Ntimama admits blood on hands

On NTV's news at 9pm yesterday, 16th July, a report by Robert Nagila was aired showing a confrontation between National Heritage Minister William Ole Ntimama and Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto in the presence of Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Agriculture Minister William Ruto. Read More.

Preliminary Thoughts On Imposed Power Sharing

It appears quite in order to ask one simple question: why is power sharing being forced down Kenya's throat? It is clear that neither ODM nor PNU wanted power sharing. They all wanted everything.

Read more from Muciimi Mbatia here.

Opposition Officials Helped Plan Rift Valley Violence

Human Rights Watch investigations indicate that, after Kenya's disputed elections, opposition party officials and local elders planned and organized ethnic-based violence in the Rift Valley, Human Rights Watch said today.

The attacks, targeting mostly Kikuyu and Kisii people in and around the town of Eldoret, could continue unless the government and opposition act to stop the violence, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch called on the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leadership to take immediate steps to stop its supporters from committing further attacks. At the same time, Human Rights Watch said the Kenyan police should urgently deploy extra officers to the region to protect displaced people and resident Kikuyu communities.

Read more from the Human Rights Watch here.

400 dead and not a tear from the ODM

Rasna Warah's article published in the Daily Nation on 21 January 2008 betrays a sense of reckless indifference to the plight of the victims of the violence meted out on certain communities in the Rift Valley suspected to have voted "against the grain."

This indifference runs through the ODM leadership and is not unique to Ms. Warah.

Read more from Brian Muthiora here.

ODM Calls for Fresh Protests, Govt creates Mediation Team

Over the weekend, the Orange Democratic Movement called for more protests among its supporters. [Check for Updates] 0900

Updates here!

Why hate Kalonzo Musyoka?

Following the President’s appointment of Kalonzo Musyoka as his Vice President, I have come face to face with the frothing, seething hatred for the man in the ODM’s ranks. It is true that the ODM do not need a reason to hate anything and anyone, the mere fact that you are not one of them is enough reason for them to throw insults at you and do their very best to strike in you the liveliest terror. I have read such sentiments in Lucas Mboya's recent comment and have myself suffered these attacks. Perfidy by now, is my nom de plume.

Still, I cannot understand why the ODM hate Kalonzo so much. The ODM's leader in particular seems to harbour a particularly nasty grudge against the Mwingi MP which true to the nature of the party and its hacks in the Kenyan media has in the last week been faithfully relayed to the Kenyan people.

Read more from John Victor Ogot here.

Looking into the future

President Kibaki has now named what is being reported as half his cabinet. It appears, with the killing now stopped that the politicians have turned their efforts into what is a game of political chess.

It was with sheer disbelief that I reacted when I first heard the announcement. It became clear that instead of slamming the door shut in the ODM's face, the national leader has his foe Raila Odinga exactly where he wants him.

Read more from Joseph Hamisi Silaha here.

Uhuru Park, January 3, 2008

On January 3rd, 2008 Raila and the ODM Pentagon have announced a "Million Man March" to Uhuru Park, Nairobi to demonstrate to the government their ire at the flawed electoral tallying process.

The rally, I believe, should go on but the ODM must insist that its supporters not carry sticks, stones or machetes -- and that they do not rape, pillage and steal as they have done in the last few days. If they carry weapons -- even defensive weapons -- they will fritter away any international support and sympathy that they have and encourage the security forces to respond aggressively.

Read more from Joseph Hamisi Silaha.

ODM: Give us the evidence

Much has been said about the recently concluded presidential election that Raila Odinga lost but which still gave his party sufficient constituency wins to control parliament.

There is a feeling of resignation, shock and being cheated at the electoral loss and this is fully understandable. Those of us old enough will recall the 1992 election where everyone thought they would beat the KANU candidate Daniel Arap Moi but he still came out triumphant. Opposition leaders screamed that Moi had rigged the elections and even FORD Asili's Kenneth Matiba went the extra mile to file a petition in court, one which ultimately failed on a technicality.

Read more from Kamale T here.

Too Close to Call

You could cut the tension in Nairobi with a knife, everyone seems to have taken sides and even those who have not, are fully aware that this is a high stakes affair with a sense of doom written all over it.

The air is rife with rumours, most of them about an attempt by the government to rig the election. Other topics of fervent discussion include allegations that the government will not hand over to the ODM should it be beaten on Thursday.

Read more from Maina Gichangi.

Things fall apart, the danger of ODMnomics

There was once an African country that was the wealthiest in its region, it had the best-educated population and its factories produced the goods that filled the shelves in its neighbours' shops.

Then came a president who had new ideas, very passionately held, about how to make his country even wealthier. He said the country needed to develop its own style of government, one that was uniquely tuned to addressing its needs. He spent vast sums, upto 60% of the budget on mega-projects. As he had reversed progress made in revenue collection by previous governments, his new government had to inaugurate an entirely new regime at the revenue authority. At the same time, the authority's budget was cut into by the fact that there was much less in tax collections, the president having exonerated large sections of the working population from the tax burden. He nationalised companies that had previously been privatised and antagonised the financial markets with endless investigations and insinuations. Rent controls served to kill the fledgling property and mortgage markets.

Read more from Vitalis Oyudo.

New Opinion Polls

Steadman has today published new opinion polls that show a shift in voter preferences in the lead up to the General Election. The election date has also been announced. Voting day is 27/12.

The Steadman polls indicate that Raila Odinga's support has fallen from 53% to 50%, the incumbent Mwai Kibaki saw his stock rise from 37% to 39%. The ODM-K candidate had an 8% share of the respondents' support. These changes are within the margins of error and give the impression that not much has changed.

But do these really matter or are Kenyans minds made up? Will ODM's euphoric high be diminished by December 27? Are Kenyans paying more attention to the issues? Join the discussion here.

We also have our own poll. (You will find it at the bottom of the left hand side column of the homepage).

User's guide to beating ODM

Stephen Wanyama publishes a list of proposals that the PNU could adopt in catching up with an overtaking the ODM party at the polls. This follows polls results that show the Party of National Unity is lagging behind in almost all the provinces.

There are many Kenyans who see this year's election as a titanic battle between good and evil. I don't quite share that view, my opinion being that both sides have let Kenya down immensely.

Read more here.

On Public Expenditure and Wealth Creation

ODM Presidential Candidate Raila Odinga's response to the last budget speech. In this speech, the Langata MP talks about his ideas on reducing the inequality gap while chasing economic growth, and the importance of seeking a holistic view of progress- defined by the Gross National Happiness index.
He addresses the failures of present government measures, and sets out the agenda for what his government would achieve.

More here.

The Right Not to Vote

I consider myself a responsible and fully-paid up member of my society. I participate in the PTA at my daughter's school, and I am involved in the neighborhood council.

We do not do anything too exciting in our council; it's only putting together the funds for the refuse collection, and that for the neighborhood guards. We also put money together for the resurfacing of the road that passes through our little enclave.

It is an enclave alright, and we are its little government. We have blocked the two entrances to our road. We have put up a ten-foot wall on the one-end, with electric fencing at the top; and we have a massive gate (again with electric fencing on top) at the front-end. At the gate we have two guards, ex-policemen who are under instruction not to let anyone come uninvited into our little piece of calm and tranquility. We have long given up on the ability of the local government and the central government to deliver the services we should properly expect from our taxes.

Annette Keino demonstrates why none of the political parties nor the candidates that represent them are worthy of her vote. Read more here.

Joining forces against Raila

After waiting a long time, we have seen a circus of tribal chiefs supporting President Kibaki's re-election as they launched PANU, a coalition whose aim is to maintain the status quo at all costs.
By their speeches it was quite apparent that they live in morbid fear of one Raila Odinga. Ministers Chirau Mwakwere and Simeon Nyachae captured the frustration and fears of the ruling class against the indomitable ODM flag bearer.

On June 7th last year I had predicted in a local daily that a Moi/ Kibaki/ Kenyatta axis would inevitably emerge if ODM flag bearer Raila Odinga clinches the ODM ticket. In light of this, the dramatic endorsement of Mwai Kibaki by Moi and then Uhuru Kenyatta did not come as a major surprise. I have deliberately mentioned the two since they are the main pillars of this reactionary group.

Read more as Solomon Gakungu opines on the race to Kenya's presidency this December.

Kibaki's new Democracy

Is it possible, that the decision by Kibaki to go for a PNU arrangement with an array of parties supporting him but remaining distinct, may lead to enhanced democracy in Kenya?


Kamale T analyses President Kibaki's strategy for the next general election. Read more here.

ODM’s fatal flaw and Kibaki’s masterstroke

Even the neutral observer must have felt that the laid-back campaign style of the Kibaki team was denying us a true contest in the election year.

While ODM went about the country winning converts in mass rallies, the forces around President Kibaki seemed destined for another performance like the 2005 referendum where they waged an incompetent campaign and doomed themselves to an easy defeat.

Read more from Amir Ibrahim here.

Angels with dirty faces

There's many ways to wage an election campaign. Whipping up the public emotion and demonizing your opponent so as to turn the public against him is one of the more commonly used, and one of the most effective. In a nutshell, this strategy involves painting one's team as angels, and the opposing side as demons bent on the destruction of the public good. The danger with this approach, which presents itself as very cost-effective, is that it places the angels in a position of great disadvantage.

Read here as Amir Ibrahim asks the ODM party to have an issues campaign versus a morality one.