•Tuesday, September 12, 2006
karl marx was not very wrong after all, when he theorised that religion is the opium of the masses enough to give the poor illusions of fantasies otherwise unachievable in reality. somewhere in kinangop at the heart of the rift valley is a group claiming that the world will begin to end from 12th september midnight. the house of yahweh followers prophesy a nuclear holocaust ignited by usa invasion of iran. they have dug underground bunkers complete with one year, one month supply of food when the end of the world is expected to last. actually it is not the end of the world but the total annihilation of mankind, except the sect members, the remnants saved by god. in the event that this does not happen, the leader has been quoted saying, that will be enough proof that yahweh is a liar. the global sect leader is somewhere in the usa regularly receiving monthly tithes and offerings and i am sure is least worried about the end of the world. he knows for sure that the world goes nowhere and just rotates around its own axis and stupidly revolves around the sun in the same old orbit, same old religion. as for our poor peasants, our own version of noah, they are all over the press, celebs in their own right for the time being.
talking of salvation, religious leaders and preachers should study our politicians and learn something about self redemption. today, it is the likes of william ruto, joseph kamotho, kalonzo musyoka, mutula kilonzo, musalia mudavadi, ole ntimama and others who are lecturing kenya about corruption and democracy. how times change. in a preachy rejoinder, if man can change like that on his own, how about a divinely changed man? kenyan politics have now gravitated towards two mainstream parties; the newly registered odm kenya (odmk) and narc kenya (narck). it is basically a two prime horse race between raila odinga and mwai kibaki. raila has managed to set the political agenda for the country since 2002 and that makes him the de facto leader of the opposition, whatever the name they settle for. he ‘made’ kibaki king and has taught him a few governance lessons every time they settle for a duel. narck has a way of playing into the hands of odmk in addition to political goofing and lack of able propagandists. but martha karua deserves praise for how she has managed to redeem the image of the government at its most critical setbacks. john michuki, the internal security minister who was voted the best minister in 2004 coz of spearheading matatu sector reforms is the current government’s major liability today.
i am currently indifferent to both narck and odmk. in the words of samuel kivuitu the chairman of the electoral commission, genuine change in kenya will be realised in the next generation. the current crop of leaders lack sincerity and are not ready to change their hearts for the interest of the nation. i however laud the economic gains of the kibaki regime. today i had a chat with some kenya revenue authority officials and the level of revenue collection and push towards self budget sustainability is impressive.
but kibaki is not a man of the people, he has disdain for the man on the street masked in his gentleman ness. his, is a class presidency, as one political analyst commented at the beginning of the narc regime. it is a regime bent on wealth protection and not wealth creation. raila on the other hand is too attention seeking and too radical for a politically conservative nation like ours. a nation that sacrificed real revolutionaries like james orengo and joe donde at the altar of status quo and ‘regional’ allegiance. that is why it prefers kalonzo musyoka in its opinion polls coz of his cool nature. but listening to the kalonzo of today, one is left feeling it will be another mistake to give him the presidency. narc has failed kenya on corruption, governance issues, land issues and the constitution but has scored highly on economy, business and maendeleo wilayani (rural development). of course, it could have been much better if the original narc held together but it was not to be.
however, i do not think that odmk will follow up and recover the looted millions of goldenberg and anglo leasing scandals, nor will it bring to book the killers of former foreign affairs minister robert ouko, j m kariuki and the others. unless it expels some ‘luminaries’ (note the change from revolutionaries), i doubt whether it will have the will to resettle and resolve the tribal clashes sagas or curb the extravagant public expenditure by the government. i do not foresee it doing much on the negative tribalism angle. currently it is a political sin to be from an ethnic region in the company of odmers. i could be wrong.
political alignment towards the two main parties is spelling doom to the only two women presidential aspirants ever in kenya. charity ngilu is slowly sliding into oblivion with the entry of kalonzo as the tribal (eeeh regional) kingpin of ukambani. whether in narck or in odmk, ngilu has been trivialised and rendered irrelevant to our new paradigm ‘regionally’ divisive politics. wangari mathai the nobel peace laureate and the mp for tetu has been a fence sitter ever since and soon the tide will sweep her off politics. word on the street is that she is quitting politics at the end of her current parliamentary tenure. she was more productive, most accomplished and well utilized when she was not in politics all the same. other parties like ford Kenya, kanu and ford people have been left rugged and dry.
with talks of minimum and maximum reforms off our news, we await the return of anti graft czar john githongo to give kenya new political focus, breaking news and sms alerts. kenyans are quite forgetful with reduced attention spans, we always need reminders and personality pop ups to refresh our memories. i almost forgot that senator obama, the only luo (kenyan, i beg your pardon) who will ever on earth have a go for the usa presidency was around. it is escaping my mind what his visit was all about. for now kenya is happy to be a walking nation once again. the matatu sector forgot to adhere to michuki matatu sector reforms. we surely have come full circle.
talking of salvation, religious leaders and preachers should study our politicians and learn something about self redemption. today, it is the likes of william ruto, joseph kamotho, kalonzo musyoka, mutula kilonzo, musalia mudavadi, ole ntimama and others who are lecturing kenya about corruption and democracy. how times change. in a preachy rejoinder, if man can change like that on his own, how about a divinely changed man? kenyan politics have now gravitated towards two mainstream parties; the newly registered odm kenya (odmk) and narc kenya (narck). it is basically a two prime horse race between raila odinga and mwai kibaki. raila has managed to set the political agenda for the country since 2002 and that makes him the de facto leader of the opposition, whatever the name they settle for. he ‘made’ kibaki king and has taught him a few governance lessons every time they settle for a duel. narck has a way of playing into the hands of odmk in addition to political goofing and lack of able propagandists. but martha karua deserves praise for how she has managed to redeem the image of the government at its most critical setbacks. john michuki, the internal security minister who was voted the best minister in 2004 coz of spearheading matatu sector reforms is the current government’s major liability today.
i am currently indifferent to both narck and odmk. in the words of samuel kivuitu the chairman of the electoral commission, genuine change in kenya will be realised in the next generation. the current crop of leaders lack sincerity and are not ready to change their hearts for the interest of the nation. i however laud the economic gains of the kibaki regime. today i had a chat with some kenya revenue authority officials and the level of revenue collection and push towards self budget sustainability is impressive.
but kibaki is not a man of the people, he has disdain for the man on the street masked in his gentleman ness. his, is a class presidency, as one political analyst commented at the beginning of the narc regime. it is a regime bent on wealth protection and not wealth creation. raila on the other hand is too attention seeking and too radical for a politically conservative nation like ours. a nation that sacrificed real revolutionaries like james orengo and joe donde at the altar of status quo and ‘regional’ allegiance. that is why it prefers kalonzo musyoka in its opinion polls coz of his cool nature. but listening to the kalonzo of today, one is left feeling it will be another mistake to give him the presidency. narc has failed kenya on corruption, governance issues, land issues and the constitution but has scored highly on economy, business and maendeleo wilayani (rural development). of course, it could have been much better if the original narc held together but it was not to be.
however, i do not think that odmk will follow up and recover the looted millions of goldenberg and anglo leasing scandals, nor will it bring to book the killers of former foreign affairs minister robert ouko, j m kariuki and the others. unless it expels some ‘luminaries’ (note the change from revolutionaries), i doubt whether it will have the will to resettle and resolve the tribal clashes sagas or curb the extravagant public expenditure by the government. i do not foresee it doing much on the negative tribalism angle. currently it is a political sin to be from an ethnic region in the company of odmers. i could be wrong.
political alignment towards the two main parties is spelling doom to the only two women presidential aspirants ever in kenya. charity ngilu is slowly sliding into oblivion with the entry of kalonzo as the tribal (eeeh regional) kingpin of ukambani. whether in narck or in odmk, ngilu has been trivialised and rendered irrelevant to our new paradigm ‘regionally’ divisive politics. wangari mathai the nobel peace laureate and the mp for tetu has been a fence sitter ever since and soon the tide will sweep her off politics. word on the street is that she is quitting politics at the end of her current parliamentary tenure. she was more productive, most accomplished and well utilized when she was not in politics all the same. other parties like ford Kenya, kanu and ford people have been left rugged and dry.
with talks of minimum and maximum reforms off our news, we await the return of anti graft czar john githongo to give kenya new political focus, breaking news and sms alerts. kenyans are quite forgetful with reduced attention spans, we always need reminders and personality pop ups to refresh our memories. i almost forgot that senator obama, the only luo (kenyan, i beg your pardon) who will ever on earth have a go for the usa presidency was around. it is escaping my mind what his visit was all about. for now kenya is happy to be a walking nation once again. the matatu sector forgot to adhere to michuki matatu sector reforms. we surely have come full circle.
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3 comments:
That Mt Kenya led class system in Kenya is doing the country no good. Way too much individual mobility is being emphasized at the expense of general good by our leaders. They have fixed the economy somewhat true but haven't they gorged themselves enough already?
aargh - politics in kenya. thats why we are led by people who come up with names
like NARC and ODM what the fuck?
@mwenyenchi - apparently the term mt kenya mafia has died down over time. for sure governing class has amassed and entrenched themselves economically.
@anon - we the voters choose them, we will dance and hate for them now that elections are at hand. at times one feels like blowing up parliarment when all are in and we start afresh.