Your Next MP, Governor, Senator President, County and Women Representative may be a CRIMINAL

Why Your Next MP, Governor, Senator President, County and Women Representative may be a CRIMINAL

Nairobi: 26th August 2012

It is almost official, you can steal public funds, Murder someone, Rape, and be elected to public office. Members of Parliament have once more proved their selfish interests by enacting a law that will see their crooked and criminals selves gain entry into public office without scrutiny. They voted for a whittled Leadership and Integrity Bill as presented by Cabinet in a show of unity over impunity.

If ascended to by the President, Kenya is now headed to dangerous times where it will not be mandatory for aspiring leaders to declare their wealth, Vetted by professional agencies and publication of criminal cases.

This in essence means that the Kenyan public becomes the losers and a few individuals in the 10^th Parliament carry the day in entrenching impunity in a new system of governance. It remains to be seen if members of the public will now join hands and sue to stop the president from ascending to a bill that will water down the struggles to clean up the leadership of the country.

It should be noted that out of 100 MP's who were in the house only Hon. Baiya, Hon. Shabir, Hon. Karua Hon. Shebesh and Hon. Millie Odhiambo were in favour of the bill in its original form. The rest of the MP's have showed Kenyans that they don't care about the will of the public and true stakeholders of Chapter 6 of the constitution.

As a young person, I had hopes that Minister Eugine Wamalwa would stand by the people and especially the very many young Kenyans he claims to represent and firmly put in stringent measures of integrity. He has failed that test. He has disappointed and is now holding brief for the selfish interests of the people who are hell bent in making this country ruled by corrupt individuals.

If we move to court under a certificate of urgency, the President will be stopped from ascending to the bill until the court makes a constitutional interpretation with implications to the selfish wishes that the MPs have introduced in the bill.

However, in the same vein, the MPs still voted for the provision to vet the NSIS Chief and other Public Officers. The Political Class is applying double standards where they want to publicly vet judges, Public Officer including the Director General of NSIS but want to hide in their selfish selves not to be vetted by the same agency. DN Reference Story: MPs want Spy Agency Vetted: http://goo.gl/eCvxD

It remains to be seen if the people of Kenya will now stand up and defend the country from being led by Criminals or clean and integral people who must withstand the test of integrity.

Over the past week public pressure mounted to ensure Parliament does not pass the bill in its current form, but they have ignored the will of the people;

MPs Pass Tampered Integrity Bill: http://goo.gl/2mvou

Youth Condemn Integrity Bill Amendments: http://goo.gl/Tu5jg

Street Protests over Integrity Bill: http://goo.gl/sUDlx, and http://goo.gl/jr2R4

Minister Eugine Wamalwa Defends Watering Leadership and Integrity Bill: http://goo.gl/0bJRW

Leadership and Integrity Bill 2012: http://goo.gl/uPI4y

What will be your personal responsibility in protecting the Constitution from the selfish MPs who are on the lose to sell our country to Impunity?

 

Emmanuel Dennis

National Youth Sector Alliance

--

Emmanuel Dennis Ngongo
State House Crescent, Off State House Avenue
P.O. Box 8799, 00200, Nairobi Kenya
Cell: +254722619005
My Bio:http://www.emmanueldenis.blog.com/
Blog: http://emmanuel-ed.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Emmanueldennis
http://facebook.com/emmanuel.dennis
www.nysa.co.ke/ www.thegreenteams.org

Recommended: Street protests over Integrity Bill

The following article has been recommended:

Street protests over Integrity Bill
[http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/-/1064/1481542/-/9gh2xj/-/index.html]

Daily Nation Story on the Procession over the Integrity Bill 2012

AG: Integrity Bill a 'good foundation' on ethics

AG: Integrity Bill a 'good foundation' on ethics

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Attorney General Githu Muigai has said the Integrity Bill lays a "good foundation" to build the country's leadership and ethical standards August 22, 2012  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Wednesday, August 22  2012 at  12:21

In Summary

• Bill gives a good first step towards creating ethical standards in the country, says Attorney General.
• Gichugu MP Martha Karua takes issue with the Bills' failure to provide a mechanism to vet candidates for the elective office.

Attorney General Githu Muigai has said the Integrity Bill lays a "good foundation" to build the country's leadership and ethical standards.

Speaking during debate in Parliament on Wednesday morning –on the Leadership and Integrity Bill-- Prof Muigai told MPs that the wording of the Constitution had constrained the form of the Bill.

"Our hands are tied by the language of the Constitution itself. We cannot, even if we desire to do it right now develop Chapter Six to expand the threshold of integrity," said Prof Muigai.

"Doing the best we can, with the limited material that we have, I believe this Bill gives a good first step towards creating ethical standards in the country."

He added: "It is not a perfect Bill. It is a consensus document. In matters that are deeply political like this issue, it is not possible to get a total and unreserved agreement on the document."

The AG said that the Bill, if enacted, will just be "an interim statute". He said there were many disparate laws that have to be consolidated, so that there's one statute book that deals with matters of ethics and integrity. Ethics and morals, he said, were "aspirations".

"We see this law as a necessary one, and are acutely aware that it can be improved, so that we may put anything that can reasonably be put in at this stage, to make it more robust, and reasonable, without making it unworkable," Prof Muigai said.

Presidential hopefuls Peter Kenneth (Gatanga) and Martha Karua (Gichugu) opposed the Bill saying that it waters down the threshold of integrity.

Mr Kenneth, an assistant Planning minister, rejected attempts by Transport minister Amos Kimunya to gag him. Mr Kimunya wanted Mr Kenneth stopped from opposing the Bill because it the product of an agreed government position.

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The House rules are clear that a minister cannot oppose the same government they serve in while in the House, unless they resign.

"Even as we work in the same government, we shall not be forced to conform to what is not right. We might pass this Bill here, and eventually it will fall flat when it goes (to the courts) for interpretation," said Mr Kenneth.

He urged the House to note that the law is for the future generation, and it must be enacted now to bring discipline in public service.

"It is not an issue of whether someone is trying to be white, or whiter or playing to the gallery. It is an issue of ensuring that we have integrity and discipline in all echelons of leadership in this country," said Mr Kenneth.

Ms Karua said the MPs should stop legislating to protect their interests. She took issue with the Cabinet's decision to delete the clauses on wealth declaration by public officials, and also the failure to provide a mechanism to vet candidates for elective office.

"It is not in vain that the civil society, the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution, and the public are unhappy with the way the Bill is…Legislate even for your own worst enemy," Ms Karua, a former Justice Minister, told MPs.

She added: "A court of law interpreting this law, can also put a higher threshold. It is not about you and me, there are so many people focusing on those vying for seats. This is about Kenya. This law is supposed to help us tame corruption and impunity."

Trade minister Moses Wetang'ula backed the Bill, saying that the provisions were not unconstitutional, but were perhaps "just weak".

"We're not creating a leadership of saints; we're creating a reasonable leadership that can respond to the needs of society…How can rejection of a visa application have a bearing on your leadership?" posed Mr Wetang'ula.

Najib Balala (Mvita) added: "We're not looking for angels in the next elections; but we're also not looking for crooks."

Fahim Twaha (Lamu West) backed the Bill in the House, saying that the uneasy NGOs were just pushing the interests of their foreign masters, something that should be equated to "borderline treason".

The Bill now awaits amendments before it gets final approval and presidential assent. The debate was concluded in the Wednesday morning session.

Let's keep the pressure on Leadership and Integrity Bill 2012

Friends---
This is to thank all the Kenyans who turned up in large numbers to support the call to parliament to refuse the Cabinet Proposed Leadership and Integrity bill until the original clauses in Chapter 6 of the constitution are restored as demanded by the people of Kenya.

Despite the rains, Kenyans decided to stick to the campaign against the selfish cabinet to mutilate the bill as proposed by CIC.

Next week we shall continue to hold pressure until Members of Parliament yield to the will of the people.

See the story carried on K24: http://bit.ly/Pm1gcu

Some Photos posted by participants of the procession on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/NMKIbe

A News Story Carried in the star Newspaper: http://bit.ly/NQgFkO

The earlier TI news item on Ghetto Radio: http://bit.ly/PtFGlx

Bill as received from the AG: http://bit.ly/NMKW24


Let us keep the eternal vigilance to uphold Chapter 6 of the Constitution.

The journey ahead in making sure selfish interests do not take over our constitution is challenging, bu the victory is at no contradiction to the fact the "we the people" shall be victorious.

Thank you.

Emmanuel Dennis

--

Emmanuel Dennis Ngongo
National Youth Sector Alliance (NYSA)
State House Crescent, Off State House Avenue
P.O. Box 8799, 00200, Nairobi Kenya
Cell: +254722619005
My Bio:http://www.emmanueldenis.blog.com/
Blog: http://emmanuel-ed.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Emmanueldennis
http://facebook.com/emmanuel.dennis
www.nysa.co.ke/ www.thegreenteams.org

Civil society silent march, Nairobi 17th August, 8.30am, Freedom Corner

Civil society silent march, Nairobi 17^th August, 8.30am, Freedom Corner

Kenyans will tomorrow have a silent march, to protest the mutilation of the Leadership and Integrity Bill 2012, and to drum up support for efforts to protect chapter six of the constitution.

Who:  All Kenyans

Effort directed at: Policy Makers

 

Dress code: Black and White

Background

Forty nine years ago, our forefathers brought forth a new nation conceived on the notion of justice, equality and propagating the ideals of eradicating poverty, disease and illiteracy; the gallant efforts of our nation's founding fathers and mothers cost them their lives, liberty and property. The achievement of the ideals for which our founding fathers lost their lives, limbs, freedom and property primarily rests on the people of Kenya and their leaders; it is indeed paramount that our leaders demonstrate their commitment to these ideals by embracing accountability, ethical leadership and responsiveness to the needs and aspirations of the Kenyans

Two years ago, Kenyans sought to inject the ideals of accountability, integrity, openness and dignity into leadership when we enacted for ourselves the Constitution on Kenya 2010 and in it included Chapter Six which sets out the minimum standards that those aspiring for or holding public offices must satisfy. To give effect to and expand on the provisions of Chapter Six of the Constitution the Leadership and Integrity Bill was drafted in early 2012 following consultations facilitated by Ministry of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs. The draft was then reviewed by Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution and upon being satisfied that it established ways of giving effect to Chapter Six of the Constitution, passed it over to the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice for tabling in before the Cabinet prior to publication

Short-comings in the published Leadership and Integrity Bill

The Bill that was published following the approval by the Cabinet contains fundamental flaws and as such is incapable of ensuring that only men and women of integrity ascend to leadership positions in this country. Among the concerns that are foremost in the mind (and lips) of Kenyans are:

a)      The Bills fails to take into account representations made by Kenyans through petitions and memoranda and as such, it detracts from a fundamental national principle of public participation as required by article 10(2) of the Constitution;

b)      The Bill fails to provide for process of vetting of persons offering themselves as candidates for appointment or election into public offices; in the circumstances, there is a real risk that personal integrity will not be a requirement for the said candidates. This poses a significant risk that persons who have wronged the public may end up being appointed or elected in position in public service;

c)       The Bill does not provide mechanisms for the public to input and participate in the vetting process of candidates for public offices; the requirement of public participation in vetting is paramount-after all, the person is offering himself/herself to serve the public and not power to rule them. Further, the requirement of public participation is constitutional requirement under article 10(2)

d)      The Bill does not effectively enforce ethical behavior as it fails to provide mechanisms for anti-corruption  commission to prosecute breach of Chapter Six where the Director of Public Prosecution fails to do so;

e)      The Bill in its current form will allow for conflict of interest to be perpetuated by public officials; by restricting the award of public procurements to spouse and children only, it allows, implicitly, state officials to award tenders to siblings, friends and other acquaintances, a practice that may allow corruption to thrive

For the provisions of Chapter 6 of the Constitution to be met and given the influence (and power) that state officers hold, it is paramount and absolutely necessary that state officers be subject to strict and rigorous process of recruitment, appointment and continuous monitoring. The Leadership and Integrity Bill 2012 as amended by the cabinet will not achieve this result. In addition, a weak legislative framework for vetting such as the Leadership Bill will mean that Kenyans will resort to court to enforce compliance with the Constitution, a process which is undoubtedly tedious, lengthy and costly

The foregoing defects can be cured by re-instating the provisions of the Bill that were removed by the cabinet. In the circumstances, we are calling upon Honourable Members of Parliament to reject the Bill that was tabled in parliament and re-introduce the clauses that had been deleted by the Cabinet. Let us safeguard the future of Kenya by ensuring that the Leadership and Integrity Bill sets integrity and competency standards that Kenyans expect of their leaders.

 --

Emmanuel Dennis Ngongo
National Youth Sector Alliance (NYSA)
2nd Floor, World Alliance of YMCA Building
State House Crescent, Off State House Avenue
P.O. Box 8799, 00200, Nairobi Kenya
Cell: +254722619005
My Bio:http://www.emmanueldenis.blog.com/
Blog: http://emmanuel-ed.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Emmanueldennis
http://facebook.com/emmanuel.dennis
www.nysa.co.ke/ www.thegreenteams.org

Call to Action to Uphold Chapter 6 on Leadership and Integrity

Dear Friends---

The National Youth Sector Alliance (NYSA) - a national multi-stakeholder network for policy dialogue for Kenyan youth, is calling for Action from the Kenyan Public to implore upon Parliament to refuse the mutilated Leadership and integrity bill 2012 by the Kenyan Cabinet and reinstate the clauses as espoused in Chapter 6 of the Constitution.

In carrying out its mandate, the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) in consultation with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and the Office of the Attorney General drafted a watertight Leadership and Integrity bill 2012 as dictated by Article 80 of the Constitution. The bill was drafted and presented to Cabinet for approval and presentation to Parliament for legislation.

Article 80 on the Leadership and Integrity Chapter in the Kenya Constitution provides that: "Parliament shall enact legislation establishing procedures and mechanisms for the effective administration of this Chapter; prescribing the penalties, in addition to the penalties referred to in Article 75 that may be imposed for a contravention of this Chapter."

The Cabinet met and made far reaching amendments that completely goes against the will of the people as espoused in the constitution. The mutilated bill is due for debate in parliament. The National Youth Sector Alliance Demands that Parliament reinstates provisions proposed by the CIC, MOJCA and the AG in their original form.

If passed in its current form the bill will negate the will of the people of Kenya who passed the constitution with an overwhelming majority during the referendum.

Some of the provisions in the original draft that have been whittled down include:-

1.        Declaration of income, assets, and liabilities for individuals seeking to become State officers

2.       Protection of the Independence of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and

3.       Safeguarding whistleblowers.

4.      Disciplinary measures for the State officers who breach the provisions of Chapter.

The CIC is on record terming the Bill in its current form as 'ineffective in implementing Chapter Six of the Constitution, and containing clauses that are unconstitutional. The National Youth Sector Alliance will from today Launch an online campaighn to compel members of Paliarment to uphold chapter 6 and protect the Constitution from being watered down by vested interests of the members of the Cabinet.

We call upon members of the Public to join us at Uhuru Park's Freedom Corner on Friday 24th August 2012 at 08.30AM for a Public Procession and Stunt at Parliament Buildings.

The Kenyan People Passed the  Constitution and Demand for Clean, Integral and Value based Leaders in the next general election. No one, including Cabinet ministers are allowed to Wash down the Constitution by introducing amendments that will continue to propagate impunity in the republic of Kenya.

We refuse in the strongest terms the amendments by Cabinet and call on Kenyans to remain vigilant and hold such selfish leaders to account for the creed they vowed to protect.

Please send a text message to your MP and ask him to reinstate the original clauses in the bill before it is introduced in Parliament for debate. This is the only way to rid our beloved motherland of Corrupt Leaders who do not fit within chapter 6 of the Kenyan Constitution.

Emmanuel Dennis

National Youth Sector Alliance (NYSA)

State House Crescent, Off State House Avenue
P.O. Box 8799, 00200, Nairobi Kenya
Cell: +254738404109Twitter:
http://twitter.com/Nysa_Kenya
www.nysa.co.ke/

What is there to write home about on the International Youth Day 2012?

What is there to write home about on the International Youth Day 2012?

Emmanuel Dennis

It is a quiet Sunday morning, the 12^th day of August 2012. I am reflecting on the gains that young people have had in seeking a central place in the quest for representation in the national and global governance and leadership Agenda. It is a week that has seen the world glued on the Olympic Games in London. In deed the Olympics will conclude today, on the International Youth Day 2012. It is with utmost respect that I want to recognize the good job done by the International Olympics Committee as well as the City of London for a well-organized event.

Talking of Olympics, if we keenly looked at the people who took center stage in clinching the Medals, over 99% of them all were young people under the age of 35. I am taking this opportunity to congratulate all the young people who made their appearance in the London Olympics and proving once more that the global Olympics agenda will and still remain in the ability, strength and honor of the youth. Congratulations are in order for our own Kenyan King David Rudisha for tearing apart the world Record in the men's 800 meters with so much ease one could only imagine he was competing against himself and the clock. He did not show any strains, he did it with ease and remained strong. We will still see much of him in the coming years because he is still young and has a brighter future if he remains disciplined.

Today marks another day in the calendar of young people for us to reflect on the gains thus far made.  We still witness a flurry of activities in NGO's, Local and International Organizations including the United Nations trying to outdo each other with varied activities and programs for the youth. Today, more than ever before we have thousands of initiatives running in parallel to each other with the quest to unite the voice of young people and support the empowerment of youth in various parts of the world. VERDICT: FAIL.  Today more than ever before, the young people are still faced with the biggest challenge of unemployment, lack of coordination, cohesiveness and harmony.

The biggest question is what has changed and what has not? The change is in number of local and international institutions focusing on empowering young people. What has not changed is the increasing problems that young people continue to face today.

This year has seen a lot of focus on youth starting with the United Nations. The Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has made attempts in his second term in office to support the increased influence of youth in the United Nations System. In the Secretary General's Five year agenda page 10 and 11, he has appointed a Special Advisor in youth Source: http://bit.ly/SbprIc . In follow up to this commitment, the UNHABITAT in partnership with UNDP hosted the Youth 21 http://bit.ly/zMledR meeting in Nairobi seeking to better understand and advocate for the engagement of youth in governance. A couple of recommendations were published in "Youth 21: Building architecture for youth engagement in the UN System" In this document three scenarios have been identified 1). Scaling up UN Program on Youth, 2). Appointing the Special Representative on Youth, 3). Establishing the UN Permanent Forum on Youth.

UNHABITAT has been on the forefront to push for the youth inclusiveness agenda with various initiatives on going. The efforts must be applauded noting that a number of youth have directly benefited from the Youth Fund an initiative of UNHABITAT. Another global event will be the World Urban Forum in September. On the sidelines of the forum will be the World Urban Youth Assembly. I will personally participate in the youth assembly. My sharp focus being on how to effectively utilize the spaces provided to ensure the voices of young people are heard and that as we head to the future we begin to effectively put the youth into the driving seat of their own agenda with harmony and unity that will deliver results.

Many governments, the Kenyan Government being a perfect example have failed in putting the agenda of young people as part of their national unity. I am on record stating categorically that creating special seats for youth representatives does not help in mainstreaming youth in governance issues. I criticized the creation of the Ministry of Youth Affairs noting that it will further marginalize youth. Mine was a sole voice in the celebrations. Today, many youth agree more that the Ministry of Youth Affairs is more a failure and has completely vexed its priorities to become yet another dysfunctional government ministry that is not sensitive to matters affecting the youth.

I will categorically state here that we need to mainstream youth development in all our governance and leadership structures with working systems. The mainstreaming agenda needs to be carefully crafted so that it meaningfully includes the views of young people rather than being another conduit for marginalizing them.

When the youth began to prepare for their elections under the National Youth Council, the powers that be realized that this was going to be a powerful force that would threaten their lackluster approach on governance. This agenda has been fought by the powers that be and as such we might not achieve this agenda as long as we have the same kind of politics leading our country.

I would love to see the youth wake up to create this council without depending on the funding from government and leveraging on their numerical strength to push for their agenda. However, the politicians noting that the youth are unemployed use this situation to divide the youth vote by bribing them to fight each other. The Youth should know that Status Quo Politicians are their enemy number 1. We need an independent audit of the performance of the Ministry of Youth Affairs, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, and all other State and Non state Youth Focused Programs and provide an analysis on the effectiveness and recommendations if we need them or not.

Many youth gatherings and meetings will not resolve the problems that youth go through. A harmonized approach clear with Monitoring and evaluation systems will help to critically analyze the activities targeting the youth.I was recently talking to a friend on the effectiveness of the thousands of organizations focusing their attention on youth. We need an independent audit to take this organizations, agencies and programs to task to account for the resources provided and give tangible results on how they have benefited youth through empowerment.

As we celebrate the international youth day 2012. Let us re-examine ourselves, celebrate the achievement s of the many young people who have gone out there and proved against all odds that they can make it without any help. Let us examine those who purport to represent the youth and hold them to account. Let us begin to take action and stop waiting for someone to come and uplift us from our helplessness.

ED
--
Emmanuel Dennis Ngongo
My Bio:http://www.emmanueldenis.blog.com/
Blog: http://emmanuel-ed.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Emmanueldennis
http://facebook.com/emmanuel.dennis