the orange newsletter volume 2 number 7 21 february 2013.pdf

7/29/2019 The Orange Newsletter Volume 2 Number 7 21 February 2013.pdf

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NEWSLETTER OF THE ORANGE DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT

Volume 2 Number 7 Thursday 21 February 2013

CORD Presidential Candidate Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga Waves to Supporters in Uashin Gishu County

CORD Will Safeguard Turkana Oil InterestsOrange Reporter

The Coalition for Reforms and Democracyhas asked voters in Turkana County not to

trust its rivals with the oil and othervaluable natural resources being discoveredin the region.

CORD Presidential candidate Raila Odingaand running mate Kalonzo Musyoka saidtheir challengers had never shown interestin the development of Turkana until oil was

discovered there recently.

The leaders were addressing supporters atrallies in Turkana County.

Mr Odinga addressed rallies in Lokichar,

Kalokol and Lodwar where he saidKenyans had clear choices to make in the

coming elections whether to turn left orright.

Turkana region had been forgotten for

close to 50 years. It is only now that oil hasbeen discovered here that some of ourleaders have realised the county hassomething to offer. They are now salivating

for land here because they know riches arecoming, the PM said.

Mr Odinga told residents that whether they

benefit from the oil will depend on the

government they elect in two weeks time.

Oil can be a blessing or a curse. It alldepends on who is in power. A bad

leadership can easily sell this oil abroad,pocket all the money and leave the Turkanasuffering here the way they have for 50years now. You should count yourselves

lucky that the oil was discovered under thecoalition government, otherwise you wouldhave lost everything, Mr Odinga said.

He warned those rushing to the area to buyland for purposes of speculation that it wasan exercise in futility as his governmentwould nullify such transactions and have

them be looked into a fresh by the coming

county government.


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This election is the chance for Kenyans to

decide whether they turn left or right. Iassure you that if you take the left turn, itwill be a path to change and greater

prosperity. Branch to the right and you will

be taking a journey to the very same Kenyawe have known for the last fifty years.

Nothing will change, PM said.

Mr Odinga said his government wouldprioritise the expansion of irrigationschemes already in place and introduce newones to ensure food security and jobs.

He said the 10,000 hectare irrigationscheme he launched in Todonyang would

be expanded more than two times and hewould invest in the security of residents.

The PM said CORD would invest in

harvesting of rain and underground waterfor livestock and domestic use, adding that

he would ensure herders have grazing

rights and secure migration routes.

The irrigation projects I launched here isjust a small example of what a government

that has your interest at heart can do. It isthe will that matters first, then resourceswill follow. I have shown that I have thewill to develop this area, the PM said.

He promised that his government wouldinvest in truly free education where

parents dont dig into their pockets to buy

stationery, uniforms and pay teachers.

The PM promised to ensure the LAPSETTproject runs its course to provide jobs in the

Turkana County.

He appealed to registered voters to turn outin large numbers and vote for CORD

candidates to ensure development comes tothe county.

Former Kangundo MP Mr Johnston

Muthama, who accompanied Mr Odinga,asked Turkana voters not to trust Jubileecoalition saying the group has leaders whocannot be trusted.

Muthama said the oil in the region wouldnever benefit residents if Jubilee wins.

These people signed an agreement withMusalia Mudavadi in the morning one day.Less than 24 hours later, they changed andsaid it was the devil. Those are not people

you can trust with a precious resource likeoil, Muthama said.

The PM arrived in Turkana addressed

rallies in Lokichar, Kalokol and Lodwarwhere he was joined by his running mateKalonzo Musyoka, Moses Wetangula, JohnMunyes and Josephat Nanok, among others

CORD Presidential Candidate Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga and Hon. Johnson Muthama dance at a Rally in Lokichar, Turkana County

Kenya: A Nation Betrayed by Bad LeadershipLarry Gumbe

An analysis of Kenya today shows a nationof boundless potentials yearning forchange. A nation of plenty whose people

are wallowing in abject poverty while ahandful enjoys obscene wealth siphonedout of public coffers. A nation repeatedly

betrayed by a cabal of predatory dictators

entrusted with the solemn duty to lead and

transform. They have privatised the state.They seek to dismember the nation usingtribe at the altar of personal

aggrandisement. Perhaps for them, Kenyais but a carcass for hounds.

We are a people who continue to struggle

for justice, equity and prosperity. We stand

on the threshold of momentous changes.Whereas this crisis portends danger ofdisintegration for the nation, it also

provides an opportunity for transformingKenya into a powerful and vibrant nationwith a compelling national identity andstrong core- values and principles. A

prosperous nation in which those born into
http://www.raila-odinga.com/press-media/image-gallery/pm-in-lokichar-and-lodwar-in-turkana-county/pm-in-lokichar-and-lodwar-in-turkana-county-259http://www.raila-odinga.com/press-media/image-gallery/pm-in-lokichar-and-lodwar-in-turkana-county/pm-in-lokichar-and-lodwar-in-turkana-county-259


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different circumstances enjoy equality of

opportunity and hope and live dignifiedlives; a nation in which all Kenyans feel athome. Yet even as the nation totters on the

brink of collapse, the reactionary forces of

backwardness are re-grouping. They aremarshalled against the people ofKenya. They seek to hold us in bondage.They want to perpetuate their hold over the

state to protect their ill-gotten wealth.

In this situation we need to retrace oursteps. Where did the rain begin beating us?

Colonial Era:Expropriation of a PeoplesLand, Labour and Resources

The problems that we face today can betraced to bad colonial policies which have

been compounded by myopic and narrow-minded post-colonial leadership.

Inherited colonial structures were bound tobe a challenge to national development.However, a committed visionary leadership

should have been able to transform suchstructures and create a strong nationcapable of meeting the needs of the broadmasses of our people.

It is worth remembering that Kenya is acolonial creation. In the process ofcolonizing Uganda to secure the source of

the Nile and protect British geo-strategic

interests over the Suez Canal in Egypt andtheir maritime imperialist interests, theyneeded access to Uganda through Kenya.Thus Kenya was declared a protectorate

and later a colony.

Creation of an Agrarian ColonialEconomy: For Foreign Kitchens andIndustries

Following the building of the KenyaUganda railway, the rich highlands of

Kenya were expropriated and alienated towhite British settlers. This set in motion thecreation of an agrarian colonial economywhose primary purpose was to supply

British industries and kitchens. By 1915there were about 1,000 white settlers towhom over 4.5million acres of land had

been alienated. The social and economicinfrastructure of the country wasconsequently organized to fulfil that

purpose. African labour and resources wereforcefully expropriated as part of the

primitive accumulation of capital in thecolonial economy.

Settlers: A Vision for a Homeland

Whereas the colonial office was concernedabout metropolitan imperial interests, thesettlers saw Kenya becoming a settler

colony in the same manner as Australia and

New Zealand. They had a vision of aKenya dominated by them as a ruling classdominating both the immigrant Indiandukawalas and the Africans. The colonial

office was forced to issue the DevonshireWhite Paper in 1923 which asserted thatKenya was primarily an African country.This did not, however, stop settler interests

from dominating the content and directionof state policy. The settlers dependedheavily on the colonial state subsidies. Thecolonial state also ruthlessly extracted and

repressed cheap African labour to keepthem going, thus retarding Africanagricultural production.

No investments were made in providingeducation and health facilities for Africans.When the colonial government paid anyattention to African education (the Phelps-

Stokes Commission of 1924), it decidedthat Africans should receive only practical,agriculturally-oriented education suitablefor rural communities. In fact the settlers

were mad with missionaries for attemptingto give even rudimentary literacy toAfricans.

No investments were made in Africanagriculture not to mention industry

Colonial Industrial Policy: ConsumerProducts for Settler Tables

As early as 1905, a number of import-export houses established branches inKenya to satisfy settler consumer needs.

These included: Gailey and Roberts, UnitedAfrica Company, Mitchell-Cotts andCompany, Baumann and Company andLeslie and Anderson. All these exported

primary commodities and importedmanufactured goods.

However, before World War II a policy of

Import-Substitution Industrialisation (ISI)was adopted. Instead of importing allmanufactured goods, a few industriesmanufacturing products for sale within East

Africa were established. These included:East African Breweries, African Highlands

produce Company, Kenya Tea Company,

East African Tanning Extract Company,East African Meat Company, Magadi SodaCompany, and East African PortlandCement.

It is important to note that all these firmswere established to promote settler andforeign capital interests. The colonial state,for example undertook to provide not only

the loan capital for the construction of theEast African Meat Company (a subsidiaryof Liebiggs UK) but also to guarantee thefactory a steady through-put of cattle by

introducing compulsory purchasing

legislation. Consequently the colonial stateforced the Akamba herdsmen to de-stocktheir herds on the dubious grounds that theyhad over-grazed the land. The real reason

was to protect white settlers.

In the post-World War II period, the USAemerged as a new super-power and Britain

was in decline. US multinationalcorporations (MNCs) began penetrating

protected British colonial markets. At thesame time, African nationalism began to

threaten the continued hold of settlers overthe colonial state.

Independence and After: The Creation ofa Subservient Political Elite

In this context, Britain passed The ColonialDevelopment and Welfare Act of 1940

which provided greater possibilities forinitiating industrial projects within thecolonies. Within this framework, theBritish sought to chaperon a guided

unionism to avoid working class rebellions.They also sought to enhance the formationof a responsible middle class which couldguarantee capital investments and profit

repatriation from the colonies. This way,African nationalists could be brought in toshare power with their former colonialmasters.

The period between 1945 and1963 saw theemergence of a radical nationalistmovement that began to demand forindependence. The Mau Mau insurgency

forced Britain to begin a rapid process ofde-colonization. The Swynnerton Plan(1954) argued that the development ofcapitalist agriculture among the peasantry

would be the best way to indigenizecapitalism thus providing a bulwark againstthe emergent radical nationalism.

The Kenyatta Era: Betrayal of a PeoplesDreams

KANU came to power as a popular

nationalist movement with a promise, notonly to liberate Kenya from the yoke ofcolonialism, but also our people from the

degrading conditions of life they had beensubjected to by imperialism. KANU

promised to eradicate poverty, disease andignorance. Kenyans were thereforeextremely excited about the future.

However, by the end of the first republic,the national dream was dead. It had beenkilled by narrow ethnic chauvinism.

Kenyatta failed to restore displaced personsto their lands; in fact this was a major pointof disagreement within KANU. The millionacre scheme was hijacked by government


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operatives for their own gain giving

themselves large tracts of land with manylandless. Corruption became a national

pastime. The leadership forgot that nationbuilding is a project that requires work and

dedication.This period also saw the death of political

party politics in Kenya as Kenyattareplaced the party with state bureaucracy.

From 1963 to 1975, a number of importantchanges took place:

Kenya became independent (1963); The re-organisation of the ruling class

(KADU merges with KANU in1964);

The neo-colonial political, social andeconomic agenda is put in place

(emphasis on attracting foreigncapital);

Defeat of the pro-people forces inKANU;

Consolidation of political class thatuses the state to promote primitive

private accumulation of capital (through The Ndegwa Commission

Report);

Enunciation of policies thatmarginalise the workers and smallscale agricultural producers;

Increasing intolerance and repressionof divergent political tendencies;

Criminalizing of political opposition(banning of Kenya Peoples

Union(KPU), 1969);

Detention without trial; Political assassinations; Repression of freedom of

expression especially in universities;

The creation of an ethnic politicalcabal which misuses and abuses state

power for private gain Rampant corruptionKenyatta failed to engage in nation

building; instead he facilitated the growthof a corrupt and supremacist cabal around

him. Even though the economy grew, itfollowed the well laid out colonial patternwhich marginalized large sections of thecountry. Public investment was directed to

areas which already had well developedinfrastructure. Large sectors of this societyfelt alienated from the mainstream of

national politics.

The Nyayo Era: The Betrayal Intensifies

Any hopes that Moi would resolve the

pressing national issues were dashed whenhe engaged in doing more of the same. Thefollowing are some of the manifestations ofhis continued betrayal of the nations

wishes, he:

Replaced the Kiambu Mafia with theRift Valley Mafia

Legalized one party dictatorship Crushed political dissent Created the Nyayo chambers Forced many into exileUnder him, the economy all but collapsed.Moi pretended to revive the party, KANU,

but only as a government instrument of

coercion. Furthermore, KANU wasbasically run by the ProvincialAdministration rather than the grass root

party structures.

The Return of Multiparty Democracy

Following the discredited Mlolongo Kanunominations of 1988, the fight for a returnof multiparty democracy gainedmomentum culminating in the first

multiparty general elections in 1992.Multiparty democracy saw the rise and fallof popular peoples parties.

FORD, which united the people againstKanu, emerged as a credible threat to theMoi regime. It subsequently split followinga leadership dispute. A split opposition

made it easy for the incumbent to win the1992 and 1997 elections with a slimmargin.

Money and Violence in Kenyan Politics

Politics in Kenya is increasinglydeveloping a do or die character to it. There

is a raging conflict between politics forprivate gain and politics for public service.There are those for whom participation in

politics is primarily meant to benefit themand their clique of shadowy financiers. For

them, the organs of the state must becaptured at all costs and using any means toserve self and cronies. To them,democracy is an irritant that must be

tolerated for effect. Political parties are butdispensable electoral machines much likematatus that you board and disembark atyour convenience.

On the other hand are the people of Kenyawho believe that politics should beorganised to fulfil the aspirations of the

broad masses; that the state has a duty to

guarantee the fulfilment of these aspirationsand that national leadership has a duty to

serve all Kenyans irrespective of origin andstatus. For these Kenyans, the failure tocapture the state and transform it to serve

the needs of a majority through ademocratic electoral process is a tragedy. It

portends a dark future in which their needsand interests are trampled underfoot.

In the run up to the 1992 elections, as theruling elite faced the risk of losing power,

they organised major scams such as

Goldenberg to siphon money out of public

coffers to enrich themselves and fundpolitics and violence so as to retain powerat all costs. This period saw the removal oflegal limits to how much money one could

use in elections campaigns in our electorallaws. It was also during this period that theso called tribal clashes were first organised

by the same people to prevent opposition

parties from ascending to power.

In the absence of legislation on politicalparty financing, the shadowy characters

that fund political party activities andpolitical campaigns have continued to havea negative impact on our politics. They seethat financing as investment which must be

paid back with returns after an election.Apart from perverting public policy in theirfavour, they also pervert the public

procurement process so that contracts in the

public sector are over- priced and are neverperformed to the expected standards andtimelines. This looting and misuse of publicfunds has also caused unemployment and

poverty thus intensifying the bitterness ofthe resultant underclass which survives insqualor on the periphery of our urban andrural slums.

This monetization and commercialisationof politics continues to alienate largesections of potential leadership who have

no access to the necessary resources to

mount credible campaigns. In thesecircumstances, political parties cannotnurture a principled leadership that caneffectively champion the interests of the

broad majority. They have been reduced toaccepting any candidate who comes alongwith enough resources to mount a crediblecampaign, whether they believe in the party

programmes or not.

This is what was seen in the run up to the2007 elections. Campaigns for nominations

within the major political parties were notonly heavily funded but were alsoextremely violent. Given highunemployment levels and grinding poverty,

politicians found it easy to hire militia todisrupt the campaign activities ofopponents. This is do or die politics is a

recipe for disaster.

It is however gratifying to note that in spiteof the heavy use of both private and publicfunds by those in government to influence

the outcomes of the last elections, thepeople handed them a humiliating defeat.

The Constitutional Review Debate

Kenya got independence with a negotiatedconstitution that provided for a vertical andhorizontal distribution and sharing of


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political power at the centre and between

the centre and the regions. This was donethrough a bicameral parliamentary systemof government where the leader of the partywith the majority in parliament exercised

executive authority as a Prime Minister.This forced parties to forge broad nationalcoalitions and hunt for votes and

parliamentary seats across the country and

checked abuse of power and office in thehands of an individual or small clique. Italso ensured prominence of political partiesin the management of public affairs.

The independence constitution alsoguaranteed devolution of power to regionsto ensure decision making on issues of

local concern thereby guaranteeingminority rights. The regions had legislativeassemblies and there was a senate at thenational level to guarantee the interests of

the regions.

However, by 1964, Kenya was declared arepublic. The prime minister became a

president (without any new election). Kadujoined Kanu and the country became a de-facto one party state. In due course, thesenate and the devolved governments were

abolished through constitutionalamendments. By the year 2002 when theConstitution of Kenya Review Commission(CKRC) was set up, the Constitution had

undergone 35 amendments. Most of these

amendments had centralised power andconcentrated it in the hands of an imperial

president. The amendments also weakenedparliament, subjected the judiciary to the

whims of the president and renderedpolitical parties essentially irrelevant in themanagement of public affairs. In fact, the1997 Inter- Parties Parliamentary Group

(IPPG) driven amendments made itpossible for a president with a minority inparliament to simply poach from otherparties and rule. The president is then able

to exercise personal rule. All he needs is toappoint more than half of the

parliamentarians into his cabinet as hashappened before.

These changes have spawned aninequitable political and economic system

which now threatens the very survival ofKenya as a nation. This concentration of

power in the hands of one man has led tothe concentration of national wealth in thehands of a few who surround him while the

majority languish in poverty (according togovernment statistics, over 56% live on lessthan a dollar a day). It has fostered politicsof exclusion. The large majority of

Kenyans, who are excluded from effectiveparticipation and benefit, call into questionthe legitimacy of this small clique whichexercises national power. The cabal on

their part develops a laager mentality

claiming that they must retain power for theprotection of their ethnic group.The debate on constitutional review as a

basis for restructuring the state, which

began with the return to multipartydemocracy, gained momentum after the1997 elections. This debate was meant toaddress how to create a constitutional

mechanism that will enable all Kenyanshave a share in the exercise of state powerand prevent its monopolisation by anindividual or small group, so that this

power may be used to benefit Kenyansequitably.

The CKRC was formed and came up with a

draft constitution after intensive andextensive civic education and consultationwith the general public and various groups.Moi disbanded Bomas 1 before it met and

he dissolved parliament so that we went tothe 2002 elections under the oldconstitution.

NARC promised to deliver the BomasDraft to the people of Kenya within 100days of being elected. President Kibakihowever reneged on this promise. Under

his watch, the government came up withanother draft constitution, drafted by thethen Attorney General, Amos Wako, henceit was consequently referred to as the

Wako Draft. The Wako Draft, which was

a mutilation of the popular Bomas Draft,sought to retain the imperial presidentialsystem and powers against which theKenyan people had fought for so long. It

also perverted the desire of the Kenyanpeople to devolve power and resources tothe grassroots. The Orange movementdecisively triumphed over the Banana

movement which was made up of theGovernment of National Unity under theleadership of President Mwai Kibaki.

NARC and the Kibaki Era: The Death ofa Peoples Renewed Dream

2002 saw the emergence of NARC, a

popular peoples movement that sentKANU packing after 40 years of miss-rule.Kibaki was voted for by Kenyans from

across the country. NARCs popularity wasbased on leadership by a team representingthe interests of the various groupsconstituting the country.

NARC collapsed following dishonouring ofa MoU between the LDP and NAK andsubsequent hijacking of the government bya clique around the president.

The constitutional dream was killed as thegovernment failed to deliver a constitutionencompassing the aspirations of the

majority, culminating in the government

losing the 2005 referendum.

There was a renewal of rampant corruptionby senior government operatives. The

evidence of this began with the unearthingof the Anglo Leasing scam by the formerEthics PS, John Githongo (that led to hisfleeing to exile). Other schemes were also

subsequently revealed, rubbishing theNARC promise of being anti-corruption.

President Kibaki also blatantly raided the

opposition benches for government postsfollowing his fallout with the LDPmentioned above, resulting in a bloatedcabinet and a weak opposition. He also

resorted to using provincial administrationfor political party work especially indrumming up grass root support for his

party.

The State, Ethnicity and the NationalQuestion: The Politics of EthnicExclusion

The use of negative ethnic ideologies tocapture, retain, misuse and abuse state

power and public resources, positions and

opportunities for the benefit of a smallethnic cabal has been an ever presentcharacteristic of all Kenyan regimes sinceindependence. Perhaps it is this, more than

anything else that threatens our continued

existence as a united country. It has createdthe feeling of marginalisation and exclusionon the part of some and a misplacedsupremacist and hegemonic mentality on

the part of those who feel covered by thecloth of the state. If we are to resolve ourcurrent crisis, we must tackle this NationalQuestion.

It is therefore important for us tounderstand the basic concepts involved inethnicity and the national question. Kenya

is a country composed of different racesand ethnic groups.

An ethnic group is a community of people

with shared kinship and culture includinghistory, language and traditions. A nation isa large and stable community which shares

economic life, culture, history, languageand in many instances live in the samegeographical area. A state is an organisedgroup which controls behaviour of peoplein a geographical area and in many

instances is recognized by other states.

It is worth remembering that Kenya is acolonial creation and the national question

has never been negotiated. What does itmean to be Kenyan? An alien who residesin Kenya for five years continuouslyqualifies to be a Kenyan citizen. As an


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individual, an ethnic group or a nation

what is in Kenya for me? What do I expectfrom Kenya? What does Kenya expect fromme?

At independence, because of thenationalism and the shared experience ofcolonial subjugation, it was thought that inorder to mould a Kenyan nation, we had to

suppress our various ethnicities. However,our leaders who were entrusted with thetask of nation building instead created anethnic cabal which captured the state for

private aggrandisement. They essentiallycaptured and privatised the state. They

structured state organs and institutions

around their ethnic and personal interests.Paradoxically, these same institutions weresupposed to mould a nation.

In South Africa, Belgium, Switzerland andother states, which are multi-ethnic andmulti- national, state ideology recognizesindividuals, ethnicities and nationalities.

The law ensures equitable access toopportunities and resources by allindividuals and ethnic groups. This way, itis less likely for the institutions of the state

to be structured around the narrow interests

of an ethnic grouping. Our 2010

Constitution recognises this fact.

As we solve the current crisis, we must askourselves this question: do we want to

remain Kenyans? If the answer is yes, thenwe must ask: How? The only answer to thisquestion is to create a state in which eachindividual, ethnic group or nationality has a

defined and guaranteed stake ingovernance, access to economicopportunities and resources and enjoys fullhuman and social rights.

CORD Team dance with Supporters during CORD Campaign Rally at Bomet Stadium, Bomet County

The Orange is a Newsletter of the Orange Democratic Movement

Readers are invited to submit their articles for publication at the address given below:

Prof. Larry Gumbe

Email:[email protected]: 0713 764809

-The Orange Democratic Movement

Orange House

Menelik Road, Kilimani AreaP.O. Box 2478, 00202

Nairobi.Email:[email protected]

Check out our website atwww.odm.co.ke

Opinions of contributors are not necessarily those of the ODM.
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