Let Us Make Political Noise But Resist Violence

The political temperatures are rising. The ruling JUBILEE coalition launched Jubilee Party (JAP), the vehicle that President Uhuru Kenyatta will use in his bid to secure a second term in the house on the hill, while CORD’ race for the presidential ticket is getting fiery too.

It is time to hoot and clatter the serenity that Kenya has enjoyed except for disturbances from the Al-Shaabab cowards, take our efforts from building the economy and plunge heads-on into the murky political waters.

We are a nation that loves politics more than we care about making our lives better. Politics are close to our hearts yet there are no ideologies that back our love for this national love! Ethnicity and party euphoria determine how we vote!

Jubilee Party has perpetuated the lie of uniting the nation yet two big ethnic blocks call the shots while the rest are supporting cast, applauding the main actors on the stage.

At CORD, the coalition led by the kingpin of opposition politics, Raila Amollo Odinga and his band of followers has chastised the government for its failures, notably endemic corruption and an ethnic card that has never been this significant. 

It is humbling to accept that despite the two coalitions commanding near-colossal following, they have nothing to show except splashing money, extorted from the public purse to fuel their guzzlers and traverse the entire nation, taking part in harambees to cleanse ill-gotten money and hoodwink Kenyans into their fold.

Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto, Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and Musalia Mudavadi are the major political voices in the nation and each commands a mini-nation!

They, however share a dubious distinction. They are all products of the KANU and Moi school of politics.

Their interests are co-joined at the hips like Siamese twins and can never give Kenya anything different despite the defeaning noise made by their foot-soldiers.

As we head to a fever-high political atmosphere, void of ideologies but full of empty promises of change, the nation must avoid drawing into the all-too familiar story of politically-instigated violence.

In 2007-08, we played with sparks that nearly burnt the entire nation. The wounds have not healed completely and the aggrieved never saw justice. 

Some Kenyans vowed never to return to the homes they were flushed from for fear of reprisals. Jubilee has used the unity lie to woo supporters while CORD has not offered and solutions in case it ascend to power next year.

Violence should not be part of the game this time round. It is happening in Gabon and Democratic Republic of Congo, where politics have set the nation on fire.

Kenyans should not go back to 2007-08. The wounds are still fresh. Let politics not destroy this great land. As former president Mwai Kibaki once said, voting is a day’s event but the nation will forever be here.

Harambee Starlets, Our Pride and Challenge to the Men!

Harambee Starlets, the previously unknown quality of our footballing damsels are on the brink of history today in Uganda; were 90 minutes from lifting the first-ever Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA), women’s category.

Cheered on by a hundred fans who travelled to Uganda courtesy of Football Kenya Federation (FKF) and SuperSport, our girls lost by 2-1 to Tanzania. A rather low moment to cap a fantastic outing in the regional tourney.

Our ever- disappointing team in the mound of Harambee Stars should sit back, watch and learn a few critical lessons!

To say Harambee Starlets have been magnificent is an under-statement. The girls have been brilliant and are reaping the fruits of positivity, hard work and self-belief!

They are using the CECAFA tourney as part of the preparations for the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), set for November in Cameroon. 

They missed out on the football party in the recent Rio Olympics after falling by two goals to Banyana Banyana of South Africa!

The achievements are something Harambee Stars can only dream of! The team finished last in the Afcon qualifiers, was shamefully bundled out of the running for Russia 2018 and has done nothing to make Kenyan football lovers happy!

Harambee Stars lacks a winning mentality, best epitomized by the losses at home to the likes of Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho and Zambia. 

This is what the Starlets can never be accused of! They bravely went to Algeria and got a draw with the continental giants. They bravely lost narrowly to Banyana Banyana in the Olympics qualifiers.

The girls have a winning mentality, the self-belief that has placed them head and shoulders above Harambee Stars. 

Harambee Starlets, despite achieving a near-stardom status amongst football lovers across the country have maintained a cool head. They are firmly focused on the task ahead, something that a section of our Harambee Stars lacks. How many times have we seen our players partying ahead of crucial matches? 

The girls went Spain last month and shone at the COTIF Women Football Tournament, finishing fourth. The ample preparations were part of the ongoing CECAFA and upcoming Afcon championship in November.

Can FKF organize high-profile build-ups for Harambee Stars and improve the team’s technical and tactical prowess? 

Perhaps this will lift the team from its mediocre performances and slowly put it back to the heights the team hit in the 80s and early 90s.

The girls’ success is a challenge to Harambee Stars on what donning the national colors means and the responsibility that comes with it! 

Harambee Stars has a lucrative national league to bank on, has a near-fanatical fan base and the players are well-paid, yet their performances on the pitch have been at best miserable!

They are our pride. A national team that despite lacking a robust national league to bank on, has eclipsed the region and holds a candle to Africa’s best such as Super Falcons, Banyana Banyana and Cameroon.

Kenyan Government must use Rio fiasco to end sports mismanagement

Francis Paul, the secretary-general of the now disbanded National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOCK), Pius Ochieng, the vice-chairman and Stephen Soi, Kenya Judo Association chairman and chef de mission of Kenya’s team to the Olympics have already had their day in court as the government seeks to give answers to the fiasco that happened in Rio. 

Two others, Michael Rotich (team manager) and John Anzrah, a sprints coach have also been taken to court over corruption and doping allegations that threatened to smear Kenya’s campaign in Rio. 

As the government seeks answers and a possible punishment for the five (and possibly more names), it is an opportunity to cure the mismanagement and ill-administration that a few Kenyans subject sportsmen and women in the name of leading these national federations.

During the Rio Olympics, incidents of missing kits, poor travel and accommodation of athletes and a bloated contingent of officials were all too common as our dedicated men and women tried their best to fly high the Kenyan flag.

Hassan Wario, the Sports cabinet secretary disbanded the team in a move that was widely seen as a bold move by the government to reign in on a culture of corruption and mismanagement that has for long hindered development of Kenyan sports.

Football Kenya Federation especially in the past years before the current Nick Mwendwa-led office took over, falls into this category and so do boxing, cycling and other disciplines.

Rugby is the only sport that has steered clear of these murky waters. 

The disbandment of NOCK should not be an end in itself but rather the start of an unforgiving process to weed Kenyan sports federations of incapable leaders who have made these positions their right. 

Maybe proper management will help tame defections that have cost this nation a great deal. Olympic champion and newly-crowned world record holder in the    Women’s 3,000meters Irene Jebet is one of the many athletics talents that have exchanged their nationality in the face of better management and treatment offered by Bahrain and other nations.

Just like NOCK, all other national federations must be cleaned. Officials who have been at the helm for decades should go home and so should the culture of impunity and stinking mismanagement that has bedeviled sports administration.

Punitive action to set a precedent that abuse of office in the name of sports administration will never go un-punished must be set.

The NOCK and Athletics Kenya officials should be used to set the example (if found guilty).

The vice has for long killed sporting talents and forced others to trade their nationality. The Rio fiasco that befell our athletes was a shame but it was God-sent; opportunity to slay the dragon of sports mismanagement in Kenya.

The time is now!

Political fire fast spreading

The fire of political war-mongering is fast engulfing the entire nation. Politicians and their followers are caught up in the deadly game.

No one cares to hide the bad habits and politics is once again exposing our ugly faces. Gatundu South legislator Moses Kuria, Ferdinand Waititu of Kabete, Kimani Ngunjiri from Bahati in Nakuru County are flying high the intolerance from JUBILEE.

From the CORD wing are legislators Johnstone Muthama, legislators Junet Mohammed, Timothy Bosire, Aisha Jumwa and former Nairobi City Council supremo George Aladwa.

Both camps are riding high on the fanatical following from their strongholds in Gatundu, Nakuru, Kibera and Migori.

One of the legislators under hate-speech investigation is alleged to have made the statements at a prayer meeting! Loose cannons that are never scared to defile the church in the name of politics.

We are setting the perfect stage to burn our country in the name of politics. No one is responsible. In the name of two political sides solely guided on tribal bigotry and no ideologies, peace is fast turning out to be slippery treasure.

Maybe we never learn, not even from the fire that burnt our fingers in 2007-08! That is how deep cheap politics continue to ruin this great nation.

The nation is busy walking itself into fire, and this time, it might not be as short-lived as the 2007-08 bloodbath. Led by the careless politicians, we like daring fate and testing the gods!

Politicians show off their lack of political manners and Kenyans jubilate and cheer them on.

Do we stop to think about our economy, increasing the population of internally displaced Kenyans, the possibility of a full-blown ethnic cleansing and undoing the socio-economic gains made over time?

The national police service should act on these loose tongues, our courts must expedite justice in hand with the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions while the National Cohesion and Integration Commission should show us value for our money!

Judging from the past reactions to these men and women, the above institutions have never acted enough. 

They have never set a precedent by way of punitive action. That is why the politicians have a field day on the stage of hate-speech and war-mongering.

The nation too has abdicated its responsibility in sieving the cadre of national leaders. Every five years, men and women of questionable character are elected.

The electorate and politicians have joined hands to defile the noble seat of leadership in Kenya!

We never learnt from the blood bath about nine years ago. The victims too still struggling under tents, displaced on their own land have never touched our conscience too.

We are a nation that is simply eager to taste fire once more due to political competition. But why do choose to destroy our nation?

Few sober politicians, free from ethnic bile that is oozing all over can answer that question and so can millions of Kenyans who are regarded to carry light political influence due to their numbers.

Time is fast running out. The drum of ethnic intolerance and violence are beating so loud.

The whole world is watching as the region’s economic giant fast seeks its destruction on account of political competition.

All Kenyans can act now and avoid finger-pointing when fire visits us next year. We can all save our country.

Kabogo’s friendly advice to DP Ruto

Early this week, Kiambu Governor, William Kabogo sent out a political message that is not too comfortable to the Deputy President, William Ruto and his lieutenants from the Rift.

“In 2022, the Mount Kenya region might not endorse DP Ruto for the presidency” read the message!

A cold and rather uncomfortable truth from the governor who was unapologetic in his words. He said it was his duty to tell Ruto this truth as a true friend.

After all, true friends watch each other’s backs and Kabogo did his duty, sadly he got a backlash for his troubles.

But alas, this must rattle the ruling coalition especially the Kusema Na Kutenda wing!

The strong man from Kiambu came under a barrage for this truth as sycophants who love lies in the face of uncomfortable truths. They reprimanded him.

Waititu chose to hate the messenger instead of the message!

They dismissed this as a personal opinion adding that Kabogo should not purport to speak on behalf of Mt. Kenya. 

But they too, cannot purport to speak on behalf of the mountain region.

Political realists should rush to DP Ruto’s side and advise him to read aloud the warning signs, after all, President Kenyatta does not need his DP after 2017, at least not politically,

He will have successfully enjoyed his part and Ruto will be on his own! Politics are a bitter-sweet affair and 2022 might be bitter for the DP!

Instead of dismissing an honest governor for saying a harsh truth, Waititu, Keterand ilk should take a rest, in the fresh waters at the Coast or the cool breeze at the foot of Mt. Kenya and think how to approach the 2022 affair.

It is a tough call for the DP. He has a decision to make and the time is now. The sad truth might hit him hard in 2022; that he has been used and dumped by a team that he pretended to enjoy a cozy marriage with. 

It is true that the Mountain might split votes if the likes of Kithure Kindiki, Peter Munya and the DP all chose to go for the top seat in 2022!

A cold argument or opinion depending on where you choose to look at it! But is the warning rather too early?

Does it mean that the vote-basket of 2013 and obviously 2017 to President Uhuru, might be the used tissue paper come 2022?

Rift Valley, led by Ruto played to the political requests from The Mountain and endorsed Mzee Jomo’s scion in 2013. 

They will do this next year in the belief that 2022 will be their son’s rise to the country’s most powerful seat.

It is only fair that Kenyatta’s people ‘Rudisha mkno’ as Waswahili say, but it is not guaranteed.

My crystal ball says that Central will not endorse the DP, they are not so sure if their interests will be safe under his watch. 

They might be forced to look elsewhere and the names of Gideon Moi and Alfred Mutua are not far-fetched.

Remember, they owe former President, Daniel arap Moi for the political rise of their son, when he endorsed him for the presidency in 2002. They might settle the debt through the current Senator for Baringo Central.

As the nation knows, Machakos Governor, Mutua is a darling of President Kenyatta, and he is on good terms with the people from the Mountain.

He was the spokesman who defended retired President Mwai Kibaki’s government. His development record in Machakos County is unrivalled across the country too.

William Ruto should heed Kabogo’s words, he owes him a listening ear if at all they are close political buddies as the Kiambu Governor said!