The Voters in 2012 Will Elect Someone Who Deserves to Be Elected on His or Her Record

There are two related but distinct functions of high office holders and elected officials aided by their respective staffs: political and policy. Other than in dictatorships, it takes great leadership and skill to quickly and effectively propose and implement policy change or changes to address a rising serious problem or conditions. On the other hand, it takes more than leadership and skill to initiate and implement policy changes with divisive political implications, or those hampered by it.

In both cases, namely in exigent and normal circumstances, a true leader must successfully engage those with the tools to bring about and implement such policies otherwise you cannot have successful policy adoption or change. In other words, an effective and visionary leader identifies a problem, crafts a strategy to deal with it and rallies the public or at least a majority to support it while employing all available tools and tactics to ensure the policy is implemented, which in our system requires maneuvering through the Cabinet, Parliament and the Executive and its its bureaucrats which each can easily frustrate such policy initiation and implementation.

In routine non-controversial matters, this is indeed a routine exercise or a walk for any leader, even a novice for that matter.

In complicated or divisive policy issues, it takes a seasoned and skilled leader to rally the public and effectively maneuver the aforementioned parliamentary and administrative obstacles to successfully implement good policy.

This is what Raila does best.

Upon returning from his successful official trip overseas, Raila meet with the president and the two as the executive heads of the country under the coalition agreement, agreed to a solution to deal with increasing cost of living due to fuel price increases.

This is what leaders are expected to do instead of being mired in political quagmire which defeats progress.

In this sense, it matters not one bit whether one or the other leader or leaders gets credit; that is secondary if not irrelevant altogether to the country getting what it needs.

We are often so caught up in giving or denying credit we forget it is delivery of services and goods for the benefit of the citizenry that needs it that matters the most not who gets the credit for doing. The Bible teaches us that the day-of-judgment for mankind cometh but the day-of-judgment for an elected politician in Kenya is on Election Day every four years. That’s when the people he or she is supposed to serve give him or her credit according to what services he or she has provided for their benefit from when they last elected him or her.

That’s what elections are for in an ideal setting.

Unfortunately, however, and as you know, giving credit where credit is due is not all that matters in having a successful run for office. Voters must next be influenced by all sorts of irrelevant factors or are simply bought out and therefore having their vote negated as an expression of an informed will or issue based decision to be so led such that we end up with elected officials riding to office in a state completely disconnected from a desire to serve ordinary wananchi, which is and ought to be a calling in by itself instead of a tool for self-aggrandizement which it often is.

On the other hand, as has been truly the case many times in our current coalition government, we sometimes end up with a paralyzed and unable to function government because one side of the coalition, or at least a good portion of it refuses to believe the other half is equally at par with it so much so they would rather have stagnation and paralyzation than doing or not doing something that results in Raila getting credit for having initiated or otherwise having made it possible.

Where such efforts have succeeded, and there are a few, it is not Raila who loses or suffers, it is the our country; our people that one hopes we have seen the last of it and not anymore.

Rather than wallowing in the past where politics of destruction was the order of the day, those vying for office, especially at the presidential level should rise above such politics and state the case why they should be elected viz Raila who seems to create strange bedfellows united only in their desire to block him from ascending to the presidency for no other reason other than the fact none of them can individually make the case why they should be elected president and win enough votes to be so elected unlike Raila, who can based on his record.

Peace, Love and Unity.

 

ODM Prodigal Son Come Home; Extending An Olive Branch For William Samoei Ruto

The Book of Luke Chapter 15:11-32 tells the story of the Prodigal Son; a story about two sons and a father in which after the younger son so requests, his father divides the family property evenly between the two sons. The younger son sets off to have fun on wildly things and after squandering everything, returns to his homestead and his father welcomes him back much to the chagrin of his older brother who remained and labored for the father all the while the younger son was having fun but never accorded any show of affection or appreciation from the father.

I thought about this story when reading in today’s Standard Online story at http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000034025&cid=4& that a cabinet reshuffle is afoot and that the PM is faced with a choice to keep or let go the suspended minister for education, William Ruto. The party is apparently divided with the handful of MPs allied to Ruto saying he should be allowed to return with the rest saying he should be shown the door he is already more than half way past anyway.

Going strictly by what is reasonable, this is an easy decision for the PM to make: show Ruto the door and let in a replacement from the Rift Valley–and there are any number of able and more qualified MPs who more than fit the shoes left empty. That’ll be a very easy decision to make had there not been such lies and distortions propagated by Ruto and Co against Raila in the Rift which in my view Ruto should basically confess to to save his political career by asking Raila to assent to his return to the cabinet. Doing otherwise is not wise.

It is reported in the same Standard story that Ruto allies are saying that he is not desperate to return to the cabinet. That’s a lie. Ruto would rather be a rebel ODM MP and minister than a rebel ODM MP without a ministerial portfolio which itself is better than quitting ODM and being forced to seek re-election to parliament, an outcome which is not assured despite Ruto having everyone believe it is.

Quitting ODM and seeking fresh mandate is a pre-requisite, if being a PNU minister is what Ruto has been promised by those egging or advising him to quit ODM.

As I have stated elsewhere in the blogsphere, Ruto has been a rebel ODM member for a long time but time is nearing for Ruto to make a decision whether he disembarks completely from ODM or he hangs on for what it’s worth to him. The media has cast this as the PM’s major decision as to whether to keep or boot Ruto, given the impending reshuffle. I say the bigger decision is for Ruto to decide whether he leaves ODM for an uncertain political future or seek redemption and stay on in ODM where his
future is better predictable and altogether avoid the sharks that await him in the waters were he to jump ship.

Like the prodigal son, Ruto should simply return home to ODM, seek redemption and I am sure the party will welcome him back with no hurt feelings. Obviously some may consider this prospect out of the question but in the final analysis, it is a better path Ruto should seriously consider given where things are headed politically for him. Incidentally, just saying this reminds me of one Maasai warrior from Moi era by the name Stanley Oloitiptip.

For those of you who don’t have a clue who that was or have simply forgotten, the late Oloitiptip was at one time Moi’s Home Affairs minister who fought and lost every battle against Moi as most everyone did that time. He was also a colorful politician who at one time showed the press his bare bottom to make the point contrary to what Nyerere  and pretty much what all non-pastoralists thought or believed, public display of a moran’s behind was nothing to be ashamed of.

Oloitiptip also enriched our political lexicon in Kenya by introducing the idiom if you can’t beat them, join them. I do not recall in what context I heard Oloitiptim utter those words but I recall hearing the same words again soon after arriving in the United States for my first time back in the day and wondering how could words spoken by the Big Moran ever made it to the US only to discover the question I should have been asking is how did those words come from the US to fall from Oloiptip’s lips.

Fast forward to 1997, these words would come to mind again as Raila folded NDP and joined hands with KANU after the disjointed and fragmented opposition handed Moi victory at the polls with Moi if you call winning the elections with less than 40% of the vote victory but I digress. Ruto is my focus in this piece but these two concepts, namely, the Prodigal Son story and the if you can’t beat them, join them idiom come to mind, too as I examine Ruto’s situation in the context of the upcoming cabinet reshuffle.

Raila has now beaten Ruto twice on major national fights: the Mau forest debate to save the our environment in which Raila had and continues to have overwhelming public support to save our environment and the biggest of all thus far, the promulgation of the new Constitution in which Raila working with Kibaki finally delivered the long sought Constitution against Ruto and Co’s wishes and hopes. Every indication is Raila will deliver a knock-out punch against Ruto in the final round also known as the upcoming general elections no matter which corner Ruto fights from therefore it behooves Ruto to give up his public fighting with Raila and return to ODM as the odds are stacked against him no matter how bright he sees the stars.

First, as in elections past, Ruto cannot go it alone and be elected president. Everyone, including he knows that so no need to elaborate here.

Second, as in the case of his efforts to go against the entire Cabinet in the Mau Forest debate or as in his efforts to block passage of the new Constitution, Ruto cannot articulate a single reason why leaving ODM makes sense other than selfish reasons which always make sense to the selfish person and nobody else.

Ruto has been going around the country falsely accusing Raila of being behind him being sent to the Hague and offering that as the reason he parted with Raila. He has also previously cited other untruths as additional reasons, including the discredited claim that Raila did not offer him the premiership which he could not as things turned out and that Raila did not appoint enough ministers from the Rift Valley which he did, given what he had to offer.

As to Ruto’s lies about the ICC, I know most if not all of you know and agree this is precisely what he has done but let me lay this out for the sake of those of you who have not followed closely the development of the ICC cases.

In February 2008, the government of Kenya established the Commission of Inquiry on Post Election Violence (CIPEV), otherwise known as the Waki Commission. The Waki Commission’s sole mandate was to investigate the violence that erupted in Kenya following the elections of December 27, 2007. Raila was neither a part of nor did he play any role in the Waki Commission’s conduct of the investigation.

After conducting its investigation, CIPEV handed over its 529 page report otherwise known as the “Waki Report” to president Mwai Kibaki and prime minister Raila Odinga on October 15, 2008. The report, however, did not publicly disclose the alleged perpetrators in the report. Raila had nothing to do with the preparation and handing over of the report to the government by the Waki Commission.

The Waki Commission separately handed a list of the alleged masterminds of post-election violence (PEV) to Kofi Annan who on July 9, 2009 in turn handed the envelope containing list of names to Luis Moreno-Ocampo (Ocampo), the Prosecutor at International Criminal Court of Justice (ICC). Raila had nothing to do with the handing over of the Waki Report to either Kofi Annan or Ocampo.

The Kenya Government was then given 1 year, beginning July 2009, to setup a Tribunal to deal with issue with the condition failure to do so would have the ICC pursue the matter itself beginning August 2010.

In efforts to keep ICC at bay, and following this agreement, Constitutional amendments that would have established a special tribunal, as recommended by the Waki Commission, failed to get the requisite consensus in parliament by the September 2009, leading to Ocampo seeking formal authorization from ICC to start his investigation. Raila had nothing to do with Parliament’s failure to pass the legislation which he supported. On the other hand, opponents of the legislation including Ruto wanted to go to the Hague, saying let’s not be vague let’s go to the Hague! Obviously the Ocampo Six underestimated ICC’s resolve to have this matter quickly, given it is now more than 3 years since PEV.

On December 15, 2010, Ocampo publicly named the six suspects (the Ocampo Six) that he has evidence to show that they bear the greatest responsibility for PEV and from that point on, the heat was on forcing the PNU part of the government in which they Ocampo Six now belong or align themselves with, to scramble in efforts to avoid or delay the fast moving Ocampo and his prosecutorial ax. Again, Raila has had nothing to do with any action Ocampo or ICC has taken in the case against the Ocampo Six.

Ruto and Co’s going around the country telling big lies otherwise should be rejected by everyone. As Raila says, let Ruto go to the Hague and if he is innocent, he will be acquitted; that’s what the rule of law is about. One cannot mount and ought not mount a tribal defense in a matter dealing only with facts and law, which Ruto and Co have tried to do.

The third reason, noting just a few, why Ruto should return to ODM is if history teaches us anything in political tactics, Ruto is being used by PNU to his ultimate detriment as compared to PNU; Uhuru can lose the presidency but he still remains Uhuru ICC notwithstanding. Ruto looses in the campaign with Uhuru will not remain Ruto.  I do not have to expound on this but Ruto should take time off from attacking Raila and fending off all these cases swirling around him and study our country’s post-independence and he will quickly learn, if he has not already, that his dalliance with Uhuru is the quintessential riding on a bridge to nowhere.

This is because almost exclusively, all tactics employed to succeed in the past evolved around tribalism; however, it is more likely Kenyans will this time around reject tribalism at the polls in greater proportion than ever before, leaving those who have aligned themselves tribally in the cold.

Put another way, among forward looking Kalenjins or otherwise those not driven blindly to follow Ruto and those Kalenjins who have come to know and like Raila for who he is as a national leader, not what they are misinformed by propagandists and liars, or among those who otherwise will not vote central as the reality stands today, this combined group smaller in comparison it is I readily admit to the opposite group in the region who will vote for Ruto on account of him blindly leading them to do so, is large enough to blunt any gains by Uhuru in the region and given Raila’s ability to hold his own elsewhere, money is on the duo losing impressively to Raila.

Were that to be the case, Ruto and Uhuru will be rendered politically irrelevant for a very long time to come, a prospect which is more likely than the other way around and thus my suggestion for Ruto to return home to ODM whose ideals upon which it was formed remain intact and from where he might regroup for a much brighter future political career, ICC notwithstanding.

Ruto, of course, need not heed to this good advise. He can take his truck and drive it right into the ditch as many a politician before him have done. That’s his call.

Yes ICC looms large over Ruto and Co and yes I have already predicted and concluded elsewhere on this blog that Ruto will not be convicted at the Hague. I have so concluded after a thorough and objective legal analysis of the case against Ruto, given the information made public thus far.

I have concluded Ruto should return home to ODM because it is the best thing he could do, if he were evaluating his situation objectively.

I also know what I am suggesting here for Ruto politically is tantamount having him eating crow, but sometimes eating crow is just what the doctor ordered.

Peace, Love and Unity.

 

My Response About “Diaspora Spokesperson” and Wasteful Government Spending

The following is my recent response to someone who claims to be “Diaspora Spokesperson” and accusation by the individual that Prime Minister Raila Odinga is just like Kibaki in allowing wasteful spending by the government:

My response:

There is no such a thing a thing as “Diaspora Spokesperson” and holding oneself as such is misleading or at least confusing. More than a decade ago, a few of us in the Diaspora started the campaign for dual citizenship which has now become a reality–well, pending passage of the implementing laws. I urge you and others to join me and others in now pushing for a true Diaspora Spokesperson in the form of a Diaspora Representative in our Parliament.

Regarding performance of coalition government, I am on record from a long time in position that real government performance will start in the next  government because best as Raila has tried with a little assistance from Kibaki to make the coalition government function effectively enough to tackle the issues of the day, he is hampered by the fact that a coalition government formed under the circumstances ours was, compounded with deeply entrenched norms and practices that favor impunity and corruption, creates a  situation where what we are seeing is the best you are going to have until after the next elections.

Put another way, there is a mountain to move which Raila is trying but cannot move without  the help of the people who have already in Part I overwhelmingly passed the new Constitution and in Part II, will elect a committed and proven reformist visionary and architect to move the country forward to where we are late but need to be.  In my view, given the current line-up of presidential contenders, the person to be so elected is Rt. Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga.

On the incident involving former US Ambassador Ranneberger, Raila was right in castigating him for breaking protocol and accreditation rules in trying to lecture the Prime Minister on what was or not appropriate appropriation or expenditure for the government, especially in the setting where he made those comments so I am not sure why this Luo got so excited about the PM’s castigation of the ambassador and used that as an excuse to attack the PM.

Had the ambassador called on the PM and privately raised the exact same issue or concern with him, the PM would have likely told him he was barking the wrong tree for “Co-Equal” as he may be with Kibaki, when it comes to improperly spending or wasting public public funds, that is the province of the other half of the  government with Musyoka’s recent “luxury lobbying” being Exhibit A.

Finally please note I am all for constructive criticism of our leaders.

Peace, Love and Unity.

Samuel N. Omwenga, Esq.

 

We Cannnot Thwart or Slow Down Implementation of the New Constitution

“Only nine apply for judges’ vetting jobs.” Standard Online, Monday, April 25, 2011

http//www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000033908&cid=4&ttl=Only%20nine%20apply%20for%20Judges%27%20vetting%20jobs.

Reading this story and another one from the other day about Mutula Kilonzo seeking an extension of time to meet deadlines imposed by the new Constitution, I am a little dispirited, given how badly we wanted the Constitution passed and now implemented. For those of you who were not following my postings elsewhere before I started this blog two months ago, you can read my views on the new Constitution at http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/64934.

Let’s all be vigilant in ensuring the implementation of the Constitution is not thwarted or slowed down.

Cheers!

 

Tribalisim Like All Bad Learned Habits Can Be Unlearned

Following further below, is my response to the immediately following by a blogger who essentially believes there was deliberate efforts by the Kenya government during his early school years to make Kikuyus appear superior and everyone else inferior by manipulating the use of school textbooks to accomplish this.

His Posting:

People,

I have suffered internally with this thought for long and I think it is time I did something about it. I must admit I can not continue suffering like this yet it was the government’s blunder.

While I did my early primary schooling in the rural areas where the only language I could understand well was my mother tongue and slight and incorrigible kiswahili.the government deliberately designed a curriculum to favour some tribes than others.

I am now looking for a lawyer to put together for me my accusation against the government. All the books i read in English during my early education were designed in a way that i lived believing that there only existed Njugunas,Kamaus and the likes.These two names feature well in myb mind as my story books only mentioned the two.

Here we go:

• The bus driver Mr.Njuguna asked the pupils to be seated in the bus
• The shopkeeper,Mr.Kamau gave the boy enough change as he had been asked by his mother Nyokabi

In all the Safari books I was tutored with in my early primary I never saw a name that resembled even the locals names. Then there must have been someone at KIE who developed curriculum with alot of tribalism. The only place I met the name of my kinsmen was in venacular books which was titled” Akeyo olal e chiro” Akeyo gets lost in the market.

I therefore lived knowing that all bus drivers must be from Njuguna’s tribe and all shopkeepers are Kamau or his kinsmen
I want an explanation from the government why they allowed this blander or was it deliberate to make me think am lesser in the society.

And I am serious I need an explanation from KIE as well or else I get a lawyer to sue the government for misleading me and other young stars.

This is not hate speech,I know [_] is fond of fire fighting without a strategy on how to do his job,and may want to pick this as hate speech,but let him if he is the one explain categorically why this was done

My Response:

Your posting reminds me of a recent debate in Texas, USA between hardcore conservatives and liberals on education in general and pre-college student curriculum in particular; conservatives who have virtually taken over every aspect of government in the state of Texas, used their majority in the Texas School Board to put their conservative stamp in education curriculum, their justification: the Texas curriculum was too liberal for their taste (for a news story about this, go to New York Times, for a good blog on the issue, go to this blog).

While it’s true what we learn from early on in life and formative years has a major influence on what we believe or do and who we become later on in life, it is equally true what we learn in those same years that is against the norm or otherwise evil or improper can be unlearned through later education, maturity and exposure. Otherwise, if this were not the case, children born to racist families will always be racists; children exposed to tribalism from that period will always be tribalists; children born of one religion or the opposite will remain so forever, etc.

Unfortunately, however, the unlearning of the vice and other bad things learned in those formative years stays with some people to the day they die either by choice or by choice. This is not a typo, it is deliberate to say those who do not unlearn the vice and other bad things do so by choice.

And this is, precisely, our problem in Kenya today. While I can see the older generation having difficulty shaking ukabila, which I include hate of others simply because of their tribe, I simply do not comprehend why their offspring who are better informed, educated and otherwise exposed fail or refuse to do so.

We have no doubt made progress as time is going by but judging from the exchanges one sees here and on the ground, a lot of work remains to be done but the good news is, there are signs and I am very optimistic we are almost there.

Osama Bin Laden sent his boys to drive two airplanes through two landmark buildings in New York on September 11, 2001. That single act of brazen terrorism instantaneously united the country than ever before in its history; neighbors who hated each other found themselves giving each other hugs; family member who had disappeared from their loved ones found courage to call and say they were okay and were eager to reunite; Democrats who could not stand or simply hated President George W Bush or GW suddenly discovered he was a good guy and that they actually loved him (but that’s how far they could go; his VP Cheney they still hated); in Kenya, Moi so run the country into the ground when he attempted to impose a successor on the country, he was resoundingly told NO by way of the country overwhelmingly electing Kibaki as president in 2002; the aura on the ground and elsewhere in the Diaspora on hKibaki’s inauguration in 2003 was titillating.

What has happened since these euphoric moments? After a few months or so, in America, the neighbors went back to hating each other; a number of family members who reunited with their families soon went back to their hiding; Democrats went back to hating GW so much such that after losing the elections in 2004, he was appointed president by the US Supreme Court which is the first time that has happened in the US; in Kenya, the euphoria of 2002 disappeared such that Raila, who was instrumental in having Kibaki elected that year, faced off with Kibaki in the 2007 elections which most people believe he won but was not sworn as president, leading to the post-election violence and near civil war.

Fortunately, there was a compromise between Kibaki and Raila leading to the current coalition government which is where we find ourselves today.

Where are going to go tomorrow, come the day after election day 2012? Is the country going to rise in jubilation with election of a president they are all happy and eager to lead them to greater unity and prosperity as in 2002 or is it going to be an uncertain and gloomy day as was December 28, 2007?

I, for one, wish and pray it’ll be a jubilant day throughout the country as that bright day on December 28, 2002 when the country confirmed the Moi era was over and was prepared to have Kibaki take us to the promised land.

Were this to be the case, it will be a manifestation that we have learned to unlearn the vice of tribalism.

Peace, Love and Unity.

***********

Is our country ready to finally shake tribalism and all its vestiges?

“I think so but this is not to say our individualism and ethnic culture is thrown out with it as well. The two can happen together harmoniously, i.e., we can get rid of tribalism without sacrificing our pride in individual ethnic culture but certain barbaric cultural activities in all ethnic groups must be shed as well.”

Samuel N. Omwenga, Esq.

 

My Response and Thoughts On Land Policy Reform and IDP Resettlement II

As I sit here reading and reflecting on this issue on this Sabbath Day, I am seeing three solutions to this highly charged, thorny and complex issue of land and IDPs in Kenya: First, the IDPs should be resettled to the very places from where they were chased or run away from and do so for as many of them as can prove they actually did live and had a livelihood there. A new law should be passed to facilitate this, thus, if you were previously homeless but are now comfortably living in an IDP’s home and operating another IDPs kiosk as your own, it is time to get back to being homeless or finding another solution to your previous problems.

Second, if IDPs must be resettled elsewhere, then a law to provide for such resettlement must be passed to include among other things, making resettled IDPs under it ineligible to vote in those areas until at least after the next election circle or after there has been a complete re-examination of our land policy to ensure equity and fairness for as close to all as possible, whichever occurs first.

Three, a special land reform assembly must be constituted to address the question of land policy reform. This assembly should be comprised of elected leaders from each tribal area (and this is about the only time you’ll hear me suggest tribal consideration as a factor), so an assembly of approximately 40 members with an eminent non-Kenyan as its President (Kofi Annan or someone similar comes to mind) with a deputy elected by a super-majority of the members.

Parliament shall implement whatever recommendations the Special Assembly on Land Reform comes up with without delay, debate or amendment.

Maoni yangu tu.

Peace, Love and Unity.

 

My Response to A Comment Regarding My Response to A Virulent Luo Raila Distractor

The following is my response to the comment to my blog on the right titled “My Response to A Virulent Luo Raila Distractor.” The actual comment is at the end of that bog.

My response to the individual who has been ranting against Raila has nothing to do with whether or not Raila won in 07 so my being right or wrong as to whether he won is not relevant and so therefore your conclusion that my arguments are either justified or fallacious based on this false premise, i.e., that they had anything to do with 07 elections, is misplaced.

I agree with you that to be a viable party, especially as we wish to move our country forward with the new Constitution, a party that seeks the presidency must be national in character and composition. I will disagree with you, however, that Raila’s only allies now are Luos; that’s just not true and I’ll leave it at that.

As for Rafael Tuju, I have known him since long before he went to parliament and can even say we were friends. RT’s mistake was not failure to pay allegiance to Raila but his failure to recognize that Raila is here to stay no matter the storm.

Regarding Raila’s leadership, I am not the one calling him a leader; his character, his deeds, his story and what he has done for the country speaks to this issue and that is why he leads in the polls as compared to those seeking the presidency. As an employer, you give me the resumes of the top 5 presidential candidates in Kenya and ask me who would I hire without even an interview for the job, I’ll tell you Raila without any reservations. All other employers will do the same thing.

This is just fact and sometimes facts are hard to accept but try.

Polls are tricky business. I amuse myself all the time with them. When they show your candidate winning, they are authoritative and a strong prediction as to what is to happen at the actual poll. When they show your candidate loosing, they are unreliable, a sham, a popularity contest, the property of the candidate they show winning; everything except what they are if scientifically done and that is, accurate predictors within a 3-5% margin of error of the eventual results. So, I understand your dismissal of the fact Raila is leading the pack by far; how would you accept that as fact if he is not your man? You cannot; it’s human nature and it is the nature of politics.

Talking about polls and 07, after returning to the US following the chaos in early January 08, we learned that the hardly known International Republican Institute (IRI) <“http://www.iri.org/”&gt; which was in Kenya as an observer during the elections, had conducted a nationwide exit poll as they do in all elections they observe. The information we had was that the exit polling data showed that Raila had won. This was now several days after Kibaki had already sworn himself as president or at least his people had so sworn him. Knowing this, we secured an appointment attended by myself, a current minister and two other individuals. Our goal was to have IRI publicly release this critical information which would have tremendously impacted the outcome of the impasse but they declined for reasons I know but need not disclose here.

As events played out, we did all the necessary lobbying (see my letter to the then US President GW Bush elsewhere on my blog), including having Congressional hearings held on the issue, which forced the US to change its policy (of supporting Kibaki) which in turn forced Kibaki to rethink and agree to discussions that ultimately led to coalition agreement made possible with Kofi Anna’s intervention and Raila’s willingness to compromise more than Kibaki did.

The rest of it is, as they say, history.

So, my friend, let’s enjoy the ride. We are in it all together and may the best candidate win. That could be my choice, Raila, or yours you have not disclosed and if your candidate wins, I as all Kenyans will support him if he is truly committed to uniting the country, tackling all the social and economic ills and otherwise moving the country in the direction of prosperity and peace as I know Raila will.

Unless, of course, it is Kalonzo Musyoka that wins, in which case as I have repeatedly told my friends, I will seek temporary refuge in neighboring countries at least long enough for my mind, my soul, my body and my whole recovers and gets used to the idea of him being president.

Peace, Love and Unity.

 

My Response and Thoughts on Land Policy and IDP Resettlement

I have said this so many times, my lips are tired.

I have typed this so many times, my fingers are tired and sore.

But I do it again here because it is important I say this to you, if you have never heard me or anyone say it.

This so much bent anger on land and IDP resettlement is not going to take us as a country anywhere; but anger or no anger, it’s is extremely naive to say one tribe will cling to power no matter what.

What we need in Kenya now and to the future, is all Kenyans to learn to love and live with each other in peace despite the wrongs of the past, which cannot all be cured.

PEV happened. Rwanda, from where hails my wife, had over 20% of its population, close to 1 million people hacked and butchered to death in 94 in less than 90 days.

Yes, over 1000 Kenyans lost their lives; Kenyans, not Kikuyus, Kalenjins, Kisiis, etc. The moment we accept this as the proper description, the far more we’ll go in this.

Yes, over 300,000 Kenyans are still in camps having fled their homes during the violence, again, these are Kenyans, not Kikuyus, Kalenjins, Kisiis, etc; just Kenyans.

But in context, this is not a problem we as Kenyans cannot resolve, if we are governed and guided by the principles of love for one another, which we are capable of.

Or to put it differently, the IDP issue is a symptom of an even larger problem we are not addressing which has to ultimately be addressed to bring all this to a close

And that is, Land Policy Reform. Hailing from Gusii as I do, I have over the years seen generational curving up of land parcels consistent with custom literally to pieces.

I told someone a long time ago that this land is going to be chopped into pieces people will start chopping themselves into pieces over it and its already happening.

So, my brother, take a deep breath, let’s come together and find common ground to address this complex issue without calling others haters when they call you the same.

Unfortunately, I do not see anything being done about this until after the elections which, if people rise above tribalism and elect a president based on leadership ability,

Then there is nothing we cannot tackle successfully as a nation, including land issues as long as those who lose accept and join with the winners to do just that.

This is not an impossible dream or wish; it’s quite the contrary very easy to achieve if people just learn to love one another and drop the hate, which is not a trait.

In the same vein, I have made the case and will continue to make the case on this blog and elsewhere that PEV does not belong in the Hague; let’s bring it back home.

And deal with it effectively and permanently.

More about this soon.

 

Wishing HE President Kibaki Well As He Prepares to Retire

It was reported in the media today that contrary to what was reported the other day that some crazy people were trying to have Kibaki run again for president despite the absence of a legal basis to do so, Kibaki is ready to retire. Go to http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/Kibaki-ready-to-retire-in-2012-12505.html for the full story.

Reading this piece instantaneously took me back to January 1, 2008 when having been up sleepless since election day in 2007, I recall a friend of mine and I watching the unbelievable swearing in of Kibaki at State House. Sitting there as a witness was another friend of mine I had tried to contact without success from the day before in frantic efforts to find out if there was anything he could do being a friend of the president but seeing him there obviously dispensed that idea.

A few days later, I left the country in controlled rage and determined to lobby everyone in Washington for help in getting Kibaki to renounce his swearing in and allow the people’s will to prevail. You could not have asked me to name more than two people I held in more contempt at that time than Kibaki and Kalonzo and between the two, Kalonzo more than Kibaki. Fast forward, we have had the compromise leading to the current coalition government and I must say Kibaki has redeemed himself in my book notwithstanding a lot that has happened and continue to happen detrimental to the country’s interests on his watch.

On balance, however, having worked closely with his partner, PM Raila to usher in the new Constitution and more recently, having backed down and allowed the appointment of crucial constitutional office holders to be done in conformity with the spirit and letter of the new Law of the land and other things I can list (even including ICC where HE the President seems to have taken a less sombre direction) Kibaki has done great to reclaim a positive legacy in our country’s history despite 07.

Needless to say, however, the President owes the country a smooth transition to seal his legacy. What a sweet irony it would be for him to hand over the presidency to the man who many agree is largely responsible for Kibaki being elected president in the first place and what an even more sweeter irony would it be for him to hand over the presidency to a man who believes he stole the seat from him in the second place! I am sure even he would find that much amusing and what an incentive for him to make this happen if anything to close this chapter with us all saying all is well that ends well.

I wish him well as he starts to wind down to exit the stage and may he have a good and long life in retirement.

 

My Response to A Virulent Luo Raila Distractor

The following is my response to an avid and virulent Luo Raila distractor who posted his diatribe on various online Kenyan blogs; it’s a small book but it addresses what I call the Small Luo Problem (SLP), which in a nutshell is a small section of the Luo community which is anti-Raila for one reason or another that has nothing to do with his leadership or ability:

I was inclined not to read your posting after reading your opening fourth sentence where you say “Even if Raila was indeed the best candidate for president, which he isn’t in a looooooong shot, he still wouldn’t pull this one off” (emphasis mine) but I did anyway just to confirm what I had concluded after reading that sentence and that is (1) you cannot be objective; if you were an objective person, and even at worst a biased objective person as to Raila, you would have simply said, “which he is not in a long shot” instead of the heavily loaded phrase you chose to use I have quoted above (2) the use of the contracted negative auxiliary verb “isn’t” is not appropriate in any serious writing and (3) your first 3 sentences said all you needed to say for me to conclude you cannot be speaking from an informed, substantive and objective point of view, even if you are speaking as one opposed to Raila’s ascendency to the presidency of the Republic of Kenya.

To advance from where we have been and are, Kenyans must rise above both ethnic and person based politics, among other things. You are a Luo, RAO is a Luo but you are nonetheless engaged in ethnic politics because you are using your ethnicity to score a personal vendetta against Raila. This is my conclusion but let me go further and demonstrate this with your own words:

You say “[Raila] is too controversial and too divisive for the country…”

What evidence have you tabled to support your contention Raila is “too controversial and too divisive?” According to the most recent polling data from Kenya, as reported by the Standard Online Edition, Raila leads by far among those who have even a 2% chance of being elected; the closest person to him being Uhuru who is a distant second at 18%. And this is so even after the likes of you have been engaged in sleepless onslaught against him; is your assertion that Raila is “too controversial and too divisive” therefore not just that: an assertion without factual basis? Please do not answer; it’s a rhetorical question for the answer is obvious.

You say, “and any conceivable elevation of Raila to the presidency in Kenya just spells disaster for way too many people and interests.”

What disaster? Which people and what interests? Will you and those of you who are so vehemently opposed to Raila becoming president simply because he is Raila, be so dejected when he is re-elected again as president to the point you can describe it a disaster for you? Are these the “people” you are referring to? Will among those so dejected include masters of corruption and impunity? Are these the “interests” you are referring to? Please do not answer; these are rhetorical questions for the answers are obvious.

FN. Unless based on scientific and reliable polling, be wary of anyone who says “the people” have said this, or done that or have this in mind; it’s vintage appeal by trickery.

You say “It [electing Raila as president] is not a chance I as a voter or the country would be willing to take.”

First, speaking for yourself, then don’t take that chance; go ahead and vote for your preferred candidate who you have interestingly not told us in your diatribe who he or she is, let alone why. As for the “country” not taking a chance on Raila, and in case you do not know, this is why we have elections; the “country” will have the opportunity to elect a new president which is not a chance act, but a deliberate act informed or otherwise. I and others like minded prefer to await their verdict than your wishful thinking.

You say “[Raila] has burned practically all bridges any politician could possible burn and stand a realistic chance of being elected to a national office and in this instance, he is done!”

The only bridges that have been burned are bridges linking the likes of you with him. Those bridges can burn to ashes but Raila’s highway to the people is intact; some pot-holes here and there (this is Kenya after all we are talking about) but intact nonetheless as the above referenced survey shows. Raila can only make the highway better and smoother by fixing as many of those pot-holes as possible and I use “fixing” here to mean “repair.” So, Raila is not done as you obviously desperately wish; he is just getting started!

You say “[t]he political arithmetic simply does NOT favor Raila Odinga for president, call it tribally instigated or whatever, Kenyans are tired of the political theatrics and gamesmanships surrounding Raila and come 2012, the message will be delivered home, LOUD and CLEAR.”

Once again, according to the survey referenced above, you are in the minority on this view. As for which message will be delivered home “LOUD” and “CLEAR,” we shall find out after the elections shall we not?

You say “[n]obody wins without GEMA and Rift Valley, more than 50% of the country lives here, so does anyone in their right mind believe at this stage of the game that Raila Odinga has any meaningful votes in these regions? Add 60% of Eastern going against Raila, at least 50% in Kisii against Raila, and other splits around the country and you have a loser of epic proportions.”

This is, of course, the tribal and ethnic card you and like minded hope and pray stops Raila on his way to State House. Kenyans of the new Kenya have fortunately resolved to move beyond negative ethnicity and tribalism as we build the new country we almost all were happy to see reborn on August 27, 2010. There is guarded optimism that just as the elections of 2002 brought to a crushing end to the Moi era, the elections of 2012 will bring to an end ukabila as the sole determinative factor in presidential elections.

Are there vestiges of this disease that will remain with us for a long time to come? Sure; there are those who will still not vote for Raila solely because he is a Luo; Uhuru solely because he is a Kikuyu; Martha Karua solely because she is Kikuyu; Ruto solely because he is a Kalenjin and so on but it is up-to the candidates themselves to make the case why they should be elected president. The winner in my view will be the one who makes a good and strong enough case why they should be elected president for he or she will garner enough votes to win, tribalists notwithstanding. So, in my optimistic view and conclusion, you and like minded will be left languishing in the old where the politics of personal vendettas and tribalism thrive.

You say “[Raila’s] party has imploded…”

The Orange Democratic Movement is alive and well Ruto and Company’s exit notwithstanding. If you build a home and lose a portion of it through acts of God or man; you rebuild and move on. How much you rebuild depends on the damage done; if the foundation is shaken, then you may have to rebuild from scratch. If the foundation is not shaken, then you need only do necessary repairs to rebuild as the foundation is firm. ODM’s foundation is firm and to the extent the party needs to rebuild given Ruto’s shenanigans, minor repairs may be necessary. So, contrary to your wishful thinking, ODM has not “imploded.”

You say, as President Abraham Lincoln put it, “ a House divided against itself cannot stand”, so where is Odinga’s base? Name one Odinga affiliation (party of otherwise) over the last 15 years, or 10 or even 5 which is still standing today.

You have really outdone yourself here; Lincoln was addressing the sin of slavery in the speech you have quoted him above. In more context, this is what he said

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION: If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifty year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting and end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crises shall have been reached and passed. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South.

In other words, Lincoln was imploring his constituents to vote for him on his anti-slavery platform while assuring them his election will strengthen, not divide the Union, which came to pass with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 ending slavery. How then do you come from this to demanding to know where Raila’s base is? Would you not be better of demanding same without invoking the grandeur of Lincoln and his quest to both maintain the Union while bringing an end to slavery? BTW, of what relevance is an answer to this question to someone like you who has already declared you are neither Raila’s base nor supporter? If you must have an answer, how happy are you going to be when I tell you Raila’s base is Kenya? Yes, Kenya; not Luoland, Kissiland, Kalenjinland, Kambaland, Kikuyuland, or any other single or combined lands but the whole Kenyaland! Are you happy now knowing the answer or depressed?

You say “[a]nything this man [Raila] touches just goes under, the closest he came to the presidency we saw what happened, the country almost collapsed.

First, and fyi in case you were in another planet, the closest Raila came to the presidency was garnering a majority of votes cast for president in 2007 but was not sworn as president. Second, the country did not almost collapse; the country almost went into civil war because Raila won election as president but was not sworn as one. We avoided a civil war because Raila compromised with Kibaki to establish the coalition government we have today. That is the definition of a leader; doing what is right for the country not for himself which Raila has proven over and over he does and that is why I support him and believe he will be re-elected as president in 2012.

You say “I don’t know what it is about him [Raila], whether he is cursed but man, just about everything this man comes into contact with disintegrates and I sure as hell don’t want the same fate to my country as that of the many who can trace their demise back to Raila.”

This sounds like a personal vendetta to me; did Raila fail to give you a ride along Uhuru highway or something? Raila just concluded a successful official trip to the United States where he headlined an event and therefore was in contact with world business and political leaders; I have not heard of any of them having “disintegrated.” On the same trip, the Right Honorable Raila Odinga was in contact and addressed a diverse and enthusiastic group of Kenyans in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles; I have not heard of any of them having “disintegrated.” Do you know something Kenyans and the world does not know about Raila and “everything” he comes in contact with “disintegrating?” Or are you excluding humans from “everything?” If so, can you name what things have “disintegrated” after coming into contact with Raila? While you are at it, can you name the many who have “demised” because of Raila? Please do answer as these are not rhetorical questions.

You say, [n]ow to the specifics, Raila is NOT a reformist- he is a demagogue per excellence, name ONE reform agenda traceable directly to Raila, ONE!

The new Constitution.

You say , “[t]here is NO depth, substance or reach in Raila’s leadership no less than in all these so called leaders whom we need to sweep off the stage next year.”

You are obviously entitled to state your opinion; may I ask you after you sweep off the stage everyone in leadership now as you appear to suggest, who will you have as replacements? In a posting on my blog, I said the following in response to another posting:

There is a reason why job postings require experience of some kind and level of skill unless the job requires no skill or experience. Every political contender in all political societies going back to the ancient Greek society which started it all has had one or more characteristics a voter may deem undesirable or “baggage” but it is not perfection that is sought in good governance and politics, or age, or being a novice but in quantum possession of a combined good and bad native to all mortals but separated from the rest in the ultimate superiority in tested and proven leadership and visionary ability and qualities.

This is what we have to look to as we prepare to retire Kibaki and install his successor and in my book and a majority of Kenyans, Raila possesses the latter set of qualities and ability over and above everyone running or the same office and thus the reason I support him for president.

I proudly say this as a reformed anti-Railaist (2002) who since that time gave him another look and concluded he is the man.

I am sure you have heard or know the idiom do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Please apply it in all circumstances, including the underlying logic in your sweeping call to get off the stage all current leaders.

You say Raila is a deck of cards, a veneer that is blessed with a good gift of gab and affability not to mention a great family name.

I commend you for saying at least one good thing about Raila which never fall from the lips, or emanate from the fingers of other virulent distractors of Raila.

You say, “I am a big fan of the old man Jaramogi Oginga Odinga even though his politics may have also been the wrong fit for Kenya.”

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga’s politics were not “wrong fit” for Kenya. For one, the politics gave us one Jomo Kenyatta, unless you are of the view Kenyatta was a “wrong fit” for Kenya.

You say, [b]e that as it may, the son [Raila] took that which was bequeathed to him and has turned it into scorn.

What Jaramogi bequathed to his son Raila or the family for that matter and what he or Jaramogi’s family has done or not done with it is none of our business.

If by bequathing you mean intangibles such as name, fame, instillation of character values, philosophy, ideology, etc, then almost everyone save for those with your like thinking and motives  will disagree with you. I, for one, remember giving an introductory speech at a function in Silver Spring, Maryland where Raila was a featured guest during the campaigns for 07 and I remember concluding that speech in directly speaking to Raila and telling him how proud his father, Jaramogi, would have been, especially on that day, which was Father’s Day, to know his son was on his way to State House as president. So, unlike you, I and many others know Raila has and continues to make his father happy and he ultimately in my view will carry his father’s mantle all the way to the presidency. He deserves nothing less.

You say, “I was pleasantly surprised when a group of “Luo Professionals” just recently opened up in a meeting with Uhuru to say they are just as tired of the “politics of one man”; finally the sons and daughters of this great community that sired the world’s most powerful man are willing to break the yokes of political bondage that has stagnated so many of them and to them I say, Hallelujah, join the free world.  Free at last, Free at Last Thank God Almighty you will be free at last!”

Again, you unnecessarily invoke the grandeur and imagery of great American leaders with misplaced use. When Dr. Martin Luther King gave his passionate and compelling historic speech about his dream of an America where African Americans were free at last, he did not have your group of “Luo Professionals” in mind and neither did you have him in your mind when you paid homage to Uhuru, who I have actually met on a number of occasions and like as a person.

The rest of your diatribe is either a repeat of the above or not worth responding to so I close by imploring you to step back and ask yourself, if you don’t already know, why you are so virulently anti-Raila. If it is for personal reasons, I hope you find peace with it; if it’s on policy, I hope you articulate such. It cannot be what you have railed in your diatribe for none of that stands up to scrutiny such as the one I have provided here.

Peace, Love and Unity.

Samuel N. Omwenga, Esq,