WHY PUNGUZA MZIGO MIGHT PASS.

Ekuru Aukot, the man who has so far been held with little regard might soon occasion a major restructuring of our constitution in terms of representation and balance of power among the political class. His popular initiative proposal for a constitutional changes having been approved by IEBC is set to go to counties for approval where only a simple majority of them are required to support.

Significant in his proposals are the below 9 point changes.
1. Introduction of a one seven-year term presidency.
2. Reduction of the number of MPs from the current 416 to 147.
3. Electing one man and one woman from each of the 47 counties to National assembly.
4. Abolishing nominations in county assemblies and senate.
5. Elevating senate to be upper house with veto powers.
6. Increasing counties revenue allocation from current 15% to 35%.
7. Replacing CDF with ward development funds.
8. Life sentence for culprits guilty of corruption.
9. Abolishing of the position of deputy governor.

The major change as reflected by the name of the initiative Punguza Mzigo is the significant reduction in the number of politicians both elected and nominated from 416 to 147.





The route taken by Third Way Alliance to amend this constitution is provided for under Article 257(Amendment by Popular Initiative) and lists the steps to follow as thus:
(1) An amendment to this Constitution may be proposed by a popular initiative signed by at least one million registered voters.
(2) A popular initiative for an amendment to this Constitution may be in the form of a general suggestion or a formulated draft Bill.
(3) If a popular initiative is in the form of a general suggestion, the promoters of that popular initiative shall formulate it into a draft Bill.
(4) The promoters of a popular initiative shall deliver the draft Bill and the supporting signatures to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, which shall verify that the initiative is supported by at least one million registered voters.
(5) If the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is satisfied that the initiative meets the requirements of this Article, the Commission shall submit the draft Bill to each county assembly for consideration within three months after the date it was submitted by the Commission.
(6) If a county assembly approves the draft Bill within three months after the date it was submitted by the Commission, the speaker of the county assembly shall deliver a copy of the draft Bill jointly to the Speakers of the two Houses of Parliament, with a certificate that the county assembly has approved it.
(7) If a draft Bill has been approved by a majority of the county assemblies, it shall be introduced in Parliament without delay.
(8) A Bill under this Article is passed by Parliament if supported by a majority of the members of each House.
(9) If Parliament passes the Bill, it shall be submitted to the President for assent in accordance with Articles 256 (4) and (5).
(10) If either House of Parliament fails to pass the Bill, or the Bill relates to a matter specified in 255 (1), the proposed amendment shall be submitted to the people in a referendum.
(11) Article 255 (2) applies, with any necessary modifications, to a referendum under clause (10).

Since IEBC has verified and approved the signatures collected, Third Away Alliance has therefore passed stage 5 and so the next step is for IEBC to submit the draft bills to the counties and await the outcome.
The MCAs at the counties are the ones to consider the draft bill and interestingly the bill has a juicy aspect for them that will most likely motivate their agreement. That they are staring at the possibility of being patrons for Ward Development Fund as has been the case with MPs over CDF. What with the scrapping of CDF, an idea that already plays into the egos of MCAs waiting to display their importance as compared to MPs who now have no fund to brag with. Both current and aspiring governors will also likely support this for the sole reason that county allocations are now being increased by over 100% from the current 15% to 35%. Senators too, who are constitutionally charged with protecting the counties, and most of whom are aspiring governors are expected to support it. This stage  thus, unless something queer happens or the determinants fail to get it, can be considered done.
The next stage does not need any energy and the only remaining hurdle is the national assembly who will, and have already show the likelihood of opposing it. And so the bill gets to stage 10 where it is brought to the people to make their decision.

Kenya's Deadly Succession Politics. The Case of Prof George Saitoti.

Presidential succession politics in Kenya are the most difficult, risky and perhaps deadly. This is a snapshot of the life of one of Kenya's former vice presidents and how he didn't become.

George Saitoti who happens to have been Kenya's longest serving vice president, having served as president Moi's vice from1989-1997 and also from 199-2002 died in a plane crash in June 2012. Prof Saitoti was known to be a wealthy man. Indeed some ranked him as one of the richest men in the country with city businessmen Jimmy Wanjigi and Jared Kangwana as some of his longest family friends. In Maasai land, he was close to Harun Lempaka who had unsuccessfully tried to unseat William Ntimama from Narok North parliamentary seat, the then DPP Keriako Topiko and Alex Magelo who later became speaker of Nairobi county assembly.
Saitoti jetted back to Nairobi from Mombasa on a Saturday and called Sapalan, who had traveled to Kilgoris asking whether he could accompany them to Ndhiwa for a funds drive at Orwa Ojode’s rural home. Sapalan left Kilgoris early, trying to dash to Nairobi to link up with the minister. He however still arrived late only to hear that Saitoti and his Assistant Minister Ojode had been killed in a helicopter crash
The late Professor had lived on edge as though agents of death kept following him. His paranoia started off with a near-fatal food poisoning that traumatized him to the end of his life. This happened in February 1990 in an Indian restaurant in Nairobi’s Muthaiga area and on the day that the Foreign Affairs minister, Dr Robert Ouko, went missing. When he returned after a few months, Prof Saitoti denied “rumours” that he had been poisoned. He would later say that he did not know those who killed Dr Ouko because he “was unconscious when Ouko was being killed”. This was after President Moi had told a public meeting that the people who killed Dr Ouko were the same ones who “poisoned my vice-president” claiming they wanted to overthrow his government.

The man who was the internal security minister at the time of his death had declared his interest for presidency in 2013 general elections. Away from being the internal security minister, he had assembled what was said to be the most powerful and well-oiled campaign machine in modern Kenya drawing his strategy behind the scenes. This is according to his chief campaign strategist Peter Kagwanja who is the husband to Foreign Affairs CS Ambassador Monicah Juma.
The team was composed of two US technocrats, political scientists said to have been strategic to the Obama campaign team, Jimi Wanjigi who later became the NASA chief financier and Maina Kamanda who was assistant minister and Starehe constituency member of parliament. Also in the team was PNU organizing secretary Peter Ole Sapalan a close confidant and friend of the late Saitoti. Retired president Moi would later also reveal that he was working to boost the late Saitoti's bid for presidency.
Maina Kamanda and Ole Sapalan were tasked with mobilisng political support while Jimi Wanjigi was in charge of mobilizing campaign resources and at the time of Saitoti's death he had managed to mobilize campaign money running into billions. After Saitoti's death, the whereabouts of these billions was later to be the subject of a quiet debate among his relatives and friends in business and political circles, neither Jimi nor Kamanda willing to divulge any information regarding this cash. It is claimed that the campaign billions were wired into a foreign account days after Prof Saitoti’s death
Kamanda would later reveal that Saitoti was organizing a week-long trip to London starting June 18, the same month he died, where he was to open a PNU office and meet Kenyans living in the UK and later to the US for a similar mission. In fact at the time of his death, Maina Kamanda was in Washington to coordinate the trips and was forced to fly back moments after learning of his demise.

The only other people who would have shed light on Saitoti’s missing billions are his wife Margaret and brothers Johnson and Ronald Musengi, a commissioner at the National Police Service Commission. Margaret and Ronald maintained studious silence on the matter. Only Johnson and the professor’s long-time lawyer Fred Ngatia, opened up, but declined to discuss anything touching on Prof Saitoti, citing privacy.

Being president in Kenya is not a walk in the park, regardless of how close one is. Prof Saitoti's years of experience in politics especially at the second most pinnacle, his war chest and privilege as Internal security minister could not be underrated.

  

1989-1997 and and again from 1999-2002 Read more: https://www.tuko.co.ke/54000-photos-the-top-five-longest-serving-vice-presidents-in-kenyas-history.html#540001989-1997

1989-1997 and and again from 1999-2002 Read more: https://www.tuko.co.ke/54000-photos-the-top-five-longest-serving-vice-presidents-in-kenyas-history.html#54000

1989-1997 and and again from 1999-2002 Read more: https://www.tuko.co.ke/54000-photos-the-top-five-longest-serving-vice-presidents-in-kenyas-history.html#54000

Lord Maurice Egerton castle and the bitter love story

Lord Maurice Egerton

A story is told of a guy named Lord Maurice Egerton who was the lastborn son of a royal family in England. He was born in 1874 and had two siblings who died young leaving him as the only inheritant to the family’s vast wealth. Lord Maurice worked in the Royal Navy until 1920 when his father died. He thus succeeded his father as the fourth baron of Egerton. He loved hunting and photography and this set him on a travel tour of the world.

He came to Africa through Zimbabwe, to Congo then to Uganda and eventually entered Kenya in 1927 where he stayed for the rest of his life.

Lord Maurice settled around Nakuru where he bought acres of farming land from Delamere.

Being from a royal family, he set to marry a girl of similar status and found himself a beauty from the lineage of Queen Elizabeth named Victoria. He had built a six bed-roomed cottage where he lived and thought it impress the girl of his dream. When he invited Victoria to his house, she dismissed the cottage as a ‘chicken cage’ in which she could never live in. Lord Maurice, still hopeful for the girl, decided to build a castle magnificent enough to impress the girl. He imagined a 52-roomed mansion that would have no comparison in England or any other country. He started the project in 1938, hiring an architect from England, construction workers from Italy and labourers from India with much of the materials being imported.

Nearing completion, Lord Maurice invited his fiancé to live with him. The lady did not take more than two hours before driving away describing the house as being “small like a dog’s kennel”. She had rejected him before on several occasions in the presence of his friends. She then left Maurice and went to Australia to marry the son of another royal family.

Dejected and heartbroken, Lord Maurice decided to proceed nevertheless and completed the house in 1954. He employed 16 male servants and demanded that their women stay away and that they should never keep chicken or dogs. Men visiting him were asked to leave their women 8 kilometres away. He hated chicken and dogs because Victoria had likened his houses to them
He henceforth dedicated his life to farming, hunting and development of education giving birth to Egerton University.

He now hated women so much that he banned them from his compound and actually pinned notices on trees warning women that they risked being shot at if they ever came anywhere close to his 100-acre piece of land on which the mansion was built. Nobody was allowed into the castle except the servants. It is said that whenever he planned to visit the quarters where his African staff lived, he would issue a two-week notice so that all women could be vacated. Lord Maurice Egerton died in 1958 with no heir after living alone in his castle for only 4 years.

The magnificent castle is now owned by Egerton University as a tourist attraction.

Kenya’s Aviation Industry: The US granting of Category 1 Status.

A lot has been peddled around on the granting of category 1 status to Kenya by the US. There seems to be a huge cap of information on what this exactly means and to whom the status was granted. This is a brief explanation of the same.

Under the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) Program, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) determines whether another country’s oversight of its air carriers that operate, or seek to operate, into the US, or codeshare with a US air carrier, complies with safety standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization. A country’s oversight over its aviation industry is done by a designated civil aviation authority, and in Kenya, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA).

Codesharing is an aviation business arrangement where two or more airlines share the same flight. Sharing, in this sense, means that each airline publishes and markets the flight under its own airline designator and flight number as part of its published timetable or schedule.

The IASA program is administered by the FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation safety (AVS), Flight Standards Service (AFS), International Programs and Policy Division.

In 1991, AFS began to formulate a method to address foreign air transportation safety concerns. As a result, the IASA Program was formally established in 1992, with the purpose of ensuring that all foreign air carriers operating to or from the U.S., or codesharing with a U.S. carrier, are properly certificated and subject to safety oversight provided by a competent Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in accordance with ICAO standards.

The FAA conducts this assessment under the provisions of the Chicago Convention and applicable air transport agreements. Article 6, Scheduled Air Services, of the Chicago Convention states that, “no scheduled international air service may be operated over international or into the territory of a contracting State, except with the special permission or other authorization of that state, and in accordance with the terms of such permission or authorization.”

The assessment focuses on the country’s ability to adhere to the international aviation safety standards and recommended practices as contained in Annex 1(Personnel Licensing), Annex 6(Operation of Aircraft) and Annex 8(Airworthiness of Aircraft). It’s not about the ability of individual air carriers or airports. IASA does not evaluate the safety compliance of any particular air carrier, nor does it address aviation security, airports or air traffic management.         

This category rating done by the FAA applies only to services to and from the United States and to codeshare operations when the code of a U.S. air carrier is placed on a foreign carrier flight. It does not apply to a foreign carrier’s domestic flights or to flights by that carrier between its homeland and a third country. The assessment team looks at those flights only to the extent that they reflect on the country’s oversight of operations to and from the United States and to codeshare operations where a U.S. air carrier code is placed on a flight conducted by a foreign operator.

ICAO Document 9734, Safety Oversight Manual, outlines 8 critical elements of an effective aviation safety oversight authority which IASA focuses on to accomplish its assessment program. The 8 critical elements are:

·         (CE-1) Primary aviation legislation;

·         (CE-2) Specific operating regulations;

·         (CE-3) State civil aviation system and safety oversight functions;

·         (CE-4) Technical personnel qualification and training;

·         (CE-5) Technical guidance, tools and the provision of safety critical information;

·         (CE-6) Licensing, certification, authorization, and approval obligations;

·         (CE-7) Surveillance obligations; and  

·         (CE-8) Resolution of safety concerns.

FAA through the AFS-50 organization thus maintains and publishes a country-by-country category summary listing of IASA determinations. The result is either a category 1 or category 2 listing.

Category 1 - the FAA has found that the country’s civil aviation authority licenses and oversees air carriers in accordance with ICAO standards for aviation safety. To achieve this rating, a country must demonstrate that it meets the ICAO standards for each of the CEs.

Category 2 - the FAA has found that the country’s civil aviation authority does not provide safety oversight of its air carrier operators in accordance with minimum safety oversight standards established by ICAO i.e., the safety oversight provided by a country’s CAA was found non-compliant in at least one of the CEs.

This rating (category 2) is applied if one or more of the following deficiencies are identified:

1. the country lacks laws or regulations necessary to support the certification and oversight of air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards;
2. the CAA lacks the technical expertise, resources, and organization to license or oversee air carrier operations;
3. the CAA does not have adequately trained and qualified technical personnel;
4. the CAA does not provide adequate inspector guidance to ensure enforcement of, and compliance with, minimum international standards;
   AND
5. the CAA has insufficient documentation and records of certification and inadequate continuing oversight and surveillance of air carrier operations.

Foreign air carriers from countries with an IASA Category rating have the following technical permissions regarding economic authority:

Ø  Carriers from Category 1 countries are permitted to operate into the U.S. and/or codeshare with U.S. air carriers in accordance with Department of Transportation (DOT) authorizations.

Ø  Carriers from Category 2 countries that operate into the U.S. and/or codeshare with U.S. air carriers have such services limited to levels that existed at the time of the assessment.

Ø  Carriers from Category 2 countries that seek to initiate commercial service into the U.S. and/or seek to codeshare with any U.S. air carrier are prohibited from initiating such services.

It’s instructive to note that the FAA reserves the right to remove a country from the IASA summary listing and the AFS has a procedure for doing this when:

• after a four year period, a country has no air carrier providing air transport service to the U.S.,
• none of the country’s air carriers participate in code-share arrangements with U.S. air carriers, and
• the country’s CAA has ceased interacting with the FAA for an extended period of time.

Therefore it behoves Kenya through KCAA to continually review our compliance with ICAO standards and recommended practices to maintain our status and position ourselves as the leader in aviation industry in Africa and even globally.

There are currently 5 African countries in the IASA PROGRAM summary listing; Ghana in category 2 and Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia and latest Kenya in category 1. This rating thus serves to boost the country’s status as one among those with premier aviation industries. It is also a boost on the economy as it provides new routes for the national carrier apart from enhancing trade between Kenya and the US.

Note: There is a different categorization of aerodromes (based on rescue & firefighting capacity and risk assessment), and instrument runways for varied operations.

REFFRENCES

1.    ICAO DOC 9734, Safety Oversight Manual

2.    Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 46 / Friday, March 8, 2013 / Rules and Regulations

3.    https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/iasa/checklists/

4.    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeshare_agreement

5.    https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/iasa/media/FAA_Initiatives_IASA.pdf

The Maverick ~ Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophisitication.: Bishop Cornelius Korir: The Peacemaker.

The Maverick ~ Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophisitication.: Bishop Cornelius Korir: The Peacemaker.: The departed Bishop Cornelius Korir has been described by many as the epitome of peace building in the North Rift region. He helped b...

Drones, Helicopters and Aviation Regulations in Kenya

• Drones: About 5,000 drones (mostly toy ones)  have been confiscated at Nairobi’s airport (JKIA). They have drafted new policy procedures and rules for drones that awaiting approval by the attorney general, but for now, their usage is still illegal.
• US Flights: The country has now got category one status. There will be one more inspection later this year after which Kenya Airways can apply for rights and probably start flying to the US in April 2018. He expects 75% of the tickets to be taken up by US businesses people travel to Africa with Kenyan diaspora making up 15% and the rest as leisure travel.
• Expensive Tickets: About 43% of the cost of an air ticket in Kenya is taxes. There is a strategic plan to make six East African countries a domestic market which should lower airline taxes per ticket from the current Kshs 5,000 to 500 and this will enable more and cheaper flights in the region.
• 80% of KCAA’s income comes from airlines over flying Kenya which is strategically placed in Africa.
• Helicopters: There are 88 licensed helicopters in Kenya, and 60 are operating. Also, the KCAA expects about 40 more to arrive to be used in campaigns for the August 2017 election. Their biggest problem they have are with “James Bond incidents”  (people hanging on skids) and the Director urged media to report such on incident for them to take action on  act on operators
• Opportunities: There are 100 licensed helicopter pilots and this is not enough; there are many more jobs as helicopter pilots, aviation engineers, and safety operators. Entering these sectors is not cheap as it costs Kshs 2 million to be a private helicopter pilot and about Kshs 6 million to be a commercial helicopter pilot, with part of this high cost being due to the cost of avgas as pilots have to spend many hours in training. (While petrol is Kshs 95 per liter, Avgas is 150).
• Training: There is a big concern about colleges claiming to offer aviation courses, but which are not in fact certified by the KCAA. Anyone seeking to operate in the sector is re-examined

Bishop Cornelius Korir: The Peacemaker.

The departed Bishop Cornelius Korir has been described by many as the epitome of peace building in the North Rift region. He helped broker peace deals in ethnic conflicts pitting Kalenjins vs Kikuyus in Burn Forest, Yamumbi, Kapteldon, Kimumu, Kabiemit, Ilula, Munyaka, Kimuri and Kiambaa in Uasingishu most of which were a result of build up political tensions in 1992,1994, 1997 and the 2007 PEV. He also helped ease tensions between the Pokots and Marakwet in Keiyo, conflicts arising from primitive entitlement to cattle, grazing fields, water points and cattle rustling. The celebrated Bishop developed a peace building model documented in an 84-page book titled; Amani Mashinani: Experiences of Community Peacebuilding in The North Rift Region of Kenya. It's a great peace outlining 12 steps of peace building and the desired qualities of a peacemaker. Rich in content, illustrations and field experiences I find the model apt in establishing sustainable and lasting peace solutions at our borders of Maasai/Kipsigis in Transmara.

Attached herein for persons interested. https://www.crs.org/sites/default/files/tools-research/amani-mashinani.pdf

May the good Bishop find peace in his rest as he always aspired to establish in this world.