THANK YOU KTN & THE STANDARD GROUP!

I wish to thank the Standard Group and the Kenya Television Network for the well researched and insightful documentary you aired last week concerning the nomenclature and origins of the Mungiki sect. The documentary was an eye opener to many people who do not know the social, economic and political origins of the group. Your documentary was an eye to many viewers who only associate the sect with violence without the knowledge that below the labyrinth there are underlying economic, political and socio-cultural issues which persuade many young people to join the sect. The documentary was also a wake up call to the political leadership of this country that the use of force alone will not solve the myriad problems that the youth of this country are facing. Unless the leaders pass good laws and formulate policies to create a system that promotes inter-generational equity and ensures equality and justice across the social strata, then this country will continue to experience insecurity occasioned by organised criminal gangs. Organised criminal syndicates and militia groups are scrumptious to the hordes of youth who have no access to gainful employment or economic resources. Kudos KTN for the good work!

MUTAHI NGUNYI IS WRONG: HON. RAILA ODINGA HAS NOT ABANDONED THE PEOPLE

Mutahi Ngunyi is clearly wrong for accusing the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon Eng. Raila Odinga of abandoning the quest for social change. When Dr. Babafemi Adesina Badejo wrote that the Rt. Hon. Eng. Raila Odinga is an enigma in Kenyan politics, there was swift laudatory reaction and obvious indignation from different quarters. This is perhaps because many, including distinguished political scientists and commentators missed the point altogether. Highly publicised events involving Hon. Raila in the past few days prove Mutahi wrong and confirm Dr. Badejo’s assertion that the Hon. Raila Odinga is indeed and remains a political mystery to many in Kenya.

After the Madaraka day celebrations on June 1, Hon. Odinga avoided political chit chat and abandoned the well manicured lawns of Statehouse for the serrated benches at the City Stadium. He joined football fans to watch the Madaraka Day Cup contest between Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards. He joined the fans again on June 7 and 14 at Nyayo Stadium to watch the World Cup/Africa Cup of Nations qualifier matches between Harambee Stars and Guinea and Zimbabwe respectively. Forget that the Prime Minister had several weeks ago referred to football fans as hooligans; he can and will always get away with such things.

While addressing the African Economic Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Prime Minister termed as criminal, President Robert Mugabe’s stranglehold on power which has caused hyper inflation in Zimbabwe. His statement reverberated with the feelings of most ordinary people in Africa; something which many African political leaders cannot dare express to avoid rubbing comrade Bob the wrong way. Though Hon. Raila later clarified that those were his personal sentiments to avoid a diplomatic row with Harare, the message had already sunk home. On June 9, he was at it again. While President Kibaki joined the business mandarins and financial capital moguls to launch the trading of Safaricom shares at the Nairobi Stock Exchange, Hon. Raila chose to take a humble meal of fish and ugali at a downtown joint patronised by ordinary folk. Whether by design or coincidence, his act clearly stole the show from the major event of the day in Sub-Saharan Africa, the launch of trading in Safaricom shares. The president could have said or done one or two things to mollify thousands of small time local investors who feel disenchanted by the manner in which Safaricom shares were allotted, leaving them indebted, but that did not happen. It is a matter better left to the mandarins of influence who control the president’s itinerary, and not lesser mortals like me.

Hon. Raila appeals to the innate instincts of the common folk. He has over time proved that he is a master in the art of socio-political imagery and symbolism. When my former college-mate and Assistant Minister for Health, Hon Danson Buya Mungatana mimics Raila’s “political football” antics to make fun at political rallies he misses the point. My other college-mate and MP for Budalangi, Hon Ababu Namwamba misses the point too when he takes on Raila in his quest for a grand opposition coalition. That Raila chooses to ignore rather than shoot them down in flames only serves to emphasize their political dwarfism and magnify his political mystique in Kenya.

Like the ancient sages of Rome Raila knows when to go to the people and when to let the people come to him. He knows when, how and where to touch base and connect with the ordinary people. It is a fate few of his political contemporaries can match. Because of his flair to interconnect with ordinary folk, Hon. Raila has the ability to excite the masses, turn simple functions into memorable events and elicit a near-cult following. It is this skill that gives him the leverage to tread where angels fear to tread and take serious political risks. In politics, just as in war, you win some battles and lose others. Choosing the battles to fight and those to avoid is a mark of skill and ingenuity on the part of a general. Withdrawal too is tactic of war, and a good general knows which battles to fight and when to make a tactical retreat. Contrary to Ngunyi’s assertion, the Right Hon. Raila Odinga has not abandoned the fight for social reform; he has merely made a tactical withdrawal for the moment. It is my guess that even if he abandoned ODM for another outfit like he did in succession with NDP, KANU, LDP, NARC and ODM-K, Raila would still be assured of his intact following.

BUDGET SPEECH: THE SIDESHOWS BY KENYA POLICE

In December 2007, which is just 6 (six) months ago, our leaders and politicians, including the President, Vice President and the Prime Minister were all over the country mingling and interconnecting with the common folk (wananchi) in search of votes. Mwananchi was king then and all of them needed his nod to get power. Tables have turned now and mwananchi is no longer the much sought after kingmaker. Our leaders have now become venerable and perhaps invincible too. Whenever they assemble in parliament (August House), mwananchi has to be kept away from them, using the most vicious method. Armed police on horse back or in riot gear and others manning menacing police canines (dogs) are used to close Parliament Road, Harambee Avenue and all other adjacent roads and lanes creating a real mess. The area is normally closed to ordinary human and vehicular traffic and becomes reminiscent of a mini-combat zone. All this is done to create a false sense of security for our HONOURABLE leaders. Judging by their comments, it is obvious that ordinary citizens do not get amused with these frolics by the police.

Anybody who has basic training in the protection of terrestrial installations and corporeal entities knows that isolation of a probable target creates more insecurity than security. An isolated target is easier to hit and exterminate. Isolating politicians from the masses does not make them any safer, if anything, the seclusion accentuates the social crevice between the two groups and becomes a source of contempt in the long run. It is never in the interest of any political leadership to extract contempt from its following. It is for this reason that somebody needs to tell the Commissioner of Police that it is wrong to close Parliament and Harambee roads and their adjacent lanes to human and vehicular traffic just because the President or the Prime Minister is in the vicinity or because parliament is in session. These leaders need the mwananchi more than he needs them and 5 (five) years is not such a long time!

MATATU CHAOS IN NAIROBI: TRAFFIC POLICE ARE TO BLAME FOR LAXITY

For some time now, residents of the Eastlands section of Nairobi have endured sporadic transport hitches occasioned by matatu operators protesting against the City Council of Nairobi (Omnibus Stations) Amendment By-laws, 2008. The rules enacted by the City Council and approved by the Right Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, then Minister for Local Government were intended to decongest the Central Business District (CBD) by restricting matatus operating in East-lands to the Muthurwa Bus Terminus. In March 2004, Hon. John Michuki, then Minister for Transport, enacted the famous Michuki rules to enforce mandatory installation of speed governors and safety belts in Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) in a bid to enhance safety and instil order into the chaotic public transport sector.

It is noteworthy that three (3) months after the promulgation of the Michuki Rules, road accidents declined nationally by 74% while accidents involving urban transport buses fell by a whooping 93%. This is no longer the case and every passenger or motorist will attest that only a few matatu operators are complying with the Michuki Rules. Consequently, disorder has crept back into the sector and new rules notwithstanding, public transport in the country is still bedevilled with incessant turmoil. The problem lies in enforcement rather than propriety of the law.

Legislative organs do not formulate law in vain and law is obeyed not because it has some mystic powers behind it, but because it is backed by the coercive machinery of the state. Uniformity, clarity and certainty are also a hallmark of any good regulatory legislation. For some unknown reason, not every matatu operating in Eastlands adheres to the designated route or terminates at Muthurwa. It is this selective application of the City Council By-laws and Michuki Rules that has created two factions in the public transport sector in the City.

The Traffic Department of the Kenya police is conferred with the power to enforce these and other traffic laws. This is where there is a structural weakness in the management of the public transport sector. The Police have repeatedly featured in the top ten bracket of the Transparency International Bribery Index mainly due to corruption in the Traffic Department. Owing to this high level of corruption, lethargic indifference, selective application of the law and outright incompetence of the traffic police, the fairly lucrative public transport industry has over the years been invaded by cartels that have little regard for law and order, safety, comfort and the business interests of their clientele. These operators have over time become reckless merchants of death; licensed to kill and maim their own customers.

In a research carried out by the UK Transport Research Laboratory (TRRL) Kenya ranked the 5th highest number of accidents per licensed vehicles out of 29 selected countries worldwide. The exchequer, the general public and private business pay heavy costs for the hospitalisation, treatment and rehabilitation of accident victims. They also bear the price of material damage to motor vehicles, mobile plant equipment, damaged merchandise and lost man hours. This is without counting the cost of fuel wasted in incessant traffic jams and the ever rising premiums of underwriting the high risks associated with public transport. This is all due to selective application and laxity in the enforcement of traffic laws.

It is high time the government adopted a scientific approach and implemented the recommendations of research and expert audit reports to find a lasting solution to the recurrent problems in the public transport sector. Experts recommend the creation of a composite structure where the general public, investors, industrial manufacturers, private motorists, insurers, the traffic police and other regulators as well as all other stakeholders are represented in the formulation, promulgation and enforcement of new traffic laws.

KENYAN IDPs ARE ENTITLED TO HUMANITARIAN RELIEF, NOT COMPENSATION.

Whereas government officials have ruled out compensation to the victims of the post-election that rocked Kenya in January and February this year, the issue refuses to fade away. But are they right? The cardinal responsibility of protecting the life and property of the citizens rests with the state. Consequently, the state enjoys the monopoly of the use of force of violence and is vested with the power and authority to procure and manufacture arms and other articles of war. Under International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, states are obligated to compensate victims of their own breaches under Article 148 of the Geneva Convention and the Protocols additional thereto. The claimant must however demonstrate that his loss was occasioned by an act or omission attributable to the state under international law and which is a transgression of an international responsibility by the state.

The issue of compensation or restitution for refugees and IDPs is even more complex where people get displaced or lose their property due to religious, ethnic or political violence. This usually occurs when armed groups defy the rule of law, engage in extensive violence and make it impractical for the state to defend the rights of its citizens. Most of the victims of the post-election violence in Kenya fall under this category. They are victims of a well orchestrated, highly choreographed political adventurism by wayward leaders who exploited ethnic apprehensions as a basis for political mobilisation and competition. The IDPs cannot accuse the organs of the state of any direct violation of an international or municipal law obligation, on which a legal action can be founded against the state under the law of torts (civil law). They may also not be in a position to identify with certainty the person(s) who occasioned loss to them.

Whereas the IDPs may not have a legal basis to seek compensation or restitution under the law of torts, they are nevertheless entitled to state protection under International Humanitarian Law. The government of Kenya is under an international obligation to ensure that they are resettled back to their properties. The state also has a responsibility to assist them to reintegrate back to society, improve their living conditions, resist evictions and affirm their civil and political rights.

The state has been careful with the choice of words and has so far only offered to grant them relief on humanitarian basis through the Government Financial Management (Humanitarian Fund for Mitigation of Effects and Resettlement of Victims of Post-Election Violence) Regulations, 2008. These rules which were enacted by the Hon. Amos Kimunya, the Minister of Finance, pursuant to section 26 of the Government Financial Management Act, 2004, were not even necessary in the first place. The state’s responsibility to assist victims of natural and human disasters is not premised on legalise alone, but rather on a higher norm, the law of basic morality. No law can be applied to force people to contribute towards the relief efforts or to stifle the right of refugees and IDPs to humanitarian relief. Any such law is bereft of basic moral content and lacks the force of legitimacy to elicit voluntary compliance from the citizens. People willingly contribute towards relief efforts due to a compulsive desire to help others which is an inherent instinct for self preservation in every human being. Humanitarian relief as opposed to legal compensation is the better phrase for the support that IDPs are seeking from the government. The media should use the correct phrase to avoid creating unnecessary tension.

SENATOR OBAMA’S GOOD FORTUNES ARE A BLESSING FOR KENYA & AFRICA

Barring any surprises or the intervention of a force majeure (or an act of God), Illinois Senator Barack Hussein Obama is likely to become the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party in the United States of America. Apart from escalating his chances of becoming the 44th president of the United States, Obama’s win is of great significance to the people of Kenya and Africa, if not the entire race of the people with relations to African ancestry.

His win will not just bolster the image of the Kenyans and Africans in the world but may also emancipate an entire race from the greatly hyped but seriously flawed myth of Africanity. The depiction of the African people has suffered greatly in the last two decades. Claims of endemic corruption, incompetence and outright intellectual incapacity have seen the African people discriminated against and treated as less human in many parts of the world. The rest of the world has perfected the art of associating Africa and its people with natural and human catastrophes such as war, drought, famine and disease. Just recently, James Watson, an eminent scientist and Nobel Laureate, made claims that the average African person has less intelligence than his contemporaries of other racial groups. This myth of Africanity is also perpetuated by the media, artists, filmmakers, historians, writers, scientists and foreign politicians through literary works and publications that paint Africans as inferior people who are inherently corrupt and inept. In the 1990s many African nations were forced to implement Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) to perk up up their economies which were reeling under massive foreign debt. The Structural adjustment policies and other conditionalities driven by two of the Bretton Woods institutions, the IMF and the World Bank, saw the replacement of many senior Africans in the civil service and state enterprises with foreign (expatriate) managers. These policies which were renamed the Poverty Reduction Strategies in 2002 hence also served to entrench the myth of Africanity. As a result, the African political and professional leadership suffered and continues to suffer from a crisis of confidence and credibility.

Senator Obama’s win will help to shatter this myth of Africanity. Obama's relationship with Africa is present and palpable. It has no connection with the nostalgic past history of slavery and forced migration. His African relatives are alive and well known in Kenya. His African ancestry is not doubtful and is not in issue.

It is therefore very important for Kenya, Africa and the entire world that Obama wins the Democratic Party presidential primaries. His win will be the clearest evidence that inter-racial relations in the world have gone the full cycle. It will be prove that any talented individual can achieve their highest aspirations in the world, racial background notwithstanding.

In the short term, an Obama win will turn the focus of attention to Kenya which might result in increased visits by foreigners and tourists. This may just be the anecdote for the faltering tourism sector which was almost ruined by the post-election violence which rocked the country early this year after the announcement of disputed presidential poll results in December 2007. Players in the Kenyan tourism sector should be watching Obama’s campaign with baited breath.

MUNGIKI HAS LEGITIMATE HISTORICAL, POLITICAL & SOCIO-ECONOMIC GRIEVANCES.

Hardly a day passes without the mention of mungiki in the mainstream print and electronic media. Journalists, political and social commentators have attempted to analyse the causes and possible anecdote to the problems posed by mungiki. Their analyses are usually superficial and the solutions they propose simplistic.

The historical origins of mungiki are intricate and complex just as the sect itself. The problem of mungiki is traceable to the land tenure reforms initiated by the British colonists in the 1950s. In 1955, the colonial government published the “Plan to Intensify African Agriculture in Kenya”. The overt aim of this plan was the creation of landed African gentry that would participate in intensive and large-scale agriculture to boost the colonial economy and solve the problems of political instability and unrest. According to Professor Yash Pal Ghai, the covert aim was to produce a stable and conservative middle class to provide a bulwark against African nationalism and the radical policies accompanying it. Individualisation of land tenure was used to blunt African demands for land redistribution.

The political pay-off of this plan became evident during the Mau Mau revolt of 1952 to 1956. During this period the translation of peasant agriculture through cash crop production and land tenure reform were used to create a landed African gentry (Middle Class) in Central Kenya. This group had a stake in the existing colonial arrangement and acted as a bulwark against revolutionary tendencies. By 1956, the colonial government had put most parts of Central Kenya under individualised tenure without a supporting legislative framework. In 1954, the colonial government had passed the Forfeiture of Lands Ordinance, (No. 11 of 1954), which empowered it to confiscate any land of “…persons leading or organising armed or violent resistance against the forces of law and order”. This was supposed to ensure that those who had joined the armed struggle were disinherited and de-franchised to deter those who were like-minded. The adjudication, consolidation and registration of land without a legal framework was deliberate and concerted to reward loyalists and collaborators and punish agitators and rebels. In 1956, the colonial government promulgated the Native Land Tenure Rules with the sole aim of legalising and legitimising the compulsory acquisitions and illegal forfeitures carried under the Forfeiture of Lands Ordinance, 1954. The rules registered African holdings under absolute title and discouraged co-ownership. In 1959, the colonial government enacted several pieces of legislation including the Native Lands (Special Areas) Registration Ordinance, 1959 to protect the tenure of land that had been expropriated from the rebels and conferred on the loyalists. A mechanism of controlling land transactions in the newly adjudicated; consolidated and registered areas was also introduced.

These land tenure reforms led to a great deal of structural re-organisation in the African society in Central Kenya. The process was carried out when many people were absent either in detention or fighting in the forest. The situation was also compounded by a deliberate policy directive by the colonial government to out-rightly deny children of Mau Mau fighters and sympathisers access to education. The tenure reforms only served the political aims of the colonial government at the expense of many illiterate and ignorant peasants who lost their land to the loyalists and home guards; their relatives or other educated peasants. Many people who were previously accommodated under the African customary tenure system lost their land. After independence, the Native Lands (Special Areas) Registration Ordinance of 1959 was re-enacted into the Registered Land Act, Cap. 63, Laws of Kenya to give the final seal of approval to the massive dispossessions that had occurred in the entire Mt. Kenya region. Many poor people found themselves landless, homeless and without a means of livelihood. They were reduced to providers of cheap labour to the colonial settlers who opted to remain in Kenya as well as the new African landlords.

Thus just before they left Kenya in 1963, the British had managed to create a landed conservative and conformist gentry in Central Kenya. This group was mainly composed of collaborators and home guards to whom the departing colonialists bequeathed the super structure of the state beauracracy such as the provincial administration, local councils, police, mainstream churches and subordinate courts. This group abused its privileged position to appropriate the most arable land and the choicest areas of the emerging urban centres in Central Kenya and other parts of the country. The group also created a patronage system which excluded the common populace in Central Kenya from politics, business and appointments in the public service. Most of them joined the public service as provincial administrators, lay magistrates and clerical officers. They also took over political leadership and the running of mainstream churches and local authorities. These collaborators and their offspring have always benefited from this historical advantage that was granted to them by the colonial regime. They own large tracts of agricultural land and prime commercial properties in urban areas whereas the majority of the poor who participated in the struggle for independence are clutched up into small economically unviable agricultural holdings. The poor majority are forced by their circumstances to become perpetual farm labourers or sell their small holdings and migrate to other parts of the country in search of livelihood. Their progeny are bound in a vicious of poverty which is inherited and passed on from one generation to another and constitute the bulk of the youthful members of mungiki.

The continued hold on political power by the former collaborators and their offspring in Central Kenya has only helped to perpetuate and entrench social inequities unknown to many people outside the region. This is the reality of the social-economic inequalities that prevail in most parts of Central Kenya. It is this social order that mungiki has been seeking to upset, first through religion and culture, and now violently.

The government is clearly divided on the issue of mungiki. The Prime Minister, Right Hon. Engineer Raila Amolo Odinga, EGH, MP is advocating for structured dialogue with the sect whereas some members of the cabinet have openly supported the use of force to decimate mungiki. Just what is the right anecdote to this problem?

At its inception the mungiki sect was basically a communal outfit whose main agenda was the economic emancipation of Kikuyu families that had been forcibly evicted from their homes in Rift Valley Province owing to the political tensions of the late 1980s. Its initial disciples were young people who had lost land; their only means of livelihood in parts of Laikipia and Nakuru Districts. Their families could not go back to their ancestral homes having sold their small holdings and left Mt. Kenya region in pursuit of economic fortunes in the expansive Rift Valley Province. The sect has now graduated from a social cultural religious outfit into a formidable political force in Nairobi, Central Province and parts of Eastern and Rift Valley Provinces. The sect espouses pseudo-communist ideals clothed in socio-cultural epithets of communal justice and equity. This is why it continues to appeal to many landless, homeless and jobless youth. Its members sometimes use violence and threats of use of force to eke out a living by extorting money from farmers and traders in Central Kenya, Nairobi and parts of Rift Valley and Eastern Provinces. I have argued elsewhere that this is criminal and should be dealt with as such.

Anybody calling for the use of force to annihilate mungiki is prescribing a simplistic solution to what is now a complex social problem in the country. Mungiki easily appeals to the landless, homeless and jobless youth. The political class has perpetually taken advantage of their privileged positions to exploit members of the sect and sometimes employ them to provide security for parliamentary and civic candidates during elections. These politicians who also use mungiki to perform unpleasant tasks have never bothered to address the root cause of the social, economic and political grievances of its members.

To suggest that mungiki should be wiped out through the use of force of arms is to imply that the state can use its instruments of force to wipe out the entire stratum of the poor, displaced landless and homeless people in Nairobi, Eastern, Rift Valley and Central Provinces. This position is irrational and untenable under Customary International Law which postulates the raison de etre for the modern nation state. It does not matter how many young people are killed by the police in the name of fighting mungiki; the sect will no die as long as its ideals continue to appeal to the poor and the downtrodden. I have argued in the past that the traditional crime intelligence efforts do not seem to be bearing any fruits with the sect. If anything, indiscriminate extra-judicial killing of members of mungiki have only served to increase the level of complacency, tolerance and sympathy towards the sect by members of the general populace in Nairobi, Rift Valley, Central and Eastern Provinces. The security agencies must therefore adopt new approaches to detect, apprehend and prevent the crimes perpetrated by the sect.

The political class must now demonstrate a genuine desire to address the land question in Kenya as well as the attendant social and economic inequities in the country. The Rt. Hon. Eng. Raila Odinga should create a politico-legal framework to engage mungiki in structured dialogue. He must be ready to tackle and upset the prevailing socio-political and economic order in Nairobi, Central Kenya, Eastern and Rift Valley Provinces. This might include a proposal for radical Constitutional and legal reforms to cater for land redistribution in some parts of the country. The Hon. Prime Minister will need all the energy and the goodwill he can muster to confront the current political, religious and business leadership in these regions who have historically benefited from this highly flawed socio-political and economic order.

COMPLETE HOUSEWIVES FOR SOLDIERS- RESPONSE TO KWAMCHETSI MAKHOKHA

Hi Makhokha,

Your piece in the Saturday Nation of April 26, 2008 refers. Let me first make you know what an "Army Housewife" is.

Makhoha you and Dipesh Pabari are just trying to be cheeky. "Housewife" may not really make sense to an ordinary civilian and does not carry the meaning you and Dipesh are insinuating. It is an important asset to a soldier in the battlefield and is one of the mandatory items for a full battle order. It is actually an assortment of items ordinarily used by housewives to repair and stitch worn out clothes and garments. It is a small cloth bag containing needles and threads to help soldiers do their own sewing. The name originated in England and is rooted in the English culture and depicts the traditional role of an English housewife. It is important for a soldier who is likely to be away from home for long. So; stop being cheeky. I have attached a picture to help you understand what an "Army Housewife" is.

What bothers me most Mr. Makhokha is the level of ignorance you have displayed in this matter. You have used very many words (235 to be exact) to bring triviality into prominence. I think your piece is a gross abuse of editorial privilege.

I am a writer myself and I have a number of editorials in the Nation and the Standard in my name. I always get baffled by the level of deliberate misinformation which most of you in the 4th Estate take our people through. I am not sure if you spent any time looking for a plausible explanation of the kind of item that the MOD had described as a "house wife". If you had cared to call any serving or retired officer or soldier, you would not only have gotten the simple explanation but you would not have used 235 words to make a fool of yourself. You used good newspaper space to make news of a very petty matter. If you had just taken a few minutes to desk research (i.e. google) you would also have gotten the answer. Your piece clearly depicts a person who has never read anything about war or military history. And many Kenyan media people don't read if the misinformation I read regarding matters legal and military is anything to go by. And that is probably why professionals who research on factual matters rarely get publication space.

I want to imagine in your favour that you just wanted to make fun and create laughter. You did not pull that through because on Friday, the Standard had published an explanation of what the item is all about. To Officers and Soldiers, your piece is not any funny. Just what level of intelligence do you think is required before enlistment? Do you really know what it means to have both the mental and physical aptitude to serve in the Armed forces? Are you suggesting that Military Officers and Soldiers would need help in social blending and etiquette? I can assure you Makhoha, that you are very wrong on this one. Pay a visit to any Officers' Mess and you surely will revise your erroneous impression.

The saving grace is that you are not alone in this pettiness. When I was doing my time offering legal advice to officers and soldiers in the Kenya Air Force & Kenya Army, I used to hear snide remarks from senior officers regarding some professions but brushed them off.
Now I know why generals said that to advance in some professions, one has to major in pettiness.

KENYANS SHOULD REJECT POLITICAL & ELECTORAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The problems that afflict women in this country range from gender based violence, poverty, discrimination, illiteracy to food insecurity inter alia. Women candidates have so far borne the brunt of electoral violence which has reared its ugly head once again this year. Violence has so far claimed the life of one female parliamentary aspirant and left scores of others nursing serious injuries. This is without counting hundreds of women who have been killed or displaced by politically instigated ethnic clashes in Mt. Elgon, Kuresoi, Molo and Tana River Districts. Everywhere in Kenya women have been victims of violence. In every election year, they are and often have been raped, mutilated, murdered, verbally abused and forced into prostitution and other social vice.

To stop violence against women, our society needs to look at itself and challenge those values and beliefs that reinforce male violence. Most gender based violence is inextricably linked to male power, privilege and control. In many African communities, gender based violence has long been tolerated, letting the perpetrators go unpunished, their crime tacitly condoned. Violence against women derives essentially from the lower status accorded to women in the family and society. It is further abetted by ignorance, lack of laws to prohibit violence and inadequate efforts by the state and public officials to enforce existing laws. Based on the anachronistic view that a wife is the property of her husband and that therefore he may do with her whatever he deems fit, legal systems in some African countries have even recognised the husband’s right to chastise or even kill the wife. Such cultural beliefs and traditions only help to perpetuate the idea of male dominance and are not conducive to progress. Where they stand in the path of development, every progressive society should discard them.

Women constitute about 52% of the adult population in Kenya. The government needs to address the problem of gender based violence during elections because women’s participation in the development process especially in politics, economics, health, education and environmental protection is crucial. When women are faced with violence, their ability to participate fully in these and other aspects of development is hampered. In 1985 Kenya hosted the World Conference on Women which raised the issue of violence against woman as a matter of international concern. It also called for legal measures to prevent gender violence and the setting up of a national machinery to deal with the issue. Many Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were thereafter formed by women to address the issue of gender violence. They have and continue to highlight numerous cases of violence against women and the girl child and call for governmental action. In 1994 the Attorney General established a committee to review all laws relating to the status of women in Kenya. In spite of these efforts and historical advantages, Kenya is yet to establish a national body to address gender violence and has continued to lag behind its East African neighbours in ensuring gender parity in public affairs. Although this election has the highest number of women candidates, their impact may not be felt owing to electoral violence. The nomination process was extremely unfair to female aspirants. All the major political parties failed women by declining to condemn or deny party tickets to candidates who perpetrated gender based violence. The Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) and the Kenya Police should deal resolutely with cases of electoral violence against woman. The ECK cannot continue to hide behind the excuse that it lacks the coercive machinery to avert political violence whereas the law gives it explicit power to disqualify candidates who sponsor violence. The police should urgently create a special desk to receive complaints, investigate and dispose of cases of electoral violence directed against women. Voters too must reject candidates who promote partake in gender based violence. A society that disfranchises more than half of its productive membership from participation in its political, social and economic development is a threat to itself. Kenyans cannot afford to take this risk.

PROTECTING BUSINESSES AGAINST CASH FRAUDS

Cash larceny is the commonest type of fraud simply because cash is easy to steal and hard to trace. The situation is even more critical for entities with decentralised business units spread far and wide away from the centre of operations. Employees may be tempted to steal money collected from customers without recording the transaction, collect revenue using two sets of receipt books or even issue official receipts and pocket the money. Like all other frauds, cash pilfering occurs where an employee has an opportunity, motive and rationale for fraud. To eliminate or minimise cash frauds, a manager should close every possible window of opportunity. Leaving a window open with cash lying around is tempting even to the most pious including angels. The simplistic way of avoiding cash frauds is to eliminate use of cash in transactions. This is however not practical in an economy where most businesses and people are accustomed to “real money” (cash) instead of cheques and credit cards. Managers should post well paid and trained staff, know all their sources revenue and ensure that cash received at far-off branches is recorded and accounted for using official, serialised and sequential cash receipts. Surprise cash counts and impromptu audits should be conducted periodically. Generic manual receipts should be avoided and use of sequentially numbered receipts should be reviewed regularly. Reconciliation of bank deposits by decentralised locations should be done promptly. If there is no bank in the proximity, the manager should ensure that regular, secure and timely cash repatriation is done using established couriers and a record of each transaction sent to headquarters. A single person should never be left in charge of billing, cash receipting, adjustment and accounting in a decentralised location. Angry, lowly-paid, in-disciplined and poorly trained staff should never be put in charge of far-flung branches. They are likely to steal to get even with the organisation. Without proper financial records, fraud can only be detected as matter of chance and there is no practical method of quantifying the loss in the event of theft. Records make it easier to detect fraud, quantify loss and take action against the perpetrator. Documents are the best type of real evidence for any subsequent prosecution or administrative action against a delinquent employee. Documents leave a trail, tell a story and are dependable. Unlike individual witnesses, documents do not forget or lie and cannot be persuaded or confused.

PRESIDENT KIBAKI IS RIGHT; HON. MUTAHI KAGWE HAS DONE WELL IN MUKURWE-INI.

In a rare political gesture, President Mwai Kibaki over the weekend complimented the Member of Parliament MP for Mukurwe-ini and Minister for Information and Communications, Hon. Mutahi Kagwe. Some sections of the media reported that the president had endorsed the minister as his point-man in the Central Kenya and campaigned for his re-election at the exclusion of other aspirants. This is a misconception. Before the president spoke a number of local leaders including the immediate former MP, Muhika Mutahi had addressed the public and extolled the development record of the minister. They publicly announced that they had withdrawn from the race and were supporting the minister’s re-election due to his exemplary development record. And they are right. Since his election as the MP for Mukurwe-ini, Hon. Mutahi Kagwe has mobilised professionals, intellectuals and opinion leaders from all parts of the constituency and harnessed their energies to uplift the living standards of the local people. He is a very rare breed in politics. He is a visionary who works with all leaders including his opponents for the benefit of the people. During his tenure as MP for Mukurwe-ini, the residents have seen the revival of stalled water projects, educational institutions, health centres, rural electrification, construction of modern rural markets, administrative and security posts and grading of access roads. He has actively supported farmers in the coffee, dairy and horticultural sectors. Mukurwe-ini, which was considered a hardship area by people of the greater Nyeri has now become a beehive of economic activity and will soon have its first industry for the production of animal feeds. In contrast with other constituencies, the minister has been very accountable in the use of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). To avoid wrangles, he left the management of the fund in the hands of the local leaders. The accounts of the CDF are published in the Constituency Website for all to see. Residents are able to participate and question the manner in which the money is spent. At the national level Hon. Mutahi’s tenure as Minister for Information and Communications has seen the extension of broadcasting services to the residents of outlying districts such as Turkana and Lamu. His Ministry has other visionary and ambitious projects such as the expansion of digital villages into the rural areas and training of entrepreneurs. President Kibaki must be pleased by the work of his minister and that is why he urged the residents of Mukurwe-ini to appreciate and reward the good work of their industrious MP.

IS KIBAKI A TRIBALIST? THINK AGAIN

It appears that the media are following Kikuyus everywere. Even if a Kikuyu gets appointed to the position of Director of Public Toilets, they will criticise it as further evidence of tribalism. It is as if Kikuyus are not Kenyans. Send this to all peace loving Kenyans. Let us shame those who are preaching tribalism and spreading hatred and ethnic genocide against some communities in our our country Kenya. I hope the Weekly Citizen will have the guts to publish this one. Prove that your editorial policy is not guided or driven by a tribal agenda aimed at raising genocidal feelings towards a section of the Kenyan Society.

Kibaki's government is far from Kenyatta as those who were there will attest. It is also radically different from Moi's. I was surprised to find that some of the leading institutions are not being run by Kikuyus, given all the reports about Kikuyu domination. NSSF, Kenya Airways, Defence, Police, Kenya Ports Authority, University of Nairobi, Kenya Polytechnic, Public Prosecutions, Kenya Wildlife Serivice, KARI, TSC, etc.

The appointment of Prof. Ndungu has been used to show that non-Kikuyus have been sidelined and have not been appointed to any important position in the government and its institutions. Nothing could be further from the truth as the list below shows clearly.

Note: the so called GEMA people are not included and not all the parastals, directorates and departments are represented here. Also not included are lots and lots of Chairmen appointed by the President.

Judge for yourselves.

Managing Directors/Chief Executives of Government firms
Hosea Sitienei, MD, Kenya Seed Corporation
Ongong’a Achieng , MD , Kenya Tourist Board
Martin Oduor-Otieno, MD, Kenya Commercial Bank
Titus Naikuni , MD , Kenya Airways
Kioko Mang’eli , MD , Kenya Bureau of Standards
Evans Kidero, MD, Mumias Sugar Co
Mr. Steven G. Smith,MD, Eveready Limited
Mr. V.D. Saboo, Executive Director, Panafrican Paper Mills, Webuye
Mr. Joseph Lithimbi, General Manager of Associated Vehicle Assemblers, Mombasa
Mr. Wasiu Bayo Ligali, Chief Executive Officer , Unilever Kenya
O.P. Narang, MD, Agro-chemical Food Company
Davy Koech, Director/CEO, Kenya Medical Research Institute
Victor Kidiwa, MD, Development Bank of Kenya
Mr Matanda Wabuyele, CEO, Kenya Export Promotion Council
Susan Kikwai, Managing Director, Kenya Investment Authority
Philp Kisia , MD , Kenyatta International Conference Centre
I.B Mogaka, Executive Secretary, ICDC
Albert. O. Gumo, CEO, Export Processing Zones Authority
George Okungu, MD, Kenya Pipeline Company
Obondo Kajumbi, MD, Kenya Tourism Development Corporation
Rachel Lumbasyo, Managing Trustee, NSSF
Julius Nyabundi, MD, Chemilil Sugar Company
William Kirwa, MD, Agricultural Development Corporation
Wilson Songa, MD, Horticultural Crops Development Authority
Ambrose Otieno, MD, South Nyanza Sugar Company
Nicholas Keya , MD , Kenya Sugar Research Foundation
Josphat Okoyo, MD, Nzoia Sugar Company
Tirop Kosgey , MD , National Cereals and Produce Board
Abdalla Mwaruwa , MD , Kenya Ports Authority
Martin O. Owiti, MD, Pyrethrum Board of Kenya
Francis Oyugi Okuku, MD, Kenya Wine Agencies
Emanuel Charo Birya, MD, East African Portland Cement Factory
James Abok Odera, MD, National Housing Corporation
Juma Lugogo, MD, Coast Development Authority
Bartholomew W. K. Wanyama, MD, Lake Basin Development Authority
John Omutia Murunga, MD, Kerio Valley Development Authority
Francis M. Nkako, MD, Uaso Nyiro South Development Authority
Abdulrazaq A. Ali, MD, Uaso Nyiro North Development Authority

Vice-Chancellors of Public Universities
Prof. G.A.O. Magoha, Vice-Chancellor, University of Nairobi
Prof. James Kiprop Tuikoek, Vice-Chancellor, Egerton University
PROF. RICHARD K. MIBEY, VICE CHACELLOR, MOI UNIVERSITY
Frederick N. Onyango, Vice-Chancellor, Maseno University
Prof. B.C.C. Wangila, Vice-Chancellor, Masinde Muliro University

Principals of Public Middle-Level Colleges and National Polytechnics
Dr Timothy King’ondu, Director, Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC)
Mr.Charles Imbali, Principal, Kenya Technical Teachers College
Mr G M Muthwale, Principal , Kenya Polytechnic
Mr. C.K. Lagat, Principal, Eldoret Polytechnic
Mr Francis Imbo Awuor, Principal, Kisumu Polytechnic,
Mr.Matu Nguli, Principal, Kenya Institute of Mass Communication
Mr C T Owour, Principal, Mombasa Polytechnic
Philemon Mwisaka, Principal, Kenya Utalii College

Permanent Secretaries
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of State for Public Service: MR. TITUS M. NDAMBUKI, H.S.C.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of State for Special Programmes: MRS. RACHEL A. ARUNGAH
Permanent Secretary, Immigration and Registration of Persons: MR. EMMANUEL M. KISOMBE
Permanent Secretary, Public Service Reform and Development Secretariat: MS. JOYCE NYAMWEYA
Private Secretary/Comptroller of State Houses: MR. HYSLOP IPU
Principal Administrative Secretary, Cabinet Office: MR. FRANCIS K. MUSYIMI
Public Communications Secretary/Government Spokesman: DR. ALFRED N. MUTUA
Inspector –General, Inspectorate of State Corporations: MR. PETER B. ONDIEKI
Permanent Secretary, Office of the President, AMB. NANCY C. KIRUI
Permanent Secretary, Office of the Vice-President: MRS. ALICE KEMUNTO MAYAKA
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government: MR. SOLOMON S. BOIT
Investment Secretary, Ministry of Finance: MRS. ESTHER KOIMET
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health: (DR.) HEZRON O. NYANGITO
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Roads and Public Works: AMB. MOHAMED MAALIM MAHAMUD
Education Secretary: (PROF.) GEORGE IMBANGA GODIA
Permanent Secretary, Science and Technology: (PROF). CRISPUS MAKAU KIAMBA
Permanent Secretary, Livestock Development: (DR). JACOB OLE MIARON
Permanent Secretary, Justice & Constitutional Affairs: MS. DOROTHY N. ANGOTE
Permanent Secretary, East African Community: AMB. (DR.) HUKKA WARIO
Permanent Secretary, Gender Sports, Culture and Social Services: RACHEL B. DZOMBO (MRS.)
Permanent Secretary, Info rmation and Communications: (DR.) BITANGE NDEMO
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water: ENG. MAHBOUB M. MAALIM
Permanent Secretary for Regional Development: ENG. DAVID STOWER
Permanent Secretary for Trade and Industry: MR. DAVID S.O. NALO
Permanent Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife: MRS. REBECCA M. NABUTOLA
Permanent Secretary for Lands: MR. KOMBO MWERO,
Permanent Secretary for Housing: MR. TIROP KOSGEY
Permanent Secretary for Environment: (PROF.) JAMES OLE KIYIAPI
Permanent Secretary for Labour and Human Resources: MR. MARK K. BOR
Permanent Secretary, Cooperative Development and Mark eting: MR. PATRICK S. KHAEMBA
Permanent Secretary: (DR.) EDWARD SAMBILI
Secretary, Public Service Commission of Kenya : MRS. BERNADETTE M. NZIOKI

Directors of Government Departments:
Director of National Youth Service: MR. JAPHETH K. MWANIA
Director of Medical Services: (DR.) JAMES W. NYIKAL
Chief of Protocol: AMB. BRUCE M. MADETE
Director of Kenya Wildlife Service: DR. JULIUS K. KIPNGETICH
Commissioner of Lands: MRS. JUDITH MARILYN OKUNGU
Director of Housing: (DR.) JULIUS M. MALOMBE
Director of Public Prosecutions: MR. KERIAKO TOBIKO
Director of E-Government: DR. SYLVANUS JUMA OKECH
David Isoe, Director, Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) Coordinating Board
Johnson Kazungu, Director, Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute
P.K. Konuche, Director, Kenya Forestry Research Institute
Idle Omar Farah, Director, National Museum of Kenya
Avington Muusya Mwinzi, Director, Kenya National Environment Management Authority
Dr. Ephraim A. Mukisira, Director, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute
C.J. Kedera, Director, Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service
G.K. Kingoria, Director, National Council of Science and Technology
Philemon Arodi Abong’o, Director, Kenya Sports Stadia Management Board

Defence
Chief of General Staff: GENERAL JEREMIAH MUTINDA KIANGA
Commander, Kenya Air Force: MAJOR GENERAL HAROLD MWAKIO TANGAI,
Commander, Kenya Navy: MAJOR GENERAL SAMSON JEFWA. MWATHETHE

Police
Commissioner of Police: MAJOR GENERAL MOHAMED HUSSEIN ALI
Commandant, Anti-Stock Theft Unit: MR. NICHOLAS NYAKWAMA OMBATI
Commandant, Traffic Police: Mr. Daudi J. Kyalo
Commandant, Kenya Police College : MR. BERNARD K. KEMEY
Commandant , Kenya Railways Police: Mr. Francis Changwany
Commandant, Central Province : MR. PETER M.LEIYAN
Commandant, Rift Valley Police: EVERRET WASIGE
Commandant, Nyanza Police: GRACE SYOMBUA KAINDI
Commandant, Western Province Police: Mr. ABDUL MAKA MZEE
Commandant, Eastern Province Police: JONATHAN KIPKURUI KOSKEI
Commissioner of Prisons: MR. GILBERT MIDHUNE OMONDI

Speaker of the National Assembly
Speaker: THE HON. K.F.X. OLE KAPARO, E.G.H.

Head of Government Specialized Agency
Samuel Kivuitu, Executive Chairman, National Electoral Commission
Priscilla Komora, Controller and Auditor-General , Kenya National Audit Office
JIbrahim Hussein, Executive Chairman, Teachers Service Commission
Prof. Everett Standa, Secretary, Commission for Higher Education

Judiciary;
Judges of Court of Appeal
Hon. Mr. Justice E. O'Kubasu
Hon. Mr. Justice R.S.C. Omolo
Hon. Mr. Justice S.E.O. Bosire
Hon. Mr. Justice P.K. Tunoi
Hon. Mr. Justice Philip Waki
Hon. Mr. Justice J.W. Onyango Otieno
Hon. Mr. Justice William Deverell

Judges of the High Court (Puisne Judges)
Hon. Mr. Justice John. M. Khamoni
Hon. Lady Justice J. Aluoch
Hon. Mr. Justice John. A. Osiemo
Hon. Mr. Justice John. W. Mwera
Hon. Lady Justice M. A. Anga'awa
Hon. Lady Justice J. W. Lesiit
Hon. Mr. Justice Muga Apondi
Hon. Lady Justice H. M. Okwengu
Hon. Lady Justice R. P. V. Wendo
Hon. Justice Kaburu Banui
Hon. Mr. Justice B.K. arap Tanui
Hon. Mr. Justice William Ouko
Hon. Lady Justice K.H. Rawal
Hon. Mr. Justice A. R. M. Visram
Hon. Mr. Justice D. A. Onyacha
Hon. Mr. Justice N. R. O Ombija
Hon. Mr. Justice J. K. Sergon
Hon. Lady Justice J. N. Khaminwa
Hon. Prof. Justice O. K. Mutungi
Hon. Mr. Justice B. K. Kubo
Hon. Mr. Justice M. K. Ibrahim
Hon. Prof. Justice J. B. Ojwang
Hon. Mr. Justice David K. Maraga
Hon. Mr. Justice George M. A. Dulu
Hon. Lady Justice Mary M. Kasango
Hon. Mr. Justice Daniel K. Musinga
Hon. Mr. Justice Isaac Lenaola
Hon. Mr. Justice J. A. Emukule
Hon. Mr. Justice F. Azangalala
Hon. Mr. Justice F. A. Ochieng
Hon. Mr. Justice S. A. Makhandia
Hon. Mr. Justice M. A. Warsame
Hon. Lady Justice Ruth Sitati

Central Bank of Kenya
Deputy Governor: Mrs. Jacinta Wanjala Mwatela, Appointed May 12, 2005
Mr. Jones Makau Nzomo, Director of Finance and Resource Pl ann ing Department
Mr. Aggrey Jonathan K. Bett, Director, Banking Department
Mr. Nicholas Bartuiyot Tirop Arap Korir, Director, Economics Department
Mr. Jackson M. Kitili, Director,Monetary Operations & Debt Management Department
Mr. Edwin Luke Ogola, Director,Currency Operations & Branch Administration Department
Mr. Cheloti Kakai, Director, Director, Deposit Protection Fund Board
Mr. Charles Onami Maranga, Director of Administration & Human Resources

Chairmen
Hassan Ole Kamwaro, Chairman of the Transport Licensing Board
James Simani, Public Complaints Committee
Titus Mbathi, KENGEN
Leonard Mwangola, Kenya Revenue Authority

Kenya Revenue Authority

Mr. Mumo Matemu, Commissioner for Support Services
Mr. Fidelis Mullei, Commissioner for Domestic Taxes Department
Mr. Simeon Ole Kirgotty, Commissioner/ Registrar of Motor Vehicles


Chancellors of Universities
Prof. Bethwel Ogot, Moi University
Prof. Ali Mazrui, JKUCAT
Dr. Wamalwa, Maseno University
Dr. Philip Mule, Kenyatta University
Eng. Hon. Samuel K. Arap Ng’eny, Masinde Muliro University
Dr. Mohammed Isahakia, Vice-Chairman, Masinde Muliro University

KENYA AMBASSADORS
1. ADDIS ABABA -H.E. MR. FRANKLIN ESIPILA
2. CAIRO -H.E. DANIEL OCHIENG MACDWALLO
3. DAR-ES-SALAAM- H.E. MR. BOAZ K. MBAYA
4. GABORONE- H.E. MR. CHARLES ALBERT MBAKA
5. HARARE-H.E. JOHN ABDUBA
6. KAMPALA -H.E. MR. JAPHETH RATEMO GETUGI
7. KHARTOUM-H.E. COL. (RTD.) ELIJAH MALEKYA MATIBO
8. KIGALI -H.E. MR. ALEX A. KETTER
9. KINSHASA -H.E. MR. KARUCHU SYLVESTER M. GAKUMU
10. ABUJA- H.E. MR. DANIEL MEPUKORI KOIKAI
11. LUSAKA- H.E. MR. LAZARUS O. AMAYO
12. UNEP- H.E. MR. WELLINGTON P. GODO
13. HABITAT-H.E. MR. SOLOMON KARANJA
14. SOMALIA -H.E. MR. MOHAMED ABDI AFFEY
15. PRETORIA -H.E. MRS. TABITHA JEPTOO SEII
16. WINDHOEK-H.E. MS. ROSE BOIT
17. BEIJING -H.E. MRS. RUTH SERETI SOLITEI
18. CANBERRA -H.E. MR. JOHN LEPI LANYASUNYA
19. ISLAMABAD -H.E. MRS. MISHI MASIKA MWATSAHU
20. KUALA LUMPUR -H.E. MR. DAVID GACHOKI NJOKA
21. NEW DELHI -H.E. MR. FRANCIS BAYA
22. TOKYO -H.E. MR. DENNIS AWORI
23. BRUSSELS -H.E. MR. MARX GAD NJUGUNA KAHENDE
24. BERLIN -H.E. MR. HARRY MUTUMA KATHURIMA
25. GENEVA- H.E. PROF. MARIA NZOMO
26. HAGUE-H.E. MS. KALIMI MUGAMBI MWORIA
27. LONDON -H.E. MR. JOSEPH K. MUCHEMI
28. MOSCOW -H.E. DR. SOSPETER MAGITA MACHAGE
29. PARIS-H.E. MS. RAYCHELLE AWUOR OMAMO
30. ROME -H.E. MRS. ANNE BELINDA NYIKULI
31. STOCKHOLM -H.E. MRS. PURITY WAKIURU MUHINDI
32. VIENNA -H.E. MR. JULIUS KIPLAGAT KANDIE
33. NEW YORK- H.E. ZACHARY D. MUBURI -MUITA
34. OTTAWA- H.E. PROF. JUDITH M. BAHEMUKA
35. WASHINGTON- H.E. PETER NICHOLAS RATENG’ OGEGO
36. ABU DHABI- H.E. BISHAR ABDIRAHMAN HUSSEIN
37. RIYADH -H.E. MR. ABUBAKAR ABDI OGLE
38. TEHRAN- H.E. MR. ALI ABBAS
39. TEL AVIV- H.E. MS. FELISTAS VUNORO KHAYUMBI
40. KENYA CONSULATE , LOS ANGELES- MS. MARY NYAMBURA KAMAU
41. LIBYA -H.E. MR. EPHRAIM WAWERU NGARE
42. BRAZIL- H.E. MR. PIUS NAMACHANJA
43. THAILAND -H.E. DR. RICHARD TITUS EKAI
44. JUBA- P. K. ANGORE

Ministers
VICE-PRESIDENT AND MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: THE HON. DR. ARTHUR MOODY AWORI,
Minister of State, Ministry of State for National Heritage: THE HON. SULEIMAN R. SHAKOMBO,
Minister of State, Ministry of State for Youth Affairs: THE HON. DR. MOHAMMED A. KUTI,
Minister for Local Government: THE HON. MUSIKARI N. KOMBO
Minister for Health: THE HON. CHARITY KALUKI NGILU,
Minister for Roads and Public Works: THE HON. SIMEON NYACHAE
Minister for Science and Technology: THE HON. (DR). NOAH M. WEKESA
Minister of State for Public Service: THE HON. MOSES AKARANGA, E.G.H
Minister of State for Immigration and Registration of Persons: THE HON. GIDEON S. KONCHELAH
Minister for Agriculture: THE HON. KIPRUTO RONO ARAP KIRWA
Minister for Livestock Development: THE HON. JOSEPH KONZOLLO MUNYAO
Minister, Foreign Affairs: THE HON. RAPHAEL TUJU
Minister, East African Community: THE HON. JOHN KIPSANG ARAP KOECH
Minister for Transport: THE HON. (AMB. ) CHIRAU ALI MWAKWERE
Minister for Water Development: THE HON. JOHN MUTUA KATUKU
Minister for Regional Development Authorities: THE HON. MOHAMED ABDI MOHAMUD
Minister for Trade and Industry: THE HON. (DR.) MUKHISA KITUYI
Minister for Tourism and Wildlife: THE HON. MORRIS M. DZORO
Minister for Lands (ag): THE HON. (PROF.) KIVUTHA KIBWANA
Minister for Housing: THE HON. PETER SOITA SHITANDA
Minister for Environment: THE HON. (PROF.) KIVUTHA KIBWANA
Minister for Labour and Human Resources: THE HON. (DR.) NEWTON KULUNDU
Minister for Pl ann ing and National Development: THE HON. HENRY O. OBWOCHA
Attorney-General: THE HON. S. AMOS WAKO,

Assistant Ministers
Assistant Minister for Provincial Administration: THE HON. JOSEPH KAHINDI KINGI, M.P.
Assistant Minister for Public Service: THE HON. BONIFACE MGANGA, M.P.
Assistant Minister, Ministry of State for Defence: THE HON. STEPHEN K. TARUS, M.P.
Assistant Minister, Immigration and Registration of Persons: THE HON. ANANIAH MWABOZA
Assistant Minister, Ministry of State for Special Programmes: THE HON. WARIO ALI, M.P.
Assistant Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs: THE HON. SAMUEL MOROTO,
Assistant Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs: THE HON. HUSSEIN MAALIM MOHAMMED,
Assistant Minister, Ministry of State for Youth Affairs: THE HON. KATOO J. OLE METITO,
Assistant Minister for Urban Authorities: THE HON. ISAACK A. SHAABAN
Assistant Minister for Medical Services: THE HON. (DR.) WILFRED G. MACHAGE
Assistant Minister for Public Health: THE HON. (DR.) ENOCK W. KIBUNGUCHY
Assistant Minister for Public Works: THE HON. HUSSEIN T. SASURA,
Assistant Minister, Science and Technology: THE HON. UKUR KANACHO YATANI
Assistant Minister for Research and Extension Services: THE HON. PETER KAINDI
Assistant Minister for Livestock Development: THE HON. STEPHEN OLE NTUTU, M.P.
Assistant Minister for Fisheries Development: THE HON. MOHAMED ABU CHIABA
Assistant Minister, Justice and Constitutional Affairs: THE HON. DANSON B. MUNGATANA,
Assistant Minister for International Affairs: THE HON. MOSES WETANGULA,
Assistant Minister, East African Community: THE HON. ((DR.) BONI KHALWALE
Assistant Minister for Gender and Social Services: THE HON. MRS. ALICEN J.R. CHELAITE
Assistant Minister for Sports: THE HON. JOEL O. ONYANCHAH
Assistant Minister for Communications: THE HON. DAVID WERE
Assistant Minister for Water Services: THE HON. MAJOR (Rtd.) ADEN A. SUGOW
Assistant Minister for Water Resources Management: THE HON. RAPHAEL WANJALA
Assistant Minister for Trade: THE HON. ABDIRAHMAN ALI HASSAN
Assistant Minister for Wildlife: THE HON. RICHARD KALEMBE NDILE
Assistant Minister for Lands: THE HON. ASMAN A. KAMAMA
Assistant Minister for Labour Relations: THE HON. SAMMY P. LESHORE,
Assistant Minister for Manpower Management: THE HON. ADELINA N. MWAU
Assistant Minister for Pl ann ing: THE HON. DAVID EKWEE ETHURO
Assistant Minister for National Development: THE HON. JOHN B. SERUT

This is what ODM-Kenya diehards would not have us see. The name of the game is trying to win votes using fear and disinformation, apparently the focus of the campaign being illiterate Kenyans. Kenyans are in dire need of a party that has a roadmap for building Kenya and uplifting it's citizens. Unfortunately both Narc and ODM lack in these aspects.
The furture does indeed seem bleak.

Twitter: @DeCaptainCFE

SHOULD KENYA ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION (KACC) BE DISBANDED?

Allow me to comment on this debate. I served in the KACC as a Crime Reading Officer in the Legal Services Department between 2005 and 2006. Prior to joining KACC I had served the Government in the Armed Forces where I had successfully prosecuted several criminal cases before the Court Martial.

I would like to tell Kenyans a number of things that they do not know about the Commission.

1. The Commission is staffed by very experienced officers with wide experience and expertise in many disciplines. Most of them are very committed to their work and would like to see Kenya become a corrupt free society. They spend a lot of time to collect and collate evidence regarding mega financial scandals which are a reflection of looting of public resources in the years gone by. The officers have done a lot and if the number of files under investigation is anything to go by, then they deserve commendation and not condemnation. Some of the files under investigation may however never see the light of day, and this for several reasons. Many of the scandals under investigation relate to many members of the current political class starting from Ministers, Assistant Ministers, Members of Parliament, Permanent Secretaries, CEOs of State Corporations etc.

Secondly, Justice Ringeera is himself a major hindrance to the ongoing investigations. A lot of time is spent by the officers doing in-house memos and proof- reading their own work. This is because the judge does not trust his own officers, especially those with police background and views every investigation with the mind set of a serving judge. Justice Ringeera has refused to accept the fact that he is no longer a judge but an investigator. He has therefore put a lot of administrative hurdles in the way of investigating officers and he has to sign each and every file, letter or memo that leaves the commission to another government agency. Due this beauracracy a completed investigation file would take not less than two months to leave the Commission for the Attorney General's Chambers. At the AG's Office the file is then read and re-read again and would take another month before suspects are arraigned in court. If there are further queries from the State Prosecutors, then the exchange of letters and memos would take another two months before the file ever gets to court.

2. The other most baffling thing about Justice Ringeera and his top management is their inability to put up proper governance structures in a public body which claims to be the epitome of virtue. The hiring, staffing and deployment policies of KACC are very poor and give the Judge a lot of room to exercise open favouritism. A good example is in the legal department where it is not strange to find officers who graduated the same year, with similar qualifications and the same number of years of experience occupying very varied positions. The favoured lot come from an enclave of Eastern Province and occupies positions which are 3 or 4 grades senior to their contemporaries or even more senior advocates. I reserve the names of the effected officers for obvious reasons. This disparity is also evident in the other departments and every insider in the Commission knows that there is marked difference in stipends between the favoured lot and the rest.

3. The other problem at the Commission is that of leakage of information relating to sensitive investigations. When I was serving in the Commission, it was not strange to find some defence lawyers with more information relating to case file than the KACC Investigators/ Crime Reading Officers. Some of the defence lawyers would openly boast that their clients (mainly politicians) are well connected to top managers at the Commission. This is not strange since the appointment of Justice Ringeera and other top managers was passed in Parliament after political horse trading. This is why the present leadership of the Commission has demonstrated ineptitude and incapacity in dealing with past and present corruption once and for all. Hon. Justice Aaron Gitonga Ringera may have been excellent as a law professor and a judge but his stewardship of the KACC is questionable. If the comments of some Ministers, MPs, anti graft activists, ordinary Kenyans and some of officers who served under him are anything to go by, then his leadership of KACC is nothing to write home about.


4. My take on this debate is that the KACC as an institution is doing a good job against many odds. The officers are very committed too but the leadership is very wanting. Kenya needs KACC. There are internal problems in the Commission which cause delay in completing investigations. These are not institutional, but of bad leadership. Parliament should not condemn the Commission because of one person.

NORTH EASTERN KENYA HAS GREAT ECONOMIC POTENTIAL

Last month the government announced that the construction of the Isiolo- Moyale road will commence in November. During his recent visit to North Eastern Province (NEP) president Mwai Kibaki opened the Wajir Airport and commissioned the construction of the Garissa- Mandera road. The president also announced his government’s economic blue print for the region. This is really good news, not just for the people of North Eastern Province (NEP) but also for the business community in the country.

For a long time the far flung areas of northern Kenya have been associated with death and despair occasioned by prolonged drought and relentless clan and inter-tribal wars over livestock and pasture. This has created a longstanding albeit flawed perception that northern Kenya is not viable for commercial exploitation. Immediately after independence the people of the then Northern Frontier District instigated an unsuccessful attempt for self determination against the new regime in Nairobi. Consequently, successive governments have ignored the area and left it devoid of any meaningful infrastructural development. Inevitably, the region is a nucleus for illicit trade in small arms and experiences rampant insecurity. Widely scattered administrative and military outposts are the only semblance of government. Residents cannot access basic services and largely depend on relief agencies for subsistence. The security forces deployed in NEP are sustained as detachments on active military service at a considerable expense to the exchequer.

The expansive range lands in northern Kenya are suitable for commercial ranching and tourism. Botswana, a landlocked country has a thriving economy reliant on livestock production and tourism. The government’s plan for northern Kenya should be expanded to include the improvement of the Rumuruti- Maralal- Baragoi road to facilitate trade in livestock and tourism in the picturesque Suguta Marmar -Malasso Valley which rivals the wild beast migration in the Maasai Mara in natural exquisiteness.

The business community in Kenya stands to benefit immensely from the ongoing and proposed infrastructural developments in the marginal range lands of northern Kenya. These developments and enhanced security will reduce government expenditure on security, open up the region for financial exploitation; create new metropolis, greater economic space and fresh frontiers for investment. This will help to lessen the demographic pressure on Nairobi and other urban centers and may be preferable to the suggestion by the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) to relocate the congested city of Nairobi to a new site. Far from giving political mileage to the government, the economic blue print for the NEP and outlying districts will address historical disadvantages and make reparations for the economic neglect and injustices occasioned to the people by past political regimes.

COMPUTER FORENSICS-KENYA NEEDS A LAW TO PROTECT BUSINESSES AGAINST CYBER/COMPUTER CRIME

The business community like the media should have celebrated the withdrawal of The Kenya Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2007 by Minister Mutahi Kagwe. The Minister cited the need to introduce clauses to deal with cyber crime and protect the optical fibre cable as the reason for the withdrawal.

Most businesses and financial institutions in Kenya have now embraced Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and are highly dependent on computers for operations and accounting. For older enterprises, it is impossible to envision a business process re-engineering that does not engross the automation of core business processes. Automation is intended to give businesses a competitive edge in their industry but this is not always the case. High dependency on ICT comes with the attendant risks of electronic fraud, pilfering of data and computer components which can sometimes bring an entire enterprise to it knees. This has forced major commercial entities to invest in expensive physical security systems and software to prevent corporeal intrusion into their premises and protect sensitive data from theft and possible manipulation by competitors and external hackers. In spite of these efforts businesses and the general public have not been spared of electronic fraud. The media has reported numerous cases of computer crime involving credit card fraud, false lottery offers, pyramid and multi-level marketing investment schemes.

Kenya does not have an elaborate legal framework to protect businesses against electronic fraud and theft of computer data. Digital evidence is a 20th century phenomena and many laws in our statute books which were adopted in 1897 do not take cognisance of its existence. Past attempts to make digital evidence an integral part of our law of evidence have been haphazard. In 2000 parliament amended the Evidence Act Cap 80 to provide for the admissibility of digital evidence in court. The Interpretation and General Provisions Act, Cap 2 was not amended and still requires the production of a physical document for purposes of adducing evidence in court. This means that the production of information and evidence generated, sent or stored in magnetic, optical or computer memory is still contentious. Computer evidence only received passing mention in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control and the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Acts. The Central Depositories Act, 2000, and the Government Financial Management Act, 2004, criminalise and provide stiff penalties for manipulation of electronic data. The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) which employs a computer system to centrally handle commercial securities was given wide power to enter, seize, search, inspect and operate suspect computer systems. This was intended to protect investors and preserve the integrity of data maintained in the computer systems at the Nairobi Stock Exchange and to curb larceny of public revenue through computer systems. The Criminal Procedure Code and the Evidence Act do not have corresponding provisions to enable Kenya Police carry out proper investigations in cases involving electronic fraud.

As technology becomes more complex and more Kenyans join the national grid, commercial entities could become wholly dependent on ICT for operations and this will witness a sharp rise in computer crime. The police and other law enforcement agencies will require computer forensic techniques and methodologies to conduct computing investigations and analyze information contained in and created by computer systems and computing devices so as to determine when, how and who committed the computer crime.

To protect businesses against computer fraud, Kenya urgently needs a law to provide a framework of standards, quality principles and approaches for the detection, preservation, recovery, examination and use of digital evidence for forensic purposes. The law should regulate training and certification to encourage more consistent investigative methodologies and hence the production of more comparable results, so as to make computer forensics an integral part of our law of evidence.

POLITICAL PARTY FINANCE & THE LINK TO CRIME AND MONEY LAUNDERING IN KENYA.

The phrase “money laundering” gained prominence during the Watergate Scandal when President Richard Nixon’s Campaign Committee moved illicit campaign donations to Mexico and then brought the funds back through a shell corporation in Miami.

In every election year, Kenyans experience extraordinary generosity from politicians. The countryside comes into life with new projects and unsolicited donations towards various courses. Is this excessive benevolence always genuine and who funds it?

From globe trotting, forming new charities, trusts and foundations, to plans for expensive associative lunches and dinners, politicians are sparing no efforts to raise campaign funds for this year’s general election. The clamour for a Ksh. 6 million send off by members of the 9th parliament should be seen in the same light. In a nascent democracy, there is always a risk that the governing party could use public funds or dispose of state assets to fund its campaign. The allocation of Karura Forest land around 1997 is a fine example. In developed democracies, political parties raise their campaign funds from member subscriptions and sponsors in an open and transparent manner. They are also subject to regular and independent audit by the state.

The Political Party Parties Bill, 2004 is yet to become law meaning that Kenya has no law or appropriate structures to regulate and audit political party finance. Parties and contestants are therefore free to raise campaign funds using every available means. The stakes are higher in this year’s election since the opposition is seeking to unseat a serving president. Racketeers and wheeler dealers are lining up watching keenly from the sidelines for the perfect opportunity to “invest’ in the right political party or alliance. Such an investment does not come cheap and is incredibly dear to the taxpayer in the long run.

The pay back comes in several ways. It can take the form of poorly negotiated public procurement deals which are highly lopsided against the state. The citizens end up paying many more times the value of ordinary items procured by the sate. Financial scams such as the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing all appeared during election campaigns. Another form of compensation is protection from arrest and prosecution by the law enforcement agencies of the state. In 1973 Robert Lee Vesco donated huge sums of money to the Nixon campaign in a bid to ward of investigations into a financial scam involving US $ 220 Million by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Vesco later fled to Costa Rica and donated US $ 2.1 Million to a company owned by president Jose Figueres who in turn passed a law to guarantee that Vesco would not be extradited to face trial in the US.

Since money and politics are like two sides of the same coin, Kenya is not immune to such deals. Corrupt politicians and mercantile sharks will stake their money with the party or coalition most likely to win. Come next year, the victorious beneficiary regime may then be strained into complacency and acquiescence of the predicate crimes committed by these benefactors. The governing party will then use state power to obstruct or thwart investigations into party and campaign finance corruption. This explains why serious trans-national crimes such as drug trafficking, tax evasion, illicit trade in arms, human trafficking, cyber crime, smuggling and trade in endangered species sometimes appear to have the backing of officialdom. In Kenya one can add pyramid schemes, cattle rustling, poaching, violent robberies, extortion and car jacking. There is a great possibility that some politicians may be linked to attempted incidents of trade in the endangered Osyris lanceolata (Sandalwood) intercepted by the Police and Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) in Central Kenya and Rift Valley.

Policing political campaign financing is as hard as implementing price controls. Politicians and lobbyists are likely to use shell companies, charities and trusted organisations to shift funds around so that contributions from suspicious sources are disguised as legitimate and used for personal gain. The situation is more even complicated by the failure of the 9th parliament to pass the Proceeds of Crime and Money Laundering (Prevention) Bill, 2004. Reputable businesses, financial and professional firms need to be more stringent to guard against being used as conduits of campaign donations derived from illicit sources. They should strictly observe the Prudential Guidelines of the Central Bank of Kenya, the Capital Markets (Securities) Regulations and the international Anti- Money Laundering Principles to guard them against loss of reputation that comes with real or perceived association with perpetrators of financial crime.

It is never in the interests of the ruling class to pass laws that hamper their ability to manoeuvre around political campaign finance. However, the best gift the 9th parliament can give Kenya is to pass the Political Parties and the Proceeds of Crime and Anti- Money Laundering Bills. This will promote and entrench transparency and accountability in the electoral process in Kenya. This could be their last saving grace after nearly 5 years of estrangement with the voters.

GENERAL ELECTIONS IN KENYA: IT IS ALL ABOUT POLITICS, NOT ECONOMIC GROWTH OR DEVELOPMENT

As Kenya approaches the next general elections, political contenders have cast away all pretensions and are engaged in real politik devoid of ethical inhibitions in their attempt to lure voters to their side. Politics is about influence, successful politics is power. Power is fundamentally about economics and money; who has what and what goes where. Whereas the method of translating political influence into power is not entirely legal, the process of exercising political power in a democracy is strictu sensu legal. The absence of legitimacy in such exercise is anarchy. Law is therefore essentially about power, who can order who to do what, when and how. Quest for political power is fundamentally a pursuit to control the lawful instruments for the mobilisation and distribution of state resources.

The results of the last three general elections indicate that victory depends on the ability to harness and galvanise tribal support for a political party rather than economic growth or development. This is an inherently destructive element in our political process. It claws on our sense of nationhood and could eventually lead to an internal collapse of the state. President Kibaki’s attempt to rally Kenyans around work and economic growth has had nominal success. His clarion call for a taifa tekelezi (working nation) has been drowned by a cacophony of noises from the opposition benches in and outside parliament. The voices of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE), the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU), the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI), Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), the Media Owners Association (MOA) and other business and professional associations have been drowned or reduced to a mere whimper in the resultant discourse on who will distribute the “National Cake” after December. It is a distressing situation because members of these associations generate the greatest percentage of state revenues which politicians are craving to control.

Politicians have perfected the art of deceit and use of ethnicity as the focal point for political mobilisation. Promise for economic development and prosperity to the “right” or politically correct communities is their bait for luring citizens to vote in a certain direction. In reality, the contestants pledge to abuse power to benefit a region or section of this country at the expense of others. None is telling citizens is that development and equitable distribution of resources is largely dependent on enhanced production and revenue collection as well as fiscal discipline in the public sector. No contender is challenging the government or providing alternatives for improving revenue collection, fighting corruption, induction of professionalism in the civil service, youth and women ventures, industrial innovation, titivating the stock exchange and infrastructural development in the roads, energy and transport sectors. We hear no talk about technological advancement, regional trade and investment, employment of our excessive human capital or the search for new markets for our agricultural, industrial and jua kali products. These will take a back seat for some time as politicians build coalitions around tribes. It is paradoxical since all the promises for free services in education, health et al are dependent on revenues which Kenyans must generate. The quest for political power should be underpinned by an authentic desire to positively synergise the citizenry towards production before any debate regarding the mobilisation and distribution of state resources amongst them. You cannot share or distribute what you do not have, period. The promotion of a national psyche which harnesses intellectual and emotional energies towards invention and commerce is a better alternative to incessant politics of subsistence.

MT. ELGON CLASHES: PRESIDENT KIBAKI SHOULD DEPLOY THE KENYA ARMY NOW.

During his recent visit to Western Province, President Kibaki ordered a decisive onslaught on the Sabaot Land Defence Forces (SLDF). In a direct affront to this directive the militia launched swift fresh attacks leaving a number of local politicians dead. This followed an earlier attempt to kill the local MP and Assistant Minister for National Development, Hon. John Serut Bomet. They also made a number of new demands which include the creation of a new district and the transfer of all Provincial Administration officers serving in Mt. Elgon region. These thinly veiled political demands by the militia are a manifestation that their grievances have graduated and escalated from demands for equitable distribution of resources to a desire for the control of a viable terrestrial economic unit or governable territory.

The primary statutory responsibility of the Armed Forces in Kenya is the defence of the territorial integrity and independence of the State. Their secondary role is to aid civil authorities in the maintenance of law and order and amelioration of civil disasters. Governments all over the world avoid involving their armed forces in containing localised armed insurrection to avoid the stringent rules of the 1949 Geneva Convention on Non-International Armed Conflicts and the 1977 Protocols additional thereto. Armed militia groups like the SLDF thrive on the logistical support of a complacent local population or a foreign power. At the moment there are no indications that the SLDF has the backing of any foreign power. The government has deployed over 600 officers from the General Service Unit (GSU), the Regular Police and the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) of the Administration Police yet the nefarious activities of the SLDF continue unabated. President Kibaki even hinted that Kenya would request Ugandan authorities to assist in apprehending SLDF militiamen who seek refugee across the border after committing atrocities across the border. Just what makes the SLDF militia such a force to reckon with?

The SLDF is adopting tactics similar to those of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda and its activities have spread fear and caused massive demographic displacement in Mt. Elgon and neighbouring districts. If not checked now, the militia could grow into a fully fledged insurgent group controlling a terrestrial economic unit. The problem of Mt Elgon may then become a Non-International Armed Conflict and this will force the government to apply the Common Geneva Conventions and United Nations (UN) Protocols while dealing with members of this rag tag army. The SLDF does not have tactical superiority over the Kenya police but a number of factors favour them. The suppression of non conventional armed groups like the SLDF requires the deployment of a security force that is highly mobile, versatile and agile. The police have done a lot to contain the situation in Mt. Elgon but the terrain does no favour their type of operations. They have to be in a state of constant mobility in order to respond to all incidents and move to hotspots where the SLDF militia attack the population. Their goals are usually to repulse or apprehend the attackers where possible. In addition the police have to investigate the actions of the SLDF like any other ordinary crime. When normality is restored the police typically move out of such an area and leave the local population to pick up the pieces and fend for themselves without a first line of defence. This leaves the population vulnerable to fresh attacks and without a proper support mechanism for a gradual return to ordinary social life.

Kenya does not have a territorial defence force to protect civil populations residing in a combat zone. Only the Kenya Armed Forces have the logistical capability and the equipment to carry out this role. The government should urgently deploy the Kenya Army to Mt. Elgon to supplement the police efforts of containing the SLDF. Whereas the Army should not get involved in direct combat with the militia it can assist in several ways. Firstly, the local population will not be left defenceless in the areas which have been cleared of the SLDF militia. Secondly, the Army will hold areas devoid of the militia as Grounds of Tactical Importance (GTI) in the security operation against the SLDF. This will give the police ample opportunity to gather crime intelligence from the local population while pursuing the criminal gang in other areas. Finally, the Army has the appropriate equipment for prolonged camping in hostile terrain where they can provide relief services such as food, clean water and medical assistance. The Army can also provide equipment and personnel to make roads and light bridges to improve vehicular mobility in the hilly terrain of Mt. Elgon. The Armed Forces Act allows the president to deploy the Kenya Armed Forces in places like Mt. Elgon where forces meant to curb internal security threats face serious logistical problems. The deteriorating situation in Mt. Elgon calls for such urgent deployment. The president will simply be discharging his constitutional responsibility as the Commander – In – Chief if he deploys the Kenya Army to Mt. Elgon.

FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION (FGM) IN KENYA IS HARMFUL.

I would like to thank you for your very insightful topic on “The Unkindest Cut of All” in last Wednesday’s 16 May 2007 Living Magazine. Your article provided a graphical illustration of the traumatic effects of the harmful and archaic practice of female genital mutilation. This practice has subjected women in many parts of Africa to undue and unnecessary pain and suffering. It has denied them the opportunity to fully appreciate themselves and enjoy their humanity. The communities that practice this outdated vice have relegated their women to 2nd class citizens. The best postulation that your article brought to the fore is that those who practice the vice do it from a point of ignorance. Information on the physical and physiological effects of FGM is not readily available in many parts of Africa . The practice is hinged on mysterious and outdated cultural beliefs that have been entrenched for many centuries. Your article clearly demonstrated that many men who support this vice have never had the chance to really appreciate the physical harm that is inflicted on the women who undergo it. No sane man would support female genital mutilation after witnessing the graphical illustration of the trauma inflicted on the victims. I do not however quite agree with you that the Children’s Act, Act No 8 of 2001 will help to reduce the prevalence of this practice in Kenya. The Act became law on 31st December 2001 and expressly outlawed female genital mutilation. This has not however stemmed the practice in many parts of the country. The criminalisation of a long-standing cultural rite has forced many circumcisers to go underground with the result that the practice is now carried out in secret.

The best approach to combat this vice as you ably demonstrated is through massive public education of both men and women in the communities that practice it. These communities consider the practice as an accepted rite of passage and a standard moral norm for all their female members. Experience and research has shown that a law that is bereft of any moral content lacks the force of legitimacy to elicit voluntary compliance. Public education will help these communities to understand and appreciate the health and psychological implications of the harmful practice. Only then will they voluntarily comply with the provisions of the Children’s Act. Your article should be a wake up call to all civil societies and gender activists that point education rather than grand conferencing is the best method to reducing if not entirely eliminating the incidences of this harmful practice from our society.

Twitter: @DeCaptainCFE