A taxing time

Now the saga of Obama has died down we have returned to the preoccupation with the country’s politics.
Kenyan MPs are amongst the highest paid in the world (and amongst the least effective) Their average monthly income is 800,000 KSh (about $12,0000) which includes all kinds of housing and travel allowances which are tax free. They pay tax on 200,000KSh (some $4,000). It was proposed that all their income be taxed but they objected strenuously, citing the demands on them as philanthropists and nurturers of their communitties. That is to laugh, as they used to say in Montreal. The MPs threatened to boycott the passing of the Finance Bill (needed to keep things running) and thus bring the whole country to a halt. So the Finance Minister backed down on the taxation bill.
The famous ‘list of shame’ handed to Kofi Annan is wreaking havoc Many are running scared and insisting there be no follow up to the report on the murders and ethnic cleansing carried out last January. A statement from the International Criminal Court has scotched that idea. Kenya must do it or the international community will.
The PM’s party is subject to internal strife and there is considerable unrest as the Kalenjin (Rift Valley) are stirred up in traditional hatreds by their powerful leader, Ruto, who seems unable to co-exist within the PM's party. (The present governement is an uneasy coaliton established by Annan during the "Peace process."
The Kriegler report on the election called for the dissolution of the Electoral Commision, but the members of this body are refusing to step down, all the time continuing to draw allowances and stipends. Today it was revealed that over 100 million shillings (almost one and a half million dollars) has been mismanaged (or vanished) by the ECK.
It has been a month since the Waki report was handed to the President (& the famous envelope to Annan) but still the President has made no statement except to piously hope that any follow up will be tempered with forgiveness.
Ringera, the head of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, has handed in his annual report stating bluntly that he has not been able to get to the bottom of the Anglo Leasing scandal some two or three years ago, where Kenya lost millions of dollars. He claims to have been blocked at every turn by Wako, the AG, and the judiciary. Wako has been AG for nearly 20 years and has never brought a case against anyone for corruption.
The letters to the newspapers and the editorials could scorch a hole in the page. Everyone detests the politicians with a deep hatred, but no one seems to know what to do to change things. They would dearly love to see an Obama and I secretly wonder if Uhuru Kenyatta might be grooming himself for this. He’s the right age, intelligent and well educated and has the 'right' kind of background (father in government, business experience, very little political experience) However, he was the protégé of the dictator Moi and his family is far from squeaky clean. He is very much tainted by the past and his present associates. He would need time and distance.