Here is an explosive memoir of the Kibaki- Raila relations during the 2008 signing of the National Accord that heightened tension in the country. Here are some excerpts from the book written by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s coalition’s adviser Miguna Miguna.

“President Kibaki walked out of a top-level reconciliation meeting he was meant to co-chair without uttering a word at the height of coalition tensions in 2009.

The walkout underlined what Miguna claims was a troubled and unequal relationship between the President and Prime Minister Raila Odinga who led a coalition of the Party of National Unity and Orange Democratic Movement, which often teetered on the verge of collapse.

Miguna Miguna, the Prime Minister’s former advisor on constitution and coalition affairs, in his memoir paints a picture of the President as a coldly aloof and inflexible man who in private does not treat Mr Odinga as an equal partner.

Miguna recounts one occasion when President Kibaki would not come out of his suite at Kilaguni Lodge in Tsavo West National Park to speak to Mr Odinga and addressed him from behind a curtain.

He also projects Mr Odinga as having failed to get the best deal for the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) in his negotiations with the President after the disputed 2007 General Election.

Mr Miguna’s no-holds-barred account of his time as a top advisor to Mr Odinga goes behind the scenes to examine the intrigues, power plays and personality rivalries that have characterised the unity government since it was brokered by peace envoy Kofi Annan in 2008.

Mr Miguna, who fell out with the Prime Minister in dramatic fashion after he was fired from his post in Mr Odinga’s team last year, paints the relationship between Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga as an unequal marriage in which the President comfortably dominated the Premier
Miguna claims that Mr Kibaki, who was better briefed and had a more disciplined team around him, frequently got the better of the Raila in one-on-one meetings.

The principals’ troubled relationship nearly hit a breaking point at the Kilaguni retreat which at the time was portrayed as a successful attempt at healing the cracks in the coalition but which Miguna reveals to have been a failure characterised by quarrels and political antics which bordered comical artwork.

The meeting, on April 4, 2009, started with a familiar standoff after Mr Miguna discovered that President Kibaki, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and then National Security Minister Prof George Saitoti had been allocated bigger and better rooms than those booked for the Premier, ODM Deputy Leader William Ruto and Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, who skipped the meeting.

Mr Miguna took the position that this sent the message that one of the coalition partners was superior to the other and insisted on a reshuffle.

Mr Miguna’s stance was consistent with another occasion where he had stopped a coalition management meeting from starting at Harambee House until the seating arrangement was revised to reflect the fact Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga were equal partners in the coalition.

More drama was to follow at the infamous Kilaguni retreat. The ODM team arrived three hours before the PNU team came to the hotel and were huddled discussing the fact that PNU had not agreed on an agenda for the talks by the time Mr Kibaki and his team arrived.

“That first night Raila went to see Kibaki in his room and subsequently made us fall about with laughter at his bizarre description of what had happened there,” he writes.


“According to Raila – and we believed him – Kibaki spoke with him from behind the curtains, which were fully drawn. They didn’t see each other. There was no face-to-face meeting as such.


“At first, Raila thought the old man was dressing up or using the washroom and that he would join him in the spacious living room. However, after 30 minutes of odd‘communication’ Raila politely excused himself and left.”

Mr Odinga told the ODM team that President Kibaki had told him that the team should see the retreat as a “well deserved holiday”, summarising the difference between the PNU and ODM viewpoints.

NU felt that there was nothing wrong with the coalition while ODM wanted the retreat to iron out key issues such as the levels of consultation required before making key appointments.

They also sought a settlement on the raging protocol question on who was the senior party between the PM and the Vice President.

The talks descended into a farce the next day after the PNU and ODM teams went to the meeting room to begin discussions. President Kibaki did not show up.

Mr Odinga kicked off the meeting by asking non-members of the coalition coordination committee to leave, an order obeyed by top senior civil servants and, reluctantly, by Kibaki-allied Cabinet Ministers Mr Noah Wekesa and Mr Mutula Kilonzo.

There was then disagreement over how to proceed with PNU suggesting that Mr Odinga and Mr Kibaki should sit down alone to agree on the agenda.

This was a suggestion ODM members strongly opposed, Mr Miguna writes, because they had discovered that the President always got what he wanted from one-on-one meetings with the PM.

In Miguna’s view, Mr Odinga was a “disastrous negotiator” and often “unstructured”and overawed by Mr Kibaki in one-on-one settings.

With ODM adamant that there would be no meeting between the principals that excluded others, President Kibaki “skulked out” without making eye contact with the other leaders in the room and walked off. The meeting collapsed and both sides rushed to prepare press statements to put a spin to the debacle.

This meeting is one of the many nuggets of information offered by Mr Miguna in the most explosive memoir to come out in the country since President Kibaki’s former anti-graft czar, John Githongo, collaborated with British author Michela Wrong on the story behind the Anglo Leasing scam.

Mr Miguna’s book will inevitably divide opinions. Written in the lyrical prose which readers have become familiar with from his newspaper columns, the book is at its best when it narrates the story of his rise from grinding poverty –brought up in rural Kano by a mother who could barely raise enough to feed the family – and the gritty determination with which he rose to his present station as a senior lawyer and author.

The book also offers a tantalising view of the mechanics of power behind the scenes and describes the complicated interpersonal relations between public figures who project an appearance of being the best of friends in public but are anything but friends.

Mr Miguna peels the mask off the murky world of campaign financing and reveals what he describes as the high-level corruption in most public offices including the office of the Prime Minister.

He also wrote of a secret meeting at the Nairobi Safari Club, Nairobi, in 2009 at which he says he confronted the PM over claims that their office was involved in the maize scandal.
At the time, the price of maize meal was causing near unrest in the country. According to Mr Miguna, the meeting was attended by ODM secretary-general Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, Lands minister James Orengo and the PM’s top aide Caroli Omondi.

The website howstuffworks.com can easily discourage the lily-livered from ever boarding a helicopter.

“One thing that has characterised the helicopter since its invention in the 1930s has been the absurdity of the machine. The contraption simply looks unable to deliver on its promise, which is to fly up and down, backward and forward, right and left,” it is written on the website.

According to the on-line information resource, “the famous US broadcast journalist Harry Reasoner discussed this apparent paradox in a 1971 commentary he delivered about the use of helicopters in the Vietnam conflict.”

Of the machine, a type of which killed Internal Security Minister Prof George Saitoti, his Assistant Minister Orwa Ojode, pilots Nancy Gituanja and Luke Oyugi and bodyguards Thomas Murimi and Joshua Tonkei on Sunday, the broadcaster had an interesting observation.

“An airplane by its nature wants to fly. … A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance, the helicopter stops flying, immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter.” Scary.

Reasoner, writes the website, “laid bare the fundamental reality of helicopters -- that the machines have complex designs and that flying them is extraordinarily complicated. The pilot has to think in three dimensions and must use both arms and both legs constantly to keep a helicopter in the air. Piloting a helicopter requires a great deal of training and skill, as well as continuous attention to the machine.”

Retired Kenya Air Force pilot, Capt John Kioko, agrees that while a fixed-wing plane can glide, reducing fatalities, a helicopter falls like a stone from the sky.

Helicopters are unable to operate in extreme bad weather conditions and are said to be more dangerous at night, which is why during the NO and Yes campaigns for the new constitution, a pilot refused to fly a Cabinet Minister back to Nairobi.She had extended a meeting to 6.30pm. In April this year, a hiker on Mt Kenya died when a Lady Lori helicopter dispatched to rescue him failed to fly up the mountain due to bad weather.

Since the first helicopter flew in Kenya, there have been numerous fatal accidents involving civilian and military helicopters blamed on various reasons and, according to the American Space Agency, NASA, helicopters crash 10 times more than other types of aircraft.

On July 27, 1996, the Eastern Provincial Commissioner Ishmael Chelang’a, Rift Valley Provincial Information Officer Kaetuai Katampoi and other senior civil servants died in a chopper crash in Marsabit. An inquiry found out that the aircraft had not been properly serviced.

On January 4, 2002, six Kenya Air Force men were killed when their helicopter, a French-made Puma, ploughed into a clump of trees and burst into flames, Salama, Makueni.

Its pilot Capt Habakkuk Okello succumbed to severe burns 48 hours later.

On April 8, 2004, five senior executives including then Nation Media Group CEO, Mr Wilfred Kiboro, and Safaricom CEO, Mr Michael Joseph, and their pilot, Capt Nyanjui escaped unhurt when their helicopter dropped from the sky shortly after takeoff.

On the flight were also KenGen’s managing director Eddie Njoroge, KWS chairman Colin Church and KWS Managing Director Evans Mukolwe who were also unhurt.

One-time Vice President Moody Awori survived a chopper mishap on June 26, 2004. A year later, a military chopper carrying him failed to take off after a function in Kapenguria.

Captain Nyanjui would be involved in another chopper accident in December 2007, this time alone when his chopper developed electrical problems and crashed in Mt Kenya.

He was rescued a week later having survived on leaves. He vowed to keep on flying. Calls to get have his take on helicopters went unanswered.
In September 2008, a helicopter carrying three tourists went down in Mount Kenya, killing one of them.

On May 11, 2009, a Russian- made police chopper ferrying Police Commissioner Major General Hussein Ali and Mr Orwa Ojodeh lost power and plunged into a field in Kapsabet.

Two years later, Cabinet ministers Franklin Bett and Noah Wekesa narrowly escaped death when their helicopter crash-landed in Keiyo on December 17, 2011.

In October 2011 a military chopper crashed during takeoff at Liboi killing all the five on board at the start of Operation Linda Nchi.

Despite the growing list of helicopter accidents, the aircraft is increasingly being used by Kenyan politicians and business executives because of its ability to land in remote places without airstrips.

Before 2002, the use of government helicopters was strictly limited to President Daniel Moi and powerful politicians.

Even in the neighbouring Uganda not many people own helicopters.

In a June 2011 advertisement Kampala’s largest charter company, Kampala AeroClub, highlighted one of its achievements as the registering of Uganda’s only commercially available helicopter.



“The cost of hiring a helicopter has increased to over 500 per cent in the last five years,” Capt Thomas Samoei, a former air force pilot with over 27 years flying experiences, says.

Compared to fixed wing aircraft, helicopters are much more expensive to buy, run and maintain.

A helicopter, according to Cpt Samoei, consumes about 150 to 160 litres of jet A-1 fuel at a cost of Sh82 per litre in an hour.

That would be Sh12,000 to Sh13,000 an hour. However, bigger choppers, such as the ones used by the police can consume up to 1,000 litres per hour — Sh82,000 in last year’s fuel prices.

One Eurocopter model consumes 160 to 190 litres per hour of jet fuel meaning that if it is air-borne for five hours, one parts with close to Sh100, 000 for fuel alone.

The costs are much lower for fixed-wing machines. A six-seater Cessna U206 uses about 240 litres of Jet A1 fuel to fly from Wilson Airport to Turkana, which is about Sh20,000.

It costs about Sh160,000 per month to keep a helicopter at a hangar in Wilson Airport, Nairobi, while insurance ranges from Sh6million to Sh10million depending on the cost and the capacity of the chopper.

Parking costs Sh800 a night at Wilson Airport where the navigation fee is Sh1,600 and landing Sh800.

It’s also much more expensive to train and pay a chopper pilot than a fixed-wing aircraft one.

“Choppers are also more difficult to fly as compared to fixed wing planes,” says retired Kenya Air Force pilot Captain John Kioko.A chopper pilot is paid Sh8500 (100 dollars) per hour’s flight while to hire a chopper at Wilson Airport costs anything between Sh40,000  and Sh150, 000 per hour depending on how far you are travelling.

At night or in peak seasons, the costs can rise to about Sh200,000 per hour.

Never mind the cost. Helicopters are now common place in rural Kenya, the commonest being the Eurocopter or Bell makes.

During the burial of the father of Mr Ojodeh politicians and other high ranking government officials arrived in 12 helicopters.

Retired politician Simeon Nyachae owns the more advanced and pricier Eurocopter AS350B3, popular with air forces.

This model is renowned for its reliability and is on record as having been the first helicopter to land on Mount Everest.

Mr Nyachae’s Aircraft Leasing Services operates two helicopters, a Eurocopter AS350B2 and a Eurocopter AS350B3, both manufactured in 1999.

Mr Uhuru Kenyatta regularly uses two choppers but his spokesman, Munyori, could not confirm who owns them.Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth uses two Bell 407 helicopters branded PK1 and PK2 while Mathira MP Ephraim Maina owns a Bell 206B (4638) chopper registration number 5Y-MNW which was manufactured in 2006.

Acting KANU chairman and son of former president Daniel Moi reportedly owns three helicopters through Sicham Aviation.

Kilome MP John Harun Mwau and Juja Mp William Kabogo are also regular helicopter users giving rise to speculation that they own the  machines as does Siakago MP Lenny Kivuti.

Lady Lori is East Africa’s largest executive helicopter operator with a fleet of modern turbine-engined Eurocopters.

The fleet has previously been used to fly royal families, heads of state, and chief executives of major corporations and celebrities.

The Kenyan military operates various types of helicopters among them the gunships YY and Chinese  Z-9s which are being used in the fight against the Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

As of July 2011, the Kenya Police Air Wing owned eight helicopters five of which were unserviceable.

To acquire and assemble a Eurocopter in Kenya costs about Sh300 million. All helicopters are imported as knocked down kits and then assembled.

The Eurocopter, which is designed for external load operations, filming, scenic flights and VIP transportation, can remain in the air for over four hours.

It carries loads of up to 1,000kg with a performance ceiling of up to 20,000 feet

The narrow, dusty road leading to Mama Zipporah Musengi’s house at Olkeri in Upper Matasia, Ngong, belies the palatial edifice one meets on arrival and is indicative of the journey her son, Prof George Saitoti, has travelled.

In school they called him a moving dictionary because he had mastered the entire dictionary, according to accounts of his classmates.

One of the richest Kenyans, his Ngong home was just one of his properties, which included three other homes in Lavington, Kitengela and Molo South, where he has a ranch.

His immense wealth was said to be in real estate and farming. Read (Saitoti was a 'team player')

He was a towering political figure, a business magnate and an intellectual giant, but his rise to the mercurial status he had acquired at the time of his death last Sunday in an air crash barely 10 kilometres from the home of his childhood was laced with struggle and shrouded in mystery.

Prof Saitoti’s year of birth, 1945, was a year of destiny, a tumultuous moment in world’s history.

The Russian Red Army won the Battle of Berlin and Adolf Hitler allegedly committed suicide; the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the United Nations was formed, marking an end to the Second World War.

In the words of Winston Churchill, who incidentally left 10 Downing Street, the UK seat of government in 1945, Prof Saitoti had been born into “this world of strife and storm.”

And while Churchill’s words were directed at Prince Philip, who had been born in 1948, the speech could have also been meant for Kenya’s Vice President of 13 years, who despite straddling the country’s political landscape like the colossus for three decades, his background is somewhat obscure.

Also despite being a breath away from the presidency, he suffered humiliation under then President Daniel Moi.

The height of this humiliation came at a meeting in his constituency where Mr Moi explained his reasons for overlooking him in his succession plans.

Speaking in Swahili, Mr Moi said: “Huyu makamu wa rais ni rafiki yangu. Lakini urafiki na siasa ni tofauti...” (The Vice President is my friend. But politics and friendship are two very different things.)”

The two top most politicians in the country’s face-off at Kasarani in March 2002 has been immortalised with the words, “there come (sic) a time when the nation becomes more important than an individual,” uttered by the then Vice President.

While official records gloss over his early life, interviews carried out by Saturday Nation point at the present day Dagoretti Corner as his birth place.

At the onset of the Emergency in the early 1950s, the family is said to have moved to Ngong in Kajiado to escape colonial persecution targeting the Kikuyu, Embu and Meru communities.

A retired senior official, who was one class behind Saitoti, says they lived in a gichagi, a crowded village where families that had moved to escape colonial oppression.

“It was in 1952 at the onset of emergency. Many families from around Nairobi converged at Olkeri, near Ololua outside Ngong. It was natural that we spoke Kiswahili rather than our individual languages,” said a former a senior government official.

Mr Samuel ole Tawuo, 64, who is a retired chief of Olkeri, says he was three classes behind Saitoti at Ololua Primary School where he espoused his academic prowess and leadership.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has hatched a plan to split his rivals’ presidential votes hoping it will hand him an upper hand in the race to State House in the next election


The strategy involves pushing for his competitors Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, who are facing charges at the International Criminal Court, to be allowed to contest.

However, his rivals argue that they are aware of the plot and would come up with a counter plan that will deny the PM the chance to garner 50 per cent plus one vote which is required to hand him victory in the first round.

Mr Ruto argues that their plan will aim to ensure a candidate from the G7 Alliance wins during the first round of the vote to avoid a run-off.

“We want the game to be finished in the first round so we can avoid a run-off,” says the URP leader. Read (Mudavadi, Raila head to Ruto’s turf in vote hunt)

Mr Odinga surprised many this week when he invited foreign correspondents to his Nairobi office and told them that he wanted the names of Mr Kenyatta of the TNA Alliance and Mr Ruto to be on the ballot paper as presidential candidates on March 4, 2013.

He justified his declaration by stating that it would allow Kenyans a wider variety of leaders to choose their next President from.

“All those competing for the top seat need to be on the ballot. This will give Kenyans a right to choose their preferred leaders. There will be no reason for anyone to say that Raila prevented them from vying for an elective seat,” he said.


The PM’s position was a radical departure from his stand in March this year when he fell short of calling for the detention of Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto on grounds that they were facing worse crimes than murder at the International Criminal Court yet they were freely going around the country holding prayer rallies.

He submitted that criminals accused of murder were languishing in maximum prisons scattered in various towns across the country.

“Crimes against humanity are worse than murder. Yet these suspects remain free to traverse the country holding ‘prayer meetings’ while Kenyan suspects of the lesser crime of murder conduct their prayers behind prison,” he said.

UK connection

At the time, Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo had just tabled a UK dossier- which the Speaker could not declare forged or not- indicating that the PM was working with the UK to ensure Mr Ruto and Mr Kenyatta were locked out of the presidential race.

On Friday, ODM’s joint chief whip Jakoyo Midiwo and a member of the PM’s think tank Prof Larry Gumbe sought to clarify Mr Odinga’s change of heart saying their preferred candidate would like to win the next elections without any doubts in the minds of voters.

Mr Midiwo, the Gem MP and close ally of the PM said the Orange party took a decision not to oppose the push by Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto to contest the presidency. Mr Odinga, he said, had no powers to block the two from running for State House.

“As ODM, we cannot decide whether Ruto or Uhuru will run. The law will take its own course but the decision for them to contest is not dependent on the PM,” he said.

He argued that the two leaders, alongside Deputy PM Musalia Mudavadi of the United Democratic Forum (UDF), were selling themselves to voters as the best candidates and a chance to face to face Mr Odinga at the ballot box would prove their “posturing” wrong.

“Let them contest so that people see who they are-small candidates who cannot be compared to the PM. Wacha watu wakutane uwanjani (Let the candidates meet at the ballot box),” he said.
Prof Gumbe submitted that the PM wanted to free himself from accusations by his rivals that he was working with the ICC to block their candidature so that he can easily succeed President Kibaki.


He stated that the PM wanted the two to be tried locally.

“The PM has always maintained that they should be on the ballot box because these people have accused him of taking them to The Hague. That is why he said they be allowed to contest so that Kenyans know who they really are,” he said on phone.

Mr Midiwo and Prof Gumbe defended the PM’s harsh remarks against Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto in March arguing that they were issued in a different context.

They argued that Mr Odinga was irked by inciting words from the prayer rallies and felt they should have been locked up.

“The PM said they should not be going around the country inciting people during their prayer rallies,” he explained.

In May, Mr Odinga held talks with the United Kingdom minister for Africa Henry Bellingham in London over the issue but the British government said it will not change its position about the ICC cases.

Asked whether the decision had been driven by the entry of Mr Mudavadi into the race, Prof Gumbe dismissed the Sabatia MP and Mr Ruto as leaders who cannot be trusted.

A former MP has beenLady Justice Kalpana Rawal ruled that the detention of former Alego-Usonga MP Otieno Mak’Onyango for five years without trial was unconstitutional, illegal and unjustified and that he was entitled to payment of damages for the inhuman act committed by state officers.

“No role can be done by state officers without remedy. Mr Mak’Onyango lost five years without friends or family and the violation of his rights he went through cannot be wished away. Sh20 million is therefore a fairer and reasonable amount to compensate him,” ruled judge Rawal.

The judge, however, absolved former president Moi from any liability, ruling that there was no evidence of personal misconduct in the detention of Mr Mak’Onyango and that it is the Attorney General who should carry the burden of illegal acts perpetrated by the government.

She said that the facts that Mr Mak’Onyango was unlawfully held in custody was not in dispute, adding that the AG failed to explain why he was held for 14 days at the GSU headquarters without being told the charges against him and being denied opportunity to talk to his family or his lawyers.

Solely liable

She ruled that the state is solely liable for holding Mr Mak’Onyango in detention without trial even after a chief magistrate directed that he be charged in a court of law.

The judge dismissed the AG's defence that Mr Mak’Onyango’s lawyers had signed a consent to delay his trial for eight months, ruling that an illegality cannot be cured by a consent even if the complainant agreed to it. awarded Sh20m compensation for unlawful detention during the attempted 1982 coup.

She ruled that the state contravened statutory laws by denying the former MP a fair hearing after failing to establish any evidence linking him to the attempted coup.

While discharging the former president from any liability, the judge ruled that the complaints raised by Mr Mak’Onyango were perpetrated by police officers who were under instructions to enforce the law.

“Any court shall not hesitate to hold the former president liable if proved he committed any unlawful act but in this case, it his personal involvement as head of state has not been proved and therefore discharge him from any liability,” ruled the judge.

Mr Mak’Onyango had submitted that Mr Moi should be personally held responsible for his detention because as the head of state, he had the preserve of ordering people to be detained and that the security officers only acted on his behalf to execute his wishes.

Personal honour

Lady Justice Rawal, however, declined to award the former MP claims for exemplary damages for loss of employment, personal honour and dignity.

She ruled that although it was not in dispute that he lost his job as a journalist, it was not right to claim he has been deprived gainful employment since he went on to publish a magazine and was one time a Member of Parliament for five years after being released from detention.

Mr Mak’Onyango sued the AG and the former president for his arrest after the 1882 attempted coup and subsequent four-year detention without trial claiming they should be held responsible for the misconduct and action of torture meted on him by the police.

The former MP was arrested in August 1982 from his place of work at the Standard newspapers without a warrant of arrest and held at the GSU headquarters for 14 days before the AG terminated his case and subsequently released by the High Court.

He was, however, re-arrested soon after the release and detained for four years without trial. He cited the particulars of malice as lack of evidence linking him to the attempted coup, inhuman treatment, torture, cruelty, loss of employment and demanded a total of Sh1.4 billion compensation.

Kenya's efforts to develop its enormous geothermal resources received a boost on Friday when the US Agency for International Development (USAid) announced a move to make American geothermal expertise available to East African countries.

USAid said it will provide an unspecified amount of funds to enable US consultants to assist geothermal development in the Rift Valley.

“Under this win-win situation, East African countries will benefit from US expertise, and US companies will benefit from increased exposure and market reach into East Africa,” said Michael Curtis, a USAid official focused on Africa.

The announcement coincided with a panel on geothermal energy organised as part of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) forum taking place in Washington.

Cornel Ofwona, a resource manager for Kenya's Geothermal Development Co, told the Agoa audience that the country is currently tapping only 210 of an estimated reserve of 10,000 megawatts of geothermal power.

Exploitation of the resource has proceeded slowly, Mr Ofwona said. He recalled that “most investors pulled out” during the 1992-2000 period “because we did not have good politics and it was a time of structural adjustment.”

Much of Africa, including Kenya, suffers from “energy poverty,” Mr Curtis said at the Agoa session. And Mr Ofwona noted that only about 20 percent of Kenya's population has access to electricity, with geothermal accounting for a significant portion of the power that is being delivered.

Kenya must increasingly rely on geothermal to meet burgeoning energy demand because the country “has almost exhausted its hydroelectric potential,” said Meseret Teklemariam, an official with the Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Program. Hydro is also “unreliable” due to “climatic fluctuations,” she added.


Geothermal development in Kenya requires huge investments of private capital, noted Chris McCormick, an executive with Reykjavik Geothermal

And “private capital has to look at ease of doing business in deciding where to deploy capital,” Mr McCormick said, adding that “East Africa is well behind schedule for where projects in that region should be at this stage.”

he late Internal Security minister George Saitoti will be laid to rest in his Kitengela farm Saturday...

By Peter Atsiaya

Three United Republican Party legislators have lashed out at Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo for claiming the party’s presidential hopeful William Ruto was a Government project.

MPs Fred Kapondi (Mt Elgon), Linah Kilimo (Marakwet East) and Boaz Kaino (Marakwet East) told Mr Jirongo to stop courting wrangles in the party for personal interests.


Speaking in Mt Elgon on Tuesday, the MPs said Jirongo’s allegations were propaganda and asked him to respect Mr Ruto.

Mr Kapondi said Jirongo’s sentiments were cries of a leader who feared democratic competition for the party ticket for presidency.

presidential nomination

“Jirongo is afraid of facing Ruto for the party presidential nominations and that is why he has started to spread propaganda that would tarnish our party leader’s image,” said Kapondi.

He added: “From Jirongo’s talk we now feel that he is the one who is a project planted in URP to undermine its leadership.”

The MP noted that they had respect for Jirongo for his contribution in developing and popularising the party and he should reciprocate by showing loyalty to the party.

Mrs Kilimo, an Assistant minister for Co-operative Development, said they had confidence in Ruto and his bid for presidency was not being influenced by any quarters.

“Ruto had shown his determination to run for presidency before this project talk came about. I wonder what Jirongo is basing his claim on to say Ruto and URP are beneficiaries of State funding,” said Kilimo.

She added that Jirongo should follow the laid down channels to present his grievances and not use funerals to undermine Ruto and URP leadership.

sponsored parties

Mr Kaino noted that they have decided to support Ruto for the party’s presidential ticket and Jirongo should look for backers and stop crying.

“URP and Ruto are not projects of anybody. Jirongo’s allegations are unfounded and he should be ignored,” said Kaino.

Differences between Jirongo and Ruto intensified over the weekend when Jirongo said Ruto was among presidential candidates sponsored by the Government.

“We are aware that the Government is sponsoring six political parties to field presidential candidates to divide communities with large number of voters so that they can retain power,” claimed Jirongo.

He claimed parties that were Government projects included URP, Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA) Musalia Mudavadi’s UDF and POA of former Cabinet minister Raphael Tuju.

Kingwa Kamencu

Kingwa Kamencu is a Kenyan politician. Educated at Nairobi university, at present she is contesting for the position of President in Kenya's forthcoming 2013 election.
Her youth and inexperience have garnered much attention. She carries the hope that Kenya can become self-sufficient and able to deal with crises such as famine and drought. Her thoughts were recorded in the Guardian,a British newspaper, in November 2011.

Mutava Musyimi

Mutava Musyimi is a Kenyan politician. He belongs to the Party of National Unity and was elected to represent the Gachoka Constituency in the National Assembly of Kenya since the Kenyan parliamentary election, 2007

Early Life & Family

Mutava Musyimi was born in 1952 to Tabitha Kisilu and veteran politician Stephen Kisilu (both deceased) in Riakanau village, Embu District. He is the third born of eight children. He grew up in a Christian home, and attended Riakanau Primary School from 1959-1965. He later joined the prestigious Kangaru School,[2] Embu in 1969. He attended the University of Nairobi (Kenyatta Campus- which later became Kenyatta University) in 1972 to pursue a Bachelor of Education degree. It was during this time that he felt the call to become a man of the cloth. After much thought, prayer and consulting, he decided to follow this route, though it took him down a different path. He later joined University of London for a Bachelor of Divinity degree and thereafter the Trinity Divinity School, Illinois for a Master of Theology degree. Upon returning to Kenya, he joined the Nairobi Baptist Church[3] as a Pastor from 1979- 1993. He married his wife Nyambura Musyimi on February 4th, 1984 and later had two children; a daughter, Mueni-Nyokabi (25), a lawyer and theology teacher and a son, Syano (23) a PhD candidate.
[edit]The Church

It was during his tenure at Nairobi Baptist Church[4] that he came to the limelight as he spoke openly against the excesses of the Moi era. He later said, '...it is at Nairobi Baptist Church I started to see the state and individuals…and the pulpit as a powerful place for speaking out against injustice...'. He joined the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) as the Secretary General and served until 2007. Under his leadership, NCCK was very vocal on human rights issues, democracy and constitutionalism. Introspectively, NCCK made huge leaps in achieving its mandate including; financial stability and sustainability, advocacy and strengthening of its systems and priorities. He led the interfaith Ufungamano Initiative that was instrumental in shaping and achieving Kenya’s new Constitution.
[edit]The State



Mutava Musyimi with Children in Gachoka
In 2007 Mutava left NCCK and ran for Parliament as Gachoka’s MP. He ran against Joseph Nyagah and won, defeating the fifty (50) year old hold the Nyaga family had on the constituency. During his tenure, Gachoka Constituency has seen improved infrastructure including new roads, piped water, electrification and better utilization and monitoring of Constituency Development Funds (CDF). In Parliament he is the current chair of the Lands and Natural Resources Committee, and a member of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee. He has been touted by several media publications to run for presidency.
[edit]Hobbies

His hobbies include farming, football, art appreciation, and meeting people. He likes to read biographies and African literature. He says ‘…I’m particularly interested in the works of the likes of Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka…it is interesting to see how they capture the disruption of [African] society by colonialism, religion…’ Mutava is currently working his way through the Bible in Swahili. He does not like movies, but when pushed on it admits to be partial to Meryl Streep especially in Out of Africa. He admires Nelson Mandela for his sacrifice and patience, Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai for her passion and persistence, Winston Churchill for his courage and discernment of the times and his late father because he was ‘…a complete person. In faith, family, politics, enterprise and community…’ Asked what historical figure he would have over for dinner if he could he answered King David of the Bible and Mahatma Gandhi. The king, because of his ability to blend all his different capacities into one human being, and the Mahatma for his deep reflections.
[edit]Presidential Ambitions

Mutava has declared his intentions to vie for the presidential seat in Kenya's 2012 General Elections. He launched his candidacy on July 2nd, 2011 in Nakuru. His slogan is 'It's Time!' or 'Ni Sasa' (translated into Swahili). His symbol is a lit candle. He is reported to be pursuing the nomination of the Democratic Party of Kenya when it selects its flag bearer.

Sir George Luchiri Wajackoyah

Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka

Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka (born December 24, 1953) is a Kenyan politician, currently serving as Vice President of Kenya. Musyoka served in the government under President Daniel arap Moi and was Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1993 until 1998; subsequently, under President Mwai Kibaki, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs again from 2003 to 2004, then Minister of the Environment from 2004 to 2005.[1] He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2007 presidential election, after which he was appointed as Vice-President by Kibaki in January 2008. Musyoka is the party leader of the Wiper Democratic Movement (formerly Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya). He also serves as Chief Commissioner for The Kenya Scouts Association


Early life and career

He was born in Tseikuru, in a remote part of Mwingi District (then part of Kitui District) in Kenya's Eastern Province. Between 1960 and 1967 he studied at Tseikuru Full Primary School to attain basic education. Then he went to Kitui High School in Kitui for the ordibary level and eventually to Meru School in Meru from where he graduated in the advanced level in 1973. Kalonzo Musyoka graduated with a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Nairobi in 1977. He continued further studies at the Kenya School of Law in 1978 where he was awarded a Post graduate diploma in Law.In 1979, he attended the Mediterranean Institute of Management in Cyprus where he earned a post graduate Diploma in Business. [3]. Recently, in 2008, he was awarded a Honorary Doctorate in Divinity among other 17 beneficiaries at the Charter hall in Nairobi, Kenya.This was one the "honorary professorships and doctorate degrees" that were issued by Prof. Clyde Rivers who is the International Commissioner of the Latin University of Theology which is based in Inglewood, California.
In December 19th, 2008, Kalonzo Musyoka was honored with a Doctorate in Humane Letters (honoris causa) in recognition of his achievements in peace making, conflict resolution efforts, sustainable community development and humanistic ideals by Kenyatta University during its 25th graduation.
[edit]Politics

Musyoka vied for the Kitui North Constituency parliamentary seat in 1983, but was defeated. At the time, Kenya was one-party state and the only party fielding candidates was Kenya African National Union (KANU). However, only two years later, in 1985 the Kitui North seat was vacated and Musyoka won subsequent by-elections, thus becoming an MP at the age of 32. In 1986 he was appointed Assistant Minister for Works, Housing and Physical planning and he served until 1988. He was re-elected at the 1988 parliamentary elections and he was appointed as the deputy Speaker to the national assembly in 1988 and [6] served until 1992.He was KANU's National Organizing Secretary from 1988 to 2002.
[edit]1992-1997 Kenyan Parliament

Kenya's first multiparty elections were held in 1992. Musyoka stayed in KANU, renewed his parliamentary position and was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. He also held couple of other ministerial positions while part of the KANU government. In June 1993, he addressed the World Conference on Human Rights in Austria which was the first human rights conference held since the end of the Cold War. He termed the illicit mineral trade which fuels and finances what he called 'the cause of incessant conflicts, environmental degradation but ultimately and sadly too, poverty'[7].The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action was the major result from this meeting after the participants reached a consensus.
[edit]1997-2002 Kenyan Parliament

He was again elected to the parliament at the 1997 elections, but now from Mwingi North Constituency, since his former constituency Kitui North was split into new constituencies.
[edit]2002-2007 Kenyan Parliament

In the months leading up to the 2002 general election, under the leadership of then KANU secretary general, Raila Odinga, he decamped from KANU to join the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as a founding member under the banner of the National Rainbow Coalition, which went on to win the general elections.

On December 1st, 2003, as the Minister for home affairs and international cooperation for Kenya, he welcomed the people to this meeting, whose theme was Strengthening the role of IGAD in regional peace initiatives and post conflict reconstruction on behalf of the republic of Kenya and thanked the Danish government, IGAD Secretariat and the ISS on behalf of the [10] IGAD Member States for their preparations and funding of the meeting.Kalonzo Musyoka was involved in the Sudan peace process between 1993 - 1997 and he was part of the team that reconstituted the draft establishing IGAD in 1995.
Musyoka became Minister for Foreign Affairs for a second time under President Mwai Kibaki, but in a cabinet reshuffle on June 30, 2004 he was moved to the post of Minister for the Environment. In late August 2004, he was additionally removed from his position as chairman of the Sudanese and Somali peace talks and was replaced by John Koech.[11] Musyoka was reportedly unhappy with President Kibaki's refusal to honour a pre-election Memorandum of understanding (MOU) which they had signed with the president's party NAK. He was one of the leaders of the successful "No"-campaign in the November 2005 referendum on the proposed new constitution. Following the referendum, he was dismissed from the Cabinet.[12]
Subsequently Kalonzo Musyoka decamped Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) into the little known Labor Party of Kenya.
Kalonzo Musyoka was widely expected to vie for the presidency in the December 2007 election. Musyoka campaigned for the ODM-Kenya ticket, facing a number of other contenders. His rating for December 2007 election steadily dropped, and political analysts wondered whether he would make a significant impact. His relationship with fellow ODM-Kenya leader Raila Odinga, who was also after the ODM-Kenya presidential ticket, was the subject of much speculation. Many observers questioned whether the presidential hopefuls of ODM-Kenya, particularly Raila and Musyoka, could unite to support one common candidate for the general election.
The ODM-Kenya split into two factions, one gathered around Musyoka and the other around Odinga, in August 2007. Musyoka was elected by his faction as its presidential candidate on August 31, 2007,[14][15] receiving 2,835 votes in a secret ballot against Julia Ojiambo, who received 791 votes.[15]
Musyoka has been quoted as saying "... the war against poverty could not be won unless environmental issues were addressed."[citation needed]
Musyoka launched his presidential campaign at Uhuru Park in Nairobi on October 14, 2007. This move was criticized by those who saw him as a traitor to the ODM party of Raila Odinga. Kalonzo however said that "atapitia katikati" (passing between two people).
[edit]After 2007

According to official results, Musyoka placed a distant third behind Kibaki and Odinga with 9% of the vote.[16] Amid a violent crisis over the results, with supporters of Kibaki and Odinga disputing the outcome, Kibaki appointed Musyoka as Vice-President and Minister of Home Affairs on January 8, 2008.Musyoka expressed gratitude to Kibaki and, referring to the ongoing dispute and violence, said that he was "intensely aware that the appointment has come at a difficult time when our nation is going through a painful moment". He took office as Vice-President on January 9
The political crisis eventually led to the signing of a power-sharing agreement between Kibaki and Odinga. In the Grand Coalition Cabinet that was announced on April 13, 2008, Musyoka remained Vice President and Minister of Home Affairs.
In 2010 Musyoka supported the draft constitution in the campaign for August 4th referendum but Members of the campaign team opposing the draft constitution claimed that he was secretly opposing the draft leading to a satirical comparison of Musyoka to a watermelon which is naturally green outside and red inside, the team supporting the draft constitution was represented by color green while the team opposing the draft constitution was represented by the color red hence the "green team" and the "red team", Musyoka's nickname watermelon was because of his alleged open support for the green team and secret support for the red team.[21]. Most of the opposers of the draft constitution were the clergy.
[edit]Personal life

Kalonzo Musyoka is married to Pauline. They have four children. He was baptized by pastor Masila Munyoki [3]. He is the patron of the Kalonzo Musyoka Foundation and he has served since 2006.

Martha Karua

William Ruto

Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 26 October 1961) is a Kenyan politician who has served in the government of Kenya as Deputy Prime Minister since 2008. He is the Member of Parliament for Gatundu South Constituency and Chairman of Kenya African National Union (KANU), which is currently part of the Party of National Unity (PNU).
Kenyatta is the son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president (1964–1978). His name, Uhuru, is Swahili for "freedom". He attended St Mary's School in Nairobi. From there he went on to study political science at Amherst College in the United States.
Nominated to Parliament in 2001, he became Minister for Local Government under President Daniel arap Moi and, despite his political inexperience, was favored by President Moi as his successor; Kenyatta ran as KANU's candidate in the December 2002 presidential election, but lost to opposition candidate Mwai Kibaki by a large margin. He subsequently became Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. He backed Kibaki for re-election in the December 2007 presidential election and was named Minister of Local Government by Kibaki in January 2008, before becoming Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade in April 2008 as part of a coalition government.
Subsequently Kenyatta was Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2012, while remaining Deputy Prime Minister. Accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of committing crimes against humanity in relation to the violent aftermath of the 2007 election, he resigned as Minister of Finance on 26 January 2012.

Political life

His initial entry into politics came through his election as the chairman of his hometown branch of the ruling party, KANU, in 1997. This came with the tacit approval of President Moi. At the time, many saw the election as a calculated move to prepare Uhuru for bigger things.
In the general election held the same year, Uhuru contested the Gatundu South Constituency parliamentary seat, once held by his father. It was assumed he would sail through. But that was not be: Uhuru lost to Moses Mwihia, a little-known Nairobi architect. After losing the election, Uhuru's friends say that he was extremely upset and that he vowed to quit politics altogether.
He hurriedly retreated to the family business empire that includes five-star tourist hotels, airlines and commercial farming. Little did Uhuru know that President Moi was still intent on propelling him onto the national political scene.
In 1999 Moi appointed Uhuru the new chairman of the Kenya Tourism Board, where he worked with Kenya's political power-broker Nicholas Biwott, a very close confidante of the president. Apparently the young Uhuru was undergoing even more intensive training. Then came October 2001 and Uhuru was nominated to parliament and subsequently to the cabinet as Minister for Local Government. In March of this year Uhuru Kenyatta made it big on the national political scene when he was elected as one of the four national vice-chairmen of KANU.
President Moi paid a heavy price for ensuring Kenyatta was KANU's presidential candidate, with several senior party figures, their own ambitions thwarted, resigning to set up another party (the Liberal Democratic Party).
In the presidential election held on 27 December 2002, Kenyatta was soundly defeated by opposition leader Mwai Kibaki, taking only 31% of the vote against 62% for Kibaki; this marked the end of KANU's continuous 39 years of rule since independence. Many attributed Kenyatta's defeat to his association with the retiring President Moi, whose long rule was widely regarded as hopelessly corrupt and ineffectual. He was also seen to be lacking experience and his campaign team lacked the big names, most of whom had left KANU to join the opposition NARC. Despite losing the presidential election, Uhuru Kenyatta won an MP seat at the Gatundu south constituency.
Since he joined Moi's inner circle, Uhuru Kenyatta has been fighting to prove that he is his own man and not Moi's stooge. In late January 2005, Uhuru Kenyatta defeated Nicholas Biwott for chairmanship of KANU, taking 2,980 votes among party delegates against Biwott's 622.[1]
Uhuru led his party Kanu in Campaigns against the draft constitution in 2005, having teamed up with the Liberal Democratic Party to form the Orange Democratic Movement. This saw Kenyans humiliate the government by rejecting the draft constitution by a noticeable margin.
In November 2006, Kenyatta was displaced as KANU leader by Biwott, although Kenyatta said he would not accept the decision. [2][3] On 28 December 2006, the High Court of Kenya reinstated Uhuru Kenyatta as KANU chairman. However, further court proceedings followed. [4] On 28 June 2007, the High Court confirmed Kenyatta as party leader, ruling that there was insufficient evidence for Biwott's argument that Kenyatta had joined another party.[5]
On 13 September 2007, Kenyatta withdrew from the December 2007 presidential election and said that he would back Kibaki for re-election.[6] He said that he did not want to run unless he could be sure of winning.[7]
Following the election, which proved extremely controversial when Kibaki was declared the victor despite claims of fraud from challenger Raila Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement, Kibaki appointed Kenyatta as Minister for Local Government on 8 January 2008.[8] After Kibaki and Odinga reached a power-sharing agreement, Kenyatta was named Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade on 13 April 2008, as part of the Grand Coalition Cabinet. He is the Deputy Prime Minister representing the PNU, while another Deputy Prime Minister, Musalia Mudavadi, represents the ODM.[9][10][11] Kenyatta and the rest of the Cabinet were sworn in on 17 April.[12][13]
To his supporters Uhuru Kenyatta is a visionary leader. Being the son of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Uhuru's upbringing was steeped in politics.
According to Uhuru, "Growing up in the Kenyatta household taught us many things. My father taught us to treat everyone fairly. He taught us the essence of justice and fairness, he told us to learn from history but not to live in history."
[edit]Minister of Finance

Uhuru Kenyatta was moved from the post of Minister for Trade and appointed Minister for Finance on 23 January 2009, while remaining Deputy Prime Minister.[14] Since his appointment, he has spearheaded a number of reform measures that have seen a change in how treasury and government by extension transacts it business. These include:
[edit]Economic Stimulus Programme
The Economic Stimulus Programme, commonly referred to as ESP Kenya Economic Stimulus Program, was launched under the leadership of Uhuru Kenyatta in his capacity as the Minister for Finance. ESP is an intensive, high impact programme, that aims to stimulate economic activity, create employment opportunities, encourage innovation in wealth-creation, spur entrepreneurship and support the building blocks that anchor a healthy, educated and innovative populace.
Kenya Economic Stimulus Program outlines various objectives which include boosting the country's economic recovery, investing in long term solutions to the challenges of food security, expanding economic opportunities in rural areas for employment creation, promoting regional development for equity and social stability, improving infrastructure, enhancing the quality of education, availing affordable health-care for all Kenyans, investing in the conservation of the environment and expanding the access to and building the ICT capacity of the general populace of Kenya.[15] In launching the Economic Stimulus Programme, the Ministry of Finance aimed to achieve regional development for equity and social stability.
[edit]Integrated Financial Management Information System re-engineered
Originally introduced in 2003 the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS)[16] was re-engineered by the Ministry of Finance to curb fraud and other malpractices that stem from inefficiency. In re-engineering IFMIS, the Ministry aimed to put Kenya's financial and economic information in a format that was accessible from an online platform which would radically improve public expenditure management under the Ministry of Finance.
IFMIS enables fully integrated planning for the budgeting process since it links planning policy objectives and budget allocation.[17] It also seeks to support the e-Government shared services strategy by taking government financial services online. IFMIS will ensure that status reports are readily available which enhances capacity to track budgets thus enabling effective decision-making. The three pronged benefits of IFMIS include leading to improvements in planning and budgeting, monitoring, evaluation and accountability and budget execution. Other benefits include aiding in the reduction in maintenance cost of government fleets in terms of fuel and spares where huge losses have been previously incurred.
IFMIS can also accommodate last minute changes on the budget more easily thereby increasing accuracy of presentation. Also, the availability of accounting information in a consolidated format will allow the government's books and those of the Central Bank of Kenya to be reconciled. In pioneering the re-engineering of IFMIS, Uhuru Treasury provided the whole of government a way of dealing with corruption; an evil that has drained Kenya's national coffers of much needed resources. With the system in place, corruption will soon be dealt its final blow.
[edit]Funds for the Inclusion of Informal Sector
Uhuru Kenyatta launched the Fund for the Inclusion of Informal Sector (FIIS)[18] which is a fund that allows Micro and Small Entrepreneurs (MSE) to access credit facilities, expand their businesses and increase their savings.
It also aims to help informal enterprises transition to formal sector enterprises through access to formal providers of financial services. The fund is a revolving fund through which the government enters into credit facility agreements with select banks for on-lending to MSEs through branches, authorized banking agents and other channels, particularly mobile banking.
It was launched in March 2011, and so far it has 3 banks, the Cooperative Bank of Kenya, Equity Bank and K-Rep bank, as partners. The launch of the fund seeks to address many of the defining challenges facing Kenya's national economy like unemployment, particularly among youths. Through the fund, the Ministry of Finance has undertaken the necessary steps to transform the SME sector to be one of the key drivers for achieving broad based economic growth, employment creation and poverty reduction in Kenya.
Its objective is to ensure that the MSE sector becomes efficient, innovative and has a diversified and competitive product range. It will also provide policies that raise the earnings and productivity of the sector and transform the sector into a more formal setup. Through directing the development of the fund, Uhuru Kenyatta sought to ensure Financial Inclusion of an estimated 8.3 million Kenyans working in the informal sector. These included 2 million in the Jua Kali sector and 5 million kiosk owners, mama mbogas and hawkers, with the rest in the informal transport sectors and the small-scale manufacturing sectors.
[edit]Investor compensation fund
The operations of the investor compensation fund which aimed to compensate investors who had lost money to defunct stock brokers such as Nyaga Stock Brokers and Discount Securities Limited were launched under his watch. In launching the operations of the fund, also ensured that the interests of future investors were safeguarded. The fund had prior to the launch of its operations been established under the Capital Markets Act.
This Fund is specifically meant to compensate investors who suffer losses resulting from failure of a licensed stockbroker or dealer to meet his contractual obligations. In both the case of the collapse of Nyaga Stock Brokers and the collapse of Discount Securities Limited all genuine claims within the statutory maximum of Sh.50,000 per every investor were compensated.
Uhuru Kenyatta also directed that interest on contributions made to the investor compensation fund be exempt from tax.
[edit]Treasury's Internal Audit Department
Through the Ministry of Finance, Uhuru Kenyatta initiated an internal audit on all donor-funded projects and found that funds given to both KESSP and WKCDD had been misappropriated. Together with the relevant ministries, Uhuru Kenyatta directed that the related staff members be suspended.[19]
The government, through treasury and public financial management reforms, strengthened audit capacity as a result of structured capacity building and the merger of all Government of Kenya (GoK) audit functions (including those of schools and local authorities) so as to enhance their independence and effectiveness. The Ministry of Finance also issued a circular to bring donor-funded projects within the mandate of the Treasury's Internal Audit Department (IAD) with an aim of effectively monitoring the use of funds allocated to these projects.
On 13 June 2011, Uhuru also released a statement on the Final Foresic Audit Report for Ministry of Education and Ministry of Medical Services. The forensic audit itself was carried out between April and September, 2010 and involved the Ministry of Finance Internal Audit Department (IAD) with technical support from DFID. This forensic audit showed misappropriations in the named ministries.[20]
[edit]Cutting government expenditure
In 2009, Uhuru Kenyatta directed that government Ministers, along with Assistant Ministers and Permanent Secretaries, should turn in their Mercedes-Benz government cars for Volkswagen Passats. In doing this he aimed not only to reduce government car costs to about two-thirds the price of a Mercedez-Benz but also to reduce the cost of running and maintaining these cars.
'Time Magazine' reported that, "Thanks to a government cost-cutting program aimed at saving taxpayers some $27 million, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta announced this summer that government ministers, along with assistant ministers and permanent secretaries, must turn in their ubiquitous Mercedes-Benz for Volkswagen Passats, which not only cost about two-thirds the price of a new Benz in Kenya, but are, says the government, cheaper to run and maintain.[21]
[edit]Use of social media in the budget making process
The Business Daily, one of the Kenya's leading financial newspapers, reported Treasury invites Kenyans to 'tweet' their budget views.[22] "Citing Article 10 of the Constitution of Kenya, which recognizes inclusiveness as part of the National Values and Principles of governance, the Minister said he was pursuing a more inclusive means of formulating the document.... Within three hours, more than 300 people had submitted responses to the Treasury using an on-line document that asked questions like which sectors should get funding and how the government could increase its tax intake."
'All Twitter' reported,[23] "In a move that might be the most social media friendly we've seen from a politician, Kenya's Finance Minister has asked his Twitter followers for their input on the country's budget – and promises to take their comments into consideration in the next draft....but this request from Kenya's Finance Minister goes above and beyond political representation to hear directly from the people.... This is a fantastic example of using social media to empower democracy.... Kenyatta has shown that any politician interested in actually hearing from the people can do so."
Uhuru Kenyatta's use of social media has endeared him to the tech savvy community in Kenya who know that to reach him, he is just a tweet away. Aljazeera's The Stream which taps into the extraordinary potential of social media to disseminate news covered Uhuru's use of Social Media in their show.[24]
The Minister also notably called on other members of parliament during his 2011/2012 budget speech to use social media to communicate directly with Kenyans.
[edit]Open government
The Minister released the budget estimates to the public through the Ministry website[25] a week before the reading of the Budget and immediately the budget was read, his Budget Speech,[26] A Citizen's Guide to the Budget,[27] were made public through his various platform. These are some of the actions that have seen him declared as a proponent of open government.
[edit]Controversies

[edit]Budgetary discrepancies
Though noted as one of the few ministers without any scandals[28], on 29 April 2009, Uhuru faced a scare after he presented a supplemental budget that was approved by parliament. The supplemental budget was to cover the budget gap that had arisen due to slow economic growth. The government required an additional Kshs 38 billion, but compromised on a figure of Kshs 22 billion and non essential proposed expenditure was postponed as a result. After voting on the bill brought forward by Kenyatta, Gitobu Imanyara brought up discrepancy questions as to what exactly had been approved by the house. It appeared that parliament had voted on Kshs 31 billion as opposed to Kshs 22 billion that they thought they were voting on – the difference totalling Kshs 9.2 billion. The Deputy Prime Minister initially defended the budget that had been passed but later admitted that there were computer or typographical errors in budget bill. An investigation by the CID and a parliamentary committee was ordered by the Speaker, to question him on the discrepancies.[29] He was later cleared of any wrong doing by the Joint Finance and Budgetary Committee on the issue.
[edit]2007-2008 post-election violence
On 15 December 2010, Uhuru Kenyatta was named as a suspect of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court prosecutor Moreno Ocampo, for planning and funding violence in Naivasha and Nakuru.[31] This was in relation to the violence that followed the bungled national elections in Kenya of December 2007. He has been accused of organizing a Kikuyu politico-religious group, the Mungiki, in the post-election violence. Uhuru maintains his innocence and wants his name cleared. On 8 March 2011, he was indicted after being summoned to appear before the ICC pre-trial chamber. He is to appear at the Hague on 8 April 2011 alongside 5 other suspects.[32] On 29 September 2011, while seeking to exonerate himself, Uhuru Kenyatta put up a spirited fight as he was being cross-examined by ICC Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo in the Hague, denying any links with the outlawed Mungiki sect. He said Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga should take political responsibility for the acts of violence and killings that followed the 2007 presidential elections in Kenya. He told the three judges that "by telling his supporters election results were being rigged, fanned tensions and then failed to use his influence to quell the violence that followed the announcement of the 2007 presidential results." (see headline of Thursday, 29 September 2011 here) Website.
[edit]Confirmation of the ICC charges
Though Uhuru had previously dismissed ICC summons[33], he changed his decision along the way and together in the company his two other co-accused suspects; Head of Civil Servant, Ambassador Francis Muthaura and former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali. The trio honored the ICC Summons that sought to determine whether their cases met the set standards for international trials.[34] On 23 January 2012, the ICC confirmed the cases against Kenyatta and Muthaura