From: Judy Miriga

Dear People of Good Conscious,

Politically Correct with Cohorts, Networks and Collaborators are the Cancer needing Urgent Fix so Reform Change can begin to take shape in Kenya, Africa and the greater region of the world.

Politically Correct Engineered Corruption Created Poverty and destroyed conventional job creation in Kenya that Poisoned the Rest of Africa and Ultimately Spread the Cancer to the whole World Affecting the Greater Global Region with Human Sufferings and Economic Collapse

Millions of people today live in extreme engineered poverty in Kenya and the same have spread to the whole of Africa.

There is need for urgency to call for order to seriously discuss political and economic fix, which in my opinion, was carefully crafted to fail Kenya/Africa but instead enriched the Corporate Special Business Interest selfish greed and without considering or weighing consequences of poverty in the long run. This trend has caused disparity gap between the poor and the rich.

This silent and lethal engineered poverty got escalated when politically correct in partnership agree to steal from public wealth and resources and by all means plunder, kill and exploit public finances, livelihood and survival without caring. It does not matter the level of crime, abuse or violation they commit against humanity; what is crucially unfair is that, they profit from pushing people into extreme poverty, disorganizing naturally established communities by engineering organized gang attacks with trivial land conflicts and causing legal confusions from dragging and making land cases go on in the court indefinitely while rewarding wrong doers including spurring of injustices and crimes thus opening doors to unsustained and unfavorable illicit jobs that are full of crimes and disorders; where they engage in injustices and avoid paying Tax Revenues thus threatening peace, unity, Government system collapse and consequently these actions put together, disorients economic stability and breaks the backbone of a Nationhood to an extend it fuels extra-judicial killings with systematic organized assassinations as well as slow deaths of people in this politically influenced and engineered silent and lethal corruption. If peace, love and unity are our aim for improved survival and cornerstone for stability for better livelihood future, then this trend of business imposed on us by the selfish and greedy, is not feasible or sustainable and it must be rejected by all responsible and sensible good people of the world; it is destructive and a death knell aimed at destroying environmental nature and shortening human survival and livelihood into extinction. We will have allowed events that destroy life instead of nurturing for purposes of sharing, caring and making it better; so when we leave this world, we leave it better than we found it.

This quiet engineered corruption involves two ways exchange,…….the local politicians collude in a conspiracy with the unscrupulous International Corporate Special Business Interest who are after making easy quick money for their selfish greed and instead of following Government regulatory system that are for checks and balances, they evade paying taxes. The target is to fail the Government from public service delivery at which the Government operators and political leadership took oath to protect and preserve. They utilize public facilities in the Government and bribe their way through to accomplish their thieving mission. The repercussion is the Global Economic Crisis and Collapse, which subsequently have seriously undermined and eroded fundamental fabric sustenance of Kenya with the rest of Africa to fail in their Development Efforts from achieving meaningful economic progress and be partners in the Global Market Region to bargain for fair value, yet Africa’s wealth is the backbone of the World’s Economic progress and stability.

Petty Corruption Under The Table

Petty corruption under the table in extension permeates the whole Government system and it is the order of the day for the Executives and public personnel workers in Kenya. Passing through the hands of Political Leaders, it gave birth to drug trafficking; illegal arm-sale; child sex trade with child pornography; organized gangs that goes around to intimidate and terrorize unsuspecting innocent citizens; Pirating as terrorists in the high seas doing illicit business of stealing and trafficking illegal goods; trading on foreign exchange and from evading paying taxes for goods; organizing gang groups as mercenaries and private armed guards who equally raid and steal from local banks huge sums of money to maintain and keep their business afloat; going wild into the streets involving small money transactions and exchanges by agents and facilitators of the network and at every stage, public servants employees involving the local Chiefs, engage in full blown corruption, letting the cancer spread deeper into the community’s local villages where the poor have their cows, cattle’s, chickens and farm produce stolen from them and sometimes taken at throw away price……..what is left is extreme poverty and hunger………and to be precise, Government system collapsed in Kenya long ago…..

Corruption is deeply rooted in the economy of Kenya including the whole of Africa. Something drastic must be done, and without serious transformation, nothing good will be realized from Kenya’s Reform Accord Agenda……..but if something must be done, the tendrils and roots of corruption must be uprooted.

In Kenya, we had put corruption on notice and Reform Accord established; it is time to put it on checks, and there is no wishy-washy about this…….

Progressive development can be successful when there is a balance amongst the people and the balance can only be regulated by a functioning Government. The process of regulations are formulated by Legislative Policies in the Constitution to provide a balance in a fair-play for public service delivery, which is why people vote to chose leaders who are Responsible and are with Integrity to manage Public Affairs in rendering Public Mandate according to Oath of Office. Any Injustices, irregularities or mis-trust are ironed and streamlined at the Court of Law in the Judiciary’s Code of Rules for Governance.

The Elected Political Leaders and the Executives are mandated to orderly organize sound accessibility of Government facilities and utilities to provide opportunity for progress and to use and utilize skills, talents of people for new ideas and innovation to spur technology in a diversity away from monopoly……….so to benefit public in an open competition faced with progressive challenges to perform and produce quality goods and services.

In Kenya, we were on the process of reforming the political process from the serious Corruption that almost destroyed Kenya during the election fall out in 2007/8 and where the election was stolen and the Country turned bloody.

The Progressives who want Change saw the unchecked corruption of big International Corporate businesses terrorize and exploit workers, children and women, drive health situation into disgrace, frustrate the local land owners and basically the local community became the target and primary enemy who must be forcefully be driven out of their land to the streets by force and the politicians and government workers turn a blind eye. This behavior made life totally unbearable and we cannot continue to maintain corrupt political leaders without going through a process of checks and balances during this period of Reform Change we have struggled for this far.

The Unscrupulous International Corporate Special Business Interest Scramble to Africa

It cannot therefore be denied that the reason for scramble to Africa by the International Corporate Special Business Interest network and collaborators are meant to engage in business acts that are unfavorable, irregular, unfair, illicit and unjustified job creation for our youth, children with the larger community through the pretence of Business investments to Africa, yet they basically engineered to invade Africa through schemed quiet attacks then take ownership and control of Africa’s wealth, land, water towers and resources including human organs harvesting and decay for their gainful end. If logics make sense, this must stop and it must stop instantaneously. Things must change for better, things that unite, brings peace and generate love. We must engage in things that make sense and are meaningful to a larger population of the world; so in sharing we are fair and are able to care for each other in love. It is because we were created to love and care for one another, and not to destroy each other. What did the poor of Africa do to deserve such a destructive prejudiced conspiracy in their livelihood and survival and ultimately are driven away from their homes and land to a meaningless life on the streets for which they are expected to die hopelessly without dignity or value like wild animals, is this what the conspirators of corporate special business interest target for their wealth creation and is it fair ?????

Proposed Solutions

Where there is Law and Order, discipline becomes the Rule where all play by the same sets of rule. It is the determination of the people to instill the Rule of Law and it cannot be set at a distant future when the Reform Change we want is now.

Reform Change in Kenya is a Must and chapter 6 of the Constitution must be applied by the Judiciary to comply as it is the law. There is no short-cut to this and no lawyer is an angel who think they can twist and cook common sense according to their delicacy.

It is about time good people of the world unite and speak with one voice that Change cannot wait; it must be now.

There are a range of opinion and ideas that could be put to work in order to tackle the eminent corruption and poverty problem so life can be of meaning again:

a) A well meaning Government in Kenya with the rest of Africa to enact proper facilitating regulations and the Government system must be made feasible and functional by responsible and committed elected politicians of integrity. This means, the Reform Accord Agenda must play their part in the vetting of the political aspirants as mandated.

b) Overhauling of personnel must be replaced and transfers of the same in order for the change to take roots putting New Responsible Leadership with integrity to perform public service delivery with checks and balances and where Transparency and accountability becomes the order of the day.

c) Reform Educational programs and upgrade training in a devolved system.

d) International Treaty to monitor that Rights of Land owners and users are respected and business is fairly shared favorably e.g. under Private-Public Partnership or Cooperative undertaking

e) World Bank, IMF with other United Nations Financial Institutions must recognize their pivotal role as advisors in reforming laws favorable to all, where in the past they have failed because they supported corruption, favored the rich against the poor and they are the reason for Global economic crisis and collapse. The rich without shame continue to demand the lion share while the poor are dying.

Things must begin to change for better. The Corruption has spread like bush fire…..it is humongous. This corruption mess is not for Kenya or Africa alone. We must join hands and all people of the world are in this mess irrespectively and we cannot ran away from it but we must agree to fix it once and for all.

f) Government Administration services to public, support and development programs must clearly be accessible with ease providing details and time frame for processes, tools used and report results in a timely manner conforming to actual activities as is on the ground.

g) Census Report for population count must be publicized before election is done and if IEBC is un-informed about this, the public know their rights. If election is done without it, that election will not be legitimate.

h) The unscrupulous International Corporate Special Business Interest must pay their share of Remedy to repair the damage they inflicted to victims of circumstances and they too must be answerable to the United Nations for charges of crime, violation and abuse of Human Rights.

If good people of the world will remain united working in partnership and in Allies team up to do the above, the world will be too small for the unscrupulous International Corporate selfish and greedy to continue in their corrupt ways and corruption will not have room to survive. We will have found remedy to the worlds cancerous corruption ailment and begun to apply remedial medicine to secure healthy livelihood and survival fair to all and will be on the right road to our destination where pain and sufferings will be no more and Peace, Unity and Love will be found in abundance from any corner of the world under shared sacrifice common to all. Unity is strength people!!!……Unity for good cause is worth the while and we must not wait but get going……but, one thing we must not do, we must not sit and let the world be destroyed and be unmanageable. We are better than this and it is the reason God gave us brain and reward us with wisdom to do good to one another and not engage in evil……

It Must Be Deal or No Deal

MPs have no powers or authority to suspend Integrity and Responsibility test. They cannot have their cake and eat it too………Are we the people the Politicians’ bosses (we the people are their employers) or are the Politicians our bosses (we the people their employees) ???? ….. The Line Must Be Drawn……..People have powers and we must use it for our advantages, to make the world a better place to live on at peace with each other. There is no reason for war or engage in conflicts if we have brains to negotiate and be fair to everyone.

In Kenya, the Reform Accord automatically formed part of Kenya’s constitution and consequently became Ch. 6 in the Constitutional policy. Political Leadership of the Coalition Government took oath and swore to uphold the constitution and it was not in any way their preserve to demolish, restructure nor was the Reform Accord Agenda to be doctored in ways or form to suit Politicians’ special interest. It stands as a Legislated policy as it automatically become part of the Constitution the Coalition Government was based and it must take precedence to apply Legal Jurisdiction appropriately to feature the purpose for which it was formulated……….Deal or No Deal………

It does not matter what IEBC specification frame-work will do for listing for electioneering of candidates and IEBC cannot be the mouth of the Judiciary. The Judiciary is supreme and it has its fundamental obligation to have the Court Panel to vet and certify giving politicians a Clean Bill of record allowing them to stand or not to stand and whether the Independent Electoral Commission will oblige and comply with the Judiciary is totally irrelevant. We must play by the rule people………again it was not for parliament to set mechanism for vetting political aspirants it is the Judiciary to set the Court Panel to do that……..

Public Finances

1) What must be done by the start of February, public demands that Budget Report be released for public to view Monitory Transactions Expenditure Report to show how funds were used and ascertain how public funds, loans, utilities, facilities and public resources were dished out comparatively against the returns……

2) Police Report Explain why there are too much extra-judicial and thuggery

3) Land Reform Report …….What happened to people who were forcefully migrated and driven out of their lands to pave ways for investors…….were they compensated, if yes, where is the report……

The result which will provide gateway authorization to issuance of the Certificate for clean bill of records to prospective vying candidates. To those who fail the Integrity and Responsibility test, the law is clear and it must show why they should not be prosecuted in a broader range of misconducts which will have been unearthed.

Politicians who were mandated responsibility over Public Wealth and Resources must give account under transparency and accountability and for checks and balances must prove worthy and people must be satisfied before they can be re-considered to continue working in public office rendering public service delivery. It is and it must be…..Deal or No Deal people……!!!

It is Deal or No Deal and the Law Must Prevail people……..Cheers !!!

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

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MPs suspend integrity and academic laws in March poll

Updated Tuesday, January 08 2013 at 08:43 GMT+3

By Geoffrey Mosoku and Peter Opiyo

NAIROBI, KENYA: Enforcement of strident integrity laws and academic qualification as a precondition for running in elections will not apply for the March 4 exercise as had been expected.

This is because it now turns out that Members of Parliament connived to suspend parts of the Elections Act that provided for the academic qualification, and watered down legislation meant to operationalise Chapter Six of the Constitution on leadership and integrity.

The changes MPs made were buried in the raft of alterations they passed as a package under what in parliamentary parlance is called an ‘Omnibus Bill’.

Consequently, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will not vet aspirants on integrity issues as Kenyans had demanded in the current Constitution, including delving into their past.

The commission will also not ask nominees gunning to be MPs, senators and women and county representatives for their academic qualifications. The demand that you must be armed with a university degree now only applies to those seeking to be governors.

Political parties were informed on Monday that persons seeking positions in the National and County Assemblies would not be required to provide any academic papers before being cleared to contest in the elections.

Section 22 (1) (b) of the Act stated that a person may be nominated as a candidate in an election if he or she holds a post-secondary school qualification recognised in Kenya.

The requirement has been put on hold until the next elections under the Miscellaneous Amendment Act of 2012, with the exception of the candidates for the presidency, governors and their running mates who must have degrees from local universities recognized by the Government.

Attach papers

“No one will be asked to provide post-secondary school education and consequently, IEBC is in the process of receiving the nomination rules once these amendments are gazetted,” Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndung’u told the parties.

National Commission on Gender and Equality chairperson Ms Winnie Lichuma said by suspending the law, the IEBC will not require any person to attach academic papers while presenting his or her nomination papers.

The two were speaking on Monday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi while addressing representatives of various political parties at a forum organised by the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC) to explain how it will monitor their nominations to be held before January18th.

Ndung’u also revealed that IEBC would have a limited role, if any, in vetting the aspirants to ascertain if they meet the integrity test as set out under Chapter Six.

Integrity queries

According to the Registrar, individual candidates and their parties will fill and sign a form from the IEBC and must state that they are not disqualified under any law to contest.

“Once IEBC has received all nominations, then it shall publish all the names of contestants for various seats and it is at this stage that any Kenyan who has integrity queries on a person nominated may petition the commission,” she explained.

It is only when a complaint has been lodged that IEBC would move to investigate the claims made against a candidate. Unlike in past elections the integrity bar for those seeking elective posts in March had been raised, thanks to the provisions in the new Constitution.

Consequently, hundreds of aspirants have been flocking various bodies to seek clearance to vie in the elections.

The bodies are digging into the aspirants’ past to see whether they have criminal records, non-serviced university loans or have been involved in some form of professional misconduct.

But even as the bodies continue with the exercise, concerns are being raised over the ambiguity in law regarding the vetting process.

This follows the watering down of key legislation meant to implement Chapter Six of the Constitution by MPs in the last two years.

Though Chapter Six requires that public officers be people of high integrity, a detailed mechanism that was enacted by Parliament failed to confer legal mandate to relevant bodies to vet aspirants.

Legal backing

This, experts argue, presents a grey area that can be challenged in court, and whose application has been continuously blocked by Parliament.

Already IEBC has asked political parties to ensure their candidates get clearance from relevant bodies. These include the Police, Kenya Revenue Authority, Credit Reference Bureau, Higher Education Loans Board and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

An initial provision in the leadership and integrity law gave the bodies the legal backing to clear the aspirants, but was removed by the Cabinet.

Parliament also failed to reinstate the requirement when the law came before it for enactment.

The Law Society of Kenya says this ambiguity may open up legal challenges because IEBC, for instance, would lack the legal authority to bar a candidate because he or she lacks a clearance certificate from HELB.

LSK Chairman Eric Mutua argues that political parties are asking their candidates to get clearance from these bodies out of fear, because other bodies that interviewed public officers set a precedent, and the electoral body might use this to block them.

Messed up

He, however, says there is no clear legal framework to vet the candidates after the Cabinet and Parliament shredded such provisions from the Leadership and Integrity Act.

There is no clear legal framework on vetting because the Cabinet and Parliament messed up the integrity law,’’ he explained.

Parliament failed to outline a framework to guide the public and the candidates on how to conduct vetting, so the specific legal framework is wanting,” adds Mutua.

He says parties were relying on precedents set by bodies such as the Judicial Service Commission when interviewing judges, and various panels that have interviewed various commissioners.

“Political parties are just being guided by certain trends set by some institutions that vetted candidates for public office such as JSC.

So political parties just borrow from these panels because they fear IEBC may use this to block them,” says the lawyer.

LSK chief executive Apollo Mboya says should any aspirant be blocked, any one could go to court and seek interpretation, and that IEBC might ask for information on candidates from any institution, including professional bodies.

Legal teeth

But he concurs there is no clear framework for vetting.

“Everybody is looking at Chapter Six of the Constitution, but there is no way you are going to get a clear way to do it,” says Mboya.

The chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, Njoroge Baiya says the Committee’s attempt to give legal teeth to these bodies were thwarted when Parliament rejected the move, opening up room for ambiguity.

“There is an ambiguity because one can say there is no law giving IEBC powers to bar an individual from vying because he or she has not been cleared by another body,” argues the Githunguri MP.

Last October three constitutional bodies said they would jointly vet those seeking elective positions. The Commission on Administrative Justice, The Ethics and Anti-Corruption, the Commission and the Director of Public Prosecutions were to carry out the exercise.

Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution filed a case in Court challenging the Leadership and Integrity Act as passed by Parliament.

CRA accuses Treasury of frustrating devolution

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com

Posted Tuesday, January 8 2013 at 16:03

The Treasury is out to scuttle the devolution of power and resources to county governments, the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) has said.

Speaking at a meeting with the House Budget Committee, which was also attended by Finance minister Njeru Githae and his technocrats, CRA chairman Micah Cheserem said the Treasury had failed to take on board a formula approved by Parliament in making allocations to each of the 47 counties.

“If the Treasury behaves the way it is behaving now, we’ll not have county governments,” Mr Cheserem told the MPs on Tuesday.

He said Mr Githae “was not an accountant” and was therefore at the mercy of the mandarins at the Treasury who had often “misled him” on the devolution of resources. Mr Cheserem added that the Treasury often “lectures” the CRA on how to do its job.

Mr Cheserem told Mr Githae to his face that he had not used the formula on revenue sharing to allocate money to the specific counties. He said all the counties should be allocated Sh30 billion to do their jobs. The Sh6.8 billion that the Treasury had allocated, Mr Cheserem said, and MPs agreed, had no basis in law.

“The danger is that if we don’t do this well, we’ll have lots of contestations when the governors come into office,” said Mr Cheserem.

“It is not true that the minister has used the formula. He has not! We told the Treasury that they have to apply the formula, and allocate Sh30 billion to the counties as a minimum for the last four months of the financial year. If that doesn’t happen, wait for a crisis,” the CRA chairman said.

Mr Githae said the Treasury had settled on the Sh6.8 billion “on the advice of the Transitional Authority”.

But an officer from the Transitional Authority, who had attended the meeting, later said the authority had not given the Treasury any figures. The committee, however, refused to accommodate the sentiments of the officer, because the Transitional Authority had not been invited to the meeting.

Skip meetings

The told the minister that he had skipped three meetings to discuss the Bills on devolution a week ago.

“We’ve got a feeling that if you had your way, you’d not have had a meeting with us to discuss these Bills,” said Elias Mbau, the chairman of the Budget Committee.

The legislators said they saw mischief in the way the Treasury had handled the issue on devolution.

“Those of us with a political background know that devolution was killed at independence, when the Senate was killed. So we look at any move by the Treasury that is likely to scuttle the process, as suspect,” said Ekwee Ethuro (Turkana Central).

But Mr Githae defended the Treasury. He said he was committed to making sure that the devolution succeeds as envisaged in the Constitution.

“Sometimes, we may not do what is ideal because of other considerations, such as inadequate time,” said the Finance minister.

“We’ve not short changed any county.”

MPs approve Sh58b supplementary budget

By Peter Opiyo

Parliament finally approved Sh58.8 billion Supplementary Budget to enable the government fund its operations until the end of the financial year.

MPs endorsed the mini-budget even after they frustrated the move last week on account that Finance Minister Njeru Githae had not presented to the House County Bills that would determine revenue allocation and division to the devolved units.

Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim had warned that failure to endorse the motion would shut down government operations and put the country into ‘a fiscal cliff’, an American situation that is characterized by increased tax among workers and a cut in public spending.

“By shooting down the motion, we would shut down the operations of the government…we would experience some sort of ‘fiscal cliff’ and we don’t need to use unorthodox means to frustrate the motion,” Farah had warned MPs.

Factored in the supplementary budget is the additional allocation to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to help it conduct upcoming polls. Salaries for nurses, police officers and increased spending in other government projects are also factored in the mini budget. The money would also go towards administrative costs and operationalization of county offices.

Other expenditure are for security and other operational expenses related to the elections as well as funding for implementation of constitutional reforms.

The budget includes Sh50.7 billion as recurrent expenditure and Sh7.9 billion as development expenditure.

The Bills that the MPs demanded that the minister present were the Transition County Allocation of Revenue Bill, the Division of Revenue Bill, the County Allocation of Revenue Bill and The Transition County Appropriation Bill.

Githae tabled the Bills last week and they have now been set for debate but MPs again protested at the contents of the Bill saying they do not factor in the formula for allocation of revenue to the counties as passed by Parliament.

Dujis MP, Aden Duale argued the Bills were unconstitutional as they did not depict the 15 percent that should be allocated to the counties. The Constitution requires that at least 15 percent of the national budget should go to the counties.

He said instead of providing Sh30.4 billion to cover for four months the minister only factored in Sh6.8 billion, representing 3.3 per cent of the national revenue.

“The Bills presented by the minister do not provide money to cover the next four months. This House should not rubberstamp them because the minister is contravening the Constitution,” said Duale.

MPs amend CDF bill, grant themselves more powers

By PETER OPIYO

Members of Parliament would have more control in the management of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF).

This is after the law makers amended the CDF Bill at the Committee of the Whole House to allow MPs to sit in the Constituency Fund Development Committees as ex-officio members.

The amendment to the Bill was floated by Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo and was supported by the legislators. But Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo warned against the move saying the presence of the MPs in the Committees would intimidate other Committee members.

“It is very difficult when an MP sits in these committees because their presence intimidates other committee members, so please think twice,” Kilonzo warned.

CDF Committees play a critical role in prioritising the projects to be funded by the Fund and MPs have not been members but just patrons. Having MPs as patrons was meant to minimise their influence in the management of the kitty.

Projects funded by the Constituency Development Fund would also be cautioned from any expenses arising from its administration.

Another amendment by Gumbo would see five per cent of the total allocation for a project go towards catering for the administration expenses of the project. The Project Management Committee shall set aside this sum.

The MPs also edged out the Senate from oversight of the Fund by giving a Committee of the National Assembly to check the management of the Fund. There had been a proposal to have a joint Committee, which constitutes members of the Senate and from the National Assembly to oversight the Fund. But they voted against this provision saying the function should fall within the National Assembly.

“This is a Constituency Fund and I don’t see where the Senate is coming in,” said Sports Minister Ababu Namwamba.

School children would ,however, have a reason to smile for the Bill now recognises education bursary scheme, mocks and continuous assessment tests as development projects so long as they shall not exceed 15 per cent of the total funds allocated to the kitty each financial year.

An attempt to have the Fund used to fund religious activities and religious bodies was shot down by the MPs during the verbal vote at the Committee. The amendment had been introduced by nominated MP Millie Odhiambo-Mabona.

“We are criminalising religious activities… I want to take CDF and use it to support my church, “said Ms Odhiambo Mabona.

But Turkana Central MP Ekwee Ethuro, who is also the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on CDF, said such a provision would undermine the purpose of the Fund.

“We’ll be undermining the purpose of CDF. The Fund is meant for poverty alleviation not for evangelisation,” said Mr Ethuro. His view was supported by Mr Gumbo.

A provision to have at least 30 per cent of the development projects funded by the kitty be reserved for the youth also failed to sail through as MPs said it was tricky to implement. The proposal was floated by Mr Gumbo.

But Planning Minister Wycliffe Oparanya said there is already a government circular that gives the youth ten per cent in business opportunities and it would not be necessary to legislate on the matter.

Ekwee, Migori MP, John Pesa, Mosop MP, David Koech and Education Assistant Minister Ayiecho Olweny warned that implementing the requirement would not be practicable. But Ndhiwa MP Augustino Neto said the provision was good for affirmative action.

Police link impostor to Baragoi killings

By Moses Michira

KENYA: An internal secret investigation by high-ranking officers picked by retired Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere has concluded that the bungled Baragoi mission could have backfired following leakage by the impostor now in custody.

Pointing fingers at Joshua Waiganjo who infiltrated police force with claims he was an Assistant Commissioner of police when he was in fact just a Standard Eight dropout, the team also questioned why a Nakuru bank manager was incorporated in a police flight to Baragoi before the bungled raid.

Led by a Senior Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of reforms, Mr Jonathan Kosgei, The Standard the team found out that the operation that led to killings of police officers and reservists was carried out against the advice of the police officers on the ground.

It also revealed how badly planned the doomed mission was, with no records kept either of the officers deployed or the manouvres they were required to engage in, and lacked even basic things like water, and when they were attacked, even the available helicopter wasn’t sent to their rescue.

Interestingly, the 132 officers and reservists had been forced to walk for 10 kilometres in a single-file, and having been told they were pursuing only 35 bandits when they were, in fact, 1000, they were ambushed inside a valley where the enemy had shooting advantage and massacred.

All that time, as they fought for dear life in Suguta Valley, with the new police officers having not been paid their September and October pay while almost all had no competence in field combat, their commander was killing time in his hotel room in Baragoi, the report says.

Initial draft by the committee appointed by Iteere, sources reveal, was initially edited to keep Waiganjo’s name off on what insiders called ‘orders from above’.

However, when the new Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo reported to office, he asked for full disclosure on the investigations and that is when the cover was reportedly blown off the faces of Waiganjo and a Nakuru bank manager who we cannot name at this stage for legal reasons.

Security meetings

“The conduct and the role of the alleged KPR (Kenya Police Reservist) commander – Mr Waiganjo “ACP” and…Nakuru Branch Manager to be thoroughly investigated particularly on suspicion of having betrayed the operation as they are reported to have attended various security meetings,” reads part of the report by Koskei’s team.

The committee found out Mr Waiganjo and the banker had attended several planning meetings in the build-up to the failed operation, raising the possibility that they were moles for the raiders planted to leak sensitive information that could help in the recovery of the stolen animals.

The possibility that Mr Waiganjo betrayed the security operation adds a new dimension to the web of cattle rustling which has led to thousands of fatalities among the security personel, and members of the Turkana and Samburu communities.

In the unfolding saga surrounding Waiganjo who is pictured variously in senior police uniform and rank, which was first exclusively reported by The Standard, last Friday, President Kibaki has ordered a ten-day probe even as local police officials deny colluding with or overlooking this gross violation of national security and professional code of conduct.

A more worrying link to possible betrayal contained in the report is that the Provincial Police Officer John M’mbijiwe ignored counsel of his juniors, who are based in the hostile Baragoi District, about the launching the operation without sufficient preparation and arming.

Recent claims have been made that Waiganjo could have been a dangerous criminal involved in robberies and extortion in several places, possible crimes for which he is now facing charges in court. The latest claims further reinforce the fears that he may have been an informer promoting the fraudulent cattle trade.

The damaging report points out loopholes in the planning of the operation to recover over 500 cattle stolen by the warriors from the Samburu, including relying on a Turkana moran in execution, and was likely to have misinformed the police.

“Planning of the operation was dependant on a Turkana tribesman whom under normal circumstances cannot divulge any information concerning his fellow Turkanas,” the report read further.

Bad terrain

The district police bosses were opposed to the operation, saying the officers involved were too few, considering that the raiders were ‘over 1,000’ and that they had the advantage of knowing the terrain better.

The senior officers at Baragoi said they knew about the number of raiders and their firepower because two operations they had led in trying to recover the lost animals had failed as the officers were overpowered and repulsed.

It was puzzling for the committee that the operation commander, who was opposed the operation from the start, did not go to the battleground even when he was mandated to lead the recovery mission.

The report cites the opposition from the commander and the Samburu County intelligence officers had contributed to the poor planning of the operation, as there was no prior study of the terrain to determine the scope of the duty.

“The operation commander appears to have had no role as he remained in his hotel room in Baragoi town as the four sectors proceeded to the battle ground.”

In what seems to confirm his involvement as a mole, Mr Waiganjo who had introduced himself as the commander for the Anti-Stock theft Unit in the Rift Valley did not attend the early morning recovery mission that ended horribly.

About 107 police officers were sent on the mission that started at about 1am, but were dropped more than 10 kilometres from the battlefront in Lomelok village, owing to poor road network. It is also regrettable that several security meetings were held in Baragoi, but no minutes were taken, Kosgei’s team added.

“It also appears that the Provincial Security Intelligence Committee left the entire problem solving to the PPO and the Provincial Criminal Investigations Officers as no mention has been sighted on the Provincial Commissioner and the regional National Intelligence Service Coordinator having attended any meeting in Baragoi even after the incident,’’ the report went on.