The state in a suspicious turn of events , deported Jerome Starkey , an investigative Africa’s correspondent to London’s The Times. Jerome who has been resident in Kenya since 2012, was flagged down at JKIA when he was checking back in the country .
He was informed his passport has been marked by security agency , apparently he posed security threat to the country and so the steps in him insinuated . Jerome was held at the airport’s police station for more than 24 hours during which he wasn’t given access to his lawyer who was turned away by security officials when he attempted to see his client , a clear violation . On his Twitter page, Jerome said he was never briefed of any violation and only questioned by an ATPU agent who again didn’t tell him about his wrong doing .
Before he knew it, Jerome was being deported without any official communication from the government as to what he had done to warrant such a step. A government agent , Dennis Itumbi in a flimsy excuse said Jerome did not have a valid work permit . In a quick retribution , the dreaded journalist said he has had a valid 2×2 work permit and applied for a new one in Octoberof eguvg the immigration has refused to issue . Seems like it was all planned given the pattern.
The journalist has reported on a ray of issues that might have rubbed the government wrong way from corruption scandals to extrajudicial killings rampant in the system. His colleagues describe him as a fierce journalist with indomitable professional standards.
One case that stands out that might have rattled the government is his sustained follow up on the cocaine haul case against British aristocrat who is believed to be an innocent and planted suspect now facing life in prison.
In his latest reporting on the same case, Jerome hinted at police holding the key to freeing the aristocrat
Kibera law court had ordered police to hand over intelligence dossiers that could exonerate a British aristocrat accused of smuggling cocaine worth £4.8 million.
Jack Marrian, 31, a nephew of the Earl of Cawdor, is facing life in prison after 99.7kg of the drug was seized from a shipping container full of sugar in Mombasa.
Mr Marrian, a trader with ED&F Man, was importing sugar from Brazil to Uganda and says that he knew nothing about the cocaine. His co-accused, Roy Mwanthi, had been hired to clear the sugar through the port. They deny the charges.
Spanish police told Kenyan officers that the drugs were due to be offloaded in Valencia, but something went wrong. The drugs were left in the container which carried on to Mombasa, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
The British government has a copy of the US intelligence report, but Kenyan officials have refused to share it with Mr Marrian’s defence. Andrew Wandabwa, his lawyer, said the state was wilfully “sitting on evidence” that showed Kenyan police arrested someone with no connection to the drugs.
Series of stories Jerome has done on the cocaine haul largely pointing fingers at the State
The head of Kenya’s anti-narcotics unit said he had letters from US and Spanish authorities which said that the smugglers were using a technique in which they hide drugs in containers without the owners knowing. A magistrate gave the state 15 days to hand over its evidence.
Marrian lawyers have often accused the state of desperately trying to save a face in the heavily driven political pressure case. Jerome is one of the few journalists who’ve kept a close eye on the dreaded case by many journalists and this might have not gone well by the power circles determined to bury the truth in the case. Some quarters also say he was doing a sensitive story on the death of Jacob Juma the slain businessman also suspected to have been gunned down by the state in a case that is yet to be determined by the DCI investigations but Kenya Insights can’t independently ascertain this claim doing rounds.
It’s unfortunate that insincere elements in the government are now using state resources to intimidate journalists and in ripple effect clamping down on media freedom taking Kenya steps back in freedom rights.
The problem with Kenya is not her patriotic people. Kenya’s most intractable affliction is caused by a tiny but viciously malicious and highly deceptive group of charlatans who use acres of space in the cartel-owned newspapers to parrot their unrefined and tainted “commentaries” week after week on irrelevant pursuits in order to mislead the people and keep them captive to the merchants of impunity.
On The Standard On Sunday, December 11, 2016, Makau Mutua published an incoherent verbiage titled, “Miguna Miguna’s personal demons come out to haunt him” in which he hurled profanities at me for daring to deconstruct my putative political opponents on live TV debates to which they had voluntarily participated – not as women or men – but as “aspirants for public office.”
I would have ignored Makau’s regular ad hominem invectives against me like I’ve done to multiple other envious charlatans. However, Makau is a notorious intellectual quack that deserves some deconstruction.
First, Makau’s quackery gets wide dissemination through a network of imbedded servile cartel media surrogates. Second, he has perfected the art of hypocrisy and in a society thoroughly suffocated of truth and constantly fed cocktails of manufactured and fake “news,” ignoring the degenerate concoctions might inadvertently result in a few people believing the falsehoods.
Makau pretends to be an erudite scholar and a “human rights activist,” however, his dubious record and longevity at the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) only rivals that of Gaius Julius Caesar of Rome. Makau is best known as the KHRC Tyrant Chairman into perpetuity who practises nepotism and dips his hands in the “humanitarian” tills to feather his pockets. Ironclad evidence of his moral decay is legion.
In 2002, Makau served briefly as one of Mwai Kibaki’s chief sycophants in pursuit of a coveted position as Chair of the ill-fated “Truth and Reconciliation” process. Like the usual fraud, Makau metamorphosed into a Kibaki critic as soon as the latter noticed his political debauchery and declined to appoint him to any position in his administration.
Between 2007 and 2008, Makau magically transformed himself into a Kalonzo Musyoka puppeteer. In successive fawning articles, he praised Kalonzo, his tribesman, as the “best presidential candidate for Kenya” and called Raila Odinga “unelectable.”
Ironically, he wasn’t doing this genuinely for a fellow kinsman; Makau was being a typical dissembler: he was opportunistically pretending to be a Kalonzo loyalist with the hope of an appointment in case Kalonzo became president.
Typical of such a political chameleon, Makau quickly became a Raila sycophant as soon as Mr. Odinga was named Prime Minister in 2008. But Makau correctly suspected that his degenerate hypocrisy wouldn’t have taken him far as long as I was Raila’s senior adviser. He had to fight me to become relevant. He conveniently overlooked the fact that he had called Mr. Odinga “Idi Amin” in his column of 5/6/2007.
The mediocre and sanctimonious chatterers like Makau obsessively focus on discussing people in order to divert the attention of Kenyans from debating concrete national issues such as the run-away plunder and theft of public resources by organised cartels comprising public/state officials and crafty “business people;” drug trafficking; poor and dilapidated infrastructure; and extremely high and unsustainable unemployment, especially among the youth.
A few days after the Auditor General released the 2014/15 audit reports showing that elected officials like the Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero have been involved in unprecedented looting of more than $20 billion of public funds, one would have expected robust opinions from self-declared “scholars” like Makau Mutua on such a horrible crime against ordinary Kenyans.
Predictably, however, not a whiff about the massive theft of public resources and the extra-judicial killings has found themselves in the retrograde professor’s Tweets and empty articles.
Instead, the short bald man with an unprecedented low self-esteem – a self-declared “distinguished professor” – (although the only ‘distinguished’ thing discernible from his mediocre opinions is the repeated use of American colloquialism) has an unmanly fetish on me.
Mutua correctly states that I’m “a very tall dark-skinned black man” – and very proud of it. He juxtaposes my hefty genuine African physique and organic intellect with his “very light-skin,” empty bald head and short constitution – and typical of “Oreo Cookies” – Makau frets about my physical appearance as some women do over their co-wives.
He has taken to defaming me on Twitter, Facebook and his column and demanding that I be banned from running for the position of Governor for Nairobi. He is envious of my integrity, vision and courage – character traits he would like to have but which he blames me for not having.
Why would a “distinguished professor” and a failed Chief Justice applicant spend so much time and use so many words to pillory “an unelectable fragile person?”
Makau knows that malicious propaganda is not a substitute for the truth, solid facts and chilled logic. His discredited crystal balls hold the gold medal for malfunctions.
Once upon a time Makau repeatedly predicted and swore in empty verbiage that Uhuru Kenyatta would never become president of Kenya. He predicted that both Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto would be convicted and jailed at The Hague.
History has recorded that it was quacks like Makau who used their inferiority complex and morbid obsession with me to convince Mr. Odinga in 2011 to ignore my prescient warnings about the IEBC’s irredeemable incompetence and malleability. Makau published sycophantic articles stating that even the chicken in remote villages knew that Mr. Odinga was going to be president.
With such legendary predictions, I’m happy with Makau’s assertion that I’m unelectable!
Make no mistake: I pose the greatest challenge to the cartels and their surrogates. The charlatans know that, hence their desperate panic.
Let that stubborn fact grind Makau’s fake intellectual and ethical innards.
As El Commandante Fidel Castro once quipped, “History will absolve me.”
____________________________________________________
Mr. Miguna Miguna is a Candidate for Governor for Nairobi County in 2017. He is a lawyer and author.
This article expresses the author’s opinion only. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Kenya Insights or its Editors. We welcome opinion and views on topical issues. Email: [email protected]
In our previous piece highlighting on the doctors standoff , we revealed how the evil Health PS Muraguri was issuing threats to KMPDU Officials to call off the strike or face unclear consequences but the doctors stood their grounds .
As poor Kenyans continue to bare the consequences with scores of deaths reported across the country and doctors staying far away from public hospitals , governments dishonesty in resolving the issue continue to manifest. Physical Intimidation on officials apart , in what clearly is an executive manipulation , Labour court threatened to issue warrants of arrests on the officials should they refuse to call off the strike . This an old trick that Moi used to do and martial industrial unrest. KMPDU in retribution ,boycotted negotiations until the State withdrew such uncouth coercion tactics.
Intel gathered by Kenya Insights is that the KMPDU officials were called for negotiations again This morning at 9am and then GoK negotiators cancelled. Now the info is that GoK cronies had planned to arrest them, have them charged with holding an illegal strike and deny them bail on a 6 months jail term. And apparently all this is being planned from Office of the President.
But for now the doctors say they will not be intimidated by these threats and insist that GoK adhere to CBA.
Health PS Muraguri and Mailu have resorted to using resources from OP to do their dirty work and drag the establishment of the Presidency into the mud by threatening and plotting violations against union officials while hiding under the auspices of the OP.
We gather that the OP are not directly involved but because Uhuru has directed the PS to resolve the situation Muraguri is using those powers to act in egregious manner.
The doctors say they have been warned they will be arrested and likely be kept in jail till Tuesday since the red flag ia putting the case on a Friday, then face charges of which the magistrate in a predetermined ruling, is expected to rule they be incarcerated for 6 months no bail
The union had already raised bail money with a target of 10 million knowing all the schemes. Muraguri got wind and plotted to have the doctors denied bail.
Uhuru gave the PS a directive and the PS is a violent and vindictive man who tried bribery, threats and now wants to take the freedom of union officials instead of reconciling as instructed by the President. Muraguri is clearly a psychopath who needs these same doctors back in the hospitals to treat his mental condition before it escalates to irreversible levels. He’s getting out of control and that Uhuru needs to act swiftly and fire him
Muraguri is playing God with the lives of union officials and Kenya’s patients and is a violent evil man willing to jail officials and allow patients to die due to his institutional corruption and evil methods. Uhuru needs to fire him.
Muraguri hides behind the president to threaten civil servants while he watches Kenya’s poorest people die.
MoH is ultimately guilty of criminal negligence and Muraguri should be held personally responsible for every persons death. Kenyans whose relatives have died should file a class action wrongful death and criminal negligence suit against Muraguri and MoH
Muraguri has no intention of resolving the crisis he is only interested in jailing his fellow doctors and ensuring the crisis escalates to shocking levels as Kenya Union of Civil servants threaten to join the strike and private hospitals go on strike from Tuesday.
We appeal to the President to intervene and bring an end to Muraguri evil intentions and bloodlust and step in to implement the CBA, and Kenyans will be grateful.
In Kikuyu, Muraguri is a witch doctor and soothsayer.. A liar.. Soothsayers are considered liars in Kikuyu culture. So the descriptions fits him tighter than what you’re thinking of. “Muraguri runs MoH like a Witch doctor looking for blood. Evil!” One high MoH official told this writer.
The painful part, is he is trying to arrest his own colleagues! Muraguri who’s linked to Marget Kenyatta family , was once a doctor and maybe he’ll go back to practice after being kicked out of MoH and now power has ruined his head not to be in touch with the plights of his colleagues.
Even in university he was crooked by the way, suspected of stealing as most of his colleagues now doctors say. He has never been a straight arrow.
If Uhuru is genuinely concerned about the Doctors and more so the sickly Kenyans then he must jump to the rescue by first firing the bluff negotiator Muraguri not only out from the table but out of office since he’s steadily ruining the ministry from internal corruption to now worsening the standoff . He clearly lacks the leadership umph and will work to ruin all great developments made. Kick Muraguri out to some planet where we won’t have to deal with him ever.
A shame to the profession. The Hippocratic oath says “First Do no Harm” but Muraguri has caused the deaths of Kenyans through his virulence in the past week.
Blogger Nyakundi and Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore have been on an extended corporate battling for the longest time with the writer facing uncountable law suits pressed against him by the company following his sustained criticism and scrutiny on the region’s biggest teleco.
Gassed with the legal suits which he reads as intimidation on him to keep an eye off the company , Nyakundi has taken the war a top notch higher by writing a petition to the Safaricom’s mother company , Vodafone with the hopes they’ll intervene in the endless tussles. Kenya Insights has obtained contents of the letter that is going to put Safaricom and the CEO on a hard surface.
Read the letter below :
My name is Cyprian Nyakundi, a Kenyan based blogger who has a fundamental interest in corporate fraud investigations, politics and human interest stories. In my line of writing, I’ve poked holes into the Safaricom Limited’s management, a cause that has landed me behind bars several times and making me a marked man by your affiliate company, Safaricom.
The cases since their genesis haven’t bore any fruits as they keep flopping given the justice standards in Kenya and also that they don’t hold much water but rather turned out to be Scare Tactics that Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore loves using aimed at keeping the company out of scrutiny.
Consider this, Bob Collymore Safaricom CEO, colluded with Kenyan CID Officers, to have me illegally-arrested and detained for more than three days only for the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to drop charges due to the faultiness of the charge-sheet. That is who Bob Collymore is, because he is has purse-strings of Safaricom under his control, he can influence the course of justice officers and seek to intimidate citizens of the country.
From my research, Vodafone believes in accountability and openness in management. Given its shareholding dynamics, Safaricom is a public company with Vodafone and The Kenyan Government holding largest stakes. In this regard, the company should not shy away from sharp public eye given the national interest threshold it meets.
I have been dragged into courts countless times and currently have gag orders from the same company against speaking on any item online pertaining to its operations. This does not only infringe on my freedom of expression as guaranteed by the Constitution of Kenya, but also a blinding tactic to the public since I have been a vocal voice in the Kenyan online community.
I feel like this is more than seeking justice from Safaricom’s end, but rather a witchhunt targeting my personality and reputation. In all publications that dailies run against me as regards to Safaricom, I’m constantly painted as a malicious character, which is far from the truth. I’m tempted to think the scribes are compromised to tarnish my repuation.
I feel Safaricom has a personal vendetta against me, as the Kenyan Internet ecosystem has hundreds of blogs plus scores of dailies that have dared to write about Safaricom including; Nairobi Law Monthly an authoritative publication in the Kenya’s legal fraternity who ran a three month-long series exposing the same items as my blog. Does this imply that Vodafone as the controller of Safaricom has an overall policy to gag and bully those questioning basic operational decisions?
On KPMG audit report that I have been issued gag orders against, Bob Collymore, the company CEO demonised the mere fact that I ran serialisation on the same, yet the internal audit-process as I’m made to understand, was commissioned by Vodafone itself. In fact Safaricom’s legal team copied my KPMG Tweets and included them in their contempt of court application, yet Nation Media Group which ran a similar storyline, didn’t incurs Bob Collymore’s wrath.
Events following the release of the KPMG report including recalling of the CFO who was primarily mentioned as an architect of graft practices in the company, is proof that my publications didn’t have malicious intent.
In yet another incident, Safaricom sued me for revealing that customers (of which I am one of them), were losing money to the third party-scammers, because of Safaricom’s negligence and unwillingness to educate their clients on how to deal with Third Party subscriptions. Recently, after an article that appeared on my Blog went viral, Safaricom was forced to refund billions of shillings to their customers after a third party called ”Cheza Games” was discovered to be stealing from customers through the backend in collaboration with some Safaricom Staff.
The Question is, if the ”Cheza Games” third party scammaers could steal billions from Kenyans, what about other Third Parties? How much monies are Kenyans losing to third parties that work hand in hand with Safaricom Staff, which are allowed to thrive due to managerial-hubris?
I think the incorporation of Safaricom and it’s very existence is subject to multiple oversight mechanism, due to the multi-sectoral nature and the growth of the mobile telephony market. Safaricom is governed by banking, communication, labour, environmental and other laws and regulatory-frameworks, meaning that it cannot escape scrutiny in totality.
I would like Vodafone as parent company to compel Safaricom to respect and uphold laws that have equally made it possible to grow and thrive. Coming from an era of Government controls on telecommunication, Safaricom is enjoying the same space that many fought for, to liberalise sectors to enhance the growth of industry, reason perhaps why Safaricom is one of your best performing affiliates in the continent. I also believe that blogs drive traffic and increase revenue to Safaricom, Kenya’s leading mobile Internet service provider. I shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as an enemy.
It’s worth noting that ever since Safaricom initiated legal proceedings against myself, none of the cases have been completed, a clear indication that they are perhaps side-shows and diversionary-tactics meant to buy time and extend the gagging periods.
Kenya recently passed a law that makes it open for public to access information from any public institution, and it would be a great gesture if Safaricom leads the way, as a good corporate citizen, to be part of the on-going discourse as regards to transparency and accountability.
The matters I raise on my blog are of immense public interest and historical reference.
I hereby attach some of the documents which have been commissioned by yourselves, and which were anonymously sent to me, by insiders who have felt compelled to stand on the right side of history, and blow the lid on specific actions which may undermine Vodafone’s overall bottom-line.
The stalemate between the government and the striking doctors seem to move from bad to worse as details emerges that the Doctors council are facing serious threats on their lives from state officials as a tactic to coerce them into calling off the strike that is on its third day consecutive with cosmetic negotiations put up by the government.
Information gathered by Kenya Insights from key players in the negotiations process point at an ugly and uncouth crisis management . KMPDU council are facing threats of physical violence. To the point that they fear for their lives should they fail to call off the strike by the end of the day. Kenya Insights gathers that the officials are being followed around town by cops in private vehicles, and also getting phone calls from Joseph Kinyua. The inclusion of Eric Kiraithe in the negotiations between KMPDU and Afya house is part of the larger threatening tactic.
Statement from Kiraithe calling for back to work without any clear way from negotiations
So far it is Afya House that has been avoiding negotiations, postponing meetings while claiming the doctors don’t want to negotiate, they even don’t turn up at all. Yesterday they pushed the meetings till afternoon and even after that they were unwilling to negotiate. Today the KMPDU council has been told by Kinyua that he expects the issues to be resolved.
But at the same time Muraguri the health PS is making threats and claiming he can support the KMPDU’s chairman bid for Senate seat which can easily be read as a bribery motive. Yesterday, the Secretary General was followed around town for hours soon after his interview on Citizen.
The pressure to end the strike is from highest echelons including Joseph Kinyua of statehouse but Afya House is refusing to accept CBA and is also sabotaging their own negotiation talks while making overt threats and physically following the doctors around.
Yet another coercion mails sent to the striking doctors from state officials.
Muraguri who now exhibits toxic psychotic behaviour of issuing threats around is worrying for a state official and should be kept at the furthest distance from any public office. Barely weeks have passed since Muraguri was in the headlines for making threats to a Daily Nation journalist who was following up on a graft story at the Afya House where 5B had questions raised on.
President Kenyatta needs to fire the PS for lacking the ethics of a public servant and being a key factor behind the Strike stalemate as well as being responsible for the lack of accountability in the missing 5bn of ministry funds.
With escapism taking center stage , distorted facts have been doing rounds on the stalemate . Here are some of the points to note down:
1) 2011 December, the doctors’ union (KMPDU) called for a strike citing various challenges in the health sector including but not limited to the working conditions of doctors.
2) 2011 December a committee was formed chaired by the then Minister for Finance (now our president Uhuru Kenyatta). It was agreed that their grievances were valid. Some concessions were given in the Return to Work Formula with the promise that further discussions between various sectors (Ministry of Health, Public Service Commission, Salary review commission and the union) would work out a longer term plan that will address human resource issues in the health sector particularly touching on doctors.
3) After long drawn out discussions in 2013 June, a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was signed by the then PS for Health (Mr Mark Bor) and the union that discussed amongst others, how doctors were graded in the public service scheme, promotions, training, disciplinary actions, grievances, transfers between counties and central government, research fund for enhancing medicine, postgraduate training, internship postings, working hours for doctors etc. It actions nelson provided a scheme of service that was a revision of the current one that dates 1994!
4) Under the labour laws, it is the responsibility of the employer (in this case the Ministry of Health) to file the CBA with the Industrial court for implementation.
5) Since 2013, the union has been given the run around by the Ministry of Health regarding them implementation of the legally binding document. The SRC was mandated to advise the Ministry of Health on the proposed salaries from the union. They have never done so. The union also wrote to the Labour Ministry citing the above matters but no response was received.
The Public Service Commission in May 2016 also approved the much needed Scheme of Service for doctors. The Ministry of health to date has never gazetted it.
6) After much frustration, the union went to court in 2015. One year later October 2016, the court issued a ruling upholding the legality of the CBA. Apparently, the Ministry of health were denying that they were party to it. The court ordered the concerned parties to iron out the contentious issues within 30 days. After the days elapsed without any progress, the SRC requested for an additional 15 days which were granted. The discussions were not held.
7) In November 2016, the union, under the protection of the constitution (which is above all laws) filed a 21 day notice for a countrywide strike. The notice ended on 4th December 2016. The strike commenced on 5th December 2016 affecting all public health institutions and supported by all doctors irrespective of their work stations.
The CoG went went to court to render the strike illegal. The ruling of this second court bears no weight as the constitution of Kenya protects and gives the right to go on strike once due process process is followed.
8. The Union will take NOTHING less than the CBA and the Salaries in the CBA MUST be implemented and Backdated from 1/7/2013. And any talks can only be on how to adjust the Figures for INFLATION and LOSS OF TIME.
As ancient tactics of back to work checks in, Muraguri and his counterparts need to know Kenyans cannot be threatened into working for this government and the doctors should consider mass resignation. They are not SLAVES.
Politicians have discovered that many Kenyans worship in churches and believe all that is said and preached there. They have therefore devised ways of befriending the worshippers. One of these ways is attending harambees and donating huge amounts of money there. This has consequently made the religious leaders shy away from criticizing the politicians’ lifestyles and their leadership style because of those donations.
Where are the likes of the late Bishop Alexander Muge, Archbishop Ndingi Mwana’a Nzeki and other vocal church leaders who made authorities toe the line? Particularly in this looting era, a cleric receiving such amounts without even enquiring the source is a bad idea. It is the high time that churches started cash-generating activities. The churches should establish schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, farms and bookshops. This will help them stop begging donations from politicians.
Kenya’s current public debt stands at a disturbing 3.7Trillion amount that it’s the taxpayer who’ll have to bare the burden. Corruption cases have infiltrated the media spaces with everyday a new scandal and billions lost in the government ministries. The opposition has been playing its whistleblower role and at the same time facing the wrath of government proponents.
The GDP has been indexed as rising, but there’s less or nothing to show as ripple effects, companies have in recent times closing down or downsizing taskforce. Unemployment has clocked highest points with millions of youths left without employment. Corruption is largely to blame for snatching opportunities for the fresh talents that are now idling. NYS scam that has left economy robbed of close to 7B was a perfect avenue that would have created millions of job opportunities but was mauled by the carnivorous leadership.
As gluttonous leadership pounce on public funds driving Kenya to it’s knees and licking the bones dry, the church who naturally have the moral authority to call out the nyama eating spree crumbling the country has resorted to a resounding silence.
Instead, the clergy has turned the church into a money making space and rather a money laundering lounge where the politicians find a haven to cleanse their dirty money without any suspicion. The church has become the perfect devil that we know.
The church is silent when vigilant Kenyans question whereabouts of lost public funds and wait to receive bundles of notes in millions from the same politicians being challenged. One can easily say the church is part of the corruption cartel eating up this country. I’m yet to see a church that has turned down offers from politicians and better yet questioned the source of such massive amount of money. The real team mafisi of money don’t hesitate to question.
In a shocking event over the weekend the President Uhuru and DP raised 34.5M each hard cash in a church Harambee. Where do you think this money came from? Your guess is as good as mine. But the church as you guessed it clapped and received it with open hands. Ruto is known for splashing millions every weekend in harambees and anyone who date question his sources is slapped with big tackles. In this particular Harambee, DP’s PA who’s on NYS scam records taking a small loan of 1.5M suddenly is rich giving donations of 3.4M in the harambee. Clergy no longer perform miracles in churches, politicians do.
Jubilee leaders Uhuru,Ruto,His Assistant Farouk, Governor raised 80M in one minute. Raila is bad for the economy pic.twitter.com/B5XyYoskDe
When everything is going wrong in this country, the country bleeding to bear death and the clergy remain tight-lipped because they’re compromised, they lose relevance and start serving earthly gods instead of the almighty. God must be very disappointed with the money loving Kenya clergy who would rather spend weekends at The golfing club sipping whiskey instead of visiting church members in their homes. Clergy who’d rather drive too if range cars than driving the divine message of God home.
Not speaking up against numerous vices ailing this country equals to endorsing them. We have had a partisan clergy, polarized and will only speak when their divide is under attack. We have asses for clergy. Kenya being a religious country, we’re stuck with the devil we know. True clergy is dead.
So Donald John Trump is now president of the free world. This will probably go down as the biggest upsets in the history of politics in the US. No one would have imagined this result at the beginning of the campaign 18 months ago. Trump was the proverbial wild card, the most improbable, the most unlikely front-runner.
Donald Trump has been that quintessential entrepreneur, who made his fortune from real estate, golf and hotel ventures in the US and the around the world. New York, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Istanbul, Toronto, Edinburgh, Mumbai, etc. can attest to his financial might.
There have been murmurs that from a very young age as a businessman, Trump had all along harbored the idea of becoming the president of the United States. Some people think it has been an odyssey of almost 40 years.
Donald appears to have drawn a lot of inspiration from Ronald (Reagan) the 40th POTUS. Various commentators have likened his win to the second coming of Ronald Reagan. Donald was one of the most prominent supporters of Ronald in his 1980 campaign. It was Ronald, a former actor, who invented the slogan “Make America great again.” It will be remembered that this was the mantra at the core of Donald’s campaign. He even trademarked it in 2014 after some of his rivals in the primaries begun using it.
Ronald rode his campaign on the promise of ‘’Restoration of prosperity at home, with the goal of achieving “peace through strength” abroad.’’ Ronald instigated the “Reagan Revolution’’, which aimed to reinvigorate the American people and reduce their reliance upon Government. His campaign promised to restore “the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism.” This was a largely flighted plan of the Donald Trump campaign.
No one had seen Trump running with the prize. Apart Allan Lichtman, a US presidential historian, no other pundit, forecaster, statistician or bookmaker had correctly predicted the outcome of the poll. Not even Republican Party heads were convinced of the candidacy of Trump. They even did not shy away from despising and disowning him publicly. Mitt Romney, John Mcain, Paul Ryan et al., seemed to have unofficially decamped to the Clintons side. Only a few lobbyists and party insiders believed in Donald. Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Kellyanne Conway and Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor were his few close confidantes and most loyal comrades.
U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump
But as fate would have it, some unexpected deckhands came just in time during the crucial periods of his campaign. An alleged shadowy hand of Russia in collaboration with sites like Wikileaks and Guccifer leaked over 33,000 official emails sent from Clinton’s private server when she was Secretary of a state. Apparently, she should have been using the official server.
These emails had allegedly been deleted by Clinton, during investigations by the FBI, to escape culpability. Other emails from conversations between John Podesta, the Clinton campaign chair, depicting Hillary as irrational and unpredictable did not help an already worse situation.
More discoveries were made of how Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s arch-rival in the Democratic Party primaries, was allegedly rigged out, after questions were leaked to Clinton, before the debates.
And before the dust had settled, in came Jim Comey, the FBI director. On October 28th, 2016, barely a week before elections, he wrote a letter to eight chairmen of select committees of the US Congress about new evidence on the said deleted emails on Clinton’s personal server. Comey had discovered the new evidence from an old computer owned by Huma Abedin, a long-standing PA to Hillary Clinton. That announcement cemented the suspicion by the electorate that Clinton was not trustworthy and was dishonest. That was her Waterloo. They say “When it rains, it pours.” Hillary Rodham never recovered from that devastating blow.
Commentaries on why Clinton lost the election are abounding. That she ignored the rural whites; took traditional democratic states (e.g. Wisconsin) for granted; that unlike Trump, she was reluctant to dismiss her senior campaign staff who messed, in this case, John Podesta and Huma Abedin, et cetera….
Nonetheless, the tide is over now, and the world has seen who ‘’has been swimming naked.’’ Clinton won the popular vote by almost a 2 million margin (64.4 Million against 62.3 million), but Trump took away the Electoral College vote by 13.85%, amassing 306 against Clinton’s 232.
The post-election demonstrations in cities across the US appear to have subsided, and verily Donald J. Trump is all set to be inaugurated as 45th president of the USA on 20th January 2017. The financial markets received Trump’s win with a bearish run. Infrastructure, banking, and health counters have been particularly receptive.
Donald Trump
During his campaign, Trump pledged massive investment in infrastructure to a level that will be “Second to none”, promised to amend the affordable care act, popularly known as Obama care, henceforward more business for private health practitioners, and pledged to abolish banking red tapes to enhance bank-led fiscal stimulus, review trade deals like NAFTA and TPP, initiate tax reforms, review dealings with NATO, etc
That said, the elephant in the room is, will Trump deliver on his promises?
No one delivers a hilarious answer than Comedian Trevor Noah in “The Daily Show.” Trevor contends that “Nobody in the world knows what Trump will do…including Trump himself”. In one of the shows titled “How South Africa could prepare the US for President Trump,” Noah portrays Trump as a president who has many attributes as most African presidents.
First, Noah compares some statements Trump made during his campaigns, with those made by Idd Amin Dada and Robert Mugabe; two noxious African despots
Amin; “I am the one who has got the Money.” Trump; “I made a tremendous amount of Money.”
Mugabe; “My people have great praise for me.” Trump; “People love me, everybody loves me.”
Amin; ‘’I have got a very good brain.” Trump; “God helped me by giving me a certain brain.”
Mugabe; ‘’we will win, we will be winning, all the time.” Trump; “We will get so much winning if I get elected, that you may get bored of winning.”
Noah then mocks the outrageous suggestion by Trump to place his company in a blind trust to be run by his three oldest children. Apparently, that would be illegal because a blind trust should be run by individuals, not in contact with the owner. Noah comically compares this to “Ray Charles’’ and “Jamie Fox playing Ray Charles” (in the film “Ray”). He says “One of them is blind, and one of them is faking it and getting rich in the process” This, according to Noah, was the same tactic that President Zuma used to win lucrative government tenders through his children.
During one of the presidential debates, Trump said that he would appoint a special prosecutor, to reopen investigations into Hilary Clintons email fiasco. This was portrayed as an attempt to intimidate his opponents, the same way President Zuma used the prosecution to witch hunt his former finance minister, for calling him out on illegal business dealings.
In the same way, most African countries seek to muzzle the media; Trump is heard saying during campaigns that he would open up libel laws, so as to vigorously sue media and earn big awards from the courts.
In his first TV interview as president-elect on “60 Minutes” on CBS News, Trump appeared to contradict his three key campaign messages. On the Mexican border wall, he said that he would downgrade it to a fence in some parts. On reopening charges to Hilary Clinton, he said he didn’t want to hurt her, because “they are good people.” This came as a shocker after having variously referred to her as “a devil” “the queen of corruption” and even referring to the Clinton Foundation as a ‘’racketeering enterprise.”
Lastly, Trump had said he would rid the White House of lobbyists, what he called #draintheswamp. He has however done the complete opposite by appointing Steve Bannon as his strategic advisor. No other word in English can accurately describe Bannon, apart from “Lobbyist.”
We can only wait and see if President Trump will measure up, or he’ll be another ‘’African president.”
In other news
• Trump says his second favorite book is his book called “The art of the deal”; his best book….the bible!
• M7 has sent his congratulatory message for the 6th time to a different US president; he’s still incumbent!
• Celebrated novelist, Wole Soyinka had threatened to pull a “Wolexit” from the US in January 2017, should Trump win. I believe he’ll eat his pie with humility
In what started as a normal tweet several months ago with Blogger Cyprian Nyakundi asking for an apology and withdrawal of statement from TV Presenter Larry Madowo following a publication on his Daily Nation column and blog post linking him to an extortion racket, things have grown to nearly unmanageable heights.
Madowo had tainted Nyakundi’s image as an extortionist following an audio clip that was floated around by blogs. In the audio that has since been cannibalized by the truth, Nyakundi was approached by Bidco with a bribery motive to keep silence on exposing dirty dealings within the Vimal Sha’s owned empire.
Larry ran with the story only for the truth to come months later in yet another exposing audio clip where the PR Head for Vimal is heard apologizing to the contact blogger and Xtiandela for having manipulated the audio leaked previously knowing the initial intent. But that’s beside the story.
Nyakundi as sued Madowo for defamation, and he had the bulk of task to prove that Nyakundi had attempted to extort Bidco and heavier that his accusations on Bidco’s malpractices in Uganda were wrong. Luckily for Madowo he scooped a corporate and high riding lawyer Donald Kipkorir while all indications were he was being sponsored by Bidco. Don’t get me wrong but facts will remain facts, Madowo with his NTV money can’t afford DBK lest he turns to the streets begging, but that’s just a punchline, truth, though.
Madowo had been unable to prove the allegations and had continuously disobeyed court orders against speaking on the matter outside court. Madowo has openly talked about the issue on his social media pages forcing the blogger to push for a contempt of court file against him.
The High Court has today ruled for Nyakundi with Madowo slapped with a possible jail term and heavy fine as compensation to Nyakundi who claim Madowo has severely damaged his good reputation that he’s built over a long time. In the initial stages when Nyakundi threatened to sue Madowo he laughed it off telling the blogger to take a loan for the bruising legal battle ahead. Now that that tables have flipped, Madowo could be on his way to Faulu Bank to beg for a loan.
Bidco has been disowned by UNDP after investigations on their operations in Uganda.UNDP found the company to have engaged in gross environmental damages, abuse of human rights and by associating they’d put their reputation in a line leading to the sidelining. Coincidentally, it’s over the same issues that Madowo has to prove Nyakundi lied about, talk about ramming into the wall.
Madowo is expected to personally appear before the courts on 16th Dec where the judge will make the definitive ruling on the civil jail and fine.
Mike Njeru is the Proprietor of an entity known as Transcend Media Group. A company that was adversely mentioned in the NYS scandal for swindling millions of taxpayers money in the tune of millions
Important to notice is that his businesses are not built on severe tenets of business acumen but rather through government tenders, one after the other, awarded to him along the dark corridors of the government offices, all the while posing as a shrewd businessman.
For instance, Njeru joined the assault on Safaricom at the behest of Moi-Era lawyer Ken Kiplagat for selfish reasons. Mr. Kiplagat wanted to be paid by Safaricom for frequencies that are owned by the National Police Service. Mr. Njeru was hitting back at Safaricom officials and WPP Scangroup. He is a disappointed contractor angered by the loss of business to Scangroup and the long-standing acrimonious relationship between the two firms.
He has over the years cultivated shadowy contacts in his quest to get a commercial advantage over rival media groups. He lobbies for business mainly through political connections.
In recent past, having failed to clinch a lucrative rig-move logistics deal with the state-owned company, KenGen, he mounted a major media offensive on the company by liberally circulating an internal audit report that was critical of the manner in which the rig-move contracts had been handled.
It is emerging that when he put in his pitch for the Safaricom tender in 2014, there were reputational issues that were flagged by Safaricom’s risk department, and which essentially knocked Transcend from the race.
Mr. Njeru’s firm was accused of attempting to influence Safaricom officials into looking at their pitch favorably at a time when the tender evaluation was on-going. In an email to one of Safaricom’s staff members, Gatheca, the company’s Managing Director was apparently attempting to bribe the staff members with a fully paid junket trip to Barcelona, ostensibly to attend a conference organized by Transcend’s global affiliate, McCann.
In a confidential letter seen by Kenya Insights, Mike Njeru through Lai Muthoka who doubles as his errand boy, wrote to KPLC head Kenneth Marende to overrule on a lucrative tender that they had lost over incapacitating issues as stipulated by KPLC requirement. As in previous cases, he attempted to arm-twist Marende into submission. Such backdoor ways are unethical especially on being beaten down in a competitive tendering process.
Through the accident of conception, we gain physical attributes that place us into two main categories; female or male. When the X chromosome pairs up with another, we get a girl, and when it finds a Y chromosome then we get boys. At 2 -3 years, we are usually able to recognize that there is a biological difference between the two categories.
By six years old, we fight off the ‘baby’ title by learning, from our family, school, society and media, what it is to be a ‘big girl’ or a ‘big boy.’ This is an art we continue to learn as we pass through the confusing, unstable adolescent stages. Eventually perfecting its performance in late teens and early adulthood.
But the process is not always this clearly defined. Sometimes infants are born with ambiguous attributes and therefore cannot be directly assigned sex. This is how intersexuality comes about. The ambiguity of anatomical features that define one as essentially male or female may be apparent right at birth.
It could also become evident during puberty when the body does not develop as expected, or even much later in life when a person is unable to perform certain reproductive functions. It is a common phenomenon that has been around for many years.
While it is laudable that the Kenyan media and a government is beginning to talk about intersex, it is important that the topic is dealt with cautiously and rationally. To begin with, it is imperative to differentiate between the terms sex and gender. While the sex is assigned by biology, gender is a social condition.
The call by some MPs to have ‘multiple medical tests to determine the actual gender and later corrective surgery’ is an old concept that has already been proved by many studies as causing more harm than good. Not to mention the ethical issues surrounding what constitutes informed consent for such procedures. In the late 20th century, scientists would conduct several chromosomal, hormonal as well as measuring tests to try and determine which sex to assign to an intersex infant.
The belief was that by disambiguating the situation through surgically modifying the child’s genitalia and reinforcing it with supportive treatments (e.g. hormones), the infant would grow into the decided sex category and naturally embrace the expected gender identity. This would work sometimes, and sometimes it wouldn’t. And there would be instances where the patients returned as adults and asked for reversal surgeries because they felt they were stuck in the wrong body. The most classic case being the John/Joan case at the John Hopkins Hospital in the 1960s.This, and not the ambiguous genitalia, is the real gender identity crisis.
It would be wonderful if the government agrees to offer financial assistance to intersexed people who want to correct their biological features to fit the gender they identify with. More ideal would be if the government would, through laws, enable a supportive environment which not only illegalizes discrimination and harassment but also allows these members of our society to easily alter their official documents to fit their chosen identity without having to go through legal and medical procedures.
Kenya can learn a lot from how other countries cater to the needs of their third gender. The challenges and imperfections notwithstanding. We could go the Nepal way and prevent forced sex assignment by allowing for an ‘indetermined sex’ option on official documents. With the possibility of alteration at a later stage in life, when the person has a ‘self-feeling’ of what gender they identify with. Or we could be like Argentina, and allow anyone above the age of 18 years to choose a gender identity, or undergo sex reassignment without needing judicial or medical approval. Let the individual have the control. It is too an important decision not to.
Special schools are certainly not the right choice because then you create segregation which only severs to further widen the ‘us’ versus ‘the other’ notion. Thus more discrimination. Instead, it is better to spend our efforts in teaching the society that sometimes sexual categorization is not as clear cut as we are taught it is. And that is ok, and that is normal.
Writer: Chepng’etich Biomndo,
Gender Studies Teacher, Humboldt University Berlin
In Kenya’s political calendar, 2017 is a nightmare that everybody is scared about and talking in low tones. Kenya is yet to fully recover from the 2007/08 PEV destruction that left close to 2000 lives lost in police killings and organized gangs senseless murders and hundreds of thousands displaced.
2013 the year of an election after a murderous 2008’s tension was high but was minimized with the Supreme Court. As a country which had gone through PEV and people had 1st hand experience, naturally, no one was ready to go the same destructive road once again. The election was disputed with wide discrepancies especially with the electronic tallying which was faced with man-made malfunctions. The opposition in their petition before the Supreme Court accused and detailed how the ruling government rigged the elections.
2013, was a special political year and it was easy to prevent violent eruption given two factors; ICC, this institution became the second most trusted for justice and what put a stop the PEV before the formation of the coalition government by Raila and Kibaki. ICC played a significant role in the last election in that it was the big boy watching and all warlords were scared of facing the noose. The suspected instigators of the 2008 PEV were this time front-runners for the presidential post. ICC gave people the sense of hope hence the Patience and strange calm. Justice was expected to be served.
Supreme Court was the another end most useful player in a peace of the country after the highly contested presidential race. Kenyans had faith in the system with high hopes on Willy Mutunga as the Chief Justice. It was given the space to break the turmoil; ethnic tensions went up the sky as the case was ongoing but the delaying of judgment also acted in a perfect psychological control. The anger that was at the announcement of results had subsidized by SCORK ruling. The judiciary played the cooling role.
Moving on 2017 where the factors mentioned above are out of the picture, things get a little bit scary. Kenya is on a full ride to get away from ICC after all charges on all the six suspects were dropped. Faith in the judiciary is at an all time low given ‘unfair’ ruling in the last presidential election.
Analysis has placed the coming election to be one of the tightest in history with a close tie projections. This is what really should worry anyone. Africa incumbents rarely lose elections and if push comes to worse, never hesitate to use state machinery including police force to maintain staying power. If Kenyatta gets to the point he smells a loss then himself or his colleagues around Africa who’ve done it before will advise him to go dirty and if anything, there’s no ICC to worry about.
The opposition will also be super charged not to let go again the opportunity of getting into power. A tightly contested election is the worst thing that can ever happen to this country. Given heavily rooted ethnicity, a small mishap, and the country goes up in flames. Nobody, not even I want a replay of this horror. An incumbent not ready to lose power will go to the most filth heights to maintain grounds, a wounded opposition would not let go off quickly especially if the race is too close to read malice, this my friend is the perfect recipe for a damaging result.
Jubilee has in recent events displayed how they’d quell violence should there be any. The government has invested in anti-riot machinery than any other regime before. The anti-IEBC riots was a taste of the medicine, absolute brutality that led to deaths of a number of CORD supporters including a minor who was shot by Police in Kisumu and recent raiding of Kakamega by the contingent of police officers in a search for stolen guns that has seen police stamp upper hand terror on residents. If the government used absolute power including shootings on peaceful demos for electoral body reforms, what would happen if people who no longer want or have faith in ICC and Kenya’s Courts do if they stood at a point of getting dethroned?
What of the wild opposition with charged supporters who’re tired of being left in the cold and got close to ‘oil’ but being stopped from ascending to power? With the million of unemployed youths in the country ready to pick up weapons for pay by evil politicians. Ladies and gentlemen, this article, could go on and on because I’m honestly scared. Read the mood of the land, and you’ll see sense. Not even God can save Kenya, He has been. The opposition can’t afford a divided effort they need to stay together, so the contest is either a swing it nothing. The close tie is the last thing you want on the table.
Talking of opposition unity, Jubilee top priority from insiders is ensuring the opposition leaders get divided since a unified team of NASA is proving a hard nut. Jubilee could go as far as sponsoring individual CORD leaders to run separately in tune of billions this is a divide and rule tactic that has been happening since B.C.
By Nicholas Olambo
Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Mbuvi Ngunze has announced that he will retire in the first quarter of 2017. Ngunze who joined the airline in June 2014 has been facing a solid push from the Kenya Airline Pilots Association for his dismal performance. The association was also pushed for riddance of his incompetent team and former Chairman Dennis Awori.
Awori resigned in October before the half year performance updates, and his position has since been taken by the former Safaricom boss Michael Joseph. Mr. Joseph welcomed Ngunze’s resignation with respect and promised to have his successor in the next three months alongside the board and the nominations committee.
The loss-making airline faced several hitches and forced flight delays that Ngunze’s incompetent team could not fix. The soft-spoken Exec has nothing to the right home; he was brought in to save a collapsing giant airline, but he failed terribly to get the airline from its financial woes. But was the problem Ngunze or his management skills?
I doubt if you ask me. African governments got it all wrong after kicking out their colonial masters. Nearly every African nation was left was with a railway line that they failed to manage or improve by building even an inch after several decades. We kicked out white settlers, reclaimed our lands but used them to produce what we don’t consume.
Every African government got into the airline business, making massive losses and using taxpayer’s money to bail out these airlines that continue to make more losses. Heads must roll, it’s the same poor management disease that brought that railway to its knees that is now killing the airline.
KQ has been in the death bed for a minute, and signs of recovery are not visible. Appointing Michael Joseph to chair the board and kicking out stressed Ngunze are not enough. The airline sold its milk cow, Boeing 777 and called it a good move. It also sold its coveted prime landing slot to Oman Air for Shs. 7.5 billion in March and its still stuck in its financial crisis. A complete turnaround is necessary.
Jeff Koinange remains one of the most famous and iconic journalists not only in Kenya with Africa. He has several journalistic achievements that saw him grace CNN screens years back and also he hasn’t been taint free from a staged story in Nigeria that saw him fired by the CNN president himself and a sexual assault case with a white lady, a ghost that has refused to disappear.
JKL, a show that grew from the bench which originally aired on K24 and gave it the brand that it has now, remains one of the most watched t.v. Shows in the country. According to estimates, JKL has a 10M viewership on every episode that airs twice weekly.
With the high rankings, JKL has been the one stop show for all dignitaries visiting the country and the delicious dish every politician salivating for an appearance given its reach. Initially, we must agree the show was objective and helpful; it gave voice and space to discuss various issues affecting the country.
It goes without mention that Koinange has used the show to push different agendas in subliminal gestures. A good example is the ICC matter where he recycled same guests who had the same message and agenda of swaying public perceptions. The classic example is fugitive David Matsanga who was mentioned as being a key role player in tampering with OPP witnesses. Matsanga turned JKL into his market where he could come as frequent to shout his lungs out.
Over the time, JKL transformed into a corruption laundry stop; it’s yet to leave many minds that Jeff was one of the few journalists who gave Ben Gethii the NYS theft centerman, a stage to defend himself days after the scandal exploded. The charlatan took the opportunity to spew lies and sanitize himself only for the truth to come out months later. Critics have said, the show has turned into a propaganda platform, and anyone tainted in corruption springs faster than Bolt to the live show to sway the public. Jeff has also been accused of being partisan by leaning to his cousin’s Jubilee.
JKL has in the recent months been faced with harsh criticisms from agendas and choices of guests. Recent dramas included Boniface Mwangi walking away from the show when Jeff conspired with Moses Kuria to storm the show which was plotted to be Mwangi’s alone. As if the blunder wasn’t enough, heated debate between Miguna and Passaris would live to be the last mistake and nail on the coffin.
A show that was meant to discuss Nairobi Gubernatorial race turned into an ugly misogyny, insulting, and a degrading show. The egocentric and loose canon Miguna didn’t mince his words attacking Passaris going as far as making rape jokes. Jeff’s primary sin was letting the exchange go on live t.v. Without moderating leading to the escalation.
The ugly show would see Koinange slapped with suits and petitions from various bodies next day and a murderous social media rage. This, not the worst that has happened to Jeff from his show, he was at one time forced to spend a night in the cold cells following debate he had with Tony Gachoka and touched on a case before the courts against the businessman, Jimmy Wanjigi. He had to part with 1M penalty to be set free leaving Tony’s ass to stay in the cold for days sourcing for the bail cash. Gachoka would later get banned from the show.
High probabilities that JKL would be moving back to its mother station K24 where it’s assured it won’t face political interference since for obvious reasons it will share the similar political lane. Insiders tell Kenya Insights, owners of KTN couldn’t bag anymore the political alignment the show took and the complaints kept on coming from the audience. The reputation of the company was at stake, and it has to let it go.
As Jeff moves to the next station, it will be the same monkey just a different forest; nothing much should be expected to change unless he turns to Willis Raburu to bury his serious career and start hosting celebrities and dabbing with college kids on live t.v. However, he has time to soul-search and look back at the mistakes he made and make adjustments but until then, good riddance by KTN.
Koinange was losing his relevance at a disturbing rate. The brake is a blessing in disguise giving him the chance to take a deep breath and to redeem his image .
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has been advised by both SBM Holdings Limited (SBM Group) of Mauritius and Fidelity Commercial Bank Limited (FCBL) of SBM Group’s intention to acquire FCBL. The proposed acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals in Kenya and Mauritius, will mark the entry of SBM Group into Kenya’s banking sector.
Fidelity Commercial Bank Ltd. (FCBL) commenced operations as a non-bank financial institution in June 1992, and converted into a commercial bank in April 1996. It was ranked 31 of 41 banks in terms of market share as at December 31, 2015, with a share of 0.39 percent and fourteen branches around the country. SBM Group is the second largest company listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius.
As at September 30, 2016, it had an asset base of about Ksh.417 billion (US$4.2 billion). SBM Group’s banking arm, SBM Bank (Mauritius) Ltd., is a leading bank in Mauritius with an international footprint in India, Madagascar, and a representative office in Myanmar. SBM Group will bring its experience and expertise from Mauritius and other markets, to enhance competitiveness and the resilience of Kenya’s banking sector. SBM Group is pursuing an international expansion strategy, and for the African region, it is anchored on Kenya as the entry point for Eastern Africa.
The transaction is expected to be completed by December 31, 2016, and further updates will be provided as the transaction progresses. Analysts say rising bad debts, the capping of commercial lending rates and weaknesses in corporate governance exposed by the collapse of two lenders in the past year and a half, have made the Kenyan banking sector ripe for consolidation.
Fidelity Bank was also a victim of now common panic messages on social media. Earlier in the year, the bank was hit with rumours that the bank would be put under statutory management and this may have caused anxiety for stakeholders and customers. Then Central Bank’s assurance that the bank is not going under statutory management gave them reprieve. This new arrangement however stamps that the bank had stability issues .
The report acknowledges that a partnership with Bidco “could adversely damage UNDP’s reputation and the communities it seeks to help”
Embattled Ugandan farmers fighting threats and land grabbing by Bidco have praised a draft report by U.N. investigators that calls into question the company’s business practices.
The report is the result of a complaint by the Bugala Farmers Association to the U.N.’s Social and Environmental Compliance Unit (SECU).
In the complaint, the farmers stated that the United Nations had not performed sufficient due diligence on Bidco before inviting it to join Business Call to Action, which is part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The farmers provided evidence that Bidco has engaged in human rights, labour and environmental violations in the Kalangala District of Bugala Island, Lake Victoria, Uganda, where Bidco has grabbed land from smallholder farmers and cut down over 18,000 acres of rainforest to make way for a large-scale palm oil business.
The U.N. investigators found fault with the decision to invite Bidco into partnership with UNDP: “After the fieldwork and additional research, SECU concluded that the processes employed by UNDP for admission of Bidco were not consistent with UNDP policies.”
The report acknowledges that a partnership with Bidco “could adversely damage UNDP’s reputation and the communities it seeks to help”, and Bidco’s activities “may be considered risky”.
Kenya-based Bidco has tried to distance itself from the allegations of land grabbing and environmental destruction in Uganda, but the UNDP investigators found there is a clear link between the company’s corporate structure, overseen by CEO Vimal Shah, and operations in Uganda.
The investigators also determined that Bidco’s claim of not being involved in land acquisition in Uganda is not accurate. Bidco “knew of, relied on, and encouraged the purchase (of land) by the government.” Bidco Uganda also was “engaged in decisions and discussions related to the purchase,” the report says.
John Muyisa, a representative of the Bugala Farmers Association, commended the work of the U.N. investigators, who visited remote Kalangala District as part of their research.
“We are very pleased that the United Nations has performed an objective evaluation of its internal processes and determined that it is risky to partner with Bidco. The United Nations is a globally admired organisation, and it is absolutely correct that, as the report says, ‘Communities should be empowered’ and not be trodden upon by predator corporations like Bidco.”
In light of the report’s findings, the Bugala Farmers Association has called on the United Nations to terminate its partnership with Bidco.
Family Bank has been under pressure in the past week following malicious message that went viral online alleging that the bank was being out under receivership and incited the public to withdraw all their money last risk losing all on the bank getting frozen.
The woman identified as Christine Gachiko Njeri, 35 and who is a businesswoman in Nairobi was arrested Friday evening from her house by detectives from Banking Fraud Investigation Unit. Unit boss Ngatia Iregi said they had been investigating the matter since Wednesday when the message started to spread on social media.
Family Bank becomes the second to be hit with such a similar rumors after Prime Bank which was feted for a collapse. There’s a crisis in the banking system following the revelation that more than 10B of NYS money was siphoned through commercial banks which are now under investigations throwing into panic consumers that they risked losing their money on eminent closure.
Social media was highly blamed for the collapse of Chase Bank. It’s irresponsible to use social media to disseminate false messages like that on Family Bank. Practicing responsible blogging and only sending verified information should be prioritized.
The family had to fight off bulk withdrawals sparked by the panic messages doing rounds on Social Media. It’s unfortunate that evil minds are taking advantage of the distrust and lack of confidence In the banking system to pounce on their competitors.
The bank management has given securities and assurance that the bank is in its stable state. If the trend of malicious messages is allowed to continue, the banking system will remain unstable and with mounting trust issues. Consumer confidence should be at an all time leveled.
The bank said it was in a strong financial position and well within the statutory requirements as governed by Central Bank of Kenya, “a fact that is easily confirmed through the return that we make as required by law.”
“We thank our customers who have stood by us despite the negative messages going round and urge them to continue supporting the bank,” a statement published in media said.
PAC investigations has unearthed that upto 28 banks were involved in the NYS scandal which forms the bulk of the basis of the malicious message against Family Bank.It raises eyebrows why of all the banks involved , Family Bank has become the isolated target.
It’s worthy noting that as banks come under attack on the NYS scam , the silent perpetrator remains CBK who as the regulator gave the transactions a clean bill of health before proceeding. So by doing the transactions on NYS on CBK nod, Faniky Bank was simply charging its fiduciary obligation. Unlike Chase and Imperial Bank whose grounds of malicious mesages touched on corporate governance issues , Family Bank matter is far fetched and different as it only circles around NYS scandal . sources of such alarming issues should factor in that empires take time to build and killing a home grown companies over unfounded grounds need to be ashamed . Authorities should clump on such dishonest characters and evil players in the banking industry .
City Lawyer Tom Ojienda is putting up a fight to block Kenya Revenue Authority from recovering Sh443 million in alleged tax arrears.
On October 5, Ojiambo obtained temporary orders barring KRA from taking any action against him until a suit he filed is concluded. Ojienda has accused the taxman of unfairness.
KRA, in a letter dated June 7, demanded payment of Sh443,631,900 from Ojienda as total tax due to it for 2009-16. But the lawyer says the claim is illegal, and he should not be made to pay. In court documents, Ojienda says KRA has summed with all the money he has received since 2009, including unpaid bills, his clients’ money, proceeds from personal accounts to which he was paid salaries and other allowances, and treated it as his net taxable income.
He accuses the taxman of unlawfully subjecting his four bank accounts, three held at Barclays and one at Standard Chartered Bank to taxation, which, he says, is in violation of his fundamental rights. Stating that he receives and keep clients’ money as a statutory obligation and that money cannot be subjected to taxation as the taxman wanted.
He said it is unfair and unreasonable for KRA to seek claims on sums banked at his personal account. Ojienda says it is unfair that he is required to provide communication and documents between him and his clients, which were covered by advocate-client privilege.
He says it was wrong for KRA to issue an amended assessment dated September 5, purporting to assess a total of Sh378 million as tax dues and payable for 2011-16, without giving him a chance to be heard.
The battle has been marred with tribal bias class between Ojienda and James Mburu, a deputy commissioner of KRA who swore an affidavit against him. Ojienda claims the pursuit is dishonest and full of malice. Mburu in his affidavit says a payroll that Ojienda never deducted and remitted his employees’ income tax as required by law.
Dr. Robert Ayisi, the Nairobi County Secretary, who claims to have been frog-marched by KRA officers. Ayisi was arrested allegedly for declining to reveal crucial information to KRA on the payments made by the county to Ojienda and his law firm. He has since sued for harassment and humiliation, following his arrest and brief detention at the Times Tower.
The matter if tax fraud has hit several media publications even though the case is yet to be determined by the courts, KRA seems to have won the public court with sympathy seeking innuendos. While tax evasion is a severe economic crime, the judicial procedures must be respected and trusted in carrying out their mandate and give the breakthrough in this standoff between the law professor and the taxman before the public lynching. The imminent violation of individual space in the name of sniffing by the taxman shouldn’t be excused either but instead should adhere to the set ethical standards.
The case between Ojienda and KRA is still before the court shouldn’t be discussed in details to the media as it could incite unreal opinion and perception. Respecting the judicial components in serving fair judgement should not be tampered with. KRA need to through legal in addressing this stand off and do so by respecting the law.
It comes as good news that the Nairobi County has been stopped from selling the Sh500 million Eastleigh Public Market to the Alfa Traders who have been putting up a mall despite several court orders that they disregarded.
The Environment and Lands Courts division judge, Mr. Justice Samson Okong’o, who stopped the sale heard that the livelihood of over 400 traders is at risk.
The judge temporarily stopped the transferring of the market land to two businessmen Mr. Farah Mohammed Barrow and Mr. Ali Sheikh Mohamud trading as Alfa Traders or third parties.
Justice Okong’o barred the Nairobi County Government and Alfa Traders from transferring, selling, charging, leasing, dealing, removing from, excavating, damaging or developing the property on which the market is built.
On realizing loopholes and uncertainty on their land lease which the Ombudsman investigations determined to have been irregularly acquired and the NLC revoked, the Alfa Traders hatched a secret plot to sell units to third parties as a security measure. The alleged lease was canceled in 2009.
The court is being asked to “declare it as public land.” Meanwhile, the recently released Ombudsman report said the land a public utility as it has been listed since time. Kenya Insights for those who’ve been following updates have closed head and in this case that broadcasted absolute impunity with complete disregard to law.
Endless court orders and NLC blanket cessation orders have all been ignored, and the dubious developers went ahead with construction under police surveillance. The hawkers can only wish the court won’t relent and loosen the knot. Cases of public land grabbing have been on the rise in Eastleigh with wealthy businessmen taking advantage of the corrupt systems in the County Government and NLC to grab few remaining public spaces. We will be following keenly to see how things turn out to be. Next hearing is December 19, 2016.
It was set to be an objective debate bringing together contestants for the Nairobi Gubernatorial seat, but things could not end up that way. First, most of the contestants kept off the debate with Miguna and Passaris being the only candidates who showed up for the Koinange Live show. Word on the streets is after the previous debate that went up in flames with Miguna tearing into his opponents and Bishop Wanjiru being the most torn causality, most kept off facing him off. But one woman braced the intimidations and showed up, Passaris.
Miguna who has engraved his campaign on dismantling the corruption cartel comes out as one of the candidates with clearest manifestos and a firebrand with a spirited fight to dismantle the wall. Being a braggart by nature with self-praise intellectualism, Miguna who’s now self-baptized himself as Kenya’s Trump version is a man you need iron pants to debate with. Miguna is authoritarian his physical attributes intimidating, he’s disturbingly loud and has one of the fastest mouths in the market. A bully by nature, you have to prepare like it’s a world war before you take on him in a debate or end up being run over.
Passaris on the other hand who is so far the only female candidate in the male-dominated field to make a mileage in pursuing the governor post came collected even though she knew exactly what to expect when debating with Miguna. In a society where male dominance is still in full glare and women squeezing their ways through, it was commendable she braved up to a face off.
The debate was going well until Miguna was served with a defamatory demand letter from Passaris over his persistent attacks on his social media page. He laughed it off before going full army attack on her deviating from the core discussion issues and drowned into personal attacks on the lady.
He went ahead calling her names that shouldn’t have been aired on national t.v. Miguna was consumed in emotional fury hurling unprintable words. This was happening at a prime time when families of both parties were watching you can imagine the pain and disturbances caused on them. Just like his copy Trump made jokes about grabbing women pussy, Miguna made an omelet out of Passaris with insensitive rape jokes. He alluded that Passaris is a good digger and beauty that everyone wanna rape, does this then mean all beautiful women should be raped? He said he’s success is entirely on her beauty and light skin nature does it mean to Miguna that women can’t go up the ladder without sexual prowess? Is that his stamped mindset and tool he uses to uplift those in his scope?
Miguna came out of that debate as a chauvinist, insensitive, disrespectful, distasteful, improper family values, bully, braggart, sexist and the list could go on and on. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with Miguna poking holes into Pasaaris integrity but content and delivery are two different things, how he delivered his attacks threw him to the gutter. He was outrageous; he looked microseconds away from going physical with her if he’s like that on national t.v. Then let’s not start imagining how he could be in private.
It’s time Jeff Koinange started reviewing his guests and moderate with no chains before his show completely looses the little remaining credibility. Watching the battery on women on t.v. is clearly disturbing. Jeff had the chance to call off the show to save the helpless woman who was being attacked by a misogynist and big time bully.
The issue with Miguna is not his policies by the way I’ve read, and I’m impressed by what he has to offer the city but when you touch a woman you move the entire town. Miguna must swallow his pride or better yet swallow himself but he must apologize for an improper and disrespecting act he put against Pasaaris which is a clear manifest on how he treats women in his life. Sad to think with all that education he still looks down upon women, and I was here thinking education is expensive, ignorance is off the balance. You can tell more about a man’s character how he handles the waiter and women around him. Nairobi you have a picture.
You don’t look great by looking down upon others and something about pride and fall. Think over it .
It turns out the Sh.1.6B being floated as the amount lost in the NYS heist is just but assumed amount and the real figure stolen could be in more billions. This follows fresh revelations by PAC that more than 70% of Kenyan banks handled the NYS loot with up to 30 banks named contradicting the initial 18 number reported.
Members of the House team said they received information from the Devolution ministry that the banks have handled the cash since 2013.
PAC said it needs to question the companies and banks to establish if any impropriety was committed in their transactions.
The additional banks named Tuesday are:
Equity Bank
Diamond Trust Bank
Cooperative Bank
Consolidated Bank
First Community Bank
Bank of Baroda
African Banking Corporation
I&M Bank
Paramount Bank
Chase Bank
Bank of Africa
Transnational Bank
Housing Finance
Giro Bank
Gulf African Bank
Commercial Bank of Africa
Ecobank
Fidelity Bank
CFC Stanbic.
Initially, the banks named included;
Standard Chartered
Sidian Bank
Guaranty Trust Bank
Barclays Bank
Kenya Commercial Bank
National Bank of Kenya
NIC
Jamii Bora
Old Mutual
Faulu
Family Bank.
Family Bank has been named as the primary recipient of the mega loot which was then transferred to individual accounts in other commercial banks. They were fined 1M alongside other two banks for failing to report the suspicious bulk transactions. Central Bank in latest update has given the go-ahead to the DCI and ODPP to institute investigations on the then CEO Munyiri over criminal involvement in the looting.
Banks as a regulation, are required to report to the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC) on transactions above 1M as a measure to curb money laundering. Most of the banks that handled the NYS money failed to report ending up aiding the robbery. As a measure of consumer confidence at a time when rogue bankers are putting consumers holding their hearts by the sleeves, action must be taken especially criminal charges on banks that permit illegal transactions as of this magnitude.
