September 7th
2005
STATEMENT
OF KENYANS IN
November
21st has been set by the Kenyan ruling class as the date for a national
referendum for a new Constitution. As the count down began, rotten politicians
allied to the corrupt Narc government began prattling on the necessity of
Kenyans to vote “Yes” to a distorted and mutilated Constitution. We take the
view that the Kibaki Constitution is in opposition to the National aspirations
of the Kenyan people who have been waging struggle for a new Constitution for
more than 4 decades.
The alternative that Kenyans vote “Yes or No” to “The Kibaki constitution” contradicts the reasons why Kenyans voted out the undemocratic dictatorship of former President Daniel arap Moi in December 2002.
When Moi refused to address the inadequacies in the KANU Constitution, thousands of lives were lost, people were sent to prison, activists forced into exile while hundreds of other Kenyans were maimed or crippled in the process of struggle for a new and democratic Constitution. By fidgeting with the Constitutional writing process, does Kibaki and his cohorts understand the history behind the real struggle for a new Constitution in Kenya?
After more than Ksh 4 billion was spent by the government to draft a new
Constitution that truly represented the wishes of Kenyans (The Bomas draft), the document was fraudulently referred to
Parliament, not to improve it but to water it down in favor of the wishes of
Mount Kenyan Mafia currently responsible for the looting and plunder of Kenya’s
resources.
During 24 years of ruthless dictatorship of
former President Moi, the most notable maladies of the colonial KANU
Constitution were to be found in sections that accorded the President God like
powers. In the Kibaki constitution, there is no fundamental difference because
the President is left with powers that effectively places his office above the
law. Kibaki wants the same powers
as his former boss Mr. Daniel arap Moi. The document
Kibaki has presented to the referendum cannot be ratified by any right thinking people
anywhere and Kenyans are no exception.
SAY NO!!
The butchered Bomas draft that President Mwai Kibaki is urging Kenyans to vote for leaves the President with powers to hire and fire vital officers of the State, just like the days of Moi. The powers of the Prime Minister proposed in the Bomas draft have also been reduced to an extent that will make any Prime Minister an effective puppet or errand boy of the President.
As Kenyans resident in Scandinavia, we have already studied the mutilated Kenyan Constitution in detail and our position is that Kenyans should reject it by voting “No”. A Constitution that was written by Kenyans themselves in the name of the “Bomas draft” exists. It is this Constitution that should have been brought before Kenyans for a referendum, not the altered version in Kibaki’s mangled brief case.
Political rags who have been mobilized to
campaign for a “Yes” vote are well known for both their carpet-crossing and turn-coating
at the slightest invitation to a “retreat” where they are routinely bribed to
vote yes to even the most obscene bills that have come before Parliament. These political elites are in business, not to
sell any products but to play with the future of
Other traitors like Professor George Saitoti, the Minister of Education, should be in jail after stealing billions of Tax payer’s money during the Moi dictatorship. The new Constitution should have contained clauses that make bandits who commit economic crimes like Saitoti to be charged with treason. The gang of fraudsters surrounding President Kibaki like Dr. Chris Murungaru, Mirugi Kariuki, Kiraitu Murungi, Simion Nyachae, Moody Awori, Amos Wako et al have no credibility to sit in government, leave alone campaign for a “Yes” vote. Is it an exaggeration to ask Kenyans to show these hooligans the door?
KIBAKI
CONSTITUION WILL PROTECT THE RICH
Kibaki is leading a regime of tainted land grabbers who have been responding to past crimes by setting up bogus money guzzling Commissions which have ended up protecting the rich. Kibaki, who is leading the “Yes” vote, has himself sold the country to imperialism. Foreign soldiers are walking away with crime while grand children of former colonial masters are walking away with cold blooded murder in our country. What is more?
We still remember how Kibaki tried to convert
Kenya into a one party state after taking power by suggesting that political
parties should be dissolved. He
failed when Kenyans rose strongly and told him to dissolve his own DP Party. That
is after he lied on the Memorandum of Understanding and cheated Kenyans that he
would create half a million jobs per year. The ailing President is on a new experiment
with his half-backed Constitution and we believe he is going to fail again!
Minority tribes like the Masaais continue to be marginalized while other Kenyans continue to be collectively expelled from their land without alternatives. National resources like Tiomin have been handed over to foreigners to exploit while the national economy is firmly on the hands of imperialist institutions – many thanks to Kibaki!
Kibaki’s campaign for a “Yes” vote is against a backdrop of landlessness that he has failed to address since he took over power. He is now telling Kenyans to accept a Constitution that will lease land to foreigners for 99 years. This is the same arrangement that has been protecting settler land grabbers in Kenya since the days of the colonial revolution. From our vantage point, we view the Kibaki Constitution as a document weaved to appease donors and to block the sharing of the national cake among all Kenyans!
Through the Privatization program, vital wealth producing institutions are being sold to multinational companies whose agenda is to deepen poverty in Kenya. The current Constitution is crafted to protect the rich property owners who form less than 10% of the Kenyan population. It is not intended to transform the lives of millions of Kenyans languishing in poverty.
THE CHURCH
SHOULD STOP WORKING WITH THE DEVIL
Since Kibaki took power, political assassinations, human rights
violations, torture in police cells, violent attacks on demonstrators, attacks
on striking workers and numerous other undemocratic practices that were seen
during the Moi dictatorship are back in
The Kibaki Constitution is silent on the question of a minimum living wage for workers who are living on starvation wages. This Constitution must be opposed by a strong “NO” so that President Kibaki can go into quiet retirement. As Kenyans in Scandinavia, we are united with all Kenyans at home and abroad mobilizing for a “No” vote.
At this critical time of national crisis manufactured by President Kibaki and his kitchen Cabinet, we wish to condemn the Church for opting to remain neutral in the situation. By sitting on the fence at this point, the Church is eroding its well documented history of struggle when Moi was murdering people. The Church’s current weak position is a betrayal of congregations they represent in Kenya because it amounts to telling their flock not to vote “No” in the referendum. This situation will only help Kibaki and it is for this reason that we also wish to urge the church to stop doing business with the devil that Kibaki has become. We urge the faithful in Kenya to defy their compromised Benz-riding figure-heads and vote “No”. This will help the nation!
FAGILIA
KIBAKI AND HIS SYCOPHANTS
The government has said that it will use “every means available” to get it’s way in the November referendum. We are confident that President Kibaki and thieves in his government are going to lose this game. We urge all Kenyans to take to the streets in case the President employs dirty Moi-like tactics and rigs the vote in his favor.
Kibaki was elected democratically. But this is the same case with Adolf Hitler in Germany whom, after his election, engineered one of the bloodiest genocides in the history of mankind. The Kibaki Kenyans elected is not the same person currently running against the wind, trying to get Kenyans to pass a counterfeit Constitution. We urge Kenyans to stop this old man in his tracks!
We, Kenyans in
Former dictator Moi was defeated through mass
mobilization and there is no reason why Kibaki should not have a taste of the
same medicine. The yes campaign is doomed. Fagilia (sweep) Kibaki and his sycophants with a
strong NO!!
Martin Ngatia: Kenya Peoples Democratic Movement (KEPEDEMO Mapinduzi)
Okoth Osewe: Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA)
Desmond Nyamu: Kenya Social Forum in Norway (KSF – Norway)
Betty Shangazi: Muungano Ya Akina Mama Scandinavia
Omariba Kadikiye: Organization of Kenyans in Denmark (OKD)
Christopher Omondi: Association of Kenyan Students in Finland (AKSIF)
Published by Kenya Socialist Democratic
Alliance (KSDA)
email: harakatips@hotmail.com