Anglo Leasing: Is the Nation being sincere?

By EVANS CHEKMOENG

The Nation Media Group (NMG) is thoroughly a Kikuyu outfit which has and continues to ably serve that community. The so-called Anglo-Leasing expose was to me really an expose of NMG for who they really are - entrenched tribalists who would use every hook and crook to keep the Mt. Kenya Mafia in power! Why did they keep this quiet all along? Whatever they wrote is simple common knowledge for almost a year since Githongo resigned. In fact even Sir Edward Clay had raised the same issues last year and what did NMG do? They joined the Kikuyu hegemony in lambasting Clay for being disrespectful to a sovereign nation - Kenya! Why didn't they publish the full Clay expose (word for word instead of the edited version) then? Of course they knew it would hurt their grand Banana Campaign! Why now pretend to be custodians of - truth - when all along they peddled falsehood by withholding the truth? The Githongo dossier is allegedly 91 pages according to UK newspapers like The Times and The Guardian. Yet whatever NMG serialized was a cannibalized, mutilated version of the contents of the original! Why did they not mention in detail Jimmy Kibaki's alleged role in Anglo Fleecing? Why also did they circumnavigate Kibaki's active role in the same? Why did they give us bits and pieces instead of solid investigative journalism - having names and places, etc? Talk of investigative journalism at its best; oh no at its worst!

The other person I personally do not give a damn to is Githongo. In fact I agree with one Kenyan blogger who has given him the Coward of the Year (2005) Award! Why did he keep quiet in UK for a whole one year before now allegedly "spilling the beans"? His reason according The Guardian about his "conscience" is as hollow as indeed that same conscience! Where was Githongo when Kibaki, Kiraitu, Murungaru, et al. were looting the Kenyan economy last year in order to push the horrendously flawed Draft Constitution down our throats? If he had spoken then, it would have put paid the Banana Campaign. But being a nice Kikuyu he chose to serve his tribe by keeping his mouth shut! In that case, let his mouth remain shut. And when time comes to haul Kibaki and his collaborators into jail for gross mismanagement, Githongo should go to jail ahead of them for abetting grand corruption! Even the issue of his security is a NMG fictitious imagination; if Kenyan hitmen could get Akasha wherever he was, who is Githongo in Oxford? National heroes have been people who put their lives on the line for the sake of the country. I dare Githongo to come home and let’s see if he will be killed! His Kikuyu bed-fellows cannot kill; they need him just as they needed him when Kibaki appointed him the anti-graft czar without any commitment whatsoever! Some stories are doing rounds that his brief transfer from State House to work under Kiraitu was done without Kibaki's knowledge! Come on; who can believe this hogwash? That we have a president so senile who cannot even know the composition of his cabinet before he announces it; and even when he realizes that there are some "strange" changes in the "original" list, still goes ahead to announce the list! These arguments, mostly fronted by NMG, do not hold water. They simply want us to believe that Kibaki is "sick". But surely if he is "sick" to that extent, why didn't NMG tell Kenyans the truth when he supposedly suffered multiple strokes? Better still why cant NMG tell the truth by outlining to Kenyans the exact nature of the "sickness" and then push for a healthy leader? Take my word, if we had a "sick" president who is not from Mt. Kenya, NMG would have led the pack in telling the "truth" and would not rest until we got a "healthy" Kikuyu president!

If indeed NMG was keen and sincere on exposing the stinking corruption in the Kibaki Administration, they would have a field day. Let them give us a list of all the ministers and MPs who we hear were each paid to deliver the Banana vote in their constituencies! Or let them expose how ministers in the Kibaki Administration have suddenly become millionaires! How come some have been able to put up grand palaces in Karen within only three years of being a minister? What of the mansions others are building in various posh parts of the country including along Mombasa beaches? Why can't they expose the elaborate drug syndicate which implicates some of the high and mighty in Kenya? Come on NMG, give us a break!

The truth is that Nation completely lost out to Standard (and KTN) ever since the Referendum debate. When we Kenyans (not from Mt. Kenya) realized the brazen and arrogant manner in which NMG pushed the Banana Agenda, we said enough is enough. To add insult to injury, Citizen, Kameme, KBC and other Kikuyu-owned media franchises like The People went to bed with the Kibaki Administration and vowed to dish out outright lies. As if Kenyans are pigs! Right now the readership of The Nation and The People and the viewership of NTV has plummeted to an all-time low. I guess if the trend continues the Nation will become like the Kenya Times during the Moi era - fit only for Government offices! I personally know of many friends (myself included) who were ardent readers of Nation but who have since the Referendum switched to Standard. Go to Kisumu City and you will be lucky to find anyone buying Nation!

Whatever NMG is now thumping their chest about exposing, all along Standard and KTN have raised the issues. There was absolutely nothing new that was "exposed" by the last Sunday Nation which has not been in the Standard before. Maybe the dates of the lunches that Kiraitu and Awori had to cover up Anglo Fleecing! Otherwise hard facts have basically been there. In fact Standard and KTN withstood a horrible media onslaught including some of their reporters being banned from covering Kibaki's events! Remember the recent Standard photo of empty seats at the swearing ceremony of Kibaki's suicidal cabinet?

NMG is in a state of panic and they are desperately trying to fool Kenyans, forgetting that Kenyans are much brighter than the bigheaded Mt. Kenya hegemony! We are seeing right through the veneer and instead of gaining mileage, they are simply sliding further down the pigsty. The only way forward for NMG is an UNCONDITIONAL APOLOGY to Kenyans for their bigoted, tribalized agenda all along. Do you even remember during the 2002 General Elections when NMG campaigned for Uhuru without shame (Uhuru's and Kanu's record notwithstanding)? Until and unless we get this apology (with accompanying demonstration of a Saul-on-Damascus-road conversion, I think non-central Kenyans are tired and sick of being treated as second-class citizens. You see, even after the No victory, one expected some toning down of language and even a change in the way NMG does things. Nothing; instead they continued to strengthen the Kibaki lame-duck government. We recall very clearly that even when Kombo and Ngilu stage-managed the "cabinet boycott", NMG did not even have the courtesy to keep Kenyans abreast with the developments; there was no online breaking news or even a special print edition like the Standard did! Of course NMG knew the issue was stage-managed; but I got sick of the manner in which they even stage-managed their news coverage during the time.

Guys from Central Kenya are in a state of panic. They want to keep power at whatever cost. So even this Anglo-Fleecing "expose" is merely to ensure Kenyans get to see some more sacrificial lambs are offered to atone for the Mt. Kenya Mafia then it will be business as usual. But take it from me: the rest of Kenyans are bored stiff with being ruled by guys from Mt. Kenya. This time Kibaki has pushed us against the wall and I do not see another Mt. Kenya president in the foreseeable future. Whatever they do, let them be ready to eat humble pie and let other Kenyans a chance to lead this great country.

In fact the fatigue with Mt. Kenya leadership is not only in the political arena. We are also tired of it in the churches and Christian organizations! I know this will stir the hornet's nest, but we need to launch a campaign to rid our key churches Christian institutions of mediocre Mt. Kenya leadership! I may be sounding tribal here but the truth has to be told: over 80% of key leaders of churches and Christian organizations are Kikuyus (or Mt. Kenya in general). Are we the better or the worse for it? I firmly believe that we are all the worse for it!!! Name them - NCCK, ACK, PCEA, EAK, JIAM, DC, etc! My thesis is that there has to be a Christian leadership revolution alongside the political revolution if we are to ever begin to see credible Christian leadership emerging in Kenya. At the moment we are having Mt. Kenya guys appointing their own even when they know full well that the leaders are not qualified at all! As if we do not have qualified and able guys from other parts of the country! I do not mean that leaders who are not from Mt. Kenya will be angels; we are all fallen beings but at least let us give other tribes an opportunity to try their hands at leadership.

Of course closely related to this is the economic stranglehold that Mt. Kenya has on Kenya. Apart from the multinationals and Asians (who they are causing to flee Kenya), they control virtually every aspect of our economy. While they have to be commended for being innovative, "hard-working", business minded, etc, we must question what type of economics is this that only trickles back to Mt. Kenya and not the rest of the country! We are having a new breed of "fresh, young" Kikuyu executives who are swimming in money at a time when most parts of the country are burying themselves in poverty! Not to mention the older folks like Njega (who owns coffee plantation the size of a whole location in prime-land central province), Kuguru, etc. The gap between the rich (Kikuyus) and the poor (rest of Kenyans) is alarming and cannot be sustained! As a result of economic power, Mt. Kenya Mafia wants to control every aspect of our national life. And any attempt to change the status quo is met with economic sabotage! Surely, we cannot continue as a country this way. Let there be equitable distribution of wealth.

Well, these are my thoughts on the matter.

Comments on this article are welcome on this blog but personal correspondence for the writer may be channeled via: chekmoeng-offers@yahoo.com

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