Monday, August 31, 2015
Kalenjin elders rebuke Rutto over war of words with DP
BY AMOS KERICH
Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto is to blame for a recent war of words with the DP, that painted the Kalenjin in bad light, the community's elders have said.
The elders from Kuresoi North constituency, Nakuru county, said the governor was disrespectful to "anointed leader" Deputy President William Ruto
The DP and the governor engaged in the war of words last Saturday during a fundraiser in aid of Joyful Women Organisation.
Trouble started when Rutto asked the DP to stop leaders from insulting him, saying it would widen the gap in Rift Valley politics, before the 2017 general election.
He was shouted down by hecklers, who also broke into song, after which he threatened to walk out of the meeting.
"We do not want nonsense here. We are asking you, the national government, let us respect each other," he said.
In response, Ruto said he was home, and that the meeting would not be brought to an end over minor threats.
Samuel Yebei, who led the elders, told the press in Kuresoi; “We strongly condemn the arrogance of Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto towards the Deputy President."
"It is publicly known that we as the community have only one anointed person to take the leadership mantle and we wonder why Governor Rutto is chest-thumping."
Yebei called for unity amid "turbulence" in the region, saying; "If we continue boxing, we will be abandoned".
The elders said internal discord should not be displayed in public, but "secretly" solved, as other communities do.
They further warned Rutto and Baringo Senator Gideon Moi against campaigning across the country while the community's "kingpin" faces ICC charges.
They said this would amount to malice and celebration of the crimes against humanity charges against the DP and his co-accused journalist Joshua Sang.
Elder Kennedy Too asked all Kalenjin sub-tribes to urgently convene a meeting to discuss disciplinary action against "insolent" leaders, "to prevent further bedeviling of the community".
“We call upon the Kalenjin Myoot council of elders from all the sub-tribes to quickly call a meeting to discuss the way forward and cut off the enmity which is taking root," he said.
Yebei said on the agenda would be "the behavior of some MPs, who have painted Deputy President William Ruto badly in public, and started campaigning to out-stage him in the upcoming election."
"Elders should discuss this and warn them because if this continues our unity is in danger,” he said.
Kipkorir Bett said Rutto was elected to lead Bomet, not to keep "combating William, who has the mandate to tour every part of this country without seeking permission".
“We have seen upcoming leaders, who started by chest-thumping, failing. If Isaac still has ambitions to lead Bomet, and even climb ladders of leadership, he must learn to respect other people. He was supposed to warmly welcome the DP, instead of threatening to end the meeting,” he said.
Kuresoi North youth leader Edward Bett asked the community to pray for the termination of the ICC charges, and the government to send AG Githu Muigai to challenge the use of recanted witnesses statements.
The admission of "faulty evidence" amounts to denial of justice, he said.
ICC warns MPS as state moves to 'save' Ruto
FELIX OLICK AND FELIX KIPKEMOI
A senior judge in the ICC case against Deputy President William Ruto has accused Kenyan MPs and the Jubilee administration of a campaign to sabotage the trials.
The warning by Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji came as a number of lawmakers from Mount Kenya urged Ruto to boycott his trial and their Kalenjin counterparts openly protested that government had abandoned the DP.
The ICC's move to admit directly into evidence the recanted testimony of five hostile witnesses against Ruto and broadcaster Joshua Sang has sent shockwaves into the DP’s political inner circle.
However, the government, in a multi-pronged strategy – both legal and political – is determined to extricate Ruto from the stranglehold of the court in The Hague.
In his partly concurring opinion to admit the recalcitrant witnesses’ testimony, Osuji, a Nigerian, strongly criticised government officials and MPs, saying that the objective of their utterances was to “prevent the trial running its course”.
Osuji also took a swipe at community leaders, church elders and bloggers.
“All these actions, coming as they were, in the course of this case, were always fraught with the danger of jointly or severally creating or contributing to an intimidating climate for witnesses,” Osuji declared.
“They truly evoke an unbridled form of the very definition of contempt of court.”
Speaking on Saturday, Rift Valley MPs claimed the government machinery had taken its foot off the political and diplomatic pedal after the ICC withdrew charges against President Uhuru Kenyatta.
In a bold move, the leaders expressed their anger at the government and threatened to rethink their support for President Kenyatta.
“We wonder why CS Amina and other government officials were so keen moving around the world to petition the ICC States Parties to terminate the case [against Uhuru] but when it comes to our own they are silent,” protested Bomet Central MP Ronald Tonui.
His sentiments were shared by Bomet Senator Wilfred Lesan, MPs Leonard Sang (Bureti), Bernard Bett (Bomet East), Joyce Laboso (Sotik), Paul Savimbi (Chepalungu), Eric Keter (Belgut) and Woman representatives Mary Seneta (Kajiado) and Cecilia Ng’etich (Bomet).
The lawmakers protested that it was only the Rift Valley’s sons, Ruto and Sang, who remain in the dock as the ICC tightens the noose.
But yesterday Attorney General Githu Muigai said the government would seek to be enjoined in the appeal against admission of the prior recorded and then recanted testimony.
Muigai said the trial judges went against a promise made to Africa that an amendment to Rule 68 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence would not be applied retrospectively.
“We think it is a very important question on how the court operates,” Muigai told the Star.
“We and the rest of the African countries agreed to pass an amendment to the rules after the court promised that the rule would not apply retroactively.”
State House, through its Director of Digital Communication Dennis Itumbi, has also announced its intention to challenge the move through the Kenyan High Court.
Itumbi said he will seek an interpretation of the ICC ruling, arguing that Kenyan law only allows treaties that do not contradict the fundamental basics of the constitution.
There are also indications that the Jubilee brigade will soon kick off a fresh round of prayer rallies to provide a platform for a political onslaught on the ICC.
There is a silent but strong feeling in government that Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's grip on the duo is already strong and a serious political and diplomatic campaign is necessary to get Ruto off the hook.
It was just such a campaign that secured Uhuru and Ruto the Jubilee presidential ticket, despite both being suspects with cases at The Hague back in 2012-13.
The President’s case was withdrawn for lack of evidence in December last year.
RAO in Kisii
The Rt Hon Raila Odinga was today a surprise guest at Kisii University where he joined the student body and faculty in attending a public lecture delivered by internationally reknown writer and literary genius Prof Ngugi wa Thiong’o.
On hand to receive the ODM Party Leader upon his arrival in Kisii Sports Club was the County Assembly Speaker Hon Kerosi Ondieki alongside Kisii University Vice Chancellor Prof Akama.
Prof Thion’o’s uncensored political message of his 1977 play Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want) provoked the then Kenyan Vice-President Daniel arap Moi to order his arrest. While detained in the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Ngũgĩ wrote the first modern novel in Gikuyu, “Caitaani mũtharaba-Inĩ” (Devil on the Cross), on prison-issued toilet paper.
After his release, he was not reinstated to his job as professor at Nairobi University, and his family was harassed. Due to his writing about the injustices of the dictatorial government at the time, Ngugi and his family were forced to live in exile. Only after Arap Moi was voted out of office, 22 years later, was it safe for them to return.
The Rt Hon Raila Odinga, himself a Nyayo detainee following his agitation for human rights and democracy, was on hand to welcome Prof Thiong’o back home. They have remain close friends through this shared bond of history.
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Mutua weeps over poverty in Ukambani
BY WAMBUA KAVILA
Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua yesterday broke into tears during a consultative meeting with leaders from Kitui county as he narrated how some people from Ukambani hold strategy meetings to vilify his Maendeleo Chap Chap movement.
Mutua said the leaders are engaging in propaganda and malicious attacks to extinguish the “unstoppable wave of the Maendeleo Chap Chap strategy”.
“I want to tell them no matter how many meetings they hold to undermine me, I will soldier on to liberate our people from the politics of poverty,” Mutua said. He said some leaders tell him to go slow, but the sentiments are “retrogressive”.
“They are panicking due to the fact that people are now questioning what they have done to uplift their areas, despite being in powerful positions for decades,” Mutua said. He said it is wrong for Ukambani to continue to lag behind due to “retrogressive politics that perpetuate poverty”.
“While they have been meeting to bring me down, I have been engaging in the politics of development,” Mutua said.
He said he is not interested in being a tribal king but is committed to leading his county to the promised land of prosperity.
The governor has hosted a series of rallies for Machakos, Makueni and Kitui leaders to drum up support for his Maendeleo Chap Chap strategy.
Wetang'ula blames Ruto for Rutto tiff
August 31, 2015
BRIAN OJAMAA
Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula has criticised the Saturday incident in which Deputy President William Ruto engaged Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto in a war of words at a funds rally in Bomet. He said for the Deputy President to reduce himself to a level where he engages in a shouting match with the governor is the lowest in leadership this country can go.
Wetang’ula spoke at a press conference in his rural home in Bungoma town on Sunday. He said the incident at Bomet Stadium was an insult and a violation of the constitution and should go to the court and challenge the Ruto’s suitability to hold public office. “The President and Deputy President play a key role in shaping the politics of this country. Even in the highest pressure I cannot engage in a shouting match with MCAs,” Wetang’ula said.
These are my colleagues in politics who work within and under my guidance. They look up to me in many things in shaping the politics of this county” . He termed the incident “embarrassing to the nation” “He should apologise to Kenyans for making the already convoluted politics of this country look even more uglier,” Wateng’ula said. He said Ruto should tell Kenyans where he gets all the money that he spends every weekend in “an average of 20, 30, 40 million a month”.
“We know the salary of the Deputy President. We know his businesses. Even if you are the owner of Barclays Bank you cannot donate all that money in harambees the way he does in a single weekend,” Wetang’ula said. “He can donate up to Sh20 million in a Harambees and then he turns around saying he is generous.”
Wetang’ula said the Jubilee administration has escalated corruption from the importation of subsidised fertiliser that never reaches the farmers, laptops project, pipeline and standard gauge railway that “has robbed citizens out of billions”.
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MISLEADING REPORTS ON ODM ELECTIONS
The attention of the party has been drawn to media reports that ODM elections in Migori County have been marred by violence which has claimed two lives.
Sections of the media have also claimed that there is low turn-out in the grassroots elections.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The two deaths in Migori County have nothing to do with ODM elections. Police in the County have confirmed that the deaths resulted from criminal acts that had nothing to do with party elections. Police have equally confirmed the victims had criminal records for which they were being sought by police.
The media owes it to the people of Kenya and Migori County in particular to correct the wrong picture they have painted.
Equally wrong is the report that the party elections have attracted low interest. There is massive interest in the elections. I have personally received pictures of winding queues of people waiting patiently and peacefully to elect their leaders at the village and constituency levels.
The grassroots elections are being held in six other counties including Vihiga, Kajiado, Kilifi, Marsabit and Wajir, in addition to Migori. So far it is a huge success.
I wish to appeal to all ODM supporters to continue with the sobriety they have shown so far and prove our critics wrong. Our opponents in Jubilee had expected a bloodbath.
We have proved them wrong and we must continue proving them wrong as we pick County officials tomorrow.
I assure party supporters that we are on the right path and we must stay on that path. It is our hope that the other parties like TNA and URP, among others, will also follow our example and announce their elections. These Jubilee parties are thriving on structures that ODM left behind across the country. This is fraud. It is time Jubilee parties held elections.
HON JUNET MOHAMMED
DIRECTOR ELECTIONS/ CAMPAIGNS
ODM
AUGUST 31, 2015.
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President Robert Mugabe struggles to walk at funeral of Zim judge
By Stanley Azuakola on August 31, 2015 —
He has already been adopted as his party's candidate in the next general elections, but at 91 years old, Robert Mugabe is clearly not his agile old self anymore as his tumble early this year and his struggle to walk just last week clearly show
At an event on Saturday to lay Andrew Mutema, a Zimbabwe hero and former High Court judge to rest, President Mugabe had to be assisted by his wife, Grace, in order to walk up and down the podium. He even had to take a few breaks just to walk from his car to the high table, a distance of a few hundred metres.
Despite these visible signs, everyone in his inner circle, from Grace to cabinet ministers and party officials, continue to insist that the aged leader is fit.
Mugabe made a passing reference to his age during the ceremony for the late Mutema.
“Mutema was a young man and believe you me I know what I am talking about when I say he was young. I am 91 and soon to be 92,” Mugabe said, as his deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa giggled.
The late Mutema who sat on the bench for 29 years died on August 21, 2015, at the age of 56. He became the first judge to be interred at the National Heroes Acre.
As Mugabe made his way to the graveside, aides made a human wall around him, while his protective wife held him. He stopped again as he came down the flight of about five stairs. Reports from the time Mugabe fell at the Harare airport indicate that Grace was upset at aides of the president over the incident and some of them lost their jobs.
Source: New Zimbabwe