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REFERENDUM: “NO CAMP” SHOULD PREPARE FOR KIBAKI’S EXIT
FROM POWEER
Soon after President Mwai
Kibaki took power in January 2003, thousands of poor
Kenyans in the Rift valley were violently evicted from their land by armed
security bandits in a brutal and merciless act of State sponsored terrorism in
This desperate
announcement of “resettlement” by the President should be the latest and one of
the strongest indicators that the
To underline the fear
of a doomsday scenario that has engulfed the President and his loyalists, Kibaki has disastrously incorporated intermittent use of
foul language in his public speeches to lace government propaganda for a “Yes”
vote. By using words like “Wapumbavu” (stupid people) and “Mavi ya kuku” (chicken shit) to refer to “No”
sayers being led by his own rebel Cabinet Ministers
like Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka, the President is
actually exposing himself as having a “chicken brain” for how on earth did he
appoint “mavi ya kuku” to
his Cabinet in the first place? One “Pumbavu” called
Prof Anyang Nyongo is actually
the National Planning Minister!
Condemn the arrest of MPs, David Mwenje and Reuben Ndolo
We salute the Kenya
National Union of Teachers (KNUT) for their strong opposition to the Kibaki Constitution and declaration that KNUT members will
vote “No” on November 21st. We call upon the Central Organization of Trade
Unions (COTU), the Kenya Civil Servants Union, the Kenya National Army, The
National Police Force, Student organizations, all Unions not allied to COTU and
millions of youth across the country to follow suite because this Constitution
is a national document which should be written for posterity, not for personal
political ambitions of individual wealth grabbers.
We send warm
solidarity greetings to Mombasa Mayor Taib Ali Taib for his mature
decision to abandon “the sinking Banana ship” on time to join the growing
As the “No” camp
begins to smell victory, we believe that the “No” campaigners should begin a coordinated
psychological preparation of the masses for Kibaki’s
exit from power after the impending funeral service of the “Yes” vote on
November 21st. We take the view that the “Yes” vote will not emerge
from the “Intensive Care Unit” where it is currently in complete comatose.
We condemn the arrest
of two MPs and prominent
Arrest Murungaru for
criminal activities
After openly breaking
the law, known criminal members of the ruling class are escaping the loop
without recording a single statement with police while government opponents and
journalists doing their work are being hounded by police in massive operations
in the name of “State security”. Dr. Chris Murungaru,
a Cabinet Minister and Kibaki’s political bed-mate, masterminded
an attack this year on a white farmer in his Kieni
constituency in revenge after the Minister was banned from entering
The issue here is that
the Kibaki government is dispensing justice
selectively, just like former dictator Moi did. It’s
simple. Opponents are persecuted and supporters get away with crime. A clean
defeat at the referendum should be a big step towards kicking the capitalist
gangsters who have taken control of KANU’s
instruments of violence which they are using gleefully, not just to get their
way but also to violate the rights and freedoms of Kenyan citizens. Both Mwenje and Ndolo claimed that
they were tortured by police while Kenyans have suddenly started fearing
illegal arrests by security police in a convoy of civilian cars. Hasn’t Kibaki done enough damage already to warrant his exit from
power or is it us exaggerating the situation?
Even with the colonial
KANU Constitution, the ruling class under President Kibaki
is above the law. What the Kibaki Constitution does
is that it provides further and more dangerous loop holes to enable the ruling
class to continue remaining above the law and this is why the “Yes” camp should
lose. We don’t have to give further examples where John Michuki
has not recorded a single statement after ordering police to execute innocent
civilians in the streets in the name of controlling crime. Whenever police
execute their victims, they call journalists and after delivering a one-sided
story, the matter normally ends there without any further investigations. The Kibaki Constitution should be opposed because it does not
alter the above status quo. Human life is precious and in any democratic
society, police should be accountable especially when they take away the life
of an innocent Kenyan citizen.
Defeating the wealthy Kikuyu ruling class
On two separate occasions,
Kibaki tried to come to power using votes from
members of his Kikuyu ethnic group and failed. It was only after he combined
forces with other ethnic groups that he came to power. Now, the President has
erected a monolithic “Kikuyu government” and is treating other ethnic groups
like “Mavi ya kuku”,
calling them “Wapumbavu”.
The “Yes” campaign has officially been dubbed “a government project” by Kiraitu Murungi while political
opportunists like John Michuki are being used to
remind the Kikuyu “to sleep soundly” because the government is firmly under
Kikuyu control. We urge Kenyans not to
be cheated with these outmoded power games played by looters trying to split
the country on ethnic lines to postpone liberation from neo-colonialism.
Our view is that there
are two classes of Kikuyus in
The second Kikuyu
belongs to the class Franz Fanon described as “The Wretched of the earth”. They
are the harassed sukuma wiki hawkers
and poor landless squatters in their own country. This Kikuyu wakes up every
morning without food in Mathare
valley or Korogocho
along side other oppressed Kenyan tribes languishing in perpetual poverty and
hoping for liberation by high flying wealth grabbers in government. The wealthy
Kikuyu is no comparison to the exploited Kikuyu worker who toils everyday day
but lives from hand to mouth because of poverty wages.
Under capitalism, the
above arrangement is the same with all members of the ruling classes regardless
of their ethnic groups. A defeat of the “Yes” vote will be a defeat of the
Kikuyu ruling class, not a defeat of the Kikuyu community as ethnic chauvinists
in the “Yes” camp would like Kenyans to believe. A “No” victory will be a
victory for workers, peasants, students and millions of unemployed youth regardless
of their ethnic origin. The fundamental question will be the destination of the
Kenyan revolution after the “Yes” vote is comfortably buried.
The need for a “Plan B”
In mobilizing for a “No”
vote, Kenyans ought to remember that President Kibaki
engineered the transformation of
He jumped ship only
after he was dropped by former President Moi as Vice
President before setting up his Kikuyu populated Democratic Party. After the
defeat of Moi in 2002, we are where we are because Kibaki has converted the government into a play ground of a
thin layer of Kikuyu fanatics around him who are playing hopeless political
chess games at State House in the false name of the Kikuyu ethnic group.
Thirty two million
Kenyans will never again accept to be dominated by one ethnic group but Kibaki and his bogey men have not understood this important
point. From his brand of leadership characterized by deception, corruption, Moi-style tactics and open subterfuge, Kibaki
is the last person who can be trusted with the drafting of a new Constitution. The
President has all the credentials of a person who can try and rig the vote in
his favor as a matter of survival. If this happens, we believe that the “No”
camp should have a “Plan B” in the run up to the November vote.
Mr. Martin Ngatia
Interim Chairperson
ngatia_martin@hotmail.com
Mr. Okoth Osewe
Interim Secretary
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KESDEMO is an umbrella
Movement bringing together Kenya People’s Democratic Movement (KEPEDEMO Mapinduzi), Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA),
Kenya Social Forum in
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Published by Kenya Socialist Democratic
Alliance (KSDA)
email: harakatips@hotmail.com