Post by adongo12345 on May 29, 2006 21:06:52 GMT 3
By Adongo Ogony
I was willing to cut the leader of the official opposition Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta some slack over the silly stand off between his Kanu faction and the ODM, but the man crossed the line when he started lecturing Kenyans and politicians to respect Moi and Kibaki.
While in Nakuru over the weekend, Mr. Kenyatta ventured into unprovoked outburst over the need for politicians specifically Raila Odinga and William Ruto to show respect for former president Moi and our current president Mwai Kibaki. Uhuru claimed this is how he was brought up, I presume by his family, which included the first president of the Republic of Kenya Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. Isn’t he a lucky man?
“I respect president Mwai Kibaki and retired president Moi. I cannot be dragged into politics of abusing or being disrespectful to them. Raila and Ruto should learn humility and respect the two statesmen. That is the foundations of my upbringing, the reason why I am calling on all politicians to respect these two senior statesmen,” Uhuru declared
I am always very nervous when leaders accuse those who raise issues with those in authority as being abusive. Dictators all over the world including vicious fascists have always used the mantra of labeling all opposition to their tyranny as some form of abuse and disrespect worthy of punishment. It is usually a very short leap from declaring opposition figures as abusive to basically declaring them as enemies of the state and its people.
Lets rewind a little. Lets go back to the state terrorism in our country of 1980’s when Uhuru’s hero and mentor President Daniel Arap Moi turned the whole country into a large prison and built official torture chambers including the appropriately named Nyayo House to provide venues to terrorize and even kill in cold blood, Kenyans, who were being “abusive” to the president. Mr. Uhuru was an adult then. I presume Mr. Kenyatta must have been thrilled with the galloping success of his mentor in teaching those bad Kenyans a lesson.
Let me ask Mr. Kenyatta a simple question. Where would our country be today if those brave souls, the Maina wa Kinyattis, the Al Amin Mazruis, the James Orengos, the Raila Odingas and so many others did what he wants them to do now, namely shut up and sang songs of praise for Moi and his leadership crew which of course included Mwai Kibaki? Would we still be rotting in Nyayo House? Is that Mr. Uhuru’s vision for Kenya? That is a pretty sick vision if you ask me.
Now lets get back to this question of upbringing. Uhuru was at pains telling Kenyans that he was raised to respect people like Moi and Kibaki. I don’t know whether he was specifically raised to respect presidents and former presidents in particular, but we all take pride in our upbringing. Me too, I was raised to respect people. The one thing I most admire from my late father and mother is that they taught me that respect must be a two-way traffic. My father was particularly strict about that edict. One incident comes to mind.
During my final year at my beloved Chianda Secondary School just before doing my Form IV exams I had an interesting confrontation with my father. In the final term of school, my old man gave me a few shillings as my pocket money just before I left for school. I told him it was too little and I was going to be very busy preparing for my final exams. The old guy calmly told me that is all he had and asked me to be careful how I spent my money. I became furious thinking I was an important guy and needed a little respect. I knew the old man had more money than what he was giving me. I threatened to give him back the money in protest. He looked at me and stretched his hand waiting for the cash. In a fit of anger I gave him back the money. He then ordered me to go to school and said he will give me nothing until the day I apologized for my rudeness.
I went to school thinking the old man was going to feel really bad and rush to school to deliver the cash. Week one, nothing. Week two, no show. I became desperate and went back home during the weekend. I promptly apologized to the man and he then gave me exactly the same amount he gave me before and said just one word to me. He told me if I ever needed his respect I would have to show him the same and concluded by telling me respect has to travel both ways. I have never forgotten that message.
Now lets bring this to the Mois and Kibakis whom the likes of Uhuru want us to worship. Moi was the president of Kenya for twenty-four years during which time he completely abused the powers of that office and put the lives of millions of Kenyans to great risk. He not only presided over the aforementioned torture chambers but also brought us the Goldenberg scam that d**n near crippled our economy and brought poverty and misery to millions of Kenyans. He presided over the period of vicious and murderous “tribal” clashes. He gave us the draconian one party dictatorship. In other words Moi as president completely trashed and abused the dignity of the highest office in the land.
I have a simple advice for those who occupy this great office in our land. Respect the dignity of the office when you are still occupying it and Kenyans will respect you forever. But for goodness sakes don’t vandalize the dignity and prestige of the office and then come back to us demanding that we must respect you. I believe that is what my father meant by talking about respect as a two-way traffic. If you piss and defecate in the sitting room of your house, don’t expect your guests to sit calmly next to the mess and tell you how nice your house is unless your guests are complete morons or just outright sick people with no sense of smell or sight. If Uhuru is okay with sitting next to the pile of dung and not complaining that is fine with me, but he has no business ordering the rest of us to join him in taking the stink calmly because we wont.
Personally, I think Moi has earned a lot of respect from Kenyans since leaving office. I have said before that what Moi did soon after his project, Mr. Kenyatta, was defeated at the polls on Dec 27, 2002 was historic and absolutely remarkable. In fact Moi did much better than Kibaki has done so far. When Kibaki’s team was defeated at the Bomas Constitutional Conference, he refused to accept defeat and simply changed the rules. Again when Kibaki was soundly trounced at the constitutional referendum when close to 60% of Kenyans rejected his constitution he turned his wrath on the winners and embraced the vicious losers and basically killed the dream of Kenyans for getting a new constitution during the Narc as Kibaki and his crew promised Kenyans.
Moi did the nation a great deal of good by humbly accepting the verdict of the people and handing over power to Kibaki and his Narc team and for that reason our nation owes a lot to the man and the people have rewarded him by treating him very well in his retirement and paying him handsomely. The problem is people who want to stretch the whole thing too far and some are even implying Kenyans are desperate to have the so-called “professor of politics” back at the helm or at least loaded with another remote control running the affairs of the nation through proxies.
I was horrified the other day during the “National Prayer Day” when some Kenyans started demanding that we should apologize to Moi for having treated him shabbily as he left office. Please. Yes, I don’t recommend people throwing mud and other objects to Moi as is reported to have happened at Uhuru Park during the Kibaki inauguration, but it is always good to put things in perspective.
One of the failed promises of the Kibaki regime was to set up a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to address past abuses, heal the nation, put an end to impunity and move on with nation building. None of us even those who were terrorized and tortured by government goons during the Moi era have any interest in seeing these people locked up at Kamiti. It would serve no purpose as far as I am concerned, but we can’t bury the past and pour salt on the open wounds of victims of abuse and the survivors by now demanding that it is Kenyans who must apologize to our oppressors. Just what exactly are we supposed to apologize for? Is it for opposing injustice and tyranny? We wont do that in a hundred years and trust me, there will be a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission in Kenya, certainly not under the very corrupt Kibaki regime, may be not even under the next, but as sure as daylight follows the night, Kenyans will address this issue one day.
My advice to Uhuru is simple. If you want to be Moi’s shadow until he dies, that is your right, if you want to abandon Kanu and join Kibaki in Narc Kenya, that too is your right, but spare us the phony lectures about respect and leadership. If you are content on waiting to take over from Kibaki in 2012, that is great, but remember one thing. History moves ahead in very dialectic and dynamic ways. Good luck for you in your 2012 presidential bid. In the meantime we have a giant political mess to deal with and if you sit on the way, you will be swept a side. Nothing personal.
Moi’s posturing about the soon to be announced by elections in North Eastern Province is in my opinion very premature. Kanu won those same seats before. There is nothing particularly important about winning them again. I think Moi exposed his hand when he started publicly strategizing with Kibaki about the forthcoming elections. I applaud Moi for traveling by road though the most rugged terrain in NE province to talk to the people. I only wish he took that trip twenty or even ten years ago when he was the president. The bottom line is that winning those seats really means nothing in terms of who will win the General Elections next year. There is no need for people to get all worked up about the by elections, but it is obvious Moi feels he needs to prove a point to those who think he is out of the picture. The scary thing for people like Uhuru is that Kenyans may begin seeing them once again merely as Moi’s remote control equipment rather national leaders.
One last thing. I have a feeling that all the grand coalitions and “pretend” parties being cooked left, right and centre are really not going to matter much come the next General Elections. The real thing is coming. The ODM has had their chance and they need to get their act together. By now the ODM should have formed some taskforce to consult with Kenyans and develop for example their vision for economic revival and development in the country particularly with emphasis to addressing the frightening increase in mass poverty?
It is ridiculous that our leaders are singing about the booming economic growth rate while ignoring the booming growth in poverty and inequality? What is the problem? How come the economic growth is having zero impact in poverty reduction? What are we doing wrong and how can we correct it? What is the ODM’s vision in poverty reduction in the country?
If I hear another word about reviving this or that project that collapsed in the 1970’s or 1980’s as the road to poverty reduction I am going to throw up without a doubt. Surely there are a million other things we can and must do to enhance productivity and the quality of life for the average Kenyan.
But then again when MP’s and ministers are transporting millions of shillings weekly to their constituencies to buy votes, why should they worry about poverty reduction. They need poor desperate people.
The writer is a human rights activist.
I was willing to cut the leader of the official opposition Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta some slack over the silly stand off between his Kanu faction and the ODM, but the man crossed the line when he started lecturing Kenyans and politicians to respect Moi and Kibaki.
While in Nakuru over the weekend, Mr. Kenyatta ventured into unprovoked outburst over the need for politicians specifically Raila Odinga and William Ruto to show respect for former president Moi and our current president Mwai Kibaki. Uhuru claimed this is how he was brought up, I presume by his family, which included the first president of the Republic of Kenya Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. Isn’t he a lucky man?
“I respect president Mwai Kibaki and retired president Moi. I cannot be dragged into politics of abusing or being disrespectful to them. Raila and Ruto should learn humility and respect the two statesmen. That is the foundations of my upbringing, the reason why I am calling on all politicians to respect these two senior statesmen,” Uhuru declared
I am always very nervous when leaders accuse those who raise issues with those in authority as being abusive. Dictators all over the world including vicious fascists have always used the mantra of labeling all opposition to their tyranny as some form of abuse and disrespect worthy of punishment. It is usually a very short leap from declaring opposition figures as abusive to basically declaring them as enemies of the state and its people.
Lets rewind a little. Lets go back to the state terrorism in our country of 1980’s when Uhuru’s hero and mentor President Daniel Arap Moi turned the whole country into a large prison and built official torture chambers including the appropriately named Nyayo House to provide venues to terrorize and even kill in cold blood, Kenyans, who were being “abusive” to the president. Mr. Uhuru was an adult then. I presume Mr. Kenyatta must have been thrilled with the galloping success of his mentor in teaching those bad Kenyans a lesson.
Let me ask Mr. Kenyatta a simple question. Where would our country be today if those brave souls, the Maina wa Kinyattis, the Al Amin Mazruis, the James Orengos, the Raila Odingas and so many others did what he wants them to do now, namely shut up and sang songs of praise for Moi and his leadership crew which of course included Mwai Kibaki? Would we still be rotting in Nyayo House? Is that Mr. Uhuru’s vision for Kenya? That is a pretty sick vision if you ask me.
Now lets get back to this question of upbringing. Uhuru was at pains telling Kenyans that he was raised to respect people like Moi and Kibaki. I don’t know whether he was specifically raised to respect presidents and former presidents in particular, but we all take pride in our upbringing. Me too, I was raised to respect people. The one thing I most admire from my late father and mother is that they taught me that respect must be a two-way traffic. My father was particularly strict about that edict. One incident comes to mind.
During my final year at my beloved Chianda Secondary School just before doing my Form IV exams I had an interesting confrontation with my father. In the final term of school, my old man gave me a few shillings as my pocket money just before I left for school. I told him it was too little and I was going to be very busy preparing for my final exams. The old guy calmly told me that is all he had and asked me to be careful how I spent my money. I became furious thinking I was an important guy and needed a little respect. I knew the old man had more money than what he was giving me. I threatened to give him back the money in protest. He looked at me and stretched his hand waiting for the cash. In a fit of anger I gave him back the money. He then ordered me to go to school and said he will give me nothing until the day I apologized for my rudeness.
I went to school thinking the old man was going to feel really bad and rush to school to deliver the cash. Week one, nothing. Week two, no show. I became desperate and went back home during the weekend. I promptly apologized to the man and he then gave me exactly the same amount he gave me before and said just one word to me. He told me if I ever needed his respect I would have to show him the same and concluded by telling me respect has to travel both ways. I have never forgotten that message.
Now lets bring this to the Mois and Kibakis whom the likes of Uhuru want us to worship. Moi was the president of Kenya for twenty-four years during which time he completely abused the powers of that office and put the lives of millions of Kenyans to great risk. He not only presided over the aforementioned torture chambers but also brought us the Goldenberg scam that d**n near crippled our economy and brought poverty and misery to millions of Kenyans. He presided over the period of vicious and murderous “tribal” clashes. He gave us the draconian one party dictatorship. In other words Moi as president completely trashed and abused the dignity of the highest office in the land.
I have a simple advice for those who occupy this great office in our land. Respect the dignity of the office when you are still occupying it and Kenyans will respect you forever. But for goodness sakes don’t vandalize the dignity and prestige of the office and then come back to us demanding that we must respect you. I believe that is what my father meant by talking about respect as a two-way traffic. If you piss and defecate in the sitting room of your house, don’t expect your guests to sit calmly next to the mess and tell you how nice your house is unless your guests are complete morons or just outright sick people with no sense of smell or sight. If Uhuru is okay with sitting next to the pile of dung and not complaining that is fine with me, but he has no business ordering the rest of us to join him in taking the stink calmly because we wont.
Personally, I think Moi has earned a lot of respect from Kenyans since leaving office. I have said before that what Moi did soon after his project, Mr. Kenyatta, was defeated at the polls on Dec 27, 2002 was historic and absolutely remarkable. In fact Moi did much better than Kibaki has done so far. When Kibaki’s team was defeated at the Bomas Constitutional Conference, he refused to accept defeat and simply changed the rules. Again when Kibaki was soundly trounced at the constitutional referendum when close to 60% of Kenyans rejected his constitution he turned his wrath on the winners and embraced the vicious losers and basically killed the dream of Kenyans for getting a new constitution during the Narc as Kibaki and his crew promised Kenyans.
Moi did the nation a great deal of good by humbly accepting the verdict of the people and handing over power to Kibaki and his Narc team and for that reason our nation owes a lot to the man and the people have rewarded him by treating him very well in his retirement and paying him handsomely. The problem is people who want to stretch the whole thing too far and some are even implying Kenyans are desperate to have the so-called “professor of politics” back at the helm or at least loaded with another remote control running the affairs of the nation through proxies.
I was horrified the other day during the “National Prayer Day” when some Kenyans started demanding that we should apologize to Moi for having treated him shabbily as he left office. Please. Yes, I don’t recommend people throwing mud and other objects to Moi as is reported to have happened at Uhuru Park during the Kibaki inauguration, but it is always good to put things in perspective.
One of the failed promises of the Kibaki regime was to set up a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to address past abuses, heal the nation, put an end to impunity and move on with nation building. None of us even those who were terrorized and tortured by government goons during the Moi era have any interest in seeing these people locked up at Kamiti. It would serve no purpose as far as I am concerned, but we can’t bury the past and pour salt on the open wounds of victims of abuse and the survivors by now demanding that it is Kenyans who must apologize to our oppressors. Just what exactly are we supposed to apologize for? Is it for opposing injustice and tyranny? We wont do that in a hundred years and trust me, there will be a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission in Kenya, certainly not under the very corrupt Kibaki regime, may be not even under the next, but as sure as daylight follows the night, Kenyans will address this issue one day.
My advice to Uhuru is simple. If you want to be Moi’s shadow until he dies, that is your right, if you want to abandon Kanu and join Kibaki in Narc Kenya, that too is your right, but spare us the phony lectures about respect and leadership. If you are content on waiting to take over from Kibaki in 2012, that is great, but remember one thing. History moves ahead in very dialectic and dynamic ways. Good luck for you in your 2012 presidential bid. In the meantime we have a giant political mess to deal with and if you sit on the way, you will be swept a side. Nothing personal.
Moi’s posturing about the soon to be announced by elections in North Eastern Province is in my opinion very premature. Kanu won those same seats before. There is nothing particularly important about winning them again. I think Moi exposed his hand when he started publicly strategizing with Kibaki about the forthcoming elections. I applaud Moi for traveling by road though the most rugged terrain in NE province to talk to the people. I only wish he took that trip twenty or even ten years ago when he was the president. The bottom line is that winning those seats really means nothing in terms of who will win the General Elections next year. There is no need for people to get all worked up about the by elections, but it is obvious Moi feels he needs to prove a point to those who think he is out of the picture. The scary thing for people like Uhuru is that Kenyans may begin seeing them once again merely as Moi’s remote control equipment rather national leaders.
One last thing. I have a feeling that all the grand coalitions and “pretend” parties being cooked left, right and centre are really not going to matter much come the next General Elections. The real thing is coming. The ODM has had their chance and they need to get their act together. By now the ODM should have formed some taskforce to consult with Kenyans and develop for example their vision for economic revival and development in the country particularly with emphasis to addressing the frightening increase in mass poverty?
It is ridiculous that our leaders are singing about the booming economic growth rate while ignoring the booming growth in poverty and inequality? What is the problem? How come the economic growth is having zero impact in poverty reduction? What are we doing wrong and how can we correct it? What is the ODM’s vision in poverty reduction in the country?
If I hear another word about reviving this or that project that collapsed in the 1970’s or 1980’s as the road to poverty reduction I am going to throw up without a doubt. Surely there are a million other things we can and must do to enhance productivity and the quality of life for the average Kenyan.
But then again when MP’s and ministers are transporting millions of shillings weekly to their constituencies to buy votes, why should they worry about poverty reduction. They need poor desperate people.
The writer is a human rights activist.
