Why Karua now walks with her head raised

By BIKETI KIKECHI

Gichugu MP Martha Karua is full of confidence and promises a bigger shocker in the 2012 presidential elections.

She jetted back last Wednesday with a strong message: "Do not try to dirty our win".

Ms Karua had left the country immediately after her party bagged the Juja and Makadara by-election seats but returned 24 hours later to savour the victory.

The consternation from the results is still being felt across the political landscape, with Party of National Unity (PNU) being the most affected.

In an interview with The Standard, Karua demanded for respect from other parties and declared her commitment to be Kenya’s next chief executive after President Kibaki.

"I am telling our opponents not to ever try to dirty the win by Narc-Kenya and its candidates. Don’t you ever try to downplay it because it is of great significance now and in 2012," said Karua.

She spoke at Narc-Kenya headquarters in Hurlingham, Nairobi, where excited senior party leaders had gathered to receive Juja MP-elect William Kabogo and his Makadara counterpart Gidion Kioko Mbuvi a.k.a Mike Sonko.

favourite figure

Sitting in her office, in the quiet neighbourhood of the Department of Defence headquarters and radiating confidence, Karua exhibits the grit of a favourite figure in Kenyan politics.

"Narc-Kenya has said for the umpteenth time, we are not interested in political alliances. We once went into an alliance and got burned," said Karua.

During the by-election, it had been rumoured that operatives led by acting Chief Whip Johnstone Muthama made futile attempts to stop Karua from fielding candidates to boost chances for PNU candidates.

Asked if it was true, Karua frowned and stated emphatically she had not held any formal discussion over any issue with PNU leaders since she resigned from Government.

She looked disturbed and slighted that such a question could be raised when she had not even met President Kibaki face to face from the time she walked out of his Government.

o recent statistics from pollsters like Synovate and Infotrak Harris, Karua said she had noted their findings but with misgivings.

She said: "I have seen what some polls say, but I want to say there are indicators which show some of them are not authentic and I will not be discouraged by polls made with certain objectives in mind."

The former minister singled the polling done immediately after the referendum, which she claimed were designed to take away space Narc-Kenya and herself gained after the "Yes" victory.

Despite the not-so-encouraging results for Karua in the polls survey, the Gichugu MP insists she will not be discouraged by anybody.

"We always put feelers out there during our visits in various parts of the country to gauge the public mood and I can assure our supporters it is very encouraging," said Karua.

And to the just concluded by-elections, she rated her chances in 2012, as "very viable" despite the discouraging opinion polls.

"I think in the light of our good showing in the by-elections and other indicators, I rate my chances as very viable," said Karua.

enormous resources

How about the talk around town that Mr Kabogo and Mr Mbuvi used enormous resources to win their seats and that could, therefore, not reflect the strength of Narc-K and her clout?

On this, Karua tells critics to be objective and stop speaking out of sour grapes because they lost.

Narc-Kenya chair Martha Karua with party MPs William Kabogo (Juja) and Makadara’s Gidion Mbuvi (right). She believes the by-election outcome has raised her 2012 chances. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]


Had Narc-K candidates lost, Karua is sure nothing would have been said of them.

"I want to say without batting an eyelid that the candidates supported by the parties in power — the coalition parties — not only used more resources than our candidates but also misused public resources," said Karua.

To justify her claim, she pointed out that Government ministers used official vehicles in Juja, Starehe and Makadara with one flaunting a ministerial flag on his car allegedly to peddle influence. The former Justice Minister says Narc-Kenya candidates used their own hard earned resources unlike rivals from PNU and ODM, who allegedly exploited Government resources.

"And you can see for yourself who was involved in the campaigns. In Makadara, it was Prime Minister Raila Odinga himself, while in Juja, it was the Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta on the campaign trail," said Karua.

In the Juja, Karua also lists Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, who she claims landed in the area in a chopper and a host of assistant ministers. "In Thika, the Vice-President even used a chopper during the campaigns although he parked it far away, but we saw it," says Karua.

The Narc-K leader is confident her party would, against all odds win, the next presidential and parliamentary elections.

public resources

She said in Thika, Kabogo had complained the Government was using DCs to campaign for the PNU candidate.

"My point is any objective person should focus on irregular activities during the campaigns, notably the misuse of public resources and civil servants," said Karua.

To her, that is what should be considered irregular and not the use of billboards by Mbuvi in Makadara as alleged by some quarters.

"Yes, and if they are saying our candidate used billboards, I saw very huge boards in Thika, so why these double standards?" she said.

She says the use of such resources demonstrates prowess and it was also a plus for the party.

IIEC put in a spot over some candidates' criminal record

By David Ochami

The Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) was put on its defence over some candidate’s record in the recent by-elections.

A candidate in the Makadara by-election has been quoted in the media admitting a past criminal conviction.

Another one faced a criminal prosecution whose outcome is not established. Another has admitted escaping from jail and it is not clear if the escape led to a conviction.

On Monday, responding to questions on the integrity of the Makadara by-election, IIEC chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan said one can only be barred from contesting an election for flouting electoral rules.

"An election offence is the only thing that can disqualify one from contesting an election," said Mr Hassan, quoting the National Assembly and Presidential Elections Act, Cap 7 of the Laws of Kenya.

"We relied on political parties," he said, adding the parties are expected to exercise "due diligence" to ensure nominated candidates do not breach relevant electoral laws.

jail term

He said according to this law any other criminal conviction or jail term other than that arising from an election offence cannot be grounds to deny one a chance to contest a parliamentary seat.

There are two main laws governing election of MPs — the National Assembly and Presidential Elections Act, and the Election Offences Act.

To be certified to contest, one must be of sound mind, literate in English and Kiswahili, should not be bankrupt and should be a Kenyan citizen among other qualifications.

But some lawyers argue anyone convicted of a criminal offence, including that leading to a jail term of more than six months imprisonment, does not qualify to be elected.

The ‘learned friends’ argue some individuals with questionable character should not be put in elective positions.

But the IIEC chairman said such blanket consideration would violate potential candidates’ constitutional rights.

ICC ‘denied access to key state secrets’ on post-poll chaos

The Hague has been denied access to minutes of a meeting said to have been held at State House at the height of the post-election violence, according to Daily Nation sources. PHOTO / FILE

By bernard namunane bnamunane@ke.nationmedia.com and dave opiyo dopiyo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Monday, September 27 2010 at 22:00
In Summary

Waki said revenge planned at State House, government dismisses the claim

The Hague has been denied access to minutes of a meeting said to have been held at State House at the height of the post-election violence, according to Daily Nation sources.

The sources, who are familiar with the work of the International Criminal Court in Kenya but who could not be named because of the confidentiality of their work, said the government had declined to make available any information regarding the meeting the Waki Commission claimed was attended by key people in government at the time.

The sources also said that prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is focusing his investigations on two hotspots, Naivasha and Eldoret, and the the cases he expects to file at the Hague will be based on those two areas.

On Monday, Lands minister James Orengo said the Cabinet committee which deals with ICC matters was set to meet a team from The Hague on Wednesday.

Mr Orengo said the ICC should not be denied access to any information since the government had agreed to fully cooperate with it.

“We agreed that we will fully cooperate with the ICC. The Cabinet committee will meet tomorrow to know what is happening,” he said on phone from Mombasa.

On Monday, the government maintained that no such meeting took place and therefore the question of minutes does not arise.

“There was never such a meeting as stated in the Waki Commission (report). It was manufactured and somebody really must have lied to them. We have always said there was no meeting and therefore there can’t be minutes,” government spokesman Alfred Mutua told the Nation.

The government has also declined to the ICC the minutes of high-level security meetings that held at the peak of the violence in which 1,133 people were killed and more than 650,000 evicted from their farms.

The Waki Commission report indicated that the violence in Naivasha between January 27 and 30 was pre-planned and executed by Mungiki members who received the support of political and business leaders.

“The Commission has also evidence that government and political leaders in Nairobi, including key office holders at the highest level of government may have directly participated in the preparation of the attacks,” the report said.

“Central to that planning were two meetings held in State House and Nairobi Safari Club in the run up to the election with the involvement of senior members of the Government and other prominent Kikuyu personalities,” it states.

Similar attention was being given to the killing at the Kenya Assemblies of God (KAG) in Kiambaa Eldoret which took place on the 28 of December 2007. Attackers locked villagers, mainly women and children, in the church and set it on fire. Those who attempted to escape were hacked to death by waiting killers. A total of 35 people died in the atrocity.

In the January 28, 2008 revenge attack in Naivasha, at least 19 people were killed.

The Kiambaa attack was also linked to meetings between politicians, business people and former soldiers in the Rift Valley.

On Monday, Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Mutula Kilonzo, while clarifying that the ICC was receiving full government support, said The Hague must prove that crimes committed in the country were within its jurisdiction.

It is not a foregone conclusion that The Hague will automatically take on the Kenya case, it still has to prove that international crimes were committed in 2007, he said.

“We do not know as at now whether the ICC will admit the Kenyan case... pretending otherwise is blowing hot air,” said Mr Kilonzo in Nairobi.

Added the Justice minister: “The prosecutor must first prove that the crimes committed were of an international nature. If he convinces the world that international crimes were committed, we shall allow him to go on with the prosecution. The government will fully co-operate with the investigations.”

Mr Kilonzo was speaking in Nairobi at a workshop on conflict management and mediation for human rights institutions for East Africa. Participants came from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Malawi.

Mr Kilonzo said he did not ask Mr Ocampo to pack up and go after the new constitution was passed but maintained that the reformed Judiciary could also handle the cases.

He said the government had no power to stop the ICC from doing its work, adding that only the perpetrators of violence whose cases fell outside the jurisdiction of the ICC will be tried locally.

The Judiciary was being revamped to ensure it adequately dealt with crimes committed during the post election violence, he added.

Key Bills on the implementation of the new constitution as well as reforms in the Judiciary will be tabled in parliament this week.

They include the a Bill for the formation of an oversight constitution implementation committee, Judicial Service Commission Bill and the Vetting of Judges and Magistrates Bill.

He said once Parliament passes these Bills, including the one on reforming the police, the country will be capable of prosecuting some of the masterminds of the poll violence.

“Kenya can prosecute the poll violence suspects... we can do it,” said the minister.

Lawyers list 10 for top Judiciary jobs

Stephen Mudiari | NATION Law Society of Kenya chairman Kenneth Akide during a press conference at the society’s offices in Nairobi on Monday. LSK has said it will pass a list of 10 names to the President and the Prime Minister for consideration for the posts of Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice. Looking on are some of the society’s council members.

By Nation Reporter
Posted Monday, September 27 2010 at 22:00

Lawyers have compiled a list of 10 colleagues they consider fit to occupy the two top posts in the Judiciary.

But they refused to divulge the names of their candidates for Chief Justice and his deputy, arguing that doing so would invite the ire of those excluded and also jeopardise the vetting of judges and magistrates.

They also accused Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo of usurping the powers of two key Constitution implementation teams when he recently published three Bills.

“Mr Kilonzo jumped he gun by publishing the Bills,” LSK chairman Kenneth Akide said.

Mr Akide, who was accompanied by LSK council members, said that as long as the Commission for Implementation of the Constitution and the Parliamentary Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee were not in place, Mr Kilonzo’s Bills were mere drafts.

They said the formation of the two teams should be the first priority when Parliament resumes on Tuesday.

Mr Kilonzo published the Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution Bill, the Vetting of Judges and Magistrates Bill and the Judicial Service Commission Bill, which are to be tabled in Parliament.

The lawyers also opposed any involvement of foreign experts in the implementation.

Sonko watches as his men rough up DJ

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 27 - Makadara MP-elect Mike Sonko is on the spot after his bodyguards allegedly attacked a Nairobi based Disc Jockey (DJ) "for blocking the road."

The incident occurred on Saturday at 9.30pm as Capital FM's DJ Leo who was accompanied by his eight-year-old niece and a friend stopped at a bus stop in Buruburu estate to pick up two colleagues.

"I was on my way to Black Diamond for a gig and had just picked up my two colleagues at the stage… I heard a car hooting at me from behind but did not pay attention. About 100 metres from the stage, there is a bump. When I slowed down to go over the bump a car blocked me, and two men with guns jumped out," DJ Leo told Capital in the Morning show.

He says they were all forced out of the car before Sonko's men allegedly proceeded to rough him up.

"My friend was told to lie down and the little girl was standing there shaking…. The whole thing took about five minutes. The men hit me and kept on asking why I was blocking mheshimiwa's (honourable MPs) car," he said.

"They hit my chest and others were slapping me, one of the bouncers identified me and asked the others to stop hitting me," he said.

Mr Sonko has apologised over the incident but maintained that his bodyguards did not rough up DJ Leo.

"They were all drunk (DJ Leo and his group) but as soon as he identified himself, I apologised and shook his hand, it was not my wish to act that fast but it was just because of my own security," he said.

But DJ Leo disputes Mr Sonko's allegations saying that he is a teetotaller.

"You all know that I don't drink, I'm a staunch Muslim and all those who have attended my gigs know this is a fact. After the incident he (Sonko) said "chunga, hii ni Nairobi utakufa" (watch out this is Nairobi, you could get killed), DJ Leo said.

Sonko had apologised on his Facebook wall after it was flooded with messages following the incident. The post was later pulled down.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Mike-Sonko/

"I have recorded a statement at the Buruburu police station and it's now up to the wheel of justice to take its course," DJ Leo said.

Sonko won the Makadara seat in a by-election on Monday last week flooring heavyweights Reuben Ndolo of ODM and PNU's Dick Wathika.

He is set to be sworn in after Parliament resumes business this week.

Syndicate thriving under Govt. watch

Kirinyaga supremacy wars

Mungiki extortion ring

Turkana wonder tree

The hard road ahead for MPs

By Martin Mutua

Parliament reopens on Tuesday after a three-week break heralding a new chapter in the implementation of the Constitution proclaimed last month.

The agenda of the House is tight, the MPs’ waiting tray full, and the expectations of the country overwhelming.

This is partly because MPs are meeting in the middle of split in the Grand Coalition over the fate of Provincial Administration; International Criminal Court’s investigations; appointments to the new offices created by the new Constitution; and the tenure and mandate of some of the Agenda Four commissions, including the Interim Independent Boundaries Commission.

The members are also expected to deal with friction that may be generated by the replacement of Attorney General Amos Wako, who must leave within six months after the promulgation of the constitution, and Chief Justice Evan Gicheru, who has the option of being vetted afresh.

The House agenda may also include issues related to the upcoming Upper House, made up of Senators, and the increase in the number of constituencies from current 210 to 290 a year before 2012 elections.

But even then, the most pressing assignment awaiting MPs is the execution of its part of the deal to ensure the Constitution is implemented in full within a year — not the five years set out in the Law’s sets of schedules.

Parliament is expected to provide leadership in terms of the implementation of the new document, by ensuring the 49 pieces of legislation to operationalise the new document are enacted within the timelines set in the implementation schedule — or even earlier.

And the House will not just have its leeway to do so, because in the event the members fail to abide by the set timeliness, Kenyans have the constitutional power to supervise their elected leaders, and demand dissolution of the House through the courts, if the MPs stall the process.

The fact that this could be the trickiest and roughest stretch for the MPs is given credence by the fact that they have to bury their ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ past and join hands to pass the 49 Bills required to anchor the new Constitution.

Although ODM recaptured its Starehe Parliamentary seat through Bishop Margaret Wanjiru, it will be entering the House bogged down by internal divisions, and stung by failure to capture Makadara seat following a close by-election that saw the Party of National Unity, which held the seat, come third, and its earlier loss in South Mugirango by-election. To its credit however, PNU, which is also beset by internal schisms, easily won Matuga seat through Trade Minister Ali Chirau Mwakwere.

Narc Kenya Party leader and former Justice Minister Martha Karua, will tomorrow be walking tall in the House as she escorts her new MPs — namely William Kabogo (Juja) and Gidion Mbuvi alias Mike Sonko (Makadara) — to be sworn by the Speaker.

But the more urgent business of the House will be formation of the Parliamentary committee to oversee the implementation of the constitution, known as the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee. The House adjourned before it formed the Committee. One of its main tasks is to coordinate with the Attorney General, the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution and relevant Parliamentary Committees to ensure the timely introduction and passage of necessary laws, and to deal with problems in the implementation of the new laws.

Both PNU and ODM have been haggling over who will take control of the Committee, which will also be responsible for building consensus on Bills to be brought to the House for enactment.

So far, members guaranteed to sit in the committee by virtue of having steered the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Constitution as chairman and deputy respectively, are Mandera Central MP Abdikadir Mohammed, and his Budalangi counterpart Mr Ababu Namwamba.

The first Bill to be debated is the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution Bill 2010. However, Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo, in a bid to speed up the process, has published three bills that would see the process fast-tracked. But because the CIC is not yet in place, there are accusations the Cabinet have literally put the cart before the horse.

The Bills include one on the pending commission, the Vetting of Judges and Magistrates as well as the Judicial Service Bill, which have received Cabinet approval, and have been published. They are expected to be on the House business list for the first reading tomorrow. According to the new Constitution, the Judicial Service Commission has to be set up by October 27, while all judges who want to continue serving in the judiciary must undergo vetting within one year.

But those to sit on the reconstituted Judicial Service Commission will have to have been vetted. Also to dominate the business of the House is the debate over whether or not ICC should try key perpetrators of the post-election violence.

Though he later denied it, Mutula was recently quoted in a local daily telling Chief Prosecutor Luis-Moreno Ocampo to let Kenya’s judiciary handle post-election violence cases. The remarks elicited debate across the political divide, and it is highly likely members will seek the Government’s official statement on the matter.

However, Lands Minister James Orengo on Sunday said the ICC team of investigators who arrive in the country on Monday will receive maximum government support. Orengo said ICC detectives will be in the country from Monday to Wednesday to probe cases involving Kenyans who sponsored or masterminded post-election violence.

President Kibaki’s PNU is embroiled in supremacy battles following the defeat of former Chief Whip George Thuo in the recent Juja by-election, where he lost to Kabogo. PNU Chairman and Internal Security Minister George Saitoti and the party Secretary Kiraitu Murungi who is also Energy minister are pulling in different directions on the matter.

Saitoti is said to be favouring Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni to take over from Thuo, while Kiraitu seems to favour the current acting chief whip Mr Johnston Muthama.

Already, battle lines have been drawn, with MPs from Central Kenya saying the position should be given to one of their own, following Thuo’s exit. Their argument is that Muthama’s party has in its belt the Leader of Government Business through Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka.

Eyes will also be on Kalonzo as he steers the Government’s agenda in the House, which is often rocked by party divisions and Cabinet wars.

Fully recovered Prime Minister Raila Odinga will be back in the House after being absent before it went on recess on medical grounds.