CS Koskei Has Led The Way, Can The Rest Follow?

Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Felix Koskei has led the way and stepped aside due to the graft allegations facing him. A laudable and truly bold decision by the CS to step aside and allow for investigations by the Ethics and Antic-Corruption Commission (EACC).

As we comment Mr. Koskei for his decision, let us not forget that EACC had mentioned several Governors, Senators, Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries in its graft list. They include, Davies Chirchir (Energy CS), Charity Ngilu (Lands CS), KazunguKmabi (Labour CS), Francis Kimemia (Cabinet CS), Michael Kamau (Transport CS), MuteaIringo( Defence PS) and NduvaMuli ( Transport PS). The governors are; Evans Kidero ( Nairobi), Isaac Ruto ( Bomet), Peter Munya ( Meru), Alfred Mutua( Machakos), Ali Hassan Joho (Mombasa) and Cyprian Awiti( Homa Bay) and senators, James Orengo( Siaya) and Machakos Senator, JohnstoneMuthama ( Daily Nation, 27 March 2015).

Only one has so far stepped aside and the nation awaits to see if the rest will follow suit. As President Uhuru Kenyatta demanded in his State of Nation address, public officials, both elected and appointed should face the law with regard to corruption allegations. Those found innocent will resume their official duties, but those found culpable should too face the full force of the law.

Contrary to what has been the Kenyan trend whenever a politician or high ranking public official is adversely mentioned in corruption, CS Koskei did it differently. He did not pull his entire clansmen to a silly fight and alleged that some people are witch-hunting his community. He honorably chose to respect the dignity of his Cabinet post and stepped aside. The rest should follow suit, save us a lot of political hogwash and face their individual crosses. Kenyans need to see tough action just as the tough talk that President Uhuru gave the nation, on Wednesday.

Koskei has led the way and humbly so, will the rest follow? The coming days will surely tell us!

The Evil Game That is Ruining Our Statehood and Economy

Corruption is our national sport and we proudly play it, all too aware of the destruction it causes to our nationhood and economy! The recent allegations of bribe taking that have engulfed the Ababu Namwamba led-Public Accounts Committee (PAC) weeks ago, have suddenly awakened this demon of corruption. From the Chicken-gate that brought the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) into spotlight, to the land-grabbing scandal at Lang’ata Road Primary School that grabbed global attention, corruption is eating our society alive!

Our Twitter-sphere is awash with the hashtags that Kenyans on Twitter so viciously use to fight corruption, albeit for some time in the virtual space. We are an active lot on Twitter and we fight good battles there against corruption and all manner of social ills. But wait a minute! Have we devolved corruption yet we deny it? As a society, do we knowingly take part in corruption, yet we deny it? Have we socialized corruption and normalized it as the norm? Do we proudly play the deadly game of corruption? The answer to these is a resounding YES!

The highest public offices on the land, national parliament, our county assemblies and governments and entire society reek of corruption. How many times, did we witness our Members of County Assemblies (MCA’s) and other County officials on absurd spending sprees in overseas trips all in the name of learning from Singapore and the like on how to make devolution work? How many times have we heard of misappropriation of public funds and now worse, alleged bribe taking by our legislators in order to alter reports and investigations? Countless is the answer! Back in our universities, the tales of sex-for-grades is so real and those of us who have curiously walked the corridors of our institutions of higher learning know this too well. Hard work is not the only way to academic excellence!

Every five years as we cast our ballot, we all know that whoever throws the fattest wallet to the excited masses gets the vote! In short, we believe that mkono mtupu haulambwi, and that only money can buy our votes! That is why once every five years and during by-elections, money and votes exchange hands. Kenyans give the votes and in return, politicians dish out the money. Sadly, we do not even care, that it is public money stolen, or money accruing from drugs that have ravaged our youths! On our roads, the traffic cops are never ashamed of taking folded and filthy fifty-shilling notes, to abet traffic offences! Corruption has manifested its ugly face in all aspects of our life as a nation. We proudly take part in the game! We are all corrupt and yes, our corrupt and horribly dishonest society has produced corrupt public officials and legislators! So who should cry foul play and cast the first stone, between the leaders and the citizens? No one because we all are guilty as charged.

We have socialized corruption. As most Kenyans take up public offices, either appointed or elected, they realize it is their time to eat and plunder the public coffers. Perhaps it explains why corruption and public offices in Kenya are co-joined like Siamese twins! The two go hand in hand!

The fact that we lose one-third of our financial year budget to corruption should be enough to shake our moral fibre,, rally the leaders and hoi-polloi alike, to fighting corruption. President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy, William Ruto should stop the loud talk on how vicious the war on corruption will be. They should sanctify the Office of the President and other senior offices on this land, which are the altars of corruption. Heads should roll and yes, the culpable should soon become guests of the state. The war on corruption must be decisively fought from the top. The story of sacred cows as we all know it should stop.

As the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) led by Mumo Matemu and the judiciary lead the war on graft, all Kenyans should re-examine the moral decay in the society and abhor corruption as the evil we all know. Our corrupt ways should stop and integrity should not only be a requirement of our leaders. Corruption is already a national disaster and we all feel its devastating effects on our economy.  It has nearly crippled our economy, destroyed numerous economic opportunities for our people, stolen from our budget and curtailed development! Losing at least Ksh 300billion yearly to corruption is a worrying trend.

Corruption has opened doors to Al-shabab to Kenya, destroyed Kenyan football, increased fatalities on our roads, tarnished the name of government offices, derailed development and denied opportunities to deserving Kenyans, in the academic and employment spheres! Corruption has increased the taxation on Kenyans. According to the Auditor General and the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, we lose about Ksh 300billion annually to corruption! Simply put, money meant to develop this nation, upgrade health facilities, improve road network and uplift the lives of Kenyans, disappears into the pockets of a few evil souls!

We can choose to act now and start the long and painful process of slaying the dragon of corruption and save the future of our economy and statehood. If we choose not to fight it, our economy and statehood will live to bear the scars of this socialized evil!

African Presidents out to protect their own!

During this year’s African Union (AU) summit in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, under the tutelage of the now president of the continental top body, Zimbabwean Robert Mugabe, the key issue on the table was the formation and expansion in mandate of The African Court of Justice. This, according to them is a viable and a better option to International Criminal Court (ICC)! This clarion call at the AU summit was a follow-up from last year’s Malabo Protocol that was adopted in Equatorial Guinea. The idea of establishing an African Court with expanded mandate to prosecute crimes against humanity, instead of The ICC, simply reeks of greed and selfish narrow interests by our presidents! To most of our presidents for life, dictators and co, who are championing this greedy cause, the ICC is an imperialistic tool that the West uses to butcher the African sovereignty and let its dogs after African presidents!

Kenya has pledged a whooping Ksh92 million to this ‘noble’ African cause! Never forget that there is no money to increase the salaries of our teachers and also improve our health and education facilities! The so-called Malabo protocol is simply a ploy by cronies to protect their own! In this continent, we have presidents for life, others have rose to power and sustained themselves their on the blood of fellow Africans! We kill, maim, rape and heartlessly displace fellow Africans in the greedy pursuit for power and also the rich minerals of this continent! Look at the blood Diamonds of Sierra Leone in the past, Lord’s Resistant Army in Uganda and how power has exchanged hands in independent Uganda, Boko Haram in Nigeria, the vicious fight for years-end on in Democratic Republic of Congo, the chaos in Somalia since 1994, the civil strife and wars in Central African Republic and the Kenyan post-election quagmire of 2007-2008. Should we sit back, close this sad chapter of events and say that the souls of our innocent brothers and sisters should go in vain? Should we pretend that they do not deserve justice even in death? Should we deny justice to the families, friends and relatives that they left behind? Should those who have survived with the permanent scars both physically and psychologically live in fear, hopelessness and pain and see no justice?

Most of the presidents in Africa, especially those with blood on their hands suffer from the African paranoia and that they must always protect themselves from the wheels of justice! They sit on ills and atrocities committed under their watch in their countries and The ICC is their greatest threat; the perpetual ghost that hangs precariously so close for their comfort! Severing ranks with The Hague-based ICC, presents them with the best chance to evade accountability for these mass crimes against humanity and so, it is a cause that they will give their all to ensure it comes to fruition!

So many crimes have been committed on this continent. Mass rapes, killings and displacement, coup d’etats, civil wars and strife, corruption and other ills are so prevalent in most of the African countries. Yet, the culprits have not been brought to book for all these, most of them are walking scot free and perpetrating more of these.

How can the Mugabe’s, el-Bashirs, Museveni’s and Nguemo’s of this land lead us into darkness? It is unpalatable! The African Court of Justice is simply the way through which our African leaders will ensure that they never answer for the atrocities and crimes that they abet and commission on the sons of this great continent! It must be resisted by all those who care about Africa!

Ours is the continent of two Africans; the ruling cronies and the ruled. The crimes by the former inflict pain and affect the latter, but not the former! Since independence on our African soil, democracy has remained elusive in most countries and even sad is the fact that most of the presidents have blatantly refused to be accountable to their people and they abhor justice! Instead of working for the greater good of the continent, our leaders in the AU have once again teamed up to protect their interests!

                                                                                   Reach the Writer at jeanmutua@yahoo.com

This financial crunch portends doom for Gor Mahia…..

The truth is that we are struggling. We are really struggling. We have good players but we are losing them because they are receiving better deals that we just cannot match’ these are the words of Gor Mahia Treasurer, Kennedy Ouma (Daily Nation, Wednesday December 10, 2014). Three things emerge here; one, the reigning Kenya Premier League Champions is in a financial crunch. Two, the club is fast losing its stalwarts to other clubs, in search of greener pastures, either locally or abroad. Lastly, the club is unable to lure top notch footballers due to its current financial crunch.

Mercurial talisman and goal poacher, the pint-sized Ugandan, Dan Sserunkuma has already joined Tanzanian giants, Simba SC, dependable defensive rock, David ‘Calabar’ Owino is in the same club for trails, and from all signs, he might be their player before January.  Dependable midfield-chief, Ugandan, Geoffrey ‘Baba’ Kizito has already turned down contract talks due to salary demands, and is headed out, possibly to Vietnam.  Influential winger and one time Kenyan international, Patrick Oboya is also in Vietnam for trials and a deal is almost sure. A closer look at the above players indeed shows that they were in the driving seat as K’Ogallo defended the KPL crown. Losing the league’s top scorer and their most dependable scorer in the last three seasons, defender of the year and one of the finest defenders presently in the country, and then the second best footballer of the year and their best midfielder of the season, is no child’s play. Filling these boots is an uphill task for Gor Mahia and the financial crisis only worsens the problem.

Back in December, last year when shirt sponsors, Tuzo declined their multi-million sponsorship of the team, there was an assumption that getting new sponsors would be no problem. However, one year later, the club got no sponsors and financial crisis have persisted for a while. ‘50100’, is the number that has been embezzled on the clubs official kit, through which well-wishers can financial support it. For a club whose monthly expenditure is as up as, Ksh3m, this cannot meet the huge demand and only sponsors can sufficiently do it. 

The Confederation of African Football (CAF), premier club competition CAF Champions League, is barely two months away. The deadline for signing new players is mid-January. The two are enough to scare lovers of this prestigious Kenyan club. Competing against Africa’s best, the likes of Egypt’s Al Ahly, TP Mazembe of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), et South African big boys, Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns among other elite clubs across the country, melts down to money. Gor Mahia must attract the finest talent locally and across the region in order to match these clubs. The needs top-notch preparations in terms of conditions, allowances and salaries to players, meaningful friendly matches and generally a favorable financial environment in order to perform and not merely make up the numbers in Africa’s most prestigious club competitions.

Sponsors should come in and inject the financial stability in the club as it gets ready for the tough and perilous tourney in the CAF Champions League. According to sources within the club, they have already identified 10 players to join them, but due to the financial part, the process is stuck. Gor Mahia has been unable to hold onto its best players. Sserunkuma, David Owino, Baba Kizito et Patrick Oboya are on the exit path, and sadly, the club has been unable to lure equally impressive talent to replace them. Continental tourney is almost here, yet the club is barely moving towards that due to the financial crunch. Someone come and help, Mighty K’Ogallo, otherwise, it might be drubbed as was the case when they miserably went out to Rwanda’s APR, in the First Round of the 2009 CAF Confederations Cup. They were gored 6-0 on aggregate. Last year, in the CAF Champions League, they went out in the preliminaries to mighty Esperance de Tunis of Tunisia! Money is key to Gor Mahia favorably matching Africa’s finest in next year’s CAF Champions League!

Will sponsors come to mighty Mayienga’s aid and pump in this priceless necessity? If this does not happen, Mighty K’Ogallo is doomed!

                                                 Reach the writer at jeanmutua@yahoo.com

The Nightmare that our Premier League risks plunging into....

When in 2004, Premier league clubs, fed up with the pathetic state of the national football league, joined up to form the Kenya Premier League (KPL), now Tusker Premier League, due to sponsorship from the giant beer manufgacturer, few saw the unprecedented success that this noble idea would churn, a decade plus, later! Before KPL came into existence, courtesy of the 16 founding clubs, under the tutelage of current CEO and former Mathare United, captain, Jack Oguda, the story of the then KFF- league was at best dismal. Clubs could barely pay their players, matches went unplayed due to lack of funds and if they did, some players could spend the night on cold chairs in pubs till morning, simply because of financial constrains! Perhaps, Coast Stars and Shabana Fc epitomized this as they went on to become moribund. Un-honored matches, unpaid players and barely surviving clubs were the norm, due to the financial crunch that most of these clubs faced. Shabana have come back from football oblivion but Coast Stars simply could not stage a comeback.

The gains that KPL managed to bring to Kenyan football can never be down-played. The national league has gone strides, matches are honored and all players get their dues. Sponsors came in to support the league; SuperSport has ploughed in huge sums of money to the clubs, and at season-end, the best performers are rewarded immensely and financially, besides getting the priceless recognition. The league now attracts professional footballers from across the continent! And to cap it all, the league is beamed live to the entire globe and our football talent is showcased to the entire world! Regional Beer manufacturer, East Africa Brewers Limited (EABL), came on board to sponsor the league, on August 21, 2012, to a whopping Ksh 170 million; the most lucrative deal in the history of Kenyan football!! Then on October, 18 2012, global giant sports kitting company, PUMA, signed a Ksh 10million-deal, and became the official ball supplier for the clubs! Rival sporting kit manufacturer, UMBRO, are the official referee kit supplier too. All these giant gains and goodies have been courtesy of the friendly environment that KPL has demonstrated. 

Courtesy of the sobriety and organization that KPL has brought to the local action, sponsors have been lured in and local football is slowly but surely transforming into a lucrative career. Clubs like AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia, Sofapaka et Tusker Fc proudly have shirt sponsors! There is professionalism in the local league and the future is promising!

However, if recent brickbats and feuds from Football Kenya Federation (FKF) are anything to go by, then lovers of local football should be worried. The Sammy Nyamweya-led federation has come up with its demands that threaten local football, and at worst, heightening the possibility of having two parallel leagues, next year. It has demanded that the league be renamed FKF Premier League (FKFPL) and that all committees and judicial bodies operating under KPL to cease being in existence. And maybe the big bone that triggered all this; the dispute on how many teams should play in the league in the 2015 season, with FKF insisting on 18 while KPL standing on the 16 that it have traditionally played since its inception in 2004. Perhaps FKF should know better that finances from the sponsors and professionalism of the league have been key factors in having a 16-team league.

Now, with all due respect to FKF, football fans have a reason of developing cold feet due to these demands. There is trouble and these ugly feuds might undo all the gains that KPL has made down the years. FKF’s motivation for all these must disturb all football lovers who have seen the local league recover from near death in early 2000, to the current achievements that it has achieved. Being the FIFA representatives in the country, the federation has simply been unable to lift Harambee Stars, the national junior teams and Harambee Starlets to the rightful heights of competing against the continent’s best. Preparations for these teams prior to any continental assignments have been mediocre, worthy friendly matches are not put in place for Harambee Stars during the FIFA-recognized international friendlies window, the second-tier Nationwide League has never attracted sponsors who can bank-roll it. In all fairness and fair comments, we all should accept that SuperSport and EABL came in to bank-roll the Premier league due to the sobriety and proper organization that KPL demonstrated something that FKF cannot entirely be commended for with regard to the Nationwide League and the Harambee Stars.

For some of us who followed the local league from the days when clubs could neither honor matches, nor meet their players’ financial needs, we can only ill-afford to jeopardize the sponsors’ financial support, in the form of the brewing fights and politics. From days when the local league was chaotic and organization was almost alien, then we appreciate the unprecedented gains that KPL has made. From the endless politics and administration feuds that describe FKF, it will be sterile imagination to imagine that the premier league would have come this far, under FKF! KPL deserves all credit for the great work that it has done in transforming the Kenyan premier League, and should be given all necessary support to go on with this great work. Did I mention that audited reports from KPL’s expenditure are available to the public to scrutinize? Can the same be said of FKF? I do not think so! Somebody needs to tell FKF that their demands, whose motives and reasons are unknown, are the perfect recipe to ruining our premier league. Players, Clubs and fans should all be worried, unless something stops FKF from executing them! Politics can ruin the sobriety of our rising premier league, just as they have brought Harambee Stars to the lowest ebb ever!

President Kenyatta, Sports Cabinet Secretary, Hassan Wario and his predecessor in that docket, Paul Otuoma, have all called on FKF to re-think and stop this fall-out and disruption to the local league. Something must be done, and correctly so, the curse of fights and politics into our beautiful game, chase away current and potentially future sponsors, and worst of it all, put us on a collision-course with Sepp Blatter and his men, in Zurich, Switzerland!