Keep presidential frauds out of State House

Keep presidential frauds out of State House


It is no longer safe to dress like a sheep to enter the chicken coop. You could be stripped to expose the rot in the deep recesses of your conscience.

Reform pretentions did not work for judges who wanted promotion as Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice, with Judicial Service commissioners asking dreaded questions.

False pretences should not work for presidential frauds scheming for the Kibaki Succession. They can buy the loyalty of your MPs, but tell them you need more than mere handouts. Tell them you want your country freed from the stranglehold of the impudent.

Presidential aspirants should be similarly interrogated to expose integrity frauds masquerading as new generation saviours. Some presidential aspirants are children and beneficiaries of impunity.

Some are working for ‘impunists’ to reclaim the past. There is a coalition against change expected to come with full implementation of the new Constitution.

Panelists to interrogate presidential pretenders shall be you — the electorate — who often eat fruits of bad leadership. It is this poor leadership that causes infectious sadness. Famine, unemployment, disease, drought, inflation, ignorance, and impunity romp the countryside with the rage of a randy bull. Someone of courage must slay this beast of impunity.

You have a chance to probe reform credentials of this clutter of wannabe presidents. With the new Constitution, and especially Chapter Six placing a premium on integrity, there is a detergent to sanitise public consciousness for greater civic responsibility.

The electorate — you and I — must resolve to ban change frauds from State House. You have to respect this resolution by registering as a voter and making informed choices. A single vote for a national cause counts. It counts because popular vote for change begins with individual citizens who are conscious of their civic responsibilities. You develop a critical mass of change agents by mobilising right-thinking individuals to buy into the cause.

The 2002 election fraud is a good reminder. The con was possible because fundamental questions were not asked. Change of guard at the top did not translate into change of values. Wolves were allowed to dress in sheepskin with impunity. The same wolves are grooming wolverines for succession.

The dream of a rainbow nation working for the national good was hijacked. Many politicians changed coat during the 2002 election, pretending to be what they were not, with promises they did not intend to keep. They signed accords they trashed at the first opportunity. They thanked you on day one, but locked the doors on your expectations once they entered the citadel.

"I feel extremely happy to address you today. I am overwhelmed by your love. I am emboldened by your support and enthusiasm. I am thrilled by your sense of dedication and commitment. You have renewed my hope and strengthened my belief in the greatness of this country. Now, all of us, both young and old, men and women, Kenyans of every ethnic group, race or creed, have embarked on a journey to a promising future with unshakeable determination and faith in God and in ourselves."

Easier said than done. They may not even want you to remember the glowing gratitude to an electorate that, within weeks became victims of unexamined leadership choices.

The sacred cows

If corruption had been slain as pledged, and impunity banished as promised, justice would not be stealing sacred cows from our midst about ten years into a regime that promised a new beginning.

First justice came for the ‘Ocampo Six’ to answer changes related to 2007 post-election violence. And now it is seeking rendition of the ‘Jersey Two’ to answer to multiple corruption charges and causing power outages.

"Corruption will now cease to be a way of life in Kenya and I call upon all those members of my government and public officers accustomed to corrupt practices to understand there will be no sacred cows under my government."

The mess is there for everyone with eyes to see, and ears to hear, about a decade into the new beginning. You know history is littered with leaders who promise new beginnings but end up drawing inspiration from the past. Silas the albino monk of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code cannot be in a safer company.

It is you to decide whether to continue doing the same things the same way, and still expect different results. A people get the leaders they deserve. Several times bitten, we should know better.

The culmination of the greatest leadership fraud was the nation-wrecking violence that followed the mangled 2007 presidential election. Wolves had discarded sheepskins.

Status quo established its dominance, with security agencies defending party and ethnic interests. Impunity had stamped its authority. Corruption and abuse of office become the dominant ways of life.

There is hope the past could be locked out, with probity gaining momentum to wash out wet wax from the ears of the voting masses.

Rank outsiders are gaining acceptance as antidotes for impunity and the Judiciary could admit two fire-spitting reformers to the Bench. It is the turn of wananchi to interrogate reform credentials and integrity of politicians nursing presidential pretentions.

Never again should we allow ourselves to be manipulated.

Writer is The Standard’s Managing Editor, Quality and Production.

The Felice Brothers escape the confines of Americana

Folks in upstate New York make albums a little differently, at least if the Felice Brothers' legacy is any indication. After recording their last two albums in a converted chicken coop, brethren Ian and James rounded up their non-Felice cohorts and upgraded to the gymnasium and auditorium of a former high school.

"It hadn't been that long since kids were there, but just enough of an amount of time to make it like a little eerie," says bassist Christmas Clapton of the unusual location in Beacon, a small town some 60 miles due north of New York City. "The auditorium was great — a big room that had a stage and theater seats and stuff like that — but it felt really spooky. It definitely had a vibe."

As does Celebration, Florida, the resulting album that's slated for release next month on the Fat Possum label. A more ambient, less structured work than its predecessors, this is the record that could finally put a damper on critics' perennial comparisons to Dylan, the Band, and contemporary Americana bands.

In addition to the change of venue, the group was operating with one less Felice brother. Drummer Simone left in 2009 to start his own group called The Duke & the King, and was subsequently replaced by Dave Turbeville.

While the Felice Brothers' music has never been as genre-bound as it's made out to be, Celebration, Florida does stand out from the group's earlier efforts. "Fire at the Pageant" is a chunky, rustic number that turns into a shout-along anthem before segueing into "Container Ship," a track that introduced the aforementioned ambience along with sleek keyboard textures and clunky, old-school jabs of percussion. "Honda Civic," by contrast, is a brash rocker that shifts between funky horns and galloping punkish rock. And in the spirit of possibly haunted gymnasiums, "Dallas" is a ghostly, mostly acoustic ballad with strains of old-time country.

That said, this latest album continues to build upon the group's track-record of shambling, rough-around-the-edges, frequently unpredictable roots-rock.

It's an approach that dates back to the band's early days busking in New York City subways. After some proper gigs that generated a growing buzz, the band did some national touring, self-released a 2006 debut album, Through These Reins and Gone, and signed to Conor Oberst's Team Love Records.

While the Felice Brothers now have no problem filling up clubs across the country, they'll still occasionally set up on the street, just to have some fun and keep in touch with their roots. Clapton says the busking experience continues to inform the Felice Brothers' live shows, which can often be spontaneous, unpredictable and rowdy affairs.

"People, when they're walking by, they don't really want to hear your band or anything," he says of the primary street-performance dilemma. "They just want to go buy some cigarettes or something. So we just would have to kind of catch peoples' eye by doing whatever ridiculous shit we could think of. It also made us play louder and scream and stuff like that. I think once we got into that, we were never able to shake it."