Post by adongo12345 on Aug 23, 2006 1:18:57 GMT 3
By Adongo Ogony
After being belligerent and aggressively opposed to minimum constitutional reforms Narc Kenya, the new DP running the government, is finally smelling the coffee and realizing they are off base and may have to face the wrath of Kenyans again as they did at the referendum. How did this come about? I’ll come to that shortly.
President Kibaki who only the other day told those in a hurry to amend the constitution to go and die has now been quoted supporting the-inter party talks on constitutional reforms, but with a little caveat. According to reports in the Daily Nation, the president told Kenyans there will not be any power sharing formula introduced in the reforms.
Why is the president particularly concerned with this idea, which to the best of my knowledge has not been introduced into the debate by any of the proponents of minimum reforms?
The answer lies in the fact that the whole Narc Kenya opposition to minimum reforms is primarily because their think tank has told them the ODM needs the minimum reforms so as to divide seats among their leaders and keep united.
The theory, which has been peddled by Narc Kenya politicians and picked up by many commentators and “analysts” in the Kenyan media is that the ODM has no interest in the reforms but because they have all these big heavy weights gunning for the top job, they need a power sharing formula entrenched in the constitution not so much to end the demigod presidency which is destroying our country, but to keep everybody happy and keep ODM intact. Never mind that most of those in the ODM supported the Bomas Draft with all its power sharing formulae long before something called the ODM came into existent. As they say our politicians and even some of our “experts” would rather not let the facts interfere with a good story.
Of course Kibaki himself agreed to a power sharing formula with the Rainbow team and got it enshrined in their MoU, which led to birth of Narc and the defeat of Kanu. Kibaki being the clever fox he thought he was quickly tore to pieces that MoU and marooned himself with close friends and tribal supporters trashing his colleagues and leading the country to the chaos and unprecedented tribalism and the politics of hatred being practiced in Kenya today.
So Kibaki knows what he is talking about when he raises issues of power sharing as a tool that could be used to unite the opposition against his ruling clique. Being the shrewd opportunist that he is, Kibaki is adamant not to let his opponents use that tool. The mistake he is making though is to say yes, we can have minimum reforms, but it must be according to what Mzee and his cronies want. How about what Kenyans want? Does that feature anywhere in Kibaki’s plan? I
Kibaki knows this time he doesn’t need any power sharing schemes. He is probably safer sharing power with what some Kenyans have referred to as the informal government that runs the affairs of the nation at State House.
The important message for the ODM which is holding its meeting even as I pen this piece is that the big strategy for Narc Kenya victory is premised on the belief that the ODM will fall apart sooner than later. In fact most of them have been rubbing their hands in glee as the big shots in the ODM challenged each other for the presidential candidate slot.
Everybody was waiting and hoping to see Kalonzo Musyoka with the ROPE party looking for new partners. They were waiting to see William Ruto leading a Kalenjin wing of Kanu shopping for new partners. They are waiting to see Najib Balala forming a coastal party with Joe Khamisi.
They have been praying and salivating for the day Raila Odinga will be left alone in LDP as all his colleagues in the ODM run away because Raila after all, they have warned us, is a party wrecker. Never mind that more than anybody else Raila helped to glue Narc together even when Kibaki was lying in a London Hospital.
I am sure there has been many nyama choma parties and cocktail parties in many a golf clubs celebrating the day ODM will be formally buried after bitter quarrels among its leading lights.
In short, the big Narc Kenya victory plan lies in the knowledge that top gun Kenyan politicians with their tribal constituencies hyped for their turn to eat cannot work together for the good of the country unless everybody has cut off their chunk of the kill to go and feed their village supporters. Ironically the people hanging on this hope seem to be very content to let Kibaki run the country like some little kiosk with no accountability to the collective leadership of the nation.
I don’t know if they even still hold cabinet meetings anymore and if they do whether anybody ever offers any advise or asks questions from the president. The mercenary circus with the Artur brothers and the heinous raid of the Standard newspaper tells me even when cabinet ministers are embarrassed by what the government does, nobody ever masters enough guts to challenge those running the country to account for their actions.
Kibaki and his inside cronies have managed to develop a very unique power-sharing mechanism. Kibaki and his informal structures including family members and old Muthaiga friends and their connections control all powers of the state, and of course they have all the cash. They basically can do whatever they want. The job of the cabinet is essentially to protect the presidency.
Then they have a team of errand boys and girls drawn from different communities. These errand boys are appeased with crumbs here and there. The boys can nominate their friends and relatives to be given ambassadorial positions and other appointments so they can tell their communities they have something to gain. They could get a few title deeds thrown at a fraction of the landless in their communities to dupe the people that the government cares about their plight. At the end of the day everybody is feathering their nests and waiting for 2012 when they hope to let the chips fall wherever they may. Their big nightmare is the ODM.
The straight up goods is that Narc Kenya is dying to see ODM fall apart and they are now banking on the hope that with Kibaki’s help they will ensure that whatever token reforms ODM and other progressive forces can push through they will ensure that nothing touches on the powers of the president which Kibaki and his cronies need to recover the money they are going to spend to buy the elections.
The biggest nightmare for the Kibaki 2007 plan is if the ODM were to decide to evolve another level of politics and decide to stick together as a team without bothering with the so-called power sharing formula. That is when Kibaki and his people are going to go ballistics.
If the ODM stays together the way the Rainbow team stayed together and even gave up the presidential candidacy to Kibaki, then we are going to see fireworks because these people cannot fathom the thought that they could loose the elections to a united team of patriots who are committed to a better Kenya.
Remember when Biwott almost broke down in tears at State House when they tried to pry Kalonzo and Saitoti out of the Rainbow Coalition and failed. That will be nothing compared to the panic that is going to sweep through the Kibaki camp when the ODM fails to break up despite the best efforts of the government. This brings me to the question as to why the Kibaki camp’s earlier threats of never giving an inch for reforms are crumbling.
No it is not because they have a change of heart. The shock to the Kibaki camp was when they saw Ford Kenya under Musikari Kombo officially join the minimum reform calls, and when the saw the Uhuru Kanu camp that had been distancing itself from the ODM close ranks and people like Henry Kosgey and Chris Okemo moving closer to the ODM camp. This is what set off the alarm buttons.
Kibaki all of a sudden realized his diehard supporters were being isolated. The Banana team that was whipped at the referendum was getting even smaller. Someone must have told Mzee it was time to stop heckling and start negotiations even though the Kibaki camp really have no interest in any type of reforms. They are very happy with the constitution as it is.
The irony of all these is that the shifting positions of the leaders like Musikari Kombo, Kosgey and others is not so much because these leaders have any love for ODM, but rather because they are standing on very shaky ground with the electorate. They can feel the tsunami from deep inside the sea. The masses are grumbling and very soon they are going to roar from every corner of the nation and the leaders are wary of ever making it back to Bunge.
So what is Kibaki’s game plan? Number one is to drag the negotiations on and on and keep everybody busy. Secondly ensure that his diehard supporters are in control of the process the way Kiraitu controlled and eventually ruined the review process. Third to allow some token reforms basically limited to the ECK and last to win back a significant number of MPs and leaders now on the ODM camp (mainly due to demands for minimum reforms) and once they are back give them ministerial positions and loads of cash for their campaign.
At the end of the day the ball is really in the hands of the ODM leaders to demonstrate to Kenyans that they are ready to offer leadership that can transcend personal ambitions and mere greed for power.
The move by the ODM to expand its leadership team is already a huge step in the right direction. Kenyans are waiting with baited breath to hear what the ODM leadership will come with after their meeting taking place this week.
If they come out united and focused on the task at hand namely fighting for meaningful minimum reforms and putting their individual presidential ambitions in the back burner for now, that would be great for our country and real bad news for the Kibaki ruling clique.
If they come up with creative mechanisms for collective leadership as opposed to one leader being baba na mama and everybody clapping and bending in front of them they would have done the ODM a whole lot of good.
The people of our great land are choking with the tribalistic and divisive agenda that has defined the Kibaki presidency. The ODM has a great opportunity to offer an alternative approach to the way the affairs of our country can be run. Kibaki and Narc had that chance after Kenyans removed Moi from power, but because of their greed, they squandered the chance. The ODM has taken that banner. We hope and beseech them not to squander it the way Kibaki and his crew did.
Now is the time to see what our ODM leaders are made of. It is time to go to battle once again for our beloved country. Forget power sharing, your unity is the greatest gift you can give the nation and it is the only tool you need to remove Kibaki from power and start a process to put an end to naked tribalism that is tearing our country apart as we speak.
One last thing, I think the ODM and other parties to the Inter Party review talks should give a sober consideration to having comprehensive reforms. Lets be serious; there is nothing to stop the country from having comprehensive reforms if there is political will particularly from the government which has been the stumbling block. The election is 16 months away, if we can get this thing done now, lets do it for the good of the nation. We need to take the Kibaki people to task. They say they want comprehensive reforms before the Elections, if that is possible and yet they are scared stiff about minimal power sharing. How can that work when we know comprehensive reforms would not just provide for power sharing but would completely dismantle the power structures as we know them today? Something doesn't add up and the ODM and other groups to these discussions should take this issue up so we know where the truth lies.
The writer is a human rights activist.
After being belligerent and aggressively opposed to minimum constitutional reforms Narc Kenya, the new DP running the government, is finally smelling the coffee and realizing they are off base and may have to face the wrath of Kenyans again as they did at the referendum. How did this come about? I’ll come to that shortly.
President Kibaki who only the other day told those in a hurry to amend the constitution to go and die has now been quoted supporting the-inter party talks on constitutional reforms, but with a little caveat. According to reports in the Daily Nation, the president told Kenyans there will not be any power sharing formula introduced in the reforms.
Why is the president particularly concerned with this idea, which to the best of my knowledge has not been introduced into the debate by any of the proponents of minimum reforms?
The answer lies in the fact that the whole Narc Kenya opposition to minimum reforms is primarily because their think tank has told them the ODM needs the minimum reforms so as to divide seats among their leaders and keep united.
The theory, which has been peddled by Narc Kenya politicians and picked up by many commentators and “analysts” in the Kenyan media is that the ODM has no interest in the reforms but because they have all these big heavy weights gunning for the top job, they need a power sharing formula entrenched in the constitution not so much to end the demigod presidency which is destroying our country, but to keep everybody happy and keep ODM intact. Never mind that most of those in the ODM supported the Bomas Draft with all its power sharing formulae long before something called the ODM came into existent. As they say our politicians and even some of our “experts” would rather not let the facts interfere with a good story.
Of course Kibaki himself agreed to a power sharing formula with the Rainbow team and got it enshrined in their MoU, which led to birth of Narc and the defeat of Kanu. Kibaki being the clever fox he thought he was quickly tore to pieces that MoU and marooned himself with close friends and tribal supporters trashing his colleagues and leading the country to the chaos and unprecedented tribalism and the politics of hatred being practiced in Kenya today.
So Kibaki knows what he is talking about when he raises issues of power sharing as a tool that could be used to unite the opposition against his ruling clique. Being the shrewd opportunist that he is, Kibaki is adamant not to let his opponents use that tool. The mistake he is making though is to say yes, we can have minimum reforms, but it must be according to what Mzee and his cronies want. How about what Kenyans want? Does that feature anywhere in Kibaki’s plan? I
Kibaki knows this time he doesn’t need any power sharing schemes. He is probably safer sharing power with what some Kenyans have referred to as the informal government that runs the affairs of the nation at State House.
The important message for the ODM which is holding its meeting even as I pen this piece is that the big strategy for Narc Kenya victory is premised on the belief that the ODM will fall apart sooner than later. In fact most of them have been rubbing their hands in glee as the big shots in the ODM challenged each other for the presidential candidate slot.
Everybody was waiting and hoping to see Kalonzo Musyoka with the ROPE party looking for new partners. They were waiting to see William Ruto leading a Kalenjin wing of Kanu shopping for new partners. They are waiting to see Najib Balala forming a coastal party with Joe Khamisi.
They have been praying and salivating for the day Raila Odinga will be left alone in LDP as all his colleagues in the ODM run away because Raila after all, they have warned us, is a party wrecker. Never mind that more than anybody else Raila helped to glue Narc together even when Kibaki was lying in a London Hospital.
I am sure there has been many nyama choma parties and cocktail parties in many a golf clubs celebrating the day ODM will be formally buried after bitter quarrels among its leading lights.
In short, the big Narc Kenya victory plan lies in the knowledge that top gun Kenyan politicians with their tribal constituencies hyped for their turn to eat cannot work together for the good of the country unless everybody has cut off their chunk of the kill to go and feed their village supporters. Ironically the people hanging on this hope seem to be very content to let Kibaki run the country like some little kiosk with no accountability to the collective leadership of the nation.
I don’t know if they even still hold cabinet meetings anymore and if they do whether anybody ever offers any advise or asks questions from the president. The mercenary circus with the Artur brothers and the heinous raid of the Standard newspaper tells me even when cabinet ministers are embarrassed by what the government does, nobody ever masters enough guts to challenge those running the country to account for their actions.
Kibaki and his inside cronies have managed to develop a very unique power-sharing mechanism. Kibaki and his informal structures including family members and old Muthaiga friends and their connections control all powers of the state, and of course they have all the cash. They basically can do whatever they want. The job of the cabinet is essentially to protect the presidency.
Then they have a team of errand boys and girls drawn from different communities. These errand boys are appeased with crumbs here and there. The boys can nominate their friends and relatives to be given ambassadorial positions and other appointments so they can tell their communities they have something to gain. They could get a few title deeds thrown at a fraction of the landless in their communities to dupe the people that the government cares about their plight. At the end of the day everybody is feathering their nests and waiting for 2012 when they hope to let the chips fall wherever they may. Their big nightmare is the ODM.
The straight up goods is that Narc Kenya is dying to see ODM fall apart and they are now banking on the hope that with Kibaki’s help they will ensure that whatever token reforms ODM and other progressive forces can push through they will ensure that nothing touches on the powers of the president which Kibaki and his cronies need to recover the money they are going to spend to buy the elections.
The biggest nightmare for the Kibaki 2007 plan is if the ODM were to decide to evolve another level of politics and decide to stick together as a team without bothering with the so-called power sharing formula. That is when Kibaki and his people are going to go ballistics.
If the ODM stays together the way the Rainbow team stayed together and even gave up the presidential candidacy to Kibaki, then we are going to see fireworks because these people cannot fathom the thought that they could loose the elections to a united team of patriots who are committed to a better Kenya.
Remember when Biwott almost broke down in tears at State House when they tried to pry Kalonzo and Saitoti out of the Rainbow Coalition and failed. That will be nothing compared to the panic that is going to sweep through the Kibaki camp when the ODM fails to break up despite the best efforts of the government. This brings me to the question as to why the Kibaki camp’s earlier threats of never giving an inch for reforms are crumbling.
No it is not because they have a change of heart. The shock to the Kibaki camp was when they saw Ford Kenya under Musikari Kombo officially join the minimum reform calls, and when the saw the Uhuru Kanu camp that had been distancing itself from the ODM close ranks and people like Henry Kosgey and Chris Okemo moving closer to the ODM camp. This is what set off the alarm buttons.
Kibaki all of a sudden realized his diehard supporters were being isolated. The Banana team that was whipped at the referendum was getting even smaller. Someone must have told Mzee it was time to stop heckling and start negotiations even though the Kibaki camp really have no interest in any type of reforms. They are very happy with the constitution as it is.
The irony of all these is that the shifting positions of the leaders like Musikari Kombo, Kosgey and others is not so much because these leaders have any love for ODM, but rather because they are standing on very shaky ground with the electorate. They can feel the tsunami from deep inside the sea. The masses are grumbling and very soon they are going to roar from every corner of the nation and the leaders are wary of ever making it back to Bunge.
So what is Kibaki’s game plan? Number one is to drag the negotiations on and on and keep everybody busy. Secondly ensure that his diehard supporters are in control of the process the way Kiraitu controlled and eventually ruined the review process. Third to allow some token reforms basically limited to the ECK and last to win back a significant number of MPs and leaders now on the ODM camp (mainly due to demands for minimum reforms) and once they are back give them ministerial positions and loads of cash for their campaign.
At the end of the day the ball is really in the hands of the ODM leaders to demonstrate to Kenyans that they are ready to offer leadership that can transcend personal ambitions and mere greed for power.
The move by the ODM to expand its leadership team is already a huge step in the right direction. Kenyans are waiting with baited breath to hear what the ODM leadership will come with after their meeting taking place this week.
If they come out united and focused on the task at hand namely fighting for meaningful minimum reforms and putting their individual presidential ambitions in the back burner for now, that would be great for our country and real bad news for the Kibaki ruling clique.
If they come up with creative mechanisms for collective leadership as opposed to one leader being baba na mama and everybody clapping and bending in front of them they would have done the ODM a whole lot of good.
The people of our great land are choking with the tribalistic and divisive agenda that has defined the Kibaki presidency. The ODM has a great opportunity to offer an alternative approach to the way the affairs of our country can be run. Kibaki and Narc had that chance after Kenyans removed Moi from power, but because of their greed, they squandered the chance. The ODM has taken that banner. We hope and beseech them not to squander it the way Kibaki and his crew did.
Now is the time to see what our ODM leaders are made of. It is time to go to battle once again for our beloved country. Forget power sharing, your unity is the greatest gift you can give the nation and it is the only tool you need to remove Kibaki from power and start a process to put an end to naked tribalism that is tearing our country apart as we speak.
One last thing, I think the ODM and other parties to the Inter Party review talks should give a sober consideration to having comprehensive reforms. Lets be serious; there is nothing to stop the country from having comprehensive reforms if there is political will particularly from the government which has been the stumbling block. The election is 16 months away, if we can get this thing done now, lets do it for the good of the nation. We need to take the Kibaki people to task. They say they want comprehensive reforms before the Elections, if that is possible and yet they are scared stiff about minimal power sharing. How can that work when we know comprehensive reforms would not just provide for power sharing but would completely dismantle the power structures as we know them today? Something doesn't add up and the ODM and other groups to these discussions should take this issue up so we know where the truth lies.
The writer is a human rights activist.
