THE BLOT ON KIBAKI’S LEGACY.

In less than 16 months, President Kibaki’s tenure at State House will be over. This is in accordance to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the date of the next General Elections, which provides two possible dates on when to go to the polls. The first is in December this year, only if the two principals agree to dissolve the current house, thereby going to the eagerly awaited polls. If the current parliament is dissolved, then the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission must within 60 days, fix a date for the polls. The other possible scenario is in March next year, when the term of the current coalition government comes to an end. I f either of the two happens, the house on the hill will surely have a new tenant.  As he leaves office after the expiry of his second term, President Kibaki will leave behind a legacy, for which he will so much be remembered for.

The positive side of Kibaki’s legacy will be anchored on three main things; the new constitution, infrastructure and free primary education. The new constitution, which was promulgated on the 27^th of August 2010, goes into the country’s history books as what changed the politics of this great nation. This is mainly because of how power has been devolved from the central government to the county governments. This will provide each country with an opportunity to harness its resources, as the gateway to realizing its full potential. From the marginalized areas of North- Eastern province to the agriculturally rich belts of Central, Rift- Valley and Central provinces, Kenya will be on her way to realizing her full potential.  The new constitution also provides for the increased representation of the handicapped and women. Governance posts will now be spread across both genders, and also marginalized groups will also be amply represented. Integrity and the unquestionable character of those seeking elective, governance and administrative posts, have now become inevitable. Kenya is finally off the blocks.

Since the introduction of the free primary education, the children of this country have finally been accorded that much sought- after chance to getting basic education. Children, even in those marginalized regions of the country are now accessing education. Those from poor backgrounds, slums and other areas, where necessity for basic needs is the order of the day, are getting educated. Being born in a slum does not mean that poverty was born in you. They are living this saying. The government also increased the number of secondary schools throughout the country, besides subsidizing the cost of acquiring secondary education. This has greatly born dividends as more and more children can now afford secondary education. The fight against illiteracy and poverty seems to be well on course.

Another notable achievement of the Kibaki administration has been the milestones made in improving the road transport across the country. New roads have been built and existing ones rehabilitated. Road transport has been tremendously improved, far beyond the imaginations of Kenyans. The Nairobi- Thika superhighway is a real reflection of this. The wide expansive and well Chinese built road is a marvel to look at and drive on. Motorists are now easing off from the heavy traffic jams that they had grown used to.  The Museum Hill fly over, among the many others that have been built to ease traffic are a marvel to look at. With its completion before the end of this year, Kenya will be at par with the best road network of this continent. Farmers who were losing millions due to poor infrastructure can no longer cry at the same. Road network to all these agriculturally rich areas has been greatly improved, thus a sigh of big relief to the farmer in these regions. They are now amply selling their product and registering good returns. This is a big thumb- up to the outgoing president, H.E Mwai Kibaki.

However, the only blot on Kibaki’s otherwise excellent 10- year reign is the looming prosecution of the country’s four sons at The Hague. Charges against Deputy Prime Minister and mp for Gatundu South, Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North Mp William Ruto, former Head of Civil Service, Ambassador Francis Muthaura and Kass FM presenter, Joshua arap Sang, have all been confirmed. This is the only nightmare that the outgoing president will carry into his retirement. Following a bungled presidential poll in 2007, which led to a bloodbath, to many politicians, The Hague, was a pipe dream. To them, no Kenyan could ever be tried there over the 2007-2008 post- poll violence. Attempts by the Justice and Constitutional affairs Minister, Hon. Mutula Kilonzo’s to set up a local mechanism t try the suspects, was met with spirited resistance.  An attempt by Central Imenti legislator to pass a bill, aimed at setting up a local tribunal was crushed at the early stages by the house. To the politicians, Hague was the only viable option of dealing with the post-poll mess. ` Let’s not be vague, let’s go The Hague’, was a common phrase in the mouths of many politicians. Now that it has dawned on them, they are shedding crocodile tears. But this has stained Kibaki’s otherwise excellent two term reign in office. 

It will go down the annals of the country’s history that it was during Kibaki’s tenure in office that Kenya’s four sons were tried at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. This is because the buck stops with the head of state. This is despite the fact that the two principals tried to persuade the house to set up a local tribunal, all in vain. President Kibaki will be used as the scapegoat by the political class, whenever the ICC thing pops up. This is truly sad for the outgoing president. The Hague is reality that he will quickly wish to forget but one that will forever linger in the minds of every Kenyan.

Indeed a blot on the president’s otherwise successful 10- year reign in office.

2011, A DARK YEAR IN THE KENYAN HISTORY

We are bidding goodbye to 2011, a year that will undoubtedly go down the annals of Kenyan history as one of the most agonizing ever. From grisly accidents on our roads, cheap yet lethal brews to the Sinai tragedy, 2011 was really agonizing. Some would say that the gods had conspired against us. It was an annus horribilis, as ancient Romans would call it, and will forever remain etched in the minds of Kenyans.

Grief and agony first came calling in May, when reigning Olympic Men’s Marathon champion, Samuel Wanjiru, fell to his death from the balcony of his Nyahururu mansion. Circumstances surrounding his death have since remained unclear, with some claiming some love turned sour. However, the police seem the only people to know exactly what transpired before his death. Young Wanjiru goes down the history books as the first man to clinch gold for Kenya in the Olympic Men’s marathon, and the first reigning Olympic champion to die. The bitter family feud that ensued, as many a women came out claiming to be his legal wife, only rubbed salt into an already tattered wound. In scenes never witnessed before, Wanjiru’s mother almost ran berserk, brandishing a panga at family members who had met to plan for the young hero’s send-off. Several men also came out, each claiming to be his father. After tussles, at home and along the corridors of courtrooms, Wanjiru was finally laid to rest. Kenya paid her last respects to her son, but in a not-so honorable manner.

In July, over 6 million Kenyans were staring at starvation in their faces, as nature turned cruel and threatened Armageddon. This was the country’s worst famine in decades, and was also ravaging the whole of the Horn of Africa. Gory images of starving Kenyans, especially children, filled our TV sets. Many succumbed to the bruises of starvation. Livestock also bore the brunt as they died in droves. The country was getting overwhelmed by the wave of crises, as one Kiraitu Murung’I, while commenting on the fuel crisis in the country, once said that as a country, we were living in a state of permanent crisis. These two had seemingly opened the floodgates for more grief, as the dreaded August- September period set in. This two have been known to be tearful months for Kenyans, most notably remembered for the August 1998 Nairobi bombings.

Cheap illicit brews had returned to haunt Kenyans. First it was the death of 14 Kenyans in Nairobi’s Kibera slums. Then followed the infamous Mucatha tragedy where 17 more died after partaking of the deadly liquor, which had been laced with methanol. The liquor, called Yokozuna seemed happy on visiting pain and anguish on poor Kenyans, just as the famous Japanese wrestler, Yokozuna, who ruthlessly floored his opponents. Poor Kenyans had failed to learn from past tragedies, especially the 2006 Chumvi tragedy in Machakos, where many died, and others turned blind after a drinking spree these chang’aa dens. History had repeated itself, and sadly in a ruthless manner.

Tears had hardly dried on our cheeks when a bus carrying relatives from a dowry ceremony, plunged into Uwaani River along Machakos- Mbooni road. The result, a staggering 22 lives had been snatched away. This was a quick turn of events, from the joyful ululations of a marriage ceremony, to the agony of death, akin to the Swahili proverb, furaha huwa karaha

Then the mother of all disasters came calling on 12th September. A rainy and tranquil morning in Nairobi’s Sinai slums was disrupted by a fierce and marauding fire that was triggered by a pipeline leakage. Poor ignorant Kenyans then decided to scope the precious commodity; oblivious of the danger they were exposing themselves to. What followed was beyond the wildest of imaginations. Streamfuls of the highly flammable petroleum led to the fire that reduced innocent Kenyans and their property to ashes.  Scores of people were burned beyond imagination. The whole slum had become a deathtrap.  A staggering 101 people lost their lives and many more could not be accounted for. The Kenyatta National Hospital and nearby hospital were almost being overwhelmed by the number of casualties who were being brought in. Many survivors had suffered high degree burns but some succumbed to the injuries. The others lived to tell of their agonizing brush with death. This tragedy left in its wake agony, misery and destruction. Children were orphaned, women lost their husbands and men lost their wives.

On 25^th September, barely two weeks after the Sinai tragedy, we lost our very own face of environmental conservation; Wangari Maathai succumbed to ovarian cancer while undergoing treatment at The Nairobi Hospital. A true champion for environmental conservation, democracy and empowering women had died. Kenya had lost her coveted environmentalist, whose gallant fight for environmental conservation gave birth to Karura Forest and ensured that Uhuru Park was not replaced by a skyscraper, among many others.  Losing Wangari, freedom fighter and women rights activist Wambui Otieno and Dekha Abdi, also a renowned women rights activist, in the same year, was a big blow to the country. The worthy causes that they had indefatigably fought for had suffered insurmountable loss. They left shoes, too big for the Kenyan women to fill.

The last nail in the coffin of poor Kenyans was the rude Christmas gift to residents of Syokimau, Eastleigh, near the Moi Air Base Nairobi, and other parts of the country, were houses were demolished. Homes that they had for so long invested in building tumbled down under the might of the government bulldozers. Being rendered homeless was traumatizing to the victims. Distraught residents of these areas watched in disbelief as their coveted million-worth investments, especially in Syokimau, were brought down. The festive season had turned cruel to them.

As the year came to an end, passionate football lovers, like me and you, were left in disappointment by our very own Harambee Stars.  It was a tale of so near, yet so far for our fading Stars. Missing out on the 2012 Africa Nations Cup, to be jointly hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, was harsh on the passionate followers of the beautiful game. Losing out in the group stages of the 2011 East and Central Senior Challenge Cup in Tanzania was equally harsh. Our clubs did not do much better on the continental scene, as they were walloped by their opponents. Only Sofapaka offered some consolation, as they missed out on the group stages of the Confederations Cup, by a whisker. The year was full of disappointments to the Kenyan football fraternity.

For the third year down the line since the post- election violence, internally displaced Kenyans were still languishing in camps, their plight apparently forgotten by the government. Inflation also hit Kenyans hard as the cost of living literally shot through the roof. Life became unbearable, especially to the. On the political scene, this year spelled doom for the Hague sextet, as they had to appear before the International Criminal Court, for the first time. What had started as a big joke had soon dawned on them that it was indeed real.  The ICC reality had become clear to them, and their date with Ocampo is drawing near. Their families and the entire country is now staring at the possibility of losing her sons to long-term cases and possible jail terms, in a foreign land, far away from Kenya.

Many will argue that the gods are to blame for these tribulations that befell our country, others see it differently. Irresponsibility, fate and destiny were blamed for the agony. But as philosophers say, destiny is the culmination of one’s thoughts and actions in life. It all depends on how you choose to perceive it.

Let’s hope and work towards a joyful and prosperous 2012. We learned lessons the hard way in 2011 and we can ill-afford to ignore them. Destiny is in our hands.

Happy New Year.

WE MUST SAVE OUR FOOTBALL.In exactly five days from, all eyes will be on Gabon and Equatorial Guinea as the continents 14 best teams join the co-hosts for the 2012 African Nations Cup. Sadly, Kenya will once again be watching from the terraces as these countries do battle for the title of the continent’s football champions. This is indeed a bitter pill to swallow for the many football lovers, who have had to put up with disappointment after disappointment, from our footballers and administrators. The glory days of yester years are now a thing of the past as our country’s football fortunes continue to dwindle, year after year. Whereas football is an outdoor game, played on the pitch, we have now become used to playing it in our courtroom’s and boardrooms. We are now used to our shameless football administrators, fighting for control of the world’s most popular sport in the country. Since the turn of the millennium, Kenya’s football prospects have continued to nosedive, day after day as boardroom wars, courtroom battles and persistent wrangles take the centre stage. As a result, most of our country’s football talent has gone down the drain. Football in the country has been raped by greedy and narrow- minded leaders, who purport to have the interests of the beautiful game at heart. Interestingly, two parallel football federations, namely Football Kenya Limited and Kenya Football Federation, have all claimed authority of the beautiful game in the country. Football Kenya limited (FKL), has claimed authority at the national level while Kenya Football Federation (KFF) has for long enjoyed authority and support at the grassroots level, running the nationwide league. Add Kenya Premier limited (KPL), that has up to now professionally and successively the national league and you have a real debacle. KPL was formed by players and other football stakeholder, who had grown impatient with the endless wrangles between the FKL and KFF. However, their not so- friendly run ins with the FKL over the running and management of the national soccer team, Harambee Stars, have only served to impede the sport’s healthy growth. Fierce confrontations over the release of players for national duty and management of the team, have dealt a severe blow to the game. Consequently, Harambee Stars has continued to plummet in the FIFA rankings. Near misses, frequent disappointments and overnight sacking of coaches, have characterized the mess that is our football. Whenever, we make a step forward we have always made two backwards. A good example is in the 2007-2008 season, when Harambee Stars, under the tutelage of the then coach, Francis Kimanzi, was on a steady rise to claiming their stake among the continent’s footballing powerhouses. Their attractive football was slowly drawing fans back to the stadia, equally matching up with the continent’s big-guns and a place at the global soccer bonanza, in South Africa in 2010, looked so real. We were even ranked an all-time high of 68 by FIFA. All of a sudden, misunderstanding s arose between Kimanzi and the FKL. Kimanzi had to eat the humble pie and was sent packing. This marked the start of our football tribulations as Harambee Stars went back to their losing ways. We even fell to an all-time low of 135 in the FIFA rankings. As a country, our game went from win some, lose some to win none, lose all. However, in October 2011, the long awaited joint football elections were successively held. Sammy Nyamweya won the chairman’s seat while Sammy Sholei, took the vice-chairman’s post. Losing candidates conceded defeat, but not without some harsh words on how the elections were marred by malpractices. After years in the football oblivion, Kenya seemed to have rediscovered the track to football glory, however treacherous it might turn out to be. The new unified Football Kenya Federation brought some sigh of relief to lovers of the beautiful game. The fact that we shall be watching from our sitting-rooms as the rest of Africa locks horns for the next three weeks, must surely get the new football administrators and the government from their comfort zone. As a country, we should learn lessons, no matter how harsh and make sure that we do not miss out on South Africa in 2013. This is because this provides the best way to playing on the global scene in Brazil in 2014. It has been more than six years, since Kenya lastly played at the continental showpiece. The last time was in 2004 in Tunisia, which was a disastrous outing for us. Harambee stars conceded an aggregate of six goals against Senegal and Mali. We got a little consolation by walloping Burkina Faso by three goals to nil. Since then it has been a tale of near misses. We missed out on 2006, 2008, 2010 and we have yet again missed out this year. Haphazard preparations, unpaid allowances to the players and frequent firing of coaches have all led our football to the abyss. We have had more coaches at the helm of Harambee Stars than the Somali national team, a country that has been torn apart by war! The fact that they once eliminated us from an under- 17 qualifier, further exemplifies this shocking statistic. Our clubs have also been dismal on the continental scene. The only bright spot was last year, when Sofapaka, fell short of the Confederations Cup’s group stage after losing out to Tunisia’s Cub Africain, by a solitary goal on aggregate. This is the same club that made history by winning the national football championship, on its maiden attempt in 2008. Barely three years down the line, they knocked out continental giants like Egypt’s Ismailia and St Limpopo of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Achieving this was no walk in the park, as the club had massively invested in their playing unit. The newly formed Football Kenya Federation office should borrow a leaf from this and do the same to Harambee Stars. The other remarkable achieving by Kenyan clubs was in 1989 by Gor Mahia, who won the Mandela Cup and Tusker, then Kenya Breweries, who lost in the final of the Africa Cup Winners Cup to Motema Pembe of Democratic Republic of Congo in 1994. All these had taken in a lot of sacrifice. We must now stand up and stop being the continent’s whipping boys in football, both at the national and club levels. Harambee Stars and our dear clubs should match the continent’s best. The talent is in abundance, only good will and shrewd administration is lacking. We must stamp out politics and corruption from the running of the beautiful game. Structures must also be put in place to nature talent, just as the world’s best football nations like Brazil and Spain, among others, have done. The newly elected football body and all other football stakeholders must collectively address these bottlenecks. This will provide the only way to the footballing Caanan that we so much as a country, yearn to get to. Football is the world’s most popular and enjoyable game, full of raw emotion and we can ill-afford to be spectators as the continental and global showpieces are staged. We must compete at these levels with the world’s best. We are happy when our favorite teams win. We are equally as sad when they lose. We must come together and save our football from sinking into oblivion.

On 6th September 2000, the United Nations Assembly at a meeting in New York adopted the Millennium Declaration and Development Goals. The MDGs, as they are fondly called, are a set of quantified and time- bound targets for improving the social, political and economic aspects of human life in the 21st century, in the least developed and developing countries, by 2015. MDGs are geared towards fighting poverty, HIV/AIDs and other infectious diseases, accelerate human development in the three main spheres and facilitate the integration of the developing world, especially Africa into the global economy; to be at par with the rest of the world. The 193 UN member states and other international organizations agreed to come together and work towards achieving these goals. Combating these will ultimately address the major challenges facing our people, both at the continental level and the global stage. Kenya was chosen alongside three other African countries, Ghana, Senegal and Ethiopia to steer the implementation of these goals in Africa. Since the turn of the millennium, Kenya has made tremendous steps in improving the political, social and economic spheres of her people, despite the many challenges that are hampering the road to success. As a country we are coming off the dark yesteryears of social, political and economic woes. Under the shrewd stewardship of H.E President Mwai Kibaki, we have been on a meteoric rise to claiming our rightful place amongst the world’s elite. The eight Millennium Development Goals form the much needed remedy, for our country that is suffering from so many ailments. These are eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, gender equality and women empowerment of women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health care, combating HIV/AIDs, malaria and other infectious diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and building global partnerships and other requirements, which include infrastructure, science and technology, trade and industry, security and good governance. However, as a nation, we cannot wholly achieve the MDGs by 2015; it is way too near for their realization. This road has been treacherous, laden with many bottlenecks. Challenges, which include grand corruption, lack of political goodwill, negative tribalism and ethnicity, ignorance and insufficient financial backing, amongst a myriad of other challenges stand in the way of attaining the MDGs. Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, which afflicts a great percentage of Kenyans, is still far from realization, even as 2015 looms in the horizon. Many are still living in deplorable conditions, where getting access to basic necessities is a daunting task. This has been evidenced by the mushrooming of slums around many urban centres, Nairobi been a perfect example. Shacks and shanties, made from iron sheets and cartons have mushroomed up. These are pointers to tough, harsh and hard living conditions by Kenyans who have all gone job-hunting in the urban centres, to escape from not-so friendly lives in the rural areas. In these slums, access to quality food, sanitation services and shelter have been greatly compromised. Back in the rural areas, the many mud traditional huts which have been grass -thatched, are a clear indication of the abject poverty, impoverishing Kenyans in many rural parts of our country. Access to safe drinking water, quality food and sanitation services is in dire conditions. Kenyans face starvation, year in year out whenever harsh climatic conditions strike. It has been the norm for relief food to be taken to these people, both by the government and non-governmental organizations. Better management structures within the agricultural sector need to be put in place. These will help avert scenarios where agricultural products are thrown to waste simply because the national stores lack the capacity to handle the boom harvests. Better marketing strategies are also needed to ensure that the products are bought at reasonable prices whereby the farmers won’t cry foul. The government should also buy these products from the farmers at improved prices. This helps avoid the ugly scenarios where farmers uproot their crops. Improved road network in these agriculturally productive areas are need to ensure that products do not rot in the shambas, especially whenever it rains. More job opportunities should be created to reduce the staggering percentage of Kenyans who are not in any form of employment. As a country if we reduce the percentage of dependants, then we shall surely have succeeded in eradicating abject poverty. These will ultimately help address the poverty and extreme hunger facing the country. Since the introduction of the Free Primary Education in 2003 by the NARC government, many children who would not have otherwise acquired the much needed elementary education are happily enjoying it. Despite the teething problems facing this noble undertaking by the government, free primary education has been a success. These problems include lack of sufficient facilities and finances, deployment of teachers, poverty, child labor and lack of schools, especially in the marginalized parts of the country among others. To overcome these, stringent laws should be enacted by the parliament to curb child labor and early marriages, especially in the slums and amongst pastoralist communities. However, intensive extensive awareness campaigns should be done by the government, in collaboration with non-governmental organizations, amongst pastoralist communities. This will help them understand the importance of education and perils of early marriages, in the fight against poverty, akin to the saying that educating children is one way to eradicate poverty. This will also help vanquish gender disparity in the provision of primary and secondary education and all other levels by 2015. This is mainly because, the girl child- child has been slighted, especially within many communities that are yet to break away from the yoke of tradition. Marginalized communities and regions need to be put back into the national focus. These are mainly areas in the North- Eastern province, where schools very few, and the few lack the substantial teacher workforce. There is also the issue of a huge backlog from the primary level, who are not able to join secondary schools, either due to lack of enough financial support or non-qualification. There are also those from the secondary level. These two groups need to be accommodated in other tertiary institutions and meaningful income generating activities respectively. Otherwise, failure to do this will be watering down the essence of affordable education to every Kenyan child, in the country’s quest to attain this millennium development goal. Achieving these remains very difficult, due to the many challenges that that the education sector has faced of late. The many cases of misuse of funds, corruption within the sector, strikes and frequent go-slows by teachers are some of the key issues that ought to be addressed, if we are to achieve this goal of achieving universal primary and secondary education for the Kenyan child. There has to be transparency and increased accountability. Corruption has to be tackled within the sector. Teachers must also be given better terms of service and get improved salary remuneration from the government. Achieving gender equality and empowerment of women is the third Millennium Development Goal. Gender inequality and a general suppression of the African woman have been prevalent within our African society and Kenyan society in particular. This has been mainly due to the tradition that many communities in our country uphold and are reluctant to let go. This has for long perpetrated the misguided belief that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, and submissiveness to the African man. This has greatly contributed to the lagging behind of the African continent on the global scene, in terms of development. The Kenyan society has waged a war against these injustices to the African woman. The current constitution provides for greater representation of women, in all aspects of governance in our current. This is a step in the right direction Women empowerment groups are also relentlessly fighting for the voice of women to be heard in the running of the country. However, these efforts have been hampered by several challenges. Key among them is lack of awareness and education amongst some communities, who are still deeply rooted in tradition that that has been known to oppress the Kenyan woman, especially pastoralist communities. These communities need to be educated on the important role of women in the modern society as the country stays on course to realizing her potential. Helping these communities break free from the yoke of tradition will be a much needed boost to achieving gender equality and empowerment of women. As a society, Kenya must recognize the invaluable role or her women, to achieving development for this country. Reducing child mortality and disability in children is also a priority in realizing the MDGs by 2015. Death amongst infants in the country is rife. There have also been the scattered cases of abandoned fetuses, especially in urban areas. These are mainly thrown away by young mothers who for one reason or the other decide to terminate their pregnancies, in the dark streets. Deaths of infants in the country can be attributed to poor medical attention, other birth-related complications, especially at birth and poor healthcare. The government has greatly focused on the health sector, even though much needs to be done in order to stay on course to achieving this dream by 2015. Challenges facing the reduction of child mortality include poor nutrition, lack of sufficient healthcare facilities, inadequate workforce and lack of enough funding to support initiatives within the child healthcare sector. Mothers also need to be educated on how to best provide healthcare to their infants, especially those in rural and marginalized regions and amongst the nomadic communities. The government should also seek to help mothers in these areas with cheap and quality child healthcare services that are affordable to them. The government should also improve working terms and salaries to the doctors, nurses and all other medical practitioners. This would help avert go- slows and strikes that have proved to have far reaching negative implications. Improving maternal health is part of the Millennium Development Goals. This is aimed at reducing maternal deaths. Many women die each year due to pregnancy related complications and others who suffer from disabilities during pregnancy and child births. The government’s efforts in fighting these have faced several challenges. They mainly involve the nomadic communities who are constantly on the move, limited medical facilities that are difficult to access, especially by women in the marginalized areas, high cost of acquiring these medical services. More and sustained efforts need to be consolidated in order to improve maternal healthcare in the country. The government should intensify awareness campaigns amongst the nomadic communities, the rural areas and marginalized areas in the country. It should also improve the medical facilities in these areas. Quality medical services should be availed to the poor ordinary women, at affordable costs. Those delivering maternal healthcare should be given better working conditions and salaries should improved to avoid cases of strikes and go- slows. These will help address the challenge of quality and sufficient maternal healthcare in the country, as we move towards 2015. Combating HIV/AIDs, Malaria, Tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, has been targeted as part of the Millennium Development Goals. The government’s declaration of HIV/AIDs as a national disaster was followed by intense efforts and initiatives in fighting it. The provision of antiretroviral drugs, facilitation of Voluntary Counseling and Testing centres, provision of free condoms at public healthcare facilities and intense awareness campaigns are efforts that the government, alongside non- governmental organizations have engaged in. However, these have met challenges. There are communities who are still rooted in tradition and deny the existence of HIV/AIDs. Ignorance by people especially amongst nomadic communities and some rural areas in the country have not helped the fight against the scourge. Thus, awareness has to be created amongst these groups and the entire country. Increasing the health facilities and adequately supporting them to offer quality services will greatly boost the fight against malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases in the country. Awareness campaigns also need to be intensified across the country, to equip Kenyans with the necessary knowledge on how to avoid these diseases. Environmental sustainability has also been envisaged in the Millennium Development Goals, to be achieved by 2015. This is geared towards reversing loss of environmental resources, conservation and management of the environment and natural resources. It aims at integrating principles of sustainable development into the country’s policies and programs. Increasing water supply, rainwater collection, sinking of bore-holes and dug wells and improving sewerage both in urban and rural areas, septic tanks and pit latrines is also enshrined in this initiative. However, the government’s efforts in achieving sustainable environment have been hampered by a number of key issues. Key among them is cheap misguided politics especially with regard to conservation and restoration of the forests and other water- catchment areas. An example is the Mau Forest rehabilitation program which took political twist, thus greatly slowing it down. Kenyans also need to be educated on the importance of conserving the environment, and improving their sanitation facilities. Politics should also be kept away from any initiative that is genuinely meant for environmental conservation in the country. Local authorities throughout the country should also seek to improve sanitation facilities within their areas of jurisdiction. Enhancing global partnerships and other requirements is the eighth objective of the Millennium Development Goals 2015. These other requirements include infrastructure, science and technology, trade and industry, and security and governance. The Kibaki administration will be fondly remembered for the gallant efforts in improving the country’s infrastructure, whereby road construction and rehabilitation has been undertaken across the entire country. Road network has been greatly improved, in a manner that has earned applauds from all quarters. However, a major challenge facing this has been unscrupulous construction companies, which do shoddy jobs, especially in carrying out minor road rehabilitations. These need to be stamped out, or even have their licenses revoked till they address, for misconduct in the delivery of their services. In enhancing governance, the fight against corruption has been intense. However, anti-corruption bodies, such as the now defunct Kenya Anti- Corruption Commission faced unprecedented political resistance, with hindered the execution of their mandate. For the fight against corruption to succeed in Kenya, these bodies must be given a free hand to execute their mandate. The political class must also be pushed to the wall, in order to have that goodwill that is greatly needed in this fight. Civil education campaigns must be intensified in order to free Kenyans from that yoke of political manipulation by some of the corrupt political class. Recent explosion in the number of institutions of higher learning, throughout the country has greatly boosted advancement of science and technology. However, this has faced one major problem; lack of adequate funding to support it. Increased budgetary allocations and international support is needed to make this a success story. The government also needs to spread its net wide and establish more trade ties with international trade partners and other developed countries. This will greatly boost trade and industry in the country. However, grand corruption amongst government officials has greatly hampered this. This has put off many interested partners others who have consequently withdrawn or withheld their funding of development projects in the country. An example was the Free Primary Education misappropriation of billions of shillings, which drew a hue and cry from the international community. Britain, one of the major sponsors of the program, consequently contemplated withdrawing their support. Grand corruption and malpractices are vices that need to be stamped out, in order to stay on course to achieving the set targets. Police reforms as set out in the new constitutional dispensation, are aimed at enhancing security. However, there got to be the goodwill to implement these, both from the entire country in general and the current police in particular. The road to achieving the Millennium Development Goals 2015 is treacherous, laden with many obstacles. These make it impossible t wholly achieve them by 2015. However, we are moving in the right direction in our endeavor to make the country a better place than we found it.

END IN SIGHT FOR AFRICAN TYRANTS/ DICTATORS

Jubilant shouts and chants of victory rent the air, across Libya on October 20 2011, moments after strongman; Col Muammar Gaddafi was shot dead in his hometown of Sirte. Revolutionary fighters had finally won a pulsating, fiercely fought battle against fighters loyal to Gaddafi, and ousted him from the power that he had held on for 42 years. Guns and other heavy military artillery that the people of Libya had grown accustomed to, for the last six months finally fell silent. This marked the end of an era for the man who had taken over the reins in Libya through a bloodless coup in 1969.

  The Arab revolution sweeping across North Africa had already claimed Tunisia’s Ben Ali and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. Col Gaddafi was the third to fall victim to the undeterred determination of people in the Arab world to liberate themselves from these tyrants who had clung onto power for like an eternity. Only death seemed to be the only way of ousting these strongmen from power, and it surely did for Col Gaddafi, who unlike like Ben Ali and Mubarak, had resolved to fight to the last drop of his blood. He had on several occasions since the uprising started, being seen on the television, defiantly saying that he would fight to the bitter end and die a martyr. However, the ruthlessness and perseverance of the revolutionary fighters finally won and he was killed on October 20 2011. He was found hiding in drainage, captured and shot in the head. He had died like the very rat that he had defiantly likened the rebels to. Following the fall of these three strongmen, the people could now afford a breath of relief, at last. Chants of ‘free at last’ rent the air.

  The fall of Ben Ali, Mubarak and death of Gaddafi, who had ruled for decades but all fell in less than six months, must have sent a chill down the spine of the other ‘presidents for life’ in the continent. These shameless leaders have` raped’ constitutions in their countries, besides using other state systems and organs, to ensure that they remain in power. They are, Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema (32 years), Angola’s Jose Santos (32 years), Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe (31 years), Swaziland’s King Mswati (24 years), Burkina Faso’s Blaise Campaore( 24 years), Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni( 25 years) and Cameroon’s Paul Biya (29 years).

  The increased protests and heightened revolts against some of these tyrannical regimes in Africa, is not good news to the leaders. The revolts, sparked off by tough economic conditions, skyrocketing of food and fuel prices, poor job opportunities, to name just but a few, are a clear sign that time is nay for these shameless tyrants and dictators. The successful revolts in the Maghreb have strengthened the belief that ousting other tyrannical regimes across the continent, is possible .Though these have been mild; the leaders in these countries are not sleeping easy. The eminent possibility that losing the power they have held onto for so long, is an unwelcome monster that has refused to go away. An example of leaders staring at fall in the eyes is Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni.

  These self proclaimed` presidents for life’ must have by now realized that clinging onto power is no longer wise, at least from what Ben Ali and Mubarak came to learn. This wave of change never again experienced in Africa is sure to leave more casualties, in the name of these tyrants. It is not a question of if, but when the next of these African tyrants will go down. These leaders, driven by the lust for power, have centered it amongst their families, relatives and their political sycophants who see no far than the end of their noses. The blatant disregard of the people’s interests by the leaders have infuriated the masses that they are prepared to go the hard way, as evidenced in the Arab world, if at all it’s the  only viable method of toppling these crop of African leaders who have decided to stay in power till death separates them.

   Unless this batch of Africa’s longest serving leaders embrace democracy and all inclusive governance and relinquish power, chances of facing the same fate as their North African counterparts are very high. The only question is, who among the seven will be deposed next and how will they be brought down?