Thursday, 3 January 2013
That other side of Kenyans: THE IMPOSTOR PPO
That other side of Kenyans: THE IMPOSTOR PPO: So the Rift Valley has been having an impostor PPO for the last five years? Just how can this happen? And he is said to have harrased, fired...
THE IMPOSTOR PPO
So the Rift Valley has been having an impostor PPO for the last five years? Just how can this happen? And he is said to have harrased, fired and even taken over the wives of some junior officers? This is Kenya at its best.
The guy, once a matatu conductor in Naivasha, has conned the police across the Rift valley that he was an assistant commissioner of police. This came as the suspect, Joshua Karanjahi Waiganjo, who also posed as the Deputy PPO Rift Valley province, was charged in a Naivasha court with four different counts.
Fearful members of the public turned out as the suspect was taken to court. They came to disclose how he fleeced them and sacked police officers at will. Some of those interviewed said the man came to Naivasha in 1997 from Timboroa and was employed as a matatu conductor. He is said to have claimed to have been displaced by the post-election violence and worked along the Nairobi-Naivasha road for some years. Later he headed to Eldoret where he worked as a bodyguard to an influential transporter before he was fired. The witnesses later came to learn that he had joined the police force and would from time to time be seen in company of senior police officers.
A Naivasha businessman who declined to be named also said he had met the accused several times at the Rift Valley Provincial headquarters where he had "assisted" many.
So if this has really happened, how safe are we? How many other imposters are out there? And on whose payroll was the said imposter? And where was he getting the uniforms, weapons, vehicles and so on? Does it mean there was someone who was covering him?
But then, as I say, some things only happen in Kenya.
Earlier details had emerged that the suspect flew in a police chopper accompanied by senior officers to Suguta valley after over 40 police officers were killed.
Arraigned before Naivasha Senior Principal magistrate Esther Boke, Waiganjo was charged with one count of robbery with violence. He is also faced with two charges of impersonation and being in possession of assorted police uniform
He was charged that on the 16th August 2012 at Kikopey, he and others not in court robbed one Mwangi Njoroge of his lorry and phone, all valued at Ksh. 4 million. He also faced two other charges of impersonation as a senior police officer in Anti-stock theft unit in Gilgil and Njoro.
The last charge was that he was found, in his homes in Gilgil and Njoro, with assorted police uniforms which he had acquired unlawfully.
The suspect denied all the charges and was remanded until January 9.
This is Kenya indeed.
The guy, once a matatu conductor in Naivasha, has conned the police across the Rift valley that he was an assistant commissioner of police. This came as the suspect, Joshua Karanjahi Waiganjo, who also posed as the Deputy PPO Rift Valley province, was charged in a Naivasha court with four different counts.
Fearful members of the public turned out as the suspect was taken to court. They came to disclose how he fleeced them and sacked police officers at will. Some of those interviewed said the man came to Naivasha in 1997 from Timboroa and was employed as a matatu conductor. He is said to have claimed to have been displaced by the post-election violence and worked along the Nairobi-Naivasha road for some years. Later he headed to Eldoret where he worked as a bodyguard to an influential transporter before he was fired. The witnesses later came to learn that he had joined the police force and would from time to time be seen in company of senior police officers.
A Naivasha businessman who declined to be named also said he had met the accused several times at the Rift Valley Provincial headquarters where he had "assisted" many.
So if this has really happened, how safe are we? How many other imposters are out there? And on whose payroll was the said imposter? And where was he getting the uniforms, weapons, vehicles and so on? Does it mean there was someone who was covering him?
But then, as I say, some things only happen in Kenya.
Earlier details had emerged that the suspect flew in a police chopper accompanied by senior officers to Suguta valley after over 40 police officers were killed.
Arraigned before Naivasha Senior Principal magistrate Esther Boke, Waiganjo was charged with one count of robbery with violence. He is also faced with two charges of impersonation and being in possession of assorted police uniform
He was charged that on the 16th August 2012 at Kikopey, he and others not in court robbed one Mwangi Njoroge of his lorry and phone, all valued at Ksh. 4 million. He also faced two other charges of impersonation as a senior police officer in Anti-stock theft unit in Gilgil and Njoro.
The last charge was that he was found, in his homes in Gilgil and Njoro, with assorted police uniforms which he had acquired unlawfully.
The suspect denied all the charges and was remanded until January 9.
This is Kenya indeed.
KNOW YOUR LEADERS
KNOW YOUR LEADERS
Uhuru Kenyatta
Kenyatta is the son of Jomo Kenyatta,
Kenya's first president (1964–1978). His name,Uhuru,
is Swahili for "freedom". He attended St Mary's School in Nairobi. From there he went on to study political science at Amherst College in the United States.Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 26 October 1961) is a Kenyan politician who has served in the government of Kenya as Deputy
Prime Minister since 2008. He is the Member of Parliament for Gatundu South Constituency and former Chairman of Kenya African National Union(KANU), which is currently part of the Party of National Unity (PNU).
Nominated to Parliament in 2001, he became
Minister for Local Government under President Daniel arap Moi and, despite his political inexperience, was
favored by President Moi as his successor; Kenyatta ran as KANU's candidate in
the December 2002 presidential election, but lost to opposition candidate Mwai Kibaki by a large margin. He subsequently became Leader
of the Opposition in Parliament. He backed Kibaki for re-election in the December 2007 presidential election and was named Minister of Local Government by
Kibaki in January 2008, before becoming Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Trade in April 2008 as part of a coalition government.
Subsequently Kenyatta was Minister of Finance
from 2009 to 2012, while remaining Deputy Prime Minister. Accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of committing crimes against humanity in relation to the violent aftermath of the 2007 election, he resigned as Minister of Finance on 26
January 2012.
Political life
His initial entry into politics came through his
election as the chairman of his hometown branch of the ruling party, KANU, in
1997. This came with the tacit approval of President Moi. At the time, many saw
the election as a calculated move to prepare Uhuru for bigger things.
In the general election held the same year,
Uhuru contested the Gatundu South Constituency parliamentary seat, once held by his father. It
was assumed he would sail through. But that was not to be: Uhuru lost to Moses Mwihia, a little-known Nairobi architect. After losing the election,
Uhuru's friends say that he was extremely upset and that he vowed to quit
politics altogether.
He hurriedly retreated to the family business
empire that includes five-star tourist hotels, airlines and commercial farming.
Little did Uhuru know that President Moi was still intent on propelling him
onto the national political scene.
In 1999 Moi appointed Uhuru the new chairman of
the Kenya Tourism Board, where he worked with Kenya's political power-broker Nicholas Biwott, a very close confidante of the president.
Apparently the young Uhuru was undergoing even more intensive training. Then
came October 2001 and Uhuru was nominated to parliament and subsequently to the
cabinet as Minister for Local Government. In March of 2001 Uhuru Kenyatta made
it big on the national political scene when he was elected as one of the four
national vice-chairmen of KANU.
President Moi paid a heavy price for ensuring
Kenyatta was KANU's presidential candidate, with several senior party figures,
their own ambitions thwarted, resigning to set up another party (the Liberal
Democratic Party). Since he joined Moi's inner circle, Uhuru Kenyatta has been
fighting to prove that he is his own man and not Moi's stooge. In late January
2005, Uhuru Kenyatta defeated Nicholas Biwott for chairmanship of KANU, taking
2,980 votes among party delegates against Biwott's
Uhuru led his party Kanu in Campaigns against
the draft constitution in 2005, having teamed up with the Liberal Democratic Party to form the Orange Democratic Movement. This saw Kenyans humiliate the government by rejecting the draft
constitution by a noticeable margin.
In November 2006, Kenyatta was displaced as KANU
leader by Biwott, although Kenyatta said he would not accept the decision. On
28 December 2006, the High Court of Kenya reinstated Uhuru Kenyatta as KANU chairman. However, further court
proceedings followed.] On 28 June 2007, the
High Court confirmed Kenyatta as party leader, ruling that there was insufficient
evidence for Biwott's argument that Kenyatta had joined another party.
On 13 September 2007, Kenyatta withdrew from the
December 2007 presidential election and said that he would back Kibaki for
re-election. He said that he did not
want to run unless he could be sure of winning.
Following the election, in which Raila Odinga
raised controversy when Kibaki was declared the victor despite claims of fraud
from challenger Raila Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement, Kibaki appointed Kenyatta as Minister for Local Government on 8
January 2008. After Kibaki and Odinga
reached a power-sharing agreement, Kenyatta was named Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of Trade on 13 April 2008, as part of the Grand Coalition Cabinet. He
is the Deputy Prime Minister representing the PNU, while another Deputy Prime
Minister, Musalia Mudavadi,
represents the ODM.Kenyatta and the rest of the Cabinet were sworn in on 17
April.
According to Uhuru, "Growing up in the
Kenyatta household taught us many things. My father taught us to treat everyone
fairly. He taught us the essence of justice and fairness, he told us to learn
from history but not to live in history."
Minister of Finance
Uhuru Kenyatta was moved from the post of
Minister for Trade and appointed Minister for Finance on 23 January 2009, while
remaining Deputy Prime Minister. Since his appointment, he has spearheaded a number of reform
measures that have seen a change in how treasury and government by extension
transacts it business. These include:
Economic Stimulus Programme
The Economic Stimulus Programme, commonly
referred to as ESP Kenya Economic Stimulus Program, was launched under the leadership of Uhuru
Kenyatta in his capacity as the Minister for Finance. ESP is an intensive, high
impact programme, that aims to stimulate economic activity, create employment
opportunities, encourage innovation in wealth-creation, spur entrepreneurship
and support the building blocks that anchor a healthy, educated and innovative
populace.
Kenya Economic Stimulus Program outlines various objectives which include
boosting the country's economic recovery, investing in long term solutions to
the challenges of food security, expanding economic opportunities in rural
areas for employment creation, promoting regional development for equity and
social stability, improving infrastructure, enhancing the quality of education,
availing affordable health-care for all Kenyans, investing in the conservation
of the environment and expanding the access to and building the ICT capacity of
the general populace of Kenya. In launching the
Economic Stimulus Programme, the Ministry of Finance aimed to achieve regional
development for equity and social stability.
Integrated Financial Management Information
System re-engineered
Originally introduced in 2003 the Integrated
Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) was re-engineered by the Ministry of Finance to curb fraud and
other malpractices that stem from inefficiency. In re-engineering IFMIS, the
Ministry aimed to put Kenya's financial and economic information in a format
that was accessible from an online platform which would radically improve
public expenditure management under the Ministry of Finance.
IFMIS enables fully integrated planning for the
budgeting process since it links planning policy objectives and budget
allocation. It also seeks to support
the e-Government shared services strategy by taking government financial
services online. IFMIS will ensure that status reports are readily available
which enhances capacity to track budgets thus enabling effective
decision-making. The three pronged benefits of IFMIS include leading to
improvements in planning and budgeting, monitoring, evaluation and
accountability and budget execution. Other benefits include aiding in the
reduction in maintenance cost of government fleets in terms of fuel and spares
where huge losses have been previously incurred.
IFMIS can also accommodate last minute changes
on the budget more easily thereby increasing accuracy of presentation. Also,
the availability of accounting information in a consolidated format will allow
the government's books and those of the Central Bank of Kenya to be reconciled.
In pioneering the re-engineering of IFMIS, Uhuru andTreasury provided the whole
of government a way of dealing with corruption; an evil that has drained
Kenya's national coffers of much needed resources. With the system in place,
corruption will soon be dealt its final blow.
Funds for the Inclusion of Informal Sector
Uhuru Kenyatta launched the Fund for the
Inclusion of Informal Sector (FIIS) which is a fund that allows Micro and Small Entrepreneurs (MSE) to
access credit facilities, expand their businesses and increase their savings.
It also aims to help informal enterprises
transition to formal sector enterprises through access to formal providers of
financial services. The fund is a revolving fund through which the government
enters into credit facility agreements with select banks for on-lending to MSEs
through branches, authorized banking agents and other channels, particularly
mobile banking.
It was launched in March 2011, and so far it has
3 banks, the Cooperative Bank of Kenya, Equity Bank and K-Rep bank, as partners. The launch of the fund seeks to address many of the
defining challenges facing Kenya's national economy like unemployment,
particularly among youths. Through the fund, the Ministry of Finance has
undertaken the necessary steps to transform the SME sector to be one of the
key drivers for achieving broad based economic growth, employment creation and
poverty reduction in Kenya.
Its objective is to ensure that the MSE sector
becomes efficient, innovative and has a diversified and competitive product
range. It will also provide policies that raise the earnings and productivity
of the sector and transform the sector into a more formal setup. Through
directing the development of the fund, Uhuru Kenyatta sought to ensure Financial Inclusion of an estimated 8.3 million Kenyans working in the informal
sector. These included 2 million in the Jua Kali sector and 5 million kiosk
owners, mama mbogas and hawkers, with the rest in the informal transport
sectors and the small-scale manufacturing sectors.
Investor compensation fund
The operations of the investor compensation fund
which aimed to compensate investors who had lost money to defunct stock brokers
such as Nyaga Stock Brokers and Discount Securities Limited were launched under
his watch. In launching the operations of the fund, also ensured that the
interests of future investors were safeguarded. The fund had prior to the
launch of its operations been established under the Capital Markets Act.
This Fund is specifically meant to compensate
investors who suffer losses resulting from failure of a licensed stockbroker or
dealer to meet his contractual obligations. In both the case of the collapse of
Nyaga Stock Brokers and the collapse of Discount Securities Limited all genuine
claims within the statutory maximum of Sh.50,000 per every investor were
compensated.
Uhuru Kenyatta also directed that interest on
contributions made to the investor compensation fund be exempt from tax.
Treasury's Internal Audit Department
Through the Ministry of Finance, Uhuru Kenyatta
initiated an internal audit on all donor-funded projects and found that funds
given to both KESSP and WKCDD had been misappropriated. Together with the
relevant ministries, Uhuru Kenyatta directed that the related staff members be
suspended.
The government, through treasury and public
financial management reforms, strengthened audit capacity as a result of
structured capacity building and the merger of all Government of Kenya (GoK)
audit functions (including those of schools and local authorities) so as to
enhance their independence and effectiveness. The Ministry of Finance also issued
a circular to bring donor-funded projects within the mandate of the Treasury's
Internal Audit Department (IAD) with an aim of effectively monitoring the use
of funds allocated to these projects.
On 13 June 2011, Uhuru also released a statement
on the Final Forensic Audit Report for Ministry of Education and Ministry of
Medical Services. The forensic audit itself was carried out between April and
September, 2010 and involved the Ministry of Finance Internal Audit Department
(IAD) with technical support from DFID. This forensic audit showed
misappropriations in the named ministries.
Cutting government expenditure
In 2009, Uhuru Kenyatta directed that government
Ministers, along with Assistant Ministers and Permanent Secretaries, should
turn in their Mercedes-Benz government cars for Volkswagen Passats. In doing
this he aimed not only to reduce government car costs to about two-thirds the
price of a Mercedez-Benz but also to reduce the cost of running and maintaining
these cars.
'Time Magazine' reported that, "Thanks to a
government cost-cutting program aimed at saving taxpayers some $27 million,
Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta announced this summer that government
ministers, along with assistant ministers and permanent secretaries, must turn
in their ubiquitous Mercedes-Benz for Volkswagen Passats, which not only cost
about two-thirds the price of a new Benz in Kenya, but are, says the
government, cheaper to run and maintain.
Use of social media in the budget making process
The Business Daily, one of the Kenya's leading
financial newspapers, reported Treasury invites Kenyans to 'tweet' their budget
views"Citing Article 10 of the Constitution of Kenya, which recognizes
inclusiveness as part of the National Values and Principles of governance, the
Minister said he was pursuing a more inclusive means of formulating the
document.... Within three hours, more than 300 people had submitted responses
to the Treasury using an on-line document that asked questions like which
sectors should get funding and how the government could increase its tax
intake."
'All Twitter' reported, "In a move that might be the most social
media friendly we've seen from a politician, Kenya's Finance Minister has asked
his Twitter followers for their input on the country's budget – and promises to
take their comments into consideration in the next draft....but this request
from Kenya's Finance Minister goes above and beyond political representation to
hear directly from the people.... This is a fantastic example of using social
media to empower democracy.... Kenyatta has shown that any politician
interested in actually hearing from the people can do so."
Uhuru Kenyatta's use of social media has
endeared him to the tech savvy community in Kenya who know that to reach him,
he is just a tweet away. Aljazeera's The Stream which taps into the extraordinary potential of
social media to disseminate news covered Uhuru's use of Social Media in their
show.
The Minister also notably called on other
members of parliament during his 2011/2012 budget speech to use social media to
communicate directly with Kenyans.
Open government
The Minister released the budget estimates to
the public through the Ministry website a week before the reading of the Budget and immediately the budget
was read, his Budget Speech, A Citizen's Guide to the
Budget were made public through
his various platform. These are some of the actions that have seen him declared
as a proponent of open government.
Controversies
Budgetary discrepancies
Though noted as one of the few ministers without
any scandals, on 29 April 2009, Uhuru
faced a scare after he presented a supplementary budget that was approved by
parliament. The supplementary budget was to cover the budget gap that had
arisen due to slow economic growth. The government required an additional Kshs
38 billion, but compromised on a figure of Kshs 22 billion and non essential
proposed expenditure was postponed as a result. After voting on the bill
brought forward by Kenyatta, Gitobu Imanyara brought
up discrepancy questions as to what exactly had been approved by the house. It
appeared that parliament had voted on Kshs 31 billion as opposed to Kshs 22
billion that they thought they were voting on – the difference totalling Kshs
9.2 billion. The Deputy Prime Minister initially defended the budget that had
been passed but later admitted that there were computer or typographical errors
in budget bill. An investigation by the CID and a parliamentary committee was
ordered by the Speaker, to question him on the discrepancies. He was later
cleared of any wrongdoing by the Joint Finance and Budgetary Committee on the
issue.
2007-2008 post-election violence
On 15 December 2010, Uhuru Kenyatta was named as
a suspect of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Courtprosecutor Moreno Ocampo, for planning and funding violence in Naivasha and Nakuru. This was in relation to the violence that followed the bungled national elections in Kenya of December 2007. He has been accused of organizing a Kikuyu
politico-religious group, the Mungiki, in the
post-election violence. Uhuru maintains his innocence and wants his name
cleared. On 8 March 2011, he was indicted after being summoned to appear before
the ICC pre-trial chamber. He is to appear at the Hague on 8 April 2011
alongside 5 other suspects On 29 September 2011,
while seeking to exonerate himself, Uhuru Kenyatta put up a spirited fight as
he was being cross-examined by ICC Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo in the Hague, denying any links with the outlawed Mungiki sect. He said Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga should take political responsibility for the
acts of violence and killings that followed the 2007 presidential elections in
Kenya. He told the three judges that "by telling his supporters election results were being
rigged, fanned tensions and then failed to use his influence to quell the
violence that followed the announcement of the 2007 presidential results."
(see headline of Thursday, 29 September 2011 here) Website.
Confirmation of the ICC charges
Though Uhuru had previously dismissed ICC
summons he changed his decision
along the way and together in the company his two other co-accused suspects;
Head of Civil Servant, Ambassador Francis Muthaura and former Police
Commissioner Hussein Ali. The trio honored the ICC Summons that sought to
determine whether their cases met the set standards for international trials. On 23 January 2012, the ICC confirmed the cases
against Kenyatta and Muthaura Serious concerns about
the case have been raised, particularly the nature of the evidence being used
against Kenyatta.
The National Alliance
Party (TNA)
On 20 May 2012, Uhuru Kenyatta attended the
elaborately assembled and much-publicised launch of The National Alliance (Kenya)party in a modern high-tech dome at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre. His presence at the TNA launch was a strong
indication that he would contest for the party's presidential nomination ticket
in his quest for Kenya's Presidency in the 2013 General Elections.
Kenya's Justice and Constitutional Affairs
Minister Eugene Wamalwa and Eldoret North Constituency MP William Ruto led more than 70 MPs in attending the function.
Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly, Mr. Abdi Ramadhan, Cabinet
Ministers Mohamed Yusuf Haji, Jamleck
Irungu Kamau, Dr. Naomi Shaaban, Samuel Poghisio, Professor Sam Ongeri and Dr. Mohammed Kuti and MPsCharles Cheruiyot Keter, Aden Bare Duale and Mohamed Maalim Mohamud also attended the event.
Speeches at the launch revolved around the need
for a thriving economy, the need for the rights of people of all classes in
society to be championed, the need for peaceful co-existence, the need for
visionary and committed leadership, the need for transformative leadership, the
need for a youthful crop of committed professionals in leadership, the need for
free and fair nomination and election processes in the General Election, the
need for an economically empowered youth and a call to bring an end to divisive
and sectarian interests in politics to safeguard Kenya from sliding to
dictatorship.
By-Elections (17 September 2012)
On 17 September 2012, The National Alliance (Kenya) party had its first real test when it contested various civic and
parliamentary positions in a by-election that covered 17 seats in total; 3
parliamentary and 14 civic. Overall, 133,054 votes were cast in the
by-elections and TNA led the pack after it garnered 38.89% or 51,878 votes,
followed by Orange Democratic Movement with 33.7% or 44,837 votes, Party of National Unity (Kenya) with 4.46% or 5,929 votes, Wiper Democratic Movement with 4.44% or 5,912 votes andUnited Democratic Forum (Kenya) with 4.15% or 5,520 votes.
TNA won civic and parliamentary seats in 7
different counties while its closest challengers, ODM won seats in 4 counties.
The National Alliance Party is a strong
contender for next year's general elections, having received major defections
from other big political parties of Kenya. However, the indictment of two of
TNA's main candidates (Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto) to the ICC continue to
mar it's viability.
TNA has made a coalition pact with URP
presidential aspirant William Ruto where Uhuru Kenyatta will be the president
and Ruto will be the vice president.
References
6. ^ Carol Gakii, "Uhuru pulls out of the presidential race", Kenya Broadcasting
Corporation, 13 September 2007.
12. ^ Eric Ombok, "Kenya's Raila
Odinga Sworn in as Prime Minister, Ending Crisis", Bloomberg.com, 17
April 2008.
17. ^ Nicholas Kerandi
(nkerandi@netmedia.co.ke). "IFMIS re-engineered to revitalize public
financial management". Pfmr.go.ke. Retrieved 2011-08-02.
19. ^ english@peopledaily.com.cn
(2009-09-24). "World Bank
suspends funds over corruption in Kenya". English.peopledaily.com.cn. Retrieved
2011-08-02.
20. ^ "Statement on
Foresic Audit Report for Ministry of Education and Ministry of Medical
Services". Scribd.com. 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2011-08-02.
21. ^ Wadhams, Nick
(2009-11-18). "Kenyan Outrage
as Leaders Ditch Mercedes for Volkswagens". TIME. Retrieved
2011-08-02.
22. ^ "Treasury invites
Kenyans to 'tweet' their budget views". Businessdailyafrica.com. Retrieved 2011-08-02.
23. ^ Dugan, Lauren
(2011-05-09). "Kenyans Asked to
Tweet their Views on the Budget". Mediabistro.com. Retrieved 2011-08-02.
24. ^ "How Social Media is Changing the
Narrative in the Middle East". Stream.aljazeera.com. 2011-06-08. Retrieved
2011-08-02.
28. ^ a b "Uhuru Kenyatta
Named Richest Kenyan, Raises Controversy over Wealth Acquisition". Investment News Kenya.
Retrieved 2011-11-21.
30. ^ "MPs clear Kenya
minister over budget scandal". Capitalfm.co.ke. 2011-07-29. Retrieved
2011-08-02.
33. ^ The Standard
Newspaper, "Ocampo three defy summons" (pub.12/08/2011) <http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/hague/InsidePage.php?id=2000040726&cid=653&>.
34. ^ allAfrica.com,
"Five ICC Suspects Accept Hague Summons" <http://allafrica.com/stories/201103090781.html>
35. ^ Griffiths, Courtenay (3 July 2012). "The
International Criminal Court is hurting Africa". telegraph.co.uk.
Retrieved 11 July 2012.
36. www.wikipedia.com
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