Can we call the MPs bluff?

By Odhiambo T Oketch

As we usher in the New Year, we must all stand up and be counted. The country ended the year on a wrong note from our Members of Parliament and I bet we should call their bluff.

Let us interrogate the team that put up a spirited effort to have Kenya withdraw from the ICC process. This is the same team that sang in parliament that we should not be vague- it is the Hague. This is the same team that thwarted 3 attempts in Parliament that could have set up a local tribunal.

At that time they thought that the ICC process will come 30 years down the line, and they said as much.

What comes to mind is the shifting of allegiance as corrupt networks show all and sundry how powerful they are. In so voting, Parliament was in actual fact entrenching impunity. We are being shown how powerless we are as a people and that the Lords of Impunity can play with our national psyche at will.

We all know what ails Kenya. We know how the corrupt have captured power structures and choked the Judiciary. They have now regrouped to operate from the precincts of Parliament and we are cheering them on.

We must condemn our Parliamentarians in the strongest terms possible for showing insensitivity to the plight of the Internally Displaced Persons. MPs must not play roulette with the plight of IDPs; that now they assemble at Panafric Hotel to raise funds for them and the next instance they are voting to protect the interest of the war lord!

As we start the New Year, let us re-focus on the dictates of our New Constitution, which many of them fought so hard to shoot down. We must rededicate our efforts to fight corruption in all its manifestation. It is sad to auction the National Assembly and use the House to advance parochial interests; interests that are at variance with our national aspirations.

Parliament must remain above reproach at all the times. But some of our current group in Parliament are loaded guns ready for hire. It does not matter to them the merit of the assignment. What matters to some MPs is the amount you put on the table and they shoot.

Look at how Hon William Ruto has handled himself in the recent past. The man operates as if he is the paragon of virtue while the rest of our leaders including the President are zombies. The man is inciting the Kalenjins against Kenyans on a daily basis and the National Integration and Cohesion Commission looks on as if nothing is happening. Do they need to be prompted?

As much as the man is running off the field, Ruto is a time bomb ready to explode and he wants to explode with innocent Kenyans. If there is hate speech, do not go far off from Ruto. The man has a slimy tongue and as the Bible says, the tongue can be a tricky slimy tool. Ruto is using it to the fullest. Someone should tell him to stop digging; he is in a hole. He needs our collective redemption.

The last bit is the confusion these chaps want to visit on us that they are the young leaders we should vote for. I want to be very clear on this; if Ruto is the change that we need, then I need no change.

We are struggling to build one Kenya that has respect for all; Ruto does not respect all.

We are struggling to build one Kenya for all; Ruto and his team are busy dividing us on a daily basis. He preaches hatred any time he opens his mouth. He can easily make fools to fight. The good thing is that many Kalenjins have called his bluff and refused to be that vile.

We want a Kenya that is free of corruption and impunity. I am sure we cannot get this from this team that is masquerading as the face of the young leaders ready to salvage Kenya. Many of the leaders in this camp thrive on impunity. They preach hatred and corruption shadows all their movements.

Kenyans must support the ICC process to help us regain some sanity in our way of doing things. The perpetrators of the Post Election Violence must be punished. We have proved that we cannot punish these guys three years down the line, the world must hence punish them.

Let us not be hoodwinked by these young people who believe in nothing. They stand for nothing and they have nothing to offer. The only thing that unites them is the fear of one Raila Amolo Odinga becoming the President of Kenya.

2012 beckons and my voters card is ready.

Odhiambo T Oketch

Komarock Nairobi

Young MPs have failed to nurture a new political order

By Joseph Lister Nyaringo

This  is how Francis Imbuga, a Kenyan playwright captures the events that are unfolding in our Country in his Play Betrayal in the City, “ it was better while we waited, we have killed our past and are busy killing the future”.

After nearly 20 years of acrimonious debate for a new constitutional dispensation, Parliament passed the draft constitution that will be subjected to a national referendum by July 2010.

Contrary to this positive stride, a section of young MPs, who are supposed to be torchbearers to foster a new social, political and economic order led by the Minster for Higher education honourable William Ruto have decided to mobilize Kenyans to reject the draft constitution.

Ruto’s “no” line up includes: Eugene Wamalwa, Isaac Ruto, Cyrus Jirongo, Joshua Kutuny and Peter Munya to mention but a few.  They all have a democratic right to accept or reject the constitution, but their timing is suspect and sinister.

This line up reflects that young people in political circles want our Country to remain in the old order by being ardent protectors of the status quo instead of being catalysts for change and transformative leadership. I’m convinced that majority of young leaders in our Country are more ethnically inclined, self centred and therefore worse than the older politicians.

Last week, a media Columnist, Mr. Barrack Muluka  highlighted how Mr.Eugene Wamalwa, who is also MP for Saboti and one of the youngest MPs in Parliament, urging his community in a vernacular radio, to vote for him so he will get the opportunity to sleep in State House. The legislator is now in the league of President Moi’s political students, William Ruto, Cyrus Jirongo and Isaac Ruto of the YK92 fame. He has joined the duo who sneaked Moi back to power in 1992, not for the Cockerel but to mobilize Kenyans to reject the draft constitution.  What a shame!

By Cyrus Jirongo and William Ruto joining their political mentor former President Moi, in the “ no” camp over the draft constitution, they are sending a message to Kenyans that Kanu’s old styles of running national affairs is blossoming back in full throttle through young leaders.

This is not the first time young leaders have led Kenyans down. In the last elections, Uhuru Kenyatta dethroned himself from leader of official opposition and decided to support Kibaki’s re- election. The Gatundu South MP left about 1.8 Million Kenyans who voted for him in 2002 in suspense and also subjected multiparty politics in dire straits. This was selfish, egocentric and a lack of principles in leadership.

We are tired of leaders who are lackadaisical on issues of national importance but ready to shout when their comfort zones are threatened. Some have become venomous while in their tribal backyards and what comes out of their mouth is incitement, hate and sowing seeds of discord which is a recipe for chaos in our ethnically diverse nation. They have forgotten the rough and tumble Kenyans went through in early 2008.

All politics is local but it’s irrelevant for those with national leadership ambitions to concentrate in their ethnic enclaves. If William Ruto wants to endear himself nationally, he must articulate the interest of all Kenyans, instead of behaving as if he loves his Kalenjin people more than God who created them. Dragging his differences with the Prime Minister to the entire Kalenjin community does not make sense either.

As a young person, I will be the last person to advocate for leadership change or support some one based on their age. One can be 100 years and still stand tall on issues beneficial for the Kenyan people. After all, except honourable John Michuki, majority of the older generation leaders are supporting the new draft constitution which sends a very strong message that they want to bequeath a good country to the young generation. On the other side of the ledger, I’m not trying to imply that all young legislators (MPs) in Kenya are sympathizers of the status quo. There are those who have done very well.

I urge our young legislators to learn from President Obama, whose administration has seized the opportunity to reform key institutions in the US like Heath Care which defeated many presidents before him. On global transformation, he recently unveiled a policy with a target to combat nuclear proliferation as well as a focus to change America’s foreign policy. By and large, he is focusing for greater achievements that reflect a new social, political, and economic order for America.

In Kenya, we have sung “change” for many decades and now we must ignore the young or the old who want to derail us from achieving this end. In fact, many of those now rejecting the new constitutional are doing so to settle political scores or for egocentric reasons.

We all contend that the draft constitution is not free from imperfections and will be amended as needed during the implementation stage. After all; our laws are not cast on stones. Jesus came and was accused of violating the laws of Moses, when he taught on the new Covenant. We have closed the Red Sea, and we are swiftly heading to the Promised Land. Let us not be detoured or derailed Kenyans, let us vote yes for our future and the future of our children.

The writer is based in New Jersey, USA and blogs on http://listernyaringo.blogspot.com/