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20 REASONS WHY PRESIDENT KIBAKI’S GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE OVERHTROWN BY KENYANS

17.10.05

Dear, friend!
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DISTRIBUTED BY:
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www.kenyasocialist.org
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October 12th 2005

20 REASONS WHY PRESIDENT KIBAKI’S GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE OVERHTROWN BY KENYANS

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“Since the President has lost the support of Kenyans he had when he took over
power, the decisive question is whether the masses can be mobilized to rebel
against his regime regardless of the outcome of the referendum”
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When we proposed last week that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) should
prepare the masses psychologically for Kibaki’s exit from power, it was not
because of any personal hatred of the President. The truth is that the election
of Mwai Kibaki as President of Kenya was an accident because Kenyans wanted to
remove former dictator Daniel arap Moi from power regardless of who took over
from Moi. The view was that there could be no progress in the democratic
struggle with Moi at the helm because of harsh conditions the former President
had imposed on Kenyans.

Current events in Kenya clearly indicate that Kibaki has served his purpose and
his continued stay in power is now more of a political liability because he is
driving the Nation backwards. Our perspective that Kibaki should be overthrown
through democratic means available is based on the premise that he will lose to
the Orange movement on November 21st and if he doesn’t quit after this defeat,
there will be a serious political crisis in Kenya that could plunge the nation
into total chaos.

The Narc government is split and in the event of an Orange victory, the regime
will not function, political tensions will rise while Kibaki and his henchmen
will simply be struggling to hang on to power against a rising mass movement
against the government. While we welcome the call by members of the Orange
Movement for a snap general election regardless of the outcome of the
referendum, we wish to strengthen the case for Kibaki’s quick exit because Kenya
needs a new leadership after the Narc disaster. We wish to outline some of
Kibaki’s major mistakes which dictates that he should go.

1. CONSTITUTION: After failing to deliver a Constitution 100 days after coming
to power, Kibaki hijacked a “people’s driven Constitution” drafted at Bomas
which he proceeded to mutilate through his lackeys in Parliament. Kenyans are
now being asked to vote for a Constitution that will extend dictatorship and
authoritarianism in the country indefinitely. This is unacceptable after Kenyans
witnessed the making of a dictator during Moi’s 24 years in power.

2. MEMORANDUM: Kibaki’s official nickname since his days as Moi’s Vice President
is “General Kiguoya” which means “General coward”. The President’s conmanship
and open deception saw him dump the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed
upon by his political allies before elections, a move responsible for the
current split in the Narc government. The MoU fiasco is evidence that Kenya has
a President who cannot be trusted.

3. TRIBALISM: Although Kenyans thought that they had elected a new President,
the person who seized power was a “photocopy of Moi”. Just like his former boss,
Kibaki has filled the government with members of his Kikuyu ethnic group, a move
that, in essence, promotes a vice hated the most by millions of Kenyans -
tribalism. With Kibaki in power, the fight against tribalism has been ditched
until he departs. Kibaki is a tribalist and advising him to stop tribalism is
like advising a vampire to stop sucking blood. It will never happen!

4. CORRUPTION: Institutionalized corruption was one major reason why Moi lost
power. After seizing the State machine, cases of corruption scandals in the
media have been chocking Kenyans like fish bones stuck in the esophagus. The
latest is a case of corrupt Generals sending Army helicopters to South Africa
for repairs. An old merchant ship was recently purchased and converted into a
naval ship in another corrupt deal that exploded in the media. After spending
billions of Tax payer’s money on the Goldenberg commission, Kibaki has failed to
bring to book thieves in the Goldenberg scandal while during his leadership,
Kenyans witnessed the explosion of the Anglo leasing scandal that forcefully
brought the issue of rot and corruption in Kibaki’s government to the national
arena. The President has refused to prosecute a single thief who has stolen
from the tax payer. Even his former anti-corruption boss, John Githongo, quit
because he was convinced that Kibaki had lost the will to fight corruption. An
estimated K
sh 40 billion has been stolen by Kibaki’s friends since the septuagenarian
assumed office. Why should Kibaki continue to remain in power?

5. WRONG PRIORITIES: While over 2 million Kenyans are facing starvation, Kibaki
is planning to build for himself a palace worth Ksh 100 million at Tax payer’s
expense. The issue is so real that it was brought before Parliament. Kibaki’s
speeches that he is fighting for the interest of Kenyans is therefore sheer
propaganda. A leader who plans to build a palace worth millions of money when
his people are starving has lost the moral authority to rule. Kibaki must go!

6. ARREST OF JOURNALISTS: After Narc came to power, the illegal arrest of
journalists and attempts to muzzle the media were considered bygones of the Moi
era. During the Kibaki Presidency, Kenyans have witnessed with “shock and awe”
the return of intimidation, harassment and arrest of journalists doing their job
in Kenya. With Kibaki as President, there is no reason to indicate that the
situation will change in the future. This is why Kibaki has become a spent force
who should be disposed of. A golden opportunity to do this by way of referendum
has presented itself and Kenyans must not let this chance slip away. Let the
referendum be a vote of no confidence in the government and subsequently a
reason for snap elections so that Kibaki can go.

7. BRIBING VOTERS: A part from direct rigging of elections, former President Moi
used to buy and destroy votes especially in opposition strongholds as a way of
winning elections. Kibaki is bribing voters with land while Councilors are being
enticed with “pay hikes” to vote “Yes” in the coming referendum. The Provincial
administration has been rounded up and ordered to campaign for the “Yes” side.
State funds are being used in the referendum to support the “Yes” campaigns
because Kiraitu Murungi has said that the “Yes” campaign is a “government
project”. Are there any other reasons why Kibaki should not be relieved of his
duties?

8. 500,000 JOBS: There is nothing as disappointing as promising poor unemployed
youth jobs which cannot be delivered. This is exactly what Kibaki did during the
campaigns. 11 million unemployed Kenyans were promised 500,000 jobs per year and
they believed and voted for Kibaki. Three years down the line, not a single job
has been created because the government is unable to invest in construction and
industry, the surest way of creating jobs. Promises of better housing for the
poor in slum areas have all evaporated. Instead, Kibaki has supported a salary
increment of MPs to more that Ksh 500,000 while the President has himself cut a
pay package of Ksh 2 million with a monthly “entertainment allowance” of Ksh
200,000. Didn’t some English men say “enough is enough”?

9. LANDLESSNESS: Land is a sensitive issue in Kenya because millions of Kenyans
remain landless more than 4 decades after the Mau Mau freedom fighters took up
arms to fight for land. Instead of addressing the issue of landlessness, Kibaki
is using the issue of land to blackmail a section of Kenyans in the Rift Valley
into voting “Yes” at the referendum. What could be more dirty? This is after
these Kenyans were violently evicted from their land by the government which
also destroyed millions worth of property. Kibaki needs to go so that pending
issues like the land question can be addressed by a new leadership committed to
resettling the landless in Kenya.

10. RULING BY THE MAFIA: There is nothing worse than a whole government being
left on the hands of a small Mafia cartel that operates outside the law. The
core of Kibaki’s Mafia troupe is composed of Mirugi Kariuki, Chris Murungaru,
Kiraitu Murungi, David Mwiraria, John Michuki, Njenga Karume among others. These
Kikuyu chauvinists have and continue to behave as though they own Kenya. Our
view is that to end the rule by the Mafia, Kibaki must give room!

11. COMMISSIONS AND TASK FORCES: There is a tactic Moi used to employ to buy
time whenever his government was in crisis. It was called “ruling by Commissions
and Task forces”. Kibaki set up the Goldenberg commission but then what
happened? Leading Commissioners were corrupted, Kibaki failed to act and now
nothing tangible has come out of the Commission despite having spent billions of
tax payer’s money on it. The Ndungu Land Report has been ditched by Kibaki
because too many thieves in the government have been implicated in land scandals
including Kibaki himself. The Ouko Commission Report has not been released
because of political reasons. Instead, its Chairman Mr. Gor Sungu has been taken
to court for trying to get Dr. Ouko’s killers to answer charges. We could go on
and on. There is no end to reasons why Kibaki should continue residing in State
House!

12. TEACHERS CHEATED: There are workers in Kenya living on what is called
“starvation wages”. This lot includes teachers who were cheated by Kibaki that
their pay hikes awarded by Moi in 1998 would be paid after Narc came to power.
Teachers voted for Narc “in toto”. To date, this promise has not been honoured,
exposing Kibaki as a deceiver of workers who cannot be relied upon. Any promise
Kibaki now makes to Kenyans is dismissed as propaganda. How can he continue to
remain President when his only listeners are his cronies and fellow ethnic
cahauvists?

13. KIBAKI’S TERM: When he took power, Kibaki promised to step down once his 5
year term of office is over. Still on the point of dishonesty, Kibaki has
declared that he will stand for President in 2007, shocking many Kenyans who
thought that Kibaki was just a “transition President”. If there is no pressure
now for Kibaki to go, we might soon read about Kibaki wanting to become
“President for Life”. Honestly speaking, can Kenyans take this kind of hog wash
any longer?

14. ATTACKS ON WORKERS: Kenyans witnessed with amazement when Kibaki sent riot
police to brutalize workers who had simply gone on strike to demand for “living
wages”. This is what Moi used to do to contain industrial actions. As if that
was not enough, Civil servants who decided to go on strike to press for better
working conditions and higher wages were sacked by the government. Within a very
short period of time, strike actions have been banned and workers intimidated.
Kenya, under Kibaki, is one of the most anti-worker government in Africa today.
Kibaki should go to pave the way for workers to organize and play a role in the
running of the government. This should be the next item on the agenda in a post
Kibaki regime.

15. POLITICAL ASSASSINATION: Professor Odhiambo Mbai, who was chairing the
“Devolution of power Committee” during the Conference at Bomas to draft the
Constitution Kibaki has mutilated, was assassinated in cold blood. According to
video evidence by suspects, members of the ruling class and other Kibaki allies
were named as having been behind the assassination. Instead of moving to unearth
the truth as to who was responsible, Kibaki arrested the journalist who
uncovered the evidence, charged him in court before releasing him due to
external pressure. The issue is that political assassinations are back in Kenya
under our own Kibaki. What does this say about his future as President?

16. SHOOT TO KILL ORDERS: The order to police “to shoot suspected criminals on
sight” was a past time of former President Moi. John Michuki, Kibaki’s Minister
for Internal security, has ordered police to give suspected criminals the same
treatment of death. As a consequence, hundreds of Kenyans have been summarily
executed by police in the streets. The rise in crime is not due to any “natural
urge” of Kenyans to commit crime but due to lack of alternative ways of making a
living because the government is bankrupted and cannot create jobs. As police
conduct executions in the streets, a former Commissioner of Prisons disclosed
that 20 percent of Kenyans languishing in prisons are innocent. Both the police
and the army have been unable to intervene after Kenyan ships are hijacked by
war lords in stateless Somalia yet the President has been quick to set his
security forces to execute Kenyans in the streets for suspected crimes. Kenya
needs a new and fresh leadership that can provide lasting security to citizens a
nd steer clear from public executions conducted by State police.

17. ONE PARTY STATE: In 1982, Kibaki engineered the conversion of Kenya into a
one party dictatorship on the eve of the formation of the Kenya Socialist
Alliance. After coming to power on a Narc ticket, Kibaki began proposing that
Narc’s affiliate parties should dissolve, a proposal that was strongly opposed
by Kenyans who saw it as an attempt to erect a new monolithic government in
Kenya. The point is that Kibaki has been there for too long and he takes several
things for granted. What the President should do is to go into retirement for
when will he enjoy his retirement benefits if he is approaching 80 and still
wants to cling on to power?

18. PURCHASE OF JUSTICE: Under Kibaki’s government, the grand son of Lord
Delemare, a former colonial master, murdered a Kenyan national in cold blood.
There was hope when the murderer was arrested and brought to court but that is
where the hope ended. The Attorney General ordered that the murderer be released
because there was insufficient evidence to try him. This was despite eye witness
account of what happened. The issue here is that justice in Kibaki’s Kenya is
being dispensed selectively. The rich are able to buy justice while the poor are
incarcerated. Are there any further reasons why Kibaki should not go?

19. KENYA IS SOLD: For a “developing country” like Kenya, the government needs
to have a firm grip on the country’s economy. Instead of increasing government
control of major economic activities in Kenya, Kibaki is either allowing
multinational companies to take control of the commanding heights of the economy
or selling State enterprises to these multinationals under the privatization
program. We have a tea industry worth 43.5 billion and out of this, 78 percent
is on the hands of foreign companies. The tourism industry is worth Ksh 42
billion and 71 percent is on the hands of foreign companies. We have 43 banks in
Kenya and more than 38 are foreign owned. The Stock Exchange is populated with
foreign companies. In simpler terms, the country has been sold to foreign
interests and Kibaki is doing nothing about this. High prices of consumer
commodities precipitated by spiraling inflation has made life impossible for
millions of workers, peasants and the unemployed who can hardly put a square
meal on the table.
It is official that 56 percent of Kenyans are living below the poverty level.
With Kibaki as President, Kenyans can only expect further empty promises and
further exploitation of workers as poverty increases and the rich continue to
get richer.

20. KIBAKI TOO OLD: Kibaki is a pre-independence politician who has been there
for too long. In the process, he has come to assume that Kenya is a large and
personal business empire. We refer to 15 years of misrule of first President
Mzee Jomo Kenyatta when Kibaki was in government before Kenyans went through
another 24 years of Moi’s dictatorship with Kibaki in government for 10 years as
Moi’s Vice President.. Even if he was a brilliant and astute politician, it is
time for him to call it a day. Kibaki’s advanced age and ill health could be a
contributing factor to the current crisis in Kenya.

CONCLUSION:
We believe that the overthrow of President Kibaki could be done in a peaceful
and democratic manner. Since the President has lost the support of Kenyans he
had when he took over power, the decisive question is whether the masses can be
mobilized to rebel against his regime regardless of the outcome of the
referendum. A sure way to get Kibaki out will be to convince a vast section of
workers to down their tools while at the same time mobilizing these workers and
and the 11 million strong unemployed youth into the streets with demands for
better wages, better working conditions, jobs for the youth, land to the
landless and calls for Kibaki to quit. The Orange team is well crafted to fill
the power vacuum and to further open the democratic space for revolutionary
politics needed to end Neo-colonialism and imperialist domination in our
country.

There is no number of police or army that will be able to beat a determined
people. Moi failed during the struggle for political pluralism. Governments have
been toppled by organized masses the world over. President Kiabki is now a
hindrance to Kenya’s democratic struggle and as the defeat of his government in
the November referendum appears imminent, this defeat will only advance the
struggle in Kenya if it is carried to its logical conclusion of Kibaki’s
overthrow from power. From the point of view of KESDEMO, this is the best way
forward.

Martin Ngatia
Interim Chairperson
ngatia_martin@hotmail.com

Okoth Osewe
Interim seceratry
osewe@hotmail.com

Kenya Scandinavia Democratic Movement (KESDMO)

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KESDEMO (Kenya Scandinavia Democratic Movement) is an umbrella Movement bringing
together Kenya People’s Democratic Movement (KEPEDEMO Mapinduzi), Kenya
Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA), Kenya Social Forum in Norway (KSF-Norway),
Muungano Ya Akina Mama Scandinavia, Organization of Kenyans in Denmark (OKD) and
Association of Kenyan Students in Finland (AKSIF). We also work with the Kenya
Socialist Community in London.
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