Post by Onyango Oloo on Oct 13, 2017 17:30:27 GMT 3
A Digital Essay by Onyango Oloo
For the last little while, I have been firmly in the NASA camp although my support for some of their strategies has been shingo upande, to put it mildly.
My main concern has been with their main plank anchored on “Coalition” politics which is essentially an elitist ploy to win or retain political power. I have juxtaposed the United Front approach which has been used in India and South Africa among other places.
Well, a slow smile is dancing on my lips as I commence this digital essay.
The reason for this has been I have been slowly suffused with growing hope-that NASA is at long last re-looking its “coalition” approach.
Maybe the principal reason for this has been hard realities on the ground.
Number one: some of the spineless former high fliers of NASA have been trooping to State House lining up to be fed with ugali na mutura and a couple of shillings for bus fare in return for joining the Jubilee choir.
Two: related to one is the unmasking of what one of my friends dubs “boutique activists” like Hassan Omar as sleeper agents for Uhuru Kenyatta’s campaign.
Three:I have been in constant communication with some senior members of the NASA team, some of whom I can count as comrades and friends of decades-long standing. While it would be extremely presumptuous of me to declare that I am a bosom buddy of the Honourable Raila Odinga, it is a fact that our ties goes way back to the time we were inmates in Kamiti Maximum Penitentiary in 1982 and continued throughout my exile years in Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. When I came to Kenya in late 2005 I was privileged to visit Raila at his offices and we used to keep in touch whenever he saw me at public gatherings. All the digital essays I have written on NASA-especially my criticism of its coalition strategy I have either emailed or tweeted directly to the Prime Minister. One thing I know about Raila Amolo Odinga-he reads stuff sent to him even if he does not personally or immediately respond to his correspondence.
Perhaps, I am giving myself the latitude of day dreaming in technicolour-perhaps Oduor Ong’wen, Larry Gumbe, Anyang' Nyongo and even Raila Odinga himself have been relooking at NASA’s coalition strategy.
Maybe, just maybe, they have given a thought to the idea of a united front way.
So whether it is by happenstance or coincidence, I have noticed an evolution in the way NASA is doing things.
But before I give some examples, I have a few bones to pick with the civil society sector which has been my main employer both in Canada and Kenya since 1989. I also have a few bouquets to hand over to some of the players let me hasten to add.
My beef with Kenyan civil society has been their RELATIVE silence from the burning issues of the day.
Not everyone has been tongue-tied, I am not saying that.
The guru and doyen of constitutionalism in Kenya, the venerable Professor Yash Pal Ghai in tandem with his hard working professional partner and spouse Jill Cottrell not long ago came out with a blistering no holds based denunciation of Uhuru Kenyatta in an Open Letter for the Jubilee’s chief onion’s multifarious outrages on the hard fought for Katiba. But the affable grey haired mzee is almost alone. True, we read statements from KNCHR, IPOA, IMLU, KHHRC, AFRICOG, KHRC and motley other formations. But these are largely restricted to this or that incident of police brutality or human rights abuse. Many of them would argue that their hands are tied by the narrow confines by the narrow funding mandates granted to them by their often foreign granters who keep a lid on the so called “human rights change agents” who are precluded from venturing into anything remotely “partisan” or somewhat resembling “political”. Before I am accused of being unnecessessarily harsh on my civil society colleagues, let me point out that virtually every week I look for the columns of Rasna Warah, George Kegoro, Maina Kiai, Kwamchesti Makokha, Muthoni Wanyeki,Godwin Murunga, Karuti Kanyinga, Makau Mutua, Father Gabriel Dolan, Ndungu Wainaina and others. Whenever I read her on the KPTJ mailing list, Gladwell Otieno is moral indignation personified. Ever since I first met him in Toronto in the late 1990s, Waikwa Wanyoike has been a walking encyclopedia of the bill of rights which serves him at the Katiba Institute. Another Canadian transplant, Miguna Miguna, always fascinates me on YouTube whenever I watch him first skewer then reduce to televised dust some conceited windbag of a lawyer intent on willfully distorting this or that section or sub-section of the 2010 Constitution. And we must heartily commend the work of Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu (KYSY) the coalition of Kenyan civil society organizations and which has made many statements and engaged with political actors over the two years and been vilified and targeted for this by Jubilee. I must not forget my Mazingira boss Davinder Lamba who is a pillar of courage and always in August has a Katiba Day commemoration going in Westlands.
Having said that, I recently saw a cartoon by Gado, one of our leading satirists, lampooning the Kenyan clergy drawn together with a big zip clamping their mouths shut, bedecked in their dog collars,tasbihis, crosses, prayer caps, turbans and other religious garb all united in silence ongoing government atrocities. Where is the Born in Kenya Prophet Owuor denouncing use of live police bullets in Kibra or casting curses against the corrupt Waiguru? Where is Man of God Kanyiri railing against Hustlergate or the proprietor of Neno Evangelical Inc. preaching for free and fair elections?Have you heard Cardinal Njue give a sermon castigating his fellow Catholic Uhuru’s unholy alliance with the Mungiki terrorist businesspeople? Did an alley cat from Bungoma rip out Archbishop Wabukhala’s tongue or have all the Sheikhs in Mombasa been bewitched by evil djinns disguised as migratory bats from some dingy Lamu caves?
Oh, how Kenya cries out for Gitari, Okullu and Muge. Even you, good Reverend Timothy, we hear more from your feisty daughter Dr. Njoya. What happened to your loud prophetic voice?
Having segued briefly, let me return to the SUBJECT MATTER of this essay.
I was saying that NASA has been making smile a lot.
I will now elucidate.
To begin with, NASA got the endorsement of some major trade unions including the Kenya National Union of Teachers, Kenya University Staff Union, Dock Workers Union and University Academic Staff Union.
Secondly, this link nextkenyantv.com/?p=618 says a lot. It’s title, “Kenyan Democracy: The tale of a Kenyatta-US “Sweet Heart Deal” and the Rigging of the 2017 Election” talks about the role of the US,UK and the EU in the current chicanery involving Jubilee and talks about the deals involving corporations from the USA like Betchel. It takes on a definite anti-imperialist stance.
The fact that this link was sent to be by a senior ODM figure tells me that NASA also had a closer look.
Thirdly,NASA’s decision to escalate the IEBC to daily demonstrations removed the struggle from an electoral tussle between two well known politicians into a mass upheaval clamouring for reforms and castigating police brutality and state atrocities violating the bill of rights and the constitution.
Fourthly, and this could turn out to be the game changer was Raila Odinga's “shock” decision to withdraw from the Presidential contest. By doing so, NASA pulled the rag from under Jubilee which had spent billions buying turn coats and subverting the scripts for the government controlled media houses. Effectively, Raila Odinga basically voided the would be elections-the NASA lawyers thought through all the implications of such a move.
I could build on this promising theme but will stop here to chat offline with some of my NASA friends.
For the last little while, I have been firmly in the NASA camp although my support for some of their strategies has been shingo upande, to put it mildly.
My main concern has been with their main plank anchored on “Coalition” politics which is essentially an elitist ploy to win or retain political power. I have juxtaposed the United Front approach which has been used in India and South Africa among other places.
Well, a slow smile is dancing on my lips as I commence this digital essay.
The reason for this has been I have been slowly suffused with growing hope-that NASA is at long last re-looking its “coalition” approach.
Maybe the principal reason for this has been hard realities on the ground.
Number one: some of the spineless former high fliers of NASA have been trooping to State House lining up to be fed with ugali na mutura and a couple of shillings for bus fare in return for joining the Jubilee choir.
Two: related to one is the unmasking of what one of my friends dubs “boutique activists” like Hassan Omar as sleeper agents for Uhuru Kenyatta’s campaign.
Three:I have been in constant communication with some senior members of the NASA team, some of whom I can count as comrades and friends of decades-long standing. While it would be extremely presumptuous of me to declare that I am a bosom buddy of the Honourable Raila Odinga, it is a fact that our ties goes way back to the time we were inmates in Kamiti Maximum Penitentiary in 1982 and continued throughout my exile years in Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. When I came to Kenya in late 2005 I was privileged to visit Raila at his offices and we used to keep in touch whenever he saw me at public gatherings. All the digital essays I have written on NASA-especially my criticism of its coalition strategy I have either emailed or tweeted directly to the Prime Minister. One thing I know about Raila Amolo Odinga-he reads stuff sent to him even if he does not personally or immediately respond to his correspondence.
Perhaps, I am giving myself the latitude of day dreaming in technicolour-perhaps Oduor Ong’wen, Larry Gumbe, Anyang' Nyongo and even Raila Odinga himself have been relooking at NASA’s coalition strategy.
Maybe, just maybe, they have given a thought to the idea of a united front way.
So whether it is by happenstance or coincidence, I have noticed an evolution in the way NASA is doing things.
But before I give some examples, I have a few bones to pick with the civil society sector which has been my main employer both in Canada and Kenya since 1989. I also have a few bouquets to hand over to some of the players let me hasten to add.
My beef with Kenyan civil society has been their RELATIVE silence from the burning issues of the day.
Not everyone has been tongue-tied, I am not saying that.
The guru and doyen of constitutionalism in Kenya, the venerable Professor Yash Pal Ghai in tandem with his hard working professional partner and spouse Jill Cottrell not long ago came out with a blistering no holds based denunciation of Uhuru Kenyatta in an Open Letter for the Jubilee’s chief onion’s multifarious outrages on the hard fought for Katiba. But the affable grey haired mzee is almost alone. True, we read statements from KNCHR, IPOA, IMLU, KHHRC, AFRICOG, KHRC and motley other formations. But these are largely restricted to this or that incident of police brutality or human rights abuse. Many of them would argue that their hands are tied by the narrow confines by the narrow funding mandates granted to them by their often foreign granters who keep a lid on the so called “human rights change agents” who are precluded from venturing into anything remotely “partisan” or somewhat resembling “political”. Before I am accused of being unnecessessarily harsh on my civil society colleagues, let me point out that virtually every week I look for the columns of Rasna Warah, George Kegoro, Maina Kiai, Kwamchesti Makokha, Muthoni Wanyeki,Godwin Murunga, Karuti Kanyinga, Makau Mutua, Father Gabriel Dolan, Ndungu Wainaina and others. Whenever I read her on the KPTJ mailing list, Gladwell Otieno is moral indignation personified. Ever since I first met him in Toronto in the late 1990s, Waikwa Wanyoike has been a walking encyclopedia of the bill of rights which serves him at the Katiba Institute. Another Canadian transplant, Miguna Miguna, always fascinates me on YouTube whenever I watch him first skewer then reduce to televised dust some conceited windbag of a lawyer intent on willfully distorting this or that section or sub-section of the 2010 Constitution. And we must heartily commend the work of Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu (KYSY) the coalition of Kenyan civil society organizations and which has made many statements and engaged with political actors over the two years and been vilified and targeted for this by Jubilee. I must not forget my Mazingira boss Davinder Lamba who is a pillar of courage and always in August has a Katiba Day commemoration going in Westlands.
Having said that, I recently saw a cartoon by Gado, one of our leading satirists, lampooning the Kenyan clergy drawn together with a big zip clamping their mouths shut, bedecked in their dog collars,tasbihis, crosses, prayer caps, turbans and other religious garb all united in silence ongoing government atrocities. Where is the Born in Kenya Prophet Owuor denouncing use of live police bullets in Kibra or casting curses against the corrupt Waiguru? Where is Man of God Kanyiri railing against Hustlergate or the proprietor of Neno Evangelical Inc. preaching for free and fair elections?Have you heard Cardinal Njue give a sermon castigating his fellow Catholic Uhuru’s unholy alliance with the Mungiki terrorist businesspeople? Did an alley cat from Bungoma rip out Archbishop Wabukhala’s tongue or have all the Sheikhs in Mombasa been bewitched by evil djinns disguised as migratory bats from some dingy Lamu caves?
Oh, how Kenya cries out for Gitari, Okullu and Muge. Even you, good Reverend Timothy, we hear more from your feisty daughter Dr. Njoya. What happened to your loud prophetic voice?
Having segued briefly, let me return to the SUBJECT MATTER of this essay.
I was saying that NASA has been making smile a lot.
I will now elucidate.
To begin with, NASA got the endorsement of some major trade unions including the Kenya National Union of Teachers, Kenya University Staff Union, Dock Workers Union and University Academic Staff Union.
Secondly, this link nextkenyantv.com/?p=618 says a lot. It’s title, “Kenyan Democracy: The tale of a Kenyatta-US “Sweet Heart Deal” and the Rigging of the 2017 Election” talks about the role of the US,UK and the EU in the current chicanery involving Jubilee and talks about the deals involving corporations from the USA like Betchel. It takes on a definite anti-imperialist stance.
The fact that this link was sent to be by a senior ODM figure tells me that NASA also had a closer look.
Thirdly,NASA’s decision to escalate the IEBC to daily demonstrations removed the struggle from an electoral tussle between two well known politicians into a mass upheaval clamouring for reforms and castigating police brutality and state atrocities violating the bill of rights and the constitution.
Fourthly, and this could turn out to be the game changer was Raila Odinga's “shock” decision to withdraw from the Presidential contest. By doing so, NASA pulled the rag from under Jubilee which had spent billions buying turn coats and subverting the scripts for the government controlled media houses. Effectively, Raila Odinga basically voided the would be elections-the NASA lawyers thought through all the implications of such a move.
I could build on this promising theme but will stop here to chat offline with some of my NASA friends.
