The Anchor, February 2010

MAIN STORY


The Facts and Figures

Strange Hands
in Malili Saga



By Martin Masai



DETAILS are emerging that officials and politicians will pocket not less than Sh 300m in total from pilfering with payments meant to buy 5,000 acres of land from poor Malili farmers.

In effect, the tricksters will have stolen from the common man and not the gov­ernment, hence the indifference that the State is showing in pursuing thieves taking advantage of uninformed villagers.

This comes as reports emerged that the Kenya National Audit Office (KENAO) had ordered an thorough investigation to get to the root of the scandal where leaders are stealing from the very poor.

Based on simple calculations, 112 out of 609 farmers were paid Sh 1.4 for each of their parcel of land measuring 7.8 acres. This translates to Sh 156.8 million out of the first instalment of Sh 400m that the government paid to Malili Lawyer Mr Eric Mutua.

It means that by the time Kangundo MP Johnson Muthama entered the fray and caused the removal of Malili Chairman and Treasurer Peter Kanyi and Julius Kilonzo respectively, Sh 243.2m was yet to be paid out to members.

After David Ndolo Ngilai became the chairman, a new resolution to pay farmers Sh 1.1m per parcel was made. It means that Mr Ngilai and his team needed to pay the remaining 497 members at the new rate. Simple calculations show the farmers would share out Sh 546.7m. This figure, put to­gether with Sh 156.8 paid out by the Kanyi group shows that farmers will take Sh 703.5m from the Sh 1b that the State is paying for the entire 5,000 acres.

The 609 beneficiaries of Malili own 7.8 acres of land each, meaning that the to­tal acreage they sold to the State was 4,750. The entire area had been planned com­plete with roads and public utilities that make up over 250 acres, to bring together the entire land that the ministry of information wanted to construct what is being known as the Malili Technopolis. Multiplied with Sh 200,000, the rate at which the State was paying for the land per acre, it means that ranch leaders had a clear surplus of over Sh 50m.

It must be stressed that Malili leaders had decided to commit the proceeds of deci­mal 8 area of the 7.8 acres for pur­poses of compensation and ad­min­is­trative costs. So out of the 609 parcels/members, the .8 area makes up a cumulative figure of 487 acres- which trans­lates to Sh 97.4m. It is highly doubtful that amount was used for such purposes, but the fact that members seemed agreed to commit that money for the purpose, it is better not to pursue the matter.

If all 609 members were paid Sh 1.4m, they would have received a total of Sh Sh852.6m. Our in­ves­ti­gations therefore show that by underpaying the 497 mem­bers, Malili leaders and their han­dlers saved Sh 139.7m. Put together with Sh 50m that make up roads and public utilities, it shows Sh 189.7m may have been shared out by Malili players.

The Anchor has understood that a mem­ber of Parliament, the Personal Assis­tant to a very senior Kamba poli­tician whose name we withhold sat at a board meeting of Malili ranch during which the formula for sharing out the cash agreed.

The aide refused to respond to our questions about his involvement in Malili saga and whose brief he held at the meeting. But he is known to represent the top politician at deal cutting meetings and played high stakes in the run ±up to the last elections where he ran around with cash from PNU to the politician.

Our sources also established that Gate­way Logistics, a company that claims a hand in identifying buyers for the land may have legitimate claim of Sh 100m, of which only Sh 40m was paid.

It was in the pursuit of payment of their balance that Kangundo MP Johnson Muthama got into the picture and assured gateway that he would push to ensure that they were paid.

It is after this that an attempt was made to draft a new agreement and seek a sig­na­ture from Mr Kanyi to enhance the commission claims by gateway that things went haywire, with Kanyi refusing to append his signature to the matter. Kanyi says Muthama persuaded him in three meetings to sign the updated agreement, saying that he (Muthama) was raising cash for the campaigns for Vice Presi­dent Kalonzo Musyoka in 2012.

Muthama denies Kanyi's claims as hog­wash but admits it is him who called the CID to arrest Mr Kanyi for the alleged theft. Nevertheless, Muthama has bla­tantly refused to respond to his links with documents that The Anchor ob­tained that presupposed that Mr Kanyi would have signed the new agreement. The document shows how the proceeds would have been dis­trib­uted through a lawyer believed to Mr Muthama's.

It now transpires that current Malili di­rectors have written a letter that seems to exonerate Kanyi and Kilonzo from stealing and it will be interesting to see just how far the case goes

Politicians and Malili directors justify the current reduced payments by saying that it is because some money was allegedly stolen by Mr Kanyi and Mr Kilonzo.

True, Kanyi, Kilonzo and the late Josiah Munuka and a Machakos Lawyer Mr Bernard Mungatta were paid hefty sums of cash as a result of many plots they had bought at throw away prices and in turn sold them to the government at high prices.

Now strange hands are clearly visible, dipped in a resource that belongs to the poor. Whose hands are these?



Deliver promises to your
voters, Ngilu tells Kalonzo


By Nguma Kitone



WATER minister Charity Ngilu took her political battle with the Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka to Macha­kos where she took issue with the latter for his failure to deliver to the kamba people.

Ngilu claimed that the Mwingi North Mp had nothing to show in terms of de­vel­opment in the region despite being number two in the country's lead­ership.

She said Ukambani would be far in social,economic and political de­vel­opment if she was in the po­sition held by Kalonzo.

™If I were the Vice President today, things in Ukambani would be com­pletely different in terms of de­vel­opment∫, said the Kitui Central MP.

Mrs.Ngilu criticized Kalonzo for aban­doning his foot soldiers at the hour of need, citing MPs Kiema Kilonzo, and Charles Kilonzo whom she said should have been rewarded for their unswerving support and loyalty to the VP.

She was speaking at Kola in Macha­kos district after commissioning Kola wa­ter project undertaken by Grundfos Life Link organization at a cost of kshs.2.8m.

The organization has undertaken simi­lar solar propelled water bore­holes in Nairobi , Embu ,Meru, Masinga,Kitui Central and Yatta districts.

The minister,who was accompanied by Agriculture assistant minister Gedion Ndambuki,Mps Charles Kilonzo and Kiema Kilonzo reiterated her ministry's commitment to pro­vide Kenyans with safe and clean water for drinking.

™Some of our people are taking con­tami­nated water that exposes them to high health risks∫,she added.

Mrs.Ngilu urged beneficiaries of gov­ernment funds to ensure the monies are put into proper use to achieve the desired goals.

She condemned corruption, saying on one should condone the vice which she said had dented the country's image internationally.

™Corruption has torn the fabric that puts the country together and it must be fought left, right and centre by all∫, said Ngilu.

She called for tougher laws that that would ensure those implicated in corrupt deals are dealt with equally.

Kiema Kilonzo said there should be no sacred cows in the war against graft,adding those involved in the vice must be dealt with squarely regardless of the positions in government.

Ndambuki emphasized the need for leaders in Ukambani to unite and speak in one voice in charting the way for­ward for the community's destiny.





Education Complex
planned in Kitui


WATER and Irrigation Minister Charity Kaluki Ngilu has announced that she will put a lot of funds for the school that will be the centre of excellence in her Kitui Central constituency. The minister said that the government has decided to have one centre of ex­cellence in every constituency in Kenya . ™We have chosen the Kitui High School to be the constituency's centre of excellence,∫ she said. ™The Kitui High School is our choice so as to have a complex of education centres like the Kitui Girls High School and the Kitui Teachers Training College that are within the Kitui High School `s compound,∫ the minister said.

Ngilu said Kitui District has the highest number of government colleges in the Ukambani region this time. The colleges are the Kenya Medical Training College , the Kenyatta University and the Nairobi University campuses and the Kitui Teachers Training College The minister was speaking at Kitui High School during the school's Board of Governors (BOG)The meeting was chaired by the BOG chairman, Archbishop Benjamin Mwanzia Nzimbi.

The minister urged students within her constituency to take their education seriously. ™If you acquire good edu­cation, you will make us happy. Without discipline, you will not achieve. As leaders, ours is to ensure that you have the right environment for you to study,∫ Ngilu told students.

The Kitui Central Member of Par­liament assured the students, teachers of the School of her total support for the learning institution.

The minister decried the students' habit of loitering within the Kitui town. ™When you go to Kitui town, be among of the good people,∫ she advised the students.

Ngilu announced that she is going to provide the Kitui High School with suffi­cient clean water. The school has 700 students, 33 teachers and 39 sub­or­di­nate staff.

She donated Sh 20,000 through the school principal, Mr. Baraka Kasoa, for them to enjoy a special lunch one day.

The minister announced that the African Development Bank (ADB) had granted the Kenya `s government Sh 2.2 billion for the construction of the sewage system in Kitui town.

She said that her move of con­structing many dams and bore­holes in Kitui District is to tackle perennial water problems in the district. She cited the one billion shillings Umaa Dam.

Kitui District Commissioner, Mr. Joshua K.Chepchieng, urged the students in the district to strive to make their schools centres of ex­cellence. He told them that their parents deny themselves a lot of good things in order to educate them. ™And you can make them very proud by studying seriously,∫ the DC said.

Archbishop Nzimbi and the District Education Officer Boniventure S.Wasikoyo also addressed the gath­ering. Others who also addressed the function included the school's principal Baraka Kasoa and the Kitui Teachers Training College `s BOG chairman, Dr. Leonard Mutua Mengo.

The Kitui High School that was started by the Kenya `s colonial government in 1939, has donated 45 of its 93 acre compound for the construction of the Kitui Girls High School and the Kitui Teachers Training College. The construction work for the two new learning institutions commences in March this year (2010).





Matuu DEO, police
play ping pong


A private school in Yatta district that was closed last year by education authorities for not meeting set stan­dards is still op­era­tional, thanks to a rogue police officer in Matuu police station.

According to the Yatta District Education Officer Mr Maina Gicheru, the school, `De­light Academy', that runs both pri­mary and sec­ondary education was ordered to close down and instructed not to admit any more students starting January this year.

To his surprise, the DEO got to know the school was still operational after a parent of a form four student com­plained to him about his(son's) arrest and detention at the Matuu police station after he was allegedly found in the possession of a mobile phone.

The boy is said to have been arrested by the Matuu police under the in­struction of the school's proprietor on January 18 and locked in cells until January 20th when his father got information from other day scholar stu­dents.

The arrest of the boy was arranged by the school's management after the student sus­tained injuries out of beating in a bid to cover up the mess.

Matuu police officer, whose name we withhold though he is well known for working closely with the school's to si­phon parents' money out of fictitious crimes, after which they share the loot.

The officer who is said to have been pro­tecting the school from any closure is said to have been boasting that he has a God­fa­ther at the police headquarters and that no body can scare him.

After the ministry of education ordered the closure of the school last year, he in­vented the plot to swindle parents their money after planting flimsy crimes on the stu­dents.

A number of parents have been forced to pay high fines for their children on whom false crimes are planted after being de­tained at the police station.

A father of one boy paid a huge amount of money after his son was put in police cell for allegations of having destroyed the school property which was a lie. He had been threat­ened that the boy would be arraigned in court in default of paying the illegal fine after which he paid out of ig­no­rance to se­cure freedom of the boy. The practice is said to have been going on for some time with ig­no­rant parents falling victims to the trap, paying money to prevent their children taken to court .

The latest incident is that of a form four stu­dent which drew the attention of the DEO after he was informed about it last week only to get a rude shock over the school which he and his team inspected and declared it un­wor­thy for students in habitation and also lacking basic and essen­tial learning facilities that have in the past spelled doom in aca­demic per­for­mance.

The victim was found in the possession of a mobile phone and in the process of con­fis­cating the phone he was attacked by the proprietor and his sons who are also di­rectors at the school, leaving him with se­rious injuries.

After sensing the boy may go home and re­port the matter, they called the police who took him to the nearby Matuu police station, a few meters away where he was locked up after the proprietor held a con­sul­tative meeting with the OCS.

After learning of the boy's arrest three days later the father went to the station to see him only to be turned away by the rowdy OCS who told him `'Mzee wewe kwenda huwezi ongea na mhalifu'' (Old man go away we cant allow you to talk to a criminal).

Sources close to the school and the station indicated that school's proprietor com­pro­mised the police to ensure the boy remains in the cells for as long as they want.

After remaining in police cells for four days, the OCS with the instruction of the school's CEO, prepared false charges against the boy and took him to the court. This was after some external forces in­ter­vened to know why the boy has been denied bond and kept in cells in­defi­nitely.

To kill the evidence of assaulting the boy, the OCS ordered that the school shirt the boy was wearing which contained blood stains be taken away.

He was arraigned in court and released on Sh10,000 cash bond.

The boy's parents have vowed to leave no stone unturned until the truth of the whole scam is revealed. Meanwhile, the DEO has ordered Matuu Zonal inspector of schools to find out how and why the school was operational yet it had been closed and take appropriate action.





KCPE: Education
stakeholders meet


Stakeholders in education from Macha­kos District found themselves with no alternative other than gang up to stop drifting further into oblivion.

It was an apt re­sponse to the pa­thetic per­for­mance in KCPE that saw Macha­kos sink deeper into non per­for­mance.

DEO Abdikadir Ali did the right thing to summon all who matter in the sector to map the way out of the mo­rass.

Even then the assembled stake­holders went down the memory lane, remi­niscing of the good old day when Tu­ition, mocks and Preps were key in making pupils pass.

Rather than seek modern ways of making teachers pay more attention to pupils by spending more time with them to navi­gate the disadvantage of num­bers, speakers appeared fixated on policy that the gov­ernment can hardly re­verse.

Even then, the stakeholders resolved to in­tro­duce radical measures to raise edu­cation standards and return the dis­trict to its lost glory in national ex­ami­nations.

They said the measures will include the banned tuitions, mocks and continuous evaluation tests. They claimed the steps helped propel the district to the top three best districts in na­tional ex­ami­nations less than a decade ago.

Ironically, schools and teachers in the dis­trict qui­etly still administer the banned tuition, mocks and evaluation tests- so to say that students underperformed be­cause this is to be utterly dis­honest.

Be that as it may, they blamed the fall from ex­cellence on a raft of ex­cuses that included abandonment of tuitions, mocks and evaluations tests that inculcated the spirit of competition among students, teachers and individual schools.

It is not true that only tuitions, mocks and evaluation tests are the only instruments that can promote a com­petitive spirit in schools.

What seems plausible is the fact that the poor performance could be blamed on poor staffing. This may be the case in ru­ral schools. But what happens to town schools that suffer from a glut of teachers?

They also identified lethargy among teachers. True story. Why will lethargy not take hold when loyalties inform all pro­motions, rather than meritocracy? Is in not a known fact that corruption in the promotion of teachers has un­der­mined work ethics among the teaching fra­ter­nity, not only in Machakos but Kenya as a whole?

They also identified limited school in­fra­struc­ture development- but they failed to acknowledge that among the poorest per­forming schools are the ones that re­ceived millions of shillings from the Free Primary Education that they shared with officials and failed to develop in­fra­struc­ture.

Reporters waited in vain to hear the current infighting between Knut leaders in Machakos and the cossy relationship be­tween edu­cation officials and some Knut leaders being listed as a factor leading to a dismal performance.

In the years when Machakos Excelled,Knut leadership was so solid that teachers would not waste time out of class to go politicking as is the case today. In those days, Knut and the DEO's office had an ex­tremely adversarial re­la­tionship, with the two in­sti­tutions checking the other al­most man to man.

Today, they are strange bed-fellows. Scores missed at a Knut meeting are settled by the Education officers. It is a known fact that Knut officials, rather than defend blind teacher transfers and de­motions, they come to demand that their opponents be moved or demoted. Education officers can not get broke be­cause Knut leaders will troop in with cash- and the war rages.

What the stakeholders failed to appre­ciate is that such a team can not lead the dis­trict to results better than what it got last year.What they all need is change of tact, to abandon warfare, greed, corruption, em­brace good governance prac­tices and become truly dedi­cated to the de­vel­opment of education.

Luckily, Mr Ali has provided a good oppor­tu­nity for stakeholders to come face to face with the shame that has befallen Macha­kos District.

The meeting held at the Machakos Teachers Advisory Centre was also addressed by the District Commissioner Mr Bernard Kinyua, who chairs the District Education Board.

Mr Hussein said although the district was a high flier in the 80s, 90s until 2001, its per­for­mance in national examinations had fallen to dismal levels in the past eight years. Participants challenged political leaders, opin­ion leaders, parents and Gov­ernment officials in the district to support home­grown solutions that may not attract the wrath of the ministry of education.

Defending the re-introduction of cen­tralized mocks and continuous assessment tests in all schools in the district, stakeholders said it was hypocritical for senior Gov­ernment offi­cials and elite Kenyans to publicly oppose such approaches in pub­lic schools.

Thy said the elite sent their children to pri­vate schools that ran tuitions, mocks and evaluations examinations that were co­or­di­nated centrally among all private schools.

™It is hypocritical for the elite to oppose tu­itions, mocks and tests in public schools yet their chil­dren attending ex­pen­sive pri­vate schools undergo the same. They want to re­tain their class supremacy and keep the best schools for their chil­dren∫, said one edu­cation official who sought not be named.

The move is ex­pected to restore the glam­our of edu­cation to Macha­kos dis­trict where stan­dards have fallen with only 12 out of over 9000 candidates scored 400 marks and above in the 2009 KCPE ex­ami­nations.

At the same time a handful of students manage to score A. or A- grades in the KCSE ex­ami­nations. In 2008, only two can­di­dates got A while 44 scored A-.

The stakeholders pro­posed to es­tab­lish more boarding fa­cilities in pri­mary schools noting the best per­forming pub­lic schools in the re­gion were all boarding.

Parents were ad­vised to strengthen school feeding programme to control ab­sen­teeism owing to frequent food shortages.

The participants noted that for education to succeed, public schools must embrace business management skills and treat their institutions as business entities.

They said private schools in the district and the country in general performed ex­cellently because they had adopted modern man­agement practices that in­clude per­for­mance targets which must be met by all teachers, pupils, parents and man­agement.

Parents, teachers and school man­agement committees were asked to address con­flict resolution in schools in a bid to avoid the mob-justice-approach that saw in­sti­tutions closed down and learning interrupted in­ter­mittently.

Mr Kinyua asked every school to set tar­gets and embrace the tenets of per­for­mance con­tracting in a bid to excel.

He hailed the new move to raise edu­cations standards and promised that the District Edu­cation Board will start regu­lar visits to the best and poorest schools in a bid to motivate them.

He challenged school management committees, boards of Governors, head teachers and principals to utilise Gov­ernment devolved funds properly.

He said misappropriation, misuse and out­right embezzlement had been wit­nessed in some schools and warned that the Gov­ernment would prosecute and jail those found to be stealing school funds.

™Misappropriation and misuse is common in some schools. Old buildings will last longer than newly constructed ones due to shoddy workmanship and theft of funds. Some do not match the amount of money allegedly spent to put them up∫, said Mr Kinyua.

Mr Hussein ordered education officials to ensure that the resolutions made in the fo­rum were cascaded to the zones and individual school stakeholders in a week's time.

EDITORIAL

Move by DEO on Education
is appropriate and timely



FOR one year now, The Anchor has been awash with stories on scenes the local education sector. Our approach has been broad; that education is not just the classroom setting where a teacher stands in front of the pupils.

We have looked at education as a broad based process that encompasses the social, economic, political and indeed governance concerns that drive the whole process.

In the last quarter of 2009, we ran stories to the effect that some factors had encroached on the education sector in Ukambani and Machakos District in particular, that would bring about disastrous results.

Such factors, we said, were corruption, extortion, fraud, sexual exploitation, politics, under funding, maladministration and backward politics. This list is indeed longer.

Luckily, it does not take a lot of intelligence for anyone to see a falling education system. Each examination outcome is an opportunity for players in the sector to see what they have been doing in the previous year. For close to 10 years, Machakos district has constantly moved from bad to worse in the performance of Kenya Certificate of Primary Examination (KCPE).

Many events have taken place in the district since, with the hiving off of many former administrative divisions to become fully fledged districts, being one most significant event. This is in addition to the aforementioned maladies that afflict the sector.

The split alone means that the area that the District Education Officer needs to supervise has become smaller and smaller and would obviously attract better attention for better results. What used to be Machakos District is today the Central and Kalama Divisions. It is a stretch that education leaders and government officials can stride across many times in a day and thrush out problems that afflict the sector.

But, it seems, the smaller the district, the more the afflictions. There are more cases of theft of education resources than ever before. There are deeper divisions in the leadership of teachers than hitherto witnessed. There is terminal intrigue in the management of teacher’s resources, meaning that teachers can no longer settle in class to teach the children with good concentration. It also seems that teachers have become untouchables because those known to have stolen money cannot be arrested and prosecuted by the police. In the smaller Machakos, impunity has grown in heap and bounds such that those known thieves, with documented plunder are instant untouchables. So much so that the smaller Machakos has become, the more the afflictions.

Even when the Government has outlawed levied of whatever nature in Schools, it is in Machakos where such levies are demanded in what is called ‘local arrangements’. Those who collect the levies dare not issue receipts because they do not want to be held accountable.

In the secondary school sector, teachers have become the traders to beat as they squander public resources, bribing their way through education officers and Teachers Service Commission offices to be posted in strategic schools that are cash cows.

It is now expected that the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results expected in late February may not be any better than those of KCPE because the operational circumstances and disposition is really the same.

A dynamic society would ordinarily undergo such cycles as the education sector is faced with in Machakos. There will be low and high periods. What is encouraging however is the fact that the District Education Officer Mr. Abdikadir Hussein Ali has realised that education sector is in the doldrums. To reverse the morass, he recently convened a meeting of stake holders to chart out the way forward.

There certainly was much procrastination at the meeting, with the grandstanding that can not help the situation. Nevertheless, we take this opportunity to welcome the gesture to bring together players in the sector and chart the way forward. But we believe that the meeting held early this month should not be all. It should be the door opener. Players must get back to the drawing board in a more structured way, identifying their strengths and weaknesses, how to overcome the drawbacks and capitalise on their strengths.

As such, Mr. Ali must go to the next level, take the bull by the horns and show leadership. This is certainly the way to go.



OPINION/COMMENT

Tracing the origins of Catholics

mandatory celibacy practice



By Rt. Rev Daniel Kasomo



For nearly 2000 years the Catho­lic Church has proclaimed Church laws and doctrines in­tended to more clearly explain the teachings of Christ. But re­markably, while history re­veals that Jesus se­lected only married men to serve as His apostles, the Church to­day forbids priestly marriage. Also, to­day the Catho­lic Church is the only Chris­tian de­nomi­nation ex­pe­ri­encing world wide con­dem­nation from ™scan­dalous∫ alle­gations of sex abuse committed against women and chil­dren by priests and bish­ops. His­torically, scan­dals similar to these are known to have appeared only after man­datory celibacy laws were first in­sti­tuted, cen­tu­ries after Christ. Why were these changes made?

As children, Catholics are taught that Jesus' apostles ceased sexual con­tact with their wives in order to ™Act in the per­son of Jesus∫, by adopting His celibate lifestyle and devoting their lives to spreading the Gos­pel un­en­cum­bered by family re­spon­si­bilities. But history re­veals a different story, a story unknown by faithful Catho­lics.

Today the law of man­datory celi­bacy for priests has exposed a telling historical prob­lem. If priests freely accepted celibacy in the be­ginning why did marriage later be­gin, and what authority today permits the Church to deny priestly marriage that Jesus per­mitted? The answer can be found in historical events be­ginning around 366AD when a new and different ex­pla­nation of our first priestly tra­ditions began to appear. This event changed Catholic history.

So historically, how and why did mandatory celibacy come into the Church? In order to answer this question we must return to the time of Jesus, and our first Catho­lic tra­ditions.



In The Beginning

Jesus made few changes in ex­isting Jewish law for His followers. But among the most important changes He in­sti­tuted were those con­cerning marriage for Chris­tians. Jewish men of the time were allowed to have more than one wife as well as con­cu­bines; Jesus for­bade po­lygamy. They were allowed to di­vorce; Jesus pro­hib­ited di­vorce (Matthew 19:9). And most im­por­tantly, Jewish law re­quired all Jews, including priests, to marry by age 20 (Genesis 1:28), but Jesus allowed Christians to remain un­married if they freely chose to do so (Matthew 19:12). And, contrary to current myth, Jesus did not re-quire His apostles to take a vow of celibacy or to abstain from mari­tal sex in or­der to imitate His lifestyle; Christ allowed His apostles to freely choose either marriage or celibacy. For these reasons the question of Jesus' celibacy is pointless as jus­ti­fi­cation for mod­ern celibacy laws that en­tered the Church cen­tu­ries later. As Jesus left the Church, an individual's free choice to marry and propagate or to re­main unmarried was permitted, and no restriction against future marriage by unmarried priests ex­isted. Today many Catholic tra­di­tion­alists have begun anew to ex­am­ine these teachings of Jesus and to compare them to the mod­ern law of man­datory celibacy, a law that did not exist in the beginning.



Pseudo-Scripture

In order to understand the ori­gins of mandatory celibacy mod­ern Catho­lics must first come to un­der­stand the origin and mis­leading influence that apoc­ry­phal non-Bib­lical writings had on Jesus' teaching before the New Tes­tament was first iden­tified as the only le­giti­mate source of Chris­tian Scrip­ture, c.350AD, and their con­tinuing in­fluence on the Church today.

Catho­lics do not tend to turn to the Bible as a his­torical document in order to un­der­stand the foun­da­tional teachings of our faith. Those who cite New Tes­tament scrip­ture in support of be­liefs that may question Church teaching are imme­di­ately accused of Prot­es­tant sym­pa­thies, and of denying Catho­lic tra­dition. Such accu­sations are ad hom-inem, be­cause scrip­ture and Catho­lic tra­dition cannot be sepa­rated. Catholics are taught about the Bible's importance but are in­structed to con­sult the Cat­echism for ex­pla­nations of our first tra­ditions (history), or to con­sult our priests for answers that will lead to the com­plete truth. They alone, we are taught, are divinely or­dained by God to teach the infallible Gos­pel of Christ without error. Catho­lics are not permitted to challenge Church teaching.

Today, Church explanations of mandatory celibacy pose a great prob­lem because it is ac­knowl­edged by all that apostles and priests during the earliest gen­erations were married. More to the point, in the New Tes­tament St. Paul spe­cifically required bishops and deacons be married fathers, “ca-pable of managing their fami-lies” (1Timothy 3). Even more damaging to the idea of a required vow of celibacy, St. Paul specifically preached against newly converted Christian-Gnostics who brought with them a belief that all priests must re­ject desires of the flesh in or­der to successfully mediate be­tween God and man. This ascetic and dualistic belief of conflict be­tween flesh and soul was first taught by Plato c.428BC and spread across the west­ern world with Alexander the Great before 300BC. By Christ's time it had made its way into all re­li­gions' beliefs other than Or­tho­dox Judaism and Chris­tianity, who were unique among all be­liefs.

In defense of married priests St. Paul confronted this new Chris­tian-Gnostic belief. He strongly con­demned mandatory celibacy and his teaching was continually supported by later popes who ex­commu­ni­cated Christian-Gnos­tic converts for their persistent support of man­datory celibacy.

“The Spirit has explicitly said that during the last times there will be some who will desert the faith and choose to listed to de-ceitful spirits and doc-trines that come from dev-ils; and the cause of this will be lies told by hypocrites…they will say marriage is forbidden, and lay down rules about abstaining from food which God has created to be accepted with thanks-giving by all who believe and who know the truth.” (1Timothy 4:1).

It is important here for Catho­lics to understand that all New Tes­tament scripture such as this, from either Jesus or His Apostles, are declared by the Church to be the ™Deposit of Faith∫, which ended c.98AD. These teachings are un­changeable, immu­table, and any ™new doctrine∫ that would change the Deposit of Faith after that time is for­bidden. In theo­logical speak the Deposit of Faith is the original Or­di­nary and Universal Magisterium.



Absence of Mandatory Celibacy

Evidence is abundant that man­datory celibacy was a late entry into Chris­tianity, and did not exist in the sec­ond or third centuries. As a matter of fact, the Church today ac­knowl­edges that “no law of celi-bacy as we know it today existed in the be-ginning∫. More enlightening, we have witness in an­cient Church lit­era­ture from Ap­os­tolic Fa­thers such as Bishops St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. Polycarp of Smyrna , they were `hearers' of St. John the apostle. As married bishops and dis­ciples of St. John , they realized that Jesus per­mitted men to remain celi­bate if they freely chose to do so, but viewed them with caution.

Priests of the time were married men who also worked to support their fami­lies when celibate pa­gan con­verts began to appear in large cities, often re­sulting in conflict. Many celibate priests believed their as­cetic chas­tity el­evated them spiri­tually in the eyes of God to a su­pe­rior spiritual plane, even su­pe­rior to married bishops. In his letter, 110AD, Ignatius asks Polycarp to instruct priests and their wives thusly: “Speak to my sis-ters [wives] that they love the Lord and be con-tent with their hus-bands [priests] both in the flesh and in soul. In like manner exhort my brothers [priests] in the name of Jesus Christ to love their wives as the Lord loved the Church. If anyone is able to remain celibate…let him remain so with-out boasting. If he boasts about it he is un-done, and if he seeks to be more es-teemed than the bishop he is corrupted.”

This was an important event in the sec­ond century. From such ancient records we find that after the De­posit of Faith, as it was left by Jesus and His apostles, priests con­tin­ued to choose ei­ther marriage or celibacy and that man­datory celibacy did not exist. So, when and how did things change?



Change Begins

An examination of an­cient changes in Church teaching during the second and third centuries reveals similar changes in Jesus' origi­nal teachings also began to appear in some areas as Christianity quickly spread through­out the Roman world. Many brilliant scholars and phi­loso­phers from pagan re­li­gions be­came fascinated with the res­urrected Christ and converted, be­coming influential Christian teachers who believed priests should not de­spoil themselves with sex.

These con­verts are known as Patristic Fa­thers, and while they were good and pious men they also brought with them non-Chris­tian phi­loso­phies that would for­ever affect the relationship of men and women, and marriage. Little did they un­der­stand that Christianity ini­tially ex­panded via House-churches, with priests supported by their wives as teachers (1Corinthians 16:19)

Defeating pa­ganism and gaining pa­gan converts were im­por­tant goals for the growing Chris­tian Church. This is where the story of man­datory celibacy really begins It is a story of change shrouded in the midst of a time before 350AD, when pseudo-Chris­tian writings were con­sid­ered to be a legitimate source of Christian scrip­ture, and popes were un­challen­geable when claiming to speak ad hoc for Christ. For this rea­son Christianity's first tradition of married priests was quite different from what the Church teaches to­day. The first 14 popes were married men, but to un­der­stand later changes de­nying clerical marriage we must again return to the beginning.



The Myth Of Apostolic Continence

By 135AD Rome had decimated Jerusa­lem and its great Jewish Temple, causing both Jews and Chris­tians to flee into the Roman world where Gnostic-Chris­tian beliefs had already begun to appear. New pseudo-Christian writings claimed Gnosis (New, secret, knowl­edge) of Jesus and His apostles, knowledge not contained in the Deposit of Faith that ended the previous cen­tury. For ex­ample, writings such as the apocryphal Gospel of Tho-mas and stories upon which the Da Vinci Code is based are Gnos­tic. Gnostic attempts to promote the superiority of celibacy and explain away the apostles' wives that St. Paul spoke of (1Corinthians 9-5), when he complained that he too should marry ™just like the other apostles and Jesus’ brothers”, a myth was created, a myth that had no place in Chris­tianity. This legend was first introduced in apoc­ry­phal writings pro­posing the apostles had abandoned sex with their wives in order to imitate Jesus. Be­fore 200AD these writings supported the new teaching of Patristic Fa­thers such as St. Justin, St. Clement of Al­ex­an­dria , and Anti-Pope Hippolytus. All were celibate pagans before converting. But priests continued to marry until things be­gan to change the following cen­tury when popes would come to see an advantage in supporting this new celi­bacy movement, be­lieving it would somehow diminish the esteem of celi­bate pagan priests who re­mained highly re­vered across the Roman Empire . These new apocryphal Gnostic sto­ries suggesting Jesus' apostles em­braced the `dis­ci­pline' of marital con­ti­nence then became a pow­erful in­fluence for change. In 306AD the first recorded attempt by a local Church Coun­cil to mandate celibacy for priests occurred in the far western reaches of Christianity, in Elvira , Spain - three hun­dred years after Jesus. Failing in that attempt these Spanish Gnostic-Chris­tians continued to promote their celi­bacy movement 19 years later at Constantine 's great Council of Nicaea in 325AD, but failed once more. They were defeated when bish­ops agreed that “Too heavy a yoke ought not to be laid upon the clergy; that marriage and married in-ter-course are of themselves hon-orable and undefiled.” The issue was settled, priest could freely choose either marriage or celibacy.



The unflattering face of
impunity at Teacher's Sacco


VERBATIM REPORT

OF AUDIT FINDINGS



"Loan advances



There is no clear ownership and accountabil­ity of normal/emergency and salary advances in terms of processing.

The Public Relations Officer is charged with the task of pro­cessing advances a role that should be performed by the FOSA or Loans departments.

By signing the task to the PRO, there is a risk of inappropriate decisions being made. Loans advances do­mi­ciles in the FOSA and there­fore the need for such loans should emanate from the FOSA. The PRO can recommend dis­bursement of staff salary advances is on Human Re­source Department in the society.



Observations

l Though the society has a loan policy in place, it is never adhered to during loaning process.

l The credit committee mandated to approve member's loans was largely ma­nipu­lated by the ex­ecutive and the former general man­ager hence de­pended on their di­rection.

l The FIFO loan application and approval were never followed at all but how well is one connected to the General Man­ager or the Ex­ecutive Sub-committee.

l Big sums of money were set aside for loan applied for staff and man­agement committee in for top ups in total dis­re­gard for small amount loan applied by mem­bers being de­ferred.



(i) Backlog

l The current society backlog stands at Kshs. 53,434,750 for normal and emer­gency loan since June 2008 to date.

l Loans amount to over 20 million is work in progress at the loan department

l The current waiting period for nor­mal loans is at 3 months while emergency is at 11/2 months.

l Advances payment largely de­pends on the availability of funds in the FOSA section.



(ii) Committee loans

l The current loans balance with committee as 31st Au­gust 2008 stand at Kshs. 2,607,039.00 both CMC and su­per­vi­sory.



N.B: Awarding of loans to committee does not follow the same pro­ce­dures other or­di­nary members' appli­cation for loans take as their money is set aside by the credit committee for approval.



l Previously the CMC and su­per­vi­sory enjoyed top up loans against backlog over 3 months ex­pe­ri­enced by or­di­nary mem­bers though was stopped from March 2008 by the current CMC.



(iii) Members loans

The current outstanding loans balances stand at Kshsº.42 Million and those on the waiting at over 73 millions.

l The approval of members loan followed the FIFO policy though some privi­lege were given top those related to the former manager thus could jump the queue. However this practice has been abol­ished by the current gen­eral manager and the CMC.

l Due to low society li­quidity po­sition most members were given advances over their loans applied.



(iv) Staff loans

The current staff loans balances as at 31st August 2008 stand at Kshs.10,357,813.50.



l The staff enjoyed all the privi­leges on loans as the credit committee set aside funds/money for the loans they had applied in total disregard of the member loans demand.



l There are cases where the to­tal loan deferred by the credit committee due in­suffi­cient funds was less than the figure applied by one staff yet money was set aside for the staff to be approved by the man­agement.

l The staff also enjoyed top up of their loans against the 3 times your shares rule e.g the financial report 31st March 2007 showed that a total of Kshs. 26,692,910.00(Twenty six million, six hun­dred and ninety two, nine hundred and ten) was granted as top-ups which had nega­tively im­pacted on nor­mal loans granting for those with­out existing loans or have com­pleted servicing their loans.



Non Performing loans

KNUT ± Machakos and Makueni loans fall un­der this category. By the 31st De­cem­ber 2007, all Loans for mem­bers from the two branches were classified as dormant. There are many other cases of members who took loans but cannot service them because of in­ad­equacy in the payslip. However, where the payslip allows, every effort is being made to recover loans al­beit with a lot of difficult.



Albanus Mutisya M/No. 2340 was granted a loan of Kshs. 700,000.00 in November 2004 recoverable at Kshs. 28,000.00 per month for 25 months. He got an addi­tional loan of 400,000.00 repayable at 34,00.00 for 12 months. In 2005 October he was granted an Emergency loan of Kshs. 400,000.00 when he had loan out­standing of Kshs. 330,000. In September 2006, he was granted a loan of Kshs. 1,553,000.00 after applying for Kshs. 1,700,000.00. Mr. Mutisya did not qualify for the amount granted if the rules were in play.



He connived with the staff of the society to do creative accounting where fraudu­lent jour­nal vouchers were raised boosting his deposits by 137,000.00, writing off loan and accrued interest of 272,00.00 and 18,892.00 respectively as depicted in the journal en­tries herebelow:-



7/7/06 JV 198 Albanus Mutisya TSC 17801 M/NO. 2340

Dr Shares A/C. Adj 137,000

Cr. Shares A/C 137,100

Being shares arrears for the year 2004 Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec year 2005 Jan, Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec now posted in the Member's statement the year 2006. Pre­pared by Nthenge on 7/7/06, Certified by Augustine Mutisya and authorized by Moses Muthoka



7/7/06 JV 199 Albanus Mutisya TSC 17801 M/NO. 2340

Dr. Interest A/C. Adj 18,892

Cr. Interest A/C. 18,892

Being shares arrears for the year 2005 Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec year 2005 Jan, Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec now posted in the Member's statement the year 2006. Pre­pared by Nthenge on 7/7/06, Certified by Augustine Mutisya and authorized by Moses Muthoka.



7/7/06 JV 200 Albanus mutisya TSC 17801 M/NO. 2340

Dr. Loans A/C. Adj 272,200

Cr. Loans A/C. 272,000

Being loans arrears for the year 2005 Sept, Oct, Nov. and Dec now posted in the Member's statement for 2006. Prepared by Nthenge 7/7/06. Cer­tified by Au­gus­t­ine Mutisya and authorized by Moses Muthoka.



When we queried these Journal entries, Mr. Mutisya brought in some photocopies showing computations quoting Cash Re­ceipt Voucher Number 16336 which we have since established is not a document from the sacco.



We also observed incorrect postings in the Mr. Mutisya's MPA where loan repayment for October 2006 was shown as Kshs. 86,000.00 instead of the correct amount remitted of Kshs. 50,000.00 hence erro­neously re­ducing the loan balance by the Kshs. 36,000.00.



Mr. Mutisya defaulted his loan re­payment from 2006 much as he has portrayed him­self as a defender of the rights of Masaku Teachers.



We recomputed Mr. Mutisya's Account for Deposits, Loans and Accrued interest arriving at the following balances by end of No­vem­ber 2008:-

Deposits - 579177.00

Loans O/S - 2,361,000.00

Interest accrued - 619,734.30



His Fosa savings account had a misposted loan of Kshs. 150,000.00 erroneously re­ducing the overdrawn balance by the same margin.



The case of tampering the Members' loan records was not isolated to Mr. Mutisya. We noted cases of Journal Entries made in the MPAs of the KNUT Machakos Branch members which had no supporting docu­men­tation but affect Deposits, Loans and Accrued interest. Herebelow, find some of the Journal Entries:-



7/7/06 JV 201 Simon Mutinda KNUT MKS M/NO. 22397

Dr. Shares A/C Adj. 7,550

Cr. Shares A/C 7,550

Being shares arrears for the year 2005 Jan, Sept, oct, Nov. and Dec now posted in the Members statement for 2006. Pre­pared by Nthenge 7/7/06. Certified by Moses Muthoka on 8/7/06 and au­tho­rized by Mr. Ngomo.



7/7/06 JV David Kavisi KNUT MKS M/NO. 15585

Dr. Loans A/C. Adj 38,300

CR. Loans A/C 38,300

Being loans arrears for the year 2004 Sept,Oct,Nov and Dec2005 and Sept, Oct,Nov & Dec 2005 now posted in the member's statement for 2006. Pre­pared by Nthenge on 7/7/06, Certified by Moses Muthoka on 8/7/06 and authorized by Mr. Ngomo.



7/7/06 JV 203 David Kavisi KNUT MKS M/NO.15585

Dr.Interest A/C. Adj 7,500

Cr. Interest A/C 6,304

Being Interest charged on loan for the year 2004 Nov, Dec and Sept, Oct, Nov & Dec 2005 now posted in the Member's statement for 2006 pre­pared by Nthenge on 7/7/06, Cer­tified by Moses Muthoka on 8/7/06 and au­tho­rized by Mr. Ngomo.

7/7/06 JV 204 David Kavisi KNUT MKS M/NO 15585

Dr. Shares A/C. Adj 7,500

Cr. Shares A/C 7,500

Being shares arrears for the year 2004 Sept,Oct, Nov & Dec;2005 Jan, Sept, Oct, Nov & Dec now posted in the Member's statement for 2006



7/7/06 JV 205 Dryton Muthama KNUT MKSM/NO.15149

Dr. Shares A/C Adj 29600

Cr. Shares A/C 29600

Being shares arrears for the year 2004 June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov & Dec;2005 Jan, Sept, Oct, Nov, and Dec now posted in the Member's statement for 2006. Prepared by Nthenge 7/7/2006, Certified by Moses Muthoka on 8/7/06 and authorized by Mr. Ngomo

Mr. Sammy Kioko Nyalla ± Former AEO Athi River

He hails from Kangundo electoral area the home town of the former general man­ager Mr. Solomon Ngomo.



He was very influential on the society op­eration during his tenure as the AEO during which time he in­timi­dated Sacco offi­cials who crossed his path. Having the former manager as the home ally he en­joyed all the privileges in terms of loan application granting without following the normal pro­ce­dures.

For the infamous manual withdrawals against a negative account balance, all he needed was to go to the manager office and would have his money processed and ready for cashing at the fosa within a few minutes as a staff would be called to assist him in doing the follow up. This was well exhibited during interviews as he claimed some of the staff were against him now that he has re­tired against the special treatment he claimed to have been receiving previously.



At the time of inquiry he had an out­standing loan balances of over Kshs. 1.5 million arising from nu­merous top up loans in which re­cov­eries were irregu­larly made. In fact the repayment was so in­con­sis­tent that he had ex­tended the repayment duration beyond the maxi­mum 36 months for normal loan.



It would appear he commanded a lot of re­spect in the society such that he couldn't recall when he applied for some of loan granted to him as top ± ups as the documents proved.

On the overdrawn account, he tops the list as one the major beneficiaries of the in­fa­mous manual withdrawals against un­clear effects.



By time of inquiry, he had negative balance of Kshs. 673, 549.80

Word has it that, he at one time cam­paigned vigorously to have the sacco split so that the Kangundo branch could serve as an in­de­pen­dent sacco from the mother Masaku Teachers' when the sacco was in total fi­nan­cial turmoil. It was per­ceived that such a move would lead to eminent collapse of the sacco and monies owned to the sacco in negatives or out­standing loans would never be re­cov­ered. However, his campaign was thwarted by the general members who stood firm and defended the decision of splitting the sacco.

He also campaigned against the current chairman Mr. Julius Nzioka from being elected the chairman after the exit of the former chairman Mr. Cosmas Mwololo as the latter had vowed to unearth their en­tire mis­deed once elected the chairman of the sacco as is the case today.

To wind it up he participated fully in rooting members funds with others mentioned in this inquiry leading to present downfall of once giant Masaku Teachers' sacco and they should repay all monies they owe the sacco.



Loan Portfolio

According to the 2007 Audited accounts, Loans outstanding balance was Kshs. 900,000,000.00 in the control account against a listing of Kshs. 360,000,000.00. This literally means there are loans to the tune of Kshs. 570,000,000.00 which cannot be identified with anybody after having been granted; a situation that is un­acceptable.



In the light of creative accounting that was, this calls for urgent rec­on­ciliation to de­ter­mine the correct balances for out­standing loans.

Recommendation

- All loan application should strictly be in compliance with the loaning policy in the society.

- All loan applications should be treated equally and not where money is set aside for staff for top-ups yet the loan portfolio for ordinary members is not satisfied.

- In cases where the society funds are in­ad­equate during approval of loans, loans application with small amounts should be considered as stated in the loan policy.

- All top up loans should be abol­ished until such a time when the society will ex­pe­rience idle cash after satisfying the loans.

- Approval of all loans should remain the mandate of the credit committee and the central committee should only adopts re­port of the credit committee during CMC meetings.





Town Hall's No to
CDF's shoddy gift


Machakos Town CDF is embroiled in a fight with the Municipal Council of Macha­kos over a donation that local MP Victor Munyaka pledged to the council's Fire Fighting Unit.

Munyaka, showing concern that the council lacked adequate fire fighting equipment following a fire that killed four people at a building belonging to former CGS Gen Jackson Mulinge, pledged on the heat of the moment to do all it takes to ensure that local residents do not face the danger f fire in unmitigated cir­cum­stances.

For those who can not remember, the fire broke out as a result of an arson attack due to a failed marriage. The attacker, his estranged wife and her parents died as a result. At the time of the attack, the Municipal Fire engine was emerging from repairs after an accident. It barely managed to contain the raging inferno. Fire engines from Nairobi and Mavoko Municipal Council helped put out the fire that left the entire building damaged and is disused to this day.

It was as a result that Munyaka pledged t use CDF to help the council. Within weeks of the fire, the council acquired a bigger engine that does not have any water carrying capacity.

During a highly dramatised handover ceremony of the fire engine, Munyaka pledged to use Sh 1.5m from CDF to buy a tanker that would be towed by the engine whenever there was a fire. Munyaka also pledged to sink a bore hole within Town Hall, whose water would be used to provide water hydrants to help minimise threats of fire. Those present applauded the MP, seeing his move as strategic thinking for the town.

Council officials then went to the drawing table and obtained professional speci­fi­cations to the tanker. The Anchor has established that the specifications were obtained from a firm in Embu that was linked to the sourcing of the Fire Engine from Japan. The specifications, were are told, came from the manu­fac­turers of the engine.

Key to the specifications was the need to have a tanker that matched the power of the fire engine. As such, the tanker was required to have a capacity of four thou­sand litres of water. The tanker was to have three internal partitions. Besides, the Tanker was to be mounted on four wheels to ensure balance.

When the council approached the CDF management for funds to build the tanker, CDF fat cats responded by demanding the specifications so that they could identify a contractor to do the job. The council complied and supplied the CDF team with the specifications. Matters have not gone the right way again.

Investigations by The Anchor indicate that top council officials were made to believe that the tanker was being constructed in Nairobi. Officials are reported to have made at least one visit to Nairobi to monitor progress of the work. That may be so.

Be that as it may, the tanker at some point was towed to Kimutwa Engineering Works, which is owned by the Chief of Machakos Town Mr J Kimeu. The Chief told The Anchor that the tanker was brought to him to correct the engineering on the Tow Bar to enable it be com­patible with the requirements of the fire engine. ™ That is all we did to the tanker, ask Mutuku where he build the tanker∫ We also established that the chief was not the person CDF contracted to build the tanker.

The Contractor- Kitanga Contractors- is owned by Mr Mutuku Muia, son of the first Machakos Mayor, the late Peter Muia Ndunda. Kitanga Contractors have in the past taken up jobs in Machakos Municipal Council with much controversy and now seem to be in good working relationship with the CDF team.

Mutuku told The Anchor that the tanker was delivered to the council and was received accepted by the Town Engineer Mr Morris Aluanga. ™If for whatever reason anyone is dissatisfied, they should get back to the CDF office and express their dissatisfaction∫, Mr Muia said

Aluanga told The Anchor that pro­ce­dures used over the tanker was what has been documented by the inspection report-meaning that he did not receive it as alleged by Mutuku.

It is understood that Eng. Aluanga kept on insisting that the Tanker be moni­tored to ensure that the correct specifications where being followed. When one morning, the freshly painted red object was towed into Town Hall, Machakos Town Clerk Mr Stephen Mbondo, in consultation with Eng. Aluanga con­sti­tuted a Task Force to inspect the contraption. The task force was headed by the Assistant Town Clerk Mr J.M. Mbilo. Other members were head of the Fire Department Mr F Kitungu, Mr Musau, Mr J Mulatya and another official only identified as Dishon. They inspected the fire bowser on November 11,2009. The Inspection report by Mr Mbilo is dated November 25,2009.

They identified the following short­comings. The Tow bar looked weak, Railings at the top were missing, and the ladder was too close to the body. Other specifications which were missing include three internal partitions with an internal breather to enhance pressure equality, two side steps to access the ladders and two breathers at the top of the tank. They went on ™The specified capacity is 4000 litres of water while the fabricated tank is about 6000 litres which in our view is too heavy for the fire engine to tow.∫ They concluded the report by saying that bituminous paint be painted inside the tanker.

With such a report, Mr Mbondo needed no further scrutiny to show that the con­traption was the not just wrongly built, it was technically unacceptable to the council. It appears that the CDF office never responded to the report and neither bothered to make make good the tanker.

Those who know the workings of speed and weight say if ever the fire engine tows the tanker and moves in high speed towards a fire site, then the pair would become a weapon. ™ If this ever happens, then the fire engine will not have the capacity to stop the tanker∫, said a council official who refused to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

In effect, the council declined to accept the tanker and requested that it be parked off its yard to the area where impounded goods are kept.

When the report was filed, with a copy to CDF, a new chapter of relationship was opened between the council and the CDF office, with Dr Munyaka en­gaging high gear to force the council to accept the defective tanker built by public money.

It appears that some behind the scenes moves have taken place between the CDF management, Dr Munyaka and the contractor to have the council arm-twisted to accept a contraption that can not perform the work for which it was in­tended without a disastrous effect.

Besides, our sources say the contractor initially demanded Sh 1m for the job. But reports indicate that CDF may have paid as much as Sh 1.5m- meaning some people may have shared Sh 500,000 from the deal. Surprisingly, Mr Muia says he was paid Sh 1.6m. Efforts to trace the tendering procedure for the job hit the wall and it is doubtful that any tendering was done. It remains very telling that the amount Mr Munyaka, a vet doctor, announced he would use on the tanker, ended up being almost the exact amount expended after the shoddy work was carried out. Now it must be asked: Is the 6,000- litre water tanker worth what was paid by the CDF; can it competitively fetch half of the amount allegedly used if sold com­peti­tively in the market?

Sources say when Munyaka realized that the Town Clerk would not accept the tanker, a new effort was developed to seek his removal from Town Hall. Why would the MP want the council to accept a contraption outside the speci­fi­cations, if he really was driven by honest intentions of helping Machakos Residents be well prepared in times of fire?

On November 26,2009, Mr Mbondo wrote to the CDF Manager, saying that the council would only accept the tanker as an ordinary water tank and not as an appendage of the Fire Engine. His three paragraph letter said in part ™In the event that the issues cannot be rec­tified, the council is willing to accept the equipment for use as a water tanker but not for the initial intended purpose of Fire tender since it will not be able to be towed by the new fire engine∫. The disappointment notwithstanding, Mr Mbondo concluded ™ We appreciate the support given to the council by your office∫

As this went on, Dr Munyaka opened a new front on the war with the council, singling our Mayor Fidelis Kimuyu for ridicule. He staged an event, purporting to open the Public Toilet at the Bus Park by commissioning the same contractor to open up a blocked sewer and paint the toilet in ODM-K colours.

The toilets were closed down by Public Health officials due to their sorry state of maintenance. The council has been insisting that the public gets used to the Iko-Pay Toilets erected at the bus park. Munyaka is keen to show that the mu­nici­pal council as a non performing entity and seems set to unaccountably spend CDF cash on council projects to perfect the fight with the Town Fathers.

It remains to be seen how Mr Munyaka will run the 'CDF' toilets , much as they belong to the council. Be that as it may, concerns are being raised on procedures that CDF is using to carry out its projects as only specific people are the ones winning tenders.

Questions surround a decision to allow schools to get into agreements with contractors willing to build classes and await allocation of funds from CDF. Through this system a particular con­tractor has been identified by schools to erect classrooms as an uncompetitive rate of Sh500,000 per class.

A source at the CDF offices says the trick helps the CDF office duck pro­curement regulations that require that the jobs be advertised and allo­cated competitively. ™Now all the committees need to do is to identify contractors who have the cash to begin the work and are willing to wait till the committee gets its funds. This means that only selected people who have the means are bale to get the jobs.∫, said an official who pleaded not to be named as his junior position does not allow him to brief the media.

Efforts to obtain comments from Dr Muyaka have remained futile since has since declined to take our telephone calls.



Kyanzavi:Lawyer
caught with pants down



Kyanzavi Farmers Company has not held an AGM for years owing to suits that shareholders file in courts for unexplained reasons. Judge David Onyancha, in this ruling, has captured the web of litigation that the company finds itself in after he found himself issuing orders that clashed with earlier orders of another Judge, thanks to complicity of an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.The Anchor chooses to run it verbatim in the hope of uncovering those using courts to defeat justice.




REPUBLIC -APPLI­CANT


-VERSUS-



REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES -RESPONDENT



EXPARTE: KYANZAVI FARMERS COMPANY LTD.





RULING



The application before me is a Notice of Motion dated 4th Sep­tem­ber, 2009 brought by the Registrar of Companies who is rep­re­sented by the Attor­ney ±Gen­eral. It seeks, inter alia, that the Ex Parte leave granted to the Ex Parte Applicant herein on 4th September, 2009 to apply for an Order of Certiorari in this case, be set aside and the order for stay issued on the same day be dis­charged. It also seeks that there­af­ter, the Chamber Summons dated 31st August, 2009 under which the said orders were granted and issued, be dis­missed with costs in this and the said application, in favour of the Applicant herein.

Among the grounds upon which this appli­cation is based are:-

(a) That in obtaining the im­pugned or­ders, the Ex Parte Applicant with held and suppressed from this court, facts and in­for­mation relevant and ma­terial to the issue before the court.

(b) That in obtaining the said orders the Ex Parte Applicant failed to disclose that Lenaola, J, of Macha­kos High Court had di­rected in Machakos High Court Misc. Appli­cation No., 245 of 2009, that the Re­spon­dent do issue a notice called for the Ex Parte Applicant's Annual General Meeting which it has failed to call since De­cem­ber, 2006.

(c) That the said order of Macha­kos High Court by Lenaola, J to call for the Annual General Meeting, still validly stood and has not been challenged or vacated by the Ex Parte Applicant when the Ex Parte Applicant freshly field this Ex Parte application in this court and obtained fresh orders dated 4th September, 2009 as aforestated.

The facts as I understand them are that Lenaola, J in Machakos High Court Misc. Appli­cation No. 245 of 2009 on 26th August, 2009, made the following orders inter alia:-

(a) That the stay of pro­ceedings of the Annual Gen­eral Meeting of the Ex Parte Applicant Kyanzavi Farmers Com­pany Lim­ited for the years 2007 and 2008, sched­uled for 29th July 2009 be and was thereby set aside.

(b) That the Registrar of Com­pa­nies do issue a fresh No­tice of Annual General Meeting and elections be not the only agenda or subject of the meeting.

Thereafter the Registrar of Com­pa­nies in obedience to the above orders pro­ceeded to issue a notice calling for a special Annual General Meeting to be held on 11th Sep­tem­ber, 2009. As that pended the Ex Parte Applicant ± the Re­spon­dent in this application, left Machakos and came to Nairobi High Court where he filed, under a Certificate of Urgency dated 31st August, 2009, a Chamber Summons seeking the following orders: - That leave be granted to it, to file a Notice of Motion seeking an Or­der of Certiorari to quash the decision of the Registrar of Com­pa­nies notice calling for the Annual General Meeting in com­pliance with the Machakos High Court order afore­men­tioned. The appli­cation was heard by this court which on 4th September, 2009 allowed it, granting the leave sought and making the leave a stay until the in­tended Notice of Motion would be heard.

It is the Applicant's case herein that this court was not given the relevant, correct and proper facts in the process of persuading it to grant the orders. That the court was told that the Registrar of Com­pa­nies notice would bring confusion to the running of the com­pany. That the Registrar of Com­pa­nies' acted contrary to Section 131 of the Com­pa­nies Act in issuing the notice, which amounted to an illegality.

It is further argued that this court's attention was not specifically drawn to Lenaola, J's afore­men­tioned orders which are the ones that effectively au­tho­rized and/or directed the Registrar of Companies to issue the rel­evant Annual General Meeting notice. That al­though the said ruling was indeed annexed to the application its presence, relevance and im­por­tance was avoided or was not drawn to the courts attention. Nor was an ex­tracted or­der thereof annexed. That even the Reg­is­trar of Com­pa­nies' said no­tice which quoted, its au­thority and source to the Macha­kos Court or­der was not annexed.

Fur­ther­more, the Appli­cant urged this court to note that the Ex Parte Appli­cant had not appealed to the Court of Appeal or attempted to set aside or modify or re­view the Macha­kos Court or­der if at all it was dissat­isfied with it.

In conclusion the Applicant herein argued that had the Ex Parte Appli­cant been candid and honest and had it disclosed the rel­evant and material information to this court, par­ticu­larly to the existence of the Macha­kos High Court or­ders and their effect, this court would unlikely have granted the leave and stay which it granted. That since the same were granted on the basis of dishonest grounds and non disclosure of the relevant in­for­mation, they are amenable to setting aside to abide the hearing and disposal of the Notice of Motion still pending in Macha­kos High Court, being the Machakos High Court Civil Misc. Application No. 245 of 2009.

Finally, the Applicant also raised the pros­pect of Res Judicata or Res Subjudice the Machakos Suit. He also drew the attention of this court of the several similar orders the Ex Parte Applicant has ob­tained in the last several years which have con­trary, to the pro­visions of the Com­pany Law, al­most paralysed the func­tioning of the com­pany to the detriment of the majority of the shareholders who are the common members of the public.

In response to the above facts deposed by the Applicant/Reg­is­trar of Com­pa­nies, the Ex Parte Applicant, stated that, in­deed its leave and stay order earlier granted on 16th July, 2009 were set aside by Macha­kos High Court on 19th August, 2009. That it was then the Registrar of Com­pa­nies published a notice for an Annual General Meeting that it rushed here to file this application for leave to file Notice of Motion for an Order of Cer­tio­rari and ob­tained it with a stay.

The Ex Parte Applicant conceded that the Registrar's notice for the Annual Gen­eral Meeting included the tabling of 2007-8 accounts as well as the Chairman's Re­port, thus com­plying with the courts or­der that the Annual General Meeting should not be for elections alone. The Ex Parte's Applicant's problem was that the accounts were not ready yet.

Mr. Oyugi for the Ex Parte Applicant also seemed to suggest that the court ought to have closely stud­ied every annexure annexed to the said application, inclusive of the extracted order and the Ruling from Machakos High Court, in ex­haustive de­tails. He thus ab­solved the Ex Parte Applicant from its failure at the relevant time to spe­cifically draw the same to court's attention.

Mr. Oyugi further argued in an­swer to their application being Res Ju­di­cata or Res Subjudice that their application only related to the Registrar of Companies Notice and not the Macha­kos High Court orders. He stated that part of the reason to come to Nairobi was because Macha­kos High Court Judge was on vacation.

He also interestingly argued that he could not go back to Machakos and was entitled to come to Nairobi because the law bars re­vis­iting orders granted under Order 53 of the Civil Procedure Rules.

I have carefully perused the ma­terial and deponements sub­mitted in this case and I have also carefully considered the ar­guments from both sides. I will first deal with the issue of ju­ris­dictions raised by the Appli­cant as his last issue.

There is no doubt and the Re­spon­dents/ Ex Parte Applicant did not specifically deny the fact, that in Machakos High Court Civil Misc. Application No. 245 of 2009, it had sought for a grant of leave to apply for an Order of Certiorari to remove into the High Court for quashing, the decision of the Reg­is­trar of Companies dated 1st July, 2009 calling for the con­vening of the Annual Gen­eral Meeting of Kyanzavi Farmers Com­pany Lim­ited for the years 2007 and 2008. It has also sought that the leave granted operate as stay of the proposed Annual General Meeting or the decision of the said Registrar for the convening of the Annual General Meeting.

There is no doubt also that the Machakos High Court granted the leave and made it operate as stay to the said Registrar's de­cision to have the Annual General Meeting called. Although the Machakos High Court later lifted and set aside its said or­ders, it nev­er­theless, also dealt with the issue of calling for or convening of the Annual General Meeting in question by au­tho­rizing the Reg­is­trar of Com­pa­nies and the Company itself to convene the Annual General Meeting in a par­ticu­lar manner to include cer­tain relevant items like the ta­bling of annual accounts etc be­side election of the Board of Directors.

It seems to me and I so hold, that the issue of convening the Annual General Meeting of the Ex Parte Applicant for the years 2007 and 2008 was exhaustively dealt with by the Court. In case the party was dissatisfied by that said court, it could only apply for review of or the setting aside thereof or in­deed files an appeal against the orders to the Court of Appeal.

The Ex Parte Applicant however instead rushed to Nairobi Central High Court and filed on 4th Sep­tem­ber, 2009 this appli­cation again seeking leave to file an appli­cation for the order of Cer­tio­rari against the Appli­cant herein to call into this court for quashing, the decision of the Appli­cant to issue notice to con­vene the rel­evant Annual Gen­eral Meeting, this time in­tended to come on 11th Sep­tem­ber, 2009. The parties in the similar appli­cation earlier were the same. The issues were exactly the same although the Nairobi Chamber Summons for leave concerned with the same Annual General Meeting which has earlier been stayed from taking place by the Machakos court order.

On the basis of Section 7 of the Civil Pro­ce­dure Act, it is my finding that the Cham­ber Summons appli­cation filed be­fore this court by the Ex Parte Applicant on 4th September, 2009 seeking for leave to file a Notice of Motion and making the leave op­erate as a stay against the Notice of the Reg­is­trar of Companies to convene an Annual General Meeting of Kyanzavi Farmers Co. Ltd on 11th September, 2009, was Res Ju­di­cata the earlier similar Cham­bers Summons filed and dealt with by the Machakos High Court on 16th July 2009. This means that the said earlier appli­cation was a bar to in­sti­tuting the appli­cation in respect of which the present application was brought to annul. That is to say that the Ex Parte Applicant was not en­titled to file application which makes it amenable for this court to strike it out, with the relevant consequences. That is to say that all orders made by this court un­der it would also be set aside and be dis­charged. This conclusion should alone dispose of this appli­cation. How­ever, other grounds were argued by the parties and I will now turn to con­sider them.

The application before me was grounded mainly on the issue that the Respondent/Ex Parte Applicant's application, was pros­ecuted by it without dis­closing all the relevant and essential facts of the case, thus denying this court an opportunity to make a proper and just decision. Having con­sid­ered that ground I am per­suaded that it is so. That is to say that the Re­spon­dent/Ex Parte Applicant, failed to disclose to this court about the Machakos High Court decision convening the issuance and the later setting aside of the leave to file a Notice of Motion seeking an Order of Cer­tio­rari. That court's reasons for doing so should have been dis­closed since they were bound to persuade this court one way or the other.

I further agree that had cir­cum­stances surrounding the issuing of the orders by Macha­kos High Court been placed before this court by the Respondent herein, this court would first have found that this appli­cation here was res judicata and would have struck it out. In addition, this court would not have granted the leave sought and would also have not have made the leave to operate as a stay.

Incidentally, this court notices that in filling the Machakos High Court Miscellaneous Civil Application No. 245 of 2009, the Re­spon­dent was actually evading a simi­lar application earlier filed in Nairobi High Court as High Court Mis­cella­neous Civil Application No. 416 of 2009 (JR) on 14th July, 2009 in which Dulu, J refused to grant similar relief's on the above date. It is possible to state that the application must have been val­idly pending in this court when the Respondent filed the other two, in Macha­kos High Court and in Nairobi High Court.

What is most worrying about this circus by the Respondent / Ex Parte Applicant, is the fact that all was being conducted by ad­vo­cates and officers of this court who knew of the position of the matter under the law and who were misguiding and assisting a party by using the law to delay the end result and thus committing open injustice. A conduct like that, with great re­spect to those concerned, is below their dignity as advocates of the High Court and one which needs to be brought to the attention of the Law Society of Kenya.

Be that as it may for the reasons stated hereinabove, this application has merit. It is hereby allowed as the application by the Respondent/Ex Parte Applicant dated 7th September, 2009 is hereby struck out as Res Judicata and order granted there un­der are hereby lifted and set aside. Costs are to the Applicant. Orders accordingly.



Dated and delivered at Nairobi this 5th day of February, 2010.

D A ONYANCHA

JUDGE







Sorghum: The white gold
of Kitui emerges


By Ibrahim Tayari in Mutomo



M

ore than 10,000 farmers in East­ern province are reaping the benefits of growing sorghum for beer making af­ter East Africa Brew­eries announced it will buy all the grain .

East Africa Malting Ltd (EAML), a sub­sid­iary of EA B L has partnered with Africa Harvest, a non Gov­ern­men­tal organization and Equity Bank to pro­mote the growing of sorghum grain and enhance its value chain in the coun­try.

The new sorghum growing cam­paign has been designed to develop a commer­cially sus­tainable source of raw ma­te­rials for East Africa's leading brewer and fast-track es­tab­lishment of a sorghum value chain for Kenya.

According to industry players, thou­sands of direct and indirect jobs are being created by the chain as the project marks the beginning of commer­cial­ization of sorghum in the country.

Under the arrangement, Equity Bank is offering low interest loans to farmers to buy seeds and farm inputs while Af­rica Harvest is pro­viding the tech­nical support to ensure the best quality is pro­duced for consumption by EAML.

For years, local brewing firms have been reluctant to use sor­ghum ± the hardy grain that yields considerably well in mini­mal rainfall and poor soils because they were not sure whether farmers could guar­an­tee consistent supply.

Barley, the grain used to brew most beer grows best in coun­tries with cooler climates but its rock­eting price due to a strong global de­mand and the high shipping costs have made beer making more expensive than ever.

Due to worldwide increases in the cost of sourcing barley, EAML is now in­vesting in sorghum as a malting sub­sti­tute.

The project has been imple­mented in the lower zones of Eastern Prov­ince; Kitui,Machakos, Makueni, Mutomo, Mbeere, Masinga, Tharaka, Embu, Maara, Meru South , Imenti North and Imenti South.

These areas are characterized by high levels of poverty due to the dry cli­mate, frequent crop failure occa­sioned by long periods of drought.

The move has already started to sub­stan­tially improve the eco­nomic well being of thou­sands of poor farmers in dry areas where erratic weather patterns make growing of other crops diffi­cult.

EABL requires more than 60,000 tons of barley every year for making different beer brands, out of this the firm in­tends to sub­sti­tute in excess of three quar­ters with local sorghum. Ms Rose Mutuku of Smart Lo­gis­tics says the firm hired to source the grain from local farmers by EAML, resulting in a production deficit of more than 25,000 tons.

™This being the first season to in­tro­duce the venture, many farmers were still skeptical about the idea and thus pro­duction is below our targets∫ Ms Mutuku said.

She says EAML will be forced to im­port gaddam sorghum this year from Tan­za­nia because farmers will not be able to satisfy de­mand but reckons that the situation will im­prove in the next seasons.

Dr Rose Njeru, Technology De­ployment Director at Africa Har­vest says: ™We anticipate that the 13 tons of sorghum seeds planted by No­vem­ber last year will be har­vested and bulked by our farmers bringing much needed in­come into their pock­ets∫.

The initiative was mooted last year by EABL with 20 tons of the gaddam seeds, the white sor­ghum variety ideal for brewing were distributed and proper sen­si­ti­zation was done to farmers in the region. Harvest preparations are un­der­way as more than 50 collection centers have been es­tab­lished to collect and bulk the grain.

Africa Harvest CEO Dr Florence Wambugu expects better per­for­mance in the next growing season as the project picks up mo­men­tum.

She says: ™It is anticipated that with the good spirit of co­op­eration and teamwork between the various stake­holders, the region can supply most the growing de­mand for sor­ghum grain∫

Sorghum, ranked the fifth most im­por­tant staple food in the world after wheat, barley, rice and maize has suddenly found its way to the top after EAML guaranteed buying all the grain produced locally.

Farmers who grew the gaddam sor­ghum variety are now smiling all the way to the bank after the firm declared a farm gate price of Sh 17 per kilo.

Mrs Mary Mutemi from Mwingi cen­tral gambled with the EAML idea and dedicated eight acres of her farm to the new crop. With­out applying any fer­tilizer, she now ex­pects to harvest at least 50 bags of sorghum.

™This is unbelievable and we are very happy. At last we've got our own cash crop with a guaranteed market like coffee and tea∫ Mrs Mutemi said adding farmers will redouble their efforts in the next season. She says that at first she was not enthusiastic about the idea after many years of consecutive crop fail­ure but she will now in­crease her acreage next sea­son because gaddam sor­ghum can withstand the harsh weather con­ditions in her area.

EAML has also put in place lo­gis­tics to ensure that farmers are paid in­stantly for their de­liv­eries.

Local leaders have welcomed the initiative saying there was an urgent need to revise the country's ag­ri­cul­tural policies to tackle the present challenges in line with the prevailing eco­nomic realities.

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka says farmers would effectively cultivate enough sorghum as long as the mar­ket for their produce was guar­an­teed and that this will trans­late to enormous benefits to them and the country's economy.

However, they have voiced con­cern over the initial prices of Sh 17 per kilo offered by the brewing firm saying it should be revised upwards to cushion farmers against high cost of pro­duction.

Kitui south MP Isaac Muoki whose area is among the leading sor­ghum pro­ducers suggested that the Gov­ernment impose heavy taxes on barley im­por­tation in order to en­courage the grain production in the coun­try.

™This country is living a big irony. We import barley from Russia and Canada at very exorbitant prices to make beer yet cheap sor­ghum can be grown locally for the same pur­pose at obvious great eco­nomic benefits to poor farmers∫ he said.

The big contradiction, he added con­tin­ued even as foreign giant brewers like the Heineken of Dutch and Diageo of Britain sourced sor­ghum from African countries for their different beer brands which unscrupulously ended up into the Kenyan mar­ket.

Mr Muoki says it was wrong for the Government to keep on taxing the bottle prices every year, which were obviously passed on to consumers instead of making the trade of pro­ducing the agricultural raw ma­te­rials commer­cially attractive to local farmers.





MPS seek six
new constituencies


As the Interim Independent Boundary Review Commission (IIBRC) began its sitting at Machakos So­cial Hall, resi­dents and leaders asked the commission to create six more con­stitu­encies in the area.

Most speakers from the larger Macha­kos district who gave their views called for the splitting of their re­spective con­stitu­encies into two.

Constituencies in the area include Macha­kos Town , Mwala, Masinga Yatta, Kan­gundo and Kathiani.

While requesting for the split of Macha­kos Town Constituency, a resi­dent of Kalama Division said that Kalama was rural, semi-arid and dis­ad­van­taged while the Central di­vision was not only urban and cos­mo­poli­tan but has su­pe­rior in­fra­struc­ture, better economy and so­cial amenities.

Mr. Paul Muia also pleaded for the cre­ation of the Kalama constituency and upgrading of Kalama di­vision into a district saying such a move would speed development due to direct allo­cation of budgetary funds and other resources which go with the status of a fully fledged district.

Similar sentiments were expressed by representatives from the newly created Mwala district which com­prises Mwala and Yathui di­visions who wanted the two di­visions made districts and called for the creation of more ad­min­is­trative areas citing high population density.

Also demanding elevation creation of more districts and constituencies were speakers from Kathiani, Yatta and Masinga. The MP for Kangundo Johnson Muthama while giving his views called on the commission to be fair and im­par­tial in the execution of its man­date.

He cautioned that physical bound­aries should not divide resi­dents neither should they be a source of political ri­valry. He said his constituency was ex­pe­ri­encing a high population growth with over 350,000 people and re­quired a new constituency.

The Mp attributed the growth to the in­flux of people from surrounding ar­eas like Lukenya, Nairobi , Athi River , Thika among others who buying plots and building permanent houses in Kan­gundo owing to its proximity to Nairobi .

He said people working in Nairobi are housed in Kangundo and retire to their homes daily. The commission was in Machakos town for three days to take views of residents on boundaries review.

Mps Charles Kilonzo, Machakos Town Dr Victor Munyaka and Mwala Mp Daniel Muoki also spoke, seeking new con­stitu­encies. Others included former cabinet Min­is­ter and Mwala Mp Mr John Katuku and former Machakos Town Mp Mr Jonesmus Kikuyu.



MPwalks the path
of filthy toilets
MP steps on path of filthy toilets



By Mwona Keli



IS the Machakos Town MP Dr Kioko Munyaka biting more than he can possi­bly chew? Well, time will tell.

Munyaka, a first time MP was elected on an ODM-K ticket to represent Machakos Town in Par­liament. Upon his election, The Anchor did point out to him that among his many roles, the management of the Municipal Council of Machakos was cer­tainly out of question.

The Anchor did this deliberately because many MPs elected in areas where there is a big coun­cil, end up poking their nose into the affairs of the council and in most cases be­have like the pettiest of the civic leaders. Of­ten, these liaisons with coun­cils form a basis for losing elections.

So when Dr. Victor Munyaka stormed the Machakos Bus Park to re-open a council pub­lic toilet which was closed down ten months ago, he may not have exactly comprehended what he was doing.

The toilet was closed by Public Health offi­cials after road con­struction company damaged its drainage system. The damage came at a time the Municipal Council was migrating from a free public toilet policy to one where resi­dents cost-share in the main­te­nance of such fa­cilities.

Dr Munyaka led a cabal of loy­alists and a cheering crowd, saying he was dis­appointed to see the public toilet closed forcing wananchi to pay five shillings at the nearby Iko toilet.

The town has two Iko toilets where mem­bers of the public pay sh5 to relieve themselves but the MP said the charge was too high and could not be afforded by poor residents of the town.

Munyaka was so courageous that he in­structed the council to take re­spon­si­bility of ensuring that the toilet is in good con­dition adding that the municipal coun­cil to main­tain using taxes collected from the residents.

If Munyaka was dead serious, he would have gone a step further to visit the human waste monument at the Wholesale Mar­ket, a toilet facility where human waste make a stinking barricade as resi­dents help them­selves a step away from the latest heap.

The MP also intimidated the coun­cil, saying he would to mo­bi­lize wananchi in future to demonstrate if the council failed to maintain the toilets.

Dr Munyaka said that the CDF would re­lease Sh150, 000 to re­ha­bili­tate the toi­let and do­nated rolls of tissue papers and de­ter­gents for use in the toilet- this a very ambitious plan in­deed. Observers are won­dering for how long will Mr Munyaka be buying toilet paper for users of the toi­lets.

Indeed, it gives the picture of a vet dreamer. He surely went to school up to university. Did he ever see toilet paper dangled in those in­sti­tu­tional toilets?. Even in the city, did Dr Munyaka ever see toilet paper in the ruins they used to be? It could be un­der­stood that the casinos he pa­tronizes may have such trappings.

If there is any field that municipalities, in­cluding the Machakos municipality, have failed it is in the maintenance of public toi­lets. Dr Munyaka knows this fact only too well and observers see his visit to the Macha­kos Toilet as high noon drama as he seeks toilets for a starved people, who if any­thing, need jobs he can create with CDF.

Machakos mayor councillor Fidelis Kimuyu said H-Young Construction Company was to blame for it blocked the toilet drainage sys­tem. He said the council was forced to close down the facility in order to main­tain hy­giene in the area. Even then, Kimuyu had to con­tend with shouting and drunken youth. He had to abandon his speech to wrestle the loudest of them as Dr Munyaka watched.

What the mayor did not say was that the coun­cil had as much as given up on a free toilet facility for residents. He could have used the opportunity to inform the MP and resi­dents that they must seek to dispose of their human waste at a cost since that was the emerging trend that guarantees availabil­ity of clean public toilets.

There has been growing public specu­lation that the councillors had conspired to de­molish the toilet and put up kiosks, a de­vel­opment that may not be far from truth. For sure, it is not practical any more for the bus park to have two toilets to serve resi­dents who after all are food deficient. In any case what use would starved people have for two toilets on one bus park?

The Iko Toilet concept was introduced in Machakos last year, based on Public Pri­vate Partnerships, a popular policy frame­work that the government is en­cour­aging. Under the PPP plan, a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) agreement was done, meaning that the in­vestors will operate the toilets until they recoup their costs and then exit to allow the council to run them. It is a successful con­cept in Nairobi and Nanyuki. Since its in­tro­duction in the city, the specter of filthy public toi­lets ended, ushering in a regime where public toi­lets are maintained in clean con­ditions for use by residents.

However, residents who cannot afford the charge have been urinating in alleys and on the Machakos General Hospital fence while the homeless and street boys def­ecate be­hind the kiosks at the bus park leaving a foul stench across the town. Even then, the street commu­nities are known to defecate outside these toilets, even when they were open..

Mjini Ward councillor Peter Mutiso who is the area councillor said the Iko toilets were an inconvenience as they opened at 7.00am and closed at 6.00pm leaving resi­dents with­out a public toilet facility, an aspect that ought to be looked into.

The bus park is heavily crowded as trav­elers use the terminus to board ve­hicles towards destinations across the entire Ukambani re­gion and other parts of the country.



Strange stance as
Chief Justice visits


By Nguma Kitone



CHIEF Justice Evans Gicheru finally bowed to pressure and visited the Macha­kos law courts for the first time to access the situation there for him self. His visit came soon after local lawyers protested his de­cision to remove young and effective Justice Isaac Lenaola and replace him with aging Justice Hatari Waweru. Even then, Gicheru's itinerary was not devoid of drama as his han­dlers , for un­dis­closed reasons successfully managed to keep the press off the CJ

There was drama as his security guards barred members of the Fourth Estate from accessing him at the Judge's Cham­bers and, unbelievably the High Court itself where he held a session with local staff and lawyers.

Gicheru arrived at the law courts shortly before 3.00pm and went straight to the Judge's chambers where he was re­ceived by outgoing Judge, Justice Lenaola.

When reporters arrived moments after he had entered the chambers, three body guards planted at the door denied them entry.∫The Chief Justice is meeting his people and you have no business getting in. When a man is in his bed room with his wife, visitors are not allowed in∫, one of the seemingly armed men yelled gleefully. It could not be discerned imme­di­ately who among those at the meeting could have been playing the roles of wife and family of the CJ at the meeting, if at all.

Nevertheless, they asked the newsmen to wait until he comes out of the meeting, to which they obliged.

But when he emerged to address law­yers at the High Court, the very same guards shamelessly chased away re­porters as they attempted to use the public entry to the Court Room. It is understood that the CJ told the lawyers that he had heard their protest and urged them to remain quiet as he seeks a so­lution to the crisis he created himself. Lenaola goes to Kakamega to replace the Judge indicted on corruption.

The same behaviour was witnessed in Ki­tui Law Courts where reporters were kept away with a bewildering attitude. Gicheru is said to have looked the other side when he came face to face with reporters and walked away. Reporters also left the venue. The CJ also visited Kitui Town Hall, where it is said, the judiciary is seeking a court room.

The CJ's move to transfer Judge Lenaola in yet unexplained circumstances has thrown Machakos into confusion as the wheels of justice are expected to suffer a set back. Lenaola has hundreds of partly heard cases and had overcome a glut of cases that had piled at the station before he was posted to Machakos two years ago. His transfer came as the local Branch of the Law Society of Kenya appealed for a second Judge to be posted at the station.

Though lawyers have not opposed the posting of Mr Justice Waweru, there are loud murmurs, rumours and questions within the corridors of Justice as to whether he will cope with the workload in Macha­kos.

This notwithstanding, Machakos lawyers have vowed to down tools to protest shortage of judicial staff at the facility.

The lawyers, led by the Law Society of Kenya Machakos branch chairman Mr.Andrew Makundi want the Chief Jus­tice to post an additional Judge and mag­is­trates to Machakos owing to a back­log of cases.