Quakers Say No

[Onyango Oloo]

Set back for Western ‘Yes’ camp as Quakers say No

By Nzau Musau, Kenya Times, October 17, 2005

The Yes campaign team in Western Province yesterday suffered a set back as Friends church (Quakers) rejected the proposed draft constitution and urged its members to vote against it come November 21.

The long awaited decision by the church members was announced in Nairobi by the presiding clerk of the yearly meeting, Churchill Kibisu, who said he would join former Vice President Musalia Mudavadi to advice Western people to vote No.

Church official said church leaders had been meeting, praying and consulting in Nairobi, Malindi and Mombasa over the draft constitution and concluded that the document was wanting in various chapters, making it impossible for the church to support it.

Kibisu observed that the church had been disappointed by the deliberate move by government to entice Kenyans with material gifts in order to vote for the draft, something, he said, the Quakers would not fall prey to. The official made the announcement after the Friends International Centre Church Presiding Clerk, Jethro Lusimba, endorsed the decision on behalf of members of his church.

He said the Nairobi yearly meeting was consulting other church leaders in western Province to announce a common position for all Quakers in Kenya.

The church spoke as the head of Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi called on all politicians to shun violence in the Referendum campaigns.

The Archbishop, who was speaking in Siaya, said the Anglican Church condemned violence ignited by some politicians and cautioned members of the public against being used to cause chaos.

“It is more advisable to stay at home if the camp that you don’t support is in your locality rather than attend and disrupt the rally,” he cautioned.

Nzimbi urged leaders to exhibit maturity in their campaigns.

The cleric asked members of the public to read and consult one another, especially on contentious issues such as devolution of power and those touching on land.

“It is my prayer that at the end of the exercise, all should remain united as a church and as a nation,’’ he added.

The Archbishop’s remarks follow the recent skirmishes that have been witnessed across country at banana and orange campaign meetings.

He however disputed the pressure from other sectors that the church makes a joint stand on the proposed draft, saying every member had a democratic right to vote Yes or No.

Nzimbi was speaking at the weekend after laying a foundation stone at St Veronica ACK Sirongo church in Central Alego location of Siaya district.

And in Baringo, Reverend Daniel Chemon of Kabarnet Full Gospel Churches of Kenya advised Kenyans against accepting bribes.

[job]

Folks,

I'm wondering what the current Sabatia MP, Moses Akaranga must be thinking. The former banker also happens to be a Quaker Pastor in this Quaker dominated constituency.

Oloo,

Is it technically possible for you to re-title this opinion below, under a new thread? I attempted to start one & failed, I could be missing a step or something.

Kibaki's creation of three new Districts.
-------------------------------------------------

What a dream Emilio must have had last night. Is Emilio Kibaki not the same guy who said (just a day earlier) that new districts would be created by Parliament, while addressing Kipsigis fear of having "their" districts scrapped?

Well, that's history now, he woke up and declared the creation of three new districts in Nakuru (to make a total of 4) on behalf of parliament & on behalf of the people of Kenya.

I think there is deceit here.

Kibaki did not just wake up to proclaim an overnight EXECUTIVE decision.

What may appear as a genuine call for bringing governance closer to people may well turn out to be just something else.

Well orchestrated, by first having local MP's urge for their creation & then the President accenting to the requests on the spot, this move is questionable.

Do we assume Kibaki has become a "roadside declaration President" ? or; Was this a well acted script played by Kibaki's handlers?

This exactly illustrates fears expressed by many Kenyans, myself included of DP's real agenda for Kenya. It is yet to be formally unveiled, but pegs a lot of hope on the passage of the Wako draft on November 21st. The agenda intends to use Districts as the unit of its realization, both in local & national platforms (thru' Presidential elections).

My recent prediction (on this forum) is being unveiled even earlier than I had anticipated.

A sly Kibaki has found it prudent to quickly sneak in three more GEMA districts using the loopholes in the current Constitution (executive fiat).

While giving freebies to the Kalenjin with one hand, he uses the other to affirm Gikuyu dominance of the Rift Valley. Quite clever.

Did anyone pay attention to this BIG but apparently harmless statement....." looking for land to settle land clash victims " attributed to Kibaki. That is yet to come.

We may expect a grand plan of issuing titles to land clash "victims" within Molo, Naivasha & Rongai Districts very soon. Yes, these three new GEMA districts may be further populated at the State's cost.

We Kenyans may wanna be aware that we will pay for the re-location of the "victims" when Kibaki's government "finds" (or is it collect's) the money to buy the land.

Can't the government instead help settle them back in their previous land, which I assume they legitimately purchased & owned. Security can also be provided for them there. Someone maybe trying to be clever with pumbavu Kenyans here.

This is textbook replication of Kenyatta's initial relocation of Agikuyu into the Rift Valley through the highly tribalized settlement plans of the 60's & 70's.

Kibaki's intention may be....... to energize the Gikuyu in Rift Valley to come out in numbers and support the Wako draft, in anticipation of "greater" things yet to come, ........while concurrently appeasing / hoodwinking Kalenjins with handouts meant to pacify them & dupe them into voting YES.

His onslaught on Rift Valley land this prematurely defies odds. Some thought he would resist the temptation, at least for now.

Native Rift Valley inhabitants who traditionally/culturally own land through communal trusts could be feeling powerless as they watch this drama unfold, whereby surrounding land is systematically "acquired" for settlement on political motivation.

Their power would have been otherwise effectively articulated & represented in a Devolved Government covering their jurisdiction, as was espoused in the four-tiered Devolution articles in the Bomas draft.

Kibaki finds it quite in order to abuse the excesses offered to the Presidency, and even goes to disregard court orders, essentially placing himself above the very law he swore to protect.

His outward bias toward his people can't be masked even as the nation walks towards a national referendum of immense importance to the life of Kenya.

Many citizens across the country seriously need services brought near to them, and as such qualify for the creation of more districts close to them, not just in Nakuru. This must be a national exercise done in an orderly and equitable manner, rather than on; biased, ethnic linked, unilateral and selective criteria that Kibaki used .

I am strongly pro-devolution. I am for the creation of even more districts, but in a well structured manner.

Having seen the immense benefits poor, illiterate & rural based citizens get from their establishment, I will strongly urge for creation of more.

But, wait a minute, I am against their creation for whimsical political expediency reasons. I am against their creation to effect political goals. For example, technically barring other presidential contenders from winning the Presidency based on a Constitutional clause that uses politically created districts to limit chances of "some opponents" acquiring 25% vote threshold on 1/2 of all districts.

I am also against creating them as a tool to effect "land grabbing".

Devolution, only if effected fairly is otherwise quite a good thing.

Some years back, as a Medical Officer (MO) at Msambweni District Hospital, I noticed while manning the Obstetrics ward, that very few women were delivering at the hospital, yet I could see very many pregnant women around Kwale.

This was at variance with my earlier station in Central Province where I could sometimes conduct (or assist in) five deliveries & two Caesarean sections per night.

I later came to realize that most women around Msambweni at that time, relied on traditional midwives for child bearing. This was not because they had less confidence in hospital based deliveries but due to an earlier incident at the hospital, when the power generator broke down at night while a C/Section was being performed on a young girl, who unfortunately lost both her's & her newborn's lives.

Word then spread around that it was dangerous to deliver at the hospital & in fact better to have traditional midwives conduct them .

But guess what? The traditionalists could not handle breach deliveries & nearly always lost their patients. Few they sent to us in very desperate conditions that we only managed to salvage a few. This explained the high maternal mortality rate (& partly the infant mort. rate)in Kwale.

Msambweni District hospital which covered 1/2 of Kwale district did not have electricity power then ( I wonder if electric power has reached it today). It relied on a very old & inefficient generator.
The MOH had tried unsuccesfully on numerous occasions to get a better generator which incidentaly didn't cost much. The paltry hospital budget couldn't spare anything worthwhile for such project.

Power barons at Afya house in Nairobi, majority of whom are non-clinicians, did not see the Urgency of replacing the generator to save lives. The D.C & District Accountant in Kwale could do nothing to help. This was a common phenomenon witnessed across the Nation in Busia, Teso, Turkana, Mandera, Kisumu, Siaya, Garissa, Mwingi, Kitui, Muranga ........etc

I saw in the eyes of real people & heard from real people, the "powerlessness" they felt under situations like this. Too much concentration of power in the Central Government based in Nairobi, comes out at such times as being very insensitive to the needs of grassroots based people.

This culminated in the agitation for a change to this system which was proving ruthless to grassroots people. Wananchi called for devolution of power closer to them. They called for a fair & equitable distribution of resources. They asked that such power not be left in the hands of one individual called the President.

Well, unfortunately, it still is, and while holding our breath, we hope it does not get further entrenched on November 21st. We need to have mercy on the grassroots people in Msambweni, Busia, Teso, Turkana, Mandera, kisumu, Siaya, Mandera, Mwingi, Kitui, Muranga....etc by voting NO at the referendum.

Lets utilize the lessons we are today witnessing from Kibaki's recent actions to reject an Imperial Presidency and vote NO.


unedited.

Job

[aeichener]

Good analysis, Job, very good. The squatters whom Kibaki tries to bribe, and who are busily destroying Kenya's last forests, an invaluable national heritage and treasure, are indeed not Ogiek; these latter are just an abused pawn in the game. Those whose votes he tries to buy now, are Kalenjin, Kikuyu and some others, who have encroached upon Ogiek land especially in the last decades. There is a good reason why the Ogiek Welfare Council is litigating against this scam of selling off their ancestral forests to foreigners under the cloak of wrong "title deeds".

Alexander