PRESIDENT KAGAME AND THE MILITARY SOLUTION

President Kagame suggests a military solution for Kenya.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has touched on a delicate matter but one that appears to be gaining currency in the region: that for the good of Kenya and the region, it may be wise for the military in that country to intervene to stop the bloodletting.

In the era when military intervention in politics is widely sneered at, President Kagame's suggestion appears odd indeed. But, as the Rwandan leader said, if wanton killings amongst civilians continue daily with renewed intensity, there is no reason why the full machinery of the state must not come out to tame the situation. It is a compelling argument. It is human life we are talking about, after all.

Critics argue, however, that people like President Kagame behave like someone who wields a hammer. For such a person, every problem is a nail. Hammer it into place. But that may easily create an endless and deadly cycle. Once the military is out, there is no guarantee that it will go back into the barracks. Think Burma/Myanmar. Or if the military goes back, it is after decades of pain to the country. In Pakistan it is a see-saw. In Nigeria, we are still holding our breath as the jury is still out there. In Uganda, well, we are not quite sure where exactly the military is based.

There will always be, from time to time, powerful reasons for why the military should intervene in politics, especially in developing countries. The temptation, however, must be resisted. What would we rather have: politicians squabbling endlessly or generals squabbling endlessly? And what assurance is there that there will never be killings once the military has taken charge? These are tough questions. But that does not mean there are no answers.

For a start, in the specific case of Kenya, it would do a great deal of good if Mr Mwai Kibaki and Mr Raila Odinga, accompanied by Mr Kofi Annan, embarked on a joint tour of the flashpoints to calm things. It is rather odd for Mr Annan and the two antagonists to drink coffee, tea and juice in the immaculate halls of Nairobi while the country continues to ban – literally. Stop the killings first. Then talk.

That said, for all it is worth, the Annan initiative must not fail. If it does, one may not have many arguments against President Kagame's Bismarckian solution of solving the great questions of the day "not through speeches and majority decisions … but by iron and blood". What a tragedy that would be!

BIDANDI OPEN LETTER TO MUSEVENI ABOUT KENYA

Bidandi's open letter to Museveni

Bidandi SSali P.O.Box 1725
Kampala 29th Jan 2008.

His Excellency,
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
President
Republic of Uganda
Your Excellency,

RE: INTEGRITY OF UGANDA AS A NATION
I salute you and wish you a peaceful 2008.
This time round I address you as a former colleague at the helm of the Governance of this/ country..............


Mr President a caution about the Kenya debacle. The media has been a wash with Uganda's involvement in what is happening in Kenya.
Unfortunately, there has been no categoric response about these accusations from you. It is absolutely important and imperative that your Excellency distance your self and the people of Uganda from the unfortunate events taking place in Kenya.

Otherwise posterity the people of Kenya and indeed of Uganda will hold you personally accountable for the disintegration of our sister neighbour and the destruction of lives and property which has so far claimed over 700 innocent Kenyans. Of course the consequences shall be dire to our country.

One does not need to emphasize the fact that Kenya is the life line of Uganda and Rwanda. It is completely absurd to expect that sending troops to Kenya under the guise of protecting Ugandan transit goods will provide the answer as that Country disintegrates into a Somali fiasco.

Please let us people of Uganda through you mend fences with the people of Kenya and the sooner the better. Let us align our selves with them and not with either of the protagonists. Let us join them in finding a solution which to me should be advocating for a fresh elections supervised by the African Union and the United nations.

Let us prevail on Mr. Kibaki to resign and leave room for a government of national unity which he or Reila Odinga should not head, and whose main task shall be to prepare for fresh elections within a period not exceeding one year.

For God and my country.
Bidandi Ssali
Former Colleague in Cabinet

LOOKING BACK -A TRUE MARTHA KARUA

LOOKING BACK

This is the real Martha karua,- MP for Gichugu.

Kenyan cabinet minister sues over caricature

By John Kamau and Patrick Gathara.
Joe Szabo contributed to this article

Just as the "Political Challenges Facing Africa" exhibition along with a series of successful workshops organized by the Association of East African Cartoonists ended in Nairobi, their very precious freedom of expression suffered a setback when a minister exposed her insecurity and turned to seek legal remedy regarding her portrayal in the local media.

Water Resources Minister Martha Karua’s net of grievances against the media has extended to the realm of the creative.

In what could be a first for freedom of expression litigation in the country, Karua has sued over a caricature of her that appeared in the April 25 issue of Penknife, a satirical pull-out of the East African Standard.

Penknife, originally an independent satirical weekly, now appears as a supplement to the East African Standard. The creator and producer of Penknife is Communicating Artists Ltd., an alliance involving four of Kenya's elite cartoonists: Gado, Frank, Madd and Kham.

Karua contends that the humorous caricature depicted her as “unfair to the media, which is unfair and derogatory to me.”

“You show me as I confront the media, I am standing on live wire with 10,000 degrees centigrade hot (sic),” she complains.

“This caricature is not only derogatory and intended to injure my credit and reputation, but is also intended to trash my right to pursue legal redress. It is an aggravation of the various libelous matters I am pursuing you for in court, and constitutes fresh libel,” says the Gichugu MP.

The minister also took issue with the headline, ‘Boiling Hot,’ and claims that suggestions in the cartoon that she has teamed “up with my colleague the honourable Minister for Information to muzzle the press when the truth of the matter is that I am pursuing my rights in court” are “false and malicious.”

The minister has also threatened to sue the Sunday Standard over a separate comment entitled ‘Iron lady Martha’s tit for tat’, published in the same April 25 issue, which she said contained excerpts “which are false, malicious and defamatory”

She says: “You may also wish to know that I am also pursuing Benson Riungu’s “Back Peepers” and “Benson’s World” of the same Sunday Standard.”

She does not stop there. Another of her plethora of suits and threats relates to a comment by “Media Maverick” columnist Kodi Barth citing views posted on the Internet about her conflict with Kiss FM. The column had stated that most of the commentators on the Internet “took a swipe at her abrasive temperament and failure to cut out the figure of a role model.”

In her letter, Karua says “It is my considered view that these words are defamatory in that they purport to present the falsehoods broadcasts by Kiss FM as true, thus repeating the libel.” “Further, it portrays the public as having overwhelmingly condemned me which is not true and is calculated to further injure my credit, standing and reputation in society. The article further paints me unjustifiably and maliciously as lacking in decency and morality.”

The minister also took issue with an article on March 25, which posed a question: “What was Ms Martha Karua doing calling Kiss FM names?”

Ms Karua has filed an unprecedented number of suits against various media houses for allegedly defaming her since a carjacking incident involving her and Catholic priest, Fr. Dominic Wamugunda, which was exclusively broken by the Sunday Standard.

There was a lot of public speculation that the two were having an affair since noon could explain why the Minister had dispensed with her official car and security detail. This all came to a head when the Minister sued a local FM station (Kiss FM) for alleged defamation. The case is still in court.

The Information Minister, Raphael Tuju, then set up a panel to investigate complaints against the station, but many of those invited to be members (including the MDs of both the Nation and E.A. Standard and the Sec-General of the Kenya Union of Journalists) declined. There was widespread condemnation of the minister's move and a court injunction was obtained by
Kiss FM stopping the panel from holding hearings. Hon. Tuju proceeded to ignore the court order (claiming that the panel was an "advisory" one and that the court had no power to stop him taking advice) while at the same time paradoxically asking the Attorney-General to appeal the ruling.

The KUJ has called on Hon. Karua to withdraw her suit against Kiss FM and, jointly with the Association of East African Cartoonists (KATUNI), plans to hold a press conference on her latest threats.

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KIBAKI TRUE TO HIMSELF

Experienced Hand for Supremacists.

By Taabu...

The home guards are back with a vengeance albeit in disguise. The pretenders to freedom struggle are all teeth sucking the blood of Kenyans in their quest for superlative domination. If you ever thought that the home guards snatched independence goodies from the mouth of real Kenyan freedom fighters think again.

Just like the home guards shared among themselves Kenya’s wealth at independence, Kibaki and his cronies are hell bent on riding on the back of all Kenyans who shed their blood for the second and subsequent liberations. Around Kibaki are a bunch of tribal supremacists who will stop at nothing to entrench their selfish interest on Kenyans.

Behind the present political meltdown lie these supremacists headed by one John Kimendero Michuki. To fool Kenyans, Kibaki has cleverly relocated this colonial chief to an ‘obscure’ ministry where he can call the shots incognito. Meanwhile the (blue-eyed-or is it big-bulging eyes of grave disease-like symptoms?), lady Karua is left to intellectually sanitize the rot and bloodbath.

Just like the home guards stole independence Kenyans and so the supremacists stole freedom and justice from Kenyans. Kenyatta rode and broke on the back of true freedom fighters and Kibaki has not disappointed in perfecting the art of STEALING the trophy from the horse’s mouth. His stealing of last year’s election was a culmination of DECEPTION EXTRAORDINAIRE that has left Kenyans wondering what devil transformed the hitherto General coward aka fence sitter into such a hardliner.

Decoys for rape
Well, the true face of Kibaki lies in his history. He learned highhandedness first hand from Jomo with all his attendant thieving ways. He completed the initiation with surrounding himself with supremacists who can only dole out small favours to others by allowing them to populate the land mass with no right WHATSOEVER to leadership.

If Kibaki was a good student of Kenyatta’s divisive and destructive politics, then he superlatively excelled in Moi’s shamelessness of use-and-damp. Make no mistake Emilio is a brilliant guy who knows exactly what he is doing and where he is headed. The tribal cult around him is nothing but a convenient decoy to make Kenyans serve him with generous benefits of doubt. Just imagine what a marvelous and irreplaceable asset mother nature gave him and his handlers in the name of Lucy. Aggressive, abbrassive, spot on and hands on, no hangers, no holds barred. Convenient irritant to Kibaki's apologists.

Kibaki’s cleverly crafted decoy of 6% economic growth has been exposed for what it was – a preface to massage national ego as the principals rape us to the last drop of blood both economically and politically. Don't delude yourself into believing that anything meaningful will come out of the Annan's talks. At the risk of being branded a pessimist (realist) I dare say that Kibaki already knew the outcome even before the talks started in the first place. Who is fooling who and for how long?

Granted, the world is not fair and was never designed to be so. But there comes a time when you cannot fool all the people all the time. Kenyans know what they want and they are ready to pay the ultimate price for it with their lives. No amount of brute force can reverse the course to JUSTICE.

The government’s monopoly on violence will only succeed in postponing BUT NEVER extinguish Kenya’s dawn to a new era of EQUALITY and EQUITY. Nothing is as difficult, nay impossible, as trying to impose your leadership on a determined and unwilling populace. Magnificent castles are always built from ruins by determined hands, we shall overcome. POLITICO-ECONOMIC JUSTICE, no less.

KENYA'S MIDDLE CLASS

Where is Kenya middle class?

The killing, looting, burning and destruction has occurred as accusations have flown from one camp to the other. Background analysis and possible solutions have spewed forth from experts of every hue and shade. Many of these have emphasized the fact that the election dispute is really a spark that lit a smoldering ember into a tribal conflagration now consuming the country.

Not so has been said is the fact that the challenge to douse the inflamed passions is the hobbled impotence of those intellectually and socially best equipped and prepared to tackle the challenge – the educated, propertied -the Kenyan middle class!

It is not an excuse that their helplessness is a function of both the social and political system. They have unwittingly or not allowed themselves to be rendered irrelevant in the political equation and surrendered the stage to the players that have over the time made tribe the key lever to manipulate politics.

Kibaki and his GEMA-associates, who most of them grew up and identified themselves as the elites, sadly have been pre-programed to ride on Kikuyu tribalism every time there is a competitive issue to be decided nationally including elections every five years. The Luo-Kikuyu alliance has twice worked – at independence and in 2002 because both the colonialist and President Moi in 2002 presented a formidable challenge that called for the temporary submersion of narrow tribal interest. The alliances did not last because of rows over the sharing of the political spoils. NOT a surprise there.

Leaders from the other communities were not blind to the reality of leveraging tribe, but as none would alone be as dominant as either the Luo and Kikuyu, it is why President Moi organised the Kamatusa communities into a formidable political wedge during his dictatorial reign. This he further strengthened by activating a constellation of fiefdoms that he controlled through tribal “kings” like the Kamba’s Mulu Mutisya, Kalenjin’s Ezekiel Bargentuny, the coastal’s Shariff Nassir, and the Kisii’s Simeon Nyachae and their likes.

True- the Kenyan middle class is also the most unconscious of their historical role as instigators of change. They have been lulled by a false sense of security they have enjoyed and sheltered in their homes and clubs. Mostly they whine about everything that is wrong with the system and its leaders and yet remain content to do nothing about it.

Politics to this group has been dirty and cheap. The country is on her knees because of the middle class failing to step in early enough and try to right the wrongs in the Constitution, distribution of resources and general governance.

The crisis will escalate if this class does not pro-actively realize that whatever agreement that comes out of the Kofi Annan-mediated talks will only last if they move to take control of the centers of power and directly influence the way public affairs are run and the way the practice and use of power is communicated to the people.

Mind and ideology- Younger people that still believe that, tribe is the only way one can attain and keep power are just as dangerous as the independence-age dinosaurs cum Kenyan politicians.

Kenya is crying out for its sons and daughters from all tribes that have been liberated – even if only partially - from the shackles of tribe through an education and lifestyle that reduces tribe to merely the pseudo-identity tag that it is, not an asset that creates exclusive clubs not even of tribes, but of looting elites within the larger tribes.

Tribalists- While they may recognize that it is a dangerous ideology to try to construct a nation through a tribal eye especially in a resource scarce context like Kenya, the lure to horde for power by leveraging their tribesmen has been more powerful than the imperative to pursue the more painful and less assured path of building a foundation of nationhood by appealing to the commonality of taste, ideology, aspirations, fears, wants and a more fair society as Kenyans. -AMEN-

CITIZEN PATHWAY FOR PEACE

Citizen Pathway agenda for peace.

The Citizen Pathway Group is made up of professional Kenyans from all walks of life.

Since the violence started, the CPG have had numerous meetings in a bid to find a middle-ground so that peace and civilized behavior can return to the country. The CPG has also visited many parts of the country affected by violence and provided significant humanitarian assistance to victims who are now being referred to as IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons).

The CPG is now pleased to welcome all Kenyans of goodwill to their next meeting in order to allow any one with any positive idea to put forward.

The meeting aims to focus on how to arm Kenyans with knowledge in developing a strategy to co-exist with one another in this country.

Venue:

Shelter Afrique Center(Longonot road- upper hill, Nairobi)
Saturday, February 2, 2008
9:00 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Agenda:

• Opening/Introductions/Agenda/Time-keeping

• What is CPG/Mission/Progress so far

• Personal Impact: recognizing trauma/depression in yourself

• Scenarios

• What we expect of you (by end, you will all be equipped with positive messages to drown out the negativity)

• Understanding our narratives/deconstructing myths

• Success story- speaking to the hardliners

• Four break-out groups

-Developing content – current myths and counter-messages to different groups (aggressors, politician, media, average Kenyan)
- Disseminating content - how does CPG get its message out? By Reporting to larger group on messages and outreach strategy.

Conclusion:

• Finding ways to have an impact as Kenyans,- devoid of tribal leanings that are resulting into acrimonious crisis.
  

SELECTIVE DEMOCRACY

The west is failing to support true democracy contrary to what they say they stand for. That's according to the Human rights watch report 2008.

The report, prepared by a major Human rights watch said that Western democracies are accepting flawed and unfair elections in other nations for "political expediency". The US and EU, by allowing autocrats to pose as democrats and not pressing for civil and political rights, were undermining global human rights efforts.The report also said countries such as Bahrain, Jordan, Nigeria, Russia and Thailand acted as though holding a vote proved the nation was "democratic". The US, EU and other European nations then "played along" despite concerns over the veracity of the polls, it said in a statement. 'Sham' democracies. The report, released on Thursday, examined the human rights situation in more than 75 nations. It reported that Western governments too often did not press governments on human rights issues such as a free press, peaceful assembly and a functioning civil society with the capacity to challenge power. "It seems Washington and European governments will accept even the most dubious election so long as the 'victor' is a strategic or commercial ally," Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. The group also criticised the Bush administration in particular for saying it was commited to global democracy but not condemning other countries' rights abuses. It also cited elections in Nigeria, Kenya and Pakistan for particular criticism. Democracy 'promoted' While the US had at least "expressed concern" over Kenya's election, in Nigeria the US government had "left the impression in Nairobi that fraud would be tolerated", the organization said. "Nigeria's leader came to power in a violent and fraudulent vote, yet he's been accepted on the international stage," Roth said in the statement. "It's no wonder Kenya's president felt able to rig his re-election." script of Human Rights Watch world report 2008 Meanwhile, in Pakistan, the organisation said that Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, had undermined the possibility of having free elections next month by revising the constitution and sacking the independent judiciary. "[Despite this] the United States and Britain, Islamabad's largest aid donors, have refused to condition assistance to the government on improving pre-electoral conditions," the report said. Ahead of the report, the US state department said it did not think there was "any question" about where the US stood in terms of the promotion of democracy. The report said human rights "challenges" still had to be addressed in several countries, including atrocities in Chad, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, Iraq, Somalia, Sri Lanka, and Sudan's Darfur region. It also condemned closed societies or severe repression in Myanmar, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Libya, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam and abuses in the so-called "war on terror" in France, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, among others.