LiberalMindsKE

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/10/kenyan-court-drops-60-million-corruption-case-against-deputy-president

  At least for now the scorching sun had to take a momentarily break and we welcome the season of the short rains. Everything that breathes under the sky is filled with life, the magic of rain. It’s true when they say “water is life”.The green canopy will soon resurface and the earth’s crust will be restored, at least for now. Where am from the silent valley will soon roar back to life, and the sounds of soaring river Chania will reverberate through the trout valley. At dusk, the crickets chirped monotonously and the cloaking frogs will join the rhythm, yes, all I need is my sleep done in perfect, natural harmony to fantasize my ego and fade away the bewilderments of my life. In perfect control of my life, Finished building my castles in the air, now searching for the elixir of life. In our times this river brought fortunes and calamities in equal measures. The river would deliver huge chunks of trees from Aberdares mountains, at least the families that had lived along the river li...

  President William Ruto's first cabinet was announced after some delay on 27 September, and a curious collection it was. With 22 cabinet secretaries, plus the President, Deputy President and the Attorney General (ex-officio), there are 25 seats at that august table.  So, let's take a look at Ruto's choices. First, only four of 25 have held ministerial level office before (Ruto himself, Musalia Mudavadi, Davis Chirchir, Simon Chelugui). It is not a cabinet with much experience in governing. Mudavadi's elevation to Prime Cabinet Secretary gives the government gravitas, but its not obvious he had much influence on his colleagues' selection and how much actual power he will wield remains to be seen, especially as his role and that of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua overlap significantly (just as Ruto and Fred Matangi's did before).  Only one of Kenyatta's CS's (Chelugui) was retained and continuity was not seen as of value.  Second, Ruto did not attempt t...

 Crony Capitalism and State Capture:  The Kenyatta Family Story By David Ndii Nothing is more dangerous than the influence of private interests in public affairs, and the abuse of the laws by the government is a less evil than the corruption of the legislator, which is the inevitable sequel to a particular standpoint. In such a case, the State being altered in substance, all reformation becomes impossible. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau In November 2013, seven months into Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidency, one of the dailies carried a story profiling what it termed as the Kenyatta family business “expansion drive”. “Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidency” it averred, “has injected fresh energy into his family’s commercial empire, putting a number of units on an expansion mode that is expected to consolidate its position as one of the largest business dynasties in Kenya.” The paper listed interests in hospitality, dairy healthcare, media, banking and construction. The feature went unremarked in public...

  Advances in communication technology in the 20th century have eased information transfer and made the world a global village. As a result, millions of jobs have been created and blogging is one of the most notable ones. Many people have come to accept blogs as sources of credible information and some bloggers have become so popular that they are threatening to overtake mainstream news sources. A survey conducted by United States International University’s (USIU) SIMELab between December 2018 and March 2019 revealed that a majority of Kenyans (nearly three-quarters) read online blogs, with entertainment and education blogs being the most popular. The survey sampled 3,269 respondents aged between 14 and 55 from eight counties. The research showed that most men in Kenya read sports blogs, while most women read food and fashion content. Blogs account for a majority of local content produced in the country. According to the Communication Authority, the number of ac...

  ODM party leader Raila Odinga warned that Kenya may be entering a state of lawlessness. In a statement, Raila condemned an incident that took place a week ago where a mob that had been hired by auctioneers demolished a house in Westlands, Nairobi, saying that the incident should worry every Kenyan and the government. “We may be witnessing a quick return of the old practice where individuals with political patronage use their proximity to power to harass innocent citizens and foreigners and take their property,” he said. According to Raila, lawlessness is slowly taking shape in Kenya saying that cases of insecurity have risen following reports of  mugging and robbery incidents. “Lawlessness and impunity seem to be finding their way back into our national life, targeting not just individuals but also property in a manner witnessed in a previous era that Kenyans had hoped were gone forever,” the statement reads in part. He criticized the national government saying that the Will...

  The struggle in Kenya for true democracy means a fight against the capitalist system and imperialism. There are huge class contradictions within our country. While the political elite live lavish lives and engage in a frenzy of looting and theft, the conditions of the working masses have either stagnated or worsened. The problem is that there is no genuine revolutionary movement or party in Kenya, which could lead the working class and the oppressed out of this quagmire. The building of such a movement is the most urgent task facing the working class and the revolutionary youth of Kenya today. In Kenya, the struggle for socialism has been deleted from official history and from public consciousness by the ruling class, backed by Britain and USA. They ensured that capitalism was imposed on people after independence and that the voices of those advocating socialism were suppressed. The Kenyan masses need to rediscover their revolutionary traditions. What is needed is a working class...

  The whole history in Kenya shows that no real change can be expected within a capitalist system. Not only the two main coalition candidates, but all four candidates up for election in the presidential race, were united in their capitalist and pro-imperialist policy. The national elections have become meaningless rituals: a revolving door to elect this bourgeois scoundrel or the other. Both of the leading presidential candidates have been accused of corruption and theft of public property. The other two are non-entities. George Wajackoya became a talking point on social media and beyond because of his proposals of how to deal with corruption, including death sentences for corrupt government officials and judges, and the legalisation of marijuana for commercial industrial use to help cure the ballooning public debt. He also proposed rearing venomous snakes for antivenom harvesting, largely for export; and exporting dog  meat and hyena body parts to Asian countries. Meanwhile, ...

  William Ruto was the Deputy President of Kenya for the last decade, under an administration that failed to address the economic crisis in East Africa's wealthiest and most stable nation. Food and fuel prices are surging, unemployment is high and public debt rising. One wonders why the solutions he presents in his election manifesto were not successful during his 10 years as vice president? The country’s currency, the shilling, has sharply depreciated. This means Kenya's Treasury will face difficulties paying back its huge dollar-denominated debt. The public debt rose from $16 billion in 2013 to $71 billion in 2021. As a result, Kenya spends nearly 30 percent of its state revenue on interest payments. With a debt-to-GDP ratio of 69.1 percent, Kenya is classified as being at high risk of distress by the International Monetary Fund. A Bloomberg Economics assessment  The World Bank and Euro bond holders account for nearly half of Kenya’s external debt, at 28 percent and 20 perce...

  William Ruto was sworn in as Kenya's fifth president on Tuesday 13 September, a week after the Supreme Court rejected a challenge by his opponent in a close-fought election, in which Ruto received 50.5 percent of the vote against 48.8 percent for Raila Odinga. Neither of these reactionary bourgeois politicians offered any way forward for the Kenyan masses, who face increasingly intolerable conditions. Odinga’s team made allegations that the IEBC electoral transmission system had been hacked and the results tampered with.  Azimio la Umoja  (“Resolution for Unity”), a political coalition headed by Odinga, further accused the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and Deputy President William Ruto of colluding and “subverting the will of the people”. These claims were however thrown out by the Supreme Court, which affirmed Ruto’s victory. This year’s election witnessed relative calm, with most people displaying apathy towards the entire process. The majority of Ke...

Pakistan Investigative Journalist Arshad Sharif Killed In Kenya Arshad Sharif, a prominent Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif has been killed in Kenya. He fled his country after being charged with sedition. The journalist died after police shoot-out responding to reports of a stolen vehicle. Sharif’s car allegedly drove through the road barrier that had been erected by police to track a stolen vehicle which prompted the shooting. “The officers trailing the motor vehicle had alerted police in Magadi who erected a road barrier,” Bruno Isohi Shioso, a spokesperson for Kenya’s National Police Service, said in a statement. Sharif had fled Pakistan in August due to sedition charges levelled against him for allegedly criticizing state institutions and “abetting mutiny” within the military. He had interviewed opposition politician Shahbaz Gill, a close ally of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Following the interview, Gill was also charged with sedition by the Pakistani police for making what ...

  In the forthcoming election august 2022 the integrity of the nation will be tested, we cannot afford to gamble with our country, we know the value instilled in Martha Karua, a social democrat teaming up with a reformist (RAOKA) against a morally depraved gang of demagogues that have easily persuaded the gullible public to give them a stage so they can impress the delirium. It's only a true revolutionary-democratic system that can instill fundamental changes in the country and liberate the people. The narrative of "bottom-up" is a rhetorical exploit for political purpose in a way calculated to appeal to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people. A good leader must be measured by integrity, empathy, gratitude, courage, and respect but not rhetorics. The Kenya Kwanza team is composed of political demagogues acting as if they are on deranged medication with their sole mission of ravaging the economy. This team deserves a thorough retribution post-election. We'll nev...

The presidential candidate launched a thinly-veiled swipe at President Uhuru Kenyatta’s endorsement of long-term rival Raila Odinga, who will face Ruto on 9 August. Kenyan presidential candidate and Deputy President William Ruto has labelled the political system a ‘mongrel’ after President Uhuru Kenyatta endorsed long-term rival Raila Odinga for president. Speaking at Chatham House in London, Ruto, who has served as Kenyatta’s deputy president since 2013, argued that there must be “clear demarcation” between opposition and government and said that the government is “blurring the lines” following Kenyatta’s Odinga endorsement. “The result you see today in Kenya is there is no government and no opposition, you have a mongrel of a governance system… The leader of the opposition [Odinga] is a project of the system and the deep state of government… the leader of what is supposed to be the ruling party [Kenyatta] is actually a supporter or refugee in the opposition party,” he said. R...