Muigwithania 2.0

*Maize Scandal

William Ruto -Maize

Agriculture Minister William Ruto came face to face with the magnitude of the maize scandal that threatens to blow away his political dreams when his ODM colleagues told him to carry his own cross. The Eldoret North MP got a rude shock on Monday night after ODM Cabinet Members unanimously gave the Prime Minister Raila Odinga the go-ahead to recommend his sacking if he refuses to resign.

Attempts by the Minister to defend himself during a meeting convened at the Prime Minister’s Treasury office by producing documents to show that a host of Members of Parliament and senior government officials made requests for allocation of maize to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), were dismissed by his colleagues.And last evening, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua piled more pressure on the Minister calling him a baggage. she dismissed Ruto’s claims on Monday morning that she was fighting him to scuttle the minister’s 2012 presidential ambitions. Ruto had claimed in a radio interview that Karua had invited him to a friend’s house in Nairobi where she sought his support for 2012 presidential contest.Karua noted that at no time had she discussed any partnership regarding the 2012 general election with Ruto, adding that she did not wish to be allied to a person “associated with graft and violence”.

“If I was to choose (a partner), I wouldn’t choose that person (Ruto),” said Karua adding that the minister should answer questions concerning the escalation of prices of maize flour despite Government subsidy.She added, “I don’t wish to carry such baggage now or in the future.”At the Treasury meeting, Lands Minister James Orengo and Finance Assistant Minister Oburu Odinga are reported to have repudiated the documents, adding a new twist of uncertainty that has widened the victims of the infamous maize scandal.The two are said to have insisted that public officers who wrote the letters are guilty of criminal offence under the Economic Crimes Act and Public Officer Ethics Act, which both outlaw the use of public office for personal gain.

Orengo is reported to have maintained that all the individuals mentioned by Ruto contravened both the Public Officer Ethics Act and the Economic Crimes Act and action should be taken against them.The meeting of ODM ministers and assistant ministers concluded that the party must not condone corruption by any member, reiterating the party’s ‘No Corruption’ slogan at the December 2007 elections.At least three Cabinet Ministers and an assistant minister speaking on condition of anonymity revealed that Ruto was put to his defence by colleagues as Raila, who chaired the session, watched.

A confident looking Ruto had arrived at the Treasury meeting in the company of Raila, after arriving in the same chopper from the mass burial of the Molo fire tragedy in Nakuru, which the PM had to leave midstream for a donor consultative meeting in Nairobi. At the KICC, Raila kept donors waiting for half an hour as he held a consultative meeting with Ruto. Their entry into the hall together, evidently for the cameras, did not reveal the intense negotiations the two leaders had since mid morning.

Raila Odinga

At the ODM Cabinet meeting, the anti-Ruto chorus that gathered steam over the weekend reached a crescendo as the minister’s colleagues spoke of “disgrace” and “bad image” to his face. But this was after Ruto was given the chance to state his case, which he did by producing the documents that implicates a number of senior government officials.

Among the vocal ODM ministers at the meeting are reported to have included Orengo, William Ntimama, Oburu and Najib Balala.And in her scathing attacks on Ruto yesterday, Karua insisted that the Agriculture minister should step aside to pave way for investigations as has become tradition. She said that since the designation of the coalition Government, the standards on the subject of governance and integrity had been lowered.

Ruto is reported to have said that Karua and the ilk were keen on ensuring that they scuttle his possible candidature for the 2012 presidential race as well as ensuring he did not hold any public office.The minister is further reported to have said that Karua should answer questions on last year’s bungled general election since the then Electoral Commission of Kenya was within her domain. But Karua noted that ECK is independent and could not take any instructions from the Justice ministry. She said the role of her office only touched on formulation and ensuring policy was adhered to.

Speaking at her offices last evening, the Justice minister further called for a thorough probe on the maize scam saying the Government should consider enlisting the services of private investigators. She said if investigators do well, the real face of the maize scam will come to light. She further expressed concern that if not handled well, the same problem will be replicated in fertilizers which will be subsidised by the Government

Since 1991, Ethiopia has gone further than any other country in using ethnicity as the fundamental organizing principle of a federal system of government. And yet this pioneering experiment in “ethnic federalism” has been largely ignored.

After the end of the cold war era one of the greatest challenge to world security and order emanate from multi-ethnic states. The problem of multiethnicity is not confined to the so called third world states in Africa. Some western democratic states who has been known for their long-term stability are seen to be precarious lately due to problems of multi-ethnicity.Quite a Varity of solutions have been forwarded by scholars as part of the search for solutions to this problem. The suggestions range from strong unitary dictatorial regime-as a means to suppress emerging ethnic nationalisms to ethnic based federalism-as a means of accommodating ethnic interests.

Ethiopian Regions

Federalism which may be identified as territorial based or ethnic based has come to be seen as the best alternative to promote the management of conflict prone multi-ethnic societies. Even those who extend sharp criticisms against this form of government admit that federalism, when properly implemented, has more often than not proved to offer tools for the better governess of supra-national institutions and has facilitated effective decision making in complex systems and promoted democracy.

In principle, relating federalism to multi-ethnicity and evaluating its success as a balance between unity and diversity involves a number of factors. In particular, how the boundaries of member states are drawn up and how powers are distributed horizontally as well as vertically. Moreover, the institutional set up should be examined if it represents a structure of diversity or at least minority accommodation providing institutional and political power

which democratically command loyalty to the common state.How far federalism, in particular ethnic federalism practically solves problem of multi-ethnicity is yet to be seen. However, daring decision has already been made in 1995 in Ethiopia adopting this approach as a solution to the longstanding ethnic problems of the country. Albeit with difficulty, the choice was made, and ethnicity was favored as the underling factor in the process of state formation.

The new model of government ,nevertheless, appeared to be peculiar from the outset not only because it follows an ethno-linguistic line for state formation but also in a sense that it allows the right to self-determination including secession. The inclusion of particularly the latter has made the

Ethiopian model of federalism prone to critiques.The success of the Ethiopian model of federalism in light of the inherent problems it poses along with some of the existing opportunities. Particular emphasis was given to power sharing arrangement-with a view to see how wholehearted is the federal arrangement, inclusion of secession clause-how far is it a threat to unity of the country, and uniform human rights implementation-how far will it serve as a binding force of the federation.

Ethnic Recognition

A close examination of the power sharing arrangement and the explicit recognition of the right to self determination including secession to nations,nationalities and peoples depicts that there is an apparent paradox in the federal arrangement. On the one hand, the nations, nationalities and peoples have been granted the right to exit from the federation with out any conditions albeit for procedural red tape. This gives the impression that the constituent unites are more independent compared to other federal arrangements. On the other hand, the powers of member states are relatively meager and regional government remain dependent on the federal level to be able to carry out their duties. As expressed by the the Constitution proposes few self determination remedies, since nothing is specified as lying in the gaps between secession. While the trend in multi-ethnic federations is to extend secession remedies through various areas of self-government, the Ethiopian federation has chosen quite the opposite: asserting the most extreme right to secession it failed to grant to the member states as the same time the power given to member states in the administration of daily affairs are quite scanty.

As federal theories underline that the functioning of federal system is not to be measured by only looking at the theoretical justifications or constitutional frame work attempt was made in this study to examine the de facto federal system of Ethiopia from socio-economic point of view revealing the asymmetric nature of the federal structure.

As argued by scientist in a study of Ethiopian federalism it can be  concluded that the major problems that make the federalism falter are half-hearted decentralization, deficient democracy, and insufficient protection extended to human rights. Accontrario reading of her conclusions would point to important solutions to the predicaments of the Ethiopian federalism, namely wholehearted federalism, a more vibrant democracy, and sufficient protectionof human rights values.

Federalism has already been institutionalized and member states of the federation are exercising some degree of political and cultural autonomy.Nonetheless, financial dependency of the member states on the centralgovernment, among other things limits the scope of the federal decentralization. Democracy, as expressed through the principle of popular sovereignty, is not far out of reach legally, nonetheless, lack of strong alternative parties due to many reasons, lack of civil societies and civic culture, undue interference in the independence of the judiciary, and other reasons could not help democracy be utilized concretely. Human rights arewell articulated in the federal as well as state constitutions to the extent of becoming an overriding principle. The absence of strong law enforcement agencies and lack of political will, however, could not enable intensive utilization of the principle. The pathetic situation of all legal institutions in the states and the no less pathetic situation of the Federal Courts and Federal prisons, coupled with the inoperation of the institution of the Ombudsman and of the Human Rights Commission so far, could be invoked as reasons.

Apart from the above, one might suggest the following as solutions to problems of multi-ethnic Ethiopia.

1. Exploit the structures inherent in federalism. This can be done by instituting true bi-cameralism through making the upper house a legislative upper house with a veto power over legislations this canhappen only if its composition is restructured, either through equal representation of each state as it is the case in mature democracies or through equal numerical representation of each people group as it is intended to be done (on the face of it in Ethiopia). A clearer separation of power must complement this bicameralism. Relegation of the task of constitutional interpretation to the courts or special constitutional court might also be considered.

2. Intensify the task of Federal Government to build a country of united destiny.The House Of Federation is entrusted with this duty. The federal intervention of the sake of maintain a uniform human rights standards while at the same time empowering state governments to take self-administration seriously( thereby molding the process of developing peculiar area of concern vis-à-vis human rights is immediately important.

3. Intensification of democracy requires the increase in civil societies substantive pluralism of parties and a secure legal ground protection freedom of association. Furthermore, it is imperative that parties be organized in a manner that can access cross-ethnic constituencies.

4. Concerned legislative and law enforcement agencies should try to strike a balance between the uniform implementation of human rights standards and religious and customary laws of the different ethnic groups borrowing interdisciplinary approach, brining to the ground the debates on universality of human rights norms and multi-culturalism; and with due consideration of the overriding nature of human rights norms in the constitutional framework.It is noticeable from the forgoing that readymade solutions are hard to come by.

On the other hand some of the criticisms advanced by commentators on the Ethiopian model appear to be excessive as they stem from what seems exaggerated expectation from the process. Knowing the situation the country has underwent for 17 years, knowing the change undertaken with a totally new institutional set up, new political personnel etc. it will be utopian-lookingoptimism to expect bloom and blossom out of the new model of federalism. One should also note that federalism is hardly a perfect institution. As any imperfect institution, it evolves, and dealing with the problems that unfold is worth the experiment as the solutions given promote the politics of love, tolerance and association than hatred, intolerance and dissociation

*Read more on Ethiopian Ethnic  Federalism  Here

-Ethnic Federalism: The Ethiopian Experience in Comparative Perspective (Eastern African Studies)

-Abate Nikodimos Alemayehu Ethnic Federalism in Ethiopia

The Kenya we want : A Kenya where the President and Prime Minister do their jobs…………

Agriculture minister William Ruto has said he will not resign over the Kenya maize scandal!……He  does not see anything wrong with a firm he partly owns selling two million gunny bags to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).Or with his personal assistant writing notes to NCPB bosses on the Agriculture minister’s letterheads, directing them to allocate maize to certain individuals.Or with a large-scale farmer, who has refused to sell maize to NCPB until the Government offers Sh2,500 a bag (not including the Sh100-a-bag rebate for transport costs), getting a larger allocation of maize from the strategic reserves than half of 23 firms Ruto lists as “major millers”.And this at a subsidised price at a time severe shortages of maize available to millers led to the price of a 2kg packet of flour almost doubling to Sh120.

None of the acts was in contravention of the law, he argues. But in all three instances, NCPB was influenced by the minister’s office into making decisions that were not prudent or ethical and, arguably, legal. As examples of abuse of office, these offences are more grieveous than the halftruths that spurred us to demand Amos Kimunya’s resignation as Minister for Finance pending investigation into the secretive sale of the Grand Regency Hotel.

On the question of NCPB buying gunny bags from the African Merchant Assurance Company, a firm the minister is widely known to have an interest in, one asks: Was the contract won in an open tender conducted as stipulated in the Public Procurement and Disposals Act? And even if it were, wouldn’t NCPB managers’ knowledge of Ruto’s significant interest in Amaco (as opposed to, say, his minor interests in Safaricom) be reason for a conflict?

Cereal board sacking that never was

William Ruto

Confusion reigns at the National Cereals and Produce Board a week after Agriculture minister William Ruto announced the sacking of senior officers early last week. Questions are now being asked on who the Agriculture minister sacked. He, however, retained the board’s MD Prof Gideon Misoi.

The minister early last week announced changes at the board sending five out of six directors, and 14 out of 17 top managers on compulsory leave.Despite Mr Ruto saying this was a move meant to contain rampant corruption in the grain sector and pave the way for free importation of maize, it has been established that the officers are still in office raising questions on the minister’s directive. He added that the positions of the sacked officers would be advertised.

Mr Ruto told Parliament on Wednesday that he was working on a restructuring programme after advise from a consultancy firm. He said the measures were a product of an audit carried out since October last year whose report he received last month. “We got the report from Deloitte and Touche and this formed the basis of the sackings,” he said in Parliament.Also neither the names nor working stations of those who were sacked were given by the minister; further complicating the matter on whether there were sackings at all as officials at the ministry of Agriculture said they did not have any information on who was sacked.

Mr President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga will you take responsibility for corruption in Government?It is unfortunate  leaders are  always passing the buck and are not bold enough to give us the Kenya we want.

William Ruto needs to be  shown the door.

February 5, 2009: A price surge was on Wednesday looming in the maize flour market after the government withdrew the Sh200 rebate it was offering millers for every bag of maize.The subsidy had been aimed at making the staple more affordable to the majority of Kenyans who had in November complained that prices had risen beyond their means.Millers on Wednesday said they had been informed at a meeting with Agriculture minister William Ruto of the decision to withdraw the rebate, leaving the pricing to market forces.No reasons were given for the sudden withdrawal although the government was understood to have been unable to shoulder the financial burden.The announcement was immediately followed by a warning from millers that the price of the staple could rise beyond the Sh120 per two kilogramme bag that prevailed before the subsidy was announced. Although the government has waived duty on the grain, it is unlikely to stop an upward revision in prices in the face of a shortage.

On Wednesday, however, the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) denied that it had stopped supplies to millers at subsidised price.“We are still giving millers maize at Sh1, 750. The SGR board of trustees have allocated the maize and NCPB awaits to collects and the miller shave not collected the maize.” A spot-check in some outlets on Wednesday revealed that key brands were missing from the shelves and prices of those available had increased.“To alleviate the current supply situation, we need subsidies to allow maize imports to reach the millers at Sh1, 750 and keep consumer prices low,” said Ms Paloma Fernandes, the chief executive of the Cereals Millers Association.Until last week, the ex-factory price of maize flour was Sh65 per two kilogramme. They now range between Sh90 and Sh95, up from Sh72 per two kilogramme packet. The millers were by then getting maize at Sh1, 750 for processing the subsidised flour and at Sh1, 950 for commercial supplies. This had led to a confusing two-tier pricing structure with the subsidised selling at Sh130 per five kilogramme bag and the normal flour at Sh72 per two kilogramme bag.