End of the Ring-era

No lettin' go, no letting' go..... but when the push persists, you got to let it go.
Indeed the man at KACC has always considered himself not just the learned man, but also Caesar's wife. However, as things seem to be, one has to learn something-that you cannot fight the wind. Even though you are being cheered to stay on the top, there comes a time when you have to loose confidence with your backers.

Think of the KACC boss Aaron Ringera whose connotation of an error seems banal to most Kenyans by now. His attempts to prove wrong parliament and the country at large seems not to be bearing fruit even though one phony minister of justice seems to be proping him day by day despite the fact that the verdict is irreversible.
Perhaps the big lesson we ought to learn even as we wait for Ringera to throw in the towel is that at all times we ought to be guided by our conscience and read the signs on the wall. To ill intentioned sycophants like Mutula Kilonzo and company, your counsel is questionable and your presence in the justice docket is a diservice to this nation, perhaps to borrow from Obama, 'you are on the wrong side of history.'

A Case of Loyalty and Sycophancy

The long and winding debate over the reappointment of Justice Aaron Ringera to serve for the second five year term as KACC chair came to a tragic end yesternight when parliament handed its harshest penalty on the executive.
After protracted battles, canvassing and horse trading across the politcal divide, the House burnt the midnight oil to assert its authority and send the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission reeling in abject spirit perhaps contemplating its future.
It indeed marked the end of a debate which has also caused rage around the country with the civil society organising protests, filing suites in court and the general populace cursing from their hearts.

Breach of Law

The president though with a seemingly strong defence was humiliated and strongly criticised for breaking the law on reappointment of Ringera. Parliament was turned into a battle ground of wits as a plethora of laws and sections were reffered to by a number of members, each trying to quote and either defend or condemn the president. Legalise and all sorts of jargon surfaced the House with others crossing frontiers to borrow from the UK parliament and American Congresss for guidance. War time leaders such as Winston Churchill may have turned in their graves when mention of their actions was made.

Loyalty Versus Sycophancy

Perhaps the very interesting part of this sojourn in the House came up when some members sought the guidance of the chair on the loyalty of cabinet ministers to the president. It serves us right to recall the day when MPs were sworn in for the tenth parliament early last year. The post poll animosity was so real that some led by the current Prime Minister refused to swear loyalty to the president but rather to the constitution.
It was time once again to test this level of loyalty. Mention of the doctrine of collective responsibility by government ministers attracted the wrath of a number of ministers who sharply argued on the contrary saying that they were not ready to pay for the sins of their boss on grounds that collective responsibility does not impune collective suicide.

Semantics, Grammatical Basics and Legalise

Indeed the former minister for Justice, Constitution and National Cohesion, Martha Karua took the House through some basics in grammar on the difference between appointment and reappointment. The Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo had earlier on defended the president's decision that reappointment of KACC chair and deputies did not need direction from the advisory board and parliament as is the case with appointment. The difference between the two is pronunciation, spelling, character count. To reappoint is to appoint for the second time, the Gichugu MP informed the House.

It is in this definition that the MP declared the Justice minister and all of his camp as sycophants rather than loyalist. Loyalists, she says tell the president on the face that he is wrong while sycophants mislead him for political expediency.

Life Line Cut

The House finally decided to cut the life line of the anti graft body by blocking the minister of finance from presenting the Appropriations Bill which would have given KACC funding to the tune of 1.2 billion shillings for the next fiscal year.

Rule of Law

For a long time in Kenya, those exercising executive authority from the president and his cabinet have always broken the law whenever it suited their whims but yesterday's show in parlimanent is a warning that the rule of law must prevail at all times even if personal interest are at stake.
It is the expectation of many therefore that the tenth parliament will act in the same zeal and zest to right wrongs and guide the country towards the respect of rule of law.