MUTUTHO BOUNCES BACK

John Michael Njenga Mutotho has a reason to smile following hisappointment by President Uhuru Kenyatta to chair the NationalAuthority Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA).

His anti-alcohol campaigns, which made him the subject of hate among many beer lovers and bar owners, started way back in December 1974 when he first tasted the intoxicant. Word has it that Mututho's hard feelings for alcohol developed after ii claimed the life of his elder brother in '07, one Peter Njoroge.

Let's keep an eye as Mututho seeks to prove his mattle.

KIDERO'S DEAFENING SLAP

"You should know people," so said Justice Baraza. I thought this quote would be of great importance to Rachel Shebesh alias 'Manzi wa Nairobi'.

Yawa Shebesh, that's not how to approach Mr. Kidero. How dare you try extinguish fire using fire. It's not possible. Or could you have been mistaken by Kidero's apparent gentleness? Maybe.

Where as violence is considered the last resort to any conflict, in my opinion, one is justified 2 instill some sense of discipline in someone with behaviours that portray lack of this essential human value.

An elite of Kidero's cadre cannot just slap a woman of Shebesh's standing like any other hunter in the village. Shebesh must have gone overboard as she has always done in the past. The difference, however, is that this time her character got the best remedy. A blow to Rachael's prestige and standing......

Kidero must have redeemed his image in some quotas. Most CORD fanatics had in the recent past associated Dr. Kidero with the failing Jubilee gvt. But as things stand nw, Kidero has taken the say 'KUSEMA NA KUTENDA' in yet another level upwards. Indeed time for action is finally with us. But do I say..

By the way, it's high time I got a copy of the Nairobian. This magazine has waht i've always wanted to read. Ubaya sasa ushuru ya asilimia kumi na sita, yaani the 16% V.A.T that has seen its rise 2
40bob. But the brighter side of the story is that Dr.Kidero has found a new way of dealing with parliamentarians such as Shebesh who have taken their legislative functions for granted.

The Shebesh I know isn't a City Council worker. As a matter of fact, such menial jobs do not exist in her vocabulary.

Wakenya, jamaneni... When will you stop being used!!

GUILTY

A student has been sentenced to one yr in prison after he pleaded guilty to stealing a DVD machine valued at 4,200 shilings in Kisumu.

In his plea agreement before Senior Resident Magistrate Jared Sala, Stephen Omondi admitted that on July 26, 2013, he broke into Dorothy Achieng's house in Kisumu's Obunga Estate and fled with the device.

The court heard that Omondi stole the LG DVD machine and installed it in his brother's house where he used it to watch movies and other videos.

The prosecution had initially sought a medical Age Assessment carried out on the suspect after he claimed to be a minor aged 17yrs old.
However, the report presented in court revealed that the accused was more than 18yrs of age.

Justice Sala ruled that the accused was competent to stand trial
before sending him to 1 yr in prison.

Appreciating Friendship

Henry (L) and Kevin Kimtai (R)

Time has indeed swung by so fast I looked up and behold August had arrived well and indeed. I fell particularly good about this month for the reason I had a feeling deep down that something good was going to happen. I have been getting goosebumps just thinking about it. So yes where have you been? So many friends  and acquaintances have asked, I have seen friends' texts and messages, tweets and inboxes asking for my blog posts... I do apologize for the delay but here we are..

So many decisions have been made, so many changes in my life all I can say is that I am a better person and I give thanks to God. I have learnt so many things that need to be shared with friends. I was just about to write on a totally different topic but then I stumbled upon something today that I thought was absolutely profound to share.
particularly good about this month for the reason I have a feeling deep down something good is going to happen, I get goosebumps just thinking about it. So yes where have you been? so many have asked, i have seen friend's texts and messages, tweets and in-boxes asking for the blog post... I do apologize for the delay but here we are..

How many times have we seen in our lives, a pattern a cycle of sorts. We go through the same things the in the classroom of life, you do not move to the next class simply because you are persistent and have failed so many times, you only move when you have learnt.
It's amazing that we often miss the point, we often fail to take notice of those who really care for us, those who are anchors of our lives and leave the best to go for the rest, that we fail to realize that we ourselves are a priority not an option! I tell you what once we look into the mirror and like the person on the other side and realize that they deserve the best, our perspective on life will change.

The people in our lives are diamonds. Let's cherish them because they are there for a reason, but no matter the situation the person or the event, please do not miss the point. Live, learn, love...there is power in you not to make a difference but to be the difference..
same hurts and all and then we seemingly recover, only for it to recur. We get our heart broken again, we relapse into that addiction, we go back to that friend we know is bad for us, we go back to that relationship we know is hurting us yet we remain convinced that it will work out. We continue with a habit we know is wrong. Think about it then realize that maybe all this time we have been missing the point. Someone once told me that

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The Kenyan Shepherd

The Kenyan Shepherd

It is a dream until you stop dreaming, wake up and get to action. So in the past few days, I decided to stop dreaming. I woke up and got to action. It is almost surreal. When I first shared my plans with a couple of friends, I thought they would actually laugh in my face!No, they all seem to think that I have pretty solid business plans. Their confidence gave me courage to proceed.

For God to bless the work of my hands and to walk in his will even as I approach this venture is crucial for me. So I keep looking out for signs, keep listening to hear His voice. I'm so glad I have a shepherd that is fail proof.

There is not day I'm not thankful! So as I cautiously proceed with my ambitions and great stuff for business, prayers will be appreciated. I can't wait for this to come to fruition. I might actually make my first million by age 35. Now that will be something. Yet, I have so many more things that depend on the success of the project that I have in mind- orphanages to be funded, schools to be built and even TV programs to be written and directed. I'm not contented with just the success of one. One who is successful must help elevate his/her community.

Success must be shared otherwise it will turn into loneliness.

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Kenya Needs a Parliamentary System of Governance

A parliamentary system of governance is one whereby the Executive derives its legitimacy from the Legislature. In a few parliamentary republics such as South Africa and Botswana, the head of government is also head of state, but is elected by and is answerable to the legislature. 

Unlike these nations, Kenya has embraced the presidential system of governance since it got its independence in 1963. This system, however, has been compromised by electoral malpractices and irregularities in the history of our nationhood. The 2007 general elections which was marred with grand-scale electoral malpractices marked the climax of this trend of impunity that almost brought the country to its knees.
To date, party politics have been characterized by money factor which has always had a corrosive influence on national politics. The so-called tyranny of numbers as witnessed on the March 4th general elections best suits this category. Such elements have a direct implication on the outcome of the elections. unfortunately, the implications are all negative in the spirit of democracy.

As a country which has since independence fought for democracy, Kenya needs to change it's system of governance to pave way for the parliamentary system. Time has come for the electorate to practice mature politics and elect competent leaders in the National Assembly who will effectively carry out their legislative functions- including the President's election. The current National Assembly is simply a representation of mediocre persons who cannot distinguish matters of national interests from their own. It's against this backdrop that the electorate need to eke countries like the USA and bring on board persons of impeccable personality who will play a crucial role in the governance of this country.

Unless we are conservatists, which in my opinion we aren't, we need to champion the proposed amendment that will ultimately lead to a referendum lest we fall off the slippery slope.

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I’ll run for top seat in 2017, says Raila

Adapted from the Daily Nation

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday broke his silence over the 2017 elections and declared he would take a fourth stab at the presidency.

The Cord leader assured supporters he would be on the ballot paper, contrary to perceptions by critics he is already out of active politics.

Mr Odinga, who spoke at the family cemetery of freedom fighter Ojijo Oteko at Kanjira in Rachuonyo North, was urged by residents to stay in politics.

Earlier during a fund-raiser at Adhiro Secondary School, which was renamed Ojijo Oteko Memorial High School, Siaya Senator James Orengo maintained that Mr Odinga was not going to abandon active politics.

“Why are they preoccupied with Raila’s age now when they are aware of the ages the late Kenyatta and retired presidents Moi and Kibaki were when they took office?” he said.

For the second day in a row, Mr Orengo and MPs Gladys Wanga, John Mbadi, Silvance Osele and George Oner maintained that Cord won the March 4 polls.

The lawmakers reiterated that they had lost faith in the polls team and urged all commissioners to pack up and leave before it is too late.

“Let the current IEBC commissioners pack up and go home because we will do everything to see them leave. If we managed to send the late Samwel Kivuitu and his team home, who are the current commissioners?” said Mr Orengo. The leaders once again predicted the collapse of the Jubilee government within two years.

Mr Odinga urged Kenyans not to allow the current government to frustrate devolution, saying it is their only hope.

He urged the government to put infrastructure in place before rolling out the primary schools laptop project.

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100 DAYS

I believe the worst thing about Jubilee government is that the expectations on it are very low. They were elected as a result of ethnic supremacy battles, hot air politics of the young vs the old, money factor, Railaphobia, Luophobia and the biggest reason-ICC.
The last time there was a regime change(NARC,2002) there was great expectation on what was to happen. But such expectations lead to disappointments. By late 2003, discontentment was very high.

This is the good thing about Jubilee. Kenyans voted for them not because of what they could do but for smaller olitical reasons like those enumerated above. Thus there won't be disappointment. Expect a reelection unless Kenya deteriorates to a true failed state

NOKIA ASHA 501

While maintaining its plum as a leading global mobile manufacturer,
Nokia this month unveiled the first of a new family of Asha smartphones with the introduction of Nokia Asha 501. The device is the
first one of its kind to run on the new Asha platform, which is designed to make the Nokia experience faster and more responsive.

The Nokia Asha 501 makes high-end design and quality accessible to more people. The device comes in six striking colours that compliment itsdesign: bright green, bright yellow, cyan, white, black and red. Red is the signature colour of the Nokia Asha 501.

The device has taken the design elements from Nokia Lumia 920 and built
over to get a premium experience in budget friendly hands. Moreover, you get a pair of red earphones along with the Asha 501 unlike the default black-coloured earphones that come with most phones.

A big pulling point of the new Asha 501 is its refurnished features. It's 1200 mAh battery promises 17 hours of talk-time and 48 hours of standby. Asha 501 has a durable, removable casing and a scratch-resistant glass display. The glass display features a 3-inch capacitative duol touchsceen with a 320 by 240 pixel avGA resolution.The compact Asha 501 has a single back button and a 3.2 Mega Pixels rear end camera.

Nokia Asha 501 comes in single or EasySwap dual SIM models with WiFi and bluetooth weighing only 98g. This offers ultimate portability, perfect for users upgrading from feature phones.

Unlike the previous versions of Asha series, Asha 501 enable users to access everything they love, with a simple swipe and a choice of two main screens: Home and Fastlane. Home is a traditional, icon-based view for launching individual apps or accessing a specific feature such as Phone Settings. The new Fastlane, which is the default home screen, stores and presents recently accessed contacts, social networks and Apps. It provides a record of how the phone is used, giving users a glimpse of their past, present and future activity. It helps users in multi-tasking thereby providing easy access to favorite features.

Applications available in the Nokia Asha 501 include Nokia Xpress browser, Twitter, Foursquare, Line and Nokia Here maps which feature places of interest and public transport. The pre-loaded Nokia Xpress browser compresses internet data by up to 90%. This makes mobile browsing faster and more affordable. In addition, the user has a choice of forty free EA games downloadable from Nokia Store.

On the memory front, the device comes bundled with a 4GB memory card in a slot that supports up to 32GB storage capacity.

The new Asha 501 gives users the best possible mobile experiences at an affordable price. It's expected to be available in the country by June at a retail price of Ksh. 8,000.

OCCUPYING PARLIAMENT

Civil society groups unleashed squealling pigs at the entrance of parliament buildings in protest of MPs' demands for hefty pay. Their noisy but peaceful protest begun at Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park as they marched through the parliament buildings.

At parliament buildings, the protesters offloaded fat, well-fed pigs and poured blood in what they said was to end the MPs' demands. In response, police officers dispersed them with teargas canisters and sprayed them with water canons.

However, despite the teargas canisters being fired at them, the protesters did not relent. They engaged the security officers in running battles along the Harambee avenue as severals roads remained 'no go zones'. The police formed a ring around parliament buildings, some on horsebacks, others with dogs and others in plain clothes.
Thirty pigs, however, could be seen hovering outside parliament.

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THE LEOPARDS

It is said that in football, everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team. I bet this has been the experience of AFC Leopards since the beginning of Tusker Primier League season.

The Leopards have had the worst starts in the league. Sometime back, they dreamnt fire, winning all matches and dwarfing all teams that came their way. Last weekend's win against Ulinzi stars aside, things will never be the same again as their current form has made it hard to convince any fan that upcoming matches are going to be any better.

Coach Eymael is currently inducing a new kind of play at AFC Leopards. The antics involve quick passes and movement of the ball, quick reflections and decision making. Leopards, however, have one of the worst concentration records in the league. You look at how they fell to Gor the other day and wonder what really transpired. Having failed to utilise the numerous chances in the entire game, Leopards crumbled like the Berlin wall.

As I reflect over last week's 1-0 Leopard's win against Ulinzi stars, I would say that victory is portrayed in continuous performance, not a one-time show of prowess.

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Spurs Held Up in a Draw at Stamford Bridge

It was what it was. Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur was an exercise in the best and worst traits of the English Premier League.

The two London rivals gave close to their all in attempting to strengthen their claim for the first four league positions.

The hosts, Chelsea, looked seemed the strongest side from the opening whistle. After 10 minutes, the Blues led their London rivals thanks to Oscar's header at the far post from Juan Mata's corner kick.

Upfront, Spur's Emmanuel Adebayor shone brightly with his all round work ethic and marvellous attack that restored level terms in the 26th minute with a spectacular goal (of own effort) as keeper Petr Cech watched on Helplessly.

Ramires put Chelsea back in the driver's seat with a 39th minute score and it came as though the Blues woul cruise to a comfortable win. A late fightback, however, delivered an enterteining final twenty minutes of football that culminated in Sigurdsson's equaliser after collecting a back-heeled pass from Emmanuel Adebayor.

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The Digital Kenya

With the increase of the number of Members of National Assembly, inclusion of the posts of governors, senators women reps in the constitution it’s obvious the budgetary allocation to the salary of the civil servant must now increase, and within the past weeks, Kenyans have witnessed the cold war between our elected leaders and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission over the issue of salary increment as well as the delivery of cash meant for the devolution.
 With this, it baffles me where the government might start generating more cash to cater for the purchase of pupils laptops.

One thing Jubilee did not tell is how will the syllabus be co-designed to fit this new technology and do we have enough skilled manpower? For the fruits of ICT to be realized, there is need to tackle the challenge of ICT-illiterate teachers by equipping them with the requisite skills.
 This raises the question of whether funds have been allocated for such training.

Kenya is working hard to meet the MDGs more specifically, eradication of poverty, diseases and ignorance within the marginalized communities within various regions like the North Eastern, Eastern and part of Rift Valley. When will these goals be achieved? Therefore, why should the government not consider provision of the basic needs before the laptops?
 These are communities that languish in poverty.

The government MUST start by putting measures in place to ensure that there is equity in allocation of resources for all regions before embarking on the laptop agenda.
Politics notwithstanding, the promise comes with a risk of how safe our children will be in possession of the laptops and how secure are the same laptops? Or maybe they shall be kept in school. Who knows? We’d borrow a page from Rwanda.

Dear Kenyans, before we get overwhelmed with excitement and anticipation in wait for the laptops for our class one pupils come January next year, we need solutions to the above issues.
If such can be handled on time then, we all are longing for next year to see our children get solar powered laptops

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Real Events That Led to Mutula Kilonzo's Death

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Source: Daily Nation

 
According to a housekeeper who found Mutula’s body in his bedroom,
the politician arrived at the farmhouse about 2pm and appeared okay. The late Senator retreated to his bedroom after having his favourite meal of githeri and roast meat at 7pm.

A worker who did not wish to be named said his boss was in a jovial mood when he arrived home driving himself: “He parked the vehicle at the parking bay and walked into the house after greeting us.”

Sources said the late Mutula usually showed up for his breakfast between 9.30 and 10.30 whenever he is on the farm. But on Saturday he did not, prompting his long-serving cook to go and wake him up.
The aged cook said he knocked on his boss’ door several times without reply. He then turned on the door’s handle and went in: “He appeared deeply asleep with a lot of foam coming from his mouth,” he said adding that he immediately called for the farm manager.

The manager then called Mutula’s son Mutula Kilonzo Junior and a brother in law, Chris Musau, who were the first to arrive at the scene. Police officers led by Machakos Deputy OCPD Wambugu and DCIO Kavete Kuloba visited the homestead after being informed by the late minister’s family.

He was the only one in the main house, as the rest of the family was said to be in his Muthaiga home, in Nairobi. According to the police, the deceased had vomited on his bathroom sink, a pointer to the fact that he woke up at some point to vomit and went back to sleep.

A leading Nairobi based medical practitioner who did not want to be named explained that The cause of death is difficult to determine without a physical examination.
“Right now the best way to find out the cause is to wait for postmortem examination. There are many things which need to be evaluated before commenting on the cause”. said the doctor
“But I can say that the house help’s narration that the Hon Senator was
frothing in the mouth. This happens mostly in poisoning and drug over dosages because of the piled up secretions in the airway and aspiration. The prior vomiting could have led to dehydration” the doctor added.

“A Post Mortem report will be able to confirm the cause of his death” the doctor concluded. Pathologists led by Chief Government pathologist, Dr Johansen Oduor performed preliminary examination on the body before removing and taking it to Nairobi’s Lee Funeral Home.


Kindly comment with an "RIP" to salute this legend.

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Blues Extend their win at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea kept up its push for a Champions League spot by beating Swansea 2-0 on Sunday afternoon with both goals coming shortly before the halftime break.

Oscar put Chelsea ahead at Stamford Bridge in the 44th minute and Frank Lampard then doubled the lead from the penalty spot a minute later for his 201st goal for the club.
 Lampard began the game on the bench but came on because of a thigh injury for Ramires and scored his 15th goal of the season.


The hosts' opener came after John Terry intercepted a long ball forward before striding purposefully into midfield. He fed Lampard, who in turn found Oscar, and the Brazil forward drilled a shot across goal inside the far post.

Chelsea doubled their advantage before the interval after Juan Mata combined with Hazard before being pulled down by Leon Britton.
Lampard fired the ball low into the right corner and immediately Stamford Bridge erupted into chants of "sign him up". The midfielder's contract expires after this season, and he has not been offered a new deal.

The last season's European champions were unable to add to their total in the second half as Rafael Benitez's side moved into third place in the Premier League, one point ahead of Arsenal and three clear of rival Tottenham in the battle for a place in the top four. Swansea extended its winless run to six games.

Chelsea's next Premier League clash comes at Manchester United before the London derby with Spurs on May 8 which could prove decisive in the Champions League qualifying race.

For now they remain on course to achieve their two remaining targets this term and they will seek to confirm their place in the Europa League final in Thursday's semifinal second leg with Basel.


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Reds held in a 1-1 Draw At Emirates


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Reds Held in a 1-1 Draw at Emirates

Van Persie was making his first appearance back at Arsenal since last year's £24 million transfer to United and he was given a hostile reception from home supporters.

After Theo Walcott gave Arsenal a second-minute lead, the Dutch forward silenced the boo-boys when he fired home from the penalty spot after being fouled by Bacary Sagna in the 44th minute.

As the second half began, Tomas Rosicky's curling effort with the outside of his boot went close to restoring Arsenal's lead but United responded, with Van Persie's low cross almost finding Wayne Rooney inside the six-yard box.

Shortly after the hour mark, and with United becoming the better team, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger introduced star man Jack Wilshere in place of Rosicky among his second-half substitutes.

But other than a curler from Santi Cazorla, which had to be saved by David De Gea, United remained the greater threat on the counter-attack and substitute Ryan Giggs saw a late effort deflected just wide as the game ended in a draw.

With the title already wrapped up, champions Manchester United were happy to settle for a draw, but the result was a setback for Arsenal, who dropped down to fourth place following Chelsea's 2-0 win over Swansea.



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Blues Extend their win at Stamford Bridge

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Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo is Dead

Shock engulfed the entire country on learning the sudden death of the newly elected Makueni Senator as messages of condolence started trickling in.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi said it was sad that the country had lost a great man in legal profession and a committed leader especially in reforming Kenya.
“It is with deep sorrow that I have learnt of the untimely death of my friend and former cabinet colleague Senator Mutula Kilonzo of Makueni,” Mudavadi said.

“Senator Mutula was a consummate lawyer who was revered at the bar for his forceful legal arguments and mentoring of young legal minds. This is a person to whom convictions and logic were second nature. The country, Senate and the legal profession has lost a consummate policy maker and thinker,” he asserted.

Mutula had built an image of a man who always took strong grounds despite criticisms. He will be remembered for tirelessly convincing Members of Parliament to pass the bill seeking to establish a local tribunal when he served in the Justice Ministry. His name goes down in the history books for his important role in delivering a new Constitution.
 He will also be remembered for his unique stand when he served as Minister for Education where he proposed the 'above the knee skirts' for school girls.

The renowned lawyer was among the key leaders in the Coalition of Reforms and Democracy (CORD) party which was led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Born in Mbooni Constituency in 1948, the Senior Counsel was the first to serve as a minister in the Nairobi Metropolitan Development ministry.
Prior to his election as a senator, he served as Mbooni MP in the 10th Parliament.

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Shackles of Doom Synopsis

Shackles of doom is play that depicts a film shoot set in the land of the Kanas, who refer to themselves as the TRUE KANAS, their land is oil rich but they are ignorant of the treasure that lies beneath their soil….a delegation arrives to their land and offer a beautiful lady – Wamaitha, to be married off to Lopush who is “Kana” in exchange of land where they settle. Wamaitha is 3 weeks pregnant when they come and Kimani who is purported to be her guardian is responsible, she is married off against her will and her community with great determination and strong will construct “Mafuta Oil Refinery Company”.

During appointing of human resource, job opportunities are given with biasness and nepotism! The people of Kana demand for equal opportunities but are dismissed; only one person is considered from the marginalised community but as a watchman. On the eve of Lopush and Wamaitha’s wedding, Kimani who is the CEO of the refinery company has an order to deliver 600 barrels of oil and dictates that everybody works on the night shift including those who were on duty during daytime. Lopush is not spared either because of his wedding that is coming up at the break of dawn; he is forced to be on duty as a security officer.

 Kimani invades Lopush’s house demanding for intimacy from Wamaitha, of which she declines and they are caught up in the argument by Lopush who has absconded his duty in rebellion. Kimani hides in the children’s bedroom but unfortunately Lopush finds him, Wamaitha insists that the daughter can bare her witness that she did not fornicate. As a matter of bad fortune she finds the daughter dead, still and lifeless when she goes to wake her up. Kimani is accused of her demise. A technical hitch occurs in the Mafuta Oil Refinery Company and there is a fire breakout at about the same time, angry villagers are summoned and just when they want to deal with the accused murderer (Kimani), his wife calls and says they are trapped in an inferno and Lopush has the keys to all the exits.

The whole village rush to help but they find a tragic scene, everyone has been consumed by the inferno, Wamaitha breaks news that her dead daughter was Kimani’s child.

The film director calls for cut and signifies end of their shooting, one member of the cast however retorts that the film has no credible resolution and cannot compete favourably, she suggests that all the communities be equally represented in employment opportunities for good relations, harmony and peaceful coexistence. Cameras were rolling in the meantime and the director terms the resolution to be credible.

(Shackles of Doom staged by Butere Girls is a play written by award winning play-wright Cleophas Malalah, the Kakamega MCA for Mariakalo Ward. The play won Zonal, Divisional, District, Regional levels but banned from being staged at the National Drama Festivals set for Mombasa this month on claims that play is hate speech)

Source: Group Kenya...

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Politically Correct?

Forget the Ngilus and the Balalas and open your eyes:

Former MD of Kenya-Re, Grace Wakhungu happens to be Moody Awori’s sister. Grace’s son, Paul Wakhungu played a pivotal role in the YK’92 campaigns. Grace is married in Bungoma. Grace herself has also been a key stalwart of KANU both pre and post KANU era. Moody was a KANU stalwart and played pivotal roles in the Jubilee campaigns. What a clever and a nice way to payback by fishing Judy Wakhungu who is a daughter to Grace and younger sister to Paul.

Second there is Rachel Omamo, daughter of the late Odongo “Kaliech” Omamo. A lot of symbolism draws in this case. When Jaramogi Odinga fell out with Jomo Kenyatta, Odong Omamo was brought in to checkmate him. With the demise of Jomo, Kaliech checkmated the Odinga’s until his demise. 

Rachel’s father also played critical roles in Uhuru’s 2002 campaigns. With the demise of Kaliech, her daughter rose to become the first Lady chair of Law Society of Kenya (LSK). Former President Kibaki was later to reward her with several Ambassadorial posts, most probably because of close ties with the Kenyattas.

It is also said that during Jomo’s days the Kenyattas used to fly to Trans Nzioa to visit the Wamalwas, and this is the reason why the two scions of Jomo Kenyatta and Senator William Wamalwa, have a close affinity.

There are also the close ties between Musalia Mudavadi and Uhuru Kenyatta, the two drinking buddies of Panafric have never severed their friendship.


KANU rules for 100 days!




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Tenable?

Tenability is simply the ability to be justified in a fair way or rational way.
The constitution gives the president a maximum of 22 and a minimum of 14 cabinet members and this is quite a rationale size. However, what surrounds the ability to justify the rationality of the cabinet size?

Former president Kibaki had a cabinet of 44 members which was considered quite a chunk. Some ministries were split to create room for the coalition partners; the ODM side. This size of cabinet made government very redundant as ministers overlapped each other in duties while some simply lacked a clear operating niche. What resulted out of this kind of government were continuous squabbles, slow implementation of policies, reduced development rate and so much more towards the negative end.

With the incoming of a new president, he promised a leaner government that is focused on delivering the promises and pledges they made. Slightly over ten days after being sworn in, the president and his deputy have released their desired structure of government which is made up of 18 cabinet slots. What has been witnessed is mainly merging of most of the ministries in order to create a smooth operating platform.

An 18 member cabinet is quite small and one is left to ask whether all areas of concern will be governed smoothly. Some ministries have been changed in terms of names while others have been completely restructured, while a few have been newly formed so as to facilitate efficient delivery.

Most importantly, the president has ensured that issues that affect the country most are put under his office and the office of the deputy president which is actually a new step in ensuring that government serves the people in the best way possible.

Personally, I am pleased that the president and his deputy have considered the expenditure of running government. In his speech during the opening of the 11th parliament, he emphasized the need to cut down on expenditure by government and channel the funds towards development projects. He has indeed walked the talk by trimming the size of his management team and he is without a doubt going further to stamp the SRC’s decision to cut down the legislators’ salaries.

However, the most important aspect to consider when analyzing whether the new cabinet is tenable is the ability of the ministries to touch on all agendas laid down and whether merit will be considered. Well, the latter is yet to be known but the former is clearly visible.

The cabinet formations have been structured to ensure that all the agendas that the president laid down during his maiden speech in parliament and on his swearing in will be attended to. He has gone to the extent of forming a ministry of devolution that will allow the national government to interact at an official capacity with the county governments.

What is left is to wait and see if merit will be considered so as to inject professionalism in the government affairs. The president and his deputy will have to consider a number of things alongside merit and professionalism:  ethnic diversity, gender equality, consideration of persons with disabilities and lastly, for political survival, their political friends who have helped them secure the right to govern this country.


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