Post by adongo12345 on May 14, 2007 23:47:14 GMT 3
By Adongo Ogony
First let me say a few things about the decision by Dr. Julia Ojiambo and her LPK to issue an ultimatum to ODM to either sort out the problems with the ODM Election Board or she and her party will quit the ODM. I thought Ojiambo has been a class act in ODM. She is a very articulate and strong voice. She has not been intimidated by her male colleagues and has been very much involved in ODM activities. In a party which has been accused of not having adequate representation and visibility for Kenyan women she is an asset the ODM needs.
However her decision to issue this "do this or I quit" ultimatum was a mistake and she should be humble enough to accept that criticism.
Then we have William Ruto, Bill, as he is known to his friends with another group of 17 M.P's from Rift Valley unleashing another threat of "do this and that" or we will explore other options.
Kalonzo is already holding his money, may be to start another party. Watching all these I ask myself one question: What would happen if Raila held a press conference tomorrow and announces that since he seems to be the source of a lot of the complaints and whining in ODM K, he has decided to quit the party and is exploring other options? Wouldn't the shit hit the roof? Wouldn't he be called names like a traitor, opportunist, power hungry etc? Why do ODM leaders think they can use the newspapers to pass internal memos to each other? What happened to the numerous cell phones they have? Do they need Joe Nyagah to teach them how to send text messages?
If I was Raila I would seriously start exploring the possibility of actually working with Kibaki. Yes that is not a misread. I said there is nothing that bad about Raila working with Kibaki. This may sound outrageous to some people, but if the ODM K is going to be another acrimonious Narc circus then let's keep the Narc we have. Kibaki has done enough damage; he is not likely to do more, at least if he gets some help from outside the equally confused and acrimonious Narc K. In fact if the two can work together and Kibaki can implement some of the ideas contained in Raila's recently launched vision we may just be better of than a bunch of men fighting and threatening each other every day. Kibaki could address the tribalism issue which is a big knock on him using some of those ideas and practical proposals from Raila. They can work together with Raila and others to deliver the Katiba in six months. Then we will be home sweet home.
The Katiba issue is critical. The two main areas of contention are the powers bestowed on the presidency, which is suffocating the nation and the issue of meaningful devolution. If these two amigos work together and let Kenyans sort those things in a democratic fashion and they bring the referendum, this time on the same side with the masses, we will get our constitution. After that the politicians can lock themselves in one room and fight for weeks just to feel better.
One person who should support my idea is Prof. Anyang' Nyong'o. This patriotic and humble Kenyan who has been working his tail off to put ODM together has been subjected to endless abuse and stupid innuendos from people who wouldn't even tie his shoe laces in the real world. Very few if any person in ODM matches Prof. Nyong'o's credibility, integrity and his spotless record and yet because he is a Luo, supposedly working for Raila he has to put up with a lot of crap. What has Prof. Nyong'o done to deserve insults from Kalonzo and Ruto? Really, why don’t they tell us what he is being accused of? If this is the kind of nonsense people have to put up with now, what is going to happen when they get power?
Anyway after that Raila/Kibaki suggestion that may be perplexing to my friends and may also make some of my foes who worship Kibaki smile on both ends of their anatomy, let me get to the crux of what I think ails the great ODM which helped the nation to floor Kibaki at the historic referendum battle.
The ODM has their priorities completely screwed up. They have everything upside down and if they can't get their act together, they will soon be loosing a lot of support from Kenyans. They shouldn’t take Kenyans for granted and think our sole purpose of existence is to make one of them the president of Kenya.
The ODM leaders seem to think that the main job of the ODM is to capture the presidency. That is where they go wrong. From the look of things it seems to the ODM leadership, capturing the presidency is an end in itself.
Yes all the candidates have told us what they will do with the power and some of it looks really good and we also know they have the 12 point game plan on where they want to take the country. That is all good, but as long as it is premised on "me, the president" it will never work and they continue fighting and pretending it is democracy at work. We have heard that before with Narc. You remember those "teething" problems. The teeth refused to grow and the kid now has a permanent migraine headache called GNU.
The ODM's priority should be building a cohesive party and capturing the National Assembly by being the majority in the house. That should have been their primary agenda. Winning the presidency should icing on the cake.
Right now at the ODM secretariat there should be a map of Kenya with all the 210 constituencies. Mark orange for those we think are in the box. Mark green for Othaya and others we know we have lost. Use varying degrees of Orange and Green in the battlegrounds and get working on how we can take them. Seek yee first the House and the rest will come. That should be the writing below the map, underlined. Instead the Secretariat is probably painted with pictures of the nine presidential candidates and Gumo is busy cancelling with red some he thinks are "light weight". The drawers are filled with application forms for Watukufus. One thing you don’t want to mess up with Gumo talking about weights.
We need to change the picture. If our priority is to win the House and we go to Kenyans with an agenda we intend to implement not one we intend to fool them with so they can votes for us, then it really wouldn't matter that much who we put at State House. He or she will implement the party's agenda. It doesn't hurt if the president would be someone with passion and a vision for the country and a record to boot but we are going there as an ODM government not a Raila or Ruto or Kalonzo or Uhuru, Balala, Mudavadi, Ojiambo or Nazlin Umar government. If the ODM doesn't have a majority in the House they can kiss bye bye to all those promises they are making to Kenyans.
A president working with a hostile House in the hands of his political opponents cannot deliver anything to Kenyans. Even George Bush is having nightmares after loosing both the Congress and Senate to the Democrats. In Kenya it will be ten times worse, because our politicians are uncouth and pay little or no attention to what is in the best interests of the nation.
So my first advice for ODM is to go back to the drawing board, not the Election Board. Make winning the House your priority and the issue you should be asking people like Raila is : How many seats can you help the party win. Let's ask the same to Kalonzo, Ruto, Uhuru, Ojiambo, Nazlin Umar, Mudavadi and others. Then strategize on how to win on the battle zones because that is where the House will be won or lost. Once you get that started and you start identifying potential good candidates and negotiating with others then you set in a good system of nomination at the primaries, then the game is on. That is how Narc won in 2002. It was three piece suit all the way. Vote for the Narc president, the Narc M.P and the Narc councillor. The ODM seems to have this strange philosophy that all they need to win is the presidency and the nation will be freed from all evils. That is a fool's paradise and it is about time they were told the truth.
It is ironical that the ODM which says it intends to reduce the powers of the presidency and implement the bulk of the Bomas model of parliamentary democracy is investing so much energy and resources in capturing that office. Do they know something that we don't? In fact other than Raila and Ruto we don't have a clear plan on Bomas from Kalonzo. Raila promised a new constitution close to the Bomas Draft in six months. Ruto promised the same in his first year in office. We don't know what Kalonzo thinks on the matter.
Now if the ODM contenders are ready to destroy each other to win the presidency how can we trust that you want to reduce those powers after fighting so hard for them? And this is nothing, you are yet to face Kibaki. What is to stop the supporters from coming to any of these contenders after they win the seat and telling them we fought so hard for this, let's get our just deserts first. That is what happened to Kibaki. The DP tribalists came to him and told him, Mzee you are now the president forget kina Raila give us a chance and they haven’t left the trough. From what we see it looks like we very well be headed that route again.
The other problem for the ODM is the usual "government in waiting" syndrome. That is a sure killer for opposition parties. There is only one government. Don' t get caught up in the "government in waiting" stuff. The problem with that is people begin to think all they need is the party ticket and they are safely home. If the ODM wants to form the next government they are going to have to work really hard for it. That should be the right approach. It will also help them understand that everybody's contribution however big or small is needed. There are no disposables.
Third the ODM has to stop telling us they will stay united when we can see they are not united. Besides the ODM unity even if it were to come is not an end unto itself. It must be a means to achieving what Kenyans want - an end to Kibaki's tribalism, stop corruption and give us our new constitution. We are not asking for much.
Lastly the ODM has to stop relying too much on the tribal math. Yes Kibaki has made a lot of communities across the nation mad with his overt tribalism and the fact he doesn't even seem to care when people point it out to him. Also Kibaki political opponents are blessed with the fact that a lot Kibaki's closest allies are very arrogant and seem to wear tribalism as a badge of honour. But one on the most important lessons in politics is that you don't win because of your opponent's weaknesses, you win because of your strength. It is like soccer. You have a superb team facing some mediocre team. But if you go there thinking the points are already in, you may get your behind kicked.
One more thing, the ODM should at least spare us the tantrums just so they don't embarrass us the way they have done in the last few days. Kalonzo whining that Raila has said it is a race between him and Kibaki and urging the media not to report such things is ridiculous. It is like my five year old nephew making a stink because her brother said he is stronger than her. I didn't like Raila's statement to be honest. As soon as I saw it I knew what was following, but really this is too petty for people who actually want to be presidents. What are they going to do when they are presidents and some mischievous opposition leader says in a village baraza that they have more power than the president. Are they going to call the army to discipline the dude. Please, wazalendo, don't expose your supporters to unnecessary ridicule.
The writer is a human rights activist.
First let me say a few things about the decision by Dr. Julia Ojiambo and her LPK to issue an ultimatum to ODM to either sort out the problems with the ODM Election Board or she and her party will quit the ODM. I thought Ojiambo has been a class act in ODM. She is a very articulate and strong voice. She has not been intimidated by her male colleagues and has been very much involved in ODM activities. In a party which has been accused of not having adequate representation and visibility for Kenyan women she is an asset the ODM needs.
However her decision to issue this "do this or I quit" ultimatum was a mistake and she should be humble enough to accept that criticism.
Then we have William Ruto, Bill, as he is known to his friends with another group of 17 M.P's from Rift Valley unleashing another threat of "do this and that" or we will explore other options.
Kalonzo is already holding his money, may be to start another party. Watching all these I ask myself one question: What would happen if Raila held a press conference tomorrow and announces that since he seems to be the source of a lot of the complaints and whining in ODM K, he has decided to quit the party and is exploring other options? Wouldn't the shit hit the roof? Wouldn't he be called names like a traitor, opportunist, power hungry etc? Why do ODM leaders think they can use the newspapers to pass internal memos to each other? What happened to the numerous cell phones they have? Do they need Joe Nyagah to teach them how to send text messages?
If I was Raila I would seriously start exploring the possibility of actually working with Kibaki. Yes that is not a misread. I said there is nothing that bad about Raila working with Kibaki. This may sound outrageous to some people, but if the ODM K is going to be another acrimonious Narc circus then let's keep the Narc we have. Kibaki has done enough damage; he is not likely to do more, at least if he gets some help from outside the equally confused and acrimonious Narc K. In fact if the two can work together and Kibaki can implement some of the ideas contained in Raila's recently launched vision we may just be better of than a bunch of men fighting and threatening each other every day. Kibaki could address the tribalism issue which is a big knock on him using some of those ideas and practical proposals from Raila. They can work together with Raila and others to deliver the Katiba in six months. Then we will be home sweet home.
The Katiba issue is critical. The two main areas of contention are the powers bestowed on the presidency, which is suffocating the nation and the issue of meaningful devolution. If these two amigos work together and let Kenyans sort those things in a democratic fashion and they bring the referendum, this time on the same side with the masses, we will get our constitution. After that the politicians can lock themselves in one room and fight for weeks just to feel better.
One person who should support my idea is Prof. Anyang' Nyong'o. This patriotic and humble Kenyan who has been working his tail off to put ODM together has been subjected to endless abuse and stupid innuendos from people who wouldn't even tie his shoe laces in the real world. Very few if any person in ODM matches Prof. Nyong'o's credibility, integrity and his spotless record and yet because he is a Luo, supposedly working for Raila he has to put up with a lot of crap. What has Prof. Nyong'o done to deserve insults from Kalonzo and Ruto? Really, why don’t they tell us what he is being accused of? If this is the kind of nonsense people have to put up with now, what is going to happen when they get power?
Anyway after that Raila/Kibaki suggestion that may be perplexing to my friends and may also make some of my foes who worship Kibaki smile on both ends of their anatomy, let me get to the crux of what I think ails the great ODM which helped the nation to floor Kibaki at the historic referendum battle.
The ODM has their priorities completely screwed up. They have everything upside down and if they can't get their act together, they will soon be loosing a lot of support from Kenyans. They shouldn’t take Kenyans for granted and think our sole purpose of existence is to make one of them the president of Kenya.
The ODM leaders seem to think that the main job of the ODM is to capture the presidency. That is where they go wrong. From the look of things it seems to the ODM leadership, capturing the presidency is an end in itself.
Yes all the candidates have told us what they will do with the power and some of it looks really good and we also know they have the 12 point game plan on where they want to take the country. That is all good, but as long as it is premised on "me, the president" it will never work and they continue fighting and pretending it is democracy at work. We have heard that before with Narc. You remember those "teething" problems. The teeth refused to grow and the kid now has a permanent migraine headache called GNU.
The ODM's priority should be building a cohesive party and capturing the National Assembly by being the majority in the house. That should have been their primary agenda. Winning the presidency should icing on the cake.
Right now at the ODM secretariat there should be a map of Kenya with all the 210 constituencies. Mark orange for those we think are in the box. Mark green for Othaya and others we know we have lost. Use varying degrees of Orange and Green in the battlegrounds and get working on how we can take them. Seek yee first the House and the rest will come. That should be the writing below the map, underlined. Instead the Secretariat is probably painted with pictures of the nine presidential candidates and Gumo is busy cancelling with red some he thinks are "light weight". The drawers are filled with application forms for Watukufus. One thing you don’t want to mess up with Gumo talking about weights.
We need to change the picture. If our priority is to win the House and we go to Kenyans with an agenda we intend to implement not one we intend to fool them with so they can votes for us, then it really wouldn't matter that much who we put at State House. He or she will implement the party's agenda. It doesn't hurt if the president would be someone with passion and a vision for the country and a record to boot but we are going there as an ODM government not a Raila or Ruto or Kalonzo or Uhuru, Balala, Mudavadi, Ojiambo or Nazlin Umar government. If the ODM doesn't have a majority in the House they can kiss bye bye to all those promises they are making to Kenyans.
A president working with a hostile House in the hands of his political opponents cannot deliver anything to Kenyans. Even George Bush is having nightmares after loosing both the Congress and Senate to the Democrats. In Kenya it will be ten times worse, because our politicians are uncouth and pay little or no attention to what is in the best interests of the nation.
So my first advice for ODM is to go back to the drawing board, not the Election Board. Make winning the House your priority and the issue you should be asking people like Raila is : How many seats can you help the party win. Let's ask the same to Kalonzo, Ruto, Uhuru, Ojiambo, Nazlin Umar, Mudavadi and others. Then strategize on how to win on the battle zones because that is where the House will be won or lost. Once you get that started and you start identifying potential good candidates and negotiating with others then you set in a good system of nomination at the primaries, then the game is on. That is how Narc won in 2002. It was three piece suit all the way. Vote for the Narc president, the Narc M.P and the Narc councillor. The ODM seems to have this strange philosophy that all they need to win is the presidency and the nation will be freed from all evils. That is a fool's paradise and it is about time they were told the truth.
It is ironical that the ODM which says it intends to reduce the powers of the presidency and implement the bulk of the Bomas model of parliamentary democracy is investing so much energy and resources in capturing that office. Do they know something that we don't? In fact other than Raila and Ruto we don't have a clear plan on Bomas from Kalonzo. Raila promised a new constitution close to the Bomas Draft in six months. Ruto promised the same in his first year in office. We don't know what Kalonzo thinks on the matter.
Now if the ODM contenders are ready to destroy each other to win the presidency how can we trust that you want to reduce those powers after fighting so hard for them? And this is nothing, you are yet to face Kibaki. What is to stop the supporters from coming to any of these contenders after they win the seat and telling them we fought so hard for this, let's get our just deserts first. That is what happened to Kibaki. The DP tribalists came to him and told him, Mzee you are now the president forget kina Raila give us a chance and they haven’t left the trough. From what we see it looks like we very well be headed that route again.
The other problem for the ODM is the usual "government in waiting" syndrome. That is a sure killer for opposition parties. There is only one government. Don' t get caught up in the "government in waiting" stuff. The problem with that is people begin to think all they need is the party ticket and they are safely home. If the ODM wants to form the next government they are going to have to work really hard for it. That should be the right approach. It will also help them understand that everybody's contribution however big or small is needed. There are no disposables.
Third the ODM has to stop telling us they will stay united when we can see they are not united. Besides the ODM unity even if it were to come is not an end unto itself. It must be a means to achieving what Kenyans want - an end to Kibaki's tribalism, stop corruption and give us our new constitution. We are not asking for much.
Lastly the ODM has to stop relying too much on the tribal math. Yes Kibaki has made a lot of communities across the nation mad with his overt tribalism and the fact he doesn't even seem to care when people point it out to him. Also Kibaki political opponents are blessed with the fact that a lot Kibaki's closest allies are very arrogant and seem to wear tribalism as a badge of honour. But one on the most important lessons in politics is that you don't win because of your opponent's weaknesses, you win because of your strength. It is like soccer. You have a superb team facing some mediocre team. But if you go there thinking the points are already in, you may get your behind kicked.
One more thing, the ODM should at least spare us the tantrums just so they don't embarrass us the way they have done in the last few days. Kalonzo whining that Raila has said it is a race between him and Kibaki and urging the media not to report such things is ridiculous. It is like my five year old nephew making a stink because her brother said he is stronger than her. I didn't like Raila's statement to be honest. As soon as I saw it I knew what was following, but really this is too petty for people who actually want to be presidents. What are they going to do when they are presidents and some mischievous opposition leader says in a village baraza that they have more power than the president. Are they going to call the army to discipline the dude. Please, wazalendo, don't expose your supporters to unnecessary ridicule.
The writer is a human rights activist.
