Musyimi is my choice for President

LETTER FROM WASHINGTON

Hello Mr. Editor,

This letter is, in my view, a personal opinion that is intended to provoke a useful discourse among our readers.  As such, it may be helpful to indicate that it is just that, my opinion and not necessarily that of The Home News...

FinallyI have a presidential candidate worthy my time, money, troubles, and inconvenience in traveling all the way from Obamaland to Kenya to vote in 2012. 

  As at the time of writing this letter MutavaMusyimi is my presidential candidate and my crystal ball tells me that there is a huge likelihood that no other declared or undeclared candidate will meet my very high evaluation bar. 

   My said evaluation is based on the patriotism, moral, intellectual, and personal integrity of the candidates. 

    If you have been following this column you by now know that I do not consider Raila, Kalonzo, Uhuru, and Ruto to be  good presidential materials.  They are all too contaminated with “kanuism, nyayoism, and grandconfusion”.  Kenya needs fresh blood from an “outsider” if we are to make it into 2013 as one nation rather than a collection of tribes and shameless classes of individuals and deities.

    For beginners, I have honestly stated in the past that Raila may have suffered more than many other Kenyans under Moi fighting for his rights and to an extent those of some Kenyans. 

   To give the devil its due, Raila was brave enough to speak his mind when many others, Kibaki included, could not dare to challenge Moi.  However, his rather high appetite for power, coupled with his numerous defections from one party to the next, have created doubts in my mind as to what leadership qualities he holds.

     Kanuism, Nyayoism

In Kalonzo, Ruto, and Uhuru I see Moi in disguise.  Come on, those are the true Moi-orphans and they know no other way.  All that they know is KANUISM, NYAYOISM, and MOISM!  They are the true face of KANU.  If you doubt my position let me know exactly what leadership principles and qualities that each of them holds on various social, political, and economic issues.

  For Karua, I suspect that Kenyans, for cultural and other stereo-typo reasons, are not yet ready for a woman president.  If the recent appointments to various committees and public jobs is anything to go by, then I think women have their job cut out if they wish to takeover leadership of Kenya from men.  Leadership in Kenya is so patriarchal that it will take a while for women to rise to real leadership positions.

    Karua’s long time association with Kibaki administration, until when she was denied her wishes, is also questionable.  She resigned because she was frustrated for not being consulted on appointments in her ministry.  To me that is not resignation for the sake of Kenyans.  It was out of personal frustrations.

    Upfront I must admit that I do not know Musyimi at a personal level.  However, I have followed his stand on various social, political, and economic issues affecting Kenyans since his days at NCCK.  He is one of the few who stood their ground against Moi when very few dared to do so. 

    I am reliably informed that his work as the MP for Gachoka is unparalleled and a showcase on how our now very maligned MPigs should function. 

    He is probably the only MP in rural Kenya who presents a constituency in which his tribe is a minority.  That to me is one of the greatest qualities that I am looking for in the next president. 

    My stand on tribalism and corruption is well known to all those who care to read this column.  I do not wish to repeat my stand here but to me tribalism and corruption are our biggest challenges. 

     I am looking for a leader who is ready and willing to deal with the two evils mercilessly.  I am very apprehensive that unless Kenyans take a no-nonsense stand and vote for accountable leaders in 2012, and especially the president, we shall be doomed as a nation.  I am not ready to see a repeat of what happened in 2008, chaos, mayhem, and anarchy.

    Front-runners

Most importantly I am looking for an outsider who is not contaminated with the KANU and the grand confusion poison.  The problem with those other “front-runners” is that they have for too long been identified and associated with a failed political, social, and economic order in Kenya. 

    Come on Kenyans, it does not matter how many more times we elect those who were in KANU to “rule” us, we shall always get the same result of failed socio-political and economic adFormer Attorney General Charles Njonjo, left, commissions a water supply project at Njonjo Girls High School, recently. The living legend had visited the schools as the chief guest during the institution’s 30th Anniversary Celebrations.

    They all thrive in tribalism, corruption, and confusing Kenyans so that they may rule us for the Kamotho’s doomed proverbial guess of one hundred years!  I would love to have a fresh start and in my view Musyimi can offer that new beginning.

     Who is your candidate and why?  It is not too early to start debating this important issue very seriously.  After all, the future of our beloved nation is in our own hands.

NJAGI NDERITU

njaginderitu@yahoo,com

Form Four Boy Gulps Up Acid

Samuel Wambugu, below, the Form 4 boy From Maina Village, Nyahururu, who opted to drink hydrochloric acid to end his life but lived to tell the story.

BY KELVIN WANJOHI
A Form Four student has apologized to the people of Nyahururu in general for trying to commit suicide by swallowing a concentrated acid. His health condition is, however, deteriorating each day and he needs funds urgently, for treatment, his alimentary canal having been corroded by the acid he gulped up while in a practical Chemistry class.

The student, who cannot swallow anything due to pain and the severe contraction of the gullet was admitted at the Nyahururu district hospital as we went to press. He was in the Male Ward, Bed Number 7.
  For the last seven days or so, he has been surviving only on water  fed through a vein in his wrist. It was understood that the special water had to be bought, and that his auntie with who he lives Nyahururu’s Maina slum, was financially constrained to raise the money. He is a student at the public Munyaka Day Secondary School in the village.
  The Kinangop Mission Hospital had admitted him for eight days earlier, feeding him only on the water, before discharging him.
 He had been admitted at the Kinangop Mission Hospital for eight day, feeding on the water only. A medical source said that Samuel Wambugu requires a cardia-thoracic surgery, which can only be done either at The Kenya national and Referral Hospital or the Moi referral Hospital in Eldoret.
  The student’s Principal, John Mwangi, said that the boy had suddenly swallowed the acid as the Chemistry teacher and other students were doing busy with the lesson in the laboratory.
  “After gulping up the acid, be dashed out of the lab before anybody knew what was happening, but collapsed at the school gate. We rushed him to the Nyahururu district hospital where  and was admitted in a critical condition,” said Mr. Mwangi.
   The principal termed the incident as unfortunate, adding that the student could have been suffering from a kind of depression.
  A good Samaritan opened an account at the Co-operative Bank of Kenya Nyahururu branch where well wishers may deposit donations towards the student’s treatment.
  The account is: Samuel Wambugu Medical Fund, Account  01100036212700.
    This is the Samuel’s story as told it to The Home News  earlier this week:
“The pain of rejection triggered it all”. Those were the words that Samuel Wambugu uttered at the beginning of the interview at his aunt’s home in Maina village where he  arrived almost 10 years ago,  after his parents who were staying in Elburgon, Molo district, started to have serious domestic disputes.
  With no money to take him to a good school, owing to his father’s alleged negligence and heavy drinking, Samuel decided to run away from home. He sought refuge at an aunt’s home  in a nearby village.
  His mother came to learn about his disappearance later and mounted a search only to find him at her sister’s home who was also unable to raise his school fees, let alone feed him.
  “This made me seek help elsewhere, and with faith, I moved to my aunt’s place here, who took me in with a lot of love and understanding. She enrolled me in Maina primary school where I had to repeat Class Six as I had no documents to prove that indeed I had reached the level. I managed to reach Class Eight and score 251 marks in the KCPE examination and joined Form One at Munyaka secondary school in  2007.
  “My aunt struggled to raise my school fees. I supplemented it by roasting and selling maize in the village. When I reached Form Two, we were hardly able to raise the school fees and I was constantly sent home.
  “When KCSE registration period came, we had no money. My aunt is a casual labourer and I could understand the situation. However, I was heavily depressed and started experiencing unending stomach pains which saw me frequent different hospitals for treatment in vain.
  “One recent Thursday morning,, which I wish time will erase from my memory, I left for school while Auntie left for the shamba.
  “Dazed by stress and an acute feeling of despair, I felt that I had no use in this world and, during a Chemistry lesson, knowingly and on my own accord, took the acid which I hoped would end my earthly troubles.
   “But I want to live, and never again will I attempt to take my own life. I apologize to Auntie and her loving family, to my teachers, schoolmates and all friends.
  “I appeal to them to help me regain my health. I am suffering. I don’t want to die, please! I want to sit for the KCSE exam this year and continue living. Please!.” 

 

Determined APs pour more than 15,000 lts of illicit brews

Nyahururu DC Lucy Mulili , right, witnesses in disgust as Senior DO Mathew Wambugu (left) and  Nyahururu AP boss Daniel Masaba (centre) inspect a drum containing kangara, a susbstance used in the brewing opf illicit brews.       PHOTO/KELVIN WANJOHI.

BY KELVIN WANJOHI
A brave contingent of Administration police officers in Nyahururu district yesterday July 13 poured more than 15,000 litres of chang’aa and busaa in Maina village and Igwamiti location in the district during a major police swoop on Illicit brews led by AP boss in the area Daniel Masaba.
  Masaba said that the crackdown started this week and will continue until the brewers put up with the required health standards, since chang’aa was legalized by the government late last year. He added that the brewers should process and pack the brews as stipulated by the law, adding that they ambushed the brewers after getting a tip off from the members of the public
   This followed after four middle aged men   one aged 32 who died two days ago after consuming the illicit brew in the District in the last one month
The area DC, Lucy Mulili, commended the officers for the good work and said that her office was dedicated to have illegal brews in the area eradicated.
She said that there is still a case pending in the liquor court about the issuing of licenses to operate which is setting the illegal brewers free when taken to court, but they are waiting for the gazettement of its ruling in order to give approvals.
She urged members of the public to embrace community policing adding that it’s an effective way of maintaining security in the interior area.

Maina Njenga: A fisher of Men

Reformed Mungiki king Maina Njenga is criss-crossing his Nyandarua and Laikipia home counties and their neighbourhoods literally fishing young men to join his ‘peace wagon’ and giving them practicals to earn honest living, writes Home News senior correspondent, Bernard Waweru.

Former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga and the founder of Amani Sasa Youth Foundation has engaged the youth in  Nyandarua and Laikipia Counties in peace building and reconciliation.
  Maina has embarked on peace campaigns cautioning youths against drug abuse, among other social evils derailing development in the country.
   He says the number of idle youths in the country was alarming calling on the government to empower youths with skill in order for them to be self reliant.
  Maina has been engaging youths from different communities in Nyandarua, Laikipia and Nakuru Count in various social economic activities a stage he set to preach peace.
  He said preaching repentance to youth would only assist if they are infused with knowledge as they team up for work.
  Once you mingle with youth you will understand their problems. As we work in different farms, we discuss the issue of drug abuse, illicit brews and bad morals. A good number of youth have slandered their lives to God. He said
  He said the Hope International Ministry had a mission of reforming youth across the country adding that crime rates would remarkably decrease.
  He said the government should channel more funds to the ministry of youths adding that Kazi Kwa Vijana had also assisted youths languishing in dire want. 
  Maina noted that youth were engaged in election related crimes adding that his ministry would ensure that peace prevails.
  He told different communities to embrace each other adding that negative ethnicity had caused a lot of damages in this country.
  So far thousands of youth have repented and turned to Christianity. We expect that instead of public rallies, we do community work like farming as we spread the gospel of peace building and conflict resolution.
  In a series of meetings Maina has been advising youths to shun divisive politics adding that they should defy politicians who use them for selfish gain.
  We shall conduct meetings in major area especially those that were hard hit by post election violence to persuade community on the importance of lasting peace. Added Maina
  During his Charagita meeting in Nyandarua county over 600 youths repented and were baptized in to new life.
  The reformed youths expressed optimistic that Amani Sasa youth foundation had averted them from previous activities.
BY BERNARD WAWERU

Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast team visits Ol Kalou

A section of leaders sing out their hearts for the Lord at the Ol Kalou ACK Church.                                                               PHOTO/STANLEY MBUGUA.

BY KELVIN WANJOHI
A powerful prayer team formed by God-fearing Members of Parliament on Sunday, June 31, attended a revival service at Ol Kalou St. Peter’s ACK church.
 The team, dubbed Prayer Breakfast, which normally practices in Nairobi, offers  prayers for the nation and leaders. It was in Ol Kalou on an outreach mission.
  It was led by its chairman, Hon. Gideon Ndambuki who said that they were out to preach peace and reconciliation to avoid a repeat of what happened during the 2007  disputed General Elections.
  Those who attended the colourful church service included Speaker of the National Assembly, Kenneth Marende, Ol Kalou MP, Erastus Kihara Mureithi, Deputy Chief Government Whip who is also Ndaragwa MP, Jeremiah Kioni, Turkana Central MP, Ekwe Ethuro, Dhadho Godana who delivered a moving sermon to the congregation, and Kajiado Central MP, Joseph Nkaisery among others.
 Mureithi said that it is  the high time that Kenyans realized the need to have a team of leaders who mind the welfare of other leaders and the electorate.          He urged citizens to vote wisely during next year’s General Elections and maintain peace amongst themselves during the voting time.
   Marende asked Kenyans to cease to hate one another, stressing that the country is for every person but not for a particular tribe or a set of selected  people. On taxation, Marende said that he had received three letters from ministers requesting him to  inform them of their fate, as to when to start paying taxes, and also enquiring the mode of payment.

Change of guard at Nyahururu Town hall

Mayor Nduhiu (right and his Deputy, Jane)

BY HOME NEWS TEAM

Councillor Timothy Nduhiu Beru, the elected councillor for Hospital Ward who served as deputy mayor in the previous council, is the new mayor of Nyahururu.
  Nduhiu, who will serve for just about eight months - the remaining term for the present council - was elected to the hot civic seat on Friday, July 8, by the local eight councillors during one of the most peaceful and low key such elections ever held in the municipality in the recent past.
  He replaces Peter Thiari Waweru, the elected councillor for the expansive Uaso Narok ward, who did not contest the seat, and who had replaced the once no-nonsense and powerful mayor John Muritu Karumba, who used to be both respected and feared by staff and colleagues if not the town dwellers.
   According to Nyahururu old timers, Thiari is likely to be remembered as the most sober, educated, youthful and down-to-earth mayors that Nyahururu ever had.
   Muritu, whose name was proposed and seconded during the election, declined, saying he preferred the much younger Nduhiu, who he later described as “like my own son”.
  “Hii ni kijana yangu. Ni rika ya kijana yangu. Nitamshika mkono na kumsaidia’ (This is my son. He is my son’s age-mate. I’ll show him the way and support him), said Muritu in his address to wananchi in the gallery, councillors, council workers and senior government officials who witnessed the elections. He was elected the new chairman of the Finance, Staff and General Purposes committee.
   The new Deputy Mayor is Jane Runanu, who replaces her nominated colleague Irene Wachuka.
  Congratulating his successor, Thiari said that the achievement and shortcoming that had been witnessed during his tenure reflected as much collective responsibility as the councillors had accorded him.
  He promised to support the new mayor to the hilt, and hinted that he would run for the seat in the next general elections.
  Nduhiu acknowledged that every councillor was fit to be mayor, and thanked his colleagues for the confidence they had displayed in him.
  He said that with a population of more than 150,000 people, the municipality needed a harmonious council in order to deliver services and develop the area.
  He thanked the local police for enhancing security, and asked the council’s chief officers to implement within the set time-lines the projects and  the sound policies made by the council.
  The elections for the committee chair people were as follows: Thiari: Audit,  Wachuka: Social Services, Gicheru: Environment, Patrick Thuo: Public Health and Water, and Peter Irungu: Town Planning.
  

Solar energy makes it way into Central province

Farmers in Central Kenya are embracing solar technology as an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way to irrigate their land.
     Joseph Mutua has begun using a solar-powered pump to bring water from the nearby Nyamindi River to irrigate his export-bound food crops, which include French beans, baby corn and kale.
Solar panels standing on tall metal poles are connected to a pump immersed in the river, 200 metres away.

     A pipe carries water from the pump to a storage tank at the farm, and from there it is directed through pipes to irrigate Mutua’s farmland.
     Farmers generally use diesel or petrol engines to pump water, but increases in the price of oil are making these pumps increasingly expensive to run.
”A farmer using a diesel pump spends up to 5,000 Kenyan shillings a day (about $60) to pump water to a medium piece of land,” Mutua said

By contrast, the solar pump, once purchased and installed, costs nothing to run.

    That enables farmers to spend their money on things like seeds instead of irrigation, Mutua said.
    ”For over a year now since I bought the solar pump, I have not had any maintenance. It has really saved me a lot of money,” said Mutua.
Not cheap, but clean

The pump is not cheap. A solar pump with eight panels costs around 1.2 million shillings (about $14,000). 

Mutua started with the smallest possible unit – two solar panels ­– which, together with a tank and irrigation pipes, enabled him to irrigate 0.2 hectares (half an acre) of vegetables.
The initial cost was 170,000 shillings (about $1,900), which he paid out of his farming income and from savings. 
       In addition to its minimal running costs, the solar technology is environmentally clean.

    Unlike diesel engines, the solar-powered pump emits no pollution or climate changing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
      The pump also is helping to conserve water from the Nayamindiriver. Low rainfall, likely caused by climatic change, is causing the river to dry up at certain times of year.
   In drought-prone areas of Kenya, irrigation is widely used in farming.

    But uncontrolled irrigation methods, such as flooding furrows with water and letting it soak into the soil, are endangering water supplies.
”Every drop of water matters.           

      Twenty years from now, if we don’t keep our environment safe, we shall perish,” warned Edwin Munge, a regional agronomist in Kirinyaga district.
Munge works with Kenya Horticultural Exporters, a local company to which Joseph Mutua sells his French beans. Munge is helping small-scale farmers such as Mutua adopt ways of conserving water, including the solar pump technology.
      By pumping river water into storage tanks, farmer can practice drip irrigation, releasing water drip by drip through pipes lying on the surface of their land.
”Flooding takes 20 cubic metres of water per acre (8 cubic metres per hectare) while drip irrigation takes only two cubic metres per acre (0.8 cubic meters per hectare),” Munge said.
    As more farmers adopt the new technology, there is hope that food can be produced even when conditions are harsh.   

     Some farmers in the area now harvest runoff water, which is collected in underground reservoirs. 

     The water can be used for irrigation during the dry season and pumped to gardens using the solar technology.
Mutua started using the solar-powered pump in 2010, and is eager to promote it.
“This has excited so many farmers, who are saving money to acquire theirs as well,” he said.

Pius Sawa,

the writer of this article,

is a freelance

science journalist based

in Nairobi, Kenya.

Nyahururu Municipal Council presents a Sh134M budget

BY PATRICK NDAHI

Residents of Nyahururu on Thursday, June 30, had an opportunity to go through the budget for the financial year 2011/2012 proposed by the local Municipal Council.

  The budget, read by the chairman of the Finance, Staff and General Purpose’s committee, Timothy NduhiuBeru, was received with mixed reactions by the stakeholders and members of the public.

     Mayor Peter WaweruThiari chaired the meeting wananchi questioned and commented on the implementation of Sh 134, 830, 206 estimated revenue.

Nduhiu was very clear and eloquent on how these funds will be sourced, with  Sh16M set to be raised from bus parks,  Sh 13 M from rates and ground rents, and Sh 12 M from single business permitsnot to mention donations from partners like Finland Local Authorities - Janakalla and Hatulla, among others who are expected to chip in..

    The chairman directed the chief officers to respond to question relevant to their respective departments, even as he personally tackled some of the question and criticism from the gallery.

  Notable were questions arising from the review of the previous year 2010/2011 budget’s capital project expenditures to which it was agreed that projects that were not completed or started at the end of May be done in this financial year.

  A  Real Estate manager within the municipality, Francis Githaigachallenged the council to show commitment to the implementation of the budget saying he failed to understand why Nyahururu was lagging behind in infrastructural development compared to other developing towns.

  “Why should the council watch our roads wear out and wait for the Ministry of Roads to react?” posed Githaiga,  who also argued that town planning needs to be revisited.

NyahururuJua Kali Association Chairman, Francis NjegaNgatia,  was among those who echoed Githaiga’s sentiments, and advocated for transparency and integrity in the activities carried out by the  council.

      The public was also informed that bursary cheques were ready and will be released  next week and only needy students within the municipality will benefit.

  The council has six elected councillors, two nominated councillors, one public officer and 140 junior employees whose salaries and allowances were also factored in the budget.

Sh 293M for

Nyandarua County Council

  Meanwhile,  Nyandarua County Council fraternity gathered at the County Chambers on Thursday, June 30, where the 2011/12 financial year budget was read

    Tension reigned high as the Sh 293M budget that would facilitate the operations of the 34-ward council, was presented by the Finance, Staff and General Purposes chairman,  SilvesterKagiriMwangi.

 The meeting was chaired by County Council Chairman K. Muchiri, under the theme “Building Resilience and Sustaining Inclusive Growth for Prosperous Kenya.”

    Questions and comments on the budget carried the day with the chairman to the council and chief officers responding to the questions to the apparent satisfaction of the present gallery.

     The attendants commended the council for its commitment in service delivery, but called for integrity, transparency and diligence in the implementation of the budget.

The finance chairman noted that the budget deviate from that of last year by an increment margin of 36M in revenue collection and 40M in anticipated expenditure.

  Budget reading exercise was done in all 174 local authorities in the country.

10,000 seedlings planting at Shamanei primary school

Pupils of Shamanei primary school recently helped to plant 10,000 seedlings in their school. The seedlings were donated by Laikipia West MP, NdirituMuriithi who urged young people to be in the front line in the development of the country and keep off  illicit brew.

Meanwhile, physically challenged people in Salama received rare guest recently: the area councillorMagdalineKariuki and a high-powered team from the Laikipia West CDF Committee. 

   The councillor encouraged them to form support groups in order to be able to get a forum to articulate their needs. She thanked the CDF team for the support to people with disabilities.

   The Personal Assistant to the MP, WollaceKariuki, who was present, noted that the new Constitution recognizes citizens with special needs and the maginalized. See another photo page 1. PHOTO/STANLEY MBUGUA.

Narrow escape for bogus lottery gang

NYAHURURU KOINANGE ROAD GETS UNWELCOME NEW COMERS

BY KELVIN WANJOHI

Wananchi crowd round a private van in Nyahururu’sKoinange Road. A gang of young men and women claiming to be staffers with a bogus lottery company are said to have conned locals of huge sums of money over a long period.  PHOTO/ KELVIN WANJOHI.

 

Members of the public were treated to a daylight drama on Thursday, June 30 when a well dressed and sweet-talking gang of youths was almost lynched by an irate mob on Nyahururu’s Koinange road after allegedly conning a number of unsuspecting members of the public, with allegations that they are agents of an International phone making company, Nokia.

    The young conmen and women, who were first approaching  victims with broad smiles purportedly to conceal their character, were apprehended when a victim of their con game raised alarm after being conned Sh. 300 on grounds that he could win a Nokia cell phone, the company’s branded T-Shirt and other fabulous prizes

    Passers-by responded to the alarm and descended on the more than 10-member group and a confrontation ensued.

   The crowd increased and overpowered them, forcing the group to hurriedly board a staff van and sped off to an unknown destination, leaving victims and the public counting their losses and gasping for breath after losing the gang that had been conning for months.

   Victims narrated to The Home News how they had been conned, saying that they had at first been asked if they possessed a Nokia cell phone.

 If one possessed such a phone, they would convince one to walk to their van waiting nearby to receive the prizes.

    Once at the ‘staff van’, a victim was given a  scratch card to reveal ‘a  lucky number’ in order to win the so called prizes, but not after parting with Sh. 300.

    They claimed that most of them ended up losing by revealing an un-matching number, and upon requesting to have their money refunded, the ‘smart’ guys could tell them that every lottery has its own rules and regulations, hence they can’t give back the cash.

   “If a person won, he would be given a worthless item.

Victims have tried in vain to seek assistance from the police but alleged that none of their cases has ever been responded to.

    It was suspected that some Nyahururu municipal workers who collect fees and charges were corraborators with the con outfit.

   “How else can you explain the existence of such racketeers who have been operating on this street for several months now, in the full glare of the hawk-eyed council employees who hear public outcry but act deaf?” wondered a trader,  who said he had witnessed many people falling victims to the gang.

Nyahururu mayor, Peter Thiari, said that he had directed that investigations be carried out to establish how the crooks had landed in the town and whether they had licence from the Betting Control Board to operate a lottery.