Q1-Having issued a ringing endorsement of Raila for Rais,will Jukwaa accept the results if they are not favourable?"Jukwaa" is on one hand an owned cyber-forum, on the other hand a amalgam of people; previously of some progressive and activist Kenyans, now mostly of raging and foaming tribalists of the lowest kind, and slaves yearning for a strong Massa. So, the answer should be divided:
a) I have little doubt that the owner of Jukwaa will ultimately accept any result of a fair and free election (in spite of his own rhetorical attestation to the contrary), even if it sees Pius Muiru as next president. He will however be duly vigilant and critical as to any suspicions of faking or forgery.
b) I have little doubt that the ODM rabble will not accept any other result than that which *they* dream of.
Q2-Do you buy bkichwa’s assertion that ODM is bigger than Raila?Once again, one must differentiate.
- If the question goes beyond bigmanism into the realm of ideas or even ideologie, then is answer is a clear and sober (and sad) "no". There is nothing that holds the totally disparate ODM together, apart from a big lot of messianism (= Raila) and a bit of glueing and connecting Luo tribalism. Of course, the same verdict is true for most other Kenyan parties; none of them are parties in the Western sense of the word. And everybody knows that.
- If the question aims at the stance and stature of Raila, then the answer must be a cautious "yes". While Raila is an autocrat and classical African bigman (unlike Kibaki, which is the main reason for the latter's lack of popularity), he is not alone. He is surrounded by a corrupt and criminal political class who depend on him, but on whom he also depends. Same as Kibaki, whose reforms were quickly slowing down and were stalled in a number of instances. Insofar, even
if Raila had the best of democratic and altruistic intentions (which he has not, not being a Sankara or Lumumba), he would always be constrained by the fact that his camp is bigger than him.
Q3-Whats your take on Kikuyu question in post-Kibaki Kenya especially in regard to Raila’s assurance at Kisumu rally that Kikuyus will not be victimised?Every ethnia has its own "question".
One could of course pose an loaded baiting question
"Is it time to teach the Kikuyus a lesson?", in order to elicit an open outbreak of the virulent tribalism now prevalent in many parts of Kenya and of Kenyan cyberspace.
The simple fact however is that if Raila wins, he will have to follow up on his promises and the universal expectations of patronage (like all Kenyan presidents), and thus of course some incompetent Kyuks will be swiftly replaced by equally incompetent Jengs. Followers must be rewarded, and anyhow,
"it's our time to eat now!!" (*snarled, with bared teeth and fangs")
Q4-Will you accept an offer by Raila Odinga government for public office and what assurance can you give your admirers and the Kenya civil society family that you wont go Kivutha Kibwana way?a) OO is one of the very few whom I would immediately believe that he is willing to *serve* the Kenyan people, not seeking for self-aggrandisement, nor following the time-hallowed bourgeois "enrichissez-vous!" maxim. For the opposite example, just look at the ODM luminaries (old crooks), and at the newcomers (hungry incompetent carpetbaggers like Miguna).
OO:What leads you to believe that a Raila Odinga government will offer a job to Onyango Oloo in the first place?Good point. Have you become a realist all of a sudden? The Sunkulis, Ntimamas, and Muites, The Rutos and Kosgei/y/s may get important posts, but not you or I or Kathure or Orengo.
b) Power corrupts many people. In some regions less, in some more, in some almost everybody. A quick look at Koigi wa Wamwere, Gibson Kamau Kuria, Paul Muite, Anyang' Nyong'o suffices to demonstrate that amply.
I call it a universal human weakness, because it is. But it is also - and especially - the Black Man's burden. Look at all of post-independence Africa, look at her martyrs and her liidaahs, and despair (or better, despair not, in spite of all).
Q5-Comment on western diplomats concern that the ODM government will not be radically different from the previous ones?An almost hilariously worded question - thanks for this most welcome infusion of levity - because there are two parallel concerns among foreign nations, exactly opposite and yet both valid and founded:
a) That the government would be radically different;
b) That nothing would change.
I am afraid both apprehensions will be fulfilled. How so, with the two options sounding so opposite?
b) Nothing radical will change. ODM would be the sure guarantee that
no systemic change will take place. Kenya needs radical change, and ODM has made abundantly clear that it stands against such change, and in favour of the status quo of corruption and a vampire political class. Anybody who votes ODM thus votes against real change, and for a new bigman only.
a) And yet, a change will be. The gains made under Kibaki since 2002 will be reversed; the political leadership of OFM had made sure the route should be a return to pre-2002 times. This may be not radical, but gradual, yet it indeed is a change for the worse.
Q6- Has Kenyan democracy come off[sic] age?Certainly, in a way. People have gained democratic space, are more aware of their rights etc. etc.
But subservience still lingers everywhere, slaves yearn for a Lord to whip them, and voting patterns remain very immature in the majority and definitely pre-democratic (hardly a voter who understands the importance of checks and balances, and of a powerful parliament).
So yes, some age, but these gains are ever so easily reversible. Look at Liberia. Look at Weimar.
Q7- In a score of one to ten how do you rate ODM’s ability to radically transform Kenya and elevate it to the competitive mould of 21st century.Minus 2. They have openly declared the contrary already. Old rotten wine in new barrels.
Q8-Do you advocate for radical surgery of the judiciary by ODM?OO:I am a socialist.I advocate for a revolutionary transformation of the entire Kenyan society, not just the judiciary.I can only agree. But I am biased because it is my profession. The so-called "radical surgery" began very well, was then quickly stalled by a judicial class even more rotten and corrupt than the political class (and far less competent even!!), and now is being reversed one by one. What would have really been needed, would have been a forest of gallows, and a massive hiring of hundreds of qualified expatriate judges.
Q9-Whats your latest stand on retributive justice vis a vis the proposed Usawa program?Mercy and grace do by necessity require a pre-existent, functional and equitable system of justice, which then could (and sometimes must) be tempered. Thus it could work in South Africa, with its very elevated justice system, where judges bear their titles with right. It is impossible in Kenya, because the conditions are not yet there, and never have been. Maybe in 30 years.
What is presently proposed by ODM, is nothing more than a wholesale amnesty for all their own crooks as long as the pay a requisite bribe. Intolerable.
Q10- Who, in your opinion, should be the next minister for Justice and constitutional affairs?OO:That question bores me to tears. It is systemic change some of us hanker for, not just a recycling of faces in government ministries.Writing his own political camp's condemnation with golden letters. Thanks.
As to the question: Yash Pal Ghai.
But more important it would be to first abolish the two nefarious and noxious offices of Chief Justice and Attorney General altogether. Structural, systemic change. Yes.
Alexander
, So basically you will not accept defeat? 