Henry Midega Dieto: Stage set For Messi Vs Christiano

Henry Midega Dieto: Stage set For Messi Vs Christiano

Stage set For Messi Vs Christiano

WEMBLEY could host the biggest 'El Clasico' game in history if Barcelona and Real Madrid meet in the final of this year's Champions League. The two Spanish giants avoided each other in today's semi-final draw and could now end up playing each other on 25 May.


But there is also the possibility of an all-German final after Barcelona were pitted against Bayern Munich and Real Madrid were paired with Borussia Dortmund.

An all-Spanish final would, however, have more than one plot-line. The draw also paves the way for Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to stage the latest instalment in their dispute of the title of the world's best player - as well as adding considerable value to the tickets.

However, there is a long way to go before the prospect of a Clasico final becomes a reality. Dortmund are the only unbeaten team left in this year's competition and beat Real Madrid in the group stages. Bayern are last year's beaten finalists.

The semi-final clash between Barcelona and Bayern adds another layer of intrigue as it pits Pep Guardiola's old team, Barca, against the side he will manage next season.

As for Real Madrid,many suggest that their manager Jose Mourinho will be happiest with the draw.
With their league hopes over, the Champions League has become Los Blancos top priority this season. Of all the three sides they could have faced, they will perhaps consider they have drawn the weakest of the sides that remain.

Dortmund have a daunting task, but are looking forward to it. "We are happy with this draw - not because we think it's an easy one, but because the Champions League is an international competition and we wanted an international game rather than a national tie against Bayern," said general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke. · 

Read More: www.henrymidega.blogspot.com

The Mountain Before UhuRuto

The economy has just survived an election fever and everything is slowly regaining momentum to surge forward.

It is a very blissful scenario in almost all sectors of the economy especially the financial side.

With a new government in place, there are certain decisions that have to be made in terms of appointments. A new cabinet has to be formulated and this entails appointing persons to run government affairs, envoys must be send to foreign stations to represent the nation internationally and directors for various parastatals and government agencies need to be selected. All these persons will form a team that will make policies and implement them so as to drive the country.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has the task of ensuring that he has a good government that meets its targets and objectives.

However, on the other hand, he has the political obligations of rewarding his close allies.

On another scale, he wants to play safe by keeping a close battalion of his confidants, not forgetting the constitutional order that requires every assembly constituted by the constitution to have no more than 2/3 of either gender.

His Excellency the president and his deputy, Hon. Ruto find themselves in a fix. They want a lean cabinet but at the same time one that is legally constituted.

On the other hand, they also want to reward their buddies but keep their confidants close to them; what option do they have?

This is a hurdle of unprecedented magnitudes because citing all those angles he does not forget the importance of having persons who will enable him secure a second term simply because of their ethics, professionalism and proper adherence to laws. Well there is no way all these attributes can be found in a single individual.

People might have one or two at most three of all the attributes being searched for by the president and yet the size they intend to manage is quite small.

Clearly, the president has no clear cut options but to play a safe juggle and ensure that he does not touch the political live wire by not considering diversity in ethnicity of the appointments.

That is what might engineer his efforts to foster cohesion and harmony within communities. He must be seen to play fair when appointing people to various offices because this is not only expected by Kenyans but demanded by the constitution.

Well, the president is the custodian of the law as far as his duties are concerned.

Clearly looking at the state of affairs in president Uhuru and deputy president Ruto’s hands, they have a difficult case.

They ought to be very careful in their moves over the next few days lest they start fumbling and facing challenges from commissions and civil society that are ready to file suits anytime of any day.

This situation calls for wise thinking, probably even a visit to religious leaders and special advisers to seek word on how to carry out affairs.

They can even go further to approach the former presidents just to be sure of the possible outcome of their engagements.

Well, with this mountain of a problem, they still seem to be adapting well to other functions like hosting foreign dignitaries and conducting meetings.

They have also done well in trying to keep up with the pace familiarizing with staff and premises.

Let us hope to see more work getting done as days move on since we are literally behind schedule in almost all our agenda and targets.

As Kenyans, let us all maintain the stability and continued smooth recovery from an election period that slowed down activities.

My Land Kenya

Where as one enjoys the taste of being a Kenyan citizen, a casual look at our crop of leaders paint a hellish picture of this country's leadership.

Key among mannerisms that have been widely regarded as impunity is the hunger for taxpayer's money, not only because it falls way beyond tangible human experience, but also because it lacks a sense of reality

The filthy hands of this republic have never failed to amaze me. Society would expect leaders who are selfless in the course of service delivery; but when I see the degree of selfishness among our leaders,my body shakes to its very core and squeezes out any iota of hope in me.

  First were the Members of Parliament demanding hefty perks. Now our governors are jeopardizing the county governments by their unnecessary outcry for pay increase. I just can't stop at internalizing the kind of economic poison our leaders are spewing forth.

A lover of money is a dangerous man or woman. He/she can murder, sell his/her country or lose sense of justice because of money. Hypocrisy therefore runs lose in the minds of Kenyan politicians who shamelessly demand pay-rise at the expense of service delivery.

Most of our leaders have diplomas, first degrees, masters degrees and even PhDs. At their backyards, they are opinion leaders whose word is taken as the gospel truth. These are people with whom Kenyans have elected because they believed that together, they could make a better Kenya putting into practical their varied intellectual capacities. What follows is disappointment, breed of fear and exclusion that have become blankets to cover all sorts of poor governance.

If, indeed, our leaders believe in the words of former internal Security Minister George Saitoti (1945-2012) that a times come when the needs of the nation come before individual needs of the nation come before individual needs, then I think it's time our leaders sat down and talked about Kenya. It's time they put put aside their interests and listened together to the heart-beat of the nation.

The Salaries and Re-numeration Commission has structures, systems and instruments to make accurate diagnosis of the nation. The commission, I am sure, can defuse the tension arising from the current state of affairs. However, our leaders are busy pulling us back to where we began. It's, therefore, only a matter of time before we pay the price.

I appeal to our leaders to awaken to the need to chart a new course towards greater economical development. Kenya cannot realize any useful gains in the current economic climate. We may choose to maintain the status-quo and endure the prevailing economic climate, but the truth is, failure to deal with substansial issues, whether real or perceived, will eventually run the full course of our detriment.


"My Land is Kenya, So Warm, Wild and Free"

First Lady

The photo speaks for itself. Conspicuously missing is our beloved First Lady. Surely, where is she??

Inauguration Report

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As Kibaki's tenure reached its tether the other day, I kept switching in between the various leading braoadcast stations to get a glimpse of the Kasarani proceedings. It was going to be an eventful day whose significance shall forever stick in the minds of Kenyan people.

Full of wisdom and ordination of faith, various religious leaders walked onto the dais to offer powerful prayers to a new government which now ushers in a youthful and digital age.

Unlike the humiliating send-off of Moi a decade ago, Kibaki witnessed a smooth and harmonious power transfer to individuals he termed competent.

He took stock of his gains while saluting the grand coalition and the Kenyan people for their good will. Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka couldn't miss in his list of accolades.

Whereas Kibaki was cautious in his speech, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni could not afford a soft spot for the International Crimminal Court. His bad manners pushed him to the dais (full of high profile dignitaries)to hurl abuses to this distinguished international institution. Contrary to my expectations, Museveni even rebuked the Kenyan people, West Pokot in particular, for their uncouth and archaic cattle rustling tendencies. I won't forgive Museveni for this, though

The gathering was attentive and eager to his parting shot as dictator Robert Mugabe nodded his head; as a way of concuring with his (Museveni's) statement.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, however, was smarter than his Ugandan counter part. Full of wisdom and authority, Kenyatta gave an eloquent speech that could even get to a deaf man's ear. I was tremendously impressed by the manner in which he committed himself to the country. The son of Mzee Jomo vowed to uphold and live up to the promises he made to the distinguished kenyan people (but am yet to see if my younger sibling, “Leo”, will own a laptop in the due course of next year).

As the ceremony stretched way beyond late afternoon, I digested Uhuru's speech. Unfortunately, I found no reason to concur with him. “Waiganjo managed to impose as a senoir police officer for five solid years, what can prevent a politician from being an 'Angel' for a mere four year period?” I asked myself. Certain things must be done (or left undone), but one thing that is clear to a layman that I am is that Kenyatta's projects aren't feasible. If we raise our expectations, then we shall be preparing ourselves for a rude shock.

GOD BLESS KENYA...........

My President

Let us not believe despite of all the apparent evidence to the contrary in the present character and conduct of our central government that the virtue which raised us from dictatorship to an expanded growing democracy, clasping a country in its embrace, has ceased out of the land.

Let us accept the alternative explanation of the crimes and inconsistencies that are at this moment startling the majority in this country and world at large, that ‘we have been extremely negligent in the appointment of our rulers’. But, Kenyans, admissible as the plea of negligence may be for the past it will not avail you for the future.

I propose now not to institute the thorough searching examination which I ask you to make-for, to do this, time would fail us- but I propose to direct your attention to the great facts of the case at hand, and then to glance at the platforms and the candidates that are offered for our support; and while I confess an interest in this great subject, that dates from my boyhood, and has strengthened with my strength, I will endeavor, as much as possible, to let my remarks be calm, careful, truthful and impartial.

Uhuru Kenyatta, a greenhorn politician, has always played politics of “putting Kenya first”, contrary to the wishes of his handlers. Prior to his endorsement as the sole presidential candidate for the new KANU that earned him the tag, ‘project’, he had not display hunger for power. He conceded defeat and took a back seat as the official opposition leader in the ninth parliament. He’s remembered as one of the immediate and great critics of NARC’s president, Mwai Kibaki whom he once described his leadership as off-hand, off-eye style. Kamwana did not disappoint in the 2005 national referendum when he teamed with Raila’s Orange Democratic Movement to oppose the draft constitution. A move many viewed as suicidal as it antagonized the Kiambu power house with the Nyeri’s.

In 2007, Uhuru shocked the world when he joined the incumbent for a re-election not minding his official position to take on the sitting president. Uhuru saw the Kenya first and not him, besides being tactful, as the late Kijana Wamalwa once said during the burial of Kenya’s doyen of multiparty politics, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, “to be a great leader, one must stand on the shoulders of great leaders.” Uhuru stands on the shoulders of the former philanthropic dictator Moi and the outgoing president, Mwai Kibaki. Remove Kimemia’s, Muhoho’s, Wanjohi’s and the entire Mount Kenya Mafia that surround him then he remains my best bet to lead this country. Raila’s needed input in the modern Kenya is not basically leadership per se, but dismantling the corrupt networks, majority of whom hail from the Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities.

Raila Amollo Odinga is my most admired politician and for over straight one decade, has held headlines in mainstream dailies. Raila is a political leader, a pan-Africanist, a social democrat and an afro-optimist. Whether you are a Kikuyu or a Luo, it remains a fact that Raila is the most discussed political personality in Kenya, the most respected Kenyan leader in the world and the most hated symbol of the ethnic Luo republic by the Kikuyus.  His radicalism is a creation of the unjust system of governance and not quest for power.

At 26, he was a lecturer at the University of Nairobi. He had just came back from Germany to find when the Kisumu massacre occasioned by the Luos waving KPU salute (dume) at president Kenyatta, occasioning his father to be detained for one and a half year without trial. In both 1974 and 1979 general elections his father, Jaramogi was denied yet another chance to participate in the elections.
Even the heartless act of Ougo who resigned as Bondo MP for Oginga to join parliament in 1981 bore no fruit when KANU denied him clearance to participate in the by-election.
In 1982 his father was invited to address the house of commons in London where he let the cat out of the bag that he was coming back to Kenya to form a new party forcing the government to pass the Souko Tuore bill in a record time to make Kenya a de jure one party state. The manifesto was ready. Many people were arrested most of them lecturers later to be refereed to us ‘seven bearded sisters’.
August 1st, came the failed coup and Raila was charged with treason and remanded for six months then government entered a nolle prose cue after a team of lawyers from Britain had been hired by Raila’s friends put their defense ready. The same year Raila was released and before he could leave court, he was rearrested and detained without trial for six years.

Raila was released and six months later in August 1988 arrested over Mwakenya. He was taken to torture chambers in Nyayo house where he spent 10 days in waterlogged cells before his wife, Ida, made habeas corpus application that saved his life. He was then detained for 1 year.
In 1989 Raila was released and joined Matiba and Rubia in 1990 to put pressure for section 2A to be repealed. Moi government asked them to consult the people and before they could go for the rally they were arrested and sent to detention for another one year.
In 1991 he was released and joined forces that formed FORD. The security agents tipped him that this time the government was plotting to assassinate him. He went in exile in Norway for six months. This was the time the Berlin wall fell and the wind of change was in the air. He opened offices in London, Paris and Bonn. Finally in 1992, section 2A was repealed and FORD became a party.

This is the man a certain ethnic republic court no shame to demonize and ask the Luo republic to “Move On”
Some pieces of unsolicited advice have been, without a dig of consideration, advanced that the lake republic should accept the current affairs as they are. On this I put it that I would rather live in the streets fighting for a just course than to live on my knees begging since the stakes are too great for me to achieve

With the obnoxious supreme ruling, I have, great Kikuyus, Kalenjins, Kambas, Luos etc (My conscience does not allow me to use the generality, Kenyans), the most profound respect for the president of the Supreme Court of Kenya for his learning (not intellect), his integrity and his patriotism, and yet I find in his ruling, as expounded upon the one side and the other, that this country is to be taken from the people by artifice and not by fair dealing.

Institutions exist for the people, not the people for institutions, and the ultimate test of any system of politics, body of opinions, or form of belief, is the effect produced on the conduct and condition of the people. This is scarcely a question for a popular assembly. This is not the place to decide a question serious as the one under consideration.

Here, then, are good reasons why I should have either not written at all, or else should have chosen some other matter to talk about. In excuse for persisting I can but say that the subject is one about which I have been led by circumstances to follow considerably; and though undoubtedly each of us knows more about himself and his own affairs than any one else can possibly know, yet a stranger’s eye will sometimes see things which escape those more immediately interested, and I allow myself to hope that I may have something to say not altogether undeserving your attention.

I shall touch as little as possible on questions of opinion; and if I tread by accident on any sensitive point I must trust your kindness to excuse my awkwardness.

When politically instigated assassinations were the order of the day, there was always a lamenting voice. The old Kenyatta was adversely associated with the brutal murder of Nyandarua legislator, JM Kariuku (a kikuyu), TJ Mboya (a Luo), Pio Gama Pinto (Indian), and many undisclosed. That was the legacy of his 16 year rule. The baton was passed to Moi who pledged to follow in the footsteps, welcoming the most regretted and infamous Nyayo era, and did not hesitate to eliminate a number of dissenting voices.
Today, the country still seeks justice on the stage-managed road carnage the claimed the life of the vibrant Bishop Alexander Muge (a Kalenjin), the highly dramatized murder of the former foreign affairs minister Robert Ouko (a Luo), whose assassination catalyzed the agitation for multiparty democracy, Masinde Muliro’s soft murder at the JKIA (a luhya) and hundreds of Kikuyus, Kambas, Luos, Luhyas, etc (still won’t call them Kenyans) who lost their lives during the saba saba uprisings. Again there was a lamenting voice.

Moi’s enriched his injustices with torture and today, Nyayo House stands tall in the middle of our largest city as a monument to symbolize a nation crying for redemption.

Kibaki, as VP, before getting the state house baton, was adversely mentioned in the assassinations of the 1988 Gem MP-elect Owiti Ongili and the presumed heir –apparent to the same seat, Otieno Ambala. It is also whispered among some public quarters that his desire to cut short the tenure of his boss through plotted assassination resulted in an abominable act of executing his own father. Coming to power, the chair of committee in devolution at Bomas, Prof. Odhiambo Mbae, and Embakasi MP elect Mugabe Were fell for the bullets from his lieutenants.

Kibaki was to outdo the founding President in presiding, meekly, over massacre of thousands of people during the 2005 referendum campaign in Kisumu courtesy of Raphael Tuju and PEV of 2007/08 courtesy of Uhuru and co., compared to Kenyatta’s insensitive shooting of school children in 1969 Kisumu massacre.

I take leave, for pleasurable pressure, to admit cowardly though that the deaths of TJ Mboya, Argwings Kodhek, Robert Ouko, DO Makasembo, Owiti Ongili, Otieno Ambala and many other fallen heroes of the Luos were only mourned in the Luo republic, was it so for the deaths of JM Kariuku, Bishop Alexander Muge, Pio Gama Pinto, Masinde Muliro, and many other non-Luo victims?

When the government coffers were shamelessly emptied through the Goldenberg deals, there was a lamenting voice, someone went to the courts, not streets with stones, to seek justice and the former VP George Saitoti was the respondent. When Kenya’s security system was greatly compromised, someone lamented, but then the members of an ethnic republic rubbished it only for our history site to host the Artur’s brothers. The members of this ethnic republic today coax Luos, Luhyas, Rendilles, Wardeis, Pokomos, Ormas, Elmolos Turkanas to embrace peace and ‘Move On”. They clothe their evils guarded by, the current vocabulary from their think-tanks, ‘tyranny of numbers’ with call for PEACE!!

What peace?

Peace, not to go and uproot railway, but fail to access dissent housing!
Peace, not to go and shout, including throwing stones, in the streets, but fail to get enough sleep for fear of the future!

Peace, to call members of some large ethnic republics brothers while when they retreat to their castles they demonize my ethnic republic!
What piece, Citizens of the Kenyan land?

And as Sunday Nation’s Fifth Columnist, Philip Ochieng, writes in his ‘Democracy can’t be premised on numbers alone’, whether the numbers describe an overwhelmingly large social class or whether only to a coalesce of large tribes (like the Kikuyu and Kalenjin today), the theoretical formula is the same: it licenses the numerical majority to impose their will upon everybody else. The single thread that runs through all theories of democracy is that an overwhelmingly large majority should singlehandedly wield a huge political bludgeon to force material justice on the whole society.

The majority can be as dangerous to society as Germany’s Nazi crowds who consigned 50 million Europeans to the grave between 1933 and 1945. Numbers can become functionally democratic only when they are also armed with knowledge of the objective needs of society.

If Uhuru’s government will raise the retail price for unga and milk, there would be no token to grant Kipkemboi from Litein, Bomet County to buy the commodities at a lower price than Oketch from Othoch Rakuom, Homabay County and submitting that in my mid thirties, all the legal forms I have ever filled at various places, never have I come across where I am required to fill in the name of my president, I must, for now, and as long as the prevailing circumstances allow, live as a passive captive who accepts everything said, regardless of who says it, but remain not to recognize the president since on 4th March 2013, I queued for hours to vote, not to participate in population census.

Facing The Consequences of Kibaki's Presidency

Satisfied, Emilio Mwai Kibaki handed over power to President Kenyatta man.
His legacy as the man who rejuvenated the Kenyan economy after decades of malaise under President Daniel Arap Moi is secure. His signature achievements were investments in infrastructure and the freeing up of political space.

As president he was the Delegator in Chief.

His biggest failure was the disastrous 2007 general election. Many believe he unfairly robbed outgoing Prime Minister Raila Odinga of victory. Following the election violence erupted in the country in which 1300 people died and 300,000 were displaced from their homes. Many of the displaced are yet to return to their land and homes 5 years later.

When all is said and done, Mr. Kibaki’s record on the economic front stands out. The question of how equitable the growth was under his watch is up for debate – many think it wasn’t.

What is unassailable is just the sheer amount of wealth that was created during his 10 years in State House.

Hongera Mzee. Ji-enjoy in retirement (although I think your retirement package is totally ludicruous...)

The New Regime Must Restore Sanity

First, came the PEV after the contested elections of 2007, killing close to one and a half thousand innocent Kenyans.

Exactly seventy two hours later, following the unceremonious announcement of the presidential elections: mother Kenya descended into untold chaos.

Trauma embraced every soul. Mother Kenya (considered one of the most stable and economically developed states in Africa), was on the verge of tearing apart.

In almost every corner of the republic, neighbour turned against neighbour. Old scores were settled with machetes and pangas.

Across the awesome land, beyond the spell binding and beautiful highlands; rapes, mutilations and communal violence gripped the country with such awesome might.

Children were orphaned, neighbours were pulled apart, and friends were separated. Couples were disunited and thousands lost what they had called home all their miserable years here on earth. Communities lost trust it had on each other. Marriages were forcibly broken. A robust economy was hence dealt a severe body blow; it will take years, blood and sweat to recover.

Then there was the Mungiki menace, the subsequent extra-judicial killings and the dreadful S.L.D.F Militia which embarked on a killing spree, butchering fellow tribesmen, drinking their blood and eating parts of their bodies...

The world watched, we waited, time tickled, passing by carelessly and uncaring and still; we were proud to be Kenyans: we hoisted the national flag happily and sang the national anthem with exaggerated enthusiasm.

We continued priding in our leadership and hoped for the better.

Nearly five years down the line, Al-Shabab descended upon our ‘haven of peace’, spreading terror, shelling buildings, and denying our economy a chance to flex its muscles through tourism and other vital activities.

What started as rag tag army in Somalia was slowly revolutionizing into a sophisticated guerrilla outfit.

True, it was believed to be sending the government security personnel into desperation as they chase what could only be declared as 'shadows of invincible enemies of the people'.

It was well equipped and fully backed by the residents of Somalia.

The inevitable ‘Operation Linda Nchi’ came with mixed fortunes: the world now thinks we are a little safer (that they can trade freely without worrying about their precious necks), yet still their sympathizers are sending shivers across the peace-loving nation as they bomb churches, Matatus, business  premises and  hell knows where else!

Just a few days ago, the Samburu Bandits claimed close to fifty security personnel in what has been described as the worst fatal ‘mission-impossible’ ever undertaken by our Police men and women!

We are getting used to it, or so it may seem. 

Deaths of innocent Kenyans under the now ever-cruel and merciless arms of Al-Shabab, bandits, and armed robbers and law-breakers; doesn’t stifle any one anymore.

It’s so natural and the government machinery seems helpless, or even unwilling to lift their ‘burden –loaded’ fingers. Talk of the symptoms of the end of the world or simply a society gone t0 the dogs...whichever the case, we must think hard as a nation and embrace sanity and sobriety!

Well, at least Kenyans behaved before, during and even after the elections despite the many fears and jitters that had engulfed everyone.

Now is the turn of the new regime to make sure we surge forward meaningfully as a people, united and in peace.

Living Along The Lines of Negative Ethnicity

I share the frustration felt by my fellow compatriots in seeing our political leaders deliberately dividing Kenyans along ethnic lines.

The subject has been on for decades yet, it seems like a case of two steps forward and three steps backward. This has prevented Kenyans from attaining a meaningful degree of unity and exploitation of diverse cultures.

The saddest part of the tale is that leaders, without mentioning names, vehemently condemn negative ethnicity on public platforms while propagating it at their backyards. As a matter of fact, I have noticed with considerable amusement that ethnic consciousness is a slogan that oozes nicely from our leaders' mouth. Fighting it, however, seems to be a journey that shall never come to an end. Lest we champion peace and unity, a terrible blow looms to the country's prestige and standing.

The experience has been that ethnic consciousness, tensions and conflict leave indelible marks and threaten growth, development and integrity of the state. Although other factors play a significant role, one thing that seems clear to the mind of a layman that I am, is that negative ethnicity tops the list of this country's drawbacks. This is a matter of national importance that requires thoughtful and independent conscience.

It's time to build bridges, accommodate one another, embrace our diversities and cultivate good will with our neighbors. Use Rwanda's example as a wake up lest we lose an entire nation to ethnic clashes.