The Star 02/01/2017

Hundreds of diplomatic changes by Foreign Affairs CS Amina Mohamed have escalated into a vicious power tussle with her PS Monica Juma, throwing the critical ministry into disarray. The details emerged as Amina was facing a historic African Union vote, which she lost to Chad’s Moussa Mahamat, unceremoniously ending Kenya’s diplomatic offensive. On January 20 – two weeks before the Monday AU election – Amina posted a record 118 staff to embassies abroad in what could have been her last major assignment. But Juma, a former Permanent Representative of Kenya to the African Union, reportedly declined to approve the changes, forcing Amina to sign them herself. The memo, sent to all heads of missions, as well as ministry directorates, was also copied to Juma. Multiple and high-placed sources told the…

MOHAMED DAHIYE Wants Liboi border reopened The Dadaab MP has urged the government to reopen the customs and immigration border point in Liboi to monitor movement of people and goods from Somalia. He said the government is losing millions of shillings as a result of the continued closure of the checkpoint. The checkpoint is less than a kilometre from Doble in Somalia. See page 35 ROBERT AYISI County plans to fire medics Nairobi county may fire 320 striking doctors and only about half of them will be replaced. The city says it has more doctors than it needs. The nationwide doctors’ strike enters its 58th day today. The county secretary yesterday told the Star the executive committee meeting decided last week on the firing and hiring. See page 27 JULIUS…

AN MP from Western Kenya has been left by his second wife for an influential public figure from the same region who has been financing the legislator and some of his colleagues to build up “Luhya Unity”. The wife, who hails from the Mt Kenya region, has been visiting her new catch for over a couple of weeks with her mother, after learning that her husband has been getting money from him. Our moles say that the man was shocked after his weekend campaigns in Western Kenya when he came home and found that the wife had vacated the Nairobi house he had rented for her. The man, who has been favouring the second wife over the first one, according to our moles, is devastated, but his first wife is…

 PRESIDENT Uhuru Kenyatta’s perceived strongholds still maintain the lead in the final national mass voter registration drive as the exercise enters its third week. THE COUNTIES THAT ARE DOING BETTER IN THE EXERCISE INCLUDE KAJIADO, WHICH HAD A TARGET OF 33,282 NEW VOTERS AND HAD MANAGED TO REGISTER 30,766 AT THE END OF WEEK TWO. OTHERS ARE MANDERA WITH A TARGET OF 37,440 OF WHICH 16,115 HAD BEEN REGISTERED; KIRINYAGA HAS 28,306 OF A TARGETED 65,722; KIAMBU, WITH A TARGET OF 250,443, HAD REGISTERED 106,223; AND MURANG’A, WHICH REGISTERED 47,497 FROM A TARGET OF 116,330. The figures released by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission yesterday however paint a grim national picture, with the number of new voters falling way below expected targets. Uhuru’s strongholds of Kiambu, Nakuru, Meru and…

The poor returns in the ongoing final national mass registration of voters come as no surprise, at least to those who follow the exercise closely. At the start of the drive mid-this month, the IEBC had planned to bag 6 million new voters by February 14. It is now very likely not even half of the initial projection will be realized. Looked at properly, the low turnout at the registration centres is a serious indictment of our governance structures, which should be synchronised for maximum cooperation and smooth service delivery. Just visit any Huduma Centre in your vicinity today. You will discover there are millions of Kenyans who are lining up, application in hand, looking for the national ID card, an important ingredient in the voter registration exercise. During the…

Stiff political competition and the need to capture the presidency necessitated formation of the National Super Alliance, NASA. It brings together the four opposition co-principals: Raila Odinga (ODM), Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC) and Moses Wetang’ula (Ford-Kenya). This united front will face the Jubilee Party spearheaded by President Uhuru Kenya, its flagbearer. Political coalitions coming together to form government have advantages. A coalition government in its structures represents the smallest and marginalised communities and gives them a stage to work and be represented. It creates a mix of ideologies and ideals. Thus, it is fertile soil for democracy. A united coalition checks monopolistic parties and individuals and breeds intellectualism and versatility in decision-making and policy formulation, generating all-round solutions. However, in Kenya, the challenges of coalition governments outweigh the…