|
|
Post by museveni on Apr 19, 2006 3:07:00 GMT 3
Do the three political formations have anything in common ?
In the past, political unity among opposition politicians proved very elusive. The only succsessful one disintegrated as soon as the group assumed leadership positions in the Government.
Without looking at ODM as an opposition to Kibaki per se, could we hold a discussion here on why Kenyan opposition politicians find it very difficult to come together ?
We have so far witnessed an opposition that find it hard as well as a government that finds it hard to work together.
Are our ethnicities too strong ?
Do we believe the colonialists made an unmendable mistake by putting together people who cannot live together in harmony ?
"provocking our thoughts creates solutions"- my start
|
|
|
|
Post by pharlap on Apr 19, 2006 19:27:59 GMT 3
Whats common about them, they were all coined by Dholuo men from the same family? ;D
I think it is a mater of low self esteem that generally many kenyans have. If they are not in the top position or feel slighted, they will start grumbling amongst themselves and eventually go it alone... even when it is clear they are bound to fail. People cannot just cooperate and serve together, there is always that feeling that they have to be heard and felt. I have examples from the first multi-party movement, where Matiba had to split the opposition and throw us back 10 years into what would have been a classic premiere of multi-party governance in kenya. The first movement, remember Oginga Odinga shouting ...fff.ffffffooo,ooooorr,rrrrdddd,ddd!!! ,...fffffooooooorrrrrrdddddd!!!! off a landrover, the movement was really a unified opposition that was really going places until someone messed up. It just takes someone to talk to someone and spread a little malice and then suddenly the fellow gets so puffed up because he feels like total man number one and deserves to be somewhere...other than where they have been placed, even if it is in a good ministry like the public works or energy. ;-/
Secondly, there is a general lack of trust amongst kenyans. For example, I live in SA and here, we don't have conductors in taxis. Guys just pass their money from the back, and 100% of the time, its always been ok. Back in kenya i remember in dec 2004, i got into a taxi, i mean mathree and it was one of those japanese vans, which have a set number of seats so the conductor could not go dara dara'ing people collecting money. Funny thing, two guys did not pass their money, one of them was seated next to me, he read his newspaper through out the ordeal as the conductor hurled insults and curses at whoever had made him go short. Yaani it was like "na hiyo mtu amekataa kulipa aende akule na anone...." kind of stuff, plus some other matusi's in kikuyu. I was appalled by what i saw.
It is just a kenyan thing that we don't really trust each other. Thats why it is so easy to be misled, to change alliances so quickly. We are not loyal to each other and would rather be masters of our own than trust someone to lead us. Or if we are loyal, it is just a matter of time before we start our own show. It is the same, even when it comes to business dealings, its what i call teh grabbiosis syndrome where we want to grab as much as we can for our family first.....nothing else, family and then relatives and then perhaps friends. Thats what all politicians want at the end of the day and if they are not getting closer to their goals, they will always change camp.
|
|
|
|
Post by mzee on Apr 21, 2006 21:10:06 GMT 3
TRIBE MUST BE PARAMOUNT
There are many in Kenya who are of the opinion that tribalism is the germ, which is contaminating and hindering development. This is because we have not effectively used tribe and tribalism for our own good. For both have a potential of promoting our well being beyond imagination. We still love to blame it colonialist. Colonialists did what they and took off, full stop. It is now upon us to do everything in our power to turn what was supposed to be our fall to look like a mere slip. I hereby submit that turning to tribe will be the only solution to our political differences.
Kenyans have since independence been unable to forsake tribal allegiance for the benefit of the country. We all remember how it all started. Jaramogi insisted that Kenyatta be released from prison before any talk of independence could be considered. From there we all know what Kenyatta and the Kiambu Mafia did to Jaramogi and by extension the luos and non Mt. Kenya tribes when he assumed power. The same thing happened with Kibaki. They both used tribe and tribalism very negatively.
However, lets for a second assume that Kenyatta and co had channelled the energy used to alienate other tribes into the national development agenda. Would it not be great? I guess so, but only half way, for tribal affiliation and feeling cannot be easily channelled into the national agenda. Tribes are a contradiction in Kenya; they are an evil if your tribe is not in power and a benefit if your tribe is in power. The tribe in power always looks inwards i.e. to those around, who are usually people from of same tribe. In a situation where checks and balances are unheard of, it becomes time for harvesting from the government coffers.
Why have Kenyan disregarded tribal institutions? Why have we not accepted the fact that we are tribalists by nature? Is tribe not the only legitimate structure, which we had before wazungu brought their system? Why have we distanced ourselves from tribal structures, to extent that we think that they are evil. For one to have allegiance to the nation (Kenya), the benefits must outweigh those of belonging to a tribe. As Kenyans we are defined as citizens only on our IDs but our base is still tribe, in which we have our permanent roots. It as if Kenya has been forced upon us. Its as if all other tribes are intruders. At the same time we are do not want to be identified tribalists. Yes tribalism is what we practice everyday. We do not understand why other tribes should share with us “our country and our resources”. This schizophrenic national mind set permeates Kenyans and its denial only compounds the problem.
It is therefore of great importance to have a constitution which rests its power on tribal institutions. It is from tribal structures which real power lies and not in governmental institutions which are for most part seen as intruding and eager to take away from or hinder development. It is for these very reasons most Kenyans supported the aborted BOMAS draft constitution and rejected the WAKO mongrel a.k.a known as the MKM constitution. The Bomas draft constitution attempts albeit obliquely to tackle the above problem. I don’t think that it would be far fetched, for the sake of unity to have all issues in the government decided by both tribal and national standards. It would not be out of this world if a parliament with two chambers had a chamber consisting of public officials who command the most reverence and support from each tribe. While the other would be more or less like the one we have today. This would balance negative tribalism. (Please do not tell me that this has not been tested anywhere in the world and for that reason should not be practiced in Kenya. When will Kenyans come up with original ideas if we only practice reverse engineering of the same?) It would therefore not matter if you came from a minority of majority tribe. In most western countries, the parliament has given equal power to different region, provinces, states as far as decision making is concerned. For they understand that there is a unique relationship between the region one hails from and the need to see it grow. In Kenya, we have adopted a constitution which lets the winner take it all.
The cause of our disunity is therefore the rejection of tribal structures. It is the reason why politicians cannot sit down and talk without wrangling, for everyone wants a piece of the cake. Na ukizuba tu hivi, wenzako watameza ule ugali pamoja na sufuria. It is for the same reason that every tribe wants to produce a president. Tribe must be paramount if we have to succeed. Lets go back to the drawing board. Na usiseme ati mimi ni mshamba ama mkabili.
Mzee wa kazi
|
|
|
|
Post by mossad on Apr 22, 2006 0:10:28 GMT 3
[color=Blue]We have so far witnessed an opposition that find it hard as well as a government that finds it hard to work together.[/color][/b][/i]
Well, the reason these leaders will not unite for a better course is because of greed. How do you expect someone like Michuki or Wamwere to do to unite kenyasns while he feels superior or better than others just because they are close to power.
Greed is the main problem. Kibaki can ask kenyans to pray all they can but there are no solutions without sacrifises.
Mossad.
|
|
|
|
Post by pharlap on Apr 23, 2006 19:34:16 GMT 3
Therewas a few articles in the standard on sunday that answer a lot of the questions raised here. KKibaki needs to go back to the negotiating table with the original NARC politicians who were cheated out of the whole deal. That far , i am sure kenyans would be willing to forgive and move on with democracy lakini i doubt he will since he is still sorrounded by the same people who misled him sometime back.
Why can't he just recruit from Jukwaa some advisors? Thats what kills me about africans and african leaders. The ego is just waaaaaaay to much.
|
|
|
|
Post by pharlap on May 2, 2006 15:02:57 GMT 3
www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143951857Ngilu censures Narc-K proponents Quite often, the things we are so passionate about, issues that we take to heart are the politicians games. We are the spectators. They make threats, challenges, poke fun at each other, while we cheere, and lose our minds over their madoido. Surely we must be simple folk, kenyans.....  I will vie for a seat once i am back home and hopefully straighten a few things back there. Watch this space. You heard it here first. In 15 years time...... some guy from some top media company will be running for presidency and will win. We need to get tired of Ngilu and the boys playing our minds with silly politics.
|
|
|
|
Post by museveni on May 2, 2006 23:59:40 GMT 3
Ngilu's pleas and/or threats have come abit too late.
Her party was taken away very long ago, and clinging to the original NARC will not take her anywhere.
It is only the other day that she was shuttling to and from Statehouse making deals to be awarded ministerial positions. Has she forgotten so soon that she betrayed kenyans by supporting the proposed Constitution ?
Together with Kombo, she should go home in 2007. Their time has passed.
|
|
|
|
Post by pharlap on May 3, 2006 1:50:47 GMT 3
We know where these two belong. At home. No more hefty allocances and SUV's. Kombo and Ngilu....going home come 2007.
|
|
