Months after they were acquired, there has been not a single mission of successful deployment of the VN-4s to report. Key components, including shock absorbers and air conditioning, don’t work. Kenyan officers have misgivings about them; they do not even know how to operate them properly, let alone maintain them. Almost all have been parked since they were commissioned
They were supposed to be the machines that made the difference in the war against terror in the Kenyan story; the ones to turn cops into heroes, and the bad guys into, well, not heroes. But the chronicle of the 30 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) purchased by the Kenya government, in a shroud of secrecy, from China is one that speaks of wanton waste and abundant ineptitude.
At the commissioning of the APCs in February this year, President Uhuru Kenyatta was evidently excited. He extolled the “important milestone” that his administration had attained, in its mission to modernisation the police service. It was, he said, one thing his government had done differently from its predecessors in decades, which would give the cops that much-needed boost in the fight against terrorism, banditry and other forms of crime.
The cost of the APCs was never publically disclosed – no police or military purchase ever is – but they are believed to cost less than US-manufactured ones, which go for close to $1.2 million (Sh120 million) per unit. Available information indicates that Kenya was the second country to acquire the VN-4 APCs, manufactured by China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) Group.
The only other country known to have the same hardware is the Venezuelan National Guard, under the repressive regime of President Nicolás Maduro. The vehicle’s armour is welded shut and primarily provides protection from small arms fire and splinters from explosives. According to armyrecognition.com, the VN-4 is fitted with an open-roof, and a small turret mounted at the front top hull, armed with a 12.7mm heavy machine gun. Three smoke grenade dischargers are mounted on each side of the turret. It has a top speed of 115 km/h and efficient range of 700 kilometres.
The Nairobi Law Monthly’s investigations have returned a damning verdict, which points to a mega scandal within the Presidency, specifically the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government – the same ministry has previously been accused of appropriating billions of shillings in the space of days in inexplicable expenses; the journalist who reported the story was later arrested for ‘questioning’, and was only released after a public outcry
By the time the APCs landed at the port of Mombasa from China, they had not been tested locally; neither had Kenyan police officers, who were to be the primary users, undergone any form of training on how to use or maintain them.
Don’t miss out to get your copy of the August release of Nairobi Law Monthly when they hit the streets the first week of August and get the finer details of what would be one of the biggest scandals to ever hit Jubilee government after Eurobond and NYS scandal.
In the past four days, Kenya Insights has been on a consistent journey revealing and exposing how a wealthy and powerful cartel has been the frustrating justice system. A public listed land in Eastleigh that was open for PPP by the County Council has been marred with controversies, interminable wrangles that have seen Alfa Traders illegally put up a structure on the claimed land.
The land that originally belongs to the County Government the legal custodians with the title deed, somehow Alfa Traders claimed ownership is saying they have the lease. Their claim was nullified in 2008 by the then County Council, Director of Legal Affairs N’gethe. Through a gazette notice, the lease was revoked and termed as fake.
National Lands Commission has also disowned the lease claimed by Alfa Traders on several occasions. But the actions and words of this commission don’t replicate, they’ve gone as far us summoning them through their lawyers Ahmednasir and Abdikadir Advocates to present evidence and convince them to be in the hold of the original lease but have resorted to cats and mouse plays, yet to honour summons.
Alfa Traders recently applied to the Registrar of titles to be issued with a new title to the said land, claiming they had lost the original title. If true that they owned this can they produce a copy of the same to affirm this?
While the court of appeal ruled for the PPP process be refreshed and officials and City Hall collaborated with the Alfa Traders to be awarded the tender. How did the planning department approve the building plans for Alfa Traders with a lease that is in question? Can the County Government produce the title they used to adopt the construction plans for the Alfa Traders? Is this the same lease that was revoked by the previous county council that they used to approve? If the title doesn’t exist as NLC records indicate so, did County Government adopt a building plan without a valid title deed, this is the misuse of office and should be punishable by law.
Still staying at City Hall, Minister of Lands, Christopher Khaemba has been issuing contradictory statements exposing incompetence or the fraud conspiracy within the premise. He wrote to NLC in a letter dated 23rd June 2016 to authenticate the lease to Alfa Traders, the same lease that had been revoked by the previous City Council in a gazette notice 11952 on 19th Dec 2008. The same City Council had written in a letter that seemingly wasn’t served and only meant for hoodwinking to Alfa Traders to stop construction of the mall.
The unending yet ineffective and not followed up to letters goes to reveal the ugly face of impunity. The county council, NLC both who’ve issued notices to the Alfa Traders to stop construction, cannot that they’re unaware that the construction that is going on in the full glare of the public is happening without their notice.
All orders from City Hall have been disregarded, they issue directives from the office and never follow up to ensure they’re effected this simply put a hoodwink and PR measures to keep others busy while construction on a public land goes on.
Is the County Government under a leadership of Governor Kidero trying to tell Nairobians that they’re powerless and not the authority and that Alfa Traders and the land grabbing cartel are stronger than him? Buying time, issuing toilet paper notices and doing zero follow-ups on their words goes deep to show the culture of impunity and tolerance to the cartel. This notion can only be wiped out if the Government is seen to be genuinely working and not just talking.
The latest update on the seemingly never-ending school fires comes from the National Intelligence Service (NIS). The agency has advised the Ministry Of Education to call immediately for the indefinite closure of schools with Intel indicating that more fires are set up in the coming days. An average of 5 schools are burned daily with over 300 schools already razed down.
Education CS Matiangi has insisted that the exam leakage cartel is behind the fires- a sentiment that the association of the secondary level heads has dismissed. From Kenya Insights investigations, the cartel that is crippling the education sector is larger than it seems and dates ages back. The cartels are so powerful that they’ll do anything and everything to protect their empire. They’re ghosts that can’t be seen just heard.
Exams Leakage
This is perhaps the most lucrative business ever and an opening for quick cash. The syndicate is estimated to net about Sh.400M each year. It has its head at Mtihani house where KNEC officials privy to the exams coordinate the flow of exam leakage. Security officers and teachers make the trickle down membership.
The cost of buying exams is passed down to parents through non-existent projects in the fee structure; this, according to Kenya Insights investigations, is a key explanation behind those exorbitant and exaggerated school fees in secondary schools.
There’s also the fee cartel in which head teachers and education ministry officials conspire to introduce illusionary projects in the fee structure. The loot is then shared as parents bare the bulk of the burden.
Procurement
Suppliers
This is also another lucrative field where education officials, publishers, suppliers of textbooks and teachers conspire to inflate prices of the books. It’s estimated to be raking an annual amount of up to Sh.200M. This extends to infrastructure projects where contractors conspire with head teachers and regional ministry officials
Matinagi stringent rules have sent shivers down many people’s spines and those who transacted dirty deals would take advantage of the fires to burn down evidence and doctoring records with auditing called upon statitistics. The extortion racket in the education sector is under threat and won’t go down quickly.
Matiangi got into the ministry with full knowledge of the cartel, their strengths and vowed to fight them with the aim of cleaning the education sector but they’ve fought back hard. The fight wasn’t going to be easy, dismantling a cartel needs a major strategy, and Matiangi is yet to hack it. A suggestion of convention bringing together all education stakeholders has been raised.
President Obama delivering his speech at the Democratic Convention 2016 in Philadelphia
OBAMA: Thank you!
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Thank you.
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Thank you!
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Thank you.
Thank you so much! Thank you everybody.
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Thank you. Thank you.
OBAMA: Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you! Thank you!
Thank you, everybody.
AUDIENCE: Yes, we can! Yes, we can!
Thank you so much, everybody!
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I love you back!
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Hello, America! Hello, Democrats!
So 12 years ago tonight I addressed this convention for the very first time.
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You met my two little girls, Malia and Sasha, now two amazing young women who just fill me with pride.
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You fell for my brilliant wife and partner, Michelle…
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…who has made me a better father and a better man, who has gone on to inspire our nation as first lady and who somehow hasn’t aged a day.
(LAUGHTER)
I know, the same cannot be said for me. My girls remind me all the time. Wow, you’ve changed so much, daddy.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: And then they try to clean it up. Not bad, just more mature.
And it’s true, I was so young that first time in Boston.
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And look, I’ll admit it, maybe I was a little nervous addressing such a big crowd. But I was filled with faith; faith in America, the generous, bighearted, hopeful country that made my story, that made all of our stories possible.
A lot’s happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war and it’s been tested by recession and all manner of challenges, I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am even more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.
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How could I not be, after all that we’ve achieved together?
After the worst recession in 80 years, we’ve fought our way back. We’ve seen deficits come down, 401(k)s recover, an auto industry set new records, unemployment reach eight-year lows, and our businesses create 15 million new jobs.
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After a century of trying, we declared that health care in America is not a privilege for a few, it is a right for everybody.
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After decades of talk, we finally began to wean ourselves off foreign oil, we doubled our production of clean energy.
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We brought more of our troops home to their families, and we delivered justice to Osama bin Laden.
(APPLAUSE) Through diplomacy, we shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program, we opened up a new chapter with the people of Cuba, brought nearly 200 nations together around a climate agreement that could save this planet for our children.
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We put policies in place to help students with loans, protect consumers from fraud, cut veteran homelessness almost in half. And through countless acts of quiet courage, America learned that love has no limits, and marriage equality is now a reality across the land.
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By so many measures, our country is stronger and more prosperous than it was when we started. And through every victory and every setback, I’ve insisted that change is never easy, and never quick; that we wouldn’t meet all of our challenges in one term, or one presidency, or even in one lifetime.
So tonight, I’m here to tell you that yes, we’ve still got more work to do. More work to do for every American still in need of a good job or a raise, paid leave or a decent retirement; for every child who needs a sturdier ladder out of poverty or a world-class education; for everyone who has not yet felt the progress of these past seven-and-a-half years. We need to keep making our streets safer and our criminal justice system fairer; our homeland more secure, and our world more peaceful and sustainable for the next generation.
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We’re not done perfecting our union, or living up to our founding creed that all of us are created equal, all of us are free in the eyes of God.
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And that work involves a big choice this November. I think it’s fair to say, this is not your typical election. It’s not just a choice between parties or policies, the usual debates between left and right. This is a more fundamental choice about who we are as a people, and whether we stay true to this great American experiment in self-government.
Look, we Democrats have always had plenty of differences with the Republican Party, and there’s nothing wrong with that. it’s precisely this contest of ideas that pushes our country forward.
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But what we heard in Cleveland last week wasn’t particularly Republican and it sure wasn’t conservative. What we heard was a deeply pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against each other and turn away from the rest of the world. There were no serious solutions to pressing problems, just the fanning of resentment and blame and anger and hate. And that is not the America I know.
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The America I know is full of courage and optimism and ingenuity. The America I know is decent and generous. Sure, we have real anxieties about paying the bills and protecting our kids, caring for a sick parent. We get frustrated with political gridlock and worry about racial divisions. We are shocked and saddened by the madness of Orlando or Nice. There are pockets of America that never recovered from factory closures, men who took pride in hard work and providing for their families who now feel forgotten, parents who wonder whether their kids will have the same opportunities we had.
All of that is real. We’re challenged to do better, to be better. But as I’ve traveled this country, through all 50 states, as I’ve rejoiced with you and mourned with you, what I have also seen, more than anything, is what is right with America.
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OBAMA: I see people working hard and starting businesses. I see people teaching kids and serving our country. I see engineers inventing stuff, doctors coming up with new cures. I see a younger generation full of energy and new ideas, not constrained by what is, ready to seize what ought to be.
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And most of all, I see Americans of every party, every background, every faith who believe that we are stronger together, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, young, old, gay, straight, men, women, folks with disabilities, all pledging allegiance, under the same proud flag, to this big, bold country that we love.
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That’s what I see! That’s the America that I know!
And there is only one candidate in this race who believes in that future, has devoted her life to it; a mother and grandmother who would do anything to help our children thrive, a leader with real plans to break down barriers and blast through glass ceilings and widen the circle of opportunity to every single American, the next president of the United States, Hillary Clinton.
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AUDIENCE: Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!
OBAMA: That’s right. That’s right.
Let me tell you, eight years ago, you may remember Hillary and I were rivals for the Democratic nomination. We battled for a year-and- a-half. Let me tell you, it was tough because Hillary was tough. I was worn out.
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She was doing everything I was doing, but just like Ginger Rogers it was backwards in heels.
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And every time I thought I might have that race won, Hillary just came back stronger.
But after it was all over, I asked Hillary to join my team.
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And she was a little surprised, some of my staff were surprised.
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But ultimately said yes because she knew that what was at stake was bigger than either of us.
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And for four years, for four years, I had a front-row seat to her intelligence, her judgment and her discipline. I came to realize that her unbelievable work ethic wasn’t for praise, it wasn’t for attention, that she was in this for everyone who needs a champion.
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I understood that after all these years, she has never forgotten just who she’s fighting for.
Hillary’s still got the tenacity that she had as a young woman working at the Children’s Defense Fund, going door to door to ultimately make sure kids with disabilities could get a quality education.
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She’s still got the heart she showed as our first lady, working with Congress to help push through a Children’s Health Insurance Program that to this day protects millions of kids.
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She’s still seared with the memory of every American she met who lost loved ones on 9/11, which is why, as a senator from New York, she fought so hard for funding to help first responders, to help the city rebuild; why, as secretary of state, she sat with me in the Situation Room and forcefully argued in favor of the mission that took out bin Laden.
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You know, nothing truly prepares you for the demands of the Oval Office. You can read about it, you can study it. But until you’ve sat at that desk, you don’t know what it’s like to manage a global crisis or send young people to war. But Hillary’s been in the room, she’s been part of those decisions.
She knows what’s at stake in the decisions our government makes, what’s at stake for the working family, for the senior citizen, for the small-business owner, for the soldier, for the veteran. And even in the midst of crisis, she listens to people and she keeps her cool and she treats everybody with respect. And no matter how daunting the odds, no matter how much people try to knock her down, she never, ever quits.
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That’s the Hillary I know. That’s the Hillary I’ve come to admire. And that’s why I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman, not me, not Bill, nobody more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America.
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I hope you don’t mind, Bill, but I was just telling the truth, man.
And by the way, in case you were wondering about her judgment, take a look at her choice of running mate. Tim Kaine is as good a man, as humble and as committed a public servant as anybody that I know. I know his family. I love Anne, I love their kids. He will be a great vice president, he will make Hillary a better president, just like my dear friend and brother Joe Biden has made me a better president.
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Now, Hillary has real plans to address the concerns she’s heard from you on the campaign trail. She’s got specific ideas to invest in new jobs, to help workers share in their company’s profits, to help put kids in preschool, and put students through college without taking on a ton of debt. That’s what leaders do.
And then there’s Donald Trump.
(AUDIENCE JEERS)
Don’t boo; vote!
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You know, the Donald is not really a plans guy. He’s not really a facts guy, either.
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He calls himself a business guy, which is true, but I have to say, I know plenty of businessmen and women who’ve achieved remarkable success without leaving a trail of lawsuits and unpaid workers and people feeling like they got cheated.
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Does anyone really believe that a guy who’s spent his 70 years on this Earth showing no regard for working people is suddenly going to be your champion? Your voice? Hey, if so, you should vote for him.
But if you’re someone who’s truly concerned about paying your bills, if you’re really concerned about pocketbook issues and seeing the economy grow and creating more opportunity for everybody, then the choice isn’t even close. If you want someone with a lifelong track record of fighting for higher wages and better benefits and a fairer tax code and a bigger voice for workers and stronger regulations on Wall Street, then you should vote for Hillary Clinton.
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And if you’re rightly concerned about who’s going to keep you and your family safe in a dangerous world, well, the choice is even clearer. Hillary Clinton is respected around the world, not just by leaders, but by the people they serve.
I have to say this. People outside of the United States do not understand what’s going on in this election, they really don’t.
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Because they know Hillary, they’ve seen her work. She’s worked closely with our intelligence teams, our diplomats, our military. And she has the judgment and the experience and the temperament to meet the threat from terrorism. It’s not new to her. Our troops have pounded ISIL without mercy, taking out their leaders, taking back territory. And I know Hillary won’t relent until ISIL is destroyed.
She will finish the job and she’ll do it without resorting to torture or banning entire religions from entering our country. She is fit and she is ready to be the next commander in chief.
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Meanwhile, Donald Trump calls our military a disaster. Apparently, he doesn’t know the men and women who make up the strongest fighting force the world has ever known.
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OBAMA: He suggests America is weak. He must not hear the billions of men and women and children, from the Baltics to Burma, who still look to America to be the light of freedom and dignity and human rights. He cozies up to Putin, praises Saddam Hussein, tells our NATO allies that stood by our side after 9/11 that they have to pay up if they want our protection.
Well, America’s promises do not come with a price tag. We meet our commitments. We bear our burdens. That’s one of the reasons why almost every country on Earth sees America as stronger and more respected today than they did eight years ago when I took office.
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America is already great. America is already strong. And I promise you, our strength, our greatness does not depend on Donald Trump.
(LAUGHTER)
In fact, it doesn’t depend on any one person. And that, in the end, may be the biggest difference in this election, the meaning of our democracy.
Ronald Reagan called America “a shining city on a hill.” Donald Trump calls it “a divided crime scene” that only he can fix. It doesn’t matter to him that illegal immigration and the crime rate are as low as they’ve been in decades, because he’s not actually offering any real solutions to those issues. He’s just offering slogans, and he’s offering fear. He’s betting that if he scares enough people, he might score just enough votes to win this election.
(AUDIENCE JEERS)
And that’s another bet that Donald Trump will lose. And the reason he’ll lose it is because he’s selling the American people short. We are not a fragile people, we’re not a frightful people. Our power doesn’t come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way. We don’t look to be ruled.
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Our power comes from those immortal declarations first put to paper right here in Philadelphia all those years ago. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that we the people can form a more perfect union. That’s who we are. That’s our birthright, the capacity to shape our own destiny.
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That’s what drove patriots to choose revolution over tyranny and our GIs to liberate a continent. It’s what gave women the courage to reach for the ballot and marchers to cross a bridge in Selma and workers to organize and fight for collective bargaining and better wages.
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America has never been about what one person says he’ll do for us. It’s about what can be achieved by us, together, through the hard and slow and sometimes frustrating, but ultimately enduring work of self-government.
And that’s what Hillary Clinton understands. She knows that this is a big, diverse country, she has seen it, she’s traveled, she’s talked to folks and she understands that most issues are rarely black and white. She understands that even when you’re 100 percent right, getting things done requires compromise. That democracy doesn’t work if we constantly demonize each other.
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She knows that for progress to happen, we have to listen to each other and see ourselves in each other, and fight for our principles, but also fight to find common ground, no matter how elusive that may sometimes seem.
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Hillary knows we can work through racial divides in this country when we realize the worry black parents feel when their son leaves the house isn’t so different than what a brave cop’s family feels when he puts on the blue and goes to work, that we can honor police and treat every community fairly. We can do that.
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And she knows that acknowledging problems that have festered for decades isn’t making race relations worse, it’s creating the possibility for people of good will to join and make things better.
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Hillary knows we can insist on a lawful and orderly immigration system while still seeing striving students and their toiling parents as loving families, not criminals or rapists, families that came here for the same reasons our forebears came, to work and to study and to make a better life, in a place where we can talk and worship and love as we please. She knows their dream is quintessentially American, and the American dream is something no wall will ever contain. (APPLAUSE)
These are the things that Hillary knows. It can be frustrating, this business of democracy. Trust me, I know. Hillary knows, too. When the other side refuses to compromise, progress can stall. People are hurt by the inaction. Supporters can grow impatient and worry that you’re not trying hard enough, that you’ve maybe sold out.
But I promise you, when we keep at it, when we change enough minds, when we deliver enough votes, then progress does happen. And if you doubt that, just ask the 20 million more people who have health care today. Just ask the Marine who proudly serves his country without hiding the husband that he loves.
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Democracy works, America, but we gotta want it, not just during an election year, but all the days in between.
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So if you agree that there’s too much inequality in our economy, and too much money in our politics, we all need to be as vocal and as organized and as persistent as Bernie Sanders’ supporters have been during this election.
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We all need to get out and vote for Democrats up and down the ticket, and then hold them accountable until they get the job done.
That’s right, feel the Bern!
If you want more justice in the justice system, then we’ve all got to vote, not just for a president, but for mayors and sheriffs and state’s attorneys and state legislators. That’s where the criminal law is made. And we’ve got to work with police and protesters until laws and practices are changed. That’s how democracy works.
If you want to fight climate change, we’ve got to engage not only young people on college campuses, we’ve got to reach out to the coal miner who’s worried about taking care of his family, the single mom worried about gas prices.
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If you want to protect our kids and our cops from gun violence, we’ve got to get the vast majority of Americans, including gun owners, who agree on things like background checks to be just as vocal and determined as the gun lobby that blocks change through every funeral that we hold. That’s how change happens.
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Look, Hillary’s got her share of critics. She has been caricatured by the right and by some on the left. She has been accused of everything you can imagine and some things that you cannot.
(LAUGHTER)
But she knows that’s what happens when you’re under a microscope for 40 years.
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She knows that sometimes during those 40 years she’s made mistakes, just like I have, just like we all do. That’s what happens when we try. That’s what happens when you’re the kind of citizen Teddy Roosevelt once described, not the timid souls who criticize from the sidelines, but someone “who is actually in the arena, who strives valiantly, who errs, but who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement.”
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Hillary Clinton is that woman in the arena. She’s been there for us, even if we haven’t always noticed.
And if you’re serious about our democracy, you can’t afford to stay home just because she might not align with you on every issue. You’ve got to get in the arena with her, because democracy isn’t a spectator sport. America isn’t about “yes he will.” It’s about “yes we can.” And we’re going to carry Hillary to victory this fall, because that’s what the moment demands.
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OBAMA: Yes, we can! Not yes, she can; not yes, I can; yes, we can!
You know, there’s been a lot of talk in this campaign about what America’s lost, people who tell us that our way of life is being undermined by pernicious changes and dark forces beyond our control. They tell voters there’s a “real America” out there that must be restored.
This isn’t an idea, by the way, that started with Donald Trump. It’s been peddled by politicians for a long time, probably from the start of our republic. And it’s got me thinking about the story I told you 12 years ago tonight about my Kansas grandparents and the things they taught me when I was growing up.
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See, my grandparents, they came from the heartland. Their ancestors began settling there about 200 years ago. I don’t know if they had their birth certificates, but they were there.
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They were Scotch-Irish mostly, farmers, teachers, ranch hands, pharmacists, oil rig workers. Hardy, small-town folks. Some were Democrats, but a lot of them, maybe even most of them were Republicans, the party of Lincoln. And my grandparents explained that folks in these parts, they didn’t like show-offs, they didn’t admire braggarts or bullies.
They didn’t respect mean-spiritedness or folks who were always looking for shortcuts in life. Instead, they valued traits like honesty and hard work, kindness, courtesy, humility, responsibility; helping each other out. That’s what they believed in. True things, things that last, the things we try to teach our kids.
And what my grandparents understood was that these values weren’t limited to Kansas. They weren’t limited to small towns. These values could travel to Hawaii.
(APPLAUSE) They could travel even the other side of the world, where my mother would end up working to help poor women get a better life trying to apply those values. My grandparents knew these values weren’t reserved for one race; they could be passed down to a half- Kenyan grandson, or a half-Asian granddaughter; in fact, they were the same values Michelle’s parents, the descendants of slaves, taught their own kids living in a bungalow on the south side of Chicago.
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They knew these values were exactly what drew immigrants here, and they believed that the children of those immigrants were just as American as their own, whether they wore a cowboy hat or a yarmulke, a baseball cap or a hijab.
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America has changed over the years. But these values that my grandparents taught me, they haven’t gone anywhere. They’re as strong as ever; still cherished by people of every party, every race, every faith. They live on in each of us. What makes us American, what makes us patriots is what’s in here. That’s what matters.
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And that’s why we can take the food and music and holidays and styles of other countries and blend it into something uniquely our own. That’s why we can attract strivers and entrepreneurs from around the globe to build new factories and create new industries here. That’s why our military can look the way it does, every shade of humanity, forged into common service. That’s why anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end.
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That is America. That is America. Those bonds of affection, that common creed. We don’t fear the future; we shape it, embrace it, as one people, stronger together than we are on our own.
That’s what Hillary Clinton understands. This fighter, this stateswoman, this mother and grandmother, this public servant, this patriot, that’s the America she’s fighting for.
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And that is why I have confidence, as I leave this stage tonight, that the Democratic Party is in good hands. My time in this office, it hasn’t fixed everything. As much as we’ve done, there’s still so much I want to do. But for all the tough lessons I’ve had to learn, for all the places I’ve fallen short, I’ve told Hillary, and I’ll tell you what’s picked me back up, every single time: It’s been you, the American people.
(APPLAUSE) It’s the letter I keep on my wall from a survivor in Ohio who twice almost lost everything to cancer, but urged me to keep fighting for health care reform, even when the battle seemed lost. Do not quit.
It’s the painting I keep in my private office, a big-eyed, green owl with blue wings, made by a 7-year-old girl who was taken from us in Newtown, given to me by her parents so I wouldn’t forget, a reminder of all the parents who have turned their grief into action.
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It’s the small-business owner in Colorado who cut most of his own salary so he wouldn’t have to lay off any of his workers in the recession because, he said, that wouldn’t have been in the spirit of America.
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It’s the conservative in Texas who said he disagreed with me on everything, but appreciated that, like him, I try to be a good dad.
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It’s the courage of the young soldier from Arizona who nearly died on the battlefield in Afghanistan, but who has learned to speak again and walk again, and earlier this year, stepped through the door of the Oval Office on his own power, to salute and shake my hand.
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It is every American who believed we could change this country for the better, so many of you who’d never been involved in politics, who picked up phones and hit the streets and used the internet in amazing new ways that I didn’t really understand, but made change happen. You are the best organizers on the planet, and I am so proud of all the change that you made possible.
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Time and again, you’ve picked me up. And I hope sometimes I’ve picked you up, too.
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And tonight, I ask you to do for Hillary Clinton what you did for me.
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I ask you to carry her the same way you carried me. Because you’re who I was talking about 12 years ago, when I talked about hope. It’s been you who’ve fueled my dogged faith in our future, even when the odds were great, even when the road is long. Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope!
America, you have vindicated that hope these past eight years.
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And now I’m ready to pass the baton and do my part as a private citizen. So this year, in this election, I’m asking you to join me, to reject cynicism and reject fear and to summon what is best in us; to elect Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States and show the world we still believe in the promise of this great nation.
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Thank you for this incredible journey. Let’s keep it going. God bless you. God bless the United States of America.
In the past days, Kenya Insights has laid a campaign dedicated to exposing the land-grabbing syndicate made up of dishonest businesspeople collaborating with corrupt City Hall officials and Judiciary in derailing justice over a piece of land in Eastleigh.
The Nairobi County Council owns the land in question listed as a public utility but has been overtaken by private developers. Through PPP, County Government had in plan to lease the land to investors for 45 years during which a mall and office spaces would be created, and the council collect rent after 20 years of the lease.
A clash occurred when the two companies shortlisted for the PP namely Golden Lime International Limited and Blue Sea Shopping Mall ended up in a spring of court battles. The tendering board of the then City Council unanimously awarded Golden Lime International Ltd the contract to put up a structure on the land.
The decision was met with opposition and the losing Blue Sea Shopping Mall through their other company Alfa Traders moved to court to challenge the decision. In a nutshell, the case has been in and out of the courts since 2008 to date. Court of Appeal ruled that both the opposing party retract and the entire PPP process be re-initiated by the Nairobi County Government.
Miraculously, or rather a Kenyan way, Blue Sea Shopping Mall started construction despite courts ruling otherwise in what seems like a high placed blessing from the City Hall, the custodians of the said land.
National Lands Commission has revoked their construction’s licence ordered for the constructions be stopped, but all these have been disregarded, and the development continues heedless with high degree impunity.
The Office of Ombudsman took up the case but have sat on the report for so long. The office has since written to the writer of this story that the report would be out and put in the public coming week.
The bulk of suffering has been on the traders who’ve been caught up in the middle of the fighting investors and the loose justice system. They now have to look for other spaces to go about their business.
In our previous piece, we unmasked the land grabbers. Farah Barrow and Ali Sheikh Muhamad the listed and proxy Directors of Alfa Traders and Blue Sea Shopping Mall, which is technically one thing. The ghost and real owner of these companies behind series of land grabbings are one Sheikh Khalifa. Besides Eastleigh Land, there’s Eastleigh Primary School, which they also grabbed.
Sheikh Khalifa, the billionaire and financier of Alfa Traders, is also the owner of Diamond Park Estate another piece of land grabbed from the ministry of agriculture and was previously marked for demolition but thanks to high places protection it was stopped by a call from the president himself following senator Sonko’s intervention. The matter of the land is still in the courts.
Grabbing of land listed for public consumption or any other land is a criminal act which should be punished by the courts of law. The matter of Eastleigh land has been in CID’s radar for the longest time, and the issue was taken to them for follow up, and they’ve been doing investigations or so they say. With facts out there, why would the law be soft towards such criminals in suits?
Land grabbing has been ongoing, and the mighty continue to have their way since they can buy themselves out. Law shouldn’t be too harsh on a chicken thief and be massaging to a large scale land grabber, both are criminals and should face the wrath of the law. A message need to be sent to the Eastleigh land grabbers and alike parties elsewhere, the police and relevant authorities need to spring into action and save the poor public from the deadly jaws of the monied and hungry land grabbers going after the few left public lands.
Kenya Insights is calling out for all Kenyans of Goodwill to use #ArrestLandGrabbers as the conversation guide in naming shaming and asking authorities to act and throw these criminals behind bars. Impunity is what cripples the nation more. CID Director, Ndegwa Muhoro should take up the matter with speed and hand files for prosecution should the named be liable to questioning. Crime is a crime despite magnitude and no one should exclused from facing justice.
For the past weeks schools have been going up in flames with over 10,000 students sent home scored charged in courts for arson including teachers. Some students have been heavily punished, about 15 students who recently set ablazeLangata dormitories have been sent to Kamiti maximum prison where hardcore criminals are detained perhaps a move to send a severe warning to the rest.
As the cases of school fires continue to thrive one critical issue that has taken centre stage is as to who and what elements could be behind the fires. Several theories have been forthcoming including politics.
Initially, the fires started in Kisii the home ground of education CS Fredrick Matiang’i, and it was theorised that jealous local leaders wanted him out of the seat, and the fires would be used as a sign of discomfort and rebellion to his leadership in the education helm.
Another angle that was introduced came from KNUT officials that the strict and dictatorial policies that the CS introduced including overhauling the schools calendar and activities were to blame. KNUT Sec Gen Sossion is on record saying the students were unhappy and showed rejection to the stiff policies. KNUT has threatened to cease duty should the ministry go ahead with charging teachers for arson.
Talking of terrible policies, the CS has issued a warning that any school that burns it’s head teacher would automatically be demoted. This is a misinformed and exposing innocent teachers to victimisation. It doesn’t automatically mean the headteachers are part of the syndicate of anything an enemy would take advantage to sponsor a fire in individual school to have the headteacher demoted. That thought needs revision.
Ministry of education officials bundled themselves in a hotel in Naivasha on Monday for a secret crisis meeting with agenda of finding out the factors behind the fires. According to a mole speaking to Kenya Insights, the findings of the ministry’s investigations points fingers at the exams leaking cartel. The cartel is accurate on KCSE, which is just months away from starting.
The syndicate that includes KNEC officials, security officers, middlemen and teachers is said to be raking cool Sh400M annually on leaking the exams a menace that has dealt credibility blow to the exams council The KNEC’s New chairman and immediate former UoN VC Prof Magoha has promised to make this year’s exams leak proof and the cartel is scared to death with the reality of losing out on this year’s loot.
While theories continue to emerge more schools continue to go up in flames, an amicable solution should be up to salvage the education sector which is on fire.
In the traditional setup, it was not only a crime but a shame for young ladies to engage in sexual relationships with older men and it was viewed as disgusting and uncouth. Decades on things have totally changed and today’s young women are taking pride in it.
The ‘sponsor’ trend, where older men support girls and young women’s lavish lifestyles in exchange for sex, may be contributing to high HIV infection among the youth. According to the Kenya Aids Indicator Survey, about a third of new infections are of persons aged 15-24 years. UNAIDS statistics say about 30,000 New infections registered annually amongst the youth.
The vulnerable age is the high school going, college and just graduated new in the market or jobless group. Talk to most young women nowadays they’ll shamelessly tell you they have one. In fact, the trend is such that they have a sponsor and a boyfriend. Sponsor to take care of her financial needs and the boyfriend for the emotional satisfaction it’s a bitter truth.
Here’s a young lady coming from a poor background no job going to school has an iPhone worth Sh. 80,000 lives in a posh apartment only use uber in some cases has a car. They’re living the lavish lifestyle courtesy of the sponsor. It’s a well-packaged form of prostitution.
It’s not only the ladies to be blamed for the sponsor culture even young men are going after older women to sponsor their lifestyle in exchange for sexual favours. Everybody is caught up in this thing. One common thing is protection is out of the question in sponsor sex, and they invest a lot in their baits to afford using condoms it’s the naked truth and primary factor behind the high HIV figures.
The link is even disturbing since the sponsor have their spouses they’re having sex with and so are the sponsored who have other partners they’re sleeping with. This generation needs prayers or rigid rules to deport all sponsors to Uranus or whichever planet but can that possibly happen? Guess not sponsor trend has many proponents. The sponsor culture is coming second after betting companies in employing young people in Kenya now and keeping them laughing and crying in alternation.
Koffi Olomide when he was picked up from his home by police in Congo this morning
Embattled Koffi Olomide was arrested on Tuesday at his home in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to reports the singer was held shortly before being arraigned in court and charged with the assaulting . He was found guilty and sentenced to a year in jail.
This followed uproar from a video captured in Kenya’s main airport JKIA of the maestro raining in one of his Female dancers with kicks.
Olomide denied assaulting one of his dancers identified as Pamela. His lawyer George Wajackoyah also accused Kenyan police of manhandling the musician during his deportation.
The singer apologised in a Facebook post on Monday, terming the incident a “moment of madness” but not after facing widespread condemnation and outrage since the video of the incident at JKIA was shared on social media.
The latest blow comes barely a day when his scheduled concert in Zambia was cancelled and Kenya government revoked his visa permanently.
Could this be the premature end to an era of the Lingala star. He will be out of freedom for the next year.
Farah Mohamed Barrow one of the Alfa Traders and Blue Sea Mall Proxy Directors.
In our continuous series of a powerful land-grabbing cartel that has seen a land set aside for public utility taken over by private developers and construction of a Sh.400M going up in Eastleigh. The dubious deal has since seen hawkers who previously occupied the land suffer most impact having been thrown out.
The piece of land has been under tussles in the last ten years. The disputes in the epidemic land date back in 2008 when then City Council of Nairobi advertised for a Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the redevelopment of Eastleigh Market through a lease. The city council would provide the land, and then a private entity would construct a mall, shops, offices and apartments.
The model developed by the County government would see the winning company leased the land for 45 years and give twenty offices to the Council. After an austere vetting process, only two companies, Golden Lime International Limited and Blue Sea Shopping Mall, made it to the final bidding phase. Only one was awarded the contract after a unanimous decision by the County Council’s body, Golden Lime International Limited won.
Alfa Traders joined in the tussles as an interested party. Interestingly, they claimed to be the owners of the same piece of land then one wonders why Alfa would take part in the PPP if the land were theirs in the first place.
Alfa Traders and Blue Sea Shopping Mall are the same entities with same owners. Kenya Insights can reveal the directors of the two companies are Farah Mohamed Barrow and Ali Sheikh Mohamud.
Sheikh Khalifa, the ghost director and a billionaire, is the ultimate financier and owner of Alfa Traders, and he opts to take a laid back position in all these dealings. Khalifa uses Farah Mohamed Barrow and Ali Sheikh Mohamud as his trusted proxies, and they’re the one’s who appears as owners in nearly all his properties.
Sheikh Khalifa owns endless huge buildings across the city including Diamond Park Estate along Likoni Road. Sources indicate that he co-owns the estate with his long term business partner and Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero. Interestingly, the state in 2014 had marked the land where the estate stands for demolition. The land was grabbed from the Ministry of Agriculture. According to the Ndung’u report, all the allocation of the 210 acre is illegal and should be reverted to the Government. It should be remembered this is the same piece of land that Senator Mike Sonko had put President Uhuru on loudspeaker before the press when demolishions were set. He came to the rescue of the grabbers. The case is still ongoing in the courts.
Sheikh Khalifa, owns Diamond Wholesalers, the biggest Mumias Sugar distributor in the country a business he’s been in for the longest time through Kidero’s reign to date. His empire extends to Creative Consolidated; Khalifa owns this company that was awarded the multi-billion garbage collection contract by the Nairobi County Government.
Abbas, who’s son to Khalifa and a wheeler-dealer within City Hall corridors, runs his father’s garbage collection company. You will not miss Abbas’ at George Wainaina, Kidero’s Chief of Staff office where they knit several deals, you can bet nature of most of the deals, dirty.
Farah Barrow, Sheikh Khalif’s right hands man is the public face of Alfa Traders and will be seen everywhere though sources privy tell Kenya Insights he relies on handouts from his boss and isn’t as wealthy. Farah is accused of having grabbed piece of land from Eastleigh Primary School amongst other parcels that we will continue to expose here.
When Blue Sea Shopping Mall lost the PPP deal to Golden Lime International Limited, they appealed the decision citing irregularities. Tactically, Alfa Traders tried to register a different company with nearly similar names, Golden line International Limited but the registrar of businesses caught them in the act and denied them certification.
The lease that Alfa Traders held over the same piece of land had been denounced by County Government’s Legal office as null also National Land Commission has nullified the lease. It puzzles how despite all these discrepancies, and Court of Appeal was ruling for PPP overhaul, Blue Sea Shopping Mall which is represented by Ahmednasir Abdikadir & Co. Advocates have disregarded directives ordering otherwise to continue with the mall’s construction. More puzzling is how a public listed piece of land miraculously became a private entity.
Nairobi County Government once again finds itself in the middle of a circus following an unending tussle over a two-acre piece of land at the heart of Nairobi’s busy Eastleigh estate. Two companies, Golden Lime International Limited and Blue Sea Shopping Mall are fighting over a contentious award of a multi-million shilling contract by the Nairobi County Government.
The troubles in the contagious land date back in 2008 when then City Council of Nairobi advertised for a Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the redevelopment of Eastleigh Market through a lease. The city council would provide the land, and then a private entity would construct a mall, shops, offices and apartments.
The model developed by the County government would see the winning company leased the land for 45 years and give twenty offices to the Council. After an austere vetting process, only two companies, Golden Lime International Limited and Blue Sea Shopping Mall, made it to the final bidding phase. Only one was awarded the contract.
Mary Ng’ethe, the then Director of Legal Affairs at the City Council of Nairobi, confirmed in an official letter that that Golden Lime International Limited won the tender and was awarded the contract. They were to put up the Sh.400M mall up, and construction was scheduled to kick off in the next two months.
However, this wasn’t going to be the case as disgruntled parties moved to court to challenge the County Government’s decision awarding Golden Lime International Ltd. the contract. The losing party, Blue Sea Shopping Mall, through its directors Farah Mohamed Barrow and Ali Sheikh Mohamud went to court to challenge the award. Their core complaint was that Gold Lime was unfairly awarded the contract through the PPP and that the land on which the mall was to be built had already been leased out to another company, Alfa Traders, by the City Council.
High Court nullified their complaint, and they went to Court of Appeal on the same. It’s, however, laughable that Blue Sea whose directors are also listed as owners of Alfa Traders(who claim to be the owners of the land with a controversial title deed to support the allegation) participated in the contract allocation process. Naturally, if Farah and Company were truly the legitimate owners of the piece of land as they claim through Alfa Traders, they wouldn’t have to undergo the allocation process but would instead go ahead with construction. After all, they owned the land and so they claim. By participating in the process, they were incriminating themselves and the fraudulent title deed.
According to Official documents from the registrar’s office that are also in custody of Kenya Insights, show that Farah Mohamed Barrow is also a director at Alfa Traders. A well-calculated coincidence. This came at a time when the County Council was aware and had alerted the Lands Registrar over the existence of a fake lease of the public listed land in Eastleigh by the Alpha Traders.
The cancellation of the false lease was officially revoked On December 19, 2008, by the Lands Office via Gazette Notice Number 11951. Annulment of the lease is also noted on the council’s mother title deed, which it has had since 1969.
Months later in a sharp turn Alfa Traders A year after the revocation of the fake lease award of the contract and after the repeal through Ahmednasir Abdikadir & Co. Advocates wrote to the county council alleging to have been awarded the contract. The letter read “Our client informs us that it was granted a private-public partnership with the city council of Nairobi on the reconstruction of the Eastleigh Market…some individuals after realising that our client was about to be awarded the contract and in furtherance of a criminal act, fraudulently registered a company with a similar name as that of our customers… we advise you to hold any dealing you may have with these individuals.”
Ironically, it was Alfa Traders who tactically and unsuccessfully tried to shortchange Golden Lime International Limited by registering a similar name bearing company called Goldenlime International Limited. Registrar of companies unearthed the desperate conspiracy and dismissed the plot. County Council maintained Golden Lime International Ltd rightfully won the contract, and the pseudo company was rejected. Again it turned out Farah Barrow was listed as one of the managers in the Pseudo Company, Goldlime International Ltd.
In an affidavit to the Lands Department where she stamped the contested land as a public utility, Mary Ng’ethe, the then Director of Legal Affairs in County Government noted, “not surprisingly, and through deceit, Farah Mohamed Barrow once again appears as a director of a dubious company that claimed to have been the successful bidder for the public-private partnership aforesaid,”
With the entrance of new County Government now known as Nairobi County Government, a break from the traditional setting, Ahmednasir Abdikadir & Co Advocates the company representing Farah and company wrote to Governor Evans Kidero’s office on February 3, 2014, regarding the same matter and that’s when things took a sharp turn.
The Nairobi County Government legal secretary, Karisa Iha, wrote back to the lawyers saying the subject matter of the land, mentioning Ali Sheikh Mohammed and Farah Mohamed, had been placed in his hands to reply.
The County Government insisted that the Gazette cancellation of the lease to Alfa Traders and the court order preventing anyone from acting on the land either through the PPP or private ownership was still in force.
However, Karisa’s insertion brought a total overhaul to everything: “Records held by the county and the latest search confirms that your clients are the registered and rateable owners of the above property.” He reminded them that the case they had filed in 2008 against the City Council and other parties over the land was still pending and that the orders not to touch the land were still in force. “The county has no objection to your clients taking vacant possession of the premises subject to them discharging the court orders,” Karisa said.
Surprisingly, On March 20, 2014, the County Government of Nairobi under Kidero’s leadership, approved Alfa Traders’ building plans. The letter was signed by the Director of City Planning. On learning about the rusty deal that had been made and Alfa Traders’ construction plans were approved by the County’s Government, Golden Lime International Limited, through their lawyers, Gitau Gikonyo & Company Advocates, moved to court and wrote to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to challenge the approval of the building plans, claiming the approved building plans were illegally and fraudulently submitted.
In yet another sharp turn, In June of 2014, the county government cancelled the approvals it had granted Alfa Traders for the building of the mall. February 14, 2016, another enforcement letter from the County’s Government Planning Director Directed Alfa Traders to cease construction but this hasn’t been honoured. Despite the court orders and directives from the authorities, construction of Blue Seal Shopping Mall is still ongoing in what is a clear manifest of impunity and a telling sign that powerful forces are cushioning the rogue contractors.
The biggest casualties of the dubious deal that has seen Alfa Traders developing a mall despite the immense abnormalities are the hawkers and traders of Eastleigh who has since been forced to vacate and look for spaces elsewhere as construction the contested land continues. The Ombudsman Office and National Land Commission have since taken up the cases.
The slow pace of action within these institutions have however raised suspicions, and Ombudsman Office has been investigating the story since January this year with no report forthcoming. A possible explanation could be they’ve not conducted any investigations, or they did and were compromised and sat on the report. Kidero himself is on record publicly saying the land is a public utility, County Government in official letters have revoked the Building plan and allocation to Blue Sea. All vital documents are accessible to the public, what’s taking Ombudsman Office months to wrap up their investigations if any?
In numerous letters seen by Kenya Insights, NLC has tirelessly written to Alfa Traders and served notice to cease and vacate the premises listed as a public utility. NLC is also giving insulated warnings and doesn’t seem to be genuinely concerned about securing the land.
Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko who has been on the forefront in various land grabbing in the County has maintained a resounding and suspicious silence on the Eastleigh land grabbing. Perhaps he’s compromised by the dubious wealthy contractors or he’s plain unconcerned about the traders being victimised or whatsoever his reasons. Kenya Insights has learnt that the traders union has reached out to the senator for intervention including numerous visits to his office, but he has given them a dead ear.
The question in many people’s minds is how and why the land that was previously and genuinely listed as a public utility was privatised with the entrance of Kidero Government and how Alfa Traders got hold of a title deed to a public listed land. Kenya Insights is learning that they no longer have their claimed title deed and have applied to NLC to be given a new one. An apparent backdoor and uncouth means to get a new title deed on a land that they don’t legally own.
The Coastal city of Mombasa remains one of the most preferred vacation destinations in Kenya. Dozens of activities taking place keep it one of the most engaged towns. Prostitution is one of those typical activities that can’t be overlooked in the region.
It goes without mentioning that the city is filled with people with different morals, and perverted minds thrive pretty much as well. Talking of perversion, there’s a soring trend of high appetite on the bestial material. According to word on the streets, teenagers aged between 8-17 are forced into having sex with animals on tape.
The bizarre act is recorded, and shockingly, the consumers are grown men and women who pay hugely as the subscription to watch the minors engage in the unnatural act.
The bestiality syndicate is extensive and thriving, and the teenagers are paid as little as Sh.200 to participate in sexual intimacy with animals in most cases dogs are their preferred choice. The young girls and boys are intoxicated with drugs before being put into action with the animals to satisfy the twisted fantasies of the perverted consumers.
As Kenya Insights found out, there are specific secret member clubs where these materials are distributed, and the perverts focalize to watch the young girls and boys engage in the act. Secret Whatsapp groups also do exist where the materials are distributed.
Mtwapa better known as Kenya’s Las Vegas is the headquarter of these evil actions and where the acts are committed. Poverty and illiteracy are large to blame for this. The teenagers are paid peanuts and intoxicated before subjection to the eccentric acts. This is not the first instance, and bestiality is a disturbing and yet a growing trend, a few years back a group of college girls and their contact were caught in the act filming themselves having sex with dogs and arrested over the outrageous act.
Perverts are paying big money to satisfy their fantasies while at the same time destroying the future and health of the young persons who’re blindly lured into the damaging business.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Isaack Hassan
The incompetence of IEBC is not about chicken gate alone; the body itself admitted that there were numerous electoral malpractices in the 2013 general elections. The Supreme Court, which is the highest court of the land despite its ruling on the presidential petition, also noted that the 2013 polls had problems.
Nothing much has been done to reform the body, and the country is now 13 months to the next general elections. The opposition has held several street protests demanding the disbandment of the current IEBC; the calls have seen the formation of Joint select committee look into concerns raised about the credibility of the electoral body.
Dilly dallying can be seen from quotas that are anti-IEBC reforms. Perception has now been created by the Chepkonga led Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) that IEBC carried the day after its chairperson Issack Hassan was cleared of any wrongdoing in the procurement of BVR kits that failed immensely during the 2013 polls. Any seriously thinking Kenyan knows that the people who benefited from the 2013 malpractices cannot support the disbandment or the current IEBC or removal of its chairperson.
Clearing Hassan is a ploy to insulate him from facing prosecution. The public cannot be fooled that only the former IEBC chief executive James Oswago is responsible for the infamous chicken gate scandal alongside other three ‘small’ accomplices the committee allowed to be prosecuted. It’s a pity that EACC has also turned to be a clearinghouse for highly connected. Oswago said that he was not allowed by EACC to complete the statement he had begun making a month ago. “Any accused person must be given time to defend himself. The EACC may be trying to divert public attention from a particular matter”, said Oswago.
The electoral environment has not changed since 2013, and it’s absurd for Hassan to celebrate and sit pretty preparing for next polls. Serious reforms are needed to secure proper elections in 2017, and the reforms must go beyond the commission. Voter registration must be seriously conducted without favouring any region and issues on technology to be used must be resolved.
Leaders of IEBC must inspire the nation, and the Hassan led commission lacks public confidence, and something must be done within the timeline. Relevant teams must put the country first and work expeditiously hard to reform the IEBC and avoid pushing back the election date which can be very expensive for the country. Change of election date extends the term of the president which can only be affected through a referendum.
It’s sad to note that time wastage through unnecessary debates between JLAC and Joint Select Committees may force the nation to push back election date. AG Githu Muigai, for instance, is asking for the 2017 poll date postponed allowing proper reconstitution of the ongoing reforms including putting in place new IEBC commissioners. The constitution is clear on the election date, August 8th, 2017.
Attempts to postpone elections will be seen as a plot by the president to extend his term which may plunge the country into more arguments. There is enough time to reform IEBC and have the next elections held as stipulated in the constitution.
DP Ruto’s Pilot, Mr Alistair Patrick Llewelyn assaulting a policewoman
For a better part of Friday, the internet went berserk following the surfacing of a coral video showing Congolese Lingala star Koffi Olumide reigning on one of his female dancers with kicks. The assaulting video grasped the internet, elicited anger with users unanimously calling for his arrest and immediate deportation.
The pressure was coming from all corners that the police has no option but to jump in. Koffi was arrested outside Citizen TV’S studios where he had attended an interview show. Later detained at JKIA police station where he spent the night. Olomide has since been deported from the country with double tragedy of permanent visa ban.
Kenyans have a peculiar habit of forgetting things as soon as they relegate from the trends. The impunity forces are aware and take advantage of the this. Earlier this year, DP Ruto’s Pilot, Mr Alistair Patrick Llewelyn was caught on tape assaulting a policewoman.
Expectedly, the video drew hostile reaction accompanied with #DeportRutoPilot, and he was taken to courts, and before we knew it, the chap was back in the skies with the same chopper under the same company.
DP Ruto’s Pilot, Mr Alistair Patrick Llewelyn(Middle) as seen back in action with him his client Lawyer Donal Kipkorir. Notice the registration of the chopper remains the same. (Pic Courtesy)
Kwale Island Development Limited, who run the helicopter 5Y-DSN, said they had terminated the services of Mr Llewelyn whom they had contracted, but they lied. Knowing nature of Kenyans, they duped us with PR statement that he was fired, bought time and sneaked him right back.
Olomide, as some have argued, didn’t survive not because Kenya has strict moral policies but because he didn’t have powerful connections in the government to cushion him. Wenjie Li a Chinese millionaire doing business in Kenya also a declared illegal immigrant by an office of the president is a good example. According to an expose done by Nyakundi, the illegal immigrant is receiving protection from aides to Interior CD Joseph Nkaiseery. The expose would later see the blogger getting police summon and arrest.
What’s so exceptional about Wenjie Li that he can’t be deported with the glaring facts that he’s in the country illegally. The culture of impunity is deeply rooted in the system, and you can nearly get away with anything as long as you have money and know people who know people. If we’re sincere in securing our borders and abiding by the law, then Wenjie Li and any other illegal immigrant should be bundled out of the country.
The social media has been abuzz with the ‘exposing’ Esther Passaris’ dress, the former model who has maintained her beauty and fashion glamor through the years, was attending a beauty contest event where unfortunately she became a target of the naughty and unruly photographers who frequent social events to milk hens, hunting for controversial photos just to attract traffic to their blogs and social media profiles.
Who should hold the shame in this case where the gubernatorial aspirant was photographed in a supposed revealing dress making her the center of Internet trolling, is she the one to bare the shame or the photographer who took the picture and with photoshop advancements manipulated it into his twisted fantasies?
Fashion experts are now saying the shame is not on Passaris but the young photographer and all those who took pride in sharing the flawed pictures and trolled her. Photography goes beyond pressing the capture button, the new breed of photographers who don’t get the difference between taking photographs and photography are ruining the excellent course used in telling stories. We are looking at a breed of young photographers who with an HD camera, naked girls and an Instagram page think that they’re professionals given the likes and wows they get on their posted photos.
Passaris Poses at the event
A professional photographer in the case of Passaris’ dress knows that under normal light, no one in the room is exposed to her thighs which happen to be the photographer’s focus. It’s just in this particular photographers image and not any other despite the event being thronged by a battery of journalists. The man who took and shared the picture and used it in passing a misinformed and maligning judgment on Passaris can be likened to men who would cheer and take part in a ‘rape’ ordeal of a woman because it’s fun or the woman’s fault according to them. While the woman will be stumbling to cover her nakedness, they will strip her so to laugh some more. “If this is who you are. My shame is your shame. I cannot tell who committed a bigger crime.” Says Passaris on the controversial picture.
The real picture vs the manipulated photo
Lastly, this was a fashion show for crying out loud, while decency is key, there must be freedom for women to dress freely and express themselves, do we want to see Passaris and other women to dress in tents to satisfy the unenlightened mentality of the archaic conservatives? Even Michele Obama rocks such a similar dressing style, and people don’t peel off their nerves. We’ve come a long way in acceptance, and the mentality of judging a woman’s morals by how she dresses is not only backward but also a primitive. When trousers first came, and women started putting them on, they were called prostitutes, mini dresses they were called the same forgetting in the foredays women walked around in even more revealing traditional clothes if not butt naked. Some people need a brain OS update and accept the fact that we’ve advanced, and freedom of dressing should be maintained, I’m yet to hear of a case of a woman dictating how men should dress.
Kenya is home to over forty different languages meaning its music panorama is wealthy and involved, but the international music still controls the Kenyan airwaves and universal joints. Artists struggle to make a living through music, and it has for many proved an impossible avenue to tap revenue, many end up changing careers or copying foreign sounds attractive in the market.
With all its vibrant creativity and boom in production, Kenyan music industry is still nowhere near realising it’s potential. “Nobody knows Kenyan music”, says Suzzana Owiyo. The stunted growth of the industry is blamed on lack of proper networking and distribution, the linguistic diversity of the nation has also fragmented the market making it difficult for artists to develop a unique and easy to recognise the sound that can serve as a currency in the mainstream global market.
Sarabi Band
But bands are emerging every other day with unique and fresh sounds accompanied by sweet instruments. Sauti Sol must have inspired many, after their success, many are coming up with different styles and a recognisable sound that if nurtured will become the Kenyan music. Hart the Band, Sarabi and Red Acapella are some of the fast-rising bands to fill the void when Sauti Sol is gone. Red Acapella, for instance, is a perfect team of two young men in their mid-twenties who are astonishingly good at their job. They call their music ‘Rhumba today’; the pair handles all instruments with a little help from a friend when they play live. Their vocals are powerful, mellow and harmonise well to create a brilliant, luscious and iconic layered vocals. Their song ‘ka gava’ is already a major hit to cement their popularity.
More should be done, and Kenyan music may be dwarf at home, but it had also attracted international attention when singer Ayub Ogada’s work was featured in a 2005 award movie “The Constant Gardner”. This is the direction the industry should take; Kenya is home to some of the finest producers and sound engineers in the continent. Ted Josiah, R Kay, MG and Ulopa just to name a few are household names in production; though old they still have skills to roll out of their sleeves.
Artists also need to make music that relates to their culture and environment. Music is rich in history and is also a vehicle for sharing information and educating local populations. Copying Nigerian or Tanzanian music is not good for growth; big artistes like Suzzana Owiyo, Eric Wainaina and Ayub Ogada have just packaged what should be considered traditional music in the manner that can sell globally.
Not all must be like them but cutting a nitch is necessary.
Artistes like Camp Mulla were accepted for representing urban or rather uptown hip hop and gained recognition across Africa and beyond to being nominated for the prestigious BET Awards though they quit the stage before the show was over. Their sound was entirely different from that of the pioneers of hip hop in Kenya, Kalamashaka. Kalamashaka made hardcore and revolutionary hip-hop which evolved to soulful hip hop with electric sampling and quirky lyrics like in ‘angalia saa’ hit single. Nowadays rappers hardly make sense say for Juliani, but the rest have excellent delivery and no lines that ring in the listeners head. If bands get it right like Sauti Sol did, the industry will be out the death bed.
On Thursday the political temperatures shot high with streets buzzing with the debate sparked by Bungoma Senator and CORD’s co-principal Moses Wetangula. He had earlier in the day called out for his counterpart Raila Odinga to give up his political ambitions following his previous unsuccessful bids. Weta argued that Raila has made more than enough shots, and it’s the right time he gave up and let others like him attempt their luck.
The argument as anticipated was received with mixed reactions, Raila opponents applauded Weta for it and ran away with the story to escalated grounds. Raila’s supporters were on the other end unamused in what they say are impairing efforts by Jubilee to weaken CORD. The majority language is that Weta has been bought by Jubilee and joining likes of Ababu, the CORD rebels said to have been heavily pocketed by the monied jubilee.
While trading accusations is a political norm, I don’t see anything wrong in Wetangula calling for Raila to call off his bid. In a healthy democracy that CORD fundamentals are supposedly built on, is a good sign of maturity and free speech space. CORD supporters should take pride in having space where one is allowed to express himself and challenge the leader.
What a better time for this debate to come than now when Jubilee leadership in Central Kenya has sent a stark warning to all aspirants that vying on any party other than JAP and supporting anyone other than President Uhuru would be severely consequential. This shows the minimal democratic space within the party, exhibiting dictatorial tendencies.
By CORD having space for anyone to raise a voice and challenge the de facto leader is a good move in the right way. The times of ‘ndio baba’ Moi era politics is long gone and should never make a comeback. Presidential nominations for CORD should be fair, Raila is not the ordained candidate, the coalition’s secretariat has made it clear that the candidate would be picked through a constitutional process. Weta as a hopeful is right in fighting for his space. As an art of war, deal with the biggest threats first.
As to whether Wetangula has the muscle might to head CORD and win elections is another matter. The Senator has been fumbling with no firm position on his political future, as we had reported earlier on a Kenya Insights Weta is also eyeing the Nairobi gubernatorial seat. Close sources confide in me that he’s financially limping and would take up any attractive deal including joining Jubilee. If Ababu with all that my DNA is ODM and his blood incompatible with Jubilee shenanigans changed overnight what can stop Weta?
Talking of which politics and politicians are about securing personal interests, that’s the unwritten law, and there’s nothing wrong politicians will see in shifting allegiances as long as their interests are guaranteed. What’s wrong with joining Jubilee after all? Let Weta dance and let Raila fight for his place, and it should never be a silver plate service.
The EACC (Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission) chairman, Philip Kinisu has come out strongly to defy calls for resignation after a company he owns, Esaki Communications Ltd, was found to have conducted business with the troubled NYS where Kshs.791 million was lost. His company received over 35 million shillings to supply NYS with borehole materials.
Kinisu, who is the ‘former’ director of Esaki Limited, a company associated with his wife and daughter, claims the tender awarded to the firm was won before NYS woes. He chairs the EACC, which hurriedly cleared the former Devolution CS Ann Waiguru from NYS scandals only to repeat their shoddy job after Kabura affidavit.
The structures in this country are too eroded to fight corruption, how was a controversial figure like Kinisu appointed to head EACC. Other than corruption watchdog, he also chairs ‘a nonprofit’ organisation, Africa Population and Health whose operations are being questioned by NGOs Coordination Board (NCB)
Sources close to KI revealed that NCB Executive Director Fazul Mohamed wrote to the spy chief Philip Kameru asking him to investigate the organisation for diversion of donor aid, money laundering and regulatory misconduct. The NGO received over five million shillings in the past three years.
“The allegations against the company and me are unsubstantiated. We have been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion by the deliberate manner in which these matters have been framed and orchestrated. Corruption is sophisticated and compelling. My experience through these events has shown that even those who should be on the right side are easily swayed to become angels of the devil”, Mr Kinisu said. He also added that resigning would set a wrong precedent, a classic response of ‘corrupt’ Kenyans.
There are many qualified Kenyans without ‘integrity issues’ who can serve in the capacity he is serving even better. Opportunity to serve Kenyans is a privilege and the moment one becomes a questionable character like him, the honourable thing to do is to resign. It’s insane to put the nation through a series of lame dramas quoting irrelevant sections of the law just to buy time and prevent thorough investigations.
Even if the company was not adversely mentioned in the alleged scandal that saw NYS lose 792 million, the fact it is owned by the EACC boss raises many questions about the possibility of conflict in interest. Surprisingly, companies associated with Kinisu are under investigations by the DCI, Assets Recovery Agency and the Kenya Revenue Authority over their dealings with the troubled NYS. Kinisu is not ethically fit to stay in office. Kenya is sick of individuals like him leading from behind.
The ghost of forgery continues to haunt NGOs’ Coordination Board chairman Fazul Mahamed. Earlier in the year, Fazul was grilled by EACC about the authenticity of the degree he used to gain employment, following complaints from the board.
According to information reaching Kenya Insights, a senior staff member sitting in the NGO’s board has been threatened with harmful consequences from the CEO, Fazul. The staff member according to a source speaking to us had questioned the credentials of the CEO. This isn’t new as it is in the public domain that he forged his academic papers. Fazul, who according to several reports has been defensive and easily pissed off at anyone who dare, question his papers.
Fazul served in NACADA, has been accused, and detectives followed trails of his questionable education trail. With the accusations, the CEO has been fraudulently earning the salary with forged documents.
According to files he presented to the boards during NACADA and NGO’s Coordination interviews; Fazul stated he was a Biochemistry graduate from Egerton University in 2009. Contrarily, in 2015, Egerton University Registrar of academic affairs, Prof SFO Owido said Mahamed Yusuf, as Fazul was known in college, was discontinued on academic grounds in his third year of study by the Senate on August 26, 2010.
In a letter to the National Council of NGOs dated September 10, 2015, Owido said Mahamed was admitted as a regular student in 2007 to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. He changed the course through an inter-faculty transfer on September 27, 2007, Owido said. He said Mahamed was discontinued for failing 50 percent or more of all the credit factors taken in the regular exams of one academic year.
Letter from Egerton University denouncing Fazul’s supposed certificate
Police detectives who were trailing his roots at one point interrogated his father in Naivasha, where he admitted his son had dropped out of Egerton University and the next thing he knew, Fazul was working in the government. Some sources also say he transferred to UoN, but there’s no evidence to ascertain this claim neither himself. He doesn’t point that out in his CV.
So where did Fazul get his papers when the university he claims to have graduated from disowned him. Why should taxpayers continue paying someone who’s legitimately not qualified to occupy the position
Critics have reiterated that the due process wasn’t adhered to during the CEO’s recruiting and flawed vetting process.
Apparently, there’s no evidence that he underwent vetting in the first place. One such fundamental requirement that Fazul didn’t meet calls for The board’s executive director to have served for ten years in public service and held a master’s degree which he clearly doesn’t measure up to.
Fazul is not new to controversy, in 2014 when the country was faced with severe terrorist attacks, by then an NACADA official, he blamed the opposition for working with Al-Shabaab to destabilise the Jubilee government a floppy blame that has been doing rounds amongst government’s proponents whenever Kenya is hit.
In his reign in the NGOs’ board, Fazul shocked many when he deregistered nearly 6000 NGOs he primarily accused of funding terror activities.
MUHURI, HAKI Africa were just but some of the many organisations that were suspended and accounts frozen. Fazul accused them of working with terror elements and funding their activities. After investigations, the groups were found stain free and resumed activities of fighting for human rights.
Fazul has insisted questions on his academic credentials rose as a result of what he calls transformative actions in the sector by banning some organisations. To date, Fazul is yet to convince anyone entirely how he acquired his certificates. The threats case is being handled by detectives based in Nairobi’s central police, and the temperate CEO would face charges in court.
At around 2PM today, a group of 8 armed police officers rounded up Blogger Nyakundi’s car at a petrol station in Rongai. Occupants of the car, his friends were quickly whisked out to waiting car before heading to the bloggers home.
In what seems like a well premeditated scenario, the police led the rest to Nyakundi’s house. They must have collected tight intel prior. They stormed into his house ordered everyone inside to surrender. They unanimously tell me they were lightly assaulted with slaps. They say,the officers were armed and brandished their guns.
Nyakundi was immediately held and house ransacked, phones and laptops were confiscated by the police. They were dissatisfied as they missed another target, KinyanBoy, a writer who has been working close with Nyakundi on a number of impunity and corruption exposing topics. It’s still unknown why they wanted KinyanBoy arrested as well.
Nyakundi was bundled into the police car before they sped off to undisclosed location. They didn’t mention reason for arrest neither the station that they were taking him to. Officers eight in number, came in two vehicles, a standard Police land cruiser van and another car.
The blogger had been summoned to record a statement by the CID on an article he posted on his website claiming Interior CS’s officers has been helping a Chinese millionaire Wenjie Li, a once declared illegal immigrant by office of the president stay in Kenya illegally.
He also questioned DCI Muhoro’s links in extra judicial killings and land grabbing. In his ranting posts,the blogger threw blows on the DCI credibility.
As of the time of this blog, Nyakundi’s location where he’s being held is unknown. Friends who has gone to Muthaiga police station to check if he was booked in say they were turned away and two of their phones confiscated in the process.
L-R DP William Ruto, President Uhuru amd Ann Waiguru share a plartform during a past state function
Ms Ann Waiguru, a once powerful figure in Jubilee government where she headed the devolution ministry, is back in the news. Despite massive backing from Statehouse, Waiguru succumbed to public pressure and resigned following allegations that she masterminded theft of up to Sh.791M from the NYS coffers.
Waiguru was sold out by her proxy Kabura, a hairdresser that she planted in the syphoning scheme and later ousted her in a scathing affidavit that is still under investigations by the EACC, she particular mentioned Waiguru as the chief architect of the mass looting.
On her resignation, Waiguru went on water testing overdrive in the political world. She held several meetings and had made her interest in Nairobi’s gubernatorial race open. Her entrance into the already crowded arena with political heavyweights caused immense unease within the Jubilee faction who are determined to grab the seat from CORD- sponsored Kidero.
Jubilee is still torn on who to give the ticket between Sakaja, Waweru or Wanjiru, who’re equally strong candidates. After deliberations, Waiguru strategically drew back and went on to keep a low profile. According to Kenya Insights sources planted at the house in the hill, Waiguru was advised to drop her bid for Nairobi and promised Kirinyaga gubernatorial seat with statehouse support.
This was stamped over the weekend when a Statehouse official attached to Waiguru, Mr Patrick Ngatia, publicly announced at a function in Kirinyaga that Statehouse had endorsed her for the county’s gubernatorial seat. Even though Waiguru herself steered off from directly admitting, the subliminal message was home.
Former Devolution CS Ann Waiguru
Thanks to this meeting, the loudly mouthed Ngatia revealed that Statehouse was still treating Waiguru with executive privileges including security details, and State officers still accompany her to different functions. “The State House has not forsaken Ms Waiguru, and that is why she is always assigned an official from the seat of power to accompany her wherever she goes.” Mr Ngatia is a senior staff member in the Political Affairs Division in Statehouse.
Waiguru ceased being a State employee on her resignation and shouldn’t be legible to such a like privileges which contravene laws and exposing abuse of power. Not a single cent of taxpayers money should be spent on her in the capacity of an official unless she’s serving under unknown position.
NYS looting scandal is still undergoing investigations, and Waiguru maintains innocence. She boasts of having won over ten awards in her three-year tenure, and it goes without mentioning that it’s within these three years of her tenure that NYS lost nearly Sh 1B in fraudulent deals that sworn affidavits link her to.
