I was saying.

Today,I think that the danger is even more acute with the predominantly urban based Kenyan civil society organizations even hungrier for dwindling donor funds and starving politicians locked out by the greedy NAK bunch hankering for their turn at the till.

The subjective and objective conditions therefore exist for an imperialist designed, NGO orchestrated, Georgia/Ukraine style putsch against the tottering Kibaki regime.

A few days ago, I said that it was possible that certain mainstream Kenyan politicians and civil society figures could already be in deep conversations with certain Western donors on how to replace the discredited NAK bunch with a more amenable, technocratic and pro-Western clique that can efficiently implement a neo-liberal agenda of retrenchments, privatizations, tax vacations and anti-terrorist legislative measures in line with the geo-political machinations of international finance capital in the East, Central and Southern African region.

What has been interesting for me is to see the speed at which the so called YELLOW Movement has swung into action, given its notorious lethargy over the very same issues for the last two years.

I am yet to be convinced that any drastic changes in the Kenyan political leadership which happens in the next eight months will not be pro-imperialist.

These observations are based on the FACT that the Kenyan Left is practically non-existent as a vibrant organized force, despite the GAPING VOID, the HUGE CHASM that yawns and groans for a home grown national democratic movement.

That is why my challenge to my comrades and friends in the Kenyan civil society sector is to examine who their so called "allies" are locally and internationally. It never ceases to amaze me to find the Kenyan NGO heavyweights count among their most trusted and cherished confidants ALL the imperialist ambassadors- when they do not know a single trade unionist or reply emails sent to them by certain pesky Kenyan communists on matters about their own organizations. These same individuals, on their trips abroad to North America and Europe will remain cloistered in their hotels and barricaded in the offices of their overseas funders, studiously ignoring their Kenyan activist counterparts abroad and radical and progressive Americans, Canadians, Brits, Germans, Swedes, Norwegians, French and other anti-imperialist fighters in the metropolitan North.

The Edward Clays, the Bellamys and the Jim Walls of Nairobi know exactly what their ideological agendas are in Kenya. They know that sooner or later, Kibaki will not be on the scene and they want to ensure that whoever comes to power is someone they can do business with. It is sad and unfortunate to see former socialists and ex-Marxists, participate directly or indirectly in a long term agenda of recolonization of Kenya.

That is why it is very important to think very soberly right now, when the Kibaki regime is tottering on the brink of absolute annhilation.

One of the questions we need to ask is this:

Who will be the primary change agent in Kenya?

The imperialists and their embassies in Nairobi or the Kenyan wananchi?

What are the implications for Kenyan progressives allowing themselves to be swallowed by the populist twaddle and double speak emanating from the mouths of Edward Clay and his ilk?

In Haiti as we speak, a former US ambassador of that tortured Caribbean nature is one of the veteran founders of the Haiti Democracy Project! We know it is not that far-fetched you know. Remember the original FORD. The former editor of the anti-communist far right Washington Times was one of its chief mentors! That's right- I am talking about Smith Hempstone, the former US ambassador to Nairobi who got such uncritical star billing when he ripped into Moi back then in 1990. Today Edward Clay is doing the same thing and people suffering from political amnesia think it is all a coincidence. Think again folks.

On a lighter, more paranoid note, I have always found it weird that some of the acronyms of our parties resonate with such obvious US echoes-FORD (GM, Chrysler anyone?) DP(are there any Republicans in the house?) NARC(how about HUD, CIA the FBI?). Anyone who has even a cursory curiosity in branding techniques will know that marketers spend months and months fussing over not just the name, but the sound of a new brand. I can safely predict that the next mainstream so called pro-democracy grouping will also have this Gringo resonance....

3.0. We Are More Than Unbwogable: We are Now UnDWOKABLE and Completely UnDWOGABLE!!

three years ago we chanted the lyrics of






Gidi Gidi Maji Maji's song UNBWOGABLE:

who can bwogo me?
who can bwogo me?
i say who can bwogo me?
i am unbwogable!
who can bwogo me?
who can bwogo me?
i say who can bwogo me?
i am unbwogable!
at the same time we sang hopefully the entire stanzas of the pulsating RKK tune:

rkk-rudisha kila kitu

yote yawezekana

bila moi
yote yawezekana

bila kanu
yote yawezekana

bila uhuru
yote yawezekana

bila kanu
walimu watalipwa

bila moi
watoto watasoma bila moi
harambee tutafanya bila moi
barabara tutajejenga bila moi
yote yawezekana bila moi
yote yawezekana

bila kanu
yote yawezekana

bila uhuru
yote yawezekana bila kanu
uchumi tutainua bila moi
madaraka tutapata bila moi
amani tutapata bila moi
tutasimama imara bila moi
yote yawezekana bila moi
yote yawezekana bila kanu
yote yawezekana

bila uhuru
yote yawezekana bila kanu
maji tutafikisha mashambani
sitima mtapata mashambani
ufisadi tutamaliza bila moi
umasikini tutamaliza bila moi
unyakuaji wa mashamba tutamaliza
vita vya ukabila tutamaliza
nayo katiba mpya tutapata
nayo maendeleo tutapata
yote yawezekana bila moi
yote yawezekana bila kanu
yote yawezekana bila uhuru
yote yawezekana bila kanu
yote yawezekana bila moi
yote yawezekana bila kanu
yote yawezekana bila uhuru
yote yawezekana bila kanu...
in february two thousand and five
we notice that
mwiraria hajarudisha kila kitu
murungaru hajarudisha kila kitu
ndwiga hajarudisha kila kitu
three years later we discover
hakuna chochote chawezekana na kibaki
so we begin to sing a new song:
yote yawezekana bila kibaki
yote yawezekana bila murungaru
yote yawezekana bila kiraitu
kibaki told the teachers to forget about being paid
narc has smuggled back school fees through the back door
the economy is in shambles
peace does not reign in the land
tribal clashes have flare up once again
moi is no longer with us
but mwai is busy reading pg wodehouse
when he is not taking his twelve hour power naps
three years ago we chanted:
who can bwogo me?
who can bwogo me?
i say who can bwogo me?
i am unbwogable!
who can bwogo me?
who can bwogo me?
i say who can bwogo me?
i am unbwogable!

this year we chant in unison:
tumechoka!
tumechoka kudanganywa tumechoka!
tumechoka!
tumechoka kusalitiwa tumechoka!
tumechoka!
tumechoka kugongwa na kupunjwa tumechoka!
hatutaki!
hatutaki walanguzi na matapeli hatutaki!
hatutaki!
hatutaki machungudoa na magagula wa kisiasa hatutaki!
tumekataa!
tumekataa ujambazi wa kisiasa tumekataa!
tumeamua!
tumeamua kujiamulia nafsi yetu tumeamua!
tumeamua kuwafukuza madarakani akina kibaki tumeamua!
twasonga mbele!
twasonga mbele na harakati za kidemokrasia twasonga mbele!
tumesimama wima!
tumesimama wima kama mnazi tumesimama!
who can dwoko us?
who can dwoko us?
we say who can dwoko us?
we are undwokable!
in two thousand five we sing in chorus:
yote yawezekana bila mwai
yote yawezekana bila ukabila
yote yawezekana na ukenya
who can dwoko us?
who can return us to the dark days of the dictatorship?
who can dwoko us?
who can dwoko us?
who can dwoko us?
we say who can dwoko us?
we are undwokable!
who can return us to the sordid years of betrayal?
who can dwoko us to the comical days of sycophantic praises?
who can dwoko us to the kenya without a katiba mpya?
who can dwoko us?
who can dwoko us?
we say who can dwoko us?
we are undwokable!
we are undwokable!
we are undwogable!
we are undwokable !
who can dwoko us?
who can dwoko us?
we say who can dwoko us?
we are undwokable!
we refuse to go back to the one party dictatorship
we refuse to go back to neo-colonial fascist repression
we refuse to go back to wanton looting of the treasury
we refuse to go back to tribal clashes
we refuse to go back to retrenchments
we refuse to go back to unemployment
we refuse to condone the continued rape and violence against kenyan women and girls
who can dwoko us?
who can dwoko us?
we say who can dwoko us?
we are undwokable!
we are undwokable!
we are undwogable!
we are undwokable !


Today we sing one of our new anthems, Jivunie Ukenya by Nairobi based Kenyan revolutionary underground hip hop group, Sinpare.

And this becomes ever apparent as we spy from afar, the shenanigans of the NAK parvenu schemers in the process of self-combustion. As we watch their suicidal moves, the words and music of Sinpare are reverberating inside our heads as remembered what they had do say in another militant, ideologically charged, class conscious tune about Mapebari...

It is partly because of this that we are completely sympathetic to the sentiments that must washed over

Njonjo Mue in the split second BEFORE he decided to scale that fence, grab that penant and slap that minister's assistant.

On Valentine's Day Kibaki had a chance to get it right, but he blew it in a MAJOR way prompting some of us to tell him in English and Kiswahili that his days were numbered in a very LITERAL sense.


What lurks ahead?

Briefly:


Progressive Kenyans must take the LEAD in fighting for national democratic renewal in this country. Clearly, the major mainstream players will not, on their own, and of their own volition, push our freedom struggle forward. They are too busy cutting poltical survival deals. We can not AFFORD to cede this crucial, PATRIOTIC task to Western Donors who even now, are ONLY TOO GLAD to play the role of conquistadors and liberatodors, fighting our own battles for us. Let us avoid the pitfalls of the Zimbabwe reform movement.

There must be an ORGANIZATIONAL,POLITICAL and BROAD practical attempt to bring the various fractions and factions of the Kenyan Left together, no matter how amorphous and ideologically confused they happen to be at this very instant.

Let us NOT FORGET that the most demented and diabolical plot dreamt up the greediest members of the NAK gang does not even come close to the naked imperialist agenda of the Western Donors. That is why we must be doubly worried when we see that Clay et al are trying to sing from the same hymn books(metaphorically speaking) of the Kenyan social movement-or vice versa. So even as skewer the noxious two faced canards being roasted and boiled in the overcrowded kitchens of Ikulu, let us remember that Mwai Kibaki, no matter how venal and mentally incapacitated, had the saving grace of being elected with an overwhelming majority by millions of KENYAN voters, as opposed to haughty European diplomats, in December 2002 and that we simply cannot undermine or undercut that democratic experience by participating in an undemocratic, Anglo-American Canadian-German-French/Japanese coup de tat- even when such putsch comes to shove courtesy of thos "progressive" middle of the road, monetarist civil society actors who run all those NGOS floating with donor money.