Palaver

Palaver reader MB says in recent weeks, the efforts to resettle IDPs in a farm in Narok has been tribalised by a cabal of leaders. Their vitriol and hate haven’t moved the National Cohesion and Integration Commission to action. In the past, Mzalendo Kibunjia and Mary Onyango did not wait to be moved over William Ruto, Chirau Ali Mwakwere and Wilfred Machage. Is Kibunjia waiting for the tribalists to do another Enoosupukia as they did in 1993?
There is power jostling and there is power jostling. See how quickly Cote d’Ivoire’s veteran diplomat Youssouf Bamba presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as internationally recognised Cote d’Ivoire president Alassane Ouattara, at UN headquarters in New York? Incumbent — and definitely not outgoing soon — Laurent Gbagbo’s choice, Alcide Djedje, had his credentials revoked with immediate effect, triggering a tongue-lashing from Gbagbo. He has threatened to kick out ambassadors from countries that want to accept Ouattara’s request to end the tenure of his appointees. "You do me, I do you", so sings a popular West African song.
Still on election matters, Robert Shibe, now resident in Canada, wrote in The Standard Online Edition about the ABC or Alphabet of negative ethnicity: "This is International Tribalism! First Raila (O)dinga works with the United Nations, Barack (O)bama and Moreno (O)campo through the ICC to finish other candidates’ presidential ambitions. Now, Odinga is using the African Union to internationally make a name for himself as a statesman while he secretly supports the presidential claims of another whose name Alassane Ouattara, also starts with the letter ‘O’". Now how’s that for the mother of all conspiracy theories?
And finally...
It’s business as usual as the ODM sparring intensifies between William Ruto and Raila Odinga. As Ruto declares: "Their schemes, falsehoods and propaganda to fix me for mistakes I did not commit will fail as the truth will prevail at the end of the day." Raila retorts: "I am not a mad man or a donkey where people vote for me and then I kick them away... The Hague did not come to Kenya but it is Kenyans that went to The Hague after refusing to heed my advice for a local solution." Folks, we are in for a long year.


Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa should be commended for swiftly assuaging Palaver’s doubts at year-end as to whether he is still in the 2012 horse race to the House on the Hill. He even took some bicycles to Kanduyi, much to the chagrin of Alfred Khangati’s supporters and flurry of missiles and a whiff of tear gas. But when he made his foray into Kisii with the usual message of youths replacing the Old Guard, he was promptly installed as an elder. What is Palaver to make of this new addition of grey hairs to Mr Wamalwa?
If bar and busaa den owners in Kenya think they have issues with opening and closing hours, think about the poor Spaniards whose Government tightened anti-smoking regulations. Spain has strengthened 2006 legislation giving it the strictest anti-smoking law in Europe, outlawing smoking in all bars and restaurants, on TV, near hospitals or schools. Remember, in contrast to the grumbling bar owners of Naivasha, this is the country that receives 67 million tourists annually.
The founder of Virgin Atlantic, Richard Branson, is no ordinary entrepreneur. He is a world-acclaimed go-getter and his management style places him in an exclusive class of like-minded trailblazers. Branson, who last appeared in State House Nairobi, in an untucked shirt and one injured arm dangling from a sling, does not take criticism lightly and took time to personally address and apologise to iconic author Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s (top) travel woes on Virgin Flight VS672. Very few Kenyan CEOs do this and can be counted on one hand like former Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph, Kenya Airways CEO Titus Naikuni, KCB’s Martin Oduor-Otieno, Nairobi Town Clerk Philip Kisia. Now that is leading from the front.
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And in a case of whistleblower being hounded by the sound of his whistle, some 300 supporters of Kisauni MP Ali Hassan Joho and Mombasa tycoon Ali Punjani took to the streets demanding the immediate expulsion of US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger for "meddling" in Kenya’s internal affairs and naming names to one ear and they subsequently landed with a thud on the floor of Parliament. Mr Ranneberger could, perhaps, tone down the language of his next cable, or even better, look over his shoulder before dispatching any missives. You never know who is watching.
—palaver@standardmedia.co.ke