On March 25th 2015, President Uhuru Kenyatta addressed the nation from parliament buildings, making his 3rd ever State of The Nation adress.

In his 7,346 worded speech (punctuated by several standing ovations), the President made what would be know as the strongest ever indication that he was sincere in his fight against graft.

His tough statements, were welcomed by pundits, supporters and foes but there were those like me who saw that there was going to be a tough journey that needed to be walked.

243 days later the President was making yet another statement – a tough talk on corruption. So serious was it this time that the vice was not only termed as a “sin” but declared a threat to national security.

Kenyans are tired of tough talk

After the much anticipated speech, Kenyans in their usual character poured onto social media platforms to “analyse” the president’s tough talk on corruption.

Anyone who still believes this gvt will finish corruption needs to book an appointment with the Pope for prayers #JubileeAnticorruptionJokes

— Violah Ng’etich (@ViolahNgetich) November 24, 2015

How do people expect #Jubilee to end graft while its leaders are the major beneficiaries in all the scams? #JubileeAnticorruptionJokes

— Fleet-Admiral (@MB_Tyger) November 24, 2015

These two examples are from thousands of tweets from Kenyans who think Uhuru’s fight against graft is a big PR joke meant to hoodwink Kenyans who have the past weeks shown their displeasure with the government’s handling of corruption issues.

This speech and the presentation of corruption reports and an anti-bribery bill coming just days after the resignation of the powerful Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru who was accused  of being involved in the theft of Ksh. 800 is more than just a mere coincidence.

These statement’s expressed by “Kenyans on Twitter” show that the country is tired of speeches and want action taken against perpetrators of graft.

We do not lack laws, implementation is the problem

While some of the suggestions in the report on fighting corruption and the bribery bill are very commendable, it should be noted that Kenya’s problem with the war on graft has never been about the unavailability of strategies or legal frameworks.

#jubileeanticorruptionjokes Bob Collymore joking that the Anti_Bribery draft Bill was missing,killed it!

— kinyua kiminja (@KinyuaKiminja) November 24, 2015

Kenyan’s agree that it will definitely take more than good laws – we already have enough starting with the biblical “ten commandments” (or Torah in Islam):

Good laws will not fight corruption, because if it was just good laws; What is better than the 10 commandments? #JubileeAnticorruptionJokes

— Harmon Okinyo (@harmon_okinyo) November 24, 2015

Across the border in Tanzania for instance, newly elected President John Magufuli is leading from the front in fighting corruption and wastage of public resources.

Kenyans are now increasingly afraid that Tanzania which has been lagging behind other East African states will finally surpass Kenya due to the good will of the current regime.

Soon Tanzania will catch up, and overtake us if we continue with #JubileeAnticorruptionJokes . Magufuli is up to it https://t.co/S2kjHJS2zX

— JAMES SILA (@jamesilah) November 24, 2015

As the Pope lands in the country tomorrow, I hope that he will have a strong message, to the leadership of this country – Good thing the President is Catholic and we hope he will listen to the wise counsel on service delivery from the “Holy Father” who has exemplified what true servant leadership is all about.

If he refuses to listen then let’s hope that Pope Francis will inspire a modern day miracle – this country is badly in need of one because we do not have too many options.

#JubileeAnticorruptionJokes Replacing Uhuru with Jakom (Raila Odinga) would be the real anti corruption joke,the guy himself is a mes.I still trust Uhuru

— Murimi Stephen K (@MurimiStephen) November 24, 2015

All said, that was a good speech but as far as the intentions to actually defeat  corruption is concerned, we are not buying his speech:

I will love you forever like love for corruption in Kenya,it will never end.@Bapheezy #JubileeAntiCorruptionJokes pic.twitter.com/emDPIpy4OX

— Eliasib Mosoti Hon. (@EliasibMosoti) November 24, 2015

 Follow me on Twitter @IamOminde

The post It will take more than speeches to fight corruption- someone tell Kenyatta appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

In less than two weeks, Pope Francis will kick off his maiden tour of the African continent when his plane lands at Jommo Kenyatta International Airport on 27^th November.

This visit is not only significant to the 12 million Kenyan Catholics but to the entire population of Kenya (The Pope will also be visiting Uganda and the Central African Republic).

The Pope’s visit comes at a time when the country is suffering economic turmoil brought about by the near collapse of the tourism industry following increased travel advisory by key tourist source markets as a result of the ever present Al-Shabaab terror threats.

Tourism

A visit by the leader of the world’s largest Christian Church coming hot on the heels of another visit by “The leader of the free world” is nothing short of a stamp of approval that “It is safe to visit Kenya.”

The high profile visits which culminate with that of British Prime Minister David Cameron early 2016 will go a long way in returning confidence among tourists. Frequent terror attacks in Nairobi, Mombasa and most recently Garissa University where 147 people lost their lives significantly drove down Kenya’s earnings from the sector which was for a long time the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner.

It is my hope that the Pope will use this visit to remind the world that terror is a problem in Africa just like it is in the Western world where hundreds of lives have also been lost.

France, one of the world’s top tourist destinations has been a victim not once, but several times with the last being this weekend where 128 people were killed in six different locations in Paris.

Throughout his visits outside Vatican, his message has always been consistent – mankind’s duty to help the poor and less privileged. This is a message he needs to remind the West of, that it does more harm issuing travel restrictions to victims of terror like Kenya while not doing the same when Western Nations face equal or even worse terror threats. 

Unity

This visit comes at a time when religious tensions between Christians and Muslims are at an all-time high following increase in terrorism activities. Unlike his predecessors, the Pope is known for pushing a conciliatory agenda and visiting a region with a significant population of Muslims should provide him with an opportunity to reach out to Muslims and set the stone rolling for a process of inter-religious unity in the fight against extremism.

This approach will go a long way in defeating the Al-Shabaab propaganda that has been aimed at creating tension between Christian and Muslims. This I hope will be a key message during his public mass to be held at The University of Nairobi.

Religious unity though is the least of Kenya’s problems, this country is now far more divided along ethnic lines than it were in 2007 when hundreds died as a result of post-election violence. Today “leaders” have perfected the art of spreading hate messages at public gatherings – even doing so in the name of God.

Social media has been used to divide this country along two major ethnic/political blocks. The prosecutions going on at the ICC and the arrest and prosecution of hate-mongers locally has done little to deter people from engaging in spreading hate messages.

Across our borders, ethnic cleansing is rife in Burundi even as the world turns a blind eye the same way it did two decades ago. It is my hope that “the people’s Pope” will use this visit to call on world leaders to stop the violence before it grows out of proportion.

Tolerance

The biggest problem facing the world today is tolerance to divergent opinion which has given rise to religious extremism, ethnicity and human right abuses.

Even though the Catholic Church does not accept homosexuality in its doctrines, Pope Francis has widely been seen to be accommodative to the LGBT community compared to his predecessors – this has even ruffled some feathers in the Church.

“If someone is gay and searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” – Pope Francis.

While we do not expect him to push for the legalization of homosexuality, Pope Francis will almost definitely encourage African governments to deal with homosexuals in more a humane manner. The Pope is on the record acknowledging that criminalizing homosexuality is extreme.

Disappointment 

I am however disappointed that the Pope will not be visiting West African countries that have fought and defeated Ebola. This was a good time to show solidarity with that part of the continent and appreciate the men and women who volunteered – risking their own lives to save others.

Africa needed him to show compassion with the victims we lost to Ebola, their families and those who got infected but fought and defeated the deadly disease. I hope it’s not too late to change his schedule.

Follow me on Twitter@IamOminde

The post Pope Francis in Africa, what will his message be? appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

As the President’s State of the nation address drew near, we all were involved in all manner of speculations on what he would focus on as he address the joint house. In many of our lists the fight against corruption was tops – I will get to that later.

What we did not expect was that the president would apologize on behalf of his government and the past governments for the historical injustices meted against innocent Kenyan citizens.

The president received a standing ovation for this.

Historical injustices

As much as we want to be optimistic about this laudable move, we have to remain alive to the fact that wonderful speeches are easy to read, it’s the implementation of the ideas that actually deserve a standing ovation.

Even as the president made this pronouncement that even set aside 10 billion shillings for compensating those who suffered from these injustices, we must not forget that the president recently appointed a former military chief whose involvement in one of this country’s worst massacres was questioned even in the TJRC report. I am surprised his name is not in the list of shame which to me looks very sanitized and aimed at settling political scores.

The historical injustices in this country start and end with land….battles have been fought, communities have been massacred and as we speak a senior member of his administration is being tried abroad in a case that has everything to do with land.

To be seen as being sincere about this whole land issue, the President must not implement the TJRC Report in full as well as the Ndung’u land report and as corrupt people are being asked to step aside, this must be implemented from the top even if it means that it is done from the family of the founding father of this nation who was accused grabbing huge tracks of land for himself.

This must not stop there, Kenyatta’s administration still has people who have been charged in court and found guilty of apportioning themselves tracks of land that do not belong to them serving as second in command only to himself.

Land is not the only form of historical injustice though….

Ethnicity 

Something else that the president talked about in his speech was national values and the importance of unity, just wished he had stressed on it as much as he did on other issues.

Ethnicity is one of the most widespread forms of injustice that Kenyans have had to live with since independence. Today in 2015 there are parts of this country that have not seen basic services because the residents do not come from politically correct tribes.

Like I say the president must first walk this talk even with is own appointments. Since 2013 all we are seeing is a see saw between two communities when it comes to public appointments, where the hell is the rest of the 40 or so communities in this country?

All these things we have talked about however just boil down to deep rooted corruption in our systems.

Corruption

Another important element in the president’s speech as expected was his strongly worded statement with regard to the fight against corruption both at the national and the county level.

This too has to be more than mere talk.

Those 7,346 words gave Kenyans hope, hope that they once had in 2003 when Kibaki took power after 24 years of pillage supervised by former President Moi.

For the first time ordinary Kenyans arrested police officers taking bribes but when Kibaki showed no intention of fighting graft, we sank deep into into it again.

Kenyatta has given Kenyans hope that this country can be saved again, what remains of him is to walk the talk that Kibaki would not and Kenyans will help him fight this war.

Kenyatta inherited a corrupt system but by hanging the likes of Ngilu, Koskei, Chirchir, Iringo and Eng. Kamau to dry, he is finally laying Kibaki’s demons that would have haunted his image for a long time.

We must however agree that even with his own appointees corruption continues to be perpetrated in this country and more heads have to roll starting with the office of his deputy.

We are hopeful, we accept his apology for past crimes but now is the time for him to walk that talk.

Here now is Kenyatta’s list of shame:

State Of The Nation #ListOfShame

1. Eng. Michael Kamau – CS Transport & Roads

2. Charity Ngilu – CS Roads & Housing

3. Davis Chirchir – CS Energy & Petroleum

4. Felix Koskei – CS Agriculture

5. Kazungu Kambi – CS Labor

6. Mutea Iringo – PS Defense

7. Francis Kimemia – PS Office of the President

8. Nduva Muli – PS Transport & Roads

9. Patrick Omutia – CS Mining

10. Isaack Ruto – Gov. Bomet

11. Evans Kidero – Gov. Nairobi

12. Alfred Mutua – Gov. Machakos

13. Cyprian Awiti – Gov. Homabay

14. Peter Munya – Gov. Meru

15. Hassan Joho – Gov. Mombasa

16. Nadhif Jama – Gov. Garisa

17. Godana Doyo – Gov. Isiolo

18. Ukur Yatani – Gov. Moyale

19. James Orengo – Sen. Siaya

20. Johnstone Muthama – Sen Machakos

21. Richard Onyonka – MP. Kitutu Chache South

22. John Serut – MP. Mt Elgon

23. Alfred Keter – MP. Nandi Hills

24. Sanjeev Birdi – MP. Nominated

Releasing this list was the first step, walking the talk will now mean that the 125 individuals in this list must be made to feel the pain of corruption by being prosecuted and jailed.

                          Follow me on Twitter @IamOminde

The post #StateOfTheNation – why Uhuru must now walk the talk. appeared first on Biz Post Daily.