 Why 254, imagine? Konjuri Karyuki. Welcome to the program. My name is Dereva Hilary. For now, we look at the stories making news highlights. Now, a Nyaruro-based businessman has sued the Director of Criminal Investigations, DCI, for illegally holding his goods worth millions of shillings. Moses Mashariya Kigo's case against the DCI filed at the High Court in Nairobi is a continuation of a long running battle with authorities over contraband goods. Mr. Kigo has previously been arrested and released after the court found his consignment of sugar, rice and green grams genuine. Kigo accuses the DCI of working with the whiz business rivals to impound and detain his 13,336 kilograms of sugar and 1,295 kgs of rice in disregard of a court order. Through lawyer Itobi Manyara, Kigo, the Appropriator of Mogo Supermarket in Nyaruro Town, claimed he has been subjected to massive losses by the investigators and justified actions. Nyaruobi woman representative Esther Pasariya has finally broken her silence on Governor Mike Sonko's allegation that she had been demanding money from him. She said she would visit the Office of the Director of Criminal Investigation, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Office of National Cohesion so that the matter could be looked into. The feud between Sonko and Pasari started during the Maduraka Day celebration when the governor told the Nyaruobi women rep to stop going around telling people that he does not answer her phone calls. The issue later escalated when Sonko accused Pasariya of demanding money during a live interview on TV. Uganda will invest about 768 billion shillings in restoring an old railway line linking Kampala to Malaba on the Kenya border following delays in securing funding for the standard gauge railway. The upgraded meter gauge railway line is expected to boost a monthly freight capacity to 120 metric tons from the current 20,000 tons by 2026. The SGR opened to passengers in May 2017 and to freight in January 2018. It is now uncertain whether Uganda's joint plan with Kenya and Rwanda conceived six years ago to build a standard gauge railway SGR that connects East Africa's landlocked nations to the Kenya port of Mombasa will come to fruition in recent months. The SGR project has faced major financing challenges after the Chinese Eximbank exits major benefactor delayed financing of the that and last segment of the Kenya section from Naivashin the heart of the Rifty Valley to Malaba on the border with Uganda. Leaders drawn from Taita Taveta are calling for the immediate interdiction of national government administration officials that have failed to crack the whip on Kamil Hades blamed for the latest spate of attacks on indigenous farmers and left stock keepers in the county. Speaking at a funeral of former stabbed to death by suspecting on local hades in Kirumbi, Voi over the weekend governor Renton Sambodia faulted national administration officials for preceding over what he said was outright violation of the human rights of locals. Locals having the recent months decried the invasion of their farms by hades and with firearms and now are demanding for the revocation of grazing rights granted to all non-locals hades. Now we cross over to Botswana where after Kenya recently upheld its own anti-homosexuality laws. Botswana could decriminalize gay sex on Tuesday when its high court is due to rule in a landmark case being washed across Africa. Homosexual acts are outloading Botswana and it's one of Africa's most stable democratic nations under the country's penal code of 1965 and named applicant in challenging two sections of the code that threaten offenders with a jail sentence of up to seven years last month. Kenya's high court refused to scrap laws criminalizing homosexuality dealing upload to the country's gay community that report across the continent where homophobia is rife. Gay rights organizations had hoped Kenya would follow in their footsteps of Africans nations like Angola or those further afield like India and end the decades of old laws which criminalize gay sex. And now matters education. The secondary school heads are convening in Mombasa for the annual conference from Monday amid the region controversy on the new curriculum. The more than 800, 8,000 head teachers will be meeting at the Kenya School of Revenue Administration in Niali under the secondary school heads association the association chairman Indi Muli Hai said among issues to be discussed in this year's meeting is the competence-based curriculum CBC introduced by the Ministry of Education as well as underfunding in public secondary schools by the national government. The Kenya National Union of Teachers not Secretary General Wilson Sushion is strongly opposed to the new curriculum arguing that teachers were not adequately involved in its development. Hai said they will also discuss challenges facing the implementation of the National Education Integration System NEMIS, the online students registration service. And lastly, hoteliers operating in the Masaimara Game Reserve are recording increased bookings thanks to a shift in the migration pattern of what was to Kenya from neighboring Tanzania. The famed migration kicked off earlier than usual this year with conservationist and ecologist pointing at the change in weather patterns for the latest phenomenon. The world beast migration described as one of the seven modern wonders of the world involves mainly world beast and zebras crossing to and from the Serengeti National Park in neighboring Tanzania. The world beast migration spectacle normally begins in Mejun and continues to September. But this year, the NAS started the long trek at the end of the last month which is linked to prolonged dry weather that has reduced pastures in Tanzania's northern Serengeti prompting the animals to cross to Kenya. The plains are already flooded with thousands of world beasts matched to the daylight of the lions, cheetahs, leopards and hyenas. You're now up to speed with Y254 news. Highly to be taking a very short break and when we come back it's time we talk about discussion Monday where we'll be looking at the political drum beats that have begun and have been continuing since the general election in 2017 and the question is should we have politics at such a time with only three years to go? Keep it Y254. We take a very short break. Do not go too far. Y254 Imagine Kati, kati, kati, kati Every girl want to move slowly, kati, kati Kati, kati, kati, kati Kati o kasa Safika Bisa, you know what it is this Tuesday from 7.30pm myself, Mika and of course Vivian Dagua on the bus Yes and we'll be having a pencil artist with us and just to mention this is one of the best pencil artists we've hosted on this show so you cannot afford to miss it. Do not miss it. Thanks for keeping us company If you just tuned in, this is Y254 discussion Monday tonight we'll be looking at the political drum beats that have been ongoing with only three years to go and we have our politicians here and they are trying to drum up support and the question is should we be having politics at such a time I'm speaking to Gonjiri Kajuki he's a political analyst. How are you Gonjiri? Thank you very much for having me tonight. You're welcome. Yes, we have had a long weekend and of course traversing three counties or is it four counties that is Nairobi, Dika Moranga, Amtu Kirinyaga Alright, in these four counties that you're traversing with it were they political issues or something personal? Of course we have what we call public opinion on the ground this is basically what people feel and the attitudes that the citizenry have towards the government Alright, now we have only three years to go we had the general election in 2017 those who won won but now we have groups of people moving around politicking and our president has been very undermined, let's work times for politics will come but that has not been happening you should be having this what we have been having is basically two groups that is the Kieliweke and the Tanga Tanga the Kieliweke Trim is a team that claims to be the mouthpiece of his excellency where the case is otherwise the president has not given anybody a job to be his spokesperson On the other hand we have the Tanga Tanga team which is drumming up support for the deputy president William Samoe Luto and in that case then perception has it that these guys are campaigning early so let us try to dissect these two issues that is the Kieliweke factor and the Tanga Tanga factor the Tanga Tanga factor when we have members of parliament that are following the deputy president to it in every corner of this country well it's a freedom of movement we must be careful because they also have their constituencies during weekends is an opportune time to meet with the electorate and go and hear their concerns attend barriers and water views have defied the natural call which is why they went and seek a mandate from the people so I think that as long as we continue having leaders who are not going to their constituencies on weekends perhaps what we should be talking about because the deputy president is a national figure and he is the deputy president of the Republic of Kenya in every corner as he wishes but at least those agitans that is the MPs in the Tanga Tanga team should go slow because the deputy president has got his team if he is going to Muranga for example let the member of parliament who is the host let the neighboring member of parliament also come let the governor be there when we have somebody coming all the way from Missyoro to Muranga then that one becomes a campaign on the other hand the Kielweke team is advancing a narrative that look the deputy president is disrespecting the president while we have not had the president complaining of his deputy so we get a Kielweke team that is trying to control the perception that look if you don't do the line then come 2022 will not grant you what you want so the Kielweke team is taking advantage and capitalizing on the president's silence upon his deputy moving around and using that opportunity to advance an agenda in a short term I would label that Kielweke team as agent of deceit on the other hand the Tangatanga team I would label them as empty rhetoric alright but now you just said the president and the deputy are together it's only the groups the Tangatanga and Kielweke they are the one who are bringing the perception that there is no unity because we have not seen that would you say the Jubilee House is divided remember we have a government that was elected on a Jubilee ticket and the majority of that comprises of the executive and it and everybody that is within the executive then we have a party the political party Jubilee remember Jubilee has never held any grassroots elections ever since it was started we only had interim chairman we only had interim county chairman interim organizing secretaries we have never had elections from the grassroots so when I look at the architecture of the Jubilee party I can see a problem because politics of realignment as Dona J. Dalton a political scientist who in fa in his book Citizen Politics are somehow complex and when the citizens and when the citizens interests are not captured in the political alignment that get into the elections then yes the candidate that they like would in a high probability win that election but the people won't have their hearts within that party so what is happening in Jubilee is that it is a party that has a very nice office along Pangani it is a party that has a secretary general is a party that has an interim chair is a party that has not a vice chairman I don't even know who is the chairman I think he is not active at all we don't have county representatives we don't have constituency representatives we don't have ward representatives and on the various occasions that have spoken even within this state broadcaster I have always said that the Jubilee party hold its primaries not primaries but grassroots elections without these attributes Jubilee party strong enough will it last? that is where I am coming to without a very nice foundation as a political party then you are bound to fail and they only cure and I am happy because I saw the secretary general of Jubilee respond to such concerns when he said that they are going to start a political party academy and also hold elections so for me as I am public intellectual I would wish to have a country that has two or very few strong political parties that are built on ideologies so that when there will come a time perhaps I want to seek the mandate of the people I will have certain beliefs and I will align myself to a certain political party because I believe in its traditions but the case is otherwise now we are just speaking of the Jubilee party but just recently actually over the weekend we saw the former C.S. for sports H.S.A. now supporting Honorable Musale Mudavati that is ANC now they are now with Kiliopa Malala the senator for so they are supporting now the ANC and they put it clearly we want to be there when 2022 comes in now the question is they have been claiming the Jubilee house is campaigning and specifically the Tanga Tanga team these people are campaigning but now they have joined the Wagon should the narrative change let me say that of course politics is a game of interest and it is perception that works in politics facts rarely works so when you have a guy like Rashid Chesa who was a very close adjutant of the deputy president and not once he has declared his intentions to support the deputy president in 2022 when you have him they come to Mudavati's ANC party then you see a situation of he comes from western you see a situation whereby the western people want to make an in house overhaul they want to have a rejuvenation of their own community because when you look at the political traditions of the Luya people I think they are the second majority in the country we have been united every time that we have elections ever since the days of Kijana they are always looked at as a swing vote so when I see them when I see a Chesa align himself to ANC then I see an in house reveal but again we must speak and speak loudly for empty political rhetoric that is happening in this country especially at this approach because we are 3 years to the next generation when I look at advanced democracies in these countries like the United States and do a comparative political study I get my country as a phenomenon because I understood what happens in my country we have finished an electioneering period but people have begun to realize themselves again no work politics never in certain environment however politicians are paid to politic but what I always and I will always be against is those empty political rhetorics let if people are going to various regions of this country let them go and build a school let them go and build a laboratory let them go and build a bridge that is what you want but this is a politics of doing press conferences answering who I don't know who is answering who those are maleiland to our economy and we cannot wish to have a heightened so what I would wish to see if leaders that are given the mandate by the people to work even if they are going to they are traversing various regions of this country let them stop the 2022 narrative because I can assure you the people on the ground are better what they want to see is development of course they already know who fits the bill and who will not even be a multiple choice for them so what we want now as a country is development and development nothing else now as a political analyst we saw one of the opposition leaders that is Kalonzo Moshioka joining with Gideon Moi and now it is like they want to work together here is his party Gideon has Kano now are we seeing a unity between Kano and Waipa ok in politics anything is possible because we normally say that there are no permanent enemies in politics and who could be the flag bearer look at it this way I saw Gideon Moi yesterday invited in Ukambani and that is a signal and as you have seen when the handshake happened in March in March between the president and Reilo Dinga it was 9th March there was something called the building bridges initiatives and a mofa's group that has no provision in the constitution yes we agreed as a country to affirm peace and uphold peace but this building bridges initiative group already has an answer to what they wanted to achieve which is like you will see the means the end will justify the means will justify the end they want a referendum and in this referendum they have already given themselves an interior of what will happen and already I know in their minds they already know who can be the prime minister who are the two deputy prime ministers and who are the others in the top cream of that leadership when you had Kalonzo Musioka during his father's Bahariwe Dink lament that nitaku wa mutu wa mukono wa uhuru kenyata that was a signal that we will do this and by view of the handshake is that it has always been good but one thing that people have maybe not taken into account is that Rayl Odinga is a smart politician and what he did he did was what we call a cost benefit analysis that yes I will agree to join you and I will agree to moot my political activities but at the end of it I'll have something an open check so already they know that uhuru kenyata is the only person the president is the only person who holds their political future on his palm because if he decides to support the referendum and as the political spokesperson of the Mount Kenya region then chances are that perception in the Mount Kenya region will shift to that direction so Kalonzo has seen a leeway that if uhuru supports the referendum and in the guise of inclusivity then it is going to be a deal done and in that case the deputy president who depends on the Mount Kenya region will have been fixed so we already I know there is already planning and politicians will never sleep I know they always think about their political future so when you see someone like Gideon Moi visiting Kalonzo Musioka this is a gesture that the two of them could be in for a coalition and especially if what is being talked as a change of the governance system would be a reality now at this point would you say because it has been denied time and again since its inception would you say the handshake was a sabotage to one of the politicians the handshake was not a sabotage to one of the politicians the handshake was a pact that will be remembered by generations to come that two antagonizing sides can shelve their political interest and join together for the sake of this country but they shelve their interest anyway because we are seeing them trying to contest in other means I'm saying you asked me whether it was a sabotage so I'm saying of course in between there are people who have vested interest and as you can see the referendum issue it is not a miracle that now His Excellency Hurum Mugai Kenyatta is a good person to the NASA people is not a miracle so they have what they want to advance and this is a political card setting of 2022 what has changed is the same president whom they competed with and ask yourself and I even invite Kenyans to ask themselves why would they be opposed to the deputy president and yet play darling to the president is all about political interest the president has had good intentions when he shook hands with the eternal brother Odinga so we are going to experience interesting times ahead again before I forget yesterday something happened in my county in a church in Kandara constituency whereby a member of the Kiyereweke team got a hostile ground in a church first of all let us not break the oracle this is a holy place is a place where we are supposed to go and worship and go on our knees before our maker we are not supposed to go and do any kind of chaos but the politicians claim it is the only time they could have a moment with their electorates and remember the church has a position because the church is the moral compass of any society they must fit in the rightful place in the society so the church must not allow leaders that are sparking divisions among a peaceful people a podium they must not be given a podium if somebody is given a microphone and they start digressing to division and politics of hate and empty political rhetorics let them be stopped and I am happy but not to support huliganism I am happy that we have seen on several occasions certain leaders being stopped from speaking because those are politics of division as we come to an end I view for the referendum and do support the ongoing politics wow am I for the referendum what I can be able to say at least for this moment is that referendum could be inevitable at the backdrop of the circumstances that our economy is going through of course there are discussions of reducing the number of members of the agast house there is also a discussion of reducing the wage bill that could be the discourse that I as Kayuki Ngonjiri would want to be involved in because in a way is a discourse that credits wajiku any other discussion that seeks to create positions for people I will not be in for that so what I would advise yes we are talking of inclusivity and there is that discourse of the expansion of the executive but is it only the expansion of the executive that would cure the problems that are bedeviling our country no let me give you an example and this is a problem that has been tested some years ago I think over a century ago not a century over half a century ago in the current day Germany there was a country then known as the women republic whereby power was concentrated at the center and there was no checks and balances the Nazis were given all the powers and tried the people and the furitation of that was the fall of the women republic that is in the wake of the end of the Second World War so let us not have a situation whereby we have very strong powerhouse at the top and then we have centrifugal forces of power are concentrated at the same center because in a way the prime minister is in government and when we have a president then that one means that is one government again we don't want to have a situation whereby a representative of the people comes from parliament because in such a case mostly even in advanced democracies the president is in charge of the foreign policy and the prime minister is in charge of the domestic policy so we want direct representation if it is inclusivity we have positions of cabinet secretaries let us not satisfy an ego of few people and sacrifice the future of our country if we don't sacrifice for our country we shall be the sacrifice alright thank you so much for your sentiments and many thanks Bakum for keeping us company he has been my guest Karyuki Gonjiri and now coming up next is why Masha Riki ICDD TSK is very much ready so keep it Y254 have yourselves a good night my name is Dereva Hillary