Gospel music was the thing in Kenyan entertainment after the secular lost it and left the market to be dominated by foreign music/artists. Well, the disease that brought secular down is now in the gospel, after being left in the hands of cartels comprising of a couple of Dee Jay Units, bootlickers and monied boys and girls masquerading as artistes.
The industry is now on a speedy down ward trend, filled by filthy scandals that stink to the highest heavens. Gospels artistes no longer make gospel music, even the name of Jesus Christ can hardly be found in their content. 2016 was the year that revealed it all from the release of ‘Yesu Nipe Nyonyo,’ Willy Paul and Size 8’s ‘Tigana we’ to Jimmy Gait’s ‘Yesu ndio sponsor’ that was desperately seeking to gain relevance with the street colloquial that was the thing at the time. The street meaning of a ‘sponsor’ is any older person who finances the lifestyle of a young person in exchange for sex.
Now with the so-called gospel artistes doing ‘goscular music,’ serious secular artists have stepped in to save the face of gospel music. The biggest gospel hits of the year 2016 were done by secular artists. Nyashinski, a former member of an all boy rap group, Kleptomaniacs, made a comeback after nearly a decade in the United States with a secular hit ‘Now you know, ’ and a super gospel hit ‘Mungu Pekee’ which is purely a prayer, testimony, and self-motivational anthem for any God fearing person.
Imposters who have been passing for gospel artists feel threatened; they are almost being rendered jobless. It has now been proven that gospel music is beyond quoting John 3:16, Malachi 3:10 or being signed to DJ Mo’s System Unit and Sadic’s Genius Entertainment but making good music from writing to performance that is in line with the ministry.
Secular artistes are safely sailing in these troubled gospel waters, spanking the sleeping gospel artists on their a**s but they won’t wake from their sleep. An all boy band Sauti Sol also released a killer gospel hit ‘Kuliko Jana.’ Sauti Sol is a giant in East Africa and a multi-award winning group, they stepped in the booth with Red Fourth Choir and did just what the Giants do, crashing the sleeping gospel artists in their home ground like a military boot on an ant. It’s a new year, will gospel artists live to their name or let the secular artists take over.
Today, One year ago, Somalia terror group Al Shabaab laid one of the fatal attacks on Kenya’s troops fighting the insurgency in Somalia. The camp was run down. While the nation was coming into terms and held with grief, the government went on a full defensive and cover-up mission on the attack.
What followed El Adde attack is a now familiar followed a pattern of information twisting and gagging. El Adde added to the long string on the security agencies of ignored warnings, bungled rescues, misinformation, shelved inquiries, and impunity. The State in avoiding accountability has kept off from answering critical questions clouding the attack and ensuring media publications on the attack are sieved to their taste.
Twelve months on, the number of lives lost, survivors and captured soldiers in El Ade attack remain a mystery. The Kenyan Defence Forces have been in Somalia October 2011 on a mission dubbed Operation Linda Nchi aimed at keeping our borders safe and stabilizing the war-torn Somalia. Operating under AMISOM alongside other African nations, the common enemy is the dreaded militia outfit, Al Shabaab.
For the period that KDF has been in Somalia, January 15th, 2016 attack on our El Ade camp was the worst and most embarrassing military catastrophe in the recent peace operations. KDF camp was overrun by Al Shabaab militants. Many young lives were lost, our brothers were captured, and military equipment was stolen.
Twelve months on, it’s still not clear how many lives were lost and how many were captured. Investigations have been carried out, but the findings remain secrets, we are not asking too much, but we deserve to know the whereabouts of our brothers. The government chose to make everything a secret opening a gap for speculations on the lives lost ranging between 80 to over 200, primarily an entire company.
In keeping the secret, the government chose to spread the burials so that media would lose interest in covering burial ceremonies and the public also got tired of seeking to know more about that fateful attack. KDF soldiers were instructed not to discuss the El Ade incident. The questions still linger, though, whose fault was it that with heavy military machinery Kenyan soldiers could not defend the camp for hours. Commanders have been blamed, and the fact that the camp was set in an area where the locals were hostile to KDF was another pointer.
Remains of KDF’s armoury destroyed by Al Shabaab in the attack
Our forces had always maintained a small number of casualties, but this became the biggest embarrassment. Other nations fighting under Amisom have been blamed for not sharing intelligence especially the SNA (Somalia National Army) leading to a heated debate that our troops should be withdrawn and deployed along the borders.
The withdrawal debate has since evaporated in the thin air and recently while celebrating Jamhuri day President Uhuru Kenyatta requested the Western nations (European Union) to help fund the war on terrorism. The American President-elect Donald Trump through his transition team has been reported questioning why America is supporting an ending war on Al Shabaab.
The Kenyan government had not publicized how many soldiers were deployed at the El Adde base when the attack occurred, nor has it confirmed if all those garrisoned there were present when the battle commenced. AMISOM’s register listed 209 troops assigned to El Adde (in a company-plus formation).
But other AMISOM sources suggested there were 160 KDF troops in El Adde on January 15th. A KDF prisoner speaking on al-Shabaab’s propaganda video says 200 KDF troops arrived in El Adde just two weeks earlier.
Officials familiar with the subsequent recovery operations told a recent CNN investigation that “at least 141” Kenyan soldiers were killed.
The El Adde battle might, therefore, represent al-Shabaab’s deadliest attack on Kenyans, even surpassing the earlier massacre at Garissa University on April 2, 2015, where al-Shabaab militants killed 148 people. 7 It included scenes where al-Shabaab paraded and interrogated several wounded KDF
soldiers. The militants also captured approximately thirty military vehicles and a range of weaponry and ammunition. The battle at El Adde is significant for several reasons. For al-Shabaab, the battle provides a significant psychological boost and grist to its propaganda mill. For Kenya, on the other hand, it has the opposite effect. First, the loss of almost an entire company of troops is an extraordinary military event.
Although many important questions remain unanswered, the available evidence points to a long list of operational challenges and problems that reduced the KDF’s ability to repel al-Shabaab’s attack. The underlying problem was the KDF’s poor operational setup and procedures at El Adde, coupled with the decision to deploy such vulnerable forward operating bases in remote areas garrisoned by so few troops in a part of Somalia where al-Shabaab retained considerable freedom of movement.
Defence CS Omamo receiving El Adde Attack survivors in an emotional event at Wilson Airport
First, the KDF contingent that was attacked on January 15th had only been in the camp for about three weeks. As General Mwathethe put it, “The troops had just rotated.” This had also been the
case in the al-Shabaab attacks against the AMISOM Bases at Leego and Janaale. Periods of troop rotations are particularly vulnerable because outgoing troops tend to “switch off” and focus on
returning home, while incoming troops may take the time to acclimatize to their new environment. The new soldiers in El Adde had been deployed after Kenya conducted a “relief in place” from December 15 to 21, 2015.
Across-AMISOM relief in place had occurred during November and December 2015. It is not clear if the KDF troops at El Adde were undertaking their first tour of duty in AMISOM or if they were already veterans of the mission. Either way, assuming none of them had previously deployed to El Adde, the newly arrived troops had relatively little time to learn their local environment and detect any warning signs. In this early period, it would have been particularly difficult for troops to discern what types of events and patterns were normal for this area and which
were signs of extraordinary activity.
Another problem stemmed from the poor configuration and design of the El Adde base. At over one kilometer long and nearly a kilometer wide, the El
Adde forward operating base was much too big for a company-plus formation to adequately defend.
This raises questions about the decision to site it there. It would also have been better for a company-sized base to have a triangular rather than a roughly circular perimeter. This would have reduced the number of fronts from which an enemy could attack.
It is also not clear if the KDF soldiers operated external sentry points or regular patrols around the base, particularly at night. If sentry positions were not manned, the concentric circles of perimeter vegetation (thorn bushes) would probably have done little more than obscure the sight and firing lines of the defenders, allowing al-Shabaab attackers to advance to a close distance without receiving much defensive fire. This appears to Procedures in al-Shabaab’s propaganda video.
Another important issue concerns the size of the attacking al-Shabaab force: were KDF troops overrun because they were heavily outnumbered, or was al-Shabaab able to defeat the base with a
Relatively small attacking force? Several factors are relevant here. As noted above, presumably the larger the al-Shabaab force, the longer it would
have taken to muster, leaving some opportunity to detect and warn about an impending attack. Given the attack was launched just before dawn, al-Shabaab must have mustered its force during the
night.
Moreover, it is unclear whether the KDF
defenders adopted the recommended tactics and procedures of standing-to before dawn and dusk. If the El Adde base was considered permanently
under threat of attack, it would likely have been wise to man the garrison’s heavy weapons and armored vehicles 24/7. It is unclear whether this
was being done. Although al-Shabaab’s video has indeed been edited, the level of audible gunfire heard just before the first vehicle-borne IED explosion raises the question of whether the KDF
the contingent was indeed standing-to just before dawn.
On the other hand, al-Shabaab’s video and photos of the deceased Kenyan soldiers show that most of them were wearing full uniform and had access to their weapons. This was not the case, for
example, during the earlier al-Shabaab attacks on Leego and Janaale. Given these extensive defensive challenges, the attacking al-Shabaab force probably
did not need to have the 3:1 attack-to-defense force ratio recommended by most contemporary military doctrines.
Some Kenyans have argued that revealing the identities of the fallen soldiers would hand Al Shabaab a propaganda victory. But Kenya’s
deliberate policy of keeping such information secret has arguably contributed to undermining its credibility to the extent that many Kenyans and Somalis perceive its strategic communications to be unreliable.
Casket of one of the soldiers killed in El Adde Attack being lowered down the grave
While section of Kenyans have argued that revealing the identities of the dead soldiers would hinder the KDF’s battlefield effectiveness. But it is long established practice to name the fallen soldiers in many of the world’s most effective militaries, including the US and UK. If anything, publicly honoring fallen peacekeepers is likely to enhance
their performance because they would know that if they die, they would be publicly recognized, and their families could claim the financial compensation to which they are entitled.
Moreover, the public silence over the status of the KDF hostages is unlikely to inspire confidence among their comrades that they would be taken care of should they are captured. It is, therefore, notable that the KDF recently announced the creation of a special
elite unit to rescue soldiers stranded in battle or lost in enemy territory.
No modern peace operation can succeed if it does not have the support of the local population, and greater clarity on the issue could help reestablish AMISOM’s credibility and demonstrate the sacrifice AMISOM’s troop-contributing countries have made in the effort to bring peace to Somalia.
Similarly, secrecy hands al-Shabaab a propaganda a victory by allowing its narratives (and videos) to gouncontested and shape the dominant narrative of
the event.
Will the war the war continue or will we withdraw, that is up to military operatives decide but in marking the first anniversary of our fallen soldiers at least it is wise to uncover the truth, hide no more secret.
Additional report adopted from International Peace Institute, El Adde Report.
Airtel comes second after Safaricom that commands a 65% market share. The company has been fumbling to sustain stability given dominance by the competitor. Israel has gone through the metamorphosis since entrance in a market. For close to a decade, The company has been fighting to maintain its position in the market with difficulty. Safaricom has been accused of unethical business conduct by using their dominance advantage to make it nearly impossible for rivals to stand firm in the industry.
Airtel has been registering huge losses and now there are credible fears the firm Could Be exiting the hostile Kenyan market made impermeable by Safaricom’s bullying. The company has laid out restructuring strategies including laying off staff.
The Indian-owned firm has just laid off nearly a third of its staff in an alarming hasty move. Sources said the company is sending home 84 workers in this phase. In the past two years, Airtel Kenya, which has about 300 staff, retrenched more than 60. The laying off is to be done in phases, and the staff is worried more dismissal letters would be on the way.
According to Standard’s sources, Airtel has already started off selling its assets as masts in readiness for a market exit. Sources said some departments such as Airtel Money, Enterprises, Customer Service and Sales and Distribution would be merged. The firm is also said to be planning to abandon its warehouses in Nakuru, Kisumu, Eldoret, Mombasa and Nyeri with everyone now being served from Nairobi.
The going has been tough for Airtel which between April and June lost more than 130,000 subscribers. According to data from the Communications Authority (CA), Airtel’s subscriptions dropped from 6,722,412 in March 2016 to 6,588,825 as at the end of June 2016, as the operator relinquished 0.9 per cent of its market share.
Airtel last year laid a good marketing strategy introducing Unliminet that targeted the growing data market and placed it high on the bar. It gained the firm New customers especially the youths. However, they disassembled the initial packages by slashing down it’s elements sending most of the acquired customers to drop it. Will Airtel stand the hit or hit out? Equitel by Equity Bank is being floated as the potential buyer.
David Neil is not new in the battalion shooting down Government’s chest thumping on development. The recently named world’s most valued economists have been one of the harshest critics of the Jubilee regime with consistent holes poking in its expenditure. He’s widely quoted in Eurobond spendings which he still insists was misappropriated by the government.
Ndii has insisted that the Jubilee government has lied to Kenyans that Eurobond was put in the budget and disbursed to ministries for various development projects in the FY 2014/15. He breaks it down that the government borrowed Sh290 billion by floating sovereign bonds (Eurobond). But lacks evidence to show where Sh228 billion went — with the only figure clear being US$605 million which was used to pay off a loan.
In his Daily Nation column, The robust economist has once again disengaged his claws calling out the government’s failures in expenditure and sent a credible warning that Jubilee would plunge the country into a total economy shutdown should they be re-elected in the coming elections.
He attributes eminent collapse in a steady and unsustainable borrowing by the government. “Many people think that these loans are a burden to our children and future generations. Not so. We are paying now. Jubilee has put the country on a debt treadmill.
We have to keep borrowing, or we will collapse.” He sounded the warning.
Ndii goes ahead to elaborate, “Before Jubilee, we were spending only Sh20 out of Sh100 of tax revenue to service debt. This figure is now approaching Sh40 out of Sh100 and rising rapidly. Before Jubilee, interest on the foreign debt cost us less than $5 out of every $100 of foreign exchange earnings. Today, it is costing us $15, and rising fast. Spending 40 percent of our revenue servicing debt means less money to provide services. It is also a threat to devolution. The constitution mandates national priorities before the counties revenue share is determined. Debt service is one of these national priorities. This means that the more debt service outlays, the lower the revenue there is to be shared. In addition to the undermining provision of public utilities, this debt treadmill is a grave threat to our economic stability. ”
Terming Jubilee administration as the most corrupt and incompetent government in our history, Ndii warns that achieving 2030 visions would remain a dream of the current state of looting is left undisturbed. “Where will we be after five more years of Jubilee? After five more years of Jubilee, we will be back where we were in 2003.” Says Ndii. “We will have ground to a halt and talking about recovery, and that is if Jubilee would not have dismantled the Constitution and established the reign of terror that they evidently desire.” He continues.
As a remedy, Ndii is pitching the opposition’s unity as the only way to save Kenyans from the wild teeth of jubilee. He likens the current state to Moi era where several multi-billion scandals as Goldenberg were made and The country nearly came to its knees before opposition under Rainbow coalition came in and salvaged the country sending Moi home. Ndii believes this is the only way the current opposition can help the situation by coming together and out of a strong team to send Jubilee home. Ndii insists opposition owes Kenya this one favor of sending jubilee home or they’ll forever be judged harshly by history. Coming at a time when companies are laying off staff in masses to balance their books and at the same time unemployment index going up the scale, maybe we should pause and listen to Ndii.
Mombasa Governor and his counterpart Mvita MP are currently being held at Urban Station by police in Mombasa. This follows week-long dramas surrounding the governor who has his security details withdrawn following the incident where he told the President in his face development projects in Mombasa.
The government has since rejected guards sent to him by the state and even vacated his home to undisclosed New home. For a good part of Friday, police officers raided and ransacked several homes belonging to Joho and his relatives looking for him supposedly. His close friends now allege the officers have been fighting to frame the governor and that the raids we saw as last options to plant incriminating material on him.
John has particularly been in wrong books and bad blood with the colonial administrator Marwa who has consistently vowed to make his life hell as long as he maintains being disrespectful to the President through constant attacks.
Kenya Insights gathers that two persons close to the Governor had earlier on been arrested for unspecified crimes. The Governor and his Mvita counterpart visited urban police station to enquire about the arrest of their allies around midday. It’s during the exchange at the police station that the Governor and his colleague were detained for obstructing arrest.
However, We learn calls were made from above before making the decision to detain the Governor and the MP. The intention was to hold the two through the weekend. It was a case of wrong time at the wrong place but a blessing to the state to instill some fear on the Governor who has supposedly become a thorn in the flesh with harsh criticism on the Jubilee government.
The news soon hit the internet and instantly pumped tension not only on social media but Joho’s supporters had started matching to the police station where the Governor was being held. Through the PCIO, Police IG moved quickly to intervene and order for their release.
Joho has ultimately rejected new security guards allocated to him by the state and opted for his private security. However, there is the plot hatched by Marwa according to Joho’s confidants to disarm his arm licensed friends whom he always surrounds himself with a desperate bid to leave the Governor exposed and unarmed.
The rivalry between Joho and Unity is beyond politics and it’s only a matter of time before the stories will be told. As of the time this article was going live, Joho has been released from police custody. The arrest had created animosity amongst CORD supporters who believe the moves are meant to intimidate Joho.
Eyebrows have been raised over the potential that Kenya would shut down the internet in what has become the norm in Africa’s elections in the recent past. The Communication Authority has given probably the first hint on a high probability to shut down the internet.
Social Media has become popular and taking over traditional media as fast food new stop for many Kenyans. Estimated 10M Kenyans are said to be active on Facebook with around 3M on Twitter. SM has notably remained took of preference by human rights defenders and government critics to smoke out scandals and air their plight.
The widespread reach of social media worries the government who believe the platform would be used to turn hate and inciting information to fuel a repeat of 2007/08 PEV and they believe shutting down the internet while in logical reasoning this is far from the truth but that’s a story for another day.
CA has sounded an early warning to politicians and social media users to refrain from using language that would ignite ethnic animosity. Prosecution of hate speech amongst venomous leaders has been so sided that no one takes NCIC seriously given their double speak and open inclination to the ruling political divide. The parameters to decide on what crosses the threshold of hate speech is as of your political bent. The bias in the run makes policies put stay as sterile.
The Government has revealed to have spent more than Sh2 billion to acquire surveillance systems to monitor online and off-line communication networks during this year’s election, a move likely to stoke concerns over privacy violations among Kenyans. “We have also spent around Sh600 million on a social media monitoring system and Sh400 million on a device management system that will help us closely monitor mobile phones and the activities around them,” said Wangusi, CA’s DG.
Communication Authority insists however that shutting down the internet would be the last option to be deployed in what they say ‘worst case scenario’ again who and what dictates a worse case scenario remains with the government. This statement if we’re to read from neighboring countries then Kenyans can as well prepare themselves for a dark space on the internet.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump held his first ever press conference in six months and oh boy he didn’t disappoint with a straight dosage of bigotry, ego to space and back and fury burning out of his body. Trump couldn’t hide anger following the leaking of an intelligence report to the public that portrayed his dark, twisted sexual fetish and his Russian links.
On Wednesday morning, when the president-elect once again faced hundreds of reporters from around the globe gathered in his lobby — this time for his first press conference in seven months — Trump filled the room with paid staffers who clapped and cheered as he blasted members of the media as purveyors of “fake news.”
It was Trump’s method of battling back an extraordinary report that U.S. intelligence officials have presented both Trump and President Barack Obama with unsubstantiated allegations that Russia has compromising information about the incoming 45th president, including about a reported salacious encounter in a Moscow hotel room.
Trump has been on a roll attacking the land’s intelligence agencies and free press steadily. As it manifests, anything and anyone that doesn’t sing to his chorus automatically become fake and unworthy, untrustworthy. Trump has coined the perfect ways to avoid accountability questions that will most probably headline his tenure in Whitehouse. Knowing this, he’s busy destroying the bits of reasonable voices that would challenge his conduct in office.
Any hope that Mr. Trump would temper his attacks on the news media after the campaign seemed to dissipate in the marble atrium of Trump Tower on Wednesday, as the president-elect, holding his first news conference since July, turned a controversy over his ties to Russia into a deft and unrelenting attack on the journalists who reported it.
By branding media outlets that criticize him as Fake News, Trump is tactfully killing the free press. Normally, It’s the press that watches the administration, but Trump is flipping the script altogether, watching the media.
Trump is the judge, jury, and prosecutor of the truth; he’s committed to destroying and discredit the institutions that have for the time been the eyes of the society. An authoritarian is turned on by blinded society who will listen to nothing but his words. Trump is the President and The truth meter, to him he’s ever right on everything and any news contrary to him is rubbished off as Fake. So much of narcissism under one body. Trump has bigger and taller ego than his skyscrapers. If that press conference is anything to go by then Hollywood can close business since the world is about to be treated to a whole new level of drama with chauvinist Trump in Whitehouse.
For Trump to put BuzzFeed on blast for propagating “fake news” is ironic at best, given what he’s reaped from the viral spread of legitimate misinformation. And it’s troubling for another reason: It gives people license to cry “fake news” when the media reports something they simply don’t like.
The term has arguably outlived its usefulness at this point, distorted as its definition has become. But “fake news” was originally intended as a label for online articles that deliberately misled for some secondary purpose—to profit or electioneer.
Trump seem to have borrowed from his Kenya’s Counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta when he first got into office just like Trump; the first focus was on Press and how to weaken the organs. The media was treated to breakfast at Statehouse in what was clothed as a familiarizing convention but a well-thought plot to have a friendly media to the regime. What followed was the public perception that media has been compromised and in their writing, they lived to the word.
Jubilee has been enemies and friends with the media, just like Trump calling critiquing news fake, Uhuru also termed and rubbished publications criticizing his administration as useless, and that newspapers have no meaning but for wrapping meat. The attack on media publications is direct war in the free press. When the press is compromised and gagged them in that case administration can wedge atrocities with absolute peace knowing they won’t be held accountable. This is why any dictatorial regime will explore all means to muzzle the media.
We’ve had draconian rules passed against free press something that has undermined investigative journalism in Kenya. It now takes titanium balls to investigate and expose the rot in the government without facing shoulder rubs. Trump is already threatening lawsuits against Buzzfeed and it won’t be the first media house he has threatened with lawsuits. The consistent message being sent when negative stories are told followed with lawsuits and brand demonizing is simple; the press will be free if and only when the tune soothes the king. Now right there is the making of a tyrant.
Trump’s attacks on journalists have a hidden subtext that hasn’t been sufficiently discussed: He’d rather not be accountable to the citizenry, and that’s a replicated formula back home in Kenya. Irony of this era: millions of Americans don’t trust anything anymore – except a man with a long association with dishonesty
With Government’s last resolve to intimidate doctors by jailing KMPDU officials and threatening rest with sacking, all is not a walk in the sand. The meeting between Council of Governors and Ministry of Health made a disastrous and miscalculated move to sack doctors as their brightest way to end the month-long doctors strike. However, from Kenya Insights’ feeds, all is not as rosy.
Reliable intelligence reports indicate that major cracks have emerged within the CoG on the way to deal with the doctors’ strike. At least 24 Counties agree with the CBA in its current form and do not see why the standoff should persist.
Nairobi, Machakos, and Kiambu are feeling sweet because they imagine they usually attract more doctors interested in working there. Mailu & Muraguri have hit a dead end. Their foreign doctors import agenda having collapsed before commissioning.
One County Governor categorically told the COG & MOH to be ready to honor the CBA or he will go Public and abandon the GoK line, and many Governors will follow him and CoG as we know it will be dead. He is categorical no so-called sack letters will come from his Government.
KMPDU officials are not having any county level negotiations but at national. This, by the way, cuts the work for governors, they should preferably take back seat for the doctors to do the donkey job for them and force Treasury to make the allocations to County’s accounts instead of giving them the bulk of begging Treasury to allocate funds in the case that County effects the negotiations. But do these governors think beyond their egos and political atmospheric tunes, you guessed right, never!
While some governors are chocking in ego, some are sensible enough to see beyond their noses. In Kajiado, Governor David Nkedianye said they would not sack the striking doctors, but would instead negotiate a return-to-work formula with them.
“Many people are suffering in their homes, with some their death beds, and it’s unfortunate because they cannot afford private healthcare,” said Dr. Nkedianye.
In Kisumu, egocentric Governor Jack Ranguma told off the doctors, saying they earn more money than their counterparts in the private hospitals who, he claimed, do a better job.
Mr. Ranguma, who is chairman of the health committee in the CoG, said it was a shame that the doctors had persisted with their strike this long. Ranguma who has been accused of misappropriating county funds would make you fall off the cliff with his concerns over proper resources use. While engaging in the dick measuring with doctors, It’s the poor citizens who bare the consequences of poor decisions made by the people they elected to ensure undisturbed service delivery.
As the last resolve, we’ve obtained credible intelligence that the State through Labour courts, is planning to jail the KMPDU officials at least keeping them in remand through the weekend. The plan choreographed by psychotic Muraguri abusing the office of the presidency privileges, Is planning to frustrate efforts to secure bonds for the doctors with intentions of keeping them behind bars over contempt of court. It will be interesting to see if the court will jail the officials over the same case as that of interior CS Kibicho who has contempt of court and arrest warrant over his head yet going about his business undeterred.
The consequences of jailing KMPDU officials would not solve the crisis but instead, worsen the situation by inciting other doctors leading to complete healthcare freeze. But there seems to be no stop to the evil plans of jailing the officials and luckily enough, there’s no end to the CBA implementation course either according to the language from the doctors union.
Read the address made by fiery and defiant KMPDU Sec Gen Dr.Olunga exuding confidence in his drive and general resolve on doctors plight he made on Jan 10th just after the court issued the arrest warrant on the officials:
“Good morning Dear Doctors, Yesterday night I was sharing with my colleagues that amidst the American Civil War that had ravaged and divided the USA into directional fragments, in 1863, the then POTUS, one, Abraham Lincoln spoke in what came to be famously known as the Gettysburg Address and outstandingly said: “We’re not as divided as we’ve been meant to believe.” Today I want to tell the Republic of Kenya that WE cannot run out of options as a country since in the final analysis when you wake as a Kenyan – as a doctor, as a MCA, an MP, Senator, Governor or even the head of state, the only two questions that matter are that what kind of healthcare system do we have in place and is it responsive to your needs as a mwananchi?!!
If you answer the above questions, then all the this and that talk coupled with warrants of arrest is NULL AND VOID. Further, if you as a Kenyan ask yourself self-search on what you want your healthcare system infrastructure and personnel looks like and should be operating at high levels there’s nowhere where warrants of arrest come in!
Truthfully the government has gotten to the end-throes of thinking as they’ve employed all their tactics available to no success – they’ve sacked the doctors twice, have advertised their jobs once and will soon readvertise, doctors from Cuba and India has been the talk till now but nothing so far.
Fellow Kenyans, the question for the whole country is: WHAT NEXT? Be informed that the doctors have not run out of options. I’ll answer for us all that what’s next is for the government to implement the CBA expressly in toto and pay up the outstanding arrears in full through a properly sat-out and negotiated implementation matrix for which the Union(KMPDU) has and is still available for discourse.
After all the wastefulness of the taxpayers’ money in doing show-cause/sack letters to Doctors and advertising and readvertising, remember the Swahili say: “Mbio za sakafuni huishia ukingoni” Serikali imefika ukingoni nasi kama madaktari tunawadia mlangoni ambapo ni CBA!
As doctors, WE need to know and appreciate that the common citizenry may not know what quality healthcare means for them, but we do – standards of care. Therefore be reminded, dear doctors today that WE’RE the Champions for Kenyans for a proper, quality, the responsive healthcare system for all the 40+million citizens of this country.
As champions, we have a responsibility to raise awareness about the CBA which aims for the betterment of quality healthcare which is our quest for the ultimate sound of the Kenyan citizenry.
As I close I’ll start the championing process by saying that we have been told by the government that implementing the CBA will cost 12B but WE have done our Mathematics and WE know for sure it’ll cost 8.1B per financial year, ONLY. But giving them the benefit of doubt and assuming that it’ll cost 12B, it’s informative to let you and Kenyans know that every financial year, Kenya pays India 10B through the NHIF and out of the ultimately pooled 51B we as Kenyan citizens remit to NHIF as social health insurance, 33B goes to private hospitals! Private hospitals treat a paltry 1% of the population.
Therefore WE as doctors are saying that the GoK needs to take a measly 12B (in their figures) to treat the 99% of Kenyans. At this point, Kenyans, realize that this is your war and we’re only leading the war fronts, the lines of fire!
Coming to the total public health expenditure vote that now stands at 150B, the amount that currently goes to Doctors’ remuneration is 3.6B that’s less than 2.5% of it all. Using their figures, we painfully realize on behalf of the 99% of Kenyans that they’re being denied such quality healthcare which if the CBA is implemented at their 12B figure translates to only less than 5% of the whole public health expenditure budget!
Lastly, as I close, fellow Kenyans, as a country we cannot joke with the 5 000 brightest minds in Kenya. It’s a big shame since we’re incidentally contributing to killing the dreams of young boys and girls who’ve recently passed their KCPE and KCSE and are aspiring to join this noble profession. Again to Kenyans, I am, and all of us are very proud to be doctors at your service but help us tell your government to get us back to work for you by implementing the CBA. You best believe me, any day, given another chance the doctors of Kenya would still choose to pursue this career path but so in a healthcare system that responds to our needs in our efforts to offer you our brothers and sisters the best quality healthcare possible as enshrined and envisioned in the CBA. Thank you all and God Bless You!”
The clueless negotiators can as well be blind to the facts and implement the Hitler’s motivated tactics, martial doctors, back to work. MoH is talking about initiating CBA talks months after doctors are back to work yet they’ve done less or nothing in the negotiations that has lapped the one month mark excluding the strike notice period. The dishonesty and consistent demonizing script on doctors, will that bury the big elephant in the house, CBA.? Time is of the essence.
President Barack Obama delivered a historic, emotional farewell speech Tuesday night in Chicago. Here’s the text version of the speech:
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It’s good to be home. My fellow Americans, Michelle and I have been so touched by all the well-wishes we’ve received over the past few weeks. But tonight it’s my turn to say thanks. Whether we’ve seen eye-to-eye or rarely agreed at all, my conversations with you, the American people – in living rooms and schools; at farms and on factory floors; at diners and on distant outposts – are what have kept me honest, kept me inspired, and kept me going. Every day, I learned from you. You made me a better President, and you made me a better man.
I first came to Chicago when I was in my early twenties, still trying to figure out who I was; still searching for a purpose to my life. It was in neighborhoods not far from here where I began working with church groups in the shadows of closed steel mills. It was on these streets where I witnessed the power of faith, and the quiet dignity of working people in the face of struggle and loss. This is where I learned that change only happens when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together to demand it.
After eight years as your President, I still believe that. And it’s not just my belief. It’s the beating heart of our American idea – our bold experiment in self-government.
It’s the conviction that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It’s the insistence that these rights, while self-evident, have never been self-executing; that We, the People, through the instrument of our democracy, can form a more perfect union.
This is the great gift our Founders gave us. The freedom to chase our individual dreams through our sweat, toil, and imagination – and the imperative to strive together as well, to achieve a greater good.
For 240 years, our nation’s call to citizenship has given work and purpose to each new generation. It’s what led patriots to choose republic over tyranny, pioneers to trek west, slaves to brave that makeshift railroad to freedom. It’s what pulled immigrants and refugees across oceans and the Rio Grande, pushed women to reach for the ballot, powered workers to organize. It’s why GIs gave their lives at Omaha Beach and Iwo Jima; Iraq and Afghanistan – and why men and women from Selma to Stonewall were prepared to give theirs as well.
So that’s what we mean when we say America is exceptional. Not that our nation has been flawless from the start, but that we have shown the capacity to change, and make life better for those who follow.
Yes, our progress has been uneven. The work of democracy has always been hard, contentious and sometimes bloody. For every two steps forward, it often feels we take one step back. But the long sweep of America has been defined by forward motion, a constant widening of our founding creed to embrace all, and not just some.
If I had told you eight years ago that America would reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history . if I had told you that we would open up a new chapter with the Cuban people, shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program without firing a shot, and take out the mastermind of 9/11 . if I had told you that we would win marriage equality, and secure the right to health insurance for another 20 million of our fellow citizens – you might have said our sights were set a little too high.
But that’s what we did. That’s what you did. You were the change. You answered people’s hopes, and because of you, by almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started.
In ten days, the world will witness a hallmark of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power from one freely-elected president to the next. I committed to President-Elect Trump that my administration would ensure the smoothest possible transition, just as President Bush did for me. Because it’s up to all of us to make sure our government can help us meet the many challenges we still face.
We have what we need to do so. After all, we remain the wealthiest, most powerful, and most respected nation on Earth. Our youth and drive, our diversity and openness, our boundless capacity for risk and reinvention mean that the future should be ours.
But that potential will be realized only if our democracy works. Only if our politics reflects the decency of the people. Only if all of us, regardless of our party affiliation or particular interest, help restore the sense of common purpose that we so badly need right now.
Obama making his farewell address in Chicago
That’s what I want to focus on tonight – the state of our democracy.
Understand, democracy does not require uniformity. Our founders quarreled and compromised, and expected us to do the same. But they knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity – the idea that for all our outward differences, we are all in this together; that we rise or fall as one.
There have been moments throughout our history that threatened to rupture that solidarity. The beginning of this century has been one of those times. A shrinking world, growing inequality; demographic change and the specter of terrorism – these forces haven’t just tested our security and prosperity, but our democracy as well. And how we meet these challenges to our democracy will determine our ability to educate our kids, and create good jobs, and protect our homeland.
In other words, it will determine our future.
Our democracy won’t work without a sense that everyone has economic opportunity. Today, the economy is growing again; wages, incomes, home values, and retirement accounts are rising again; poverty is falling again. The wealthy are paying a fairer share of taxes even as the stock market shatters records. The unemployment rate is near a ten-year low. The uninsured rate has never, ever been lower. Health care costs are rising at the slowest rate in fifty years. And if anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we’ve made to our health care system – that covers as many people at less cost – I will publicly support it.
That, after all, is why we serve – to make people’s lives better, not worse.
But for all the real progress we’ve made, we know it’s not enough. Our economy doesn’t work as well or grow as fast when a few prosper at the expense of a growing middle class. But stark inequality is also corrosive to our democratic principles. While the top one percent has amassed a bigger share of wealth and income, too many families, in inner cities and rural counties, have been left behind – the laid-off factory worker; the waitress and health care worker who struggle to pay the bills – convinced that the game is fixed against them, that their government only serves the interests of the powerful – a recipe for more cynicism and polarization in our politics.
There are no quick fixes to this long-term trend. I agree that our trade should be fair and not just free. But the next wave of economic dislocation won’t come from overseas. It will come from the relentless pace of automation that makes many good, middle-class jobs obsolete.
And so we must forge a new social compact – to guarantee all our kids the education they need; to give workers the power to unionize for better wages; to update the social safety net to reflect the way we live now and make more reforms to the tax code so corporations and individuals who reap the most from the new economy don’t avoid their obligations to the country that’s made their success possible. We can argue about how to best achieve these goals. But we can’t be complacent about the goals themselves. For if we don’t create opportunity for all people, the disaffection and division that has stalled our progress will only sharpen in years to come.
There’s a second threat to our democracy – one as old as our nation itself. After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America. Such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic. For race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society. I’ve lived long enough to know that race relations are better than they were ten, or twenty, or thirty years ago – you can see it not just in statistics, but in the attitudes of young Americans across the political spectrum.
But we’re not where we need to be. All of us have more work to do. After all, if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves. If we decline to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don’t look like us, we diminish the prospects of our own children – because those brown kids will represent a larger share of America’s workforce. And our economy doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. Last year, incomes rose for all races, all age groups, for men and for women.
Going forward, we must uphold laws against discrimination – in hiring, in housing, in education and the criminal justice system. That’s what our Constitution and highest ideals require. But laws alone won’t be enough. Hearts must change. If our democracy is to work in this increasingly diverse nation, each one of us must try to heed the advice of one of the great characters in American fiction, Atticus Finch, who said “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
For blacks and other minorities, it means tying our own struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot of people in this country face – the refugee, the immigrant, the rural poor, the transgender American, and also the middle-aged white man who from the outside may seem like he’s got all the advantages, but who’s seen his world upended by economic, cultural, and technological change.
For white Americans, it means acknowledging that the effects of slavery and Jim Crow didn’t suddenly vanish in the ’60s; that when minority groups voice discontent, they’re not just engaging in reverse racism or practicing political correctness; that when they wage peaceful protest, they’re not demanding special treatment, but the equal treatment our Founders promised.
For native-born Americans, it means reminding ourselves that the stereotypes about immigrants today were said, almost word for word, about the Irish, Italians, and Poles. America wasn’t weakened by the presence of these newcomers; they embraced this nation’s creed, and it was strengthened.
So regardless of the station we occupy; we have to try harder; to start with the premise that each of our fellow citizens loves this country just as much as we do; that they value hard work and family like we do; that their children are just as curious and hopeful and worthy of love as our own.
None of this is easy. For too many of us, it’s become safer to retreat into our own bubbles, whether in our neighborhoods or college campuses or places of worship or our social media feeds, surrounded by people who look like us and share the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions. The rise of naked partisanship, increasing economic and regional stratification, the splintering of our media into a channel for every taste – all this makes this great sorting seem natural, even inevitable. And increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we accept only information, whether true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that’s out there.
This trend represents a third threat to our democracy. Politics is a battle of ideas; in the course of a healthy debate, we’ll prioritize different goals, and the different means of reaching them. But without some common baseline of facts; without a willingness to admit new information, and concede that your opponent is making a fair point, and that science and reason matter, we’ll keep talking past each other, making common ground and compromise impossible.
Isn’t that part of what makes politics so dispiriting? How can elected officials rage about deficits when we propose to spend money on preschool for kids, but not when we’re cutting taxes for corporations? How do we excuse ethical lapses in our own party, but pounce when the other party does the same thing? It’s not just dishonest, this selective sorting of the facts; it’s self-defeating. Because as my mother used to tell me, reality has a way of catching up with you.
Take the challenge of climate change. In just eight years, we’ve halved our dependence on foreign oil, doubled our renewable energy, and led the world to an agreement that has the promise to save this planet. But without bolder action, our children won’t have time to debate the existence of climate change; they’ll be busy dealing with its effects: environmental disasters, economic disruptions, and waves of climate refugees seeking sanctuary.
Now, we can and should argue about the best approach to the problem. But to simply deny the problem not only betrays future generations; it betrays the essential spirit of innovation and practical problem-solving that guided our Founders.
It’s that spirit, born of the Enlightenment, that made us an economic powerhouse – the spirit that took flight at Kitty Hawk and Cape Canaveral; the spirit that that cures disease and put a computer in every pocket.
It’s that spirit – a faith in reason, and enterprise, and the primacy of right over might, that allowed us to resist the lure of fascism and tyranny during the Great Depression, and build a post-World War II order with other democracies, an order based not just on military power or national affiliations but on principles – the rule of law, human rights, freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, and an independent press.
That order is now being challenged – first by violent fanatics who claim to speak for Islam; more recently by autocrats in foreign capitals who see free markets, open democracies, and civil society itself as a threat to their power. The peril each poses to our democracy is more far-reaching than a car bomb or a missile. It represents the fear of change; the fear of people who look or speak or pray differently; a contempt for the rule of law that holds leaders accountable; an intolerance of dissent and free thought; a belief that the sword or the gun or the bomb or propaganda machine is the ultimate arbiter of what’s true and what’s right.
Because of the extraordinary courage of our men and women in uniform, and the intelligence officers, law enforcement, and diplomats who support them, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland these past eight years; and although Boston and Orlando remind us of how dangerous radicalization can be, our law enforcement agencies are more effective and vigilant than ever. We’ve taken out tens of thousands of terrorists – including Osama bin Laden. The global coalition we’re leading against ISIL has taken out their leaders, and taken away about half their territory. ISIL will be destroyed, and no one who threatens America will ever be safe. To all who serve, it has been the honor of my lifetime to be your Commander-in-Chief.
But protecting our way of life requires more than our military. Democracy can buckle when we give in to fear. So just as we, as citizens, must remain vigilant against external aggression, we must guard against a weakening of the values that make us who we are. That’s why, for the past eight years, I’ve worked to put the fight against terrorism on a firm legal footing. That’s why we’ve ended torture, worked to close Gitmo, and reform our laws governing surveillance to protect privacy and civil liberties. That’s why I reject discrimination against Muslim Americans. That’s why we cannot withdraw from global fights – to expand democracy, and human rights, women’s rights, and LGBT rights – no matter how imperfect our efforts, no matter how expedient ignoring such values may seem. For the fight against extremism and intolerance and sectarianism are of a piece with the fight against authoritarianism and nationalist aggression. If the scope of freedom and respect for the rule of law shrinks around the world, the likelihood of war within and between nations increases, and our own freedoms will eventually be threatened.
So let’s be vigilant, but not afraid. ISIL will try to kill innocent people. But they cannot defeat America unless we betray our Constitution and our principles in the fight. Rivals like Russia or China cannot match our influence around the world – unless we give up what we stand for, and turn ourselves into just another big country that bullies smaller neighbors.
Which brings me to my final point – our democracy is threatened whenever we take it for granted. All of us, regardless of party, should throw ourselves into the task of rebuilding our democratic institutions. When voting rates are some of the lowest among advanced democracies, we should make it easier, not harder, to vote. When trust in our institutions is low, we should reduce the corrosive influence of money in our politics, and insist on the principles of transparency and ethics in public service. When Congress is dysfunctional, we should draw our districts to encourage politicians to cater to common sense and not rigid extremes.
And all of this depends on our participation; on each of us accepting the responsibility of citizenship, regardless of which way the pendulum of power swings.
Our Constitution is a remarkable, beautiful gift. But it’s really just a piece of parchment. It has no power on its own. We, the people, give it power – with our participation, and the choices we make. Whether or not we stand up for our freedoms. Whether or not we respect and enforce the rule of law. America is no fragile thing. But the gains of our long journey to freedom are not assured.
In his own farewell address, George Washington wrote that self-government is the underpinning of our safety, prosperity, and liberty, but “from different causes and from different quarters much pains will be taken.to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth;” that we should preserve it with “jealous anxiety;” that we should reject “the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties” that make us one.
We weaken those ties when we allow our political dialogue to become so corrosive that people of good character are turned off from public service; so coarse with rancor that Americans with whom we disagree are not just misguided, but somehow malevolent. We weaken those ties when we define some of us as more American than others; when we write off the whole system as inevitably corrupt, and blame the leaders we elect without examining our own role in electing them.
It falls to each of us to be those anxious, jealous guardians of our democracy; to embrace the joyous task we’ve been given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours. Because for all our outward differences, we all share the same proud title: Citizen.
Ultimately, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you. Not just when there’s an election, not just when your own narrow interest is at stake, but over the full span of a lifetime. If you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, try to talk with one in real life. If something needs fixing, lace up your shoes and do some organizing. If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself. Show up. Dive in. Persevere. Sometimes you’ll win. Sometimes you’ll lose. Presuming a reservoir of goodness in others can be a risk, and there will be times when the process disappoints you. But for those of us fortunate enough to have been a part of this work, to see it up close, let me tell you, it can energize and inspire. And more often than not, your faith in America – and in Americans – will be confirmed.
Mine sure has been. Over the course of these eight years, I’ve seen the hopeful faces of young graduates and our newest military officers. I’ve mourned with grieving families searching for answers, and found grace in Charleston church. I’ve seen our scientists help a paralyzed man regain his sense of touch, and our wounded warriors walk again. I’ve seen our doctors and volunteers rebuild after earthquakes and stop pandemics in their tracks. I’ve seen the youngest of children remind us of our obligations to care for refugees, to work in peace, and above all to look out for each other.
That faith I placed all those years ago, not far from here, in the power of ordinary Americans to bring about change – that faith has been rewarded in ways I couldn’t possibly have imagined. I hope yours has, too. Some of you here tonight or watching at home were there with us in 2004, in 2008, in 2012 – and maybe you still can’t believe we pulled this whole thing off.
You’re not the only ones. Michelle – for the past twenty-five years, you’ve been not only my wife and mother of my children, but my best friend. You took on a role you didn’t ask for and made it your own with grace and grit and style and good humor. You made the White House a place that belongs to everybody. And a new generation sets its sights higher because it has you as a role model. You’ve made me proud. You’ve made the country proud.
Malia and Sasha, under the strangest of circumstances, you have become two amazing young women, smart and beautiful, but more importantly, kind and thoughtful and full of passion. You wore the burden of years in the spotlight so easily. Of all that I’ve done in my life, I’m most proud to be your dad.
To Joe Biden, the scrappy kid from Scranton who became Delaware’s favorite son: you were the first choice I made as a nominee, and the best. Not just because you have been a great Vice President, but because in the bargain, I gained a brother. We love you and Jill like family, and your friendship has been one of the great joys of our life.
To my remarkable staff: For eight years – and for some of you, a whole lot more – I’ve drawn from your energy, and tried to reflect back what you displayed every day: heart, and character, and idealism. I’ve watched you grow up, get married, have kids, and start incredible new journeys of your own. Even when times got tough and frustrating, you never let Washington get the better of you. The only thing that makes me prouder than all the good we’ve done is the thought of all the remarkable things you’ll achieve from here.
And to all of you out there – every organizer who moved to an unfamiliar town and kind family who welcomed them in, every volunteer who knocked on doors, every young person who cast a ballot for the first time, every American who lived and breathed the hard work of change – you are the best supporters and organizers anyone could hope for, and I will forever be grateful. Because yes, you changed the world.
That’s why I leave this stage tonight even more optimistic about this country than I was when we started. Because I know our work has not only helped so many Americans; it has inspired so many Americans – especially so many young people out there – to believe you can make a difference; to hitch your wagon to something bigger than yourselves. This generation coming up – unselfish, altruistic, creative, patriotic – I’ve seen you in every corner of the country. You believe in a fair, just, inclusive America; you know that constant change has been America’s hallmark, something not to fear but to embrace, and you are willing to carry this hard work of democracy forward. You’ll soon outnumber any of us, and I believe as a result that the future is in good hands.
My fellow Americans, it has been the honor of my life to serve you. I won’t stop; in fact, I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my days that remain. For now, whether you’re young or young at heart, I do have one final ask of you as your President – the same thing I asked when you took a chance on me eight years ago.
I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change – but in yours.
I am asking you to hold fast to that faith written into our founding documents; that idea whispered by slaves and abolitionists; that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders and those who marched for justice; that creed reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battlefields to the surface of the moon; a creed at the core of every American whose story is not yet written:
Yes We Can.
Yes We Did.
Yes We Can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.
Over the weekend, most of the country went into a blackout session for few hours before the connections could be restored. According to KPLC, a
technical fault caused the power outages in Nairobi, Mount Kenya, and Coast regions. It occurred at a Kenya Power substation in Ndenderu (Nairobi North Substation) this morning cutting off supplies from Olkaria geothermal fields to the City and causing a power outage affecting Nairobi, Coast, and Mount Kenya regions.
While the explanation could easily be bought by consumers, Kenya Insights has learned of behind-the-scenes intrigues within the company. From sources deeply placed in the electricity supplier in the country, the major outages are not by coincidence but a silent protest against the appointment of Tarus As the new M.D. of the company. His appointment is heavily attributed to politics.
According to disgruntled parties, Tarus is being forced to the position despite having zero technical experience to run the company. They say it’s not by chance that Tarus replaced his tribe mates Chumo as the M.D. a plot they claim pulled by the DP Euro and executed by Energy CS, Keter both from Kalenjin.
Apparently, Tarus is the brother to Ruto’s wife and many within attributes his rapid rise to the top based on this relationship and not necessarily merits. He’s allegedly placed there to serve the interests of the appointing figures.
The atmosphere at Kenya Power is quite hostile with murmurs that Tarus didn’t deserve that job and had been in the company only for three years. This hostility will likely spill onto the customers, the top Engineers have planned to frustrate Tarus. The same way they frustrated Chumo. Those stories we got that a monkey had fallen on the transformer were cooked scripts but sources intimate to Kenya Insights those were again the played engineers frustrating Chumo. They’d switch off power and feign other technicalities. And because Chumo wasn’t a technician he didn’t know, and they frustrated him.
A well laid out plan to thwart Tarus, even more, has been put in place as they believe nothing can stop the political appointments and they have feigning technicalities on outages as the only way of getting off their frustrations. Unlike Tarus, of his short time at the company at least Chumo had worked in the enterprise for some time to justify his appointment.
Chumo signed for 6B prepaid meters from a company that had only been registered for six months. They don’t even work, and it’s turning into lost revenue. Procurement of substandard equipment and here lays another scandal that will soon hit the shelves. The new transformers also purchased under Chumo’s tenure are just lying in stores. They can’t handle the power load and apparently only stay for only two weeks before blowing.
As long as nepotism remains the top priority in appointments especially to state institutions, revolution as that of KPLC will continue to be inevitable. As things stay even though Tarus is in an acting capacity with confirmation surety, we should be looking forward to more extensive power cuts. Appointments to such positions are never awarded based on merits even if advertised, only aliens who just dropped in Kenya would say otherwise.
By Nicholas Olambo
With the general election just seven months away, the incumbent and the would be opposition candidate or candidates are working hard to put their houses in order and clinch the victory. Raila Odinga who has contested the presidency three times and lost is most likely to be on the ballot again.
What is he doing in preparation for this? The ODM Party Leader is playing village politics endorsing candidates in places where he is not even a voter. This is not the first time, the king of double speech in known for the vice. It paints an accurate picture of him as a man who is selfish, he cares about his interest and not the interest of the people.
Endorsing unpopular candidates before nominations is nothing but forcing candidates on the electorate where he has strong following. These endorsed candidates are mostly his robust and die-hard sycophants; they don’t serve the interest of the people but instead become flower girls and ‘prefects’ who defend ‘Baba’ at whatever cost.
He recently endorsed Kasipul Mp Oyugi Magwanga who is eying the Homa Bay County gubernatorial position in the coming elections. Though Magwanga has a track record of proper management of CDF funds in his constituency more than any other Mp in the region, the two-term lawmaker has never uttered even a word in parliament.
The Homa Bay gubernatorial race is expected to be tough; aspirants are burning the midnight oil to unseat Cyprian Awiti who has been accused of dismal performance and corruption. Homa Bay is one of those places where having Raila Odinga’s ODM ticket is as good as winning the seat.
What does it mean with the Party Leader endorsing candidates? There will be no nominations; they will pretend by putting up a formality exercise which will be a sham when the ticket has already been sold to the highest bidder. Odinga has reduced lawmakers from Luo Nyanza to his bootlickers, someone should introduce some antidote to ‘Odingaism.’
He is accusing Jubilee/IEBC of not allowing a leveled playground ahead of the coming polls when he is evidently doing the same within his party. He is dictating who is to become the branch chairperson, where Senator should come from, a governor and even sweepers. In fact, in Homa Bay County he is taking the electorate from Suba regions for granted. His endorsements in 2007 and now do not favor candidates from Suba.
Suba has produced some of the best leaders in Kenya, Tom Mboya who was is father’s rival in Luo Nation came from Rusinga Islands in Suba. The young TJ Mboya championed well thought out education programs that benefited the likes of Barack Obama Snr, father of the outgoing US President Barrack Obama. He did these when Jaramogi Oginga was politicking round the clock.
Right now one of the strongest candidates to challenge the incumbent Awiti is Sammy Wakiaga from Rusinga, Suba. Wakiaga is a former NSIS official and a reknown philanthropist who has also put up a number development projects in Homa Bay. The stiff competition would be between Awiti, Wakiaga, and Magwanga but unfortunately, Agwas has his preferred candidate where he is not a registered voter.
He is fronting for individuals who will lick his boots and play cheap politics at the funerals for an entire five-year term. No one should select a governor for the people of Homa Bay County, it is their democratic right to elect the people they believe are best fit to serve then. A governor should not be a party chief bootlicker or servant.
Meeting between Ministry of Health and Council of Governors to charter the way forward on the healthcare stalemate has today ended in unsurprising point with the unanimous decision to dismiss off duty striking doctors. Kenya Insights has learned that Union members were initially invited to the talks but were locked out the last minute from joining the negotiations with instructions from irate PS Muraguri who has been the center of negotiations stalemate from the onset.
The strike that’s is on its 36th-day followings demands by doctors for the implementation of 2013 CBA, a pact signed by the government and meant to restructure and revamp the limping public healthcare. With doctors out clearer on their agenda, MoH switched to a choreographed blackmailing and witch hunting on the Union officials as their main negotiating language. Doctors have repelled all the desperate attempts to coerce them back to work and stuck to the initial agenda of asking the government to implement the signed agreement to the letter.
We as the people must rise up and support the doctors on this #DoctorsStrike before we get treated by inexperienced interns to make it worse
Several coercion tactics have been reigned in the Doctors by government officials including challenging CBA a move that was found unconstitutional with courts upholding the document; we’ve been treated to arrest threats on union leaders and even physical harm on officials from Governors and MoH goons.
The reluctance of the Government to end the month-long strike has been linked to a wider conspiracy to killing the public healthcare as investors pump more billions into Kenya’s healthcare. It’s not surprising that the CS Mailu, himself a Private healthcare proponent previously Nairobi Hospital CEO, is making cosmetic moves in ending the strike which is beneficial to the private sector.
Implementation of CBA is also secretly being opposed by KEPSA, Federation of Kenya Employers As this would impact their businesses as well. The public sector would become more lucrative forcing the Private Hospitals to increase workers waged or risk losing workforce to a government. A grand conspiracy to have public healthcare collapse is in full play that’s why there’s open reluctance from the authorities to end the standoff.
Kenya Insights has established the plot to have all doctors sacked by Wednesday and positions advertised. The government is looking to wipe out KMPDU from the negotiations and will resort to dealing with doctors individually. From inside information, The government will quickly constitute the faint team of doctors and announce reopening of Kenyatta National Hospital and Eldoret referral in a desperate PR drive to dupe the public that the services are back to normal while the truth is far from reality.
The Government is considering hiring medical interns with minimal field experience to handle serious medical cases as well as hiring foreign doctors. All these are desperate efforts to intimidate doctors into submission, but the Union has stood it’s ground saying they’re taking nothing short of full CBA implementation. It’s ironic that the government pretend to be under total control of the situation while we all know the process of firing and hiring is more costly than implementing CBA. We learn the fear is based on ego constraints as a government doesn’t want to walk out as subdued but at the expense of suffering citizens who’re locked out from medical care. The current ratio of doctors to population is disturbing with existing doctors overworked and overwhelmed it’s, therefore, laughable that the government’s way of solving the problem is by even further reducing the Doctors numbers and escalating the crisis ratio. CBA implementation would see a balanced ratio of doctors to the population for a standard health care.
#LipaKamaTender GOK has it wrong. Political standoffs are solved by propaganda, healthcare crisis cannot be solved by spreading propaganda.
The doctors union recently met the President in Mombasa for negotiations and despite publications in contrary, sources intimate to Kenya Insights that
Uhuru acknowledged CBA as implementable. During the talks, the President praised the Doctors on their patriotism by opting to stay within and serving Kenyans despite glaring grievances. The President during the meeting, delegated MoH, SRC, PSC to work out implementation matrix. But what followed was propaganda churning that the doctors declined President’s offer. There’s no offer to be floated while the government agreed to the document.
Negotiations have been bungled due to infighting, private sector interest represented by CS Mailu, who is the immediate former Nairobi Hospital CEO, self-preservation- case in hand is PS Muraguri whose psychotic tendencies is in public domain dates back to DAILY Nation journalist who exposed the 5B Afya House scandal, he extended his mafia ways to the Doctors negotiations table. There has been a steady narrative against doctors throughout that they’re rigid in talks. Muraguri has been floated as the biggest stumbling block in the negotiations.
Muraguri and corruption, impunity has become unanimous, here’s a Mathematics on the Managed Equipment Service for a supply of medical equipment by the Government of Kenya initiated by Dr. Nicholas Muraguri when he was Director of Medical Services.
Total cost 38 billion.
38billion ÷94 hospitals = 404M million
1. One renal machine costs between 1 million – 1.5 million × 5 units= 5-7.5million
Installation and purchase of other equipment approximately 4 million
Total =11.5 million
2. Digital x-ray machine costs between 15M – 20M.
3.ICU (Iten county hospital was to get more wards and an ICU for 100M). Let us assume an ICU will cost 100M
4. 50M ( inflated for logistics like transport, renovations, etc.)
N.B.: No new construction was done. All the rooms for the above were renovated. There was no public procurement for the renovation works.
Total cost 11.5+20M+100+50=181.5M (inflated)
404M-182M= 222M ×94=20.8billion.
20.8 billion (and probably more) of taxpayers money unaccounted for.
Muraguri is not only disqualified to lead negotiations with doctors but also holding any public office.
As the plot to collapse public healthcare becomes apparent, and narrative demonizing doctors takes shape, The government can run but can’t hide from the fact that CBA was designed to shape public healthcare. What the public is not being told is that CBA entails more than just the doctor’s pay but restructuring the public health system as a whole. The knee-jerk reactions of firing doctors are not going to end the standoff but postponed it. The biggest losers in this standoff are not the doctors but the public who’ll now have to keep up with pathetic healthcare state.
Kenya Insights has learned of agents from Australia, Botswana and Rwanda praying for the government to fire the doctors so they can poach them away. We’re staring at the biggest brain drain and doctors shortage in the country should the sacking threats be implemented. With all these intrigues the Private Hospital owners are smiling all the way to the bank. The doctors have less to lose, but the public has everything to lose.
The Council Of Governors will today meet Ministry of Health officials and the Doctors Union in an intense negotiation to end the month-long strike. There has been the lack of sincerity especially from the Government’s side to end the strike that has now seen uncountable lives lost, and the general public was thrown into suffering.
Government’s reluctance has been self-manifest through intimidation and blackmailing tactics they’ve reigned in the officials from arrest threats to physical intimidation on KMPDU officials to threatening mass sacking of striking doctors and replacing them with foreign ones. It has been so embarrassing that Statehouse denounced authenticity of CBA saying SRC wasn’t assignee to the pact with evidence saying otherwise. This was meant to be an excuse for not implementing the document that the government assigned to.
As COG meets to deliberate on the way forward, Kenya Insights has learned that the Council has shown the willingness to adopt the agreement to break off the standoff, but MoH is exhibiting all the negative signs and unwillingness to break the clog.
We’ve established that over time, MoH has been blocking the doctors from meeting COG through blackmail tactics. The ministry officials have been telling off KMPDU that even if they met COG and got CBA nod, they’ll use executive influence to stop treasury from allocating the funds. MoH has been reassuring COG that then they’ll deal with KMPDU ruthlessly- they’ve been using the presidency to this advantage. Talks with the President didn’t bore fruits either.
Many Governors are getting restless with MoH’sMoH’s handling of the strike, most of them especially from Jubilee regions can’t talk openly being an election year, some have been threatened with losing party support if they raised voice. Kenya Insights through insider sources has established that COG was in the process of implementing CBA but was stopped by MoH who wants to take the credits. The plot is for MoH to set up a KMPDU vs. COG and take credit. The entire game is politicized, but KMPDU officials have reiterated and distanced themselves of having any political interest in the squabbles with full support for devolution.
There have been fictitious meetings between COG, MoH, SRC to the charter way forward but one thing comes out clear from all that MoH with stiff stands has become the stumbling block. The arrogance has heightened to the levels that one of the Afya House officials was overheard saying that “Kenyans are very tolerant, if they can vumilia for 34 days, the strike can last for another 35 days we don’t give a fuck.” The bully nature and insincere negotiation spirit by the MoH are the primary reason the standoff has stiffened.
A malign campaign has also been on a play by The Ministry against doctors with propaganda flying around that they’ve turned down government offers that doctors are selfish. The campaign doesn’t detail the CBA requirements in entirety which goes beyond doctors pay. CBA was designed to resuscitate the collapsing public healthcare system which is majority’s option. The politicians are turning a blind eye on the standoff as they comfortably afford private healthcare off taxpayers who’re now left at God’s mercy. The public healthcare is on its deathbed not by coincidence but a conspiracy that is now seeing foreign investors and their local intermediaries take over the healthcare industry.
The Orange Democratic Movement has received with shock information regarding the withdrawal of the security details of H.E. Ali Hassan Joho and H.E Amason Kingi.
This withdrawal of Governor Joho and Kingi’s security,while completely illegal, has become an annual event under the Jubilee regime in which every December, President Uhuru Kenyatta retreats to the Coast for a holiday and while there, tries to promote his party and his regime by undermining the work and the standing of the Governors and other elected leaders allied to ODM in the area.
Being a firm believer in ODM, Governor Joho and Kingi naturally fights back by stating the facts as best as they understand them.The Head of State gets angry, and the illegal action of security withdrawal follows.These are later restored upon the decision by the courts that the actions are illegal and unconstitutional.
Never the less, ODM takes great reservations at these acts of bullying that are meant to blackmail and arm twist Governor Joho and Kingi into supporting the failed Jubilee regime or to cow them into silence.
We wish to reiterate that these actions constitute an abuse of office and power.They fail the test of Chapter Six of our constitution, and they go against the requirement that leaders are provided with round the clock security as a duty by the State and not a favor.
We demand the restoration of Mr. Joho and Mr. Kingi’s security with immediate effect, and we warn the National Government that we will hold it solely responsible for any misfortune and security breaches that may befall the Governors.
However, in the Islamic faith to which I profess, life comes from Allah and one else can take away the life of another except with the concurrence of Allah.We, therefore, remind Jubilee that these illegal and shameful acts will yield nothing until Allah says they should.
The Interior Ministers and the bosses from whom he picks the illegal orders or whom he seeks to please should be ashamed and prepare to be humiliated because they are doomed to fail.
We refuse to be intimidated, and we ask Gov Joho and Gov Kingi to stand firmly on the side of the truth in the full knowledge that they have the full backing of the party and the superior protection that only Allah gives
Written by: HON JUNET MOHAMMED
DIRECTOR OF ELECTIONS/CAMPAIGNS ODM
MP SUNA EAST.
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]
Electoral reforms have dominated headlines and parliamentary business with special sittings set to break the ice. The government allied legislators are up in arms with the manual backup of voting forget the fact that the blind endorsement has some MPs passing bills without proper digestion. The core issue of electronic voting is the identification of eligible voters through biometric matching. The opposition has credible suspicions that the manual register would introduce ghost voters. Kriegler report on 2007 elections found more than 2M dead voters to have participated in the fatal election. With innuendos surrounding the debate, we can use Turkana as a case study to demystify open lies floated on the electronic system.
Thuraya Telecommunications Company confirmed 100% transmission results for recent by-elections in Turkana held in the most of the remote county assembly wards, enhancing the credibility of the electoral process. The success rate followed the deployment of satellite coverage, extensive training and support work provided in conjunction with Airtel Kenya.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the regulatory agency responsible for conducting and supervising referenda and elections in Kenya, needs to achieve full and immediate transmission of results. A delay in the confirmation of election results and declaration of winners prompts credibility concerns.
In October 2016, the IEBC were facing a particularly difficult challenge. Four by-elections were being held in county assembly wards that had limited or no terrestrial coverage. In Mosiro, in the Rift Valley, and Kalokol, on the western shore of Lake Turkana, there is no GSM coverage at all.
A joint team from both Thuraya and Airtel created a 14-day support program. IEBC election officers were given comprehensive training, as well as a results simulation exercise and technical assistance on election day itself.
The results were detailed: operating with Thuraya SatSleeve and Samsung J2 smartphones, the IEBC reported 100% transmission results in both Mosiro and Kalokol. The transfer was successful, using a specially developed mobile app that can be downloaded from Google Play Store and which is compatible with smartphones.
Bilal Hamoui, Thuraya Chief Commercial Officer, said: “Thuraya is uniquely placed to transform how the electoral process works in remote regions of Africa. Only we can take smart applications and apply them to the groundbreaking Thuraya SatSleeve device. We are delighted this investment in equipment, expertise and training have been such a success in Kenya. It’s a vote of confidence in Thuraya’s technology, which can connect anybody, anywhere; we’re looking forward to replicating this in future elections and other locations.”
In the two wards with limited GSM coverage – Sala, in Tana River County, and Nyacheki, in the Gucha district – transmission of the results was achieved through the GSM operators network.
James Buyekane, ICT Director, and Lauranta Chepkwony, Network Engineer, at IEBC said: “The Commission are grateful to Thuraya and Airtel Kenya for the training and technical support provided during the by-elections, and the dedicated support they provided throughout the training period.”
VSAT technology is the most suitable technology to put as the backup even if it’s costly but for the sake of peace and credibility of elections, We can afford it. VSAT is the short form for Very Small Aperture Terminals. In short, there are three main components of the VSAT Technology – The Satellite, A Central Hub (With a Big Dish Antenna) and a number of smaller nodes (smaller dish antenna) kept at various remote locations that together form a Star topology (Even Mesh topologies are possible for small networks) using the satellite network).
VSAT has the advantage of Access in Remote Locations: This has been the traditional strength of Satellite Networks. A Satellite in the Geo Synchronous orbit can cover around 33% of the earth’s surface and can provide connectivity to any region covered by it. A satellite can also focus on a particularly high-density region, and multiple satellites can work together to provide global coverage. This is very useful for remote locations (rural areas, ships and coastal regions, hills, etc.) where there is limited or no terrestrial connectivity.
Satellite Networks are very reliable (having up-times in the magnitude of 99.5% and above) and have been field tested for many years now. VSAT networks have always found applications in this area – they make a good backup network to the terrestrial networks (Leased Lines, MPLS circuits, Broadband DSL Connectivity, Internet Leased Lines, etc.) and there are certain customized plans available for backup exclusively with satellite service providers that charge for only 5% of the monthly capacity when the VSAT connection is used exclusively for backup. And yes, VSAT networks are not affected by natural calamities like earthquakes, storms, etc. Some network routers come with optional VSAT modules for terminating the VSAT links and providing auto fail-over during the failure of terrestrial network links.
The options for backup are endless; It’s, therefore, ridiculous that a whole CS for ICT, Mucheru blindly endorsed the manual backup knowingly disregarding the effective electronic backup as we’ve illustrated. There’s nearly no excuse to an electronic voting system other than dark motives being chauffeured. Satellite phones as SK Macharia lightly hinted would do the magic and put an end to the debate.
In any political campaign, the strategy laid often determines the success or failure. Raila Odinga has unsuccessfully attempted to clinch presidential post thrice and attempting what they call the last bullet in 2017 elections. In his failed attempts several blames and failures have been floated on his campaign organisation but how much has Raila learnt from his past experiences.
The cronies surrounding the opposition leader have been widely blamed for servicing their interest in the umbrella of Rao while downplaying his interests leading to his consecutive losses. 2017 campaigns, unlike the rest, comes with new angles; traditional media is slowly diminishing with even media houses focusing on digital space. This is an indicator for any serious political secretariat to give emphasis on digital space campaigning as a strategy to maximize publicity and reach the wider audience. Social Media heavily played a role in determining the U.S. elections; it was the battlefield with Trump having the upper hand in his campaigns. It comes in handy, especially with presumed or bias mainstream media.
The opposition has for long-time complained of being given media blackout in their undertakings. Instead of being crying babies, adopting other efficient platforms as digital space should be prioritized and not be undermined. Several concerned ODM loyalists, running the party’s agenda on the social media platform, revealed the heap of garbage to Kenya Insights that’s derailing the success of digital authority of the party. They’re genuinely worried things could go East now that elections are here and campaigns about to gain momentum. With the cartel honchos blocking nearly all avenues to reach the party’s top organ attention and especially Raila.
Raila has key point men located both at the CORD Secretariat and Orange House. The problem is that the people he has entrusted with the responsibilities of PA and his communication have been working to derail his efforts at ascending to the presidency.
They have mainly made sure that social media activities are done haphazardly as opposed to a structural arrangement.
Efforts initiated by individual bloggers to have a structured blogging mechanism have been frustrated first by Raila’s PA and official spokesman Dennis Onyango. The reason is in all likelihood because Onyango and his cartels are benefiting from the budgetary allocation for social media works. The bloggers get peanuts or nothing.
But, that’s not the all about Onyango. The disgraceful man has an attitude that will keep anyone off Capitol Hill house. Over and above fattening his wallet off the bloggers, it is a known fact the Raila’s spokesman is a William Ruto aide who has consistently leaked critical Raila’s programs, speeches, and itinerary to William Ruto. Dennis Onyango discussed and put into perspective is incompetent for his job.
Onyango, as the only speech writer for Raila, should tell how the same speeches get to the likes of Itumbi before Raila reads them. The case at hand, the dam in Rift Valley? Uhuru was addressing a rally, and he told them Raila would hold a press conference later in the day to bring up the issue of another dam. True to it, that was part of Raila’s itinerary for the day. Someone had leaked the information. We can only narrow down to Onyango unless he shares his stuff with an unknown person who leaks them.
Dennis Onyango with Raila Odinga
He’s coming out to be a man whose ethical and professional training as a journalist must be dissected and analyzed. Raila deserves better than him. He is a spent cartridge with nothing substantial to offer. His ideas are as old as they can be. He can’t change.
With him as Raila’s PA, it’s also impossible for even senior bloggers to meet with Raila. To him, Jakom is a pocket wallet that has to be hidden. Onyango’s resistance to change is borne out of the fear that he might lose his job and the influence he has on Capitol Hill to bloggers. He’s a disgracefully petty and insecure human being. He believes that social media have no bearing in Raila’s campaign strategy.
He doesn’t believe in the power of the social media; yet, as a communication person, he should be the lead in providing strategies on how to counter Jubilee’s lethal but ignorant team of #36bloggers. Onyango’s incompetence has exposed Jakom to Jubilee’s daily assaults, coming in the name of hashtags. The situation is disturbing and can only get worse.
Now, let us put Dennis Onyango and his incompetence aside and pick up another member of the cartel that has been frustrating the blogging community of the ODM. His name is Noah Akala. A trained doctor by profession; Dr. Noah manages Raila Odinga’s social media. How a doctor would earn a position to manage social media for a serious Presidential candidate is something that can be discussed at length.
The discussion will however never yield either logical or conclusive results. Noah, together with Onyango is part of the team that would never appreciate the role of the blogosphere in a political environment. He calls bloggers ‘Tumbocrats’ yet he eats their budgetary allocation.
The cartels operate from Orange House and Capitol Hill. The most notorious one the one at Capital Hill and Dennis Onyango is their head. The one at Orange House is under Etale’s docket. Etale we learn from insiders also claims to be a victim of the cartel. He claims his efforts to set up a team are being frustrated from the Capital Hill. He’s also blaming Onyango. However, Stake is not an angel either; there are several cases of short changing from several major bloggers who’ve worked with him. He’s a lesser devil in the corridors. Etale has an advantage because he has the backing of key bloggers, unlike Onyango who appears to be disliked by 90% of the bloggers.
We can all remember the #ODM10At10Mombasa that happened few months to the close of 2016. Noah was in charge of the facilitation of bloggers. He received over 1 million from Mombasa Governor Hon Joho to share it with the traveling blogger. Out of this amount bloggers would only take home about 150,000/= while the remaining figure would be blatantly fed on by Noah and his team.
This issue is said to have angered Governor 001. He’s yet come to terms with the blatant theft and greed as exposed by the Dr. cum social media ‘manager .’ These among other issues are what an average ODM blogger go through. They successfully create a buzz around events trend them for days but are left with nothing to take home as cartels strategize on how to make a kill of their sweat and efforts. Things must change for the good.
Unlike #36bloggers who work for Jubilee on the structured arrangement, with the good monthly take home and commensurate allowances, ODM bloggers continue to live the life of beggars. In politics, LOYALTY is rewarded. In ODM, the loyalty of the bloggers is being taken for granted. One hopes Raila Odinga will wake up and send someone home before it’s too late. Bloggers must have their space to operate freely and in a structured manner for Raila, CORD, and the Party. The insanity of doing things the same way over and over expecting a change must be stopped. People must be ready to adopt New changes. Ironical that Onyango and party are frustrating digital footprinting while at Same time the party is pushing for a digitized election.
What’s needed is aa complete overhaul in the system and for Rail to look over his shoulders, restructure and constitute a sincere, professional and committed secretariat to drive his campaign with the deal that bit deserves. He can as well chose to surround himself with selfish cronies who’ll sing praise songs to him while naked instead of dressing him. Every campaign team needs to feel the Energy by having the general and sense of ownership of the course. Isolation, as witnessed in the organs of ODM, goes to demoralize the team leading to a deflated drive. The ODM digital progress is uncoordinated and pathetically driven, unlike competitors who’re miles ahead with sharp strategies. Is anyone listening? Time will tell.
A cornered Aaron is opening nonexistent doors throwing accusations at his junior anchor Joy Doreen after being caught with her car that had been reported stolen.
On 23/12/2016 at around 10:30 am Joy Doreen Biira an employee of Standard Media Group parked her motor mv reg no KBY 831K Mercedes Benz E220 Valued at Ksh 2.8m at the Standard Group HQ parking Yard along Mombasa road. At about 2055 hrs she realized that her car keys were missing from her desk. She decided to go out and check whether her vehicle was at the parking only to find it missing.
She immediately reported the same to security and transport officer about the incident who together with her did another check at the gate and established that the car had left the gate at around 19:39 hrs. She reported the matter at Industrial area police station. Investigations commenced leading to the recovery of the said Motor vehicle in Kisumu.
At the time of the arrest, the Motor vehicle was bearing Reg no KCH 117L and one occupant namely Aron Ochieng a workmate of the complainant who is in police custody. Also, two guards who were on duty on 23/12/2016 have been booked in cells at Industrial Area police station awaiting further action.
During his court appearance in Kisumu, the disgraced editor attempted to inflict a new twist into the scenario by claiming they had a romantic relationship and had conspired with Doreen to stage car disappearance and file compensation claim on the insurance. However, investigations done by Kenya Insights with sleuths at the Mombasa Road media house goes beyond reasonable doubts to affirm that Aaron indeed stole the car.
The disgraced KTN editor Aaron Ochieng when he appeared before a Kisumu Court
On that day, Aaron was finishing his shift. Doreen reported working at about 6 pm and Aaron as the editor asked her to read business news for 9 pm. Doreen told him she had made arrangements with another anchor so she would not read. Since Aaron had planned to steal the car, he told her to go downstairs and edit a story he had prepared. As she left her desk in the newsroom to the downstairs where the studio is, Aaron picked the key and ran down and handed it to two of his “visitors” who had come and ran back to the newsroom. When Doreen came back almost an hour later, she found the key that was on the table missing. She asked, and Aaron was the first to say he did not know. Aaron had studied the place well. The car has tinged, Tinted and was seen driving out at 7.30pm the same time the car was driven away. Occupants couldn’t be easily noticed, and the timing was perfect not to raise any suspicions.
Then the following day on a Saturday, Aaron called a colleague at Standard and told him he had bought a new Merc but had difficulties in registering it at KRA. So he wanted the colleague to lend him his Merc for him to drive to Kisumu and back for the Christmas but the colleague said he had traveled. He had by then put a fake number plate at a garage in Santon estate. He then drove to Kisumu. At a garage and car wash, a Keen boy saw the plate was not tallying with the one on insurance sticker. He called cops on him.
His charge sheets;
Aaron is a disgrace, It’s not the first time he’s involved in stealing allegations, his colleagues tell Kenya Insights, the editor is a serial their and dishonest character. He was previously caught stealing a laptop at the Standard offices in I&M building where his bosses defended him and covered up the ugly scene. Aaron lied to his wife to have bought the Mercedes he stole only to be hit with a surprise in Kisumu when police officers rounded him up. The car from documents seen by Kenya Insights is registered under Doreen’s husband name, Brian crushing myth that she conspired with him. Doreen is described by her colleagues as a professionalwho’d never engage in romantic relationship with her senior in newsroom. We’re told getting a hug from her is a hike to the top of Mt. Everest literally. It’s for this reason that the wild claims by Aaron over a supposed romantic relationship with the Ugandan beauty got whole newsroom bursting in laughter.
He has brought immeasurable embarrassment to the entire family a burden they have to walk around with.
Throughout history the power of the people has been tested time and again. Kenya’s own struggle for independence has pride of place in the annals of freedom struggles. Our progenitors turned the clock of history when they could no longer bear the yoke of colonial oppression. They gave us the promise of a fresh lease of life in a land splendor where justice would be our shield and defender.
The promise of our national anthem has however been betrayed with impunity. Where the fruit of our labour should fill every heart with thanks giving, our nation has become a looters’ paradise.
In March 2015, President Uhuru Kenyatta restored our hope when he declared “an unwavering war against corruption,” in his second State of the Nation Address. He received a standing ovation from the joint houses of Parliament. The rest of Kenyans beamed with unguarded delight. Yet, does all this seem to have been no more than perfectly choreographed hot air?
As a trusting citizen, I feel cheated. As a nation, our values have not merely been altered, but have actually been destroyed. High level government officers have made runaway graft and corruption the order of the day. They shamelessly exploit the toil of hardworking Kenyans and present carefully constructed defense lies.
The state has been quick to repudiate the vice while laying claim to it. The doublethink trend is agonizing. As it consciously induces unconsciousness, millions of Kenyans can only afford a meal per day. Not by choice, but as a result of economic paralysis triggered by a few upper crusts.
Mr President, enough of the historical decadence and polysyllabic speeches. Kenya is waiting for you to take a stand and emulate one Lee Kuan Yew whom you are on record as stating he is your role model. The founding father of Singapore transformed his country from a mere trading post to the present day Asian metropolis that it is. We are waiting for you to be our Lee Kuan Yew, for the future and unborn generations.
Kenya is smarting under the burden of the Health Sandal, Land grabbing, CCTV installation, NYS non fictional soap opera, Youth Fund, Anglo “fleecing” 3Billion payout reward, irregular tendering, billions that remain unaccounted in government departments, among many more economic crimes by the high and mighty.
Public anger is mounting, as can only be expected. History has taught us that the power inherent in the will of ordinary citizens has birthed new dawns.
At the end of the 17th century, peasants in France redesigned their country’s political landscape to bring a rotten monarchy to its end. Royal coffers had been depleted under King Louis XVI and his predecessors. The people’s plight fell on deaf ears. The old order got its death certificate.
The constitutional power bestowed unto Kenyans demand for accountability and transparency in all state affairs. At no point should favoritism apply to anyone who has consciously defiled our economy. You must take an intrepid stand
Women, the old and the youth are dying daily from treatable conditions. Unemployment is soaring at an all time high. A majority wallow in hopelessness due to the billions lost through scams. Money that could have helped in the alleviation of the basic living standards.
We must reclaim our loving country from tainted leadership.
We the electorate doesn’t want to overthrow the Government as one spin doctor and his handlers put it. We just want to take control of our destiny, that we may be culpable if we mess up. Our hopes, passion and vision for the future are our very own existence.
Written by
Nancy Wambui
Political Communications Expert based in South Africa
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]
Controversy has hit the IEBC nominees by the President. A nine-member team headed by Bernadette Musundi will meet at an undisclosed location Tuesday morning, amid growing criticism it failed to scrutinize and give perfect candidates the green light.
IEBC Chairman nominee Wafula Chebukati has had many eyebrows raised with questions stuck around his nominations which weren’t awarded on merits. Several controversies that questions Wafula’s integrity has been forthcoming and was, he was the lawyer to former anti-graft chief Philip Kinisu who settled on to pick office for allegedly pocketing Sh35 million from the National Youth Service. There are concerns that Chebukati could come from a beneficiary of the cash, although there is no evidence yet.
It doesn’t end therean active IEBC Chair nominee is a half brother to Kinisu who is married to Nancy Gitau’s sister. Nancy Gitau is one of the most powerful women in Jubilee administration, and we learn she’s top organs in Statehouse controlling the billion shilling campaign kitty for the 2017 elections.
Chebukati’s law firm – Cootow and Associates Advocates – is also accused of professional negligence that led to a loss of millions of shillings belonging to the Nairobi county government. The firm did not defend a suit filed by Salima Enterprises against the county and the county government lost the case and was forced to pay Sh325 million compensation in addition to the cost of the suit and legal fees.
On December 23, the selection panel settled on Chebukati, alongside High Court advocate Tukero ole Kina for IEBC chairman. Kina scored 77 per cent against Chebukati’s 63 per cent. But President Uhuru Kenyatta – allowed by law to pick the electoral commission chairman from a list of two – pulled a surprise on Kenyans by settling on the less qualified Chebukati, who coincidentally comes from the same region as IEBC chief executive Ezra Chiloba.
The other candidate for IEBC commissioner with fresh integrity questions is Consolata Nkatha. She allegedly has an active criminal court case, in which she is accused of defrauding the Museums of Kenya of Sh280 million.
There are genuine concerns that IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba and chairperson nominee Wafula Chebukati cannot work concurrently for the commission because they are from the same community and county are misplaced.
Kenya Insights gathers that Statehouse power brokers are uncomfortable with Ezra holding the CEO position vowing to send him packing through several avenues including forced resignation. Word is he’s been approached to quote a price for his exit. The unease is fuelled by the fact that is dating Rosemary Odinga, and they fear this could give Odinga an upper hand. They’re now looking into replacing him with their trusted candidate. The behind-the-scenes innuendos go to show the greater influence by the executive in the IEBC line-up something that casts queries on the credibility and sovereign independence of the electoral body given the powerful external influences.
Wafula according to power shots is seen as System’s friendly and ‘easy to work with’. He’s a known close associate to DP Ruto whom he met several days to his appointment in Mombasa. The appointment has political bait as Well, the appointment of Chebukati and former Anglican Church Archbishop Eliud Wabukala to head the anti-graft agency are meant to woo the Bukusu community to support Jubilee. Bukusu commands about 600,000 votes. It’s not by coincidence that Kinisu a Bukusu has been replaced by Wabukhala, his tribe mate as the EACC Chairman.
The doctor’s strike is getting into it’s 5th week with a total public healthcare freeze throughout the country and the administration stuck in cat and rat games with doctors leaving the poor Kenyans to keep burying their loved ones. The majority of Kenyans given poverty index are reliant on public health services and a closure of the same quickly translates into investments nation.
Doctors have stood their grounds of 100% implementation of the CBA that the government signed but have taken a turn around to dishonour. Apart from 300% salary increase, the CBA have with it beneficial cranes that would spruce the medical state in public hospitals. These include; More doctors to be employed to ensure more access by the public. The necessary drugs, medical supplies & equipment to serve Kenyans better. Better Remuneration of Doctors – More doctors available all the time at a public hospital near you (Less brain drain regarding doctors leaving for greener pastures).
With an open laxity and feet dragging by the government to end the doctors strike. A theory being advanced into factual state indicates that the doctors might have played into the hands of the system’s prayers. Prolonging the strike, demonizing the doctors while painting public healthcare as mediocre giving private providers a milestone in the market.
Khawar Mann of the Abraaj Group, an investment firm based in Dubai that specializes in developing markets, saw something else while at the Metropolitan Hospital in Nairobi, Told NYT in an interview that “Nairobi is a sweet spot for us,” he said. “You have emerging middle incomes. And there is a massive need for health care.” Just when Jubilee got into power, President Uhuru presided over a 2B ground breaking of a modernised Nairobi Hospital health facility with the then CEO and now a CS, Dr.Mailu. First lady Margaret also presided over several alike projects. It was indeed a wet dream expecting Mailu handpicked from the exploitative private healthcare world to perform miracles in streamlining public healthcare instead of advancing the corporate health agendas. No wonder he’s less committed in bringing to an end the crisis.
Below screenshots of article on Statehouse website that has since been deleted reporting on First Lady launching yet another Private Hospital advancement.
As Ahmed Tawakal a Health Management expert notes, the scheme is to kill the public healthcare system in the long run. He goes that The current impasse between doctors and the government over the implementation of the 2013 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) may seem like a normal industrial action that is taking longer to resolve. But at its core the lack of effort to stop the deterioration of services in government health facilities due to the strike should have alarm bells ringing as to the potential for complete collapse of the public health system.
There has been a slow but steady investment in healthcare by several multinational companies and even investment by proxy by the IMF through the International Financial Corporation(IFC).The aim of the investment by the multinationals and venture capitalists is maximizing profits in the chosen ventures. This investment can only have maximum returns if a greater proportion of the population utilize the services of the for-profit healthcare providers and a nudge towards this can only come from the inaction to solving an industrial dispute pitting doctors and government run facilities.
The resulting vacuum generated by such inaction will result in an acceptability of greater privatization of even essential services that are currently available in public hospitals. Several private equity firms have in the recent past made in-roads in acquiring local stakes in local medical facilities such as Metropolitan Hospital, Goodlife pharmacy chains, and health insurance companies. These investments and also in for-profit social franchising models targeted towards the low-income communities of the slums and rural areas will be the greatest beneficiaries of a collapsed. Non-Welfare health system.
The returns from greater private insurance coverage, greater uptake of private services and increased importation of pharmaceutical and medical equipment shall tilt the curve to benefit repatriation of profits.
The government will almost robotically be willing to go along with the experiment as it will be rid of the high payroll expense of doctors and specialists who would be expected to join the consortiums that will be formed to protect their interests. This will reduce the government expenditure on health as a percentage of GDP well below 3% and ensure absorption of the difference by more politically expedient causes.
The government will even go to the extent of marketing a pro-poor medical insurance scheme under NHIF in the guise that it would reduce financial burden through pooling of resources and would allow the bottom of the pyramid (slum dwellers) to access care at the social health franchises after an enrolment fee and a few other jargon that will be added to confuse them. The new system will almost certainly be touted as a success based on a successful US or Indian model. What won’t be divulged is that the US healthcare system has the worst per capita efficiency and quality of care among OECD countries.
With this information, all will proceed so fast that we will find ourselves with a predominantly private health system modeled on the US system. The system will, however, be a success to the shareholders and venture capitalists that will get maximum returns on investment. Already there are counties that have had initial contact and alliances with private healthcare entities to set up base in their areas, allocated huge chunks of land to the private healthcare providers and thus it’s only a matter of time before the process is full completed and the vision realized.
The desperation of the doctors and need to succeed in their chosen field will also force them to either join the growing private care provision or force them to seek greener pastures in foreign lands. Either ways its win-win for the private system and a great loss for the country.
My plea is that we reform our health system to have a more robust, resilient public health system with sustainable healthcare financing model that does not take us the United States way. Several studies including some from The Commonwealth Fund have found that public, tax-funded health systems have ensured greater access to care for the populace and better outcomes than other systems.
Studies have also shown that a dollar spent on healthcare by the government has an impact in raising the GDP of that country. Therefore we need a re-think of leadership and governance of health system in the country and entrust it to individuals and structures that cater for the greater good and ensure equitable, sustainable, affordable and quality care to all. The British created the National Health Trust (NHS) from the ashes of World War II and it’s a model we could borrow a leaf from taking into consideration local variation and shortcomings of the NHS.
