From: Judy Miriga

Good People !

What people of Kenya fought for and hoped for at Referendum, is not the case today after passionately waiting for the New Constitution to be implemented by the Coalition Government, according to National Reform Agenda Accord and the Referendum, that which is of the Public Mandate.

1) Justice Nicholas Ombija citing Executive interferences which soon will see the justice being forced out of his job for remaining firm and excerting the arrests of Al-Bashir incase he steps in Kenya. Kilonzo Mutula for Constitutional Affairs was also seen threatened and demoted with his position taken away from him for doing and advicing rightly according to Reform policy

2) Taxpayers lost Sh2 billion in an exploitative and suspicious money-printing contract entered between the Government and De La Rue through single sourcing.

3) Illegal and unconstitutional deals entered between Coalition Government and the unscrupulous Corporate Special Interest cartels network co-joined with fake lobbyists is a corrupt undertaking, meant to steal and access utilization of Public Wealth Resources as ready cash for wealth creation by the politically corrupt cannot be under-estimated.

4) The non-consultative Unconstitutional and illegal Electoral Boundaries Commission’s decision to alter boundaries

5) The illigal rise of shilling creating economic shock to Kenyans

6) Conspiracy against The Hague under the Coalition Government Watch is seen by many as obstruction of justice and contempt of court.

7) Theft of Land in Turkana between politicians and the Canadian Tullow Oil Company

8) Theft of public and community water resources and Minerals with grabbing of public and peoples’ land without consultations and engagement of all stakeholders is illegal and unconstitutional

9) The rise of Drugs trafficking, insecurity and child prostitution

10) Sneaking of Dangerous clauses in the Constitution and more specifically the Devolution of Counties, Land Bill and the Finance Bill

11) Continued Police brutality with extra-judicial killings has become business as usual

12) The Coalition Government under the leadership and watch of Kibaki and Raila supervised take-over of Migingo Island by Museveni and Kenyan fishermen killed with fishing equipment taken by Uganda police, equally, stakeholders and public interest are violated and abused under crime infested case-scenario. The conspiracy between the Coalition Government corrupt players with the unscrupulous international corporate special interest cartels network in Kenya has gained roots and has put Kenyans into a path of extreme poverty situation, hunger, pain and suffering with displacements and destruction of homes of many people and driving victims to homelessness without due care or legal justice.

Without going by the rules of the National Reform Reform Accord Agenda, the election will not be free and fair.

“If a country can’t feed its people effectively, if it can’t make anything of any use to anybody, “If it can’t deliver on any indicators of well-being… for its people… then you’d think you’d want to try something different,” Obama said in a highly undiplomatic and unusually frank public appearance.

“There are certain things that just don’t work and what they are doing doesn’t work.”

Without transparency and accountability, sneaking serious and dangerous clauses into the Devolution, Finance and Land Bill with “Treasury arrogated itself exclusive powers that would suffocate other organs successful function-ability to render services according to public needs and demands”, is not acceptable. It will deny counties the Constitutional mandatory rights of accessible REVENUE allocation to be effectively operational. The MPs systematically and tactfully obstructed and frustrated the debates of Devolution of Counties, Land and Finance Bill from taking place effectively as planned to meet the required deadline as Parliament and members in the House preempt its hasty passage before thorough scrutiny were done. It was an underscore hoodwink to fool Kenyans and the world that the Treasury and the Ministry of Local Government, which had feuded over the definition of revenue at the drafting stage of the Bills, had healed their differences, but the reality of the matter is that, The National Reform Accord Agenda has not been complied as agreed and that the New Constitution is under siege to capture illegally sneaked dangerous clauses that are against Public Interest and Mandate.

We are sick and tired, and we are able to stop this illegality, impunity, fraud and the unconstitutional behavior by these corrupt and unscrupulous politician in the Coalition Government over thieving of public wealth resources, land and injustices and of messing the Reform Agenda in a stage-managed delaying tactics with sneaking dangerous clauses to serve special interests in the implementation of the constitutional Bills of County Devolution, Land and Finance Bill which is meant to protect public interest cannot be taken lightly.

It can be done people….!!!! In the leadership of both Kibaki and Raila in the Coalition Government, serious Economic Crimes, violation and abuse against human rights was and is still very active. We have no choice but to force and dissolve the Coalition Government through Legal justice at the ICC Hague intervention.

The two Principals are presently preparing to go for election without Devolution of Counties Bill, the Land Bill and Finance Bill. This is against their signed agreement of National Reform Accord Agenda for the New Constitution which made their Coalition Government Office legitimate and authentic.

Change the constitution has been our long time struggle, and we will not sit and watch people being exterminated, killed, forced out of their community homes, driven to extreme poverty and send to slaughter houses through engineered land clashes, organized gang attacks, faked sicknesses and Police Administration hooliganism and brutality with careless extra-judicial killings.

It is fundamentally important that things must change in Kenya and must change fast. It is an approach to achieve sustainable political and social development as part of a feasible economic growth our motto and immediate objective and goals.

The Transitional Caretaker Committee and ICC Hague intervention is the answer people……and this too cannot wait any longer…….The time is now and not later that the Coalition Government must dissolve.

On behalf of the voiceless and victims of circumstances, we continue to appeal to World Leaders, Kofi Annan with team and the United Nations Security Council to jointly step in to help salvage Kenya from total collapse.

Thank you all,

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

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Ministers feel the heat of new laws in Parliament

By STEVE MKAWALE

Parliament is breathing down the neck of the Executive, as it exercises enhanced constitutional powers, and ministers are feeling the heat.

As a pointer to how real this issue is, Prime Minister Raila Odinga Thursday protested to Members of Parliament over the new powers they had acquired as a result of the new Constitution. He said it had made life unbearable for Cabinet ministers.

The PM expressed ministers’ frustrations at the hands of the Legislature, a move Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim defended, saying it was democracy at work.

The PM appeared to cajole MPs to go easy on the ministers, as he called for dialogue between the Executive and the Legislature over laws aimed at operationalising the new Constitution.

Raila said Parliament must give space to the Executive to function, lamenting it has been challenging for the Cabinet to process the draft pieces of legislations for onward transmission to the House and handling other functions of the Government.

“There has been friction between the Executive and the Legislature over the delay in processing draft legislations. What Parliament needs to understand is that the drafts must go through certain process before coming to the Cabinet for deliberations,” the PM explained.

Maalim disagreed with the PM, arguing the friction was as a result of democracy. “Your frustrations are understandable if committees have become a thorn in the flesh of the Executive. That is the price of democracy. That is how things ought to be. If the two work harmoniously, there will be a cause to worry,” he said.

House Speaker Kenneth Marende said the success of implementing the Constitution lay in the unity of leaders, and was optimistic the Coalition Government would live its full term.

“For the past four years, the Kenyan nation has, without doubt, added to international experience best practice in the management of a coalition government,” he added.

The Speaker pointed out that whereas there have been prophets of doom who had all along wished for the worst to happen to the Coalition Government nothing of the sort had happened.

“Our detractors were cynical and waited for failure, but it has been long coming and is unlikely any time soon. We are, and must remain awake to the reality of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act 2008, and its constitutional factual being,” said the Speaker.

Committee meetings

Marende observed Kenya had learnt her lessons well out of the debacle of the Memorandum of Understanding of yesteryear and therefore would uphold the Constitution.

But Raila said law makers had put the Cabinet under pressure over the draft Bills that have constitutional timelines without considering the circumstances and challenges of ministers.

Raila challenged Parliament to look into how Cabinet ministers can be exempted from attending parliamentary committee meetings. He said ministers were taking a lot of time in such meetings at the expense of other Government business.

“As the chairman of the Cabinet committee I have been unable to conduct business of the Government as ministers are often summoned to attend to parliamentary committees. Such functions should be delegated to experts in the ministries,” advised the PM.

Raila was speaking at the Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club where he opened the Kenya Legislative Development Conference for MPs.

The two-day conference brought together MPs to reflect on institutional changes and the future of Parliament under the new Constitution.

Raila noted that Parliament has spearheaded some great institutional reforms that have spared the country the perils that other African countries have undergone.

“Some of the changes include the push for the reintroduction of multi-party politics and increased democratic space since 1990, the return to calm after the 2007-2008 post-election violence and the passage of the new Constitution,” he went on.

He hailed the 10th Parliament for its role in giving Kenya the new Constitution, but added there was still a lot to be done.

The PM, however, said he was confident that the current Parliament was up to the task and would not fail Kenyans. “The 10th Parliament has worked beyond official hours to pass many pieces of legislations that have gone a long way in implementing the Constitution,” said the PM.

Marende argued for the country to make the new dawn a reality, leaders must remain united to build strong institutions and engage in sustainable and democratic practices that embrace the healthy political competition.

“Give dialogue, negotiation, accommodation, and tolerance a chance for the national good. We need to take deliberate steps to replace the norm of zero-sum or winner-takes-it all with a determination to have Kenya win,” emphasised the Speaker.

Most desirable

Marende said for the country to realise the fruits of the new Constitution, all holders of constitutional offices must comply with the law.

The Speaker was optimistic that the issues discussed at the conference would give direction and help in giving priorities when implementing the Constitution.

“Our role as leaders shall remain ever so critical in this endeavor and cannot be gainsaid. It is my sincere hope and plea that a most desirable output of this assembly shall be an agreed framework for consensus building so us to expedite the legislative process for the remainder of statutes due in the residue of the life of the 10th Parliament,” said the Speaker.

The two-day conference was organised by Kenya National Assembly and development partners – USAid and the UK department for International Development – that have been spearheading good governance and democracy programmes.

How taxpayers lost Sh2 billion
By ALEX NDEGWA

Taxpayers lost Sh2 billion in an exploitative and suspicious money-printing contract entered by the Government and De La Rue through single sourcing.

Though the Government had the option of getting its currencies printed far much cheaply abroad, it curiously chose to give the order to the Ruaraka-based De La Rue. It did so ostensibly to protect 260 Kenyans who would have been rendered jobless if the high-security printing firm did not get this lifeline – albeit at a crushing cost to taxpayers. Details emerged how the taxpayer was paying more to sustain printing of currency way above market rates when a parliamentary committee probed the tendering for printing of local currency.

Central Bank of Kenya Governor Njuguna Ndung’u on Thursday admitted six interim orders for new currencies issued so far were costlier than the quotation for an open international tender cancelled in an unclear circumstances in 2006.

Prof Ndung’u tried to justify the additional cost to the taxpayer, saying it saved jobs at De La Rue, which would have been lost if production was done abroad.

But Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee questioned the rationale of paying the additional money to De La Rue – nearly three times more than competitive international market rates. The MPs say the concern over the 260 jobs was a cover-up for the plunder of public coffers by well-connected individuals.

PAC chairman Boni Khalwale explained the jobs were secure because De La Rue is involved in other ventures like printing security instruments for banks, which would not be affected if the money-printing offer were subjected to competitive bidding.

“You cannot hide behind jobs to justify the fleecing of taxpayers,” Dr Khalwale said during a hearing at Parliament Buildings Thursday.

“Is the Sh2.13 billion loss equivalent to the job losses you are suggesting?” he asked Ndung’u.

“Even if you were to pay the 260 Kenyans Sh50, 000 to stay at home for a year it would translate to Sh780 million,” added Bula MP Abdi Nuh.

Ndung’u defended the costly “stop gap” contracts saying: “You should consider what is the total welfare loss of exporting the 260 jobs.” Khalwale said PAC would shield the employees, but it would not allow billions of shillings in taxpayers’ money to be lost under the guise of protecting in a private enterprise.

The Governor surprised PAC by saying he was in the dark about a contract for the acquisition of 40 per cent stake in De La Rue by the Government, which contains a restrictive clause. The clause grants the firm exclusive rights to print local currency for 10 years.

The international open tender returned a quotation of £31.5 million for the production of 1.7 billion pieces in Malta. This translated to £18.42 pounds (Sh2394) per 1,000 pieces, said Ndung’u.

However, the Government cancelled the tender and continued with expensive prices under a 2002 contract with De La Rue. Under these terms, CBK pays about £28.62 (Sh3, 720) per 1,000 pieces. This means CBK pays Sh1, 326 more per every 1,000 pieces of new currencies.

Inflated prices

The cumulative figure is higher given the enormous quantities involved, with independent calculations showing a loss of up to Sh3.3 billion.

PAC is probing claims that cancellation by National Rainbow Coalition Government of a 10-year contract in 2003, which would have run until December, this year, facilitated a scheme to siphon public funds through interim orders at inflated prices.

The Narc Government then argued the Kanu regime had single-sourced the contract. But the subsequent action to continue without a deal that benefits from economies of scale and the revocation of the competitive international tender in 2006 has raised doubts.

From 2003 to date CBK has issued six interim orders at the inflated prices. Ndung’u said the “stop gap” contracts though expensive are necessary to ensure the bank maintains adequate supply of currency.

CBK has spent close to Sh10 billion between June 2003 and July, last year, to have 2.6 billion pieces of currency notes printed.

Ndung’u has warned CBK could face a shortfall of currency before the General Election, which would require the issuance of another interim order for printing.

CBK recently invited Kenyans to submit proposals for new design of currencies, whose production officials say would take 21 months.

The short term contracts have continued since the cancellation of the international tender, which MPs contend would have allowed the Government to procure new currencies at cheaper rates.

Opposed the deal

Khalwale announced the committee would summon Cabinet minister Amos Kimunya and former CBK acting Governor Jacinta Mwatela. Kimunya is expected to shed light on contents of a letter he wrote on December 14, 2007, as Finance Minister suggesting De La Rue had agreed to termination of a contract and undertook not to claim damages.

In the letter Kimunya, wrote: “Let me know if I need to intervene on De La Rue”, wordings the committee interpreted to mean there had been long before the contract was cancelled.

Ms Mwatela had in a letter to the Finance Minister on August 2006, expressed reservations on the design, manufacturing and supply of the new generation notes by De La Rue and asked for the cancellation of the contract.

ON Thursday, Khalwale told Ndung’u that Mwatela was edged out of CBK because she opposed the deal. “They removed Mwatela and put you there and you have been playing ball,” Khalwale charged.

“You are wrong,” Ndung’u replied, explaining the role of CBK governor is spelt out in law and the holder is independent. Asked why he had not stopped the costly transactions on taking over at CBK, Ndung’u responded: “Our constraints has been to secure adequate supply of currencies.”

Ndung’u said CBK would review terms for currency printing after the Government concludes talks with De La Rue on acquisition of a 40 per cent stake in the firm.

Rangwe MP Martin Ogindo, however, said the deal between the Government and De La Rue had a restrictive clause that granted the firm an exclusive 10-year contract.

The governor surprised the committee with a declaration that CBK was not privy to such content. “We are not privy to the documents that you are alluding to,” Ndung’u said. “We won’t be bound by a clause for a 10-year contract,” he added.

Conspiracy against The Hague?
By Standard Team

Will President Kibaki co-operate with International Criminal Court in the next phase of trials if post-election suspects lose the last appeal standing between them and full trial at The Hague?

This is the big question lurking in the shadows of a series of events and even his own actions, which seem to point at the fact that something could be in the offing, or in the least, that someone may be softening the ground for non-co-operation with ICC.

The speculation something could be afoot rose on Tuesday, not just because of the reshuffle that settled scores over The Hague row in Cabinet.

This was also the same day Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, who with the blessing of the President, led the shuttle diplomacy across the globe to lobby for deferral or return of Kenya’s case at The Hague to the local courts, was in Sudan with a “special message’ for President Omar Al Bashir.

Now, Bashir is the besieged President indicted by ICC and whose movement is limited because an arrest warrant is out for him.

However, it came out he enjoys a cozy relationship with Kibaki’s administration when in 2010 he came to Kenya without fear of arrest and handover to the ICC.

The VP’s office, however, insists the visit had nothing to do with ICC, though it is unlikely a meeting between President Kibaki’s messenger and an ICC VIP suspect would end without discussions on The Hague given the profile of Kenyans fighting off full trial.

Wield influence

“The Vice-President went to deliver a message on behalf of President Kibaki to President Bashir on the South-North (Sudan) conflict,” said Kaplich Barsito, the VP’s spokesman.

As Kalonzo met Bashir Kibaki reshuffled his side of the Grand Coalition Cabinet, transferring outspoken Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo from Justice Ministry, and Moses Wetangula from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The changes saw the two replaced at the Cabinet sub-Committee on ICC by their successors in their previous offices – Eugene Wamalwa and Sam Ongeri.

The two newcomers to the sub-committee are perceived to be closer not only to the President, but even more sympathetic to Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret William Ruto, who are the key pillars of the G7 Alliance.

In the ICC trials, particularly for logistical, consultative and co-operation reasons, Justice and Foreign Affairs ministries play a significant role, and wield influence on the committee that is more like a clearing house for Government-ICC talks.

Travel abroad

“The State is slowly gravitating towards an anti-ICC establishment and it is being pushed by anti-reform forces among us,” claimed Land minister James Orengo, who is a member of the sub-committee. He complained Mutula’s removal was bound to affect progress made on co-operation with ICC.

“I am seeing an attempt to prepare the stage for non-co-operation with ICC if you examine the recent happenings, but it will boomerang,” Orengo warned.

He added: “Yes, you can fail to co-operate with ICC but remain a fugitive who is a villager…you cannot travel abroad.”

Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara said he was perturbed the Government had not been categorical on co-operation with ICC. “Going by what has happened one would arrive at the irresistible conclusion that the Government is preparing ground for non-co-operation,” he added.

Also ahead of the eagerly awaited ruling on last appeal expected in May, two significant developments took place. In what could be argued to be a precursor to the Cabinet changes, last Friday, Gema (which brings together the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru communities) feted Uhuru in Limuru as central Kenya’s leader. They announced plan to collect two million signatures to petition ICC to postpone the Kenya case until after the General Election.

“The Government has not dissociated itself from the tribal meeting in Limuru yet the President’s name also featured at the meeting,” complained Imanyara.

Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang’ said if at any stage the court senses non-co-operation it would demand the Head of State personally co-operates by handing over the accused persons.

“If he doesn’t do so then a warrant of arrest would be issued against him personally and that is the nature of the International law as currently crafted,” he added.

Earlier, Attorney General Githu Muigai appointed an eminent team of lawyers to advise the State on the ICC trials. It may be significant that the reshuffle and Kalonzo’s trip to Sudan came after these experts told the Government that the government would have no choice but to handover the suspects if their petition flops and ICC issues warrants of arrests.

Further signs that could trigger the question whether there might be a conspiracy building up against The Hague came up when ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo protested the e-mails accounts of some of its witnesses and their associates were being hacked.

Vengeance scheme

Towards this end, police arrested a local journalist and dispatched two senior officers to The Hague to follow up the matter. The claim, if true, has serious implications for the lives of the witnesses, and could even undermine the case at The Hague if they then decide to step down from the dock for fear of their lives.

The State’s plan to reopen the 5,000 old post-election files also triggered debate on whether it was not either a silent threat to or vengeance scheme against some politicians who escaped ICC radar, or even an attempt to persuade The Hague Kenya has come of age and can no be trusted to try all post-election violence cases.

Side by side with this was the other curious action of recording statements from some of the ICC suspects by Criminal Investigations Department. This was seen as an attempt to persuade ICC that the Government can indeed be ‘trusted’ to handle the cases involving the big fish too.

But again this was done just as the Government hired British legal experts to fight off its case at The Hague through a series of appeals and jurisdictional arguments.

Alongside the claims of hacking of e-mail accounts came the so-called ‘UK Dossier’, dismissed as fake by Britain. The dossier purported to show that Kibaki, too, may be indicted on retirement, and that Prime Minister Raila Odinga could have played a role in The Hague cases, and is also the preferred candidate for the West.

Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo who tabled the dossier in Parliament declined to discuss the matter, saying: “I am prohibited to discuss such a matter when it is under investigation so let us wait and see what the committee would come up with.”

Change of mind

Wajir West MP Adan Keynan, who is leading parliamentary probe into the dossier, refused to comment on it until the inquiry is over.

The last significant action on this front was President Kibaki’s certain change of mind on support for a December 2012 elections date to March 2013, which gives him the possibility of being in power until around May in case there will be an election run-off.

Kajwang’ argued Kenya tied its hands the moment it ratified the Rome Statue. “If there was any attempt to do any of these then the Government would be committing a serious international crime,” he said