CORD Statement on the International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court is based on the principle of complimentarity which makes the court’s jurisdiction subordinate to national courts except in very limited and well established circumstances and situations.

The Court’s objective is partly to put an end to impunity so that the perpetrators of serious crimes within the jurisdiction of the court, including crimes against humanity, are punished.

The Constitution of Kenya aspires to put Kenya in the frontline of states that respect, defend and protect human rights with a view of developing a culture of human rights Articles 2 (5) and (6) and 59 of the Constitution together with the Bill of Rights underpin the centrality of Human Rights and International Law in Kenya's Legal System.

Kenya’s membership to the Assembly of State Parties of the International Criminal Court is a demonstration of the people’s sovereign will, in action, to be part and parcel of the family of nations which since the creation of the United Nations have reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person. Lip service to the values and principles of the United Nations as contained in the Charter and the various declarations and covenants of the global body continues to be the bane of peace, security and well being of the world. The relationship between the International Criminal Court and the United Nations underscores its instrumentality in meeting the objectives of the international community in attaining peace and security.

For Kenya to remain faithful to the Constitution as enacted and proclaimed on 27th August 2010 we must not contemplate withdrawing from the Rome Statute. Kenya cannot exist outside the realm of international law in all situations. That thinking has not helped former and current leaders of Libya, Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan to run away from or be shielded from international justice.

Even before the enactment of the Constitution, Kenya had enacted the International Crimes Act of 2008. However it did not come into operation immediately. The Act domesticated the Rome Statute and established clear mechanisms for cooperation between Kenya and the International Criminal Court. The Rome Statute is now part of Kenya’s municipal law.

Withdrawal from the International Criminal Court will be inconsistent with and defeat the purposes and objectives of the Constitution of Kenya and will not bring honor to the nation and dignity to our leaders. The reputation of being the first country to pull out of the International Criminal Court is not a good one for Kenya. Merely a forthright ago the United Nations General Assembly reaffirmed its full support for the International Criminal Court and Kenya should not take lightly the resolutions and Commitment of the World body.

TheJubilee Coalitions motion to intimate Kenya's withdrawal from the Rome Statue is capricious and ill considered. It cannot objectively and concretely as it regards the current Kenyan cases at The Hague. Neither will the international Criminal Court suddenly disappear from the International Criminal Justice System or the world order.

We in CORD have never wanted to have our citizens tried outside our courts in a foreign land for crimes committed in our territory. We fought very hard for the creation of a court within our judicial and criminal justice system with the competence of dealing with international crimes. Collective amnesia has however been generated through falsehoods and propaganda to hoodwink the nation that the current cases in the Hague were triggered and propelled by way of a political stratagem and purpose calculated to advance the partisan course of a specific group. If that were so such abuse of a judicial process and oppressive conduct could never be entertained by any court including the International Criminal Court and that alone would be enough to vitiate any proceedings.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga with President Mwai Kibaki tried in vain to have a local judicial mechanism established by legislation but members of the 10th Parliament, most of them in the Jubilee camp frustrated the efforts. A delegation of senior ministers in the Grand Coalition Government was sent to Geneva and the Hague to seek more time to engage members of parliament and stakeholders with a view of avoiding the proceedings before the International Criminal Court. The Court and H.E. Kofi Annan granted the request but again the refrain ‘DON’T BE VAGUE SAY HAGUE’ had taken root. Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka undertook an extensive shuttle diplomacy to stop or suspend the trial of Kenyans at the International Criminal Court again without success. Raila Odinga engaged both the United States and the United Kingdom governments on a similar mission but the efforts did not bear any fruit and the United Kingdom gave its reasons in declining the request in writing. Hon Moses Wetangula was also engaged in the initiatives as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and a member of the cabinet committee that was dealing with International Criminal Court matters at the time. The record of the CORD leadership has therefore been very clear, consistent and unequivocal both on the question of the creation of a competent national tribunal and the referral of the current cases in the Hague back to Kenya.

Finally CORD wishes the President, the Deputy President and Mr. Joshua Arap Sang well and truly believe that they will be absolved through the judicial process of the International Criminal Court and that the cause of justice will be met. During the general elections CORD accepted the candidature of the President and the Deputy President without any hesitation in the spirit of democracy and justice. The narrative of our politics must qualitatively change in order to create an enabling environment for reform and progress. Kenya is not on trial and the people of Kenya are not at the stakes. CORD believes that international justice will render good judgment to our sons and the nation will emerge stronger and more united.

NAIROBI THURSDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER 2013

Rt Hon Raila Odinga Visits Baringo Flood Victims, Mourns Journalists Sir David Frost

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga will this morning head to Baringo County where floods have forced people to flee their homes in what is believed to be increased water levels at Lake Baringo. The Prime Minister will be accompanied by other CORD leaders as well as local leaders from Baringo County.

Odinga, who has been in North Rift since yesterday at the invitation of Cherengany Mp Wesley Korir and Radio Journalist Joshua Arap is expected to continue with his tour of the Rift Valley.

The CORD leader has stepped up his criticism of the Jubilee government and President Kenyatta who recently issued over 60,00 title deeds at the Coast in stark contravention of the law. All land matters were to be dealt with by the National Land Commission, the only statutory body mandated to adjudicate land matters, bearing in mind the historical injustices associated with land ownership.

Elsewhere the PM paid glowing tribute journalist Sir David Frost who passed away yesterday saying the news left him ‘drained and overwhelmed’. This is very easy to understand because in Odinga’s illustrious political career which outstretches continental Africa and overflows into the Pacific, he has inculcated a global image unrivalled by any of his contemporaries in Africa, thus Sir Frost, a leading world journalist with a soft spot for Africa became a natural friend.

“ In my career in public life, and in my five years as Prime Minister of the the Republic of Kenya, I never met a journalist with such an incisive mind, more understanding and more empathetic to the tribulations of the Third World as did Sir David,” said Odinga who received the news of Journalist Frost’s sudden death while on a tour of the Rift Valley.

Rt Hon Raila Odinga's Statement on Road Safetyand the State of Security in the Nation

THE RT HON RAILA ODINGA'S STATEMENT ON ROAD SAFETY AND THE STATE OF SECURITY IN THE NATION 

 I find the killing of innocent people has gone on for much of this year in Moyale and other parts of Northern Kenya disturbing and unacceptable. 

Too many meetings have been held with the national leadership and top brass of our security organs. Too many warnings have been issued by the National Government. Too many visits have been made to the affected areas. There has been too much talk of contingents of security formations being dispatched to Northern Kenya. 

Yet, in the end, nothing changes. 

From Garissa to Wajir to Marsabit and Mandera, insecurity, characterized by killing of innocent villagers, is becoming the norm. Today, Moyale has become the centre of these crimes. The number of victims is rising daily, while the National Government procrastinates, issues threats, makes promises and looks somebody to blame. 

This pattern must end once and for all. 

The National Government must restore sanity in Northern Kenya immediately to allow the people to settle down to the business of managing their lives and their future. 

The National Government must also, immediately, come up with concrete steps to end the carnage on our roads. 

The tears have barely dried and the grief has not ended among the families that lost members in the recent accident in Kisii involving school children and teachers. Then yesterday, we lost tens of lives on the road again. 

The reaction is the same; warnings and threats of stern action after the damage is done. I ask the government to extend a helping hand to all the families caught in the latest road tragedy. They need help with the bills and related expenses. 

This help must be coupled with concrete actions to restore sanity on the roads and in the wider security infrastructure of Kenya. 

 RAILA A. ODINGA.
30 August 2013

ODM Statement on Nullification Governor Cornel Rasanga's Election

Following today's High Court ruling in Kisumu that nullified the election of Gov. Carnel Amoth Rasanga, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) wishes to sympathise with Mr. Rasanga, a Life Member of the party for the invalidation of his election.

The ODM respects Hon. Justice Aggrey Muchelule's wisdom in nullifying Gov. Rasanga's election on March 4th 2013 and subsequent calling for a by-election to fill the vacant seat.
 
The ODM wishes to urge her members and supporters in Siaya County to remain steadfast now and during the by-election when it is called. 

The struggle for stronger Counties through adequate funding is paramount hence the need for concerted and unwavering unity of the party membership and supporters at all times.
Hon. Prof. P. Anyang Nyong'o. 
Secretary General - 
Orange Democratic Movement 
23/08/13

Resolutions of the Orange Democratic Movement National Executive Committee Meeting of 20th August 2013

RESOLUTIONS OF THE ODM NEC.
20/08/13

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), meeting here at Orange House on this 20th day of August 2013, aware of the key role the ODM has played in the process of constitutional reforms and the introduction of the devolved system of government.

Noting that so far resources budgeted for the County governments fall far short of the needs of counties to implement their projects and programs for development to meet the needs of the people;

Realizing the frustration of the devolution process by the Jubilee government reinventing the provincial administration under new names and titles;

This NEC resolves as follows;

1. To support a national referendum to establish the percentage of the national budget allocated to counties at no less than 40% and to strengthen the role of the Senate to be an effective House representing the counties.

2. To condemn the tribalization of the public service by the Jubilee government through the summary dismissal of Chief Executives of parastatals and replacing them by individuals whose only qualification is their ethnic background and loyalty to Jubilee leadership. ODM calls for INCLUSIVENESS in public appointments while observing proper procedures as laid down in the constitution and the law.

Devolution in Kenya: Prospects, Challenges and the Future ~ Speech by Rt. Hon Raila Odinga at LSK Annual General Meeting

DEVOLUTION IN KENYA: PROSPECTS, CHALLENGES AND THE FUTURE

SPEECH BY

Rt. Honourable Raila Odinga, Former Prime Minister of the Republic Of Kenya during The Law Society of Kenya Annual General Meeting, Leisure Lodge, Mombasa, August 16th, 2013

The Chairman of the Law Society of Kenya,

Members of the Council of the Society,

Attorney General

Senior Counsel present,

Invited Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I consider myself well-travelled across the width and breadth of our country.  I have travelled across Kenya as a political activist, a Member of Parliament, a Cabinet Minister for Energy, for Roads, a Prime Minister, and now, an opposition leader. From that experience, I got convinced beyond doubt that Kenyans want Devolution of power and resources.

The story of devolution in Kenya is of a people’s struggle for justice and the expectation for equality, equity, and inclusion. It is a fight against domination, subjugation, and exclusion.

Against slavery, Abraham Lincoln told the American people…..”A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure; permanently half slave and half free.” I can say with certainty that Kenya too cannot endure permanently half poor and half rich.

As was the war on slavery, devolution is an effort to address the wrong principle that says….you will work and toil and earn the bread, but I am the one who will eat that bread…Every part of Kenya must get a fair reward from its taxes. There is no better way to achieve this than through devolution.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN;

Devolution unfortunately has powerful enemies in high places. Devolution is running into a brick wall of a political class that has benefited from an over centralized system of government.

It is being undermined by a status quo that has captured the instruments of the state and has used them to secure privileges for themselves and their children, to the exclusion of everyone else.

The good news is that the rank and file of our people is determined to make Devolution succeed.

In the few months that the Counties have taken off, our people have been engrossed in learning the art of government. They are getting used to making own decisions.

They are moving away from the culture of blaming others for their problems. They have tried to take their future in their own hands.

A few weeks ago, voters in Makueni County rejected the backward talk that they needed a Jubilee senator so they can be close to the National Government. They proudly elected Senator Mutula Kilonzo Junior knowing well he was going to join the opposition. The people of Kenya no longer feel that they have to be close to central government to progress. Waiting for help from Nairobi has begun to look like a deep prehistoric practice that no one wants to remember. 

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN;

This is the kind of freedom that devolution brings. It is the freedom that the controllers of the centralized system are hell bent on killing.  This is the fight our governors and senators have embarked on. They are pushing for a country where the National Government exists only to facilitate the people and protect them from outside aggression.

The over-centralized system of the last 50 years bequeathed us little in terms of progress and plenty in corruption. Corruption helped those in power to hold hungry citizens at ransom and lead them down the garden path.

By centralizing the tendering for roads, the purchase of drugs, the construction of houses, the provision of amenities like electricity, those who control the central government were able to strike corrupt deals that kept them financially powerful and able to control the rest of Kenyans.

KANU went many desperate steps further. It instituted a modern day slavery, which saw the State use even relief food as a tool to control how people voted and how they related with the State.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN;

It’s said… “History Is So Beautiful It Makes You Cry.” So let me tell you abit of where it all began and why we should be wary at the pattern of events.

At independence, our founding fathers settled on a devolved system after it became clear that the political system of the country was already leaning towards a centralized dictatorship.

This dictatorship was in the hands of those who had accessed colonial education and economy. The losers were those who had missed out on colonial education.  Ironically, those were the ones who had fought the British to a standstill and forced them to negotiate.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t sufficient understanding of the benefits of majimbo even among those who stood to benefit from it.

The masters of the status quo moved in and misrepresented the system as divisive, anti-unitary and anti-national.  They intentionally bad mouthed majimbo, derided it at every opportunity and sabotaged it at every corner. Eventually, the beneficiaries of the devolved system themselves participated in its dismantling. The end result was an exclusive political and economic dictatorship that took fifty years to dismantle. Unfortunately, the noises have begun again.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN;

The history of devolution is a constant and sad reminder of the dangers that face this nation. It teaches us that the forces of political autocracy and economic exclusion will, if allowed, frustrate any system of government tailored to create equality among the peoples and regions of Kenya.

It reminds us that there are those who took over Kenya from the colonial administration and are intent to own it and exploit it exclusively for their benefit and that of their cronies and families.

Their key tool is denying the outer regions control over resources and decisions so that everyone has to beg the central government even for basics like food and medicines.

Today, the beneficiaries of status quo are ganging up again, citing the same excuses invented about fifty years ago to kill devolution. They say some regions are not ready. They say some governors have given themselves presidential looks.

They paint governors as extravagant. They want governors who are in reality heads of their own governments, to seek clearance from central government before travelling abroad. They say the Senate has no role, is inferior to the National Assembly and should in fact, be abolished.

Rather than empower the people to help themselves, they want to retain critical services like rural electrification and roads at the centre so they can dish them out at will as a show of benevolence.

You know, what happened once can happen twice. So we say; buyer, beware.

Fortunately, the Constitution of 2010 is a product of wide consultations with Kenyans and intense public education. No wonder the forces of status quo are having a rough time with the people.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Governors for fighting for the decentralization of the construction of roads. I beseech them to fight for the decentralization of other critical areas like electricity, purchase of drugs and pharmaceuticals.

This will eliminate the corruption perpetrated at the centre and which is used to oil the political machine that tramples on the people. More importantly, it will put the governors in charge of economic development in their regions.

To attract investment and ensure economic growth, you need a good network of roads, a steady supply of reliable, efficient and affordable electricity, and a healthy and educated workforce. No governor is going to guarantee these if they are ran by a separate authority.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN;

I agree that our Constitution does not explicitly spell out how responsibility should be shared between Counties and the National government.  But none of the challenges are insurmountable if we managed the process with good faith and if we embarked on honest dialogue between with all cards above the table.

The forces of status quo are however using every challenge as a reason to delay devolution by one more day, one more month, one more year and forever. The intention of the centrists is to help devolution die a slow, painful death while all the time pretending to be trying to resuscitate it.

I believe strongly that the spirit of enterprise that has propelled Nairobi must spread outside.  It must take off in Kwale, Malindi, Kakamega, Moyale, Homa Bay, Nyamira, Wajir, Marsabit and all parts of Kenya.

Examples abound everywhere. New York remains immensely big as a city and a state in the US. Los Angeles is big, so is Chicago.

But none of these regions has ever entertained the idea that they are in any way more important than or can do without Washington, DC or the USA. All they do is power the US economy.

In Germany, you get another example of an economy driven from multiple centres. Munich is an economic powerhouse. Frankfurt is a financial centre. The Ruhr brings together a cluster of industrial cities; Berlin is the capital and artistic hub. Together, they power a bigger and powerful Germany that has withstood recession to which the rest of Europe succumbed.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:

Kenya too must create an economy that fires on all cylinders and runs on multiple engines by supporting many more sites and sources of economic growth.

Empowering our counties so they innovate, attract outside investment; raise their own money and spend it in the ways they need is the way out.

We must rise above the fear mongering and remind the forces of status quo that the purpose of devolution is not to dismember the nation but to allow different solutions to different problems in different circumstances.

This is why I want to appeal to the legal fraternity to support the push by the governors to amend article 203 (2) of the Constitution to raise the minimum revenue threshold due to county governments from 15 to between 40 and 45 per cent.

I equally appeal to you to support our senators in their push to amend Chapter Eight on Legislature and Chapter 12 on Public Finances to give them a greater say in legislations and sharing of revenue.

At a time the National Government can barely support itself, we cannot continue hoping that it will somehow help the rest of the country. Our future is in stronger, successful devolved units.

Thank You.

Kisumu Governor Jack Ranguma Spirited Response to Negative Press on Kisumu County

Kisumu voter going by the virtual name Mzee had this to say about Governor Jack Ranguma of Kisumu County:

At the end of the five years under the new constitution, some counties will have better than others. Those who elected innovative governors with good agendas would have taken a major leap in the right direction. In counties with bad governors, we will witnesses a backward trend. But I will give it to Mutua and Joho, these guys are really for the people, at least for now. Cyprian Awiti is also doing much better in Homabay county.

Even as our governors demand more money from the central government and even threaten with a referendum on the same, most don’t have an idea of what they are supposed to do. Before demanding more cash they should show that they can effectively spend the little they have.

I recently listened to a one hour long interview of governor Ranguma of Kisumu County on Mayienga FM and was not pleased with what I heard.
 
The man is still struggling with petty stuff. His number one priority being to evict the county commissioner from her from the former DCs house. Then his second priority is to occupy the former PCs house which is next to the state house. Why? Because he needs easy access to the president (in case he is in town) to discuss matters of regional importance.

The stupidity of the above is that none of the two can ever happen. Reason being that all former municipality council assets went to the county government while those that belonged to the central government remained as such e.g. the two named premises. In other words, eviction of the CC or occupation of the former PCs house does not arise. Yet this is what is occupying most of the governors day. He forgets that he is in opposition and that the president’s ear on the ground is not the governor but the CC (never mind that they are illegal). This is a simple fact that any person should be aware of.

Ranguma stays at the Kisumu Hotel because he does not want to live in the former mayors house, which by the way has been allocated 10M for renovation. The reason why he does not want to stay in the former mayor’s house, which is in the suburbs of Milimani, is because it’s in the “back street”.

The man wants to stay along” Jomo Kenyatta highway, in a house facing the lake” and nowhere else. So it either the two locations or the hotel and tax payers have to pay the bills. The man comes from Kano, just a few minutes’ drive from Kisumu town; one wonders why he cannot stay there. After all it’s in Kisumu County. I’m always ashamed to see the governor’s flag flying atop Kisumu Hotel.

When asked what his flag ship project is, the man did not have an idea. In fact he was asked what he was doing that can be compared Konza or Joho´s county security project. He simply said that there was no land in Kisumu County to build a Konza like project. I found this ridiculous because his own home of Kano is still a “wilderness”.

Asked about the luxurious cars he wants to buy for the county executives, he said that the roads are so bad only a Prado can manage. How about buying a cheaper 4 wheel drive car Mr. Governor or even better fixing the roads.
 
The man holds all big meetings in Bondo (University) because Kisumu has no hall that can hold more than 100 people or even proper conference facilities. When asked what he was doing about it, he claimed that he would be asking donors to help out with the same. Why not use the billions the county is to be provided with to build a modern facility in the county.

Ranguma is one of the most useless governors we have in Kenya. There is nothing he has done since he took over save for one truck that collects garbage in the center of town and dumps right outside the gates of Kisumu stadium. Why not build a waste recycling plant instead of buying prados. Hello!

Another partriotic Kenyan, Job, decided to contact Governor Ranguma directly and had a lengthy and frankly candid conversation with him, addressing all these questions raised by Mzee above.

This was the response:

Keeping the Governor Honest!

• Kisumu’s governor Jack Ranguma vigorously defends his administration and blames media and “status quo” elements of giving Kisumu “bad publicity” to justify their efforts at “trying to kill devolution”. Is this factual or mere politics? Let’s keep him honest!
  
  1) On whether Kisumu will lag behind as other counties leap forward with devolution:
  
  Ranguma objects and declares Kisumu will fare much better than most counties. He outlines his agenda {agriculture, infrastructure, industrialization, ICT …etcetera}. He states they hit the ground running {removal of hyacinth started, cleaning exercises started, reclaiming grabbed land, planning for solar street lights, GPS mapping to secure land titles and promote investors requiring land, lighthouses for docking of vessels at port, county cleaning exercises, planning a water-harvesting dam along Kisumu-Kericho border [together with Kericho governor], and proposing a ‘people-empowering’ budget}.
  

  FACT CHECK:
  A lot of strides in recent development of Kisumu have little to do with Governor Jack Ranguma. It is in fact the previous coalition government that planned and funded:

  
  

  • The Airport Expansion and associated developments which spurred budding and reviving industries.

  
  

  • The Hyacinth Removal: It is the Kenya Maritimes Authority that bought a water-master vessel for clearing the hyacinth (plus power generation + fertilizer production). This is basically another product of the last coalition government’s plan to clear Lake Victoria waters for transport, tourism, fishing and sports – not Ranguma’s county administration.

  
  

  • Lighthouses: It is again the Maritine Authority that will light up the lighthouses for directing docking vessels – the governor’s role is infinitesimal.

  
  

  • Cleaning Exercises: As a couple of other ideas on course, this is an initiative of his former rival & now Environmental Executive (Rhoda Ahonobadha). It still falls short nevertheless because the dumpsite by the stadium is still as high as a mountain. The governor should have by now already secured a dumpsite (on existing council land) and planned for a safe waste disposal facility. There is always this temptation by former bureaucrats like Ranguma to run to the budget “to allocate funds for” hot items like land for a dumpsite…this old corruption mill revolving around land identification and purchase needs to stop. The County government has plenty of municipal and council land in every corner of the county that can serve as a waste processing and dumping site. Just get down to honest work and start cleaning the county!

  
  

  • Clean water provision: For the first time since the colonial government invested in clean water provision in the 1920s, it was again the coalition government that invested more than a billion shillings (through the Lake Victoria South Water Service Board) to divert and treat water from the Kibos River (flowing down from Nandi Hills) at a 36,000 m3 plant in Kajulu. This water to be stored in a 6 million liter reservoir will supply Kisumu City’s 1/2 a million people and will also be distributed through piped networks to other peri-urban population centers by gravity. While the timing creates room to attribute false credit, Mr. Ranguma is basically a spectator, not executor of these ongoing developments that will be completed soon.

  
  

  • Budget: See review below.

  
  2) Is Ranguma focusing on petty agenda such as evicting former DCs and occupying the PC’s home?
  
  Ranguma explains the importance of securing all county properties currently being targeted by outgoing bureaucrats from the national government – in basically all counties.
  
  FACT CHECK:
  
  There have been actual complaints about former senior provincial administration officials (former DCs and PCs, including retired ones) grabbing public houses in Kisumu’s Milimani Estate. Since many of these bureaucrats are not locals, they are alleged to have irregularly sold off such properties to private developers who then remodeled them, or demolished them to put up rental flats.
  
  I think the governor is fully entitled to take full audit of all property that should constitutionally be handed down to the county government. It is also reasonable to demand that a former PC’s residence revert to county government simply because (in my view) the new Constitution restructured the provincial administration and abolished the PCs office – to fit into the new devolved governments. The unconstitutional holders of County Commissions can temporarily use former DC premises as this issue heads up towards the Supreme Court. However, this role should neither be his # 1 priority nor crowd out his time.
  
  2) Is Kisumu’s budget reasonable as per the governor?
  
  Ranguma defends his budget and blames detractors for focusing on negative sideshows. The proof however lies in the pudding. You can tell a good leader’s vision through his budget. Let’s see.
  
  FACT CHECK
  
  Before combing through the budget, it is a FACT that Ranguma’s budget has (alongside those of a few other counties) already been rejected by the national Controller of Budget because it runs into deficit. He was ordered to revise it on the grounds that he cannot spend (expenditure) more than he gets (revenue).
  

  Comparing Kisumu’s budget with those of other counties, there are indeed some troubling signs. What Ranguma drafted is certainly not what Kisumu residents proposed during the budget meetings in various constituency social halls:

  
  

  • Kisumu is among 29 (out of 47) Counties whose budgets have recurrent expenditure exceeding development spending. Only 18 counties (like Mutua’s Machakos, Joho’s Mombasa, Rutto’s Bomet, Ojaamong’s Busia, and Nanok’s Turkana) have allocated a greater proportion of funds for development (in infrastructure, health, schools, dams, markets, cottage industries) than for recurrent items (salaries and pompous luxuries).
  

  
  

  • Part of the huge recurrent spending is because Ranguma has not tackled the obvious FACT that many “ghost” workers still exist in the payrolls of former Municipal and Council offices. A monthly wage bill of Sh 90 million is not sustainable for such a small government, period! That’s a whooping Sh 1 billion a year on salaries alone!!! If this is not sleeping on the job, it can only be called complicity in corruption! Why has there been no physical audit of county staff since the swearing-in ceremony? This can be done effectively by revising the mode of payment of salaries during this transition to demand a physical head-count. A small policy change suspending direct bank deposits for salary payments — instead “kila mtu apange laini” at their respective accounts offices with auditors/department heads/payroll registers all in toe. This will weed out ghost workers instantly – but there must be will and commitment. Secondly, this habit of patronage appointments (without assembly approval) will swell the wage bill further. How much are the “Remote Sensing” and “Renewable Energy” experts being appointed every other day by the governor being paid?

  
  

  
  • Ranguma’s budget also has a lot of pork-barrel spending on ostentatious and grandiose items such as gas-guzzling Toyota Prados for each of his cabinet members (basically a bribe to his former rivals in the governor’s race – at least 4 sit in his cabinet), cheap car loans for County Assembly members (another bribe to local politicians to buy free rubber-stamping of his future decisions), a Sh 10 million allocation to renovate the governor’s house (slashed down from an initial proposal of Sh 80 million). No Kisumu resident will be smiling with Ranguma in view of these wasteful extravagancies.

  
  

  • If you compare Ranguma’s Sh 10 billion budget with that of Alfred Mutua of Machakos; despite Mutua’s less revenue stream (Sh 4.1 billion), the latter has allocated 53% of all cash into development (recurrent spending only 47%). Ranguma allocated only 33% funds for development while 63% recurrent. Mutua allocated 390 million to Health and Emergency; 361 million to Agriculture and Livestock; 220 million to Education; 1.2 billion to roads, transport, public works; 700 million to Irrigation; 260 million for damming; 280 million for small municipalities; and ICT investments of 200 million. When it comes to Ranguma, there is no line-by-line itemization.
  

  
  

  • Where are Kisumu’s allocations for much needed fish cooling/storage plants along beaches, a fish processing plant, boreholes, cattle dip and livestock extension services, an animal or poultry feeds factory or market stalls? There must be some level of public investments in relevant sectors; counties must not be held back by counterproductive liberal ideologies. I doubt whether Ranguma proposed these popular initiatives suggested by Kisumu county residents. Are millions allocated for seminars and international travel of assembly members & county executives while nothing is set aside for the crucial items above? Well, Kisumu residents cannot easily tell because of the next point.
  

  
  

  • Ranguma’s budget outline conceals details of the itemization/listing of individual budget items based on either sectors (health, education, infrastructure etc) or (constituencies) as most governors have done. The devil lies in this detail that is so far lacking. Why is he hiding these details in the front-page outline?

  3) Wasteful spending on meetings in Bondo?
  
  As Mzee already noted, this is straight-out hogwash.
  
  FACT CHECK
  
  Kisumu County has universities (including Maseno University) and colleges (like Tom Mboya Labor College) with big halls and conference facilities that could hold huge meetings. The myth that Kisumu has no big hall is therefore easy to debunk.
  
  A visionary governor of the strategically-positioned Kisumu would in fact plan a modern video conferencing facility that can host business seminars or even a regional meeting to the level of East African heads of state at Kisumu. Sending his county meetings to Bondo is terrible politics depicting Ranguma as weak and prone to kowtowing to his influential deputy from Bondo. This is political ineptitude at its best. Incidentally, the clumsy ineffectiveness shows in most other areas.
  
  The difference between Mutua and Ranguma for instance, is that the former has less patronage baggage on his shoulders. He is not beholden to special interest groups – only dedicated to his Machakos voters. When it comes to the former KRA bureaucrat Ranguma, he has to look over his shoulder at every turn. He is apparently ceding big ground to special interest groups (his former rivals, County Assembly politicians, clan factions [from Kisumo, Nyakach, Seme, Nyando, and Muhoroni], cartels of town merchants, business monopolies, lobbies fronted by his own deputy, his former KRA sharks, and many others. In trying to please all these people, he will inevitably collide with voters – probably that’s exactly where his rivals are driving him into. It’s no wonder Ranguma is already being booed by Kisumu voters – this early.
  
  4) On ridiculous cultural law being passed by Kisumu County Assembly.
  
  Needless to state, Ranguma is in no mood to rock the boat of the same county assembly that he relies on to pass agenda and approve his spending plans.
  
  I initially dismissed this issue as a classic waste of time on trivial and vexatious non-issues until I got wind of the full extent of the so called Culture Bill. Here is the first fundamental problem with such ventures. Whose culture are these Kisumu representatives deliberating? The last time I checked, Kisumu was still inhabited by people whose cultural roots range from South East Asia, Europe, Middle East, and all corners of Africa. There are inhabitants from all of Kenya’s 42 tribes living in Kisumu. The MP for Kisumu Town East actually has cultural roots in South East Asia. Is this bill incorporating elements from all of these cultures? Why would these elected members even contemplate an attempt to impose cultural dictatorship in Kisumu? This should be unconstitutional in the first place – violating many citizens’ Bill of Rights.
  
  The outrageous and misguided proposal not only tries to legislate how women sit on bikes but also wades dangerously into the delicate terrain of public health. These assembly representatives are basically trying to legalize untested miti-shamba herbs and unregulated concoctions – essentially legitimizing traditional medicine-men through the back door. This is nothing but reckless endangerment of the public by uneducated and largely uninformed busybodies. This should not be allowed in Kisumu in the 21st Century. One of the women members from Seme proposed an additional clause – castration of older men who marry under-age girls. Where is all this madness and confusion heading? These are indeed wake-up calls which beg for scrutiny of what goes on in all 47 county assemblies. If we are not careful, we shall end up with 47 Talibanistans with 47 sets of ridiculous and unconstitutional laws.
  
  Acknowledgments: Deep Cogitation Blog, Mzee, Job