Hon. Junet Mohamed statement: “While we see no need to chest-thump as the CORD negotiating team on IEBC reforms, CORD has achieved what we know” (16.08.2016)

Junet Mohamed

While we see no need to chest-thump as the CORD negotiating team on IEBC reforms, CORD has achieved what we know is critical to delivering a free, fair and peaceful polls next year.

One; what Jubilee intransigence throughout this process has revealed to us is that the much hyped ‘numbers’ by Jubilee are nonexistent. The fear to have a credible electoral institution by Jubilee tells it all.

Having said that; our team has achieved one critical objective that we set to achieve which was, foremost, to have the current crop of IEBC commissioners to go.

We’ve also reduced the number from nine to seven and delineated their roles from those of the secretariat.

We’ve set modalities for getting a new set of commissioners in the most rigorous manner possible which, in our human estimation, should guarantee utmost credibility.

There are finer details to this that we’ll share in coming days.

My experience with Kenya’s democracy project so far is that it is work in progress. Today we give this, tomorrow we get that. It is give-and-take. And while often we wished we had all; that isn’t how it works in reality.

Two; the voter register will be forensically audited. While Jubilee and current IEBC didn’t want anything done on the voter register, and we were adamant the register had to be expunged and a new one instituted; the middle ground was to audit it and should there be ‘multitude of ghosts’ in it; that will automatically lead to a new one.

Three; from next year the country will go for electronic voting. This goes to voter identification, registration, ballot casting, votes transmission and and tallying. Should this system collapse, there shall be no reverting to manual: the election shall be repeated.

Four; we have anchored it in law that IEBC must provide, within 48hrs, all documents it used to declare any candidate a winner. Many of you who followed 2013 presidential petition knows why this is significant.

Finally, there are finer details of what our side has achieved which cannot be reduced to A FACEBOOK post – much as I wished I could – but I felt it was important to clarify that CORD has achieved much, much more; though not all.

In the end; the only way to get jubilee out of power is to VOTE them out of power. This is the next stage.

Mudavadi plans to join Cord as Wetangula promises Raila a run for his money (Youtube-Clip)

Opinion: Kenyatta goes after CORD claiming they trade insults instead of policies; maybe he ought to show his own achievements in office!

Kenyatta Aug 2016

“Policy not to compete with insults. Kenyans can shipyard insults” – Uhuru Kenyatta

As Uhuru Kenyatta the current Kenyan President dropped this tweet with fire-power as a direct answer to the Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD). Kenyatta goes against the alliance on the opposition. The Jubilee who are next month becoming one party, the Jubilee Party. Instead of the 12 parties it where in the recent elections. The Jubilee will be one big party under Kenyatta and Ruto.

Kenyatta goes after ODM Hon. Raila Odinga, FORD-Kenya Hon. Moses Wetan’gula and Wiper Democratic Movement (WDM) Kenya Hon. Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka as he wants to say they trade insults instead of moving Kenya forward. Well, the CORD are asking for another way forward.

If Uhuru Kenyatta we’re serious about insults of his opposition, than he should look into the words of his running mate and Deputy William Ruto. He has been saying this on national broadcast himself about his opponents without any consideration:

“What we are doing to the country today in these street engagements is not different with what the Al- Shabaab  is doing to us” (…) “What the Al-Shabaab want is to instill fear in Kenyans, they want to sabotage our, they want to create an impression that the country is unsafe and you cannot do business.  CORD is doing exactly the same thing with their weekly street battles,” (News24.co.ke, 08.06.2016).

So that Kenyatta speaks about policies are more important why they stifled the Referendum of the constitution (OKOA) to get a free and fair election in 2017. After all the demonstrations and police brutality had to happen before the Jubilee sat down to discuss the matters of the corrupt and insubordinate Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) that needed to be change. The IEBC board will change, but hopefully the deemed new leadership gives credence to certain procedure and righteous behaviour that the Kenyan citizens can trust.

Uhuru Kenyatta has to think of his own men and woman that are on the Jubilee tickets not only the Opposition. As the CS Interior Joseph Nkaissery attacks all other for “hate-speech” but doesn’t consider how the Ruling Regime are discussing their opposition. That is combined together doesn’t show the progress of a ruling party as the Jubilee. The Jubilee should show what their so-called policies have done. Instead they are addressing the opposition.

Together with the hate-speech Members of Parliament that we’re arrested for their words like Moses Kuria, Ferdinand Waititu and the others who have spoken out of terms for their political gain. So the Jubilee and CORD work out for them as the heated discussions and the reality of the political landscape for General Election 2017.

But the President should expose his policies instead of directly attacking his opposition as a real competitor and a real politician that wants to be elected for his second term. But his PR Games from the State House of late haven’t made him look smart or the next in line. Instead of doing so he is directly going into the fire without the needed plan to extinguish the fire. Therefore the common sense isn’t common; the sense of Kenyatta isn’t common. Apparently the policies are in the background as the other subjects are keys to keeping the mantle and leadership from 2017. Peace.

CS Nkaissery allays divisions in National Police service (Youtube-Clip)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk0vh7lJGSA

“Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery  has today  downplayed the friction between the Inspector General of police  and the National Police Service Commission over the list of police officers to be promoted. In thinly veiled admission of discrepancies in the list of promoted officers Nkaissery clarified that the confusion emerged from a miscommunication between commission and the Inspector-General saying  adequate measures have been put in place to  prevent  a recurrence of the anomaly. Nkaissery spoke after holding a two hour closed door meeting with NPSC chairman Johnstone Kavuludi and Inspector General of police Joseph Boinnet” (K24TV, 2016)

Press Release: “Subject: Doping Allegation in Today’s Sunday Times” (07.08.2016)

GoK 07.08.2016 P1GoK 07.08.2016 P2

Kenyatta with a Statehouse Summit on Transport and infrastructure; not a good look for the Jubilee!

State House Summit 08082016

“I understand that everyone in the rural areas,the MPs, the MCAs,Governors and all aspirants are claiming responsibility for any upcoming infrastructural project.They are fighting about who lobbied for what and who talked with whoever and who met whoever……..it’s not a question of who lobbied for any development be it roads,electricity connection,building of schools and many more….it’s a question of giving service to the forty to forty two million Kenyans who pay taxes.Hii Maneno ingine yote haina maana” – Uhuru Kenyatta

President Kenyatta has today a State House summit on transport and infrastructure projects in Kenya under his leadership and the Jubilee Government. That has soon finished their first term in the presidency. They had pledges upon pledges when they went into government.

They wanted to build a giant and fantastic electric quick railway. The Standard Gauge Railway and also develop the Lamu Port through the LAPSSET project with fellow neighbors. The Pipeline of crude-oil from the Northern Kenya in Kerio Valley in the Lokichar Basin to the upgraded Lamu Port; where the Jubilee Government also wanted the Lake Albert crude oil from Uganda to go to. Something that fell through as the licensed companies in Uganda though it was too costly to build through Kenya compared to Tanzania. So the Kenyan Government has to do it on they’re own. As the LAPSSET it is waiting for private enterprise to engage and use their monies on the planned infrastructure.

KAA Changes

The other issues are stadiums not built in regions where it was promised the fields of glory never came. It was easy to promise the district towns a sports facility, but none of them came to fruition. The others developments we’re that from Kenya had 30 Air-strips before Jubilee and by now they have 50 of those. Still, the discussion on the failed development project and upgrade of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) have not been an issue as the embarrassing project it is for the ruling regime and their PR team.

“There is corruption at the port. Find out who among the people in this room are thieves” – Uhuru Kenyatta.

There are always some issues and even after years in power and set change with rule of law. The Jubilee government tends with the same fractured system, the corrupt Mombasa port where the monies that makes all import more expensive and still they haven’t instilled checks and balances to Ports and therefore the extra taxation of the imports happen on a daily basis. As the corrupt mind and bodies continues to thrive with the speaking up against it, but not dealing with it in Parliament or by sanctions of law.

The Jubilee government has dozens of plans and pledges, as much as they have foreign loans to build the projects from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Chinese. The extent of debt collected by the recent new loans has come to 49% of GDP. In April 2016 the Jubilee Government had collected $1.35 billion in debt, while fixing a massive deficit in the Kenyan budget. Still, this is worrying as the debt and interest has to be repaid to the International lenders and development banks which the tab is taken from.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (L ) and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping (R) stand together during a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China 19 August 2013.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (L ) and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping (R) stand together during a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China 19 August 2013.

This was not discussed at the Summit and where is the money for the development projects coming from as they shouldn’t just surface out of thin air. Just like the roads and rails need wages, plans, dialogue and trade to get built. As the landowners need to be compensated together with the companies building the roads need paid for service rendered. Therefore the business of infrastructure is expensive as the giant projects cost a fortune because they are supposed to stay for long and be kept for decades on.

The same with all the roads not taken care of as the feeder roads of the Northern Kenya, which is left in mud and dust; the focus on three Nairobi by-passes to fix the congestion of the capital. Not thinking of other towns who could need extra bypasses like Eldoret or other where the Jubilee doesn’t deliver the needed infrastructure, except if it is fitting with the border-passes and agreement with nation on the other side who needs roads of exporting through Kenya there. Therefore the Summit is more a PR Show, than proving real progress as the corrupt, the debt and all the other problems are destroying the champion sound and roar from the Jubilee Government under President Kenyatta. Peace.

UN: Debt in Eastern Africa is rising Rapidly, but Remains Manageable (05.08.2016)

East-Africa

The UNCTAD report was presented as a starting point for a discussion organized in Kigali by the Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). 

DAKAR, Senegal, August 5, 2016 – In Eastern Africa, debt stocks have risen rapidly over the past five years, but debt ratios appear to remain manageable, according to the UNCTAD Economic Development in Africa 2016 Report on  “Debt Dynamics and Development Finance in Africa” which was released in July in Nairobi during UNCTAD 14.

The UNCTAD report was presented as a starting point for a discussion organized in Kigali by the Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), with Leonard Rugwabiza, the Chief Economist at the Rwanda Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, acting as the discussant.

Andrew Mold, a senior economist from ECA, recalled that it is estimated that an additional 600 billion USD is needed in Africa every year until 2030 in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Progress towards achieving such ambitious levels of additional finance can only be achieved by relying more on domestic resource mobilization, he argued, particularly since the prospects for ODA are not especially encouraging.

To underpin this point, preliminary econometric research conducted by ECA and presented by Andrew Mold suggests that growth performance in Eastern Africa over the last three decades has been stronger when supported by higher domestic savings, rather than being financed from external sources (such as FDI, debt, or ODA).

Between 2011 and 2014, the annual growth rate of external debt in Eastern Africa has been higher (13.3%) than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa (9%), However, as a percentage of GNI, debt levels are still sustainable, with only two countries in the region (Burundi and Djibouti) currently being deemed at high risk of debt default, according to a recent evaluation of the joint World Bank–International Monetary Fund Debt Sustainability Framework.

In order to increase domestic resource mobilisation, Eastern African countries will also want to stem more effectively illicit financial flows, which currently account for a loss of around -6% of GDP in Africa, according to UNCTAD estimates.

Similarly, remittances and diaspora savings could be leveraged more to provide financial resources in the region, especially in Kenya and Uganda.

Opinion: The IEBC dilemma continues even after firing the corrupt ‘band of brothers’ now

gado iebc

The Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission of Kenya is now at a standstill after months of hustling from the Opposition against the Commission and their men. The band of brothers run by the Commission Isaack Hassan have been under fire and besieged as their fate have been questioned by ‘Chickengate’ their involvement in the questionable Burundi third term election in 2015 of Pierre Nkurunziza and all the other issues entangled in the current leadership.

Therefore the reasoning for staying while the Jubilee government under President Uhuru Kenyatta and DP William Ruto could by law keep the men, even as the trust between the IEBC and the people where in tatters. Still, the viable approach through laws and constitution could let them keep the men in charge and run another election in 2017. Though the perception on the rigging and the embezzlement of government funds would be stamped on the foreheads of the commission as they legacy are filled with CHICKENS. The chickens and facilitation of the ones who bought the ballots and needed electoral equipment for by-elections and other elections who earned extra monies on the transactions; these people shouldn’t be there and they can be compromised by the ability to facilitated to give a counted number instead of real cast ballots, as long as the Commissioner would be given a brown envelope.

The Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD) Kenya leader and ODM head Raila Odinga wrote today: “Yesterday, those discussions culminated in a very encouraging development—the expression by the IEBC commissioners of their willingness to resign to allow a new team take over in time for 2017 elections. I wish to congratulate Senators Kiraitu Murungi and James Orengo for the steady leadership to the Joint Select Committee of Parliament that has ensured harmonious and mature discussions which has produced this commendable progress” (…) “I thank all the members of Parliament serving in this committee for putting aside partisan politics and focusing on what really matters at this moment in the history of our country which is the need to have a credible electoral body that enjoys the broad support of a great majority of Kenyans ahead of 2017 elections” (…) “Once the talks began, it quickly became clear that CORD and Jubilee have more in common on the IEBC and how to conduct future elections. This is usually what happens when we choose to talk to each other and not at each other and when we give dialogue a chance” (twitlonger, 04.08.2016).

IEBC-ROADMAP-2017

Also this we’re reported:

“The audit report, which also formed basis of a petition forwarded to the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee by Mr Barasa Nyakuri, blamed the commissioners led by Mr Hassan and part of the secretariat for irregular procurement of the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits for the 2013 elections” (… ) ”Mr Hassan, who has gone to court seeking to have his name expunged from the report, is also alleged to have single sourced lawyers handling the 2013 presidential election petition, in which over Sh380 million was paid to three prominent lawyers” (…) “The select committee has summoned the IEBC commissioners and senior directors at the commission to present their defence before it today, as it works towards finalizing its report within 30 days as contained in the Motion approved by both Houses, which also set its terms of reference” (…) “The committee’s report could be last nail on the coffin of careers of electoral chiefs mentioned adversely in corruption allegations, including the chickengate scandal, and throw a lifeline to those found not to have engaged in fleecing the taxpayers of millions of shillings” (Njagi, John – ‘Team to probe threats on auditor over IEBC report’ 01.08.2016, Nation.co.ke).

As the reports coming in and the mentality of the change is of guards are coming. IEBC had to be changed before the General Election 2017, as the standstill between the opposition and the ruling regime. Still, with these negotiations, that has happen after the dozen of violent demonstrations because of the police brutality.  In this crisis the judgement from the Police and then CS Nkaissery defending their misbehaviour towards the citizens and members of opposition was not just.

Paying Commissioner for thieving:

“Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said the Government will use cash from the Contingency Fund to pay off the commissioners. “We have contingency funds for such unforeseen expenditure if it does occur,” Mr Rotich told the parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms” (…) “This means that the nine, each earning Sh1.2 million per month, will get Sh372,000 for the five years served, translating to Sh1.86 million per person and Sh16.7 million for the team. The current commissioners are Issack Hassan (chairman), Lillian Mahiri-Zaja (vice chairperson), Albert Bwire, Kule Godana, Yusuf Nzibo, Abdullahi Sharawe, Thomas Letangule, Muthoni Wangai and Mohamed Alawi” (Michira, Moses – ‘IEBC bosses will take home Sh180m 04.08.2016 Link: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000210764/iebc-bosses-will-take-home-sh180m ).

Nairobi 16.05.2016 Police P2

The Kenyan Parliament must be proud of how they are promising payment and salaries towards the former Electoral Commissioners who we’re embezzling funds. They are initially getting paid for stealing funds from government and even not being trusted with delivering trustworthy elections. Free and Fair elections under their leadership we’re under question as they actions we’re bent for the ruling regime and as their financial adjustments we’re done to create bigger wallets from the ones signing contracts for the IEBC. That shouldn’t be paid to silence and to get rid of them. As John Githongo we’re sent away from addressing corruption for being a whistleblower, the men behind the IEBC scandal shouldn’t be paid, but be sent to court and express their guilt or be free-men for not having evidence of the illegal transaction.

The CORD had grievances with the Electoral procedure and the Electoral laws, not only the Commissioners who could be bought and secure funds for themselves as the Kenyan Constitutional Referendum or the OKOA we’re shut down by the same Electoral Commission under Commissioner Isaack Hassan. The other just happens to follow his lead and create an atmosphere where this is justifiable.

Who will take over for former-IEBC Commissioners are not easy to foresee as the negotiations and the agreement between CORD and Jubilee is not something a man can find the answers on the skyline. The next IEBC men and woman have to be people that the current MPs and Parliamentarians trusts as they will both parties agree to their acts as a Commission and their turn for holding the election. The reality will be that no matter what they do and who get picked they will be scrutinized and should be accountable. As the previous ones tried to keep people in the shadow and keep the monies encircled for themselves instead of trying to reasonable and honourable men who did their duty for their country. They tried to quick fix their own pockets instead of just doing their job and being content. Isaack Hassan and his band of brothers will be remembered for their chickens, not for their work or the ballots casted in the elections. Peace.

Kenyan Letter: Re:Refund of Excess Payments from NYS (29.07.2016)

CS Karuki letter Odinga 29.07.2016

Press Statement: DP Ruto Must Not Undermine Woman Leaders (03.08.2016)

Press Statement DP Ruto 01.08.2016