In Meg Whitman, Kenya is about to have a US ambassador unlike anyone before her for the better

I am one of those who scratched their heads as to why former HP CEO and billionaire Meg Whitman would want to be ambassador to Kenya and not SOS or closer higher ranking ambassadorial appointment but having met a friend of hers recently while visiting motherland, it turns out we have been scratching our heads for nothing because the friend told me the lady has an affinity with Kenya and simply wants to use the position to help bring about the economic development the country yearns but has never reached her potential.

The US Senate is now poised to grill Meg Whitman in her confirmation hearings according to Business Daily It will be interesting to hear what she says publicly in her confirmation about the FTA negotiations trump started but were put on hold by Biden.

It is a touchy subject involving ongoing tense US-China relations but given her strong interest in promoting US FDI investment in Kenya, look for her to strongly favor the completion and implementation of FTA. We need and must have the FTA.

Needless to say, Whitman is the ideal ambassador for Kenya and will make all previous ambassadors, especially the most recent pale in comparison.

She will no doubt be confirmed and with the August 9th elections coming on the heels of her taking over as US ambassador in Kenya, the country is poised to enjoy a double dose of good tidings when Azimio’s Raila Odinga and Martha Karua are sworn as president and deputy president, respectively following the August elections as is widely expected. Quibble with that if you must but be prepared to accept the outcome when things come to pass as is widely expected.

Things couldn’t look better for Kenya looking ahead and it’s now only a matter of time to start witnessing and enjoying the much-needed transformation of the country that has been elusive all these decades and none other than President Uhuru Kenyatta gets partial credit for getting us to this point.

Uhuru now has less than 3 months to hand over the baton to the aforementioned team which is poised to sweep the elections and brings us the other good tiding besides Meg Whitman’s taking over as US ambassador to Kenya, and that is unprecedented economic development and a real and serious effort to combat and reduce or completely eliminate the corruption that has been chronic and getting worse.

I know no one serious who cannot be for that and if you are one of those it is either nani or the country be damned, we are praying for you to change your ways and start looking at Kenya from a different prism

 

Kalonzo Has No Choice Except Staying with Baba

For those who follow or read my weekly column for the last 10 years and counting or what I write in my blog Current Affairs in Kenya or on social media, you’ll know what I have written about former Vice President and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka. You can search and read those articles here where links to both my blog and Star columns can be found.

No need to regurgitate that here, including my saying though once hated for what he did when the country erupted in violence following the 2008 election, I forgave him.

That was in 2012.

Kalonzo would later apologize as he teamed up with Raila to give President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto a run for their money in the 2013 elections.

This was the election during which I have written how I met Kalonzo at Ole Sereni as we were waiting for NASA flagbearer Raila Oding to go for the last rally at Nyayo stadium for that election year. I noted how Kalonzo took from his pocket a picture depicting a caricature of him and he expressed irritation as to why Kenyan bloggers and others on social media would be that uncouth in their meanness and insults.

I told the Vice President then I was not one of them and even though I had written critically about him, I will never cross the line of decency and decorum to insult, demean or disrespect someone of his stature.

Or anyone for that matter, except those who beg for it and I have no issue serving that on a golden plate.

On or about January 10, 2022, I was contacted by a friend who is one of Kalonzo’s inside team. Though I have known him for more than 2 decades, we rarely communicate other than once in a while on social media, usually on Twitter inbox.

On this communication, the gentleman, let’s just call him “Joe” for convenience said he wished us to talk on the phone, and we did. Joe told me the Kalonzo team would like to have me help organize a visit for him to the United States, which Joe knows I do as part of my professional work as in-house counsel for a major lobbying group in Washington for clients interested in coming to Washington and meeting with the essential parties. Part of the trip was to arrange for Kalonzo to meet and greet Kenyans in the United States–something I would later lead efforts as Chairman of the US national organizing committee to arrange for Baba and Azimio, which was a smashing success as I noted in my column Raila’s Trip to US a Smashing Success.

One of the reasons Joe told me why Kalonzo wanted to do this trip, was because he was–and I assume he is to take up diaspora issues as one of his priorities in the next administration he, of course, had to know and assume to be Baba, given he by then had agreed in principle to join Azimio.

I told Joe that would be all good and well but, because Kalonzo had not come on board with Baba fully, and notwithstanding the fact Joe had assured me he would in due course, it would be difficult for me to get involved as that could create a conflict of interest, or the appearance of one, especially among those who may not understand the separation of business and politics.

Joe then reassured me despite what was being said in public, including by Kalonzo himself, the Wiper leader was ready to join Baba. I also was privy to ongoing negotiations between Kalonzo and Baba as well as other key political leaders.

With this unequivocal reassurance, which I had zero reasons to doubt for I have known Joe for a long time to be a straight shooter, I sent him the following message on January 25, 2022:

Hi brother sorry I have been swamped and now on second thought, I am planning to be in Nairobi in 2 weeks’ time. I think let us plan on meeting when I come to map this out. Alternatively—and this is something I have also thought, I was asked some time ago to be part of this organization that is one of the many involved in diaspora affairs I have been asked to join but haven’t bothered for years primarily because they all either fizzle out without accomplishing whatever they intend or the same backwardness of tribalism creeps in and renders them useless from my perspective. Anyway, this [group] is unique and I know its founder. We don’t see eye to eye on much politically but we have mutual respect for each other. In fact, he calls me uncle and I call him nephew because he once said I remind him of his uncle. This happened because of how I handled him at the height of 2007 elections when he was a leading anti-Railaist. Our Internet wars are for the books but we always kept them above the usual insults lobbed with abandon by those incapable of debating or simply stupid. Ok I didn’t mean to write a book but my point is I may talk to this gentleman and gauge how to involve him simply because he has the organization through which we can get this done instead of starting from scratch.

To this, Joe replied saying,

[8:55 AM, 1/25/2022] XXXX: Hi Ndugu, that’s perfectly fine with me. It’s all about working towards a common goal.
[8:56 AM, 1/25/2022] XXXX: Let’s purpose to do coffee and getting things running during your visit.

Unfortunately, I did not travel within the 2 weeks due to unavoidable circumstances but I finally travel to Nairobi on 15th March 2022. We agreed to have breakfast at my hotel and then on Monday, Joe and I were to meet with Kalonzo as by this time Kalonzo had publicly announced he will be working with Baba in Azimio. The meeting was to exclusively discuss and agree on the way forward with Kalonzo’s intended trip to the United States.

On that same Friday morning (18 March 2022), my column Political Zoning Must Be Rejected. For those who knew or know now, political zoning was a matter near and dear to Kalonzo and I took the opposite position where he was, and still maybe.

My breakfast with Joe was to be at 7 AM Friday morning. I received apologies from Joe and the meeting never took place, neither did the Monday one with Kalonzo as the whole idea was to prep for it before the main one and since we did not meet, and I could not meet over the weekend as I was away from Nairobi for the weekend, and given I was leaving the country altogether on Tuesday, that was that.

I have maintained and will continue to maintain Kalonzo will be in the Baba government or, as I recently postulated in a Facebook:

Despite naysayer’s protestations to the contrary, I have maintained for a long time since BBI collapsed that Kalonzo will be in Baba’s government. That shall come to pass God willing. Now, on being running mate for Baba, if I were Kalonzo I would kindly ask and be given several cabinet dockets, including one critical to Kambaland and to be made Speaker of the National Assembly in the next Parliament. This fits in well as the statesman he is and parks there as he awaits his turn at the presidency. He can slog it out with HMK and Baba will hand over the baton to one of them.

This is the right thing for Kalonzo to do, namely, stay put in Azimio and milk it for what it’s worth short of the running mate position.

Anything else will be political suicide.

 

ALfred Mutua and the Politics of Me, Me, and I

My response:

David Murathe sums it all nicely:

Now you know…again, Mutua is not alone; when all the books and narratives are written about the 2022 elections, the words of the late President Daniel Arap Moi about not being worried about many politicians because they can be bought and paid off with “100 bob” will ring even more true.

Except you must factor in that even Moi did not know to what extent the coffers will be financing this new cottage industry which is comical even as it is endemic and a shameless evisceration of what political and democratization gains we have had since Moi uttered those words.

Add Moi’s warnings about “watu ambao hawana msimamo,” then you only get to understand half of the problem in this experiment we have had called Kenyan democracy.

But don’t worry if you are a progressive like yours truly; Baba will fix all that as the 5th.

 

Raila’s Running Mate Interviews is a Formality

 

US Position on Kenya’s Upcoming Elections

KNEEDLER: US does not have preferred candidate in August
P.S. This is a carefully worded piece but don’t hedge your bet on it; it’s akin to a parent being asked the question who is your favorite child? The dumb ones will answer truthfully #AzimioLaUmoja

 

Martha Still Leads Kwa Barabara na Kwa Points

The Star reports that the ruling Jubilee Party has presented two names to the Azimio Running Mate Selection Panel for consideration. These are Hon. Sabina Chege and Hon. Peter Kenneth.

As I told her during Azimio Baba’s recent visit to Washington led by Baba and since, Hon. Sabina Chege is impressive with her political acumen and leadership.

It was a pleasure being introduced to her and interacting as much as we did to gain more insights into her views.

However, I am sure even she would agree this is Baba’s time ditto HMK. Her time will come in due course, and I know she will be pulling for Azimio and Baba through and through regardless of who is picked for Baba’s running mate.

That is what good leaders do and she is one of them.

So, the main takeaway from this piece is not that both she and Hon. Peter Kenneth have been fronted by Jubilee as the party’s picks for Baba’s running mate, is that, unlike Deputy President William Ruto, Baba has a slate of stars to pick from and any one of them fits the bill as good as any.

Ruto, on the other hand, has a band of lightweights and worse to pick from who pale in comparison to Baba’s reservoir of excellent potential picks.

Anyone would rather be in Baba’s shoes.

 

Kalonzo Musyoka In Win-Win Posture