Someone should gently tell ex-President Moi to shut up
I THINK IT IS TIME THE OLD MAN was gently and politely told to shut up before he comes across like an irascible old geezer who refuses to hold his peace.
Ex-President Moi should count himself extremely fortunate to have earned himself a comfortable retirement. He has never been hounded about the crimes of his regime or the source of his wealth. In fact he got himself a very handsome retirement package that must be the envy of many of his contemporaries.
But instead of sitting back to earn the role of an elder statesman, he is traipsing the country making ill-judged interventions on all manner of things.
Quite laughable was his bemoaning that the just-ended census fragmented the Kalenjin community by recognising its Nandi, Kipsigis, Keiyo and other components.
Mr Moi might have forgotten that it was during his time that a grand conspiracy was designed so that other major communities were fragmented into sub-group and clan units, while the distinct groupings that make up the Kalenjin were retained intact.
That one might be laughable, even though it is a serious matter as evidenced by how ethnic arithmetic has become a matter of life and death in Kenya.
Then there is Mr Moi’s tragic intervention in the Mau forest saga. Tragic because the man who posed as the environmental president presided over rampant destruction of Kenya’s forest cover, and now he wants to interfere with attempts to undo the damage wrought under his watch.
What makes it worse is that he seems to completely forget the fact that the rich and mighty in his court, including his own family, were the main beneficiaries of land-grab schemes camouflaged as resettlement for squatters.
The State House squatters of the Moi era, including powerful politicians and public servants, were guilty of grand fraud, and are now the ones still sheltering behind helpless peasants to protect their own ill-gotten land.
If he wants to retain a shred of dignity and respect, Mr Moi should be the last to side with those greedy politicians.
The impunity that allows politicians to forever utter war-cries every time their personal interests are threatened is one that must be squarely dealt with. That is the only way to ensure this country is never again subjected to stolen elections or to mass murder in retaliation.
WE SOMETIMES SEEM TO OPERATE as if the carnage witnessed in the wake of the shambolic elections of 2007 was designed by present-day politicians. The fact is that the seeds for that kind of violence were sown much earlier, information that should be within the former President’s knowledge.
The man today is behaving as if simple things escape his memory, but then maybe he is emboldened by knowledge that those in power today dare not take him to task.
In the first instance, they happily inherited graft networks he bequeathed them. Secondly, a fact not widely recognised, the man in power today, President Kibaki, owes him a big one; he was the real Moi project, the Uhuru Kenyatta thing was a just clever diversion.
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To all and singular to whom these present shall come, Greetings!
…Know ye that I, reposing especial trust and confidence in the discretion and faithfulness of the trusty and well-beloved Mr Titus Gitau, have nominated, constituted and appointed him, the said Titus Gitau, to be the Honorary Consul of Malawi…
That missive, with all the ancient and language came from the Malawi Foreign minister Joyce Banda transmitting the appointment of the aforementioned gentleman to the aforesaid office.
I suspect it is only in Africa that we still cling to such redundancy in official communication. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to see that the reply from our Foreign minister Moses Wetang’ula was nowhere near as pompous.
But so bedazzled was Mr Wetang’ula by the language of his Malawi counterpart, that having accepted the credentials of her envoy and the privileges and immunities that come with the office, he went on to state that “all of the officials of the Republic of Kenya will recognise Mr Titus Gitau as the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Liberia in Kenya”.
I don’t know whether the man thereby serves two countries or whether the Liberians will have anything to say about it. I suppose having to decipher some antiquated gobbledygook would do that. But then Mr Wetang’ula is a lawyer, and is surely accustomed to verbal garbage.
