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After The Orange Onslaught What Next For Kenya?
#46 - 0--clubafrika--After The Orange Onslaught What Next For Kenya?--2005-11-24 08:57:57
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It has been a grueling three months of torture, pain, toil and apprehension. The referendum campaign was a necessary evil that had to be dealt with. Both camps had a point to prove and the Orange team have proved their point; that they read the mood of Kenyans better than their opponents. The Banana team have equally proved their point; that they have never understood the rest of Kenya. Now that they know what most Kenyans, 3.5 million of them want, let us hope they will in future pay keen attention to what the Kenyan voter says.
I like this woman called Wanjiku. I may not know whose daughter she is, but that is neither here nor there. This great African woman has the patience of a vulture. She waited patiently as the Banana team tore her constitution to pieces. She watched her former comrades in the civil society sell her constitution for thirty pieces of silver and she cried and cried yet nobody would wipe her tears. Like Rachel, wailing in the wilderness for her children, her tormentors never listened to her cry. Until the moment of truth presented itself to her. And with one blow, like David son of Jesse; she struck one blow and felled her tormentors.
The duel between the Orange and the Banana teams over the referendum is over and done with. We have celebrated victory and nursed our wounds, depending on which side we were. But like all good leaders all over the world, we must rise above petty feelings and little egos. We must rise up and give leadership of this country a new impetus, a new direction. Our masses that followed us everywhere deserve this much. They, like we, still have a life to lead after the referendum. They, like we, have their families to feed, clothe, shelter and children to take to school. It is time to sober up and get this country moving again. - And there is hope that this is going to happen even if there are other mapambanos to deal with in the future, like Otieno Kajwang has hinted.
The first positive sign that we should be heading for healing is the national prayer meeting that takes place at the Uhuru Park this morning. In this meeting, it is our hope that all faiths will come in their droves and pray for this great nation. This country needs God's guidance to lead us into the path of righteousness, good neighborliness and love for one another.
Messages from Mwai Kibaki and Simeon Nyachae were encouraging indeed. Conceding election defeat is a strange occurrence in Africa. We have done it in Kenya twice in three years. If the President has humbled himself and accepted the verdict of Kenyans, who are we to say otherwise? If Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi and Uhuru Kenyatta have chosen the path of peace, reconciliation and national healing, let us give them a chance to dialogue with the Banana team. Let us give Kombo a chance to realize his reconciliation efforts with his rivals in the Orange team.
But there are pitfalls we must guard against. We realize there may be bad losers in the Banana team who would rather derail everything and plunge us into chaos simply because they didn't get what they wanted. We know they are out there writhing in pain and fuming with anger and frustration. These are the people we Kenyans must go for, flush them out of their villages and forests, bring them to the table and reassure them that all is well and they have nothing to fear. Let us tell them that we still need and value them as Kenyans. Let us tell them that Kenya belongs to us all and that despite the battle, we are still one nation, one people and one family even though we may be speaking different tongues.
And this is where the President must come in. We need a president that must prove to all and sundry, now rather than later that he is the Head of State, our symbol of nationhood and a father figure to every Kenyan, born and unborn. This is the time to see our Head of State disentangling himself from parochial and partisan politics. This is the time to travel to every province in Kenya to preach peace, reconciliation and politics of development.
Let him travel to the Coast, Nyanza, Ukambani, Western, Rift Valley and North Eastern provinces. Let him be the guest of those who opposed the referendum and this country will heal.
Let him reshuffle his State House staff, his Cabinet and Civil Service to reflect a national outlook and a truly coalition government. Let him go back to the drawing board and revive the 2002 Narc Summit, reconstitute the cabinet on the terms of the original MoU and discard self seekers in his government. Let him cleanse his government of characters in the Government of National Unity who have become more of excess baggage and a liability than an asset to his government. These characters have come with their losing streaks to the Narc government.
Now that we know there is no single big tribe that can win elections and rule Kenya single handedly, it is now the chance for the President to get rid of his close advisers who have been misleading him over the power sharing in Kenya. This is his best chance to surround himself with the genuinely popular political leaders rather than be surrounded by losers and political rejects. If President Kibaki goes this direction, he can be sure to have the last two years as his most memorable and most successful ones in his entire political career.
Let us face the facts here. Kiraitu and Murungaru have misused the President and messed up his government big time. They have misadvised and mislead him many a time. It is time he asked them to step aside for the sake of Kenya. If it is a question of looking for a lawyer to fill Kiraitu's shoes, there are many Kikuyus and Merus who have studied law.
If he must appoint a pharmacist in the Transport Ministry, I am sure there are many people in Central Province who have studied Pharmacy.
On the other hand, politics is about numbers. Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyioka, Najib Balala, Ochillo Ayacko, William Ole Ntimama and Anyang Nyongo have proved that they have the numbers to bring to the table.
They have equally proved that Ali Makwere, Norman Nyagah, George Saitoti, Maina Kamanda, Dzoro and Moody Awori have lost it with Kenyans even in their own constituencies. If President Kibaki has to reshuffle his cabinet, let him look keenly at each one of his present line up and deal with the lose ends first.
In reshuffling his cabinet, the civil service and the armed personnel, he has to bring the nation together. He has to redistribute the national posts in such a way that merit and competence will replace cronyism, tribalism and regionalism, as we await the new direction with regard to the new constitution.
Lastly, let the President be weary of ethnic media owners who are bent on tearing this country apart. Two media houses have done Kenyans disservice. They have thrown us on the brink of civil war. This country was saved by the Grace of God. A responsible government cannot allow that to happen in this day and age. An irresponsible free press cannot be allowed to ruin this country. Yes, as Royal Media Group was throwing us to the precipice of civil war, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, the Standard Group and the Nation Media Group saved the day. They remembered their Code of Ethics when this country badly needed them. Being endowed with the largest following nationally, they effectively neutralized Royal Media's hate messages and slanted information.
Finally, as we await the way forward, let us hope that the Ministry of Information & Communication together with CCK will look at the behavior of wayward media and reign in on them even at the risk of annoying the Media Owners Association fraternity.
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