Panorama on Christmas break

It has largely been a difficult year for me, the main publisher of this blog, as well as two other contributors to this blog.

This ICC business has worsened things!

Anyway, the year is ending nonetheless. We are taking a break up until the first week of the new year. However, if something big comes up, we will be back to publish.

Happy holidays everyone. We see you at the begining of the year.

KBC takes back Channel 2, renames KTV

Kenya Broadcasting Corporation -  KBC - has refused to renew Radio Africa's lease of TV frequency, following a drama earlier this year involving World Cup rights.

Now, the state is taking back Classic TV frequency, and will rename it KTV. Initially, before leasing it to Radio Africa - the company that runs Kiss radio/TV and Classic FM and The Star newspaper - the TV in question was called Channel 2, and way back earlier, Metro TV.

Director of Information and Public Communication Ezekiel Mutua will be directing programmes at KTV, just like the way he personally runs Kenya Today newspaper. KTV will be showing programmes on bee keeping in Gucha, poultry projects in Msambweni, water projects in Lodwar and peace efforts in Transmara... Most of the footage the new TV will be showing are from Kenya News Agency bureaux.

KBC is taking back the frequency after a biter row earlier this issue relating to a World Cup deal. 

Ahead of South Africa World Cup, KBC and Radio Africa struck a deal to jointly air the matches on TV. When the games got underway, it turned out that KBC sold radio broadcasting rights to Citizen radio, and it was not clear also how Milele FM was also broadcasting the same, too.

Radio Africa raised a storm over it and KBC director David Waweru was sacked. And this was when KBC board decided to have Channel 2 (Classic TV) frequency back.

Now, KISS TV has started broadcasting Nigerian movies that used to be broadcast on Classic TV. Kiss TV has also been lying that KISS TV and Classic TV have merged, while the truth is, KBC has taken back the frequency they had leased to Radio Africa.

Emmy Kosgey's Wololoo album

Top Kalenjin name in music Emmy Kosgey is finalizing work on her fourth album to be released early next year. I have had a preview of the lead title in Emmy's new album, and i liked it very much.

The new album will pretty much have a similar sound and tune to her third and biggest album yet, Taunet Neleel. But in the new album, she introduces a blend of English lyrics.

He three albums, Katau Banda, Kaswech and Taunet Neleel have exclusively been in her native Kalenjin. Emmy says she is now seeking to reach more audiences by including stanzas in English.

By the time she finishes work on the new album, Emmy will be hoping to launch her website, http://emmykosgei.com/.

Wololoo (Kalenjin for no way or simply no), or its equivalent, is the title of one of the songs in her upcoming album.

Ocampo six suspects,

Except for perhaps two cases that ICC maw have evidence, proving any case against the rest of the four suspects will not be easy. Here i submit that Francis Muthaura and ex-police commissioner Ali's case may have some substance in light of police killing. But with the rest of the suspects, proving a water tight case against them will not be easy. Mr Kenyatta's Mungiki case needs paperwork for it to go ahead. And for the prosecutor to name President Kibaki's assistant in the name of Muthaura means that idealy, the prosecutor is acting cowardly- because the aide has no orders of his own, rather, the boss'. That is all for now, really.

NTV pirates UK's ITV news bumper

NTV television of Kenya has shamelessly lifted a bumper template belonging to a leading UK television station, changed a few things, and now is the main feature introducing its evening news.

Let me explain. A news Bumper or Bumper Music is a short pre-recorded production element containing voice over music or bed, in this case, used to introduce news programme.

In November 2009, UK's leading private TV channel, ITV re-launched its news bumper , coming up with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NWleJNfO0g&feature=related. Now, NTV has used the same template, with very similar bed (music) and is now using it in its evening bulletins.

Watch this video when ITV was introducing this bumper and go catch NTV news tonight to understand what I am saying.

I don't know how long this has been running, since I don't watch Kenyan TV as much. But I just noticed this this past weekend. This is quite shameful indeed because there are TV producers who are paid by stations to create new bumpers, trailers and other promotional material to be used in programmes.

Ouko's murder back to haunt Biwott

Nicholas Biwott's prospects of seeking public office in Elgeyo-Marakwet County plummeted today after a parliamentary report prepared five years ago linked him to the murder of Robert Ouko in 1990.

The report, prepared by MPs led by former Kisumu Town East's Gor Sunguh, says Ouko was assassinated at State House Nakuru after he fell out with Biwott following retired President Moi's tour of the USA. The parliamentary report says that evidence showed that Biwott and former Nyanza administrator Julius Kobia were present as Ouko was being abducted by intelligence agents. His charred body was later found in Got Alila, near Kisumu on 13 February 1990.

It has been years, and this is an issue that Biwott wishes could just go away, but it simply cant. It has come back again, with even more questions about if indeed he was behind the murder of the then flamboyant foreign minister. Biwott will not address the media on the subject (yet), helping build a veil of questions among political supporters about what he really knows about this murder.

One thing is clear though, whatever is the truth, political career of the man who makes millions daily from his business empire will hit new low, even probably failing to win senate seat for Elgeyo-Maraket County.

AIC's Yego ''sacks'' Kenyan radio director

The head of the Akamba-Kalenjin dominated Africa Inland Church (AIC), the Rev Silas Yego, is desperately seeking to sack the director of the Biblia Husema Broadcasting (BHB) radio (90.9FM), Rev Christopher Arap Mutai. AIC runs BHB.

Rev Yego, who has been fighting another battle over the church's revised constitution, has written a letter to Rev Mutai, asking him to quit.

I have no idea at all why  Rev Yego is seeking to dismiss the broadcaster of 25 years.

You probably remember Rev Mutai in 80s and 90's for his weekly ''Wimbo Niupendao'' programme on KBC Kiswahili Service on weekends. In 1981, Biblia Husema Broadcasting was brought out from under Africa Inland Mission and placed fully within the Africa Inland Church, and in the same year Rev Mutai succeeded was named the managing director of Biblia Husema Broadcasting.

Over the years, Rev Mutai has been the face that the donors and partners have been dealing with. He has been trusted and BHB funded over the year; in his name. Can someone, privately let us know why Rev Yego wants to sack Rev Mutai?

Eastleigh grenade that killed police officer

Police officers were playing with a grenade while driving along the Nairobi's Somali-populated Eastleigh neighbourhood on Friday when the security pin dropped. The grenade exploded, killing one of the officers.

A senior police officer has told a contact that the police officers themselves were the ones who were holding the grenade that exploded, killing one of them.  The theory on someone hurling a grenade and disappearing to an alley is a lie, and police chiefs know that.

So on the basis of this, the truth be told that Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab rebels were not involved (and this is not the same thing as saying that some of them don't operate from the area).

And it appears there was only one grenade in the Landrover 110 that the officers were in.

So FBI officers investigating the killing of the police constable should just read this blog and put forward their recommendations on police officers who amuse themselves with grenades and other such explosives.

Ivory Coast: Shame of African leaders

Ivory Coast, or Cote d'Ivoire, is back on the brink of disaster, and this time round, the deranged Laurent Gbagbo will not survive.

Gbagbo has refused to accept the results of presidential election that showed that he lost the elections, and has now taken oath to continue as president.

Let me recap for you what has happened since the year 2000, until now when the west African nation is by the edge of a precipice.

• On September 19, 2002, dissident soldiers attacked Abidjan to try to overthrow Gbagbo. They failed, but managed to sp0lit the country in two; rebels seize north of country.
•  On October 30 2005, scheduled presidential polls were postponed. Further postponements are made until this year, 2010. Polls were finally held 29 November 2010.
•  Gbagbo took 38% of the first-round vote, while Ouattara took 32% of the first-round vote. Third-candidate, with just over 20 per cent later backed Ouattara for second round.
•  On November 28 a run-off between incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo and rival Alassane Ouattara was held.
•  The country's election commission announced Thursday last week that Ouattara had won. However, new results released Friday on national television by a Gbagbo loyalist who heads the constitutional council said that the incumbent president had in fact been re-elected. United States, the United Nations, France and the European Union reject results showing Gbagbo win.
•  Gbagbo was sworn-in as Ivory Coast president on Saturday. Ouattara submitted a rival oath to undertake the presidency and said he would start a parallel government.
•  Today, AU is sending Former South African President Thabo Mbeki to help mediate the dispute. Mbeki is sympathetic to Gbagbo, and I don't think he will achieve anything.

My take. Gbagbo is hopping that the protests will die down and he will continue ruling the country. This is such a shame for Africa. Ivory Coast has been through som people andb the people would really like to see their copuntry move on; not this backward nonsense of Gbagbo. 

I really think that Gbagbo will not survive; either way. He will face massive internation isolation or the rebels will go back to war.

Standard newspaper circulation to dip

Managers at The Standard newspaper are worried that circulation of the Kenya's second selling tabloid-size daily publication will drop drastically following the increase in the cover price.

Daily Nation, Kenya's top-selling newspaper, which is also raising the cost of its cover price, will likely to reap the benefits of the fallout from the joint decision by the Daily Nation and The Standard to increase by five shillings the cost of newspaper.

Now, in retrospect, the managers The Standard are lost on how to make sure that they maintain the circulation of the newspaper that I, myself, rarely read. The decision by The Nation and The Standard to raise the cost of cover price from today - 1 December - was reached in the first week of November, following weeks of discussion with the commercial directors and managers.

And The Daily Nation has been seeking to tell its readers, including those who read The Standard that Daily Nation is read by at least 70 per cent of all newspaper readers in the country; with numbers to back that up.

Not that five shillings is quite a huge amount, really, compared with Uganda where the New Vision and Daily Monitor sell for an average of one dollar (80 shillings) per copy and similar price in Tanzania. But, Kenyan print media market is a bit different. This is a market where people watch as much TV and listen to radio, read news on the internet, and buy the Sunday newspaper to catch up with what they may have missed in the week.

There are many people who buy both The Standard and Daily Nation daily, but it is likely that until they psychologically adjust to the price rise, they may have to stop buying one newspaper for the time being. That newspaper will likely be The Standard - because after all The Nation has most adverts, better news writing style, in spite of the political bias, and more trusted name.

Probably, some people will be buying The Daily Nation and The Star newspapers, in place of The Standard. Maybe even with The People that has a better look from today following re-launch.

No wonder then on 29 November when The Standard was announcing that there had been a decision to raise cover price of its title with a similar step at the Daily Nation, it went ahead to seek to beseech the readers to continue buying the newspaper.

They did not have to do that. They would have just said: ''We and The Daily Nation are raising by five shillings the cover price because of high newsprint costs.'' In contrast, when the Daily Nation was announcing on 30 December that it was raising its cover price by five shillings, it did so in four paras. You see the panic?

Guidelines on safe anal sex for homosexuals

I don't publish comments of readers in my blog, I suppose I get so busy in my day job to find time to moderate them. Now, when I recently published here that Kenyan is a nation of hypocrites and educated idiots, I had a lot of private messages criticizing me and other people who write in this blog in my name.

I want to repeat this; Kenya is a nation of really odd people; or as it were, hypocrites. This blog is not interested in championing the rights of homosexuals, but we insist here that gayism and lesbianism is no longer an issue of morality, at all.

Let me explain. Last week, I was speaking to four people who campaign for homosexuals in Kenya, and who are gays themselves. You’d like to hear what they said.

In between all that, this past weekend, Raila Odinga, the prime minister, said homosexuals should be arrested. This is nonsense. Odinga represents backward thinking devoid of any reasoning that goes beyond politics.

There are no numbers about homosexuals in Kenya. Maybe the last census should have included a column on sexual orientation! The gay rights activists, who are gay themselves, told me that almost all of them are in marriages, or have girlfriends or generally female partners - and this is when reawakening should start.

With HIV/AIDS problem that is such a massive challenge for the health care delivery system, you start seeing a picture of a nation that is living in shadows. What this means is, anal sex between gays is the most dangerous of any sexual relationships.

To say, these men involved in sexual relationships with other men partners, are quickly spreading HIV to a huge ignorant population. Many of the men who have sex with other men do not have access to health, information of safe anal sex… thanks to comments by people like Raila Odinga and company.

So, it is time the Kenyan nation realizes that homosexuality is not an issue of morality anymore. It is about the health of the nation.

We should see fliers and media ads on ‘‘guidelines on safe anal sex for homosexuals’’. This cannot be as bad, maybe it will just come close to the ongoing government campaigns to reach teenagers with contraceptives - yes serious ones like the coil, pills...

Storm at Nation Center over Churchil Live

A recent edition of Churchil Live that Nation television (NTV) airs every Thursday night has stirred a storm and almost cost the jobs of some TV programmes controllers at the Nation Centre.

It happened that Churchil invited reporter Mohamed Ali of KTN's infamous Jicho Pevu seriess to share podium with his former colleague John Allan-Namu who is now working with NTV. Apparently, Churchil's producers have not been consulting Nation Media managers over guests to be invited to the show that is pre-recorded.

So the Nation managers are mad that a ''star'' reporter with a rival station had been featured by NTV popular programme. I did not watch the programme in question - not that i watch anything anyway on Kenyan TV - not the news, nothing, except say Tusker Project Fame on Sunday alone, but i am told Ali and Allan-Namu were discussing how they achieve their investigative ''feat''.

So from last week, the Nation TV managers started vetting Churchil's post-produced show (on Tuesday afternoon) before it airs on Thursday!

My two cents on this. It is utter rubbish that such pettiness can still be seen in a country like Kenya with largely developed media environment. That means the media in this country is miles away from coming close to UK or European counterparts. Last week, a top French TV replayed huge section of BBC TV programme - panorama.
Also, quite regularly, TVs play footage from their rival stations, while clearly indicating that this video is from so and so - rivals. with nnewspapers, you will find reportage saying ''speaking to The Guardian, blah blah...'' when the newspaper reporting this is a serious rival like say The Sunday Times.

New Nation Media sex Video coming

I did not publish details of Citizen staffer's sex video a couple of weeks ago, for some quite personal reasons. Now, i am told there is another sex video a Daily Nation staffer will be circulating at the firm later tonight about a Nation Media person; alert us if you see it first.

I am worried for Miley Cyrus

I like Miley Cyrus so much; but I am so scared that her career may plummet before taking a steady path. And country music legend Dolly Parton agrees with me.

Ms Parton yesterday told Larry King that she is worried for Miley Cyrus - the nice girl in Hannah Montana series.

Ms Parton said Miley is putting too much pressure on herself to act in a certain way. And the issue for both Ms Patron and me is Miley's recent provocative stage performances and photo shoots, especially one for Vanity Fair a while ago. ''Hopefully she didn't get that from me because I certainly never encouraged her to do any of that... I think she's just in a cross - she's just kind of in a crosswinds,'' Ms Parton told Larry King.

She continued, "I think this day and time life is hard for young people, certainly young girls... you just can't flaunt enough. You can't just do enough. You can't just talk trashy enough or dress trashy enough. It seems to be like if you don't do that you're not in the in crowd.''

Miley Cyrus turned 18 last week - and she realized she needed an identity, reinvention. She is among American teens who are being forced by television and computer screens to grow up pretty fast.

Even before she turned 18, her public display of sexuality has raised concerns that her music career may be dogged by the Hollywood-like infamy - the same route as Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears...

To me, this young woman is painfully trying to shake off the good girl image in Disney's Hannah Montana series, while racing far too fast into adulthood; leaving behind her teen fans. Maybe it is because her parents recently filed for divorce!

I liked her in Hanna Montana, and also in Last Song, the fist serious movie that depicts her in more mature role. Somehow I feel this girl is detesting playing Hannah Montana in the Disney musical drama.

But I am starting to have second thought about liking here after watching some of her perfomances, more and more revealing outfits and her recent video for Who Owns My Heart (seen here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coqbx4C8z0o )

Raila Odinga's star rising, pride in tow

Buoyed by a recent article in the top world opinion magazine, The Economist, that suggested that he will be Kenya's next president, Raila Odinga has sought to build an image of a modest politician, shrug off perception of being an arrogant man, while painfully waiting to become president.

Helping him cultivate this image is his failing health; he has been told to reduce on activities he does daily and go slow on combative manoeuvres - several months since he had his skull drilled to ease pressure build up in his head. And in between all that, his star is rising, with a bulging sense of pride.

I don't know if it has anything to the fact that I once worked for him, but I am still convinced that this man has changed. 

A Nairobi Star newspaper reporter who covers Odinga regularly told me that maybe actually, the aides are the people who have made him change. He has surrounded himself with a number of loyal hot-headed friends, while aggressively building a network of favoritism and nepotism in government.

Somehow Odinga is convinced that he will become the next leader of Kenya, and he sees now reason why he needs to maintain his affable personality.

Honestly, it is not as straightforward to get the presidency as Odinga's aides have been telling him. In light of all that, he defends his friends with rage and privately faults foes with the same intensity of rage.
Look at What The Economist magazine wrote of few weeks ago about Raila Odinga. Such portrayal is emboldening him so much.
 

''Kenya's future could be bright if the next election, expected in August 2012, can pass off peacefully, perhaps with a clear-cut transition to a President Raila Odinga, who was almost certainly cheated out of the top job by last-minute electoral fiddles last time round.
In the next election, ''three factors should help him. First, though President Kibaki, soon to turn 79 and due to retire in 2012, also campaigned for the new constitution, its endorsement was seen as an achievement for Odinga.
''Second, he has made progress towards stopping and even reversing land grabs in the Rift Valley, including the Mau Forest area.
''Third, Mr Odinga has promised, albeit with wobbles, to send leading politicians alleged to have stirred up post-election ethnic violence in 2008 to the International Criminal Court at The Hague''.

When he chaired a cabinet meeting 23 November, for the first time, in absence of President Kibaki, Odinga had a feel of ''how it will be'', and even his gait has changed. Good luck!

KWS's Kipngetich lobbying for police job

The overbearingly proud man in charge of the Kenya Wildlife Service, Julius Kangogo Kipngetich, is desperately lobbying for two positions - that of the to be renamed/restructured Inspector General of Police, and that of the permanent secretary in the office of the president (and also the head of civil service and secretary to the cabinet).

Some people in Prime Minister Raila's Office have told him that he will get one of the positions. In the past, he lobbied for the latter's position, still being held by Francis Muthaura, some while ago, but  painfully failed. Now, it is understood that Muthaura is leaving soon, and his position is up for replacement.

Kipngetich is convinced that he will get either of the positions. When I was in Kericho last week, I met a friend who works with President Kibaki's office in Nairobi. He told me of the story but I was not keen on hearing the details. Now this weekend, I heard similar details.

Kipngetich has many fiends in government. When he took over the running of KWS, he told his friends that he will ensure that meritocracy will define his tenure. Now, he is bored with what he has been doing and has said he wants new challenge.

It may be difficult for President Kibaki to name his as Muthaura's replacement. Reason, at the height of the 2005 referendum on proposed new constitution, he publicly opposed President Kibaki's decision to hand over Amboseli National Park to Kajiado County Council.

Thrusting the issue to the limelight, on 11 October, a court reversed the president's order to downgrade the Amboseli National Park to a game reserve. In light of this, the president will unlikely hire such an independent minded-person.

That means, Kipngetich will have to contend with fight for the position of Inspector General of Police, which can be taken by a civilian, courtesy of the new constitution. Since Kibaki will still be around until 2012, and since the police were implicated in the 2008 violence, giving out this position to a non-police career person may be a hard one for politicians to gamble with, when ICC is on Kenya case.

Kipngetich's pride comes from seeing his rise to major positions without political godfathers, like others, but know, he has realized how politics underpin appointments to political positions.

Singer Avril's fans defend homosexuality

Fans of the Kenyan R&B musician who is fighting serious controversy over publication of supposed pictures of her in what appears a lesbian act, Avril Nyambura, have created a Facebook page to seek to justify that it is her personal life if she is lesbian or bisexual.

The fans in the newly created page are saying that it is ok to be lesbian, after all, Kenya a free country. It is not clear if the creator of the page knows something about Avril's sexual orientation.

The page ''Leave Avril Nyambura Alone if she is a lesbian Its her life'', (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leave-Avril-Nyambura-Alone-if-she-is-a-lesbian-Its-her-life/175198452490700) was created hours after Facebook administrators deleted a mysterious profile belonging to person/s calling themselves ''Avrils Nipols'' in which Avril's pictures were posted earlier this week.

Even though Facebook took down the Avrils Nipols profile, the pictures had already been picked and circulated by e-mail and largely in blogs. The face on the pictures are indeed those of Avril. In one of the pictures, she is seen being held by her breast by a woman with kinky hair (we have published a cropped version of the px).

One of the pxs being circulated

 

Some blogs have said the pictures are real and not product of doctoring. This blog does not have an idea at all about the authenticity of the pictures, maybe they are real.

Now, the creator of the new Facebook page; ''Leave Avril Nyambura Alone if she is a lesbian Its her life'' says: 

''All lesbian chics are hot good girl Avril. Its her life so get a life and leave her alone after all she was not sleeping with your mother was she?''. Maybe Facebook will take down this page as well.

Avril is signed up to Ogopa Dejays recording label. She is an average musician, not good. She recently released her new single "mama " in which she reflects on day to issues of a young girl in love but her parents not approving of it. The song had been seen 24,000 times on You Tube on 13 November.

To me, this story is not really as much about the pictures, or people's sexual orientation - it is more about how the intternet has placed unparalled power on individuals to create or destroy carreers etc.

Daily Nation's skewed journalism

Daily Nation, Kenya’s biggest newspaper, both in terms of readership and circulation, has grudgingly published the story of witnesses to the 2007/8 chaos saying they were coached to implicate William Ruto in the violence.

This is a story that Daily Nation would really not wish to publish. This is because it appears positive towards Ruto because the story seeks to weaken the case against Ruto regarding the 2008 violence.

Over the past several weeks, maybe since Joseph Odindo was appointed the overall editor of the Daily Nation, and the Nation Media Group, has editorialized news stories, often criticizing William Ruto, while clearly supporting Premier Raila Odinga.

It is not clear if Linus Kaikai, person who oversees NTV television news has used personal differences they have had with Ruto over a girl, to twist stories that seek to portray Ruto in positive light.

But of course there is no disputing the fact that NTV has often portrayed Ruto in a bad light. If they are not giving him bad coverage, they are giving blackout to the man when he does anything seemingly positive. But anyway, who watches NTV.

Let us go back to the Daily Nation newspaper.

When Ruto returned from the ICC, Daily Nation banner headline said that he did not after all meet ICC chief prosecutor, Moreno-Ocampo. The story sought to overplay that element, while the rest of the media did not see as much in that, since Ruto met other prosecutors for many hours.

A day later, on 10 November, Daily Nation said ‘Ocampo still on track despite Ruto’s mission’. This front page story said ‘ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s spokesman said Mr Ruto’s visit to The Hague had not changed anything and investigations were on schedule’. Basically this story sought to show that Ruto’s visit to the ICC was nothing at all.

And now with the story of two people saying that they were paid by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights to implicate Eldoret North MP William Ruto in the 2008 post-election violence, they must have been in pains to publish this on their website. Be assured though that it will not likely be a front page story; unless they would like to hoodwink audiences that this newspaper is fair.

Since Joseph Odindo was appointed the overall editor of the Nation, he has sought to give Raila Odinga better coverage on various issues. Odindo and other top writers are Odinga’s consultants.

Sample this, when a story critical of Odinga gets to Daily Nation at around 6pm, or even 8pm (Daily Nation goes to bed quite late), the editors reach Odinga (James Orengo, etc) by telephone to give a reaction. For example if the story was ‘’13 MPs criticize Raila’s anti-graft record’, the story will become, ‘Raila dismisses 13 MPs who questioned his anti-graft fight’’.

It is such a pity that the country’s most influential newspaper can exercise such skewed journalism.

Witnesses retract statements against Ruto

Six supposed witnesses of Kenya’s 2008 violence living in Tanzania are ready to come back to Kenya and say they were coached and promised better life to implicate William Ruto in the chaos.

Before Ruto went to the ICC to meet prosecutors there, two of the witnesses sought to ask for his forgiveness for lying about the violence in Rift Valley Province at the time, and the role Ruto played.

And now, three witnesses in Rift Valley have agreed to speak to the media to say they were more or less paid to speak in a way to implicate Ruto.

This blog is not a sycophant of anyone’s politics. But I have reasons to believe that Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Commission (read Hassan Omar) coached witnesses to implicate Ruto in the violence.

A staffer with a foreign news agency (at CVS plaza, the same building housing KNCHR) said that Omar has been distraught since Ruto spoke about the issue. The commission chair, Florence Jaoko, has asked Omar not to make any press statement without consulting the commission on the matter.

Two people, Kipkemboi Rono and Ken Wekesa spoke out on 10 November, saying KNHCR paid them to implicate Ruto. One other person has a signed affidavit showing that KNHCR promised him better life if he implicated Ruto. (Daily Nation has refused to pick the story so far: see upcoming story next)

They two took a contributor to this blog to Nairobi’s Kilimani estate which they claimed were rented for them by the KNCHR which also allegedly paid them monthly allowances.

The other ‘‘witnesses’’ living in Tanzania, (not sure it KNHCR pays fro their stay there) have been calling relatives and friends in Eldoret saying they’d like to come back and confess their lies.

Now, William Ruto has gone to record a statement with the police seeking for the arrest of Hassan Omar and other commissioners. He will tell police that KNHCR bribed supposed witnesses to implicate him over the 2007/8 violence.

For the record, this blog has in the past said the case against Ruto at the ICC is quite difficult to prove. There are no minutes of him giving money to buy anything, like machetes etc. Unlike Mungiki State House meeting, Ruto’s links to the violence is really difficult to prove.

 

A contributor to this blog has said that two other ''human rights'' people are in panic over the issue - they are Ken Wafula, based in Eldoret, and Ndungu Wainaina. The two are some of the beneficiaries of investigations into the violence.

Document implicates Raila Odinga in chaos

In the past week, I have been busy doing many things and I have not had time to blog as much. I between everything, someone mailed this blog a document that I have found quite interesting. If you have been in Kenya or reading stuff about the country, you probably may have seen some MPs saying Prime Minister Raila Odinga's ODM party had a role in the 2008 violence.

MPs Isaac Ruto and Charles Keter this month said the party's top organ, The Pentagon held several meetings to plan mass protests that resulted in deaths. The two said Odinga should present to the International Criminal Court minutes of the ODM meetings that planned the post-election chaos.

The Pentagon included Raila Odinga, Musalia Mudavadi, William Ruto, Najib Balala, Joe Nyaga and Charity Ngilu, who all serve in the coalition government. Ruto has since been suspended from government over fraud case.

Now, a document claiming to be from the files of ODM has been circulated by e-mail by someone with a gmail account calling itself Hon Charles Keter. In the introduction of the email, the person wrote: ''It is necessary that the Kenyan people know the truth of the events at the meetings that took place at Orange house in Kilimani, and also at Karen, Raila's residence, in January and February 2008.

''Many people will shout, deny and oppose these facts. I do not claim that the Pentagon are murderers, or are more guilty than PNU. But the fact remains that we raised funds to be sent to Rift Valley, and everything that happened was done with the knowledge and approval of the chairman, Raila Odinga.

''If anyone thinks this is not true, let Anyang' Nyong'o submit the exact laptop computer he had at the time to the ICC for forensic testing. He and Raila together with William Ruto, should voluntarily take polygraph tests. Then Kenyans will know who is lying and what really happened. Also check the attached clip of Raila's BBC interview in which he defends the events at Kiambaa as recommended in the preceding meeting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_VhoiDmHmU&feature=user.''
(The YouTube clip will not play if you are not in the UK)

Below is the document I converted to word from PDF. I have no idea if it is authentic.

Yo think this document is for real?

Only the court can save William Ruto

It now appears that only the courts can save the political career of the flamboyant Kenyan politician, William Ruto, hours after being suspended from his ministerial position over a corruption case.

Ruto has told one of his closest friends that he is taking everything in stride, and that he is seeking to maintain huge media coverage even when his fraud cases gets underway. He is seeking to use his network with top journalists to get massive coverage of his activities when in suspension.

Meanwhile, an adviser has asked Prime Minister Raila Odinga to use Ruto's blow to consolidate his ODM party and ensure that he stamps his authority. You may remember the frustrations that Odinga has had with Ruto in recent months. Odinga tried to suspend Ruto earlier this year when he was the agriculture minister in connection with a subsidized maize scam, but President Kibaki blocked the suspension.

It is really difficult to tell how the trial of Ruto over the 2001 fraud cases arising from land sale will go. On one side, the judges have been under massive pressure from politicians to resign or be vetted before being reappointed since the passage of the new constitution, at the same time, it is not clear if indeed Ruto received the 96m shillings from the land sale. Of course, judges opposed the new constitution. Ruto too was against this new basic law.

In the past several months, judges have been quickly disposing of election petition of MPs, most of them (petitions) succeeding.

Judges do not take bribes now anymore and their salaries alone is what keep them going. This case may then largely depend on how the lawyers will articulate this case, and show how politics is linked to the Ngong Forest land purchase involving Ruto.
I have no idea if Ruto received the money, maybe he did, maybe not. Ruto is adding two lawyers to handle his case. Katwa Kigen will continue.

If he is found guilty, his career will probably end, but if he is cleared, then he will wake up to a massive popularity surge.

Kenyan media houses plagiarize Reuters

Kenya's Daily Nation, Capital FM and tabloid The Star have picked an exclusive story from Reuters news agency, twisting and rewriting it, but clearly underscoring the fact that newsrooms are still staffed with people who do not understand anything about plagiarism.

On 9 October, Reuters carried a story (news feed) they titled : ''KENYA-ECONOMY/ (INTERVIEW), INTERVIEW-Kenyan finance minister doesn't fear court'', in which Kenyan Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said that neither he nor his country had anything to fear from pending International Criminal Court arrest warrants over 2007 election violence. The agency later on published the story on its website.

The UK news agency clearly said in the story that Kenyatta spoke to Reuters, and not a press conference. Basically, the story was exclusive to Reuters.

Now, on Monday 11 October and hours earlier, Daily Nation, Kenyan's biggest newspaper and Capital FM radio website and the sensationalist The Star carried the story but without attribution that the story was from Reuters.
 

The story is in the front page of the Daily Nation, The Star and also the main story on Capital FM web. The closest the Daily Nation came to attributing the story was in saying , ''in an interview with a news agency''. But it can only be fair to just attribute the story to the source, even if you pay Reuters to access the story.

The three media outlets rewrote sections of the story, giving their reporters bylines for the story, implying that their own reporters interviwed Kenyatta in Washington.

They also said Kenyatta spoke to the media in the USA; which is a lie. The minister spoke exclusively to Reuters. Journalists and editors need to understand the conditions of using wire copy.

Kenyan Muslims abandon Raila Odinga

Kenyan Muslims have just stopped short of completely disassociating themselves with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, but clearly underscoring their bitterness with the hypocrisy of the country's second powerful individual.

In a word, Muslim leaders have given Odinga an ultimatum: to press for the return of Kenyans sent to Uganda for trials over 11 July bombs, or they withdraw the political support they have given him.

The leaders communicated the message through a front-page editorial on Friday Bulletin (8 October), a weekly 8-page journal that often strongly reflects the opinions of Kenyan Muslim leaders.

In the editorial, the leaders bemoaned apparent hypocrisy of Odinga towards Muslim issues, despite having promised that he will press for the rights of the Muslims in the country in 2007.

Titled : ''RAILA where is your voice of reason?'', the paper said: ''Raila, Muslims saw you as the voice of the oppressed but your silence if it continues to persist ,at their time of need, it will be a pointless act in 2012 for you to visit mosques pleading for support from the community'', referring to 2012 elections in which Odinga is a front-runner for president.

It pointed to a 2007 Memorandum of Understanding with Muslims where in return for the community support, Odinga pledged to ensure that the fundamental rights of Muslims are respected, which he has not honoured.

Two things have irked the Muslims.

1) Arrest of several Kenyans (most of them Muslims) and their transfer to Uganda over 11 July bombs. Odinga has kept quite despite Muslim leaders recently asking for his intervention that the arrested be returned to Kenya. The paper said Odinga seems to be sending a signal that he approves the detention of the 13 people.

2) Recently during Ramadan iftar, Odinga asked Muslims not to defend people they don’t know. This was in reference to the Uganda renditions. The Friday Bulleting said of the issue, that Odinga casually brushed off the matter when it was brought to his attention by Muslim leaders, bluntly telling them not to expect justice for those whom he termed as ''killers'', yet no one has been convicted yet.

Generally, the editorial summarised the issue thus: ''Regrettably, since his appointment as the prime minister, the myriad of pledges he had made to Muslims remain a pipe dream'', and concluded, ''according to a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, a believer is not bitten by a snake twice from the same hole''.

Odinga has not spoken to any contributor to this blog about the subject.

A few days ago, the Friday Bulletin gave the names of Kenyans being held in Uganda over the 11 July bombing as:

1.Idriss Magondu 2.Hussein Hassan Agade 3.Mohamed Abdow 4.Muhammad Hamid 5.Habib Suleiman Njoroge 6.Yahya Mbuthia Suleiman 7.Omar Awadh Omar 8.Ismail Abubakar 9.Al-Amin Kimathi 10.Hassan Abdu Issack 11.AbdulAziz Ali 12.Abdullahi Mohamud Abdu 13.Hussein Aliow Abdi.

But, beyond the Friday Bulletin editorial, some Muslim leaders have been calling for the end of relationship between the community and Odinga. Some Muslims leaders have told contacts who contribute to this blog that even if Odinga indeed intervenes in the matter of renditions, they don’t trust him anymore.

KQ managers browbeat staff over strike

Kenya Airways (KQ) managers are using intimidation to press its 3,000-plus staff into canceling a strike set for 13 October, even as union representatives meet to finalize details of how to go ahead with work boycott.

Members of the Aviation and Allied Workers Union (AAWU) are meeting later today (Sunday) to insist that members be told that the strike will go on unless KQ managers are ready to drop intimidation and threats and promise to implement disputed back pay.

In the meeting, union representatives will also be seeking to launch another campaign to press for the sacking/resignation of CEO Titus Naikuni.

Some are considering some more outright action - like sabotage of operations - to draw attention of the public, media and the government of alleged incompetence of Mr Naikuni as well as HR and other top managers at the besieged firm.

Meanwhile, Sunday, for the third day running, KQ placed full-page advertisement in nation's two biggest newspapers, seeking to recruit other in-flight attendants; presumably to replace the current staff who are planning on going on strike. Most of the KQ staff, understandably, are Kenyans, and now, KQ is seeking to recruit across east Africa in a clear strategy of seeking to avoid dealing with a similar strike situation in the future.

It is a desperate situation indeed. Some staff have complained that the management has been sending emails to specific union members and staff, telling them that if they go on strike, they will be fired.

At the KQ head office, some managers were last night considering contingency plans as it becomes clear that the strike will go ahead, although others were asking that the strike be stopped from going ahead - in every way possible; including court action or pay concession.

This issue at hand is pay rise and other issues arising from agreement or subsequent lack of it since KQ staff went back to work after going on strike for two days.

KQ and the AAWU in April this year signed an agreement to increase employee salaries, backdated several moths back. KQ said the backdate goes back to October 2009, while AAWU said it goes back 15 months back from April 2010. And that is the problem.

In August 2009, about 3,000 staff of KQ went on strike demanding better pay. The strike ended after the two parties agreed a pay plan that included an interim wage award of 10 percent in each of the first two years.

French-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM owns 26 percent of Kenya Airways, while the Kenya government has a 23 percent-stake.

Gay comment highlights Kenya hypocrisy

Kenya is a nation of massive number of senseless hypocrites and educated idiots. Recent comments by a cabinet minister has illustrated this point.

The brutally bold Minister Esther Murugi recently said that gays and lesbians in the country must be involved in HIV/AIDS programmes. 

After an uproar, with some people asking her to apologize over the remarks, the minister said she will not be cowed by calls to retract her comments.
Murugi had said that the gay/lesbian people who are classified under high risk HIV/AIDS populations also had a right to healthcare like all other Kenyans and should not be stigmatized.

She added that 33 percent of new HIV infections annually came from the high risk populations who include commercial sex workers, intravenous drug users, gays and lesbians.

And now, some mis-educated Christian and Muslim leaders have faulted her comments.

More than 70 church leaders asked President Kibaki to sack her over the remarks. The chair of Kenya National Muslim Advisory Council, Sheikh Juma Ngao, demanded that Murugi resigns or be sacked, saying that the minister ''should create their own country which allows homosexual, lesbian and prostitution acts''.

Now that is where the nonsense begins. Even if gays and lesbians are not integrated into health programmes, they will still engage in their activities, helping push up HIV infection rate in Kenya.

HIV/AIDS is not an issue of moral debate. It is about health!

ICC after Kenyatta, Ruto and Michuki

The ICC is keen on speaking to three Kenyan ministers, Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto and John Michuki, as it continues with investigations into the country's deadly 2008 violence. 

The ICC is interested in hearing the side of the story of these three before assessing whether to seek their indictment.

ICC chief Ocampo wants to meet them in private when he travels to Nairobi soon, but the three have given indications that they are not interested in speaking with the man.

Uhuru Kenyatta is worried about if the media gets wind of a meeting between him and the ICC prosecutor; Ruto is conscious about how the story will be spun by the press (read Daily Nation) that is against him; while Michuki does not give a damn about meeting the ICC man.
The three men are crucial to ICC investigations into Kenya violence, or else ICC probe into the country's violence will collapse.

The ICC, relying on a UN report and reports by Kenyan NGOs, believes that Mr Kenyatta is key to understanding about a meeting held at the State House Nairobi where Mungiki were mandated to start revenge attacks in Naivasha.

The ICC too believes that Ruto knows something about possible planning of the violence in the Rift valley and other instances of violence in the area. Ruto is the top Kalenjin leader. The ICC prosecutor wants to ask him if he had any role in the violence; or any pre-plan before the start of the violence.

John Michuki was in charge of police during the time of the violence. The ICC wants to ask him if he was the one who gave shoot-to-kill orders to the police. If he meets ICC officials, it is understood that he will tell Ocampo that there was no such order, that police are trained to deal with various escalating situations, differently.

Rage as Kenya cancels deal on pirate trials

Western and Chinese diplomats to Kenya are frustrated over the decision by Nairobi to cancel an agreement to try captured Somali pirates.

The diplomats are reportedly under pressure from their countries as well for not doing enough to safeguard the implementation of the agreement.

Today, the envoys have tasked the US ambassador the responsibility of seeking a meeting with President Kibaki and technocrats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to see whether anything can be done. But, a contact at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it is quite unlikely that Kenya will go back on the cancellation of the deal.

In 2009, Kenya signed an agreement with the USA, the UK, the EU, Denmark, Canada and China, in which Kenya agreed to accept pirates seized by foreign warships, and after due trial, jail them. In exchange, these countries pledged to assist Kenya with money for trials of the suspected pirated, to build courts and generally do more business with Nairobi.

When terminating the agreement on 30 September, Kenya said the foreign partners did not keep their side of the bargain. And from people who have been following this story, these nations indeed could have done more to support Kenya in trying the pirates.

Before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ended the agreement, the EU envoy to Kenya was telling a contact that they have done as much for Kenya, including building holding cell for pirates at the coast and also judicial support for piracy trials.

Washington is concerned that lack of facilities to try captured pirates will only give room for pirates to operate, and also, attract Al-Qaeda fighters to east Africa (read Somalia).

Some of the envoys had suggested that ambassadors release a statement on what they have done for Kenya, but they chose to consult outside the view of the media.

Since last year, Kenya has tried and sentenced about 30 pirates, while over 100 are in congested prison cells.

Fight over pay at Kenya Airways escalates

Another bitter round of bout over pay at the Kenyan national carrier, Kenya Airways, (KQ) has escalated; and it is a fight that Titus Naikuni, the CEO of the firm, may not easily win.

It appears that this latest fight may claim the career of Mr Naikuni at KQ, as well as those of other managers who are reportedlty under intense pressure.

On one side, the managers are being pressed by the shareholders, (read KLM) to save the firm from another strike; while on the other, more pressure is coming from staff who want honest implementation of pay offer agreed several months ago.

This is the issue at hand.

KQ and the Aviation and Allied Workers Union (AAWU) in April this year signed an agreement to increase employee salaries, backdated several moths back. KQ said the backdate goes back to October 2009, while AAWu said it goes back 15 months back from April 2010.

Some union members say the issue in clause 'J' (of the CBA?) is not new. KQ said this demand is unprocedural and illegal.

In full-page newspaper statement publuisehd in two Sunday newspapers in Kenya on 3 October, Naikuni accused the AAWU of dishonesty.

Now, the good will of the staff on the company and the managers has hit the lowest point yet. Junior workers are not hiding that the dissapointment with the managers, and some are already looking for jobs elsewhere.

Some staff have complained on the social media that the management has been sending emails to specific union members and staff in sales and ticketing, telling them that if they go on strike, they will be fired.

Some even suggested that managers had warned them that the firm can be closed. Of course this is impossible.

A meeting has now been set for 5 October betweeb the KQ managers and AAWU (I understand bringing on board other umbrella unions) to see if a strike can be averted.
But is appears there is really bad blood between leaders of the AAWU and KQ managers.

In August 2009, about 3,000 staff of KQ went on strike demanding better pay. The strike ended after the two parties agreed a pay plan that included an interim wage award of 10 percent in each of the first two years.

French-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM owns 26 percent of Kenya Airways, while the Kenya government has a 23 percent-stake.

Strong Valerie Kimani makes a comeback

Actress and reality TV star Valerie Kimani makes a major comeback to public limelight later tonight (29 Sept), after disappearing for almost a year. She has been out of public view since she got pregnant, with controversy surrounding the identity of the father of the baby.

He appearance at French Cultural Centre will be Valerie's second public appearance, after attending a function at Nairobi's prestigious The Tribe Hotel last week. Tonight's, though, will be a major one as she is expected to speak about how she has been over the past 13 months or so.

She has told her friends that her voice will not break, and her performance will be a sort of launch back to public limelight - with a stronger face.

She wants to make a point that she is a strong woman - and indeed her friends say she is. She will be performing with Suzanna Owiyo at the French Cultural Centre (29th September) starting early evening.

Valerie, px from her Twitter a/c

Valerie Kimani has not been in public since she became pregnant sometime last year. She has had a baby. The last major role that Valerie took part in was Mo Faya; a political musical performance.

Tabloid The Star said the creative director of the play, Eric Wainaina, got romantically involved with Valerie. The paper suggested that Wainaina is the father of the baby, and bloggers said that was indeed true. Before Mo Faya, she played a role in Shuga, an MTV-funded TV drama about on HIV/AIDS.

On 27 September, Valerie tweeted: ''On feels great to be back! Catch me on the 29th of October alongside Suzanna Owiyo on 'The Stage' French Cultural Centre. A day earlier, she had tweeted, ''excited! I feel brand new. I'm a new mum, so sleep-deprived''.

The most recent time she tweeted was in April and earlier in January 2010 when she wrote: ''What a year! Heard all the opinions, read all the blogs. Wondering if critics are now expecting that I roll over and die?''. This was in reference to social media and newspaper reports that she had been pregnant, and she had refused to speak about the identity of the father of the baby.

See you at the French Cultural Centre, later.

Minutes of Kenya's State House violence planning meet

There were no minutes taken during a meeting held in early January 2008 at the State House Nairobi to plan retaliatory attacks against the people who were killing supporters of President Mwai Kibaki following the 2007 disputed elections.

Details of action points spoken during the meeting were taken, but they were not official; and no one was to speak to any other party, at all, after the meeting.

I am posting these details after The Daily Nation on the evening of 27 September published a story saying that the ICC had been denied access to minutes of a meeting said to have been held at State House at the height of the post-election violence. The newspaper further said, unnamed ICC officials in Kenya said the government had declined to make available any information regarding the meeting.

Number one: Kenya is not interested in helping ICC do anything in Kenya over the 2008 violence. More correctly, President Kibaki does not want to be thrust to the limelight when he retires in 2012 - being called to say something at the ICC or his officials saying things if some of them are taken to the ICC for trials.

Number two: There were no minutes of the State House meeting. If the Daily Nation story is to be believed, then the ICC fellows are misguided. They will not get anything. Of course, the government of President Kibaki has said no such meeting took place.

According to non-judicial commission into the 2008 violence, (Waki Commission), the State House meeting was attended by some leaders of Mungiki sect and security officials as well as some Kikuyu political leaders.

The report further said it received evidence that government and political leaders, including key office holders at the highest level of government may have directly participated in the preparation of the attacks.

The report linked the attacks - largely seem as retaliation against the earlier one against the Kikuyu people in the Rift Valley - to the meeting. The Waki Commission report said the retaliatory attacks was pre-planned and executed by Mungiki members who received the support of political leaders.

This week, some junior ICC officials are visiting Kenya to start groundwork on ICC probe into the violence. Since the government is keen to frustrate them, some ICC consultant suggested that they speak to Mungiki rank and file who are privy to the details to the State House meeting.

They will not get as far.

There is a massive operation against the Mungiki underway across Kenya; and the leadership appears to have seriously fallen out of favour with security people in the land. This blog has been told that detectives are tracking communication of top Mungiki leaders who know anything about the meeting.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga wants the ICC to continue investigations in Kenya, to be able to inhale jitters in some politicians. But Kibaki does not want any nonsense to do with the ICC; he wants national reconciliation and healing.

On 19 September, Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo said ICC investigations are unnecessary now that Kenya has adopted political reforms with the coming into effect of new constitution. Mr Kilonzo takes orders from the president.

Panorama repeats, ICC in Kenya is a hoax.

Sammy Kirui to open radio station

Suspended Local Government Permanent Secretary Sammy Kirui is planning to start a Kalenjin-language radio station.

The yet to be named radio will be broadcasting from Kericho to parts of Rift Valley and western Kenya. 

The former Communications Commission of Kenya boss, the state company whose duty is to allocate frequencies, is reported to be having frequencies on standby.

He has spoken to a staffer with Citizen Radio and former Kass FM journalist/producer to go manage the new radio. Kericho has other radio stations: Sema FM and Radio Injili. Other radios broadcasting from Nairobi, Eldoret, Nakuru and western Kenya can be heard in the tea town.

Kirui, as the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Local Government was suspended on 29 April over land cemetery scandal.

He has been charged in court and denied charges relating to the 283m-shilling cemetery scandal. Kirui was charged together with 14 other people.

According to the charge sheet, Kirui and the 14 acquired 283m-shillings from the local government on diverse dates between December 2008 and April 2009. 

The case in continuing a t a Nairobi graft court. 

Horrors of Kenyan Facebook pornography

Young Kenyan boys and girls, some as young as eight years, are on Facebook, posting and accessing explicit pictures, and no one will do anything about it.

These children are spending hours daily on the laptops of their parents, guardians; mobile phones or even in some cyber cafes on the outskirts of towns to upload or download graphic porn material.

Meaning, thousands of children are evading age restrictions imposed by the social networking site to illicitly access it. And, parents are alarmingly ignorant of the danger posed by Facebook to their kids.

Many of the kids on Facebook are posting pictures of themselves, full name, the school they attend and even cell phone numbers (of their parents). Besides exposing the children to the dangers of pornography, Facebook is now providing child predators with the exact information they need to track down kids.


I picked this from Facebook; profile picture

I have seen many pictures of young girls posting pictures of themselves practically naked (and drinking). In recent days, a contact told me of her 13-year-old daughter who has been running a phoney Facebook account with nude picture of her as the profile picture. Her mom discovered of the pictures in a data stick that the girl forgot in her (mom's) PC. 

After I heard of this, I ran through public profiles on Facebook to see if I could find anything. To no surprise, I came across several profiles with half-naked bodies of young girls and boys on display. Ideally, this should not shock many adults who are already exposed to cases of violence on TV and much worse on the internet, but the shocking bit is, kids are the ones posting these pictures.

Even for those not posting nude pictures of themselves naked, they post sexually provocative pictures of themselves, along with personal details.

Facebook today has just over half a billion active users. That means millions of information is shared.

In the UK, and the USA, parents have largely resigned to fate in seeking to control their children, who after all, are already exposed to more violence on TV and nudity in tabloids. 

But in much of backwater Africa, many parents and guardians do not think that their children are quickly in step with their western counterparts: they are hopelessly wrong.

There are many computer programmes available to parents to monitor emails, instant messages, and the websites that kids visit, but that is half the issue.

With Google, Yahoo search and the like, settings often make it difficult for kids to access pornographic stuff online, but with Facebook, they are bypassing such settings to post and access reams of intensely personal detail about themselves and others.

Nicholas Biwott is selling Yaya Centre

Yes Nicholas Biwott is selling his Yaya Centre is what may be jitters linked to the coming into force of the new constitution. And sources that can be trusted have said that people close to President Kibaki are the ones assessing the property to buy it.

Yaya Centre was put up in late 1980's, and over the years, it has become one of the leading shopping malls in Nairobi, very close to the league of Sarit and the like. Behind the shopping mall are about 100 furnished apartments for short term and long term accommodation.

The mall has the following tenants: Mr Price,  Woolworth’s, Truworths, Nairobi Sports House, Dorman’s, Phonelink, Nairobi Java House, Chandarana Supermarket among others. There is also a cosmetic shop operated by a wife of Biwott.

Yaya, the mall and apartments behind

It is quite difficult to tell how much the new buyers are seeking to acquire the property for.

Biwott has not spoken to his aides or friends in recent months about plans to sell Yaya. However, this blog has established that people close to Kibaki, including activist Wambui are planning to buy the property.

A source close to Biwott said it can be understood that indeed he may be planning to sell the property, because of concerns that the new constitution may open floodgates of scrutiny on how various properties were acquired, especially during President Moi's time in power.