from: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste in images
MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 2013
When Prime Minister Raila Odinga hit out at Jubilee Alliance leaders Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto saying that they should be ready to return looted property, noting that the duo should live to the responsibility that comes with the Jubilee year as stipulated in the Bible, Uhuru was quick to hit back saying he has never looted any property
Raila who was in Western Province and attended mass at Webuye Catholic Church where the parish priest allowed him to campaign in the Church despite the fact that Kenya Episcopal Conference has banned political campaigns in Churches said Uhuru family have land they acquired illegally and they should be ready to surrender it.
Although Uhuru claims his family bought the land legally, the controversy lies on the fact that his father used his power to buy them cheaply from bank loan which some critics say were not secured at all. This is because Mzee Kenyatta’s name was all the security ever needed.
Mzee Kenyatta used his powers to buy, not only at the lowest price leading to many land owners being squatters but took advantage of the ignorance of land owners, which according to the Ndungu Report, the Kenyatta family has grabbed land that cumulatively is equivalent to the size of Nyanza province, home to more than eight million people.
Ever since squatters at the Coast have threatened to boycott the forthcoming general elections if they are not resettled in their stolen land which according to statistics from the Ministry of Lands show that over 130,000 families of squatters are identified and registered in the province with Mombasa having more than 50,000, Kwale-25,000, Lamu 4000, Kilifi-26,000, Tana River-1,500 and Malindi 22,000. The statistic does not indicate those of Kwale and Taita Taveta – with a total of 80, 000 hectares of land belonging to absentee landlords in the region- click here to read more squatters threaten to boycott elections.
It is also still fresh in Kenyans minds that Uhuru Kenyatta encountered a “computer error” during the 2009/10 Fiscal Year, which may have cost the taxpayer Ksh 9.67 billion.
Although he was later cleared of any wrongdoing, Uhuru found himself in yet another big problem when over Ksh 700 billion remained unaccounted for on his watch when he was Finance Ministers.
This was revealed during a parliamentary discussion on the infamous computer error, when Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo said that: “We cannot have 16 top officials in these two departments from one community. Meaning that being from one community it was impossible to trace the money.
So far, Uhuru dodged Parliament thrice where MPs were demanding a Ministerial statement about the unaccounted for money despite the fact that the new Constitution states that the Finance Minister must submit to Parliament national budgetary estimates two months before the official Budget Day, a fact that Uhuru defied, claiming that there were teething problems in implementing the new policy.
Concurring with Jakoyo Midiwo Joe Kadhi wrote this about Uhuru’s computer error: “The only trouble is that at the Treasury all the top jobs are held by the Gema people. The Permanent Secretary, Joseph Kinyua, is from the “Big House”, so are the Director of Budget, Paul Ngugi, and the Accountant General Michael Gatimu.
The only non- Gema top official is the head of the ICT department Jerome Ochieng. All fingers will be pointing at this man now and many wonder whether he will be made the sacrificial lamb as he does not belong to the “Big House” and, worse still, has a name that sounds like that of an ODM sympathizer,” writes Kadhi.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
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Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002