Mars Group Blog

Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Kenyans do not want  IMF medicine. It is time to kick the IMF out of Kenya.

“ while corruption is a problem we all share, here in Kenya it is a crisis – a crisis that’s robbing an honest people of the opportunities they have fought for – the opportunity they deserve.” US President Barack Obama, speaking four years ago in Nairobi when he was he junior Senator for Illinois

It was the same room – the Taifa Hall – where Barack Obama spoke –  the same kind of audience – invited guests of the Chancellor of the Nairobi University and the same lamentation – bad governance and corruption are defeating development objectives in Kenya.  The guest of honour, Dominique Strauss-Kahn Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund made a keynote speech broadcast live at which he spoke to Africa – predicting economic growth.  Perhaps to be polite he made little mention of Kenyan corruption scandals, which raged in the days before and even after his speech; but Raila Odinga Kenya’s Prime Minister was not so diffident at the same podium.  He said that only the people of Africa will develop Africa. According to the Prime Minister, what has kept Africa where it is; is bad governance, corruption and dictatorships. The Prime minister was categorical that the problem in Kenya is corruption, saying that we must deal a blow to corruption in order to move forward.

In the papers the next day reportage was cheerful and optimistic but ironically the elephant in the room, which Strauss Kahn ignored, was the impunity and lack of accountability of the Kenyan Finance Ministry that the IMF works very closely with.  The Minister of Finance presented a budget, which did not factor in reform agenda spending; and bizarrely failed to fund the constitutional referendum, which was identified as key to stability in Kenya that the IMF is pinning its growth hopes on.

For 65 years, the IMF has loaned billions of dollars to Third World governments without adequate public oversight and in the absence of market discipline. In Kenya, the Government started borrowing from the IMF in 1964. The loans from the IMF to Kenya have financed dictatorships, spawned corruption, harmed the environment, wrecked our economy, and then forced the Kenyan public hostage to pay the money back. In law, these debts are known as “odious”.

Today, Kenya owes 62.7% of its external public debt to the IMF and the World Bank. Poor Kenyans will spend over 24% of its entire budget paying back debt redemption and interest. Yet, this year not a single tax shilling will go to the development budget.

Kenya has very little to show for IMF and World Bank debts. Re-payments are in effect “shark fees” paid for funds that have long since vanished and the present value of the debt is even higher. Servicing huge unproductive debts drains the funds needed for education, health care and development. Kenyans have borrowed over 11 Billions for railway projects, but not a single inch of track has been built since Independence. Most of the debts owed by Kenyans are for services and goods that Kenyans have never received. Today 80% of Kenyans live on less than two dollars a day meanwhile the IMF and World Bank continue to loan billions of dollars to Kenyan corrupt leaders with nothing to show for it.

It was shocking to see the Managing Director of the IMF, Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrive in Nairobi with some more goodies. The IMF Chief says now the IMF wants to lend African Countries with Zero interest. Which Bank in the world lends without interest? And why? Is the IMF a charitable organization? In his high-powered speech Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn was able to tell Kenyans without batting an eyelid that in most African countries, one can lose a child because of poverty, unless of course, the IMF intervenes. Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn did not tell attentive Kenyans what role the IMF has played over the last 46 years to impoverish them to the extent that a Kenyan can lose a child over poverty.

The IMF is an organisation tasked with the mission of fostering free trade and global prosperity. The IMF has grown so that today with 155 countries it has the authority of being both regulator and overseer of the global economy. This power is so extensive that countries must join the IMF to be eligible for World Bank membership.

The IMF performs three main activities:

• monitoring national, global, and regional economic and financial developments and advising member countries on their economic policies;

• lending members hard currencies to support policy programs designed to correct balance of payments problems; and

• offering technical assistance in its areas of expertise, as well as training for government and central bank officials.

In Kenya, if the IMF actually performs these three activities, and if one were to honestly grade the performance of the IMF, it would be fair to award an F grade. Why? Because when Kenya joined the IMF, it agreed as required, to subject its economic and financial policies to the scrutiny of the IMF as well as the international community. Kenya made a commitment to pursue policies that are conducive to orderly economic growth and reasonable price stability as well as providing the IMF with data on its economy. The IMF’s regular monitoring of economies and associated provision of policy advice (surveillance) was intended to identify weaknesses that are causing or could lead to trouble in Kenya.

Has the IMF surveillance helped Kenya? Is grand corruption not now a terminal cancer that has become malignant spreading to institutions such as the treasury and the Ministry of Finance where the IMF sets up office? Is it not the IMF that gives budget technical & capacity building support to the same treasury that keeps writing bogus budgets? Is it not the IMF that keeps lending money to a corrupt Government that refuses to account to Parliament? Treasury and the Ministry of finance have to date refused to submit to an independent forensic audit into the National Budget for the last three years as ordered by Parliament. Treasury and the Ministry of Finance have refused to table in Parliament, the External Public debt register for Scrutiny. Is this the training being provided by the IMF, or is the IMF condoning corruption of those they purport to oversee?

Kenyan Citizens are now street smart and are very aware of the IMF bogus strategy for Kenya. The IMF should stop telling us what to do and what we should change. Instead, the IMF should start listening to Kenyan citizens when they tell the IMF what approach it should take to make the Kenya Government accountable and transparent to its citizenry. Kenyans do not want or need IMF money. IMF money will not lift poor Kenyans out of poverty. In truth the IMF is costing us dearly.

We reiterate the contents of our two letters to the IMF, managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn with an extra proviso, that its time for the IMF to leave Kenya.

Letter dated June 2nd 2009: IMF’s ODIOUS LOANS ARE IMPOVERISHING KENYA THROUGH COLLUSION WITH CORRUPT AGENT

Letter dated 30th March 2009: LOAN REQUEST BY THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA FOR ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS

Diplomacy is one thing, but economic reality is surely another. The Kenyan Treasury is in need of a big stick approach by international partners and the messaging of Mr. Strauss Kahn was totally off mark. The Kenyan Treasury’s claims that it wants to work with civil society and the private sector are platitudes meant to deceive – Treasury won’t even work with Parliament the representatives of the people.

Tags: abject poverty, accountability, African Development Bank, Amos Wako, Anglo leasing, Assistant Ministers, Attorney General, austerity measures, Austria, Barack Obama, Belgium, Bi-Lateral donors, Bloated Cabinet, bogus debts, Bosire Judicial Commission of Inquiry, Bradley Birkenfeld, Cabinet, cancellation of debts, CBK, Central Bank of Kenya, Civil Society, Civil Society Agencies, commercial credit agreements, Controller and Auditor General, corrupt debts, credit contracts Europe, crime against humanity, crisis, cushion the currency, Daniel arap Moi, Debt Management, Debt registers, debt relief, destitute, Development expenditure recurrent Expenditure, dictatorships, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, embezzlement of taxpayers funds, End of Impunity, Evan Mwai, external debt register, External Loans and Credits Act, External Public Debt Register, Faith Based Organizations, fictitious credit and debts, Goldenberg, Grand Coalition, Grand Coalition Government, grass roots organizations, gross economic crimes, IMF, impunity, international asset recovery, International Debts, International Monetary Fund, irrevocable promissory notes, Ken Ren Fertilizer Factory, kenya, Kenya Anti Corruption Commission, Kenya government, Kenyan Citizen, Law, Lazard Brothers, legal consideration, legal opinion, LOAN REQUEST BY THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA FOR ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS, loans, Mars Group Kenya, Mars Group Kenya’ IMF’s ODIOUS LOANS ARE IMPOVERISHING KENYA THROUGH COLLUSION WITH CORRUPT AGENTS, Media, members of parliament, Millennium Development Goals, Ministers, Ministry Of Finance, Mr. Joseph Kinyua, mutual legal assistance, Mwai Kibaki, Mwalimu Mati, National Assembly, National Budget, National Budget estimates, NGO’s, parliament, Partnership for Change, people of Kenya, Permanent Secretary for Finance, phantom credit companies, poor taxpayers, poverty, President, President Barack Obama, Prime Minister, provinces of Kenya. non-violent, public debt, public scrutiny, raila, Raila Odinga, Republic of Kenya, restoration of democratic accountability, scandals, Social Movements, Sovereign Debt, starving, starving Kenyans, Taifa hall, Taxes, transparency, Treasury, unconscionable debts, unemployed, United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office, United States Department of Justice, United States of America, wasteful expenditure, World Bank, Youth groups

Does the treasury know how many cars the Government of Kenya owns?

How many cars does the Government own?  No one knows but it is possible to deduce that there may be a serious problem.

According to the Approved budget for the financial year 2007/2008 the total number of vehicles owned by the Government of Kenya was 10,589.  This is the last publicly known figure of how many vehicles belong to the Government of Kenya.  The following year, Schedule V which records the motor vehicle establishment was mysteriously removed from the budget and has never reappeared in all the budgets since.

The total number of drivers employed by the Government of Kenya according to the budget presented to Parliament by Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta last June is 4,206. We can therefore assume that the Government of Kenya owns about 4,206 cars as it would be irrational to have more cars than drivers.  Or is it possible that 6383 cars are self-driven by public officials?  Could they have been sold?  Probably not if one considers that the money reported by the Treasury to have been received from the sale of motor vehicles between 2008-2010 amounts to only Kshs 35,421,721.

What we’d like MPs to ask treasury before the next supplementary and national budget is why there are no drivers for the other 6383 cars?  Additionally they should ask why Schedule V is no longer being presented to them so that they can inform themselves on how many cars the Government actually has before being asked to approve fuel, maintenance, and overhaul and motor vehicle purchase budgets.  The amounts involved are staggering.  Parliament approved Kshs 5.4 Billion for the purchase of new motor vehicles for the financial years 2008/2009 and 2009/2010; and a total of Kshs 8.013

Billion in motor vehicle related expenditure for this financial year. When Parliament did this, MPs had no idea and still do not know how many cars the Government owns.

But surely treasury knows the number of cars that Government owns, otherwise how did they plan the budget for fuel, maintenance, overhaul etc. We take bets that treasury has no clue either.

It is important to clear these sorts of anomalies up. There are many. Parliament unanimously ordered an independent Forensic Audit into the National Budget going back three years. This Audit is yet to begin 8 months later. Kenyans want the forensic audit ordered by Parliament to commence immediately so that we know our true financial position and not continue to operate in ignorance as Treasury is keeping us.

Tags: administration police officers, Advertising and Information Supplies and Services, Agenda 4, Appropriation Bill, Appropriations Committee, Budget Committee, budget line items, Chris Okemo, civil servants, communication, Controller and Auditor General, Corruption, Cyprian Nyamwamu, Democratic Accountability, Deputy Prime Minister, Development Budget, Dictatorial Impunity, Domestic Travel and Subsistence and Other Transport Costs, economic situation, Feasibility Studies, Finance Committee, Finance Minister, Fiscal Analysis and Appropriation Committee, Fiscal Management Bill, food insecurity, Forensic Audit, FPE Scandal, Free education, Fuel Oil and Lubricants, government, Government of Kenya, Grand Coalition Government, Hon. Gitobu Imanyara, Hospitality Supplies and Services, House Allowance, impunity, Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya, Jayne Mati, KEN REN, Ken Ren Fertiliser, Kenneth Marende, kenya, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Kenya public, Kenyan Taxpayer, KNCHR, maize scandal, Mars Group, Mars Group Kenya, marsgroupkenya twitter, Martin Otieno Ogindo, Medical Allowance, members of parliament, Minister for Finance, Mwai Kibaki, Mwalimu Mati, National Accord, National Assembly, National Budget, National Youth Convention, non violent, nurses, NYC, Office and General Supplies and Services, P4C, parliament, Partnership for Change, Paul Muite, Personal Allowance paid as Part of Salary, police officers, poverty, printing, prison officers, Project Preparation and Design, Project Supervision, public finances, Public Petition, Purchase of Office Furniture, Raila Odinga, reforms, REPORT OF THE JOINT COMMITTEES ON FINANCE PLANNING AND TRADE AND THE BUDGET COMMITTEE ON THE INCONSISTENCIES CONTAINED IN THE SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES OF THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2008/2009, Republic of Kenya, Research, routine maintenance, Speaker of the National Assembly, starvation, SUBMISSION TO THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE ENQUIRING INTO MATTERS ARISING FROM THE FINANCE MINISTRY PURCHASE AND SURRENDER VEHICLE SCHEME 2009, Supplementary Appropriations Bill, Supplementary estimates, Supplies and Services, Taxes, teachers, Training Expenses, Treasury, triton scandal, Uhuru Kenyatta, UK, underdevelopment, unemployment, USA, Utilities Supplies & Services Motor Vehicles

The First GPO Oulu, Oscar Kingara and Godwin Ogato Memorial Ceremony On Friday 5th March 2010

” Justice be our shield and defender. May we dwell in unity, peace and liberty” Kenya National Anthem

On 5th March 2009, two human rights crusaders, Mr. George Paul Oulu and Oscar Kingara of the Oscar Foundation and one innocent University of Nairobi student, Mr. Godwin Ogato were shot dead in mysterious circumstances along State House Avenue. To date, no information from the numerous investigations into their deaths has been provided to their families, friends and members of the Public.

In remembrance of this day, the 1st GPO Oulu, Kingara and Ogato Memorial Ceremony is set to be marked on Friday, 5th March 2010.

The Ceremony on the 5^th of March will be marked by a Tree Planting Exercise in honour of the three at the Freedom Corner from 11:00 to 11:45. This will then be followed by a sombre march to the site of their shooting, along State House Avenue for a brief ceremony and lighting of candles in their memory. The memorial will then move to Kisumu Rural, the home area of GPO for a final laying of a wreath of flowers on GPO Oulu’s grave at Holo and Kombewa.

This will be a sombre ceremony, recognizing the tireless efforts of Comrade GPO Oulu and Oscar Kingara in their efforts to liberate Kenya.

Hon. Paul Muite, Hon. Gitobu Imanyara, Mr. Mwalimu Mati, Mr. Cyprian Nyamwamu among a host of other human rights crusaders are expected to grace the event, in addition to friends and families of the three fallen heroes and Kenyans of goodwill.

As our efforts to obtain a permit from the Kenya Police to hold a peaceful memorial ceremony for the fallen comrades have remained fruitless, we intend to deliver, yet another notification letter to the PPO Nairobi Province tomorrow at 10.00 AM.

Signed and issued by the Organizing Committee

GPO Oulu and Oscar Kingara, Godwin Ogata Memorial

GPO OULU REMEMBERED.

GPO a former student leader and social justice activist and Paul Kingara a human rights defender were killed in a hail of bullets a year ago near The University of Nairobi hostels. It is a paradox and great shame that the cowards had to kill GPO near his alma mater where in so many years he fought battles to build a strong student union that responded to nation building and re-creating a nation where all Kenyans lived in dignity. That GPO Oulu suffered in his student leaders to correct rot in SONU-the student union can not be gainsaid that he had to die at the hallowed grounds of an intellectual reservoir pained all who had hope in. That GPO Oulu had to die a cold death, that the people who felled them feared to face them and argue their case is reason enough that Kenya is not there yet. That GPO died fighting for the Kenyan people’s right cannot be forgotten. He raised his voice for the voiceless and the unreached.

GPO Oulu was not a coward, he had no apologies to make to those who promoted bigotry, tribalism, self-aggrandizement, corruption and personal glory. GPO the leader led from the front and sacrificed any little comfort for the student fraternity. That is how all people from his Kikuyu campus to Parklands campus and main campus came to know him, a man fearless and steadfast that even when he was the only one fighting for the rights of the students he would not cower. To GPO that he came from a humble background and that he had a huge responsibility at home did not stop him fro standing for humanity. He did care that a better Kenya would bet a better home for everyone.

This month has we remember GPO Oulu, we also remember the student leaders of yester years on whose blood we stand. To all student leaders in our institutions of higher learning your calling is greater than your tribe and parochial politics. The gift the youth of this country can give GPO Oulu and the rest who have gone before us is to stand and risk for a better Kenya. GPO Oulu’s calling is for a Kenya that is united where all communities work in diversity to build a nation that takes care of all without prejudice and discrimination. A nation where rule of law, good governance and democracy are the pillars for socio-economic and political development. Where Kenyans access basic needs without feeling like they are getting favours, where opportunities for all is the credo of service to the nation.

Today we raise our voices and cry for truth and justice to be served to the fallen heroes. That the murders have not been resolved to date is a shame to all institutions of this nation. This shows the rot and failure in government, the impunity that the Kenyan people suffer everyday.

To those who believed in GPO Oulu, to those who want a better Kenya, we should all demand that action is taken. That we know who killed the two. Every Kenyan’ Human rights defender’s fear today is who will be next? Will we get cowed? Will this go on?

Douglas Arege,

Kisii

Tags: Amos Wako, Anglo leasing, Attorney General, budget, Cabinet, Douglas Arege, Dr. Alfred Mutua, Eric Kiraithe President Mwai Kibaki, EU, extra judicial executions, extra judicial killings, FBI, food, Fundamental Human Rights, Godwin Ogato Gisairo, Goldenberg, Government of Kenya, GPO, GPO Oulu Oscar Kingara Godwin Ogata Memorial, Grand Coalition, Grand Coalition Government, Hon Raila A. Odinga, Hon. Peter Mwathi, http://blog.marsgroupkenya.org/?p=634, human rights, John Michuki, John Paul Oulu, Judiciary, Kamanda Mucheke, kenya, Kenya Civil Society, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Kenya Police, Kenyan taxpayers, Kofi Annan, Kriegler report, Law Society of Kenya, Major General Hussein Ali, Mars Group, Mars Group Kenya, Media, Mungiki sect, National Accord, National Cereals and Produce Board, Organizing Committee, Oscar Foundation, Oscar Kamau King’ara, parliament, Police Commissioner, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Prof. Philip Alston, UN, UN special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Killings, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, United Nations Human rights Commission, United States, Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Waki Report, Yagnesh Devani, Youth Agenda

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION OF KENYA – WHY OMISSION OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER?

Access to Justice for All Kenyans is a fundamental human right. For the poor Kenyans only the office of the public defender can help them access justice when they need to.

kituo Cha Sheria

28^TH FEBRUARY 2010

Kituo Cha Sheria, the oldest legal aid and human rights organization established in 1973 is shocked to realize that the Public Defender’s office has been removed from the Proposed Draft Constitution released by the Committee of Experts on 23^rd February 2010. This removal comes after a recent article of the costing for provision of legal aid services having been done by the Ministry of Finance.

The Public Defender’s office has been prominently included and well protected in all Draft Constitutions since the review process begun, from CKRC, to Bomas, to Naivasha, to Kilifi, to Wako the 2005 Referendum Constitution, to the Harmonized Draft. And there are good reasons for the inclusion and protection of the Public Defender’s Office in the Constitution especially in the wake of a Strong presidential system as provided for in the Proposed Constitution.

The office of the Public Defender should be established as part of a set with the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Post Election Violence of 2007 – 2008 brought to the fore the need for the country to return to the path of the Rule of Law. The straight and narrow path of the Rule of Law is the only way to guarantee lasting and durable peace. For this reason it is not time to joke with institutions that would help the country return to the path of the rule of law and because of space or finance issues delete some as has happened to the Office of the Public Defender.

We very well know the many issues the country has with accountability. We know many cases of Kenyans who have died in public hospitals and queues waiting to be attended. We know how money meant for the poor is diverted. We know the ‘mta do’ attitude of our public officials “Mtafanya nini?’ So we don’t bring water to your side of town, what shall you do? We don’t stock necessary medicine for common treatable diseases, what shall you do? We do not use Free Primary Funds as we should, ‘mtafanya nini?’ We know families that have accused the police of extra-judicial killings and received no justice. We know how helpless we feel. It is time to end all this and usher in an era of accountability by public servants. An era of public servants taking care of the public, because there would be created the office of the public defender to offer legal aid to Kenyans who cannot afford so they pursue fulfilment of their rights and access justice for wrongs committed to them.

The Proposed Draft Constitution thankfully expands the rights and gives Kenyans a comprehensive Bill of Rights but pray of what benefit will the Constitution be to poor Kenyans who cannot vindicate their rights because they cannot afford to hire lawyers or go to court. The office of the Public Defender is absolutely essential to go hand in hand with an expanded Bill of Rights.

The office of the Public Defender should be established requiring similar qualifications as those of a judge to guarantee independence and impartiality. The Public Defender shall provide legal advice and representation to persons who are unable to afford legal service. This is not a luxury office but one that we need given our history of lack of accountability and lack of adherence to the rule of law. The cost of legal aid is no reason for omission of the office. The cost of poor service by public authorities is much higher and a cost we know all too well. Other countries are bearing the cost; Canada, Ghana and South Africa have Public Defenders and Legal Aid schemes. Many States in America have a public defender’s office. The Government has moved ahead by piloting the National Legal Aid Programme (NALEAP). This initiative should be given impetus through creation of the Public Defender in the Constitution to serve all Kenyans especially the poor and the vulnerable.

The office of the Public Defender was provided for in Article 204 of the Bomas Draft Constitution released on 15^th March of 2004 on realization of the importance of such an institution. Unlike other jurisdictions we have never had an Attorney General who works to protect the people. The Attorney General in Kenya works for the Government and defends and protects Government authorities. The people need a public defender to work for the interest of the public, to protect and defend the public and ensure that Kenyans get the services they deserve for the public officials.

Access to justice for all Kenyans is a fundamental human right as provided for in Article 48 of the Proposed Constitution and other International Conventions. This right can only have full meaning if it is coupled with creation of the Office of the Public Defender to give legal aid and representation to majority of poor Kenyans who cannot afford otherwise 46% of Kenyans who live below the poverty line of less than one dollar a day will not be able to access justice as has been happening since independence. Our jails, prisons and remand houses are full of poor Kenyans who cannot afford the cost of defending themselves. These would also be served by the office of the public defender.

We must cut a clean break from the past with the new Constitution; the only way to do these is to increase checks and balances in the Presidential system. Ability of all Kenyans to access justice is important thus need for the Public Defender’s Office. Kituo cha Sheria asks and prays that public spirited Members of Parliament reinstate the Office of the Public Defender in the Proposed Constitution during debate in Parliament. The Public Defender’s Office was Article 195 of the Harmonized Draft Constitution. Please God, One MP speak for the poor Kenyans access to justice.

Signed:

Priscilla Nyokabi – Executive Director –

nyokabi@kituochasheria.or.ke

Tags: 2005 Referendum Constitution, access to justice, Access to Justice for All Kenyans is a fundamental human right, accountability, Article 204 of the Bomas Draft Constitution, Attorney General, Bill of Rights, bomas, Canada, CKRC, Committee of Experts, court, defends, durable peace, established in 1973, Executive Director, extra judicial killings, Free Primary Funds, fundamental human right, Ghana, government, Harmonized Draft, human rights organization, impartiality, impunity, increase checks and balances, Independence, interest of the public, jails, justice, kenya, Kenyans, Kilifi, Kituo cha Sheria, Lawyers, legal advice, Legal Aid schemes, legal aid services, Mars Group, Mars Group Kenya, medicine, members of parliament, Ministry Of Finance, Naivasha, NALEAP, National Legal Aid Programme, Office of the Attorney General, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, office of the public defender, oldest legal aid, Police, poor Kenyans, presidential system, Priscilla Nyokabi, prisons, proposed Constitution of Kenya, Proposed Draft Constitution, protects Government authorities, public defender, public hospitals, public servants, remand houses, representation, Rule of Law, South Africa, States in America, The Post Election Violence of 2007 – 2008, to protect and defend the public, treatable diseases, Wako

DESMOND TUTU AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE FIGURES CALL ON AMBASSADOR BETHUEL KIPLAGAT KENYAN TJRC CHAIR TO STEP DOWN

24.02.2010

We, former chairpersons and commissioners of truth commissions from around the world, respectfully call upon Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat, Chairperson of the Truth Justice & Reconciliation Commission’s (TJRC) to step down from his positions as Chairperson and Commissioner.

We are deeply troubled by serious allegations of bias and misconduct that have been made against Chairperson Kiplagat. The allegations about his role in the former Moi government have generated a widely held perception that he labours under an unavoidable conflict of interest and that he is unable to bring an impartial mind to bear on his important duties as TJRC Chairperson. We are advised that in previous years, a statutory Commission of Inquiry as well as a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry have made disturbing findings against Ambassador Kiplagat on matters that fall squarely within the TJRC’s mandate. The Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Illegal and Irregular Allocation of Public Land (released in 2004) makes references to instances of the illegal acquisition of public land on the part of Ambassador Kiplagat. The Report of the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry into the Murder of Dr. Robert Ouko includes a report from an investigation team which concluded that Ambassador Kiplagat was untruthful in his submissions.

While Ambassador Kiplagat has disputed the references to him in these reports, they nonetheless have a direct and serious impact on public perceptions in relation to his fitness to hold high office in the Commission. All truth commissioners must be seen to be upholding the highest standards of ethics and integrity. They need to be seen to be scrupulously independent and objective. We are constrained to point out that Ambassador Kiplagat does not meet these essential standards.

We note that truth commissions must enjoy the confidence of the public to succeed. Since objective grounds of a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of Ambassador Kiplagat exist in the minds of the public, he is duty bound to resign for the greater good of the commission and country. We believe that if the current state of affairs is not addressed the TJRC will not be able to deliver truth, justice and accountability for past injustices and gross human rights violations.

For these reasons we call upon Ambassador Kiplagat to immediately step down so that the TJRC may proceed with its critical tasks of promoting justice and combating impunity in Kenya.

Statement endorsed by:

Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu • Former Chairperson of the South African Truth & Reconciliation Commission • Former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town • Former General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches • Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

Bishop Joseph Christian Humper • Former Chairperson of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission for Sierra Leone • Bishop of the United Methodist Church, Sierra Leone • Member of the General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church • Recipient of the Distinguished Peacemaker Award – Africa

Salomon Lerner Febres • Former Chairperson of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission • Former President of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru • Current President of the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights at the Catholic University, Lima

Alexander Lionel Boraine • Chairperson of the Mauritian Truth & Reconciliation Commission • Former Deputy-Chairperson of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission • Chairperson of the Board of the International Centre for Transitional Justice • Former member of the South African Parliament • Former President of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa • Global Visiting Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law

Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza SC • Former Commissioner of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission • Member of the South African Judicial Services Commission • Acting Judge of the Cape High Court • Member of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur • National Chairperson of Advocates for Transformation (South Africa)

Yasmin Sooka • Former Commissioner of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission • Former Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Sierra Leone • Former Acting Judge of the High Court of South Africa • Director of the Foundation for Human Rights

Reverend Bongani Blessing Finca • Former Commissioner of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission • Provincial Electoral Officer for the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Mary Burton • Former Commissioner of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission • Former President of the Black Sash • Deputy Chairperson of the Council of the University of Cape Town • Recipient of National Order of Luthuli Award

Dr Fazel Randera • Former Commissioner of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission • Former Inspector-General of Intelligence (South Africa) • Medical Director of the Aurum Institute • Former National Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Committee

Richard Lyster • Former Commissioner of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission • Former Director, Legal Resources Centre, Durban

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PROTECTION OF BASIC NEEDS AS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

KEY IN DRAFT LAW

Basic needs are Basic rights

Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua

Executive Director, Kituo cha Sheria

The basic needs of majority of Kenyans of food, water, housing, healthcare, education, work and social security which in human rights language translate to economic social and cultural rights should be included in the Supreme Law of the Land, the Constitution. PSC excluded these important rights and basic needs after prominent inclusion all along in the CKRC, Bomas and Wako drafts. Committee of Experts Revised Draft being released on 24^th February needs to include the rights.

Economic, social and cultural rights guarantee the right to health, food, water, housing, work and labour relations, education and social security. These basic needs are rights and not aspirations as discussed by PSC. These are the current problems of our time that the Constitution must respond to. Poverty is not in the imagination of human rights organizations. Poverty manifests itself in lack of socio economic rights that we need to enshrine in the Constitution.

One of the checks for a Presidential System is a comprehensive and extensive Bill of Rights. It is a misnomer to have a strong presidency without an equally strong and extensive Bill of Rights including social economic rights protected for all Kenyans.

Majority of Kenyans do not enjoy consistent, fair and equitable access to rights. Legally, Kenyans have no enforceable socio-economic rights. We cannot hold the State accountable to provide these rights, we cannot require the Government to monitor these rights and we cannot require the Government to make progress to fulfill these rights. Millions of Kenyans face levels of deprivation that undermine the right to live with dignity. Hunger, homelessness, disease and unemployment are violation of people’s economic, social and cultural rights. Kenyans, particularly those living in poverty, have these rights violated daily and are denied access and justice.

For a country with high level of unemployment like Kenya, we need the right to work protected in the Constitution. We have the right to work enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and it is time to have the right in our Constitution so that the obligation can rest squarely with Government to pursue fulfillment. An article should be inserted as follows: – “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.”

Legally, Kenyans have no enforceable socio-economic rights. We cannot hold the State accountable to provide these rights, we cannot require the Government to monitor these rights and we cannot require the Government to make progress to fulfill these rights. Millions of Kenyans face levels of deprivation that undermine the right to live with dignity.

The PSC sent the wrong message by changing the Bill of Rights to remove the Economical, Social and Cultural Rights. It signifies a lack of commitment to the very basic needs of Kenyans who continue to wallow in their misery. These rights cannot be subject of campaign manifestos. The Constitutional review process is the time to extend the right to education to pre-primary, primary and secondary education. It is the time to have the right to work to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. We want a democracy where people have water, food, healthcare, education, housing and not just a free media and freedom of movement. The language of granting rights is “every person” has the right of…….

When these rights are in the Constitution, a duty on the Government is created to promote, protect and fulfill these rights to Kenyans. Without this duty, it will be left up to the Government whether or not to act on laws and policies. This leads to inequality as we have seen since independence.

Kenyans should ask for these rights to be included through petitioning the Committee of Experts (COE), MP’s, Reference Group, Church Leaders and the Media. The Referendum Draft Constitution should include the rights.

Signed at Nairobi This 23rd Day of February 2010

Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua

Executive Director – nyokabi@kituochasheria.or.ke

+254 721 881859

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OPEN LETTER TO THE NATION MEDIA GROUP: The Daily Nation’s casual editorial of 23^rd February 2010  is entrenching fiscal impunity.

We strongly disagree with the editorial of the Daily Nation of 23^rd February 2010 entitled “ Pass supplementary budget speedily’.  It is a very strange editorial and forgive us but our reading is that the Daily Nation may be preparing the public psychologically for a supplementary budget even before the forensic audit into the last one has started working. Why ask for more money. Is the Government broke, yet again?  It is our view that the 10 billion dollars already voted by Parliament allows enough room for a revised budget to cater for a national referendum and allied reform costs. There is no need or justification for a supplementary budget this year. Parliament approved enough money for the year. The Daily Nation’s casual editorial is entrenching fiscal impunity.

The truth is that the 2009-10 budget is the largest in Kenya’s history ever approved by the National Assembly. Though it was hailed as an excellent budget by Members of Parliament, it is in fact a reflection of what poor planning and lack of vision is. The  Kenyan taxpayers will this financial year only raise up to 480 Billion in taxes. Yet the Budget brought by Uhuru Kenyatta, Minister of Finance is 856 Billion Kenya shillings. Over 10 Billion US dollars. The recurrent expenditure (Government overheads ) amount to 606 Billion Kenya shillings. This means that the tax payer will not even be able to raise the recurrent expenditure through taxes. The Government would have to borrow and/or sell our assets to raise the 126 billion Kenya shillings funding gap to finance the Government’s extravagant lifestyle. It has taken no austerity measures to reduce its overheads substantially to pay for Agenda 4 reforms.

Shamefully, the development budget is entirely financed on borrowed money and donor support. This is because Government pays its bloated overheads first. The Government of Kenya has run out of money, wasting it on things like hospitality, fuel, purchase of new motor vehicles and living large, and now it is trying to ask for more. The supplementary budget will be the evidence of this waste of taxpayers’ money.

The reason why disbursement of funds under the stimulus programme (development) has moved slower than anticipated is because the Government has no counter part funds to disburse to free donor inflows.  Additionally donors angered by corruption are withholding substantial funds for development.  If the Government had fought corruption and ended extravagance it would not require a supplementary budget.

But the more urgent and serious reason why the Government of Kenya should not be allowed to bring a supplementary budget to the National assembly asking Kenyans for extra money in this financial year is that Treasury has not had its Budget Books audited as unanimously ordered by Parliament on May 13^th 2009.

On 13th May 2009 the Report of the Joint Committees on Finance Planning and Trade and the Budget Committee on the inconsistencies contained in the supplementary estimates of the Financial Year 2008/2009 was tabled in Parliament and was unanimously adopted by a Motion of the whole house . On adoption of the recommendations of the Joint Committees an independent forensic audit into the National Budget for the last three years was ordered by Parliament.  Eight months later, the forensic audit has not commenced. It is the biggest forensic audit in Kenya’s history and it is meant to investigate a three year period of the National Budget because following exposes by Mars Group in April 2009 Parliament discovered that there was 10.7 billion shillings missing in the Supplementary Budget submitted to it by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance. We believe that this forensic audit would have discovered and stopped even larger scandals than those currently titillating the Kenyan press.

The Nation Media group has to submit to audits in order to account to its shareholders. Is it proper for the Ministry of Finance not to submit to an audit ordered by Parliament and then have the gall to come back and ask for more money? Would this type of behaviour fly with the Nation Group shareholders if the Nation Group management said no to an Audit of the group’s finances?

The resolution by Parliament calling for an independent forensic audit into the National Budget for the last three years was arrived at after the National Assembly satisfied itself that an independent forensic audit was necessary to be sure that no public funds had been misapplied pursuant to what Treasury called a Kenya Shillings 10.7 billion computer error. Kenyans are yet to find out if this money was stolen or misapplied.

An independent forensic audit as directed by the National Assembly would determine or evaluate the objectivity, inadequacies, competence and due diligence of the institutions and persons engaged in the budget-making process. Further such an independent forensic audit would have discovered any systemic or deliberate errors, theft, or mismanagement of the taxpayers’ resources and would have identified those responsible for such errors, theft or loss of public funds. The independent forensic audit would have certainly captured the misconduct of the Agriculture and Education Ministries. It should be noted that over 8 billion shillings of the 10.7 billion shillings identified in the supplementary budget ‘computer error’ inquiry was actually in the budget of the Ministry of Education which has recently been embroiled in scandal over the Free Primary Education subsidy.

The independent forensic audit is the only way in which to ascertain that Kenyan taxpayers’ funds are being used for the purposes approved by our representatives according to the votes in the National Budget.

The Nation Media Group should in the public interest be reminding the National Assembly to reaffirm that the Government does not have its own money and that all its funds save for those borrowed belong and are given to the Government by Kenyan tax payers. Even borrowed funds are provided for in the National Budget as debt redemption and interest and are ultimately repaid by Kenyan taxpayers. As such the government must be accountable to the Kenyan citizens through the National Assembly and the independent forensic audit is a means to secure such accountability and that a supplementary budget cannot be entertained until such audit has been carried out.

Members of Parliament are paid to secure the peoples interests. We cannot continue to pay taxes to a Government that steals our sweat while our children continue to suffer. If the Independent Forensic Audit does not commence immediately, then the Kenyan public will have the moral authority to stop remitting taxes to the Government. We challenge the Nation Group Management to dare refuse to submit to an audit as required by its shareholders, and see what the Nation Group shareholders will do!

The Shareholders of Kenya, do not want a supplementary budget. Kenyans want an Independent forensic Audit into the National Budget and a report issued to them through Parliament.

Mars Group Kenya.

23^rd February 2010

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THE RIGHT TO HEALTH

An Analysis by Professor Japheth Mati, MB, ChB, MD, FRCOG

The Concept of Health as a Human Right

Health is a basic need for human existence and survival and as such, it is a right that must be respected, promoted and protected by government and society. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being of himself and his family”. The concept of health as human right is stated in the Preamble of the World Health Organization’s Charter (1946), and also in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966). Art. 12 states of health as a human right: “the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”. The Declaration of Alma Ata (WHO, 1978) stated: “Health, which is the state of complete physical and social well-being, and not merely the absence of infirmity, is a fundamental human right…. the attainment of the highest possible level of health is a most important worldwide social goal.” The right to health is fundamental to the physical and mental well-being of all individuals and is a necessary condition for the exercise of other human rights including the pursuit of an adequate standard of living. Indeed health is fundamental to enjoyment of the right to life, and the right to a healthy life is fundamental to all other constitutional guarantees.

The concept of reproductive rights as fundamental human rights was endorsed at the 1994 International Conference of Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt. The constellation of rights, embracing fundamental human rights established by earlier treaties, was reaffirmed at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, and in various international and regional agreements since, as well as in many national laws. They include the right to decide the number, timing and spacing of children, the right to voluntarily marry and establish a family, and the right to the highest attainable standard of health, among others.

That reproductive rights are central to meeting international development goals was recognized by the UN World Summit of September 2005, which also endorsed the goal of universal access to reproductive health. Reproductive rights are recognized as valuable ends in themselves, and essential to the enjoyment of other fundamental rights. Attaining the goals of sustainable, equitable development requires that individuals are able to exercise control over their sexual and reproductive lives.

Right to Health as a Constitutional Issue

The South African Constitution[i] is one of the most progressive in Africa. It provides for right to health care services in three sections, namely: access to health care services including reproductive health and emergency services; basic health care for children; and medical services for detained persons and prisoners. In Kenya, The (“pre-Naivasha”) Harmonised Draft Constitution of Kenya has included health in the Bill of Rights; Art.62 states (1) “Every person has the right to health, which includes the right to health care services, including reproductive health care”, and (2) “No person may be refused emergency medical treatment”. In Art.30 (2) the state is obligated to “take legislative, policy and other measures to achieve the progressive realization of the rights” as guaranteed in the Constitution including the right to health. The right to health implies universal access to health care services. Since states have the primary duty to secure the welfare of the people, it follows that ensuring equitable access to health care for the people ought to be an essential part of government’s constitutional obligations. The Right to Equality encompasses within itself the right of a poor patient to get adequate treatment and medicines from the State irrespective of their costs. The citizens have a right to quality health care, treatment and medication regardless of their ability to pay.

Lack of Equity in Access to Health Care

Both equity and human rights’ principles dictate the necessity to strive for equal opportunity for health for groups of people who have suffered marginalization or discrimination[ii]. Unfortunately, the reality in most African countries, Kenya included, is that lack of or inadequate access to health care services remain the most prominent factors behind the persistently and unacceptably high levels of mortality and morbidity, especially among the poor and marginalized populations. Most governments, including Kenya, have declared that their citizens should enjoy universal and equitable access to good quality health care. However, the achievement of this goal has remained illusive. Kenya’s Vision 2030 states government’s commitment to reduce health inequalities and to provide access to those excluded from health care by financial reasons[iii]. Among the flagship projects proposed for 2012 are two which address health care for the poor, i.e. creation of a National Health Insurance Scheme “in order to promote equity in Kenya’s health care financing”, and the “scale up of the output-based approach system to enable disadvantaged groups (e.g. the poor, orphans) to access health care from preferred institutions”.

Big disparities exist between the poor and the better off with respect to access to health care services and health status; for example, there are wide gaps in child mortality not only between rich and poor countries, but also between the wealthy and the poor in most countries. Poor children are not only more likely than their better off peers to be exposed to health risks and to have less resistance to disease, they also have less access to preventive and curative interventions. Generally, the poor lack access to health care in terms of: availability, affordability, and acceptability. Poor people are denied access to health care: (a) where public health facilities lack essential drugs, supplies and commodities; (b) where people have to travel long distances to reach health facilities, especially where public transport is scarce; (c) when fees charged for services (cost-sharing) are unaffordable, and even if there is official exemption (e.g. for pregnant women and children under five) or waiver of fees, people still end up paying on top, for drugs and transport (out-of-pocket expenditure); and (d) where people lack confidence in the services provided at local public health facilities and decide not to utilise them (e.g. poor quality services or negative provider attitudes).

The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) of 2008[iv] shows that whereas there has been some decline in levels of childhood deaths compared to the rates observed in previous surveys of 2003 and 1998 (from 77 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2003 to 52 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008), the situation is such that at least 1 in every 14 children born in Kenya during the period between 2003 and 2008 died before reaching their fifth birthday.

Whereas slightly under a half of currently married women (46 percent) are cur­rently using some method of contraception, wide regional disparities exist; the rates range from 67 percent in Central Province, 55 percent in Nairobi (55 percent), 52 percent in Eastern Province, to as low as  4 percent in North Eastern Province. The percentage of children age 12-23 months who had received all immunizations was 47 percent in North Eastern compared with 81 percent in Central Province. Overall, the percentage of Kenyan pregnant women who had access at delivery to a trained health professional was 44, and only 43 percent were delivered within a health facility. The corresponding figures for North Eastern Province were 32 and 17 percent compared with 89 and 73 percent for Nairobi and Central Province, respectively.

According to the same KDHS (2008) findings, 35 percent of Kenyan children are stunted, 14 percent being severely stunted. Stunting levels are slightly higher for rural children than for urban children. The prevalence of stunting varies by province from 29 percent in Nairobi to 42 percent in Eastern Province.

Need for improved and sustained health financing

Achievement of universal (equitable) access to health services (i.e. enjoyment of Right to Health) will require improved and sustained health financing. Kenya is one of the African countries whose leaders committed themselves at Abuja[v] in 2001 to allocate 15% of the national budget (or spend $34 per capita[vi]) for the improvement of the health sector. Currently, Kenya’s allocation to the health sector is way below this figure.  According to recent study findings, out-of-pocket health expenditures in sub-Saharan African countries during 2002–2003, ranged from 6% in Namibia to 62% in Chad; it being nearly 45% for Kenyans[vii]. Clearly this justifies the conclusion that ill health contributes to, and perpetuates, poverty because health costs deplete people’s meagre resources. It is known that in Kenya, sick persons seek help not only in conventional health facilities or private clinics, but also in local dukas and pharmacies, as well as from healers representing a wide array of traditional medical practices. But irrespective of where sick people seek treatment, this depends to a large extent on their access to cash or assets of the household to meet the out-of-pocket health expenditures. The figure below depicts data from the FY 2001/2002 National Health Accounts (NHA) estimation in Kenya which shows that households were financing over half of all health expenditures[viii].

National Health Accounts (NHA) estimation in Kenya

Public spending on health mostly benefits the well to do.

Disappointedly, there is considerable evidence to suggest that by and large public spending on health tends to benefit the better off more than the poor. Quite often it is the better off who get the most from public health services, especially hospital care. In other words, government’s investment in health services, far from promoting equity, works against it[ix]. Even the simplest interventions offered through government facilities (e.g. family planning services) are frequently utilised more by the better-off than by the neediest. For more complicated and expensive interventions to which most government health service resources are dedicated (e.g. tertiary level care), coverage inequalities favouring the better-off are much larger. Clearly, what this means is that unless serious effort is made to target the poor and marginalized groups with health services, as well as promoting measures to boost acquisition of basic livelihood assets that encourage proactive health seeking behaviours, hope of achieving national and international targets, including health-related MDGs, will continue to dwindle, and the slogan of universal and equitable access to health care will remain an illusion.

Related Link: The Poor: Who Cares for their Health? (Nov 7, 2009) http://blog.marsgroupkenya.org/?p=1472)

[ii] Braveman P, Gruskin S. Bull World Health Organ 2003;81(7):539-45. Epub 2003 Sep 3

[iii] Republic of Kenya: Kenya Vision 2030 Brochure, July – August, 2007

[iv] Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) (Kenya), National AIDS Control Council (NACC), National AIDS/STD Control Programme (NASCOP), the National Public Health Laboratory Services (NPHLS), the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), National Coordinating Agency for Population and Development (NCAPD) and ORC Macro. 2009. Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09. Calverton, Maryland: CBS, NCAPD, and ORC Macro.

[v] http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol15no1/151aids5.htm

[vi] Commission on Macroeconomics and Health’s (CMH) recommended target for spending on health was $34 per capita. Economic Viewpoint – August 2006 http://go.worldbank.org/RYOQ50AYL0

[vii] Adam Leive, Ke Xu. Coping with out-of-pocket health payments: empirical evidence from 15 African countries. Bulletin of the World Health Organization Volume 86, Number 11, November 2008, 849-856

[viii] www.healthsystems2020.org › Impact

[ix] Davidson R. Gwatkin (2003) Free Government Health Services: Are They the Best Way to Reach the Poor?

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPAH/Resources/Publications/Recent-Papers/13999_gwatkin0303.pdf; Maina TM. (2006) Financing and delivery of health care in Kenya: Do the poor really benefit from public health spending? Discussion Paper Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR), Nairobi. http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/download/xml/1478-4505-5-3.xml

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WHAT CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS?

IGNORE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL KENYANS, DEMAND YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE THE GOVERNMENT OUT

The Attorney General, Amos Wako, says the stand-off between Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki over cabinet ministers’ discipline could lead to a constitutional crisis and precipitate early elections. Ignore him dear Kenyans, he’s just trying to scare the political class straight and to get them to see their common interest in perpetuation of the Grand Coalition status quo.

The legal opinion of the Chief Legal Advisor to the Government of Kenya is weighty but incomplete. The context is missing, and those who would vote in such early elections are not whom Amos Wako is concerned about. Opinion polls show that levels of public support and satisfaction with the Grand Coalition are at an all time low. An early election is actually what many Kenyans want. Kenyans are fed up with the quarrelling, crooked, bloated government that resulted from the National Accord and are ready to vote the bums out from Presidential to parliamentary levels.

The Government, which Amos Wako works so loyally for, has failed to re-enfranchise Kenyans with their vote. The voters register was nullified by amendments to the Constitution in 2008 and the new interim election commission has done nothing to start the registration process since it was formally established in 2009. The only Kenyans who have valid voter’s cards are in Shinyalu and Bomachoge constituencies; and they number less than 100,000 out of the 15 million who should be able to vote. The old voter’s cards that so many Kenyans still keep safe at home, just in case, may as well be burnt as they are of no use to us anymore because Parliament invalidated them. You can’t vote with the old cards; but Amos Wako has never mentioned that, has he?

As things stand in February 2010, all but 100,000 Kenyans cannot vote because we do not have a national voters register. Instead of dwelling on conflict potentiality in the Draft Constitution, or even endlessly debating about whom between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga should discipline the many rotten Ministers within the largest most corrupt cabinet in Kenyan history, Kenyans should be agitating for their existing constitutional right to vote to be immediately returned to them. And the Attorney General if is he is an honest legal advisor should be telling the political class that it has no option but to ensure immediate and comprehensive national voter registration to avoid the ultimate constitutional crisis – the collapse of the Grand Coalition Government without a voter’s register – and to provide a basis for the democratic replacement of the Grand Coalition Government which Kenyans no longer want.

With no voting mechanisms in place we are on a daily basis courting disaster as warlords reorganise themselves for the next shot at power – without a ballot. And all because we Kenyans have failed to demand the implementation of the National Accord to the letter and have started attending political rallies like sheep in ever increasing numbers to support the same tired politicians who took us to the brink of a precipice in 2007. Wake up Kenyans, you cannot guarantee, and really have no stake in, the outcome of this game between Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki. You can’t win or break even – you must get out of the game. This is not a constitutional crisis for ordinary Kenyans, it is a great opportunity for us to demand the right to vote and secure our democratic freedom of choice. We should ignore Amos Wako’s scare tactics; he’s only trying to maintain the status quo he benefits from, a status quo in which Mwai Kibaki is even claimed to be eligible for a third term; or is it second term? Was Mwai Kibaki elected in the 2007 presidential election?

Kenyans must have greater ambitions for their future than the tired leadership which Amos Wako, using sophistry, defends, and if we get the voter registration process completed as soon as possible we will be ready to elect a lean, clean, honest Government for the Republic of Kenya. Keep the faith, change is coming.

Mwalimu Mati 16th February 2010

Tags: amendments to the Constitution, Amos Wako, Attorney General, ballot, bloated government, Bomachoge, Cabinet Ministers, Chief Legal Advisor, collapse of the Grand Coalition Government, constituencies, Constitutional crisis, constitutional right to vote, corrupt cabinet in Kenyan history, Corruption, crooked, discipline, Draft Constitution, early election, early elections, Government of Kenya, Grand Coalition legal opinion, he new interim election commission, Mars Group, Mars Group Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, Mwalimu Mati, National Accord, no voting mechanisms, Opinion polls, parliamentary, political class, Presidential, Presidential election, public support, quarrelling, Raila Odinga, re-enfranchise Kenyans, registration process, Republic of Kenya. change is coming, rotten Ministers, Shinyalu, valid voter’s cards, vote, voters register

TO END CORRUPTION IN KENYA IT IS TIME TO AUDIT KENYA’S MINISTRY OF FINANCE AS DIRECTED BY PARLIAMENT: NO AUDIT, NO MORE MONEY FROM KENYAN TAXPAYERS

Corruption and impunity are king in government of Kenya circles. Maize, Oil, Guns, Grand Regency Hotel, Goldenberg, the phantom Ken Ren Fertiliser Factory, Anglo Leasing, Free Primary Education, the list goes on and the institutional rot is obvious.

Independent audits have recently exposed crooked transactions in key Kenyan government ministries including Education, Agriculture, Special Programmes and the Office of the Prime Minister. But there is one important independent forensic audit that although ordered by Parliament, eight months ago appears stalled. It is the biggest forensic audit in Kenya’s history and it is meant to investigate a three year period of the National Budget because following exposes by Mars Group in April 2009 Parliament discovered that there was 10.7 billion shillings missing in the Supplementary Budget submitted to it by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance. We believe that this forensic audit would have discovered and stopped even larger scandals than those titillating the Kenyan press. Despite the obvious connection to today’s corruption scandals, and for unknown reasons, few are demanding that this audit finally kicks off. Here’s the story of Kenya’s forgotten ten billion shilling scandal.

AUDIT THE TREASURY

On 13th May 2009 the Report of the Joint Committees on Finance Planning and Trade and the Budget Committee on the inconsistencies contained in the supplementary estimates of the Financial Year 2008/2009 was tabled in Parliament and was unanimously adopted by a Motion of the whole house.

Moving the Motion Hon Chris Okemo on behalf of the Joint Committees told the National Assembly that their investigation into the Supplementary Budget had identified a total discrepancy of Kshs10,763,446,275 arising from 200 Items affecting the recurrent expenditure of 36 Ministries and departments. Clearly the problem was huge.

Hon Okemo told the National Assembly that the information was derived directly from the supplementary budget. We quote verbatim:

“…I would now like to go to the issue of discrepancies, which has been the subject of the Committee’s proceedings. The following people appeared before the Joint Committee and gave valuable evidence: The hon. Gitobu Imanyara, MP; the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, MP; the Permanent Secretary, Treasury, and his Budget Officers; Mwalimu Mati of Partnership for Change; Jayne Mati, Partnership for Change; Cyprian Nyamwamu, Partnership for Change, and the Controller and Auditor-General.

Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we examined the evidence from hon.Imanyara in great detail, and found the data acceptable and very helpful to the proceedings of the Committee. That information, irrespective of its source, came directly from the Printed Supplementary Estimates.”

The Joint Committee Report contained several important recommendations which were unanimously adopted by the National Assembly. Hon Okemo told Parliament that the Joint Committee had made recommendations and again we quote verbatim

“Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, having looked at all this evidence and having laid the background on how budget-making is done under the provisions of the Constitution, and having found out that there were discrepancies at some point, I would now like to read out the recommendations of the Joint Committee.>