Hon. Imanyara's Ordeal was an Occult Ritual

Last week, the legendary Imenti Central legislature, Hon. Gitobu Imanyara suffered an eerie ordeal that has defied explanation. He was waylaid by the gang as he was driving along State House Crescent and bundled him out of his car. His assailants then ordered him to lift his hands and kneel down facing Mount Kenya. They then threaten to kill him and his two sons if he defied their orders to cease and desist from supporting the Prime Minister Raila Odinga. They also ordered him to neither attend the Limuru II (b) conference nor accompany the Premier in his tour of the Mount Kenya region which took place last weekend. But before they could let him go, they ordered him to say ‘Tuko pamoja na Uhuru’ three times.

The way I see it, the bizarre incident which involved chanting with lifted hands while kneeling down facing a specific direction –Mount Kenya which is of spiritual significance to the House of Mumbi, was for all intents and purposes part of an occult ritual. The Imenti Central legislature should thank his God he has lived to tell the tale. He could have been ordained as a human sacrifice. The ordeal was nonetheless horrifying and when he recounted it to his fellow legislatures in the House, they were all dumbfounded.

Uhuru Kenyatta’s Leadership Appraisal

Its official, Uhuru Kenyatta is now a political IDP. Last week, KANU held its long awaited National Delegates Conference (NDC) which was convened amidst controversy in a desperate bid to puts its house in order and save the independence party from imminent deregistration on account of failing to comply with the new law on political parties. The Deputy Premier Uhuru Kenyatta, who was hitherto the party’s chairman, snubbed the conference alleging that it was not convened procedurally but be that as it may, the NDC was well-attended and duly transacted its business and as was expected, its immediate former chairman was ousted in absentia rendering him a political IDP.

It is undeniable that the independence party has completely lost its former glory and Uhuru’s failed leadership is responsible for the sorry state the party is in today. The party’s never-ending leadership wrangles had gotten in the way of its compliance with the new law on political parties –a situation that was threatening to have the party deregistered. In view of the foregoing, the Deputy Premier simply had to be replaced. It is expected that the latest political IDP will become a squatter in Mr. Kiraitu Murungi’s ‘political bus’ although there are rumours he is putting together a makeshift political house. Incidentally, his comrade William Ruto has suffered similar fate; becoming a squatter in UDM and eventually being kicked out to form a makeshift political house –URP.

G7 on the Verge of Collapse

The writing is on the wall for the enigmatic G7 Alliance that has defied all the odds since its faltering inception and grown to become a dominant force in the political arena. The alliance which was founded in defiance to the Premier Raila Odiga and the ICC process is on the verge of a collapse that is likely to be a calamitous disintegration. For the longest time the alliance succeeded in staving off the sooner-than-expected breakup by fashioning itself as an alliance of peers. However, the politically savvy Deputy Premier Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr. William Ruto have edged out Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka to become the leading lights of the alliance.

The alliance which committed itself to fielding a single presidential candidate from within its ranks through a democratic process is going through a watershed moment. The search for its preferred presidential candidate has turned out to be a show of might between its two leading lights and what is emerging is that the nomination process will by default be based on the principle that ‘right is might’. Needless to say, the politically impotent Vice-President, Kalonzo Musyoka, who had hoped for a civil and democratic nomination process is a disillusioned man while the new justice minister Eugene Wamalwa has cut his losses and is more than happy to settle for a plum ministerial position.

Making Sense of the Cabinet Reshuffle

One of the reasons Kibaki’s presidency remains an enigma to Kenyans is not because of his notoriously incoherent off-the-cuff remarks but rather because his actions speak so loud we can never hear what he is actually saying. In the surprise minor cabinet reshuffle that took place last week, the President made a political statement on his stand on the ICC process and the fate of the Ocampo Four but surprisingly, it is a statement that seems to have eluded our attentiveness.

There is no doubt that the recent cabinet reshuffle was made long before it was announced but given that the reshuffle was vindictive and smacked of arrogance, such an announcement had the potential of generating serious political backlash.

GEMA Is Suffering Siege Mentality

Institutions are created for the purpose of resisting change, that’s their main function. And they preserve all kinds of things that one doesn’t want. But how you get rid of them I do not know.

Professor A. J. P. Taylor

Last week, Gikuyu, Embu, and Meru Association (GEMA) convened a conference for leaders from its various communities in Limuru and the ostensible objective of the meeting dubbed Limuru II was to endorse Uhuru Kenyatta as their presidential candidate and to explore possible ways and means way of delaying the ICC process to enable Uhuru to vie for the presidency in the forthcoming general elections. In the end, the leaders adopted a human rights argument for postponing the ICC process and gave a thinly veiled threat of violence should the ICC process jeopardise Uhuru’s chances of vying the presidency.

The Mass Media and Politics

Finally, the long-awaited election year is here and politicians –veterans and rookies alike–are gearing up for the forthcoming make-or-break general elections. At the heart of all campaign strategies by any serious politician eying especially the presidency, is management of the mass media. The mass media is the centre stage of any democracy’s political drama and even though they are indispensable to politicians and to a democratic political process, politicians adore and dread it in equal measures. To improve their prospects for election, politicians need the mass media to portray them favourably even when they are unpopular something which makes their campaign strategy somewhat of a ritual dance before the media.

Anticlimatic Cities Built From Scratch

Masdar City, Abu Dhabi – As you are aware, the United Arab Emirates is awash with petrodollars so much that the ultra-wealthy nation is turning its flights of fancy into realities.  Initiated in 2006 and projected to cost $22 billion, Masdar City was to be "the world's first zero-carbon city," a custom-designed settlement. It would rely entirely on renewable energy — mostly solar — and would produce zero waste. Up to 80% of the city’s water supply would be recycled and waste would be reduced to as close to zero as possible. Automobiles would be banned within the city walls –all transportation was to be via Personal Rapid Transit vehicles (PRTs).

Fast forward to 2012 and the grand plans have changed. A zero-carbon city proved too ambitious — or maybe too difficult, given the current limitations of renewable energy — so now the aim is for low carbon. Transport within the city is no longer solely through the PRTs — instead, electric buses and other mass transit are in the mix leading to a city planning nightmare. The sustainable City is a life size experiment which remains to be seen if it will ever be able to fully sustain itself and develop the authenticity of a real city.

Canberra City, Australia – Canberra is unusual among Australian cities, being an entirely planned city. It was chosen as the home for the national government as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's two largest cities whose rivalry is legendary. In 1911 an international competition for a city plan was launched and an American landscape architect Walter Burley Griffin won. Dominating Griffin's plan was a central artificial lake and a 'parliamentary triangle' in which the most important national buildings were to be placed. The surrounding residential areas had a geometric street pattern, circular and radial in shape, all fitting well into the general topography.

In 1920, Griffin left Canberra disappointed at the lack of progress and frustrated by repeated efforts to change his city plan although the framework of the plan was already established on the ground. Being a planned city, Canberra is a well laid out city and there is very little traffic, but that is all there is to it. It is a very boring little place given that it has the weirdest zoning laws and its inhabitants are mostly public servants. It’s a city that Aussies love to hate simply because it's not Melbourne or Sydney.


Brasília City, Brazil – Apparently, Brasília is the result of a long standing and visionary dream. From 1763 to 1960, Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil. During that time, resources tended to be centred in Rio de Janeiro Brazil's southeast region. The plan to move the capital city to Brasília was conceived in 1827 but it was not until 1891 that the idea of relocating the capital was sanctioned. President Juscelino Kubitschek ordered the construction of Brasília in 1956 and Lúcio Costa was its main planner. Brasília was built in forty one months, and in 1960 April 21, it was officially inaugurated. 

Overall, Brasília was a failure in many ways. Many of Costa's ideas were failures from the very beginning. They may have been good ideas in theory, but in reality, they could never work. Brasília was built for automobiles in a society where an automobile is still a status symbol. Perhaps the greatest criticism of Brasília is that it is a culturally inappropriate city based upon European ideas, not Brazilian ones. The city just did not turn out the way its planners intended it to be and it is not thought of highly even by its own inhabitants.


Dodoma, Tanzania – The debate on the town best suited for Tanzania’s capital city started soon after independence. There were those who argued that Dar es Salaam, all the way at the Coast, was not easy to access and it would be difficult to connect it to all zones of the country. Parliamentary proceedings and media reports were dedicated to arguments for and against. The matter was finally resolved in 1972, when a TANU opinion poll showed 18 regions in favour of Dodoma and three against it. In 1973, plans were made to move the capital to Dodoma. The Ministry of Capital Development was established early in 1976 to administer the process of planning and administering the project to transform the town in central Tanzania and give it the look of a capital. An American architect James Rossant developed a master plan for the new capital in 1986, sponsored by the United Nations. Tanzania's National Assembly moved there in February 1996. 38 years later, all government departments except the Local Government Ministry remain in Dar el Salaam, which remains Tanzania's commercial capital something which begs the question: what went wrong, assuming of course that the opinion poll results were not doctored?

Abuja, Nigeria – Nigeria’s long-standing ethnic and religious divisions required its capital moved to a location deemed neutral shortly after independence but a protracted civil war and years of military rule prevented such a move until peace was restored. True to form, Nigeria’s capital city Abuja was planned be the largest free-standing new city ever built. The master plan, designed by an American consortium, was a grand scheme. The government’s set target population was 1.6 million by the year 2000 and 3 million ultimately. Government functions would be the principal foundation for the city’s economy.

As it turned out in the early stages of development, some large buildings were constructed in advance of supporting infrastructure, so that government ministry workers in the early years laboured under deplorable conditions. The Nigerian press reports that electricity, sewer, and telecommunications systems continue to be problematic. Housing and land use have remained a rich source of violent conflict over the years. Rapid development and the attendant proliferation of squatter settlement by the indigenous population pose serious security concerns and other social risks. Apparently, the relocation of the federal government to Abuja witnessed the forcible displacement of the Asokoro ethnic community. About 845 villages were displaced!