President Mwai Kibaki with Gen. Karangi
Story By Sonko Katwa.
President Mwai Kibaki has once a gain shown his contempt of others tribes in a country as multi-ethnic as we are in Kenya , with his latest appointment into office of a fellow Kikuyu from his Nyeri backyard,General Julius Karangi as Chief of Defense Forces. A few years ago, just after assuming office as Commander In Chief, President Mwai Kibaki embarked on an ambitious project of acquiring military hardware from The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Military men (there were no women) who were dispatched to negotiate the purchase price for the hardware left Jomo Kenyatta International airport and landed at Queen Alia International Airport, Amman Jordan on the same day a very happy lot, it is not every day that the Kenyan military personnel, get a chance of traveling out of the country with the permission from the Commander in Chief himself for this kind of missions. They have done this countless times on peace keeping missions of course. The traveling also comes with it is own benefits, five star accommodation and dollars as pocket money. The reason why Jordan was chosen as a source for our military aircrafts is not easy to understand.Some of the jets never took off.It is not known what actually happened to the planes that did not fly, the Jordanians could have intended to sell them off as scrap.The kingdom of Jordan does not have any known manufacturing plant for the F-5 type fighter jets.
Lt Gen Julius Karangi who was promoted to a full General and promptly appointed Chief of Defense Forces was one of the senior military officers monitoring every move in negotiations from Nairobi.By appointing General Karangi, President Mwai Kibaki could also have been repaying him back, for Gen. J.Karangi was fully immersed in President Mwai Kibaki's re-election campaign of 2007.General Karangi, Lee Karuri, Stanley Murage and Secretary General of The Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims Mr. Adan Wachu,were among a team that worked behind the scenes in ensuring that Mwai Kibaki got his second term as President of the republic of Kenya, this despite the fact that military personnel are supposed to remain neutral in matters politics regardless of their seniority in the force.The other rule that was ignored by the president in his appointing of Karangi,is his age, Gen. Karangi is now 62 year of age and should have gone home the day his former boss Gen.Kianga retired, but again this is a case of blood being thicker than water.
What most Kenyans might not have know is that this project could have been conceived purposely for making extra money for the 2007 general elections, this explains why Gen. Kianga was in the thick of things at the "Kibaki Tena" campaign headquarters. The cost of the project which was estimated to be Sh.2.55 billion at the time coursed discontent among some officers in the military. At the center of it all, are some of the men promoted to oversea the running of our military. What is worrying most Kenyans now is the ethnic composition of the ministries charged with the mandate of defending Kenya. Both the police force and the military are all in the hands of one community, the Kikuyu. President Mwai Kibaki as head of State and government has surrounded himself with trusted men and allies as his defense team. The group might just converge for deliberation of delicate security matters concerning our country and only canvas in Kikuyu. General Karangi,Chief of Defense Forces, Police Commissioner Mathews Itere, CID boss Ndegwa Muhoro , AP commandant Kinuthia Mbugua, Minister Internal security George Saitoti, his PS Francis Kimemia are all Kikuyu and they hold very strategic positions in Kenya.
COUNTY GOVERNANCE,THE RICHES OF SUBA LUO NYANZA
Story By Mdadisi Mmoja
One of Kenya’s leading daily newspapers, The Star carried a very emotional story Saturday 16/07/2011 on how some parts of Nyanza province, Kenya had been marginalized by successive governments since the death of Tom Mboya in the 1960’s. The story quoted Mrs.Phoebe Asiyo, a veteran politician herself, telling The Truth and Justice Commission session seating in Kisumu of just how the region has been left behind in terms of development. Today we highlight some of the activities that could assist residents in the region overcome economic marginalization on their own.
Suba region covers areas like Mbita and the newly created Gwassi administrative districts. This region along with its abundance resources, is capable of making the Homa-Bay County, one of the richest among the 47 counties countrywide.It is an area, with a lot of potential to generate revenue from tourism, fishing hidden minerals, and pre-historic sites for attraction to both local and foreign leisure seekers.The region only needs good governance to be put into place at its administrative headquarters, located at Homa-Bay Town. The regional headquarters can now be easily accessed by some good tarmac roads via Rongo and also via Kendu-Bay in
Rachuonyo North district.The pre-historic sites on the twin islands of Rusinga and Mfangano can also be accessed by roads using the ultra-modern Ndori-Luanda-Kotieno road in Bondo, that
links Kisumu and Mbita Towns. Here the visitors could be ferried on a journey that can take only 40 minutes by crossing the narrow Nyanza Gulf using the well maintained Mbita Ferries.The Mbita Ferries,is a company owned and managed exclusively by a local entrepreneur who runs two ferries with one sailing across while the other one remains on stand by.
The yet to be fully developed tourist attraction sites include Ruma National Game Park in Lambwe Valley,pre-historic sites on Rusinga and Mfangano Islands, Gwassi and in Rachuonyo. It is also a versatile region for lover’s of birds and for fishing as a sport.Ruma National Game Park is also rich and has animals of all species in abundance, it is home to a rare Roan Antelope, a very special species whose only other homes are found at Simba Hill Game Reserve in Kwale district at the Coast and in the famous Kruger National Game Park in the Republic of South Africa.The park also houses other wild animal species like elands, reed-bucks,water-bucks, bush-bucks, Rothschild’s giraffes, and the rare waiter antelopes which are known by the locals as “Nyambaja. There are predators like Hyenas too.
Next to Ruma National Game Park is the Gwassi Hills which have reputations for having tree with medicinal substances. The hills have in recent years been vandalized due to intensive human settlements.A Kisumu based NGO; the OSIENALA working in collaboration with foreign based financial agencies has made frantic efforts to save the hills with an intensive reforestation program, which has seen millions of tree seedling being planted on them and illegal settlers, relocated.
Located at Nyandiwa Trading Centre in Central Gwassi is another famous pre-historical site known as “Nyamgondho Wuod Ombare”.At this place mysterious human foot-prints and those of domesticated animals will be seen printed on the rocks, especially during early morning hours when the lake waters are still clean.
The foot-prints are related to some myth, a story is told of an estranged wealthy woman who rebelled against her foster husband and walked back into the lake where she had earlier on been fished out by Nyamgondho a fisherman after some alleged serious family disagreement. The woman is said to have run back to the lake and disappeared with all her worldly wealth including her domesticated animals.
The expected County government must come out and ensure that the funds that will be channeled through the County coffers, support local entrepreneurs in establishing luxurious hotels on both Rusinga and Mfangano islands, Gwassi, Kaksingiri and Rachuonyo North districts along the shorelines of Lake Victoria as part of the tourist attractions campaign.
Other pre-historic site are the two rocks resembling the fighting bull which stands a few kilometers off Wanyama beach in Rusinga Island. It is said that the bull christened Nyama-Gi-Ware, represent the families of two brothers who were ancestors of the Waware and Wanyama sub-clans. One bull as the story goes belonged to Mnyama while the other one belonged to his brother Ware. It is alleged that the bulls fought fiercely until they entered the lake waters while still locked by the horns and turned into permanent rocks.
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