Presidents’ week in east africa

Kenya found itself in a sudden dire need to prepare for war with an enemy they unfortunately couldn’t identify. Everybody was left guessing on Tuesday night when a huge cache of weapons was seized from a businessman’s house in Narok by police officers. A startled Mathew Iteere (Police Commissioner) said that never in the history of Kenya had such a large consignment of weapons been found in the hands of civilians. The mystery left Kenyans wondering what the 100,000 bullets, an array of military supplies and a big chunk of money was being intended for during the seemingly quiet and peaceful era. According to Iteere, the bullets were enough to serve a large city police station for one year and eight months. According to me, it can be used to attempt a mini coup on either one of the two Kenyan coalition leaders. The CHOGM ghost which has taunted almost every Ugandan minister for corruption has officially no boundaries attached. President Museveni saw himself glide under tight scrutiny for the alleged approval he made of $1.3m to J&M Hotel for the completion of 200 rooms for the Commonwealth summit that was held in 2007. The Auditor General’s report established that J&M was not on the list of the approved CHOGM venues and no activity was supposed to be hosted there, a discovery which raised furor and debate amongst the MPs as to why the president had personally made the directive. The MPs wondered about the criteria that the president had employed to determine the $1.3 million to a hotel which was not even short listed for functions. According Nandala Mafabi an opposition MP, the hotel was not on the list but was later included by a Cabinet Directive. In a closed meeting with members of the public accounts committee, the Permanent Secretary in the foreign affairs ministry James Mugume said he had included the hotel because he was obeying a presidential directive. The Temangalo deal gone bad, the NSSF saga and the lowly 900 million Akankwasa cycle that were all not well addressed to the public stand aloof of this one that directly includes the man himself. Jakaya Kikwete’s leadership skills were put under a microscope by leaders from various quarters of Tanzania. In a meeting on Thursday, Prof Ibrahim Lipumba the national chairman of CUF party said that Kikwete’s leadership was so bad that even his party members had started to speak about it publicly. He told the delegates who attended the meeting that the president continued to spend billions of taxpayers’ money for his trips while the poor Tanzanians lived in abject poverty. He further gave scenarios of grand corruption cases that had gone unscathed even when there was enough evidence. In his defense, Kikwete said he wasn’t surprised by the critics but that he was willing to scrutinize their comments and react to constructive criticism. He said this on Thursday shortly after arriving from his trip in Latin America. We are all ears your Excellency. President Kagame’s fight against corruption has gone to new levels. It’s not all about the people who swindle public funds, but those who, well, swindle project cows. During the 7th national dialogue on Thursday, the President ordered individuals who illegally benefited from the One Cow per Poor Family project to return the cows with immediate effect. The order came when it was revealed that many local leaders who had enough income to buy their own cows had decided to own the cows that were meant to be given to the poor families to better their lives by providing them with some income from the milk. Too much to their detriment, the local leaders had perhaps thought that this was a miniature project that wouldn’t be followed up. The president officially gave them very countable days to refill the project kraal, as well as hold accountable those who wrongfully distributed the cows. Homosexuality, whatever we think of it is surely gaining ground in Uganda at a supersonic speed. In a celebration of the International Human Rights Day on Thursday, the Ugandan Civil Society seemingly propelled by the election of a second gay Bishop in America after Gene Robinson, openly condemned as “discriminative and oppressive” the proposed anti- Homosexuality Bill discussed in the Ugandan parliament. The coalition threatened that Uganda risks international isolation for its failure to embrace “diversity and constitutionalism” if the bill is passed. Controversy arose when the coalition went on to firmly allege that homosexuality is an African cultural heritage embedded in the African family and therefore should not be illegalized. After the call to embrace it as “diversity”, that is to say a foreign culture mixing with the local tradition, one wonders why the coalition contradicted itself by assuming that the practice is part of the proud African ancient culture. Since politics is dynamic to change and badly in need of the dollar that follows gay rights, it will be a big surprise if the bill is passed. However, it is very likely that homosexuality will always remain a secret practice because of the way it is abhorred by the ordinary Ugandan citizen. Ends