Why uhuru skipped ojode burial

The lead role in ICC duties, evaded skillfully by Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa, will now fall on others, changing the dynamics of the presidential race and affecting allincs. In their absence, it fell on Prof Saitoti to take a bigger role in the Kibaki court, even as he ran the powerful and pivotal homeland security docket, customarily only held by the most trusted lieutenants. Domestically, he championed police reforms and led the teams crafting new administrative regions in a bold and controversial reorganisation of Government.

He was poised to play a critical role in the transitional election next year, overseeing security of the exercise with a larger, revamped Police Service. In the Kibaki succession politics, Prof Saitoti kept his cards close to his chest, only citing his experience as one of the reasons he was in the race.

His role in executing the Free Primary Education programme, a success despite teething problems and later the rise of corruption, was proof of this experience. The website howstuffworks.

It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance, the helicopter stops flying, immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter. The pilot has to think in three dimensions and must use both arms and both legs constantly to keep a helicopter in the air.

Piloting a helicopter requires a great deal of training and skill, as well as continuous attention to the machine. Retired Kenya Air Force pilot, Capt John Kioko, agrees that while a fixed-wing plane can glide, reducing fatalities, a helicopter falls like a stone from the sky.

Helicopters are unable to operate in extreme bad weather conditions and are said to be more dangerous at night, which is why during the NO and Yes campaigns for the new constitution, a pilot refused to fly a Cabinet Minister back to Nairobi. She had extended a meeting to 6.

In April this year, a hiker on Mt Kenya died when a Lady Lori helicopter dispatched to rescue him failed to fly up the mountain due to bad weather. Since the first helicopter flew in Kenya, there have been numerous fatal accidents involving civilian and military helicopters blamed on various reasons and, according to the American Space Agency, NASA, helicopters crash 10 times more than other types of aircraft.

An inquiry found out that the aircraft had not been properly serviced. On January 4, , six Kenya Air Force men were killed when their helicopter, a French-made Puma, ploughed into a clump of trees and burst into flames, Salama, Makueni.

A year later, a military chopper carrying him failed to take off after a function in Kapenguria. Captain Nyanjui would be involved in another chopper accident in December , this time alone when his chopper developed electrical problems and crashed in Mt Kenya. He was rescued a week later having survived on leaves.

He vowed to keep on flying. Calls to get have his take on helicopters went unanswered. In September , a helicopter carrying three tourists went down in Mount Kenya, killing one of them.

Two years later, Cabinet ministers Franklin Bett and Noah Wekesa narrowly escaped death when their helicopter crash-landed in Keiyo on December 17, In October a military chopper crashed during takeoff at Liboi killing all the five on board at the start of Operation Linda Nchi. Despite the growing list of helicopter accidents, the aircraft is increasingly being used by Kenyan politicians and business executives because of its ability to land in remote places without airstrips.

Before , the use of government helicopters was strictly limited to President Daniel Moi and powerful politicians.

A helicopter, according to Cpt Samoei, consumes about to litres of jet A-1 fuel at a cost of Sh82 per litre in an hour. That would be Sh12, to Sh13, an hour. One Eurocopter model consumes to litres per hour of jet fuel meaning that if it is air-borne for five hours, one parts with close to Sh, for fuel alone.

The costs are much lower for fixed-wing machines. It costs about Sh, per month to keep a helicopter at a hangar in Wilson Airport, Nairobi, while insurance ranges from Sh6million to Sh10million depending on the cost and the capacity of the chopper.

Never mind the cost. Helicopters are now common place in rural Kenya, the commonest being the Eurocopter or Bell makes. During the burial of the father of Mr Ojodeh politicians and other high ranking government officials arrived in 12 helicopters.

This model is renowned for its reliability and is on record as having been the first helicopter to land on Mount Everest. Mr Uhuru Kenyatta regularly uses two choppers but his spokesman, Munyori, could not confirm who owns them. The fleet has previously been used to fly royal families, heads of state, and chief executives of major corporations and celebrities. The Kenyan military operates various types of helicopters among them the gunships YY and Chinese Z-9s which are being used in the fight against the Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

To acquire and assemble a Eurocopter in Kenya costs about Sh million. All helicopters are imported as knocked down kits and then assembled. The Eurocopter, which is designed for external load operations, filming, scenic flights and VIP transportation, can remain in the air for over four hours. The Schweizer model C, which is mostly used at Wilson Airport for training is reputed to be one of the finest and most versatile piston engine helicopters.

George Saitoti might have been assassinated. The famous political analyst said that assassination was number one on the list of what might have killed the internal security minister, his deputy, their bodyguards and two pilots.

Mutahi said that succession politics in Kenya have always attracted political assassinations. He added that Orwa Ojode was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Asked whether a Saitoti death would benefit anyone politically, Mutahi said it was highly unlikely adding that Saitoti was not a presidential candidate with a serious chance of ascending to power.

He added that the late Saitoti would have emerged number five or six in the coming elections. Ruling out political mileage as a reason for assassinating the professor, Mutahi took on drug barons. He said that the drug barons may have been unhappy with Saitoti and the way he refused to bend to their knees. They may have plotted to eliminate him. This week the minister was to table a ministerial statement on the Artur brothers and their links to drug dealing.

Mutahi wondered if there are some forces that wanted to prevent that from ever getting public. He said that, Saitoti being extremely wealthy, might have been a hard nut to crack for the barons since it would be difficult to compromise him as opposed to any other minister. It was reported that police commissioner Mathew Iteere should also have been on that chopper.

The political analyst also pointed to his chairmanship to the committee on ICC in parliament as a possible reason for assassination. He would have ended up being a witness at the Hague and maybe someone was not comfortable with that. Korean Air will become the first air carrier in Northeast Asia to extend flight services to Nairobi.

KOT Kenyans on Twitter have proceeded to ridicule the description by laughing at it and launching a trend PrimitiveEnergy. Hilarious examples like uprooting rail tracks and putting a spoon of juice in the freezer to make it cold, are among the hundreds of tweets that have been coming in every few minutes.

Korean Air will on June 21 become the first airline that operates direct flights from Northeast Asia to Nairobi, the gateway to East Africa as well as the hottest destination in Central and South Africa. KE will depart from Seoul Incheon every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at and will arrive in Nairobi at on the next day.

As for the return flight, KE will depart from Nairobi at every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and will arrive in Seoul Incheon at on the next day.

With only 13 hours of flying time, it will offer passengers the ultimate convenience in travelling between the two cities. Kenya is home to an array of tourist attractions. Korean Air has been serving major destinations in Africa through code sharing with Kenya Airways, one of the SkyTeam alliance members.

Tuesday June 19, — The wife of late Internal Security Assistant Minister Orwa Ojode has claimed that her life is in danger after a politician threatened her life on her cell phone.

Without naming names, Mrs Mary Ojode said that a certain politician from Nyanza province has tried to threaten her several times from the time her husband died.

She requested the government to beef up her security both in Nairobi and Unga farm for fear of her life. Tuesday June 19, — Last weekend during the burial of the late Assistant Minister Joshua Orwa Ojode, Prime Minister Raila Odinga in his usual antics and gusto made assertions that he was a very close friend to the late Assistant Minister and said he even rallied for him to be given the powerful Internal Security Ministry docket by President Mwai Kibaki.

In what might be seen as a leopard wearing a sheep skin, during the recent cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Raila Odinga requested President Mwai Kibaki to axe the late Ndhiwa legislator and replace him with Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba, a move Kibaki rejected fervently.

The big question is, was Raila lying to the nation when he said he was a close friend of late Ndhiwa legislator Joshua Orwa Ojode? Only six of the 12 aircraft operated by the Kenya Police Airwing are in working condition, according to investigation by the Nation. Two of the six helicopters in the fleet and four of the six Cessna fixed wing aircraft are unserviceable, and the government is yet to release Sh16 billion needed to modernise the fleet.

In his last public function, Internal Security minister George Saitoti, who died with assistant minister Orwa Ojodeh and four senior police officers in a helicopter crash on June 10, announced the department would buy more aircraft to deal with any security threats during the General Election.

Their helicopter was the newest in the fleet. The team to investigate the crash will be sworn in this morning by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga. The Police Airwing has 56 personnel, including 21 pilots, 14 trainee pilots, six engineers and 15 technicians.

Supt Gituanja and Supt Oyugi were among officers trained in Ukraine to fly MI helicopters, which the police have been using for the last 15 years. Supt Gituanja and Supt Oyugi had flown a total of 1, In , the government appointed a member committee to look into the quality of police helicopters and the high turnover of experienced pilots and engineers. The committee, led by retired Col Eitychus K.

Waithaka, presented its report to the then Internal Security permanent secretary Francis Kimemia early last year, but the government only said Sh16 billion would be set aside for new aircraft, fleet upgrade and flying equipment. During this period, the Airwing only acquired the ill-fated Eurocopter. For the last 30 years, the Airwing has experienced 10 accidents, six of them fatal, two non-fatal but the aircraft were damaged beyond repair and two others in which the aircraft were extensively damaged.

Head investigation On Tuesday, Dr Mutunga said Attorney-General Githu Muigai consulted him over the appointment of appellate judge Kalpana Rawal to head the investigation into the helicopter crash. Dr Mutunga also underscored the suitability of judges in heading such inquests, saying it guaranteed fairness and justice. Investigations will zero in on the chopper itself, the personnel and the weather at the time of the crash.

The article even mentions Ojode and other opinions you may not agree with. Viewer discretion is advised. You be the judge!!! Canadian Kenyan internationally acclaimed solicitor Miguna Miguna is a renowned lawyer for human rights, anti-corruption and equality. The Daily Telegraph advises viewer discretion.

But the proponents of the idea feel that the splitting of the Nyanza Province into counties would be beneficial to the region because it will attract more government funding. But the Luo intellectuals and professionals have now revisited the idea…. Otieno Kajwang, is being dismissed as being too childish and not a serious person worth trusting with the responsibility of leading the Luo to higher heights of development. At the same time State Police Assistant Minister Orwa Ojode is seen as an achiever and a dynamic politician who has successfully developed his hitherto backyard of Ndhiwa constituency to a new hub of massive economic development.

Where is he now?????? The group has scathingly criticized Raila for having distributed government plum jobs to his kith and kin from Bondo and Siaya counties in the East African big economy. Such must be watched very carefully and the greater Nyanza must wake up before we are all finished. The late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga atleast had some empathy on Luos. But Raila!!! This is completely illegal and is a serious crime.

A media personality has admitted to us how Raila compromises them to write anything he wants to be read by Kenyans. This book is also talking about how Raila compromises Opinion Pollsters to show him winning all the time. Raila has no heartily love for Luos. God has condemned him and He has set us free at last.

Is he guilty of corruption, political assassinations and impunity or not? Your guess is as good as mine. Hard and painful thoughts cross our minds today. However it is with great difficulty that we mourn George Saitoti as a hero according to Kenyan mass media because a hero, he was not. The truth in Kenya is that we forget, and we forget quickly.

Prof Saitoti never looked back, abandoning his Beetle for a Mercedes Benz. When he became Vice President, he took on the motorcade as his chosen mode of travel. The VW Beetle was to left to rust in the Treasury car park. But what irks us is that Saitoti was the Minister for Finance in the Moi regime in the s when his ministry and Kamlesh Pattni perpetrated the Goldenberg fraud. Goldenberg cost the country over Sh billion according to a Judicial Commission of Inquiry appointed by President Kibaki in The inquiry named over a dozen individuals as perpetrators, and Saitoti was on that list of shame.

After the inquiry published its final report, the Attorney General handed over the report and evidence to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Kenya Police. He directed them to complete further investigations and report to him for the purposes of criminal prosecution of the perpetrators.

George Saitoti went to court and controversially obtained orders expunging his name from the Inquiry Report and barring his prosecution by the AG. The AG immediately appealed this decision, which he declared to be unconstitutional in a strongly worded statement. The appeal was quietly dismissed for technical reasons in Fortune had conspired it seems to make George Saitoti the political head of the Criminal Investigation department which the AG directed to investigate him.

He was now in charge of the evidence against him and the so-called Goldenberg International Limited. Were Kenyans expected to believe that Saitoti was to investigate himself or that indeed the evidence was still intact? Apparently yes! Or maybe not! Saitoti is now gone, as are James Kanyotu and Eliphaz Riungu, but Goldenberg must not be allowed to go unpunished.

Goldenberg cost Kenya 10 per cent of its GDP. The inquiry cost Kenyan tax payers over Sh15 million per month and ran over two years costing around Sh million. Most of the culprits identified by the Bosire Commission are now dead and over Sh billion traced is now at threat of non—recovery.

Indeed the Prime Minister once sought to bring a private criminal prosecution against Saitoti, a charge that was quashed by Amos Wako. Political expediency being what it is, Kibaki and Odinga decided to turn a blind eye to Goldenberg, the biggest corruption log in the eye of the government.

This begs the question of why was Saitoti such a sacred cow? And who will now pay Kenyans if both principals lead by example in this hero worship message of impunity? Meanwhile former president Daniel arap Moi sits pretty in so-called retirement. We mourn, not for George Muthengi Kinuthia Saitoti, but for his wife and child, and all the other wonderful Kenyans who God took too soon. We still want answers and recovery of the hundreds of billions looted in the Goldenberg scandal.

Who is the beneficiary of the stolen loot? We must not relent. And we must not glorify those who steal Kenyan funds. This is the truth, and this is a bitter pill we must swallow to get better. As Kenyans, we suffer from a disease called impunity. Sadly, some think the cure for this very contagious disease is death by servant. It is not! Someone has the stolen loot. The only question is who, and where! Saitoti served as a senior minister in the presidencies of Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki for more than 30 years, but he was more of an executive prime minister than a political boss.

A maths lecturer at Nairobi University who also wrote an influential book on development, he was invited by President Moi to become Finance Minister in The end of the Cold War in the late s meant that Britain and other western donors could force multi party democracy on Kenya and also move the economy from a highly regulated state managed model to a free market.

Structural Adjustment accelerated that process but without the aid needed to support the transition. It was introduced at the same time as the one party state gave way to a multi-party democracy.

Ironically, Kenya the African nation most favoured by the West was one of the last to introduce a multiparty system. Saitoti was a central figure in implementing both of these fundamental changes. Multi party democracy meant competition and that meant Harambees to get the Wananchi to vote for the ruling party.

Harambees are open air rallies at which the Wananchi — the ordinary people — are persuaded by the Big Men to vote for them.

This means Nyama Choma roasted meat , drink and wads of cash for the people. The answer was Goldenberg — an export promotion scheme whereby anyone who exported gold or diamonds could claim 35 percent of their value as a state subsidy.

The joke was that Kenya has very little gold and no diamonds. Payment for the scheme came under the consolidated fund and therefore did not need parliamentary approval. But it did have to be signed off and Saitoti, as Minister of Finance, did just that. He even extended it. Whilst he may not have actually constructed Goldenberg, Saitoti implemented it, and almost certainly benefitted from it personally.

In all companies, many set up just for the purpose, collected money from the scam. It was the moment when corruption in Kenya became the norm in big businesses and the upper echelons of state affairs. It was a moment when the corruption tick became almost bigger than the state dog it fed on. In a subsequent inquiry, Saitoti and Pattni were named as culprits and Pattni was detained for a while.

Then the whole affair was quietly dropped. No money was returned. Later, some 23 senior judges were forced to resign as a result of their involvement in the scandal.

In a strange way the Kenyan state survived. Throughout all of this Saitoti, as well as other senior Kenyan politicians involved in the scam, were welcomed to London. This was despite a former head of the Africa department of MI6 heading a forensic investigation into where the Goldenberg money had gone. To the British and US governments the strategic and economic importance of Kenya trumped corruption.

Appealing to and buying tribal loyalty became the name of the game. Kenya is probably now the most tribally divided nation in Africa. No wonder the election exploded into such violence. With two tribalist leaders, Uhuru Kenyaata and William Ruto, facing a trial at The Hague which may start in March next year the exact date will be announced on July 13th , the Kenyan election is wide open.

Victory will go to the person who builds an alliance of tribal leaders. One thing is certain: Luo and Kikuyu will be on opposite sides. Raila Odinga, the Luo leader, will run and elements among the Kikuyu will do anything to stop him becoming president. For a while I thought that in Kenyans had reached the edge of the cliff and looked down. They wavered and pulled back. The militants were called off by their paymasters. Kofi Annan was on hand to help.

Kenyans had seen a future that looked like hell and chose a fudged alliance of enemies instead. That alliance is now falling apart. The new constitution has recreated a Kenya of 47 counties, whose elected governments will be funded by the state to spend as they wish.

It is, however, likely that a local politician from the dominant ethnic group in each county will be playing the ethnic card to garner support.

In the main wars were in Nyanza Province Luoland where Kikuyu police shot down Luo protesters, around Eldoret where Kikuyu immigrants were burned out of their homes and murdered by Kalenjin, and in Nairobi where battles took place in the poor slum areas between different ethnic groups. What could have been a high profile burial and solemn and tear sending off of the former Assistant Minister for the Internal Security Joshua Orwa Ojode turned chaotic and almost was marred by violence following deadly rumor that a section of Luo politicians including unnamed MPs had celebrated the sudden and tragic death of the Ndhiwa MP.

These rumors were the source of high tension that gripped the funeral home when the former Assistant Minister was laid to rest at his Unga village home in Kanyamwa Central, Ndhiwa district. The anger and sentiments of hostilities were displayed openly resulting in one MP from a neighboring constituency being totally barred fro making any speech or being introduced to the mourners.

The MP had to be slipped out of the home quietly unnoticed.. The two are blamed for having politicized the burial of the departed soul of the abrasive Ndhiwa MP for political expediency. The event was a high profile burial in that it was attended by President Mwai Kibaki, the Prime Minister Rail Odinga, the Vice President Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, the entire member of the cabinet, Assistant Ministers and close to MPs representing various constituencies in parliament led by the Speaker of the National Assembly Kenneth Otiato Marende whose words of wisdom while condolensing the family of the late Ojode was like the gospel and inspired each and every mourner in attendance.

The occasion was a very special one and required high profile public relations. The noise making youths demanding forcefully to be served with food, were some of the intrigues allegedly masterminded by the anti-Ojode elements within the ODM Luo politician prompting the Ojode family to feel that party of the huge crowd that attended the funeral were not genuine mourners, but people who had gone to their home to shade the crocodiles tears.

Their word of wisdom helped a lot in calming down the highly charged situation, which ordinarily could have easily exploded into mayhem. A number of presidential aspirants who included the Eldoret North William Ruto and the Sabatia MP Musalia Mudavadi had been targeted for booing and heckling by the excessively intoxicated and drunken goons. Okundi is once again in the race aspiring to be elected to the lucrative position of governor for Homa-Bay County, a position which the incumbent Rangwe MP Otieno Ogindo is also vying for.

It was originally planned that heckling of Okundi would depict him as unsuitable person for the governorship position and unpopular. The action by noise making political hirelings had depicted members of the Luo community as most backward people. We did not expect to behave like this. He has since then never shown his face to any public function conducted by he Prime Minister, and also kept low profile during the ODM grass root elections and boycotted all the party functions.

After the constitutional referendum of November , in which the orange group which was led by Raila Odinga meted a sweeping victory over the Banana group supporting President Mwai Kibaki, there was a major cabinet reshuffle in which all the ministers allied to Orange Democratic Movement were including Raila Odinga wee sacked.

President Kibaki, however, surprisingly appointed Orwa Ojode to a full cabinet minister inchrge of Forestry and Wildlife. The Ndhiwa MP, however, declined the appointment in solidarity with his sacked friends including Raila Odinga. Ojode ha served previous as an Assistant Minister for lands and Settlement and later as an assistant Minister for Education and was the chief campaigner of Raila Odinga presidential election in Prior to these events, Ojode has been very vocal and formidable defender of Raila Odinga on issues related to national importance and was expected to clinch a full cabinet portfolio, but many people were shocked when he was relegated to the Junior position of an Assistant Minister.

Ojode considered himself as much senior to Kajwang in terms of parliamentary experience. Before his death in an helicopter crash on Sunday June 10, Ojode had confided to this writer that he was considering the option of ditching the ODM and standing and defending his Ndhiwa parliamentary seat as an independent candidate.

He said he felt like leaving the ODM, because the party was full of loose talkers and people with bad gossiping attitude. He told me that while he was attending the funeral of Mr Phelogona Okundi in Rangwe constituency, he was suddenly attacked by Dr Oburu Oginga in full view of the mourners and accused of being one among those undermining the ODM. Pete Owidi near Oyugis. He and Raila, he said drove to Awendo to witness the opening of Sugarland Hotel in Awendo town which is owned by the former Rongo Mp George Ochillo-Ayacko, and after enjoying the evening in a large group of MP and friends he and Raila drover to his palatial home at Unga in Ndhiwa for the night.

He felt that there were innuendos of bad gossiping going on about him and thereafter he choose to stay away from the group and concentrated on his ministerial duties giving the ODM party a break. In this particular function the Gem MP publicly attacked and savagely condemned Mudavadi.

The unwarranted attack drove Mudavadi out of the ODM, so the ODm is full of bad gossipers and so called power-brokers. The helicopter crash that killed Kenyan Security Minister George Saitoti on Sunday morning was a foggy event in more ways than one.

There was a literal haze blanketing the Ngong Hills, a forested ridge just southwest of the capital city of Nairobi, when the aircraft containing six people crashed and burst into flames.

Saitoti was sitting beside an assistant security minister and two bodyguards. Two pilots were flying the helicopter. Saitoti, 66, was on his way to a fundraising event at a Catholic church in Ndhiwa, Nyanza Province, which borders Lake Victoria. Saitoti had announced his plans to run for the presidency last year, riding on his reputation for tough national security policies.

An investigating police officer told Agence France-Presse that a lack of visibility due to poor weather conditions likely caused the tragedy. But other sources added that the helicopter was new and well-equipped to deal with inclement weather.

There is much speculation over whether this crash could have resulted from a terrorist attack, but no group has claimed responsibility and there is not enough evidence so far to implicate anyone. Saitoti was a former professor of mathematics, and he looked the part. His graying hair and wire-frame glasses gave him the look of an academic, but his broad shoulders, potbelly and notable height made him an imposing figure. He spoke and gestured like the seasoned politician he was: authoritatively, with a clenched fist here, a dramatic pause there, an occasional hand to his heart.

In a speech made shortly before his death, he called for an end to political division in the country. If anyone could claim to represent national unity, it was Saitoti.

Kenya is riven by ethnic differences, but the security minister was of mixed heritage. An opposition movement coalesced in when he submitted a new constitution to a public referendum. At that time, a politician named Raila Odinga, who once supported Kibaki, led a successful campaign to reject the constitution. When the president campaigned for re-election in , Odinga ran for the opposition and was predicted to win.

Can any of the presidential contenders surrender their tribal ambitions for another leader from a different region? Can Uhuru Kenyatta for example walk the talk and surrender his ambition and support another leader from a different region? I have my doubts. I tend to agree with Orengo that we Kenyans are very good when it comes to funerals and weddings. It is only then that we are united. It is only in grief that we are truly Kenyan. But then we go back to our fist fights.

We have not seen the last of vitendawilis,Pelle and Messi matches ,derogatory words like Kihii and other selfish fights to win the elections. By then Saitoti and Ojode will be forgotten only remained by close relatives.

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