Post by Onyango Oloo on Sept 15, 2005 20:40:44 GMT 3
From: Dr Otieno Mbare - awachtin@yahoo.com Thu, Sep 15, 12:15 PM
Open Letter to President Kibaki
Written by: Otieno Mbare, PhD
Turku, Finland.
Thursday, 15 September 2005
His Excellency The Hon. Mwai Kibaki C.G.H., M.P.
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces
Harambee House, Harambee Avenue
P.O. Box 30510, Nairobi
Tel. (254-020) 227411
[/u]
Your Excellency,
Allow me to write this open letter to you, Sir, after a very long period of silence on my part.
The last time we were together, was in 2002 campaigning to get rid of Moi and his government. We had a rallying song, 216.17.145.92/uploads/2005/02/rudisha_kila_kitu.mp3 Yote Yawezekana Bila Moi that we all danced to together in Nairobi, Thika, Kisumu. At the same time, we had a lyric 216.17.145.92/uploads/2005/02/unbwogable.mp3 Unbwogable that bolstered our resolve to rid the country of authoritarian regime and rampant tribalism in all sectors of government.
Mr. President, a lot of water has since passed under the bridge. When I heard you speak at Uhuru Park where I was seated two rows behind you, I said, this is a turning point for the entire country because you made such eloquent speeches that no one in his/her right mind would have thought that after just three years Kenyans would be saying afadhali Moi.
Mr. President, I believed so much in your presidency that I did not even bother to challenge the flawed nominations in my constituency after some of us had been prevailed upon. We still believed you would honour your words and let some of us serve in your government.
Mr. President you will agree that when we took the Unbwogable campaign to Thika where I almost lost my life due to some reckless driving by some in the convoy, some of these people calling the shots in your government today were not there. In Thika, I listened to you with so much nostalgia that when you told the crowd about your plans for the nation and how you would want even those who are abroad to come and provide their expertise home, I believed you. It only dawned on me when even some of us who had been very active and visible throughout your campaigns started trooping back to Europe because you preferred to offer these jobs to these old Wazees who kept on chiding us as leaders of tomorrow.
Your Excellency, I have not told you how I came back to Finland to check on my family only to hurry back to welcome you in Kisumu as the president-in-waiting. You may not agree with me, sir, but Kenyans elected you on a reformist platform and they expected a major departure from that of KANU.
Mr. President, I have always believed that you are a level-headed rationalist person who will derive right from reason and gives it a value independent of the will. This is also part of the reason I decided to support you with everything I had including my hard earned money.
However, there are a considerable number of things that have gone wrong in your government. Apart from the eloquent speeches nothing of substance that could shake all corners of the country (if I may borrow Murungi’s words) has happened to this great nation in terms of development or job creation.
The promised constitution has been turned into a theatre of the absurd. There is a lot of melodrama which requires your urgent intervention as the president of the republic of Kenya without taking sides.
The entire process has been flawed whether it is Bomas Draft, Kilifi or Ufungamano. My advice to you as one of your obedient voters in 2002, stop the referendum!
Mr. President, your advisors have really failed your presidency for I believe, there is no president that I know of who has got that massive support like you had.
Please, consider this appeal from me in the interest of the nation.
Your time as president of this nation will come and go; and someone else will assume the throne of power.
That’s why Kenyans want a constitution that will not just address short-term needs of Kiraitus, Kalonzos, Railas, Murungarus, etc. but a constitution that meant for posterity.
For example, Your Excellency, don’t you envisage chaos with the law of inheritance when we copy European inheritance laws without taking our cultural way of life into consideration.
I suppose, as the president, that you would provide guidance and revisit our histories so that our laws are ultimately based on our history and cultures of our people. I say this because law serves as the spirit of the nation.
The law of reason must be created by the people not imposed upon them by nature. It is also important that the laws and the constitution are clear and coherent to the understanding of everyone alike.
Accordingly, in the current debate on the constitution, we may borrow from Hegel’s work in the philosophy of Right that though constitutions can be changed, constitutions cannot be made. He goes on to stress that the policies of a government should be in accord with the spirit of a nation, in agreement with its concrete circumstances and way of life, and not imposed from above by some leaders or committee.
Mr. President, the people of Kenya are not comfortable with the way ministers close to you are trying to coerce the nation to support a constitution which cannot even be accepted in a banana republic.
If I still borrow from the same Philosophy of Right, Hegel states that everyone deserves certain basic rights just in so far as they are human beings, regardless of whether they are Catholics, Protestants or Jews; and he is clear that there are some fundamental goods that are inalienable and imprescriptable for all persons in so far as they are free beings, such as the right to have religious beliefs and to own property.
This constitutional debate has brought sharp divisions in otherwise a country that was relatively peaceful. Even the churches have abandoned their flock at the hour of need just to please the leadership in this country. Anyone who has read Christianity and it Fate will obviously hold the church with contempt. Although I have deep beliefs in Jesus as the saviour, we also have to agree to some extent with those who chastise him and charge that he doomed himself by fleeing from the world to seek redemption in heaven alone. The pastors have also run away from their congregations to seek sympathy from State house alone.
Your Excellency, although you have already made it clear which side you support in this constitutional melodrama, I still believe you can stop the referendum. Please, do it, if only for posterity.
Mr. President, this constitution is going to divide the country and all the gains we made; the pride Kenyans had after the peaceful transfer of power from ex-president Moi – everyone will blame you if you don’t act now!
Sometimes one may wonder that if the people were only aware of their natural rights, I believe, they would demand them and overthrow their oppressors.
What has happened is that the politicians had never had any interest in the people but have been busy fighting to acquire power and wealth of the nation for themselves. Kenyans should know that politicians act not to realise their ideals but to maximize their power. They make treaties but violate them whenever it suited their self-interests.
Our politicians are always engaged in realpolitik. It is the only nation where people start politicking immediately after every election. Realpolitik is the doctrine that politicians always act in their self-interest, that their self-interest consists in acquiring, maintaining or increasing power, and that therefore the principles of morality have no application to the political world.
Your Excellency, the people of Kenya have entrusted you with a very unique office on land. How you go about protecting their liberty will depend a great deal on your ability embrace all shades of opinion and your focus on the common good. I would like to believe that the chief purpose of the state is to protect liberty, the rights of citizens to pursue happiness in their own manner and to ensure the common good, which is more than the sum of private interests but those basic goods essential to everyone as a human being.
Mr. President, is it possible that as a president of the great republic of Kenya, you can put the interests of the republic before your private interests?
Our country cannot survive if the people have not any share in government, some right, even if indirect, to govern their own affairs. It is precisely through public participation in the affairs of state that the individual would identify with the state and regard itself as part of the community.
Let me stop this long letter by saying that you are the president of Kenya.
All of us are looking upon you for guidance. This guidance also requires that you carefully check the public mood. There are opportunists who will tell you, Mzee, kila mtu, kutoka Mbeere, Embu, Meru, Kirinyaga – everyone there have gone bananas! Your Excellency, I hope you will listen to this lonely voice from Finland.
Yours Sincerely,
Otieno Mbare, PhD
The author is a research fellow in Finland
Open Letter to President Kibaki
Written by: Otieno Mbare, PhD
Turku, Finland.
Thursday, 15 September 2005
His Excellency The Hon. Mwai Kibaki C.G.H., M.P.
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces
Harambee House, Harambee Avenue
P.O. Box 30510, Nairobi
Tel. (254-020) 227411
[/u]
Your Excellency,
Allow me to write this open letter to you, Sir, after a very long period of silence on my part.
The last time we were together, was in 2002 campaigning to get rid of Moi and his government. We had a rallying song, 216.17.145.92/uploads/2005/02/rudisha_kila_kitu.mp3 Yote Yawezekana Bila Moi that we all danced to together in Nairobi, Thika, Kisumu. At the same time, we had a lyric 216.17.145.92/uploads/2005/02/unbwogable.mp3 Unbwogable that bolstered our resolve to rid the country of authoritarian regime and rampant tribalism in all sectors of government.
Mr. President, a lot of water has since passed under the bridge. When I heard you speak at Uhuru Park where I was seated two rows behind you, I said, this is a turning point for the entire country because you made such eloquent speeches that no one in his/her right mind would have thought that after just three years Kenyans would be saying afadhali Moi.
Mr. President, I believed so much in your presidency that I did not even bother to challenge the flawed nominations in my constituency after some of us had been prevailed upon. We still believed you would honour your words and let some of us serve in your government.
Mr. President you will agree that when we took the Unbwogable campaign to Thika where I almost lost my life due to some reckless driving by some in the convoy, some of these people calling the shots in your government today were not there. In Thika, I listened to you with so much nostalgia that when you told the crowd about your plans for the nation and how you would want even those who are abroad to come and provide their expertise home, I believed you. It only dawned on me when even some of us who had been very active and visible throughout your campaigns started trooping back to Europe because you preferred to offer these jobs to these old Wazees who kept on chiding us as leaders of tomorrow.
Your Excellency, I have not told you how I came back to Finland to check on my family only to hurry back to welcome you in Kisumu as the president-in-waiting. You may not agree with me, sir, but Kenyans elected you on a reformist platform and they expected a major departure from that of KANU.
Mr. President, I have always believed that you are a level-headed rationalist person who will derive right from reason and gives it a value independent of the will. This is also part of the reason I decided to support you with everything I had including my hard earned money.
However, there are a considerable number of things that have gone wrong in your government. Apart from the eloquent speeches nothing of substance that could shake all corners of the country (if I may borrow Murungi’s words) has happened to this great nation in terms of development or job creation.
The promised constitution has been turned into a theatre of the absurd. There is a lot of melodrama which requires your urgent intervention as the president of the republic of Kenya without taking sides.
The entire process has been flawed whether it is Bomas Draft, Kilifi or Ufungamano. My advice to you as one of your obedient voters in 2002, stop the referendum!
Mr. President, your advisors have really failed your presidency for I believe, there is no president that I know of who has got that massive support like you had.
Please, consider this appeal from me in the interest of the nation.
Your time as president of this nation will come and go; and someone else will assume the throne of power.
That’s why Kenyans want a constitution that will not just address short-term needs of Kiraitus, Kalonzos, Railas, Murungarus, etc. but a constitution that meant for posterity.
For example, Your Excellency, don’t you envisage chaos with the law of inheritance when we copy European inheritance laws without taking our cultural way of life into consideration.
I suppose, as the president, that you would provide guidance and revisit our histories so that our laws are ultimately based on our history and cultures of our people. I say this because law serves as the spirit of the nation.
The law of reason must be created by the people not imposed upon them by nature. It is also important that the laws and the constitution are clear and coherent to the understanding of everyone alike.
Accordingly, in the current debate on the constitution, we may borrow from Hegel’s work in the philosophy of Right that though constitutions can be changed, constitutions cannot be made. He goes on to stress that the policies of a government should be in accord with the spirit of a nation, in agreement with its concrete circumstances and way of life, and not imposed from above by some leaders or committee.
Mr. President, the people of Kenya are not comfortable with the way ministers close to you are trying to coerce the nation to support a constitution which cannot even be accepted in a banana republic.
If I still borrow from the same Philosophy of Right, Hegel states that everyone deserves certain basic rights just in so far as they are human beings, regardless of whether they are Catholics, Protestants or Jews; and he is clear that there are some fundamental goods that are inalienable and imprescriptable for all persons in so far as they are free beings, such as the right to have religious beliefs and to own property.
This constitutional debate has brought sharp divisions in otherwise a country that was relatively peaceful. Even the churches have abandoned their flock at the hour of need just to please the leadership in this country. Anyone who has read Christianity and it Fate will obviously hold the church with contempt. Although I have deep beliefs in Jesus as the saviour, we also have to agree to some extent with those who chastise him and charge that he doomed himself by fleeing from the world to seek redemption in heaven alone. The pastors have also run away from their congregations to seek sympathy from State house alone.
Your Excellency, although you have already made it clear which side you support in this constitutional melodrama, I still believe you can stop the referendum. Please, do it, if only for posterity.
Mr. President, this constitution is going to divide the country and all the gains we made; the pride Kenyans had after the peaceful transfer of power from ex-president Moi – everyone will blame you if you don’t act now!
Sometimes one may wonder that if the people were only aware of their natural rights, I believe, they would demand them and overthrow their oppressors.
What has happened is that the politicians had never had any interest in the people but have been busy fighting to acquire power and wealth of the nation for themselves. Kenyans should know that politicians act not to realise their ideals but to maximize their power. They make treaties but violate them whenever it suited their self-interests.
Our politicians are always engaged in realpolitik. It is the only nation where people start politicking immediately after every election. Realpolitik is the doctrine that politicians always act in their self-interest, that their self-interest consists in acquiring, maintaining or increasing power, and that therefore the principles of morality have no application to the political world.
Your Excellency, the people of Kenya have entrusted you with a very unique office on land. How you go about protecting their liberty will depend a great deal on your ability embrace all shades of opinion and your focus on the common good. I would like to believe that the chief purpose of the state is to protect liberty, the rights of citizens to pursue happiness in their own manner and to ensure the common good, which is more than the sum of private interests but those basic goods essential to everyone as a human being.
Mr. President, is it possible that as a president of the great republic of Kenya, you can put the interests of the republic before your private interests?
Our country cannot survive if the people have not any share in government, some right, even if indirect, to govern their own affairs. It is precisely through public participation in the affairs of state that the individual would identify with the state and regard itself as part of the community.
Let me stop this long letter by saying that you are the president of Kenya.
All of us are looking upon you for guidance. This guidance also requires that you carefully check the public mood. There are opportunists who will tell you, Mzee, kila mtu, kutoka Mbeere, Embu, Meru, Kirinyaga – everyone there have gone bananas! Your Excellency, I hope you will listen to this lonely voice from Finland.
Yours Sincerely,
Otieno Mbare, PhD
The author is a research fellow in Finland
