Post by Onyango Oloo on Dec 13, 2005 0:07:27 GMT 3
Kibaki has let Kenyans down and should call snap polls
By Raila Odinga
These are dark and anxious days for the people of Kenya. On a day during which we celebrate our having ended colonial rule through decades of resistance and sacrifice, the joy has been replaced with bewilderment, anger and deep concern about the ability of the President to shepherd the people out of a deep political crisis brought about by his own failures.
And yet, President Kibaki chose today in his Jamhuri Day address to give essentially a bland rundown of government activities already known to the public, rather than to explain how he plans to lift the country out of the political crises that swirl around him. This kind of speech, and the creation of a hodgepodge Cabinet, is yet another indication that he has not grasped the magnitude of the challenge that faces him and the nation.
The reality is that Narc is dead. The coalition which brought President Kibaki to power died effectively in mid-2004, when those who opposed Narc at the election were unconstitutionally brought into the Government as a way of protecting the President from his refusal to implement the MoU. Indeed, even in early 2003, the writing was on the wall when the forces allied to him opposed my nomination as Chairman of the Select Committee and voted instead for Hon Paul Muite — whose party, Safina, had opposed Narc in the elections!
What was left then of the Narc coalition is now in tatters, but more important, the manifesto on which Kenyans elected us in 2002 — a new constitution, an aggressive pursuit of corruption, the creation of jobs, an inclusive and merit-based government and a comprehensive reform package — never drove the Government’s agenda.
The simple truth is that Narc no longer enjoys the people’s support, which has now swung firmly towards the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). We are the torchbearers of the Narc dream, and we are determined to fulfill that dream. The ODM has inherited Narc’s mantle and mandate, and its popularity of 2002.
The demand by the people of Kenya that the Government seeks new mandate through a general election shows the depth of understanding among the Kenyans of the nature of the crisis we are facing.
But where do we go from here and overcome the multiple crises that have been needlessly inflicted on our nation?
The answer is quite simple. The President and his coterie of hard-line political advisers have shown that they are completely out of touch with the people’s desires and no longer enjoy their mandate. We have today for the first time in our history a minority President and a minority Government.
This is a recipe for continuing political upheaval that bodes ill for all of us. Our great and immediate challenge therefore is to restore confidence among all our people that the leadership of this country, in and out of Government, is determined to come to an understanding that will provide an honest and democratic solution to the crisis.
The easiest and most effective way to achieve this is by dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh elections. Politically, snap elections in parliamentary democracies can take place whenever the Government in power feels the need for a fresh mandate. It happened most recently when the ruling SPD in Germany took that course earlier this year, when it seemed to be losing popular support.
For the good of this country, and as a way to correct the tainted legacy he is currently establishing, President Kibaki should also take that course.
To hold such an election, the President needs to initiate a dialogue among the parliamentary political parties. There are legal and constitutional issues that we need to collectively address. Urgent among these is the reconvening of Parliament, which is the only body that can help the President unlock the present crisis.
I want to state emphatically today that I am ready and willing to propose to my colleagues in the LDP and in the Orange Democratic Movement that we agree to such a dialogue. But such a dialogue from the LDP point of view would have little to with Cabinet and other senior posts.
Indeed, the current demand by some political parties for "plum" jobs and posts as a way to win their co-operation is most unseemly and embarrassing. It seems that neither the President nor these parties care about the issues that all Kenyans have waited for three long years for Narc to fulfil.
However, if the President does initiate such a dialogue, it is clear that its successful outcome would require the reconstitution of the Cabinet.
While I am mentioning the reconstitution of the Cabinet, let me make it clear that we are not seeking reappointment. Indeed, we found our Cabinet experience very painful and are actually happy to be not bearing the burden of heavy responsibilities without having the authority to implement the mandates we were given at elections.
Kenyans are mostly unaware that ministers have little control over the workings of their ministries and are small cogs in the general running of the government which is dominated by State House officials, including of course Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura, who direct senior ministry officials to carry out functions and policies without reference to their ministers. There are exceptions — some favoured ministers are free to run their outfits as they deem fit.
So the appointment of new, effective ministers will mean little unless there is comprehensive reform of the management structure in place. An overhaul of the civil service is a crying priority, and it must be part of the discussion in the dialogue that we have sought since the referendum results were announced.
I list below the key issues that would need discussion in the dialogue we are still ready to undertake are.
1. Constitution: Immediate mechanisms to begin the process of determining a new constitution that we know will meet with the people’s approval. In the absence of the dissolution of Parliament, the way forward will require that Parliament be recalled in January.
2. Corruption: From its very first days, the Government decided to give up its anti-corruption goals as some of its powerful leaders saw graft as the way to enrichment, and as a way to have a war chest for re-election.
3. Jobs: No action was taken to fulfill this most urgent of our mandates for the poor. Job creation was dependent on an improving economy, and in the absence of positive results on this front, the Government’s system of measuring economic growth was changed. We have had puny economic growth in reality. Had we pursued the Narc manifesto of efficiency, meritocracy rather than ethnicity as the basis of senior civil service and parastatal appointments, and stopped the drain of precious resources into massive corruption, the goal on jobs would have been within reach.
4. Inclusive Governance: Narc became virtually a one-party state right after its victory in 2002. It was as if the Democratic Party had won the election single-handedly. And as DP took charge, we saw a new rise in decisions made entirely along ethnic lines. Indeed, as the referendum results showed, our brothers and sisters in Central Kenya have regrettably been persuaded by many of their leaders that the rest of the country is united against them and so they must stick together behind the presidency.
This is pure hogwash. Just three years ago, both the principal candidates for the Presidency were Kikuyu and received massive support from every nook and cranny of our country. Indeed, many of the staunch opponents of even President Kenyatta’s policies were Kikuyu.
So even as we are confident that we remain strong as a multi-ethnic nation, LDP and the Orange Democratic Movement are concerned that all the provinces of Kenya voted one way in the referendum, except for Central.
We are, therefore, committed to closing this divide, which has widened during the Kibaki presidency, by reaching out to all Kenyans in the belief that principle aside, a multi-ethnic approach is the best way to maintain harmony and grow the economy — and to win the people’s mandate.
The writer is MP for Langata
By Raila Odinga
These are dark and anxious days for the people of Kenya. On a day during which we celebrate our having ended colonial rule through decades of resistance and sacrifice, the joy has been replaced with bewilderment, anger and deep concern about the ability of the President to shepherd the people out of a deep political crisis brought about by his own failures.
And yet, President Kibaki chose today in his Jamhuri Day address to give essentially a bland rundown of government activities already known to the public, rather than to explain how he plans to lift the country out of the political crises that swirl around him. This kind of speech, and the creation of a hodgepodge Cabinet, is yet another indication that he has not grasped the magnitude of the challenge that faces him and the nation.
The reality is that Narc is dead. The coalition which brought President Kibaki to power died effectively in mid-2004, when those who opposed Narc at the election were unconstitutionally brought into the Government as a way of protecting the President from his refusal to implement the MoU. Indeed, even in early 2003, the writing was on the wall when the forces allied to him opposed my nomination as Chairman of the Select Committee and voted instead for Hon Paul Muite — whose party, Safina, had opposed Narc in the elections!
What was left then of the Narc coalition is now in tatters, but more important, the manifesto on which Kenyans elected us in 2002 — a new constitution, an aggressive pursuit of corruption, the creation of jobs, an inclusive and merit-based government and a comprehensive reform package — never drove the Government’s agenda.
The simple truth is that Narc no longer enjoys the people’s support, which has now swung firmly towards the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). We are the torchbearers of the Narc dream, and we are determined to fulfill that dream. The ODM has inherited Narc’s mantle and mandate, and its popularity of 2002.
The demand by the people of Kenya that the Government seeks new mandate through a general election shows the depth of understanding among the Kenyans of the nature of the crisis we are facing.
But where do we go from here and overcome the multiple crises that have been needlessly inflicted on our nation?
The answer is quite simple. The President and his coterie of hard-line political advisers have shown that they are completely out of touch with the people’s desires and no longer enjoy their mandate. We have today for the first time in our history a minority President and a minority Government.
This is a recipe for continuing political upheaval that bodes ill for all of us. Our great and immediate challenge therefore is to restore confidence among all our people that the leadership of this country, in and out of Government, is determined to come to an understanding that will provide an honest and democratic solution to the crisis.
The easiest and most effective way to achieve this is by dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh elections. Politically, snap elections in parliamentary democracies can take place whenever the Government in power feels the need for a fresh mandate. It happened most recently when the ruling SPD in Germany took that course earlier this year, when it seemed to be losing popular support.
For the good of this country, and as a way to correct the tainted legacy he is currently establishing, President Kibaki should also take that course.
To hold such an election, the President needs to initiate a dialogue among the parliamentary political parties. There are legal and constitutional issues that we need to collectively address. Urgent among these is the reconvening of Parliament, which is the only body that can help the President unlock the present crisis.
I want to state emphatically today that I am ready and willing to propose to my colleagues in the LDP and in the Orange Democratic Movement that we agree to such a dialogue. But such a dialogue from the LDP point of view would have little to with Cabinet and other senior posts.
Indeed, the current demand by some political parties for "plum" jobs and posts as a way to win their co-operation is most unseemly and embarrassing. It seems that neither the President nor these parties care about the issues that all Kenyans have waited for three long years for Narc to fulfil.
However, if the President does initiate such a dialogue, it is clear that its successful outcome would require the reconstitution of the Cabinet.
While I am mentioning the reconstitution of the Cabinet, let me make it clear that we are not seeking reappointment. Indeed, we found our Cabinet experience very painful and are actually happy to be not bearing the burden of heavy responsibilities without having the authority to implement the mandates we were given at elections.
Kenyans are mostly unaware that ministers have little control over the workings of their ministries and are small cogs in the general running of the government which is dominated by State House officials, including of course Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura, who direct senior ministry officials to carry out functions and policies without reference to their ministers. There are exceptions — some favoured ministers are free to run their outfits as they deem fit.
So the appointment of new, effective ministers will mean little unless there is comprehensive reform of the management structure in place. An overhaul of the civil service is a crying priority, and it must be part of the discussion in the dialogue that we have sought since the referendum results were announced.
I list below the key issues that would need discussion in the dialogue we are still ready to undertake are.
1. Constitution: Immediate mechanisms to begin the process of determining a new constitution that we know will meet with the people’s approval. In the absence of the dissolution of Parliament, the way forward will require that Parliament be recalled in January.
2. Corruption: From its very first days, the Government decided to give up its anti-corruption goals as some of its powerful leaders saw graft as the way to enrichment, and as a way to have a war chest for re-election.
3. Jobs: No action was taken to fulfill this most urgent of our mandates for the poor. Job creation was dependent on an improving economy, and in the absence of positive results on this front, the Government’s system of measuring economic growth was changed. We have had puny economic growth in reality. Had we pursued the Narc manifesto of efficiency, meritocracy rather than ethnicity as the basis of senior civil service and parastatal appointments, and stopped the drain of precious resources into massive corruption, the goal on jobs would have been within reach.
4. Inclusive Governance: Narc became virtually a one-party state right after its victory in 2002. It was as if the Democratic Party had won the election single-handedly. And as DP took charge, we saw a new rise in decisions made entirely along ethnic lines. Indeed, as the referendum results showed, our brothers and sisters in Central Kenya have regrettably been persuaded by many of their leaders that the rest of the country is united against them and so they must stick together behind the presidency.
This is pure hogwash. Just three years ago, both the principal candidates for the Presidency were Kikuyu and received massive support from every nook and cranny of our country. Indeed, many of the staunch opponents of even President Kenyatta’s policies were Kikuyu.
So even as we are confident that we remain strong as a multi-ethnic nation, LDP and the Orange Democratic Movement are concerned that all the provinces of Kenya voted one way in the referendum, except for Central.
We are, therefore, committed to closing this divide, which has widened during the Kibaki presidency, by reaching out to all Kenyans in the belief that principle aside, a multi-ethnic approach is the best way to maintain harmony and grow the economy — and to win the people’s mandate.
The writer is MP for Langata
