The one piece of advice Orezo should have heeded

By RAILA ODINGA

As President Kibaki goes about making the eagerly-awaited decisions about the Cabinet and other high-level appointments, he seems to be entirely unaware that the people overwhelmingly rejected a constitution which would have given him the right to make such appointments without consulting with the Narc affiliate parties.

The President has been holding meetings with his well-known group of businessmen, Banana leaders like Mr Njenga Karume who opposed Narc in 2002, church leaders who refused to advise their faithful on the referendum, foreign envoys and other individuals and groups. But he has refused to hold discussions with the true stakeholders, who are referendum winners, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), one part of which, the Liberal Democratic Party, helped propel him to the presidency in 2002.

The President's approach to these appointments violates the spirit of the current Constitution, which he seemingly was only too happy to revert to in his speech conceding at the referendum.

To negotiate directly with opportunistic individuals who use political parties solely for the purpose of personal gain is most imprudent. We, in the leadership of Orange Democratic Movement, have clearly indicated in numerous statements that we are ready to discuss with him the new Cabinet and other urgent post-referendum issues.

The most important among these is the need to chart the way forward on a new constitution. In our Naivasha resolutions adopted last Friday, we specifically asked the President to facilitate a meeting between the Banana and Orange groups as a matter of national priority in order to address the anxiety of the people of Kenya on the future of the Constitutional review process.

We have also stated repeatedly that we will not accept approaches of the kind that are being made to individual ODM leaders about joining the Cabinet.

Doing so would be a complete betrayal of all those millions who supported us in rejecting the proposed constitution and in seeking a new political dispensation. We stated during the campaign that the new constitution undermined political parties, which are the lifeblood of democracy, by allowing Cabinet appointments made through individual arrangements. The ODM leadership will, therefore, immediately expel any members who join the Cabinet through such private arrangements.

The repeated assertions by the President and his allies that they would triumph on November 21 showed how completely out of touch with people's views and passions they were. But what is more astonishing is that their isolation from the nation's mood continues after their devastating referendum defeat. They seem unaware that a transformed political environment now prevails in Kenya.

For the first time in our history, seven out of our eight provinces and 152 out of 210 constituencies voted for the same cause. And for the second time in three years, Kenyans have inflicted heavy political defeats on the Government of the day.

In continuing with business as usual, and by unconstitutionally banning our provincial thanksgiving rallies, the Government has once again thrust upon us the kind of situation that preceded the 2002 elections, with one major difference. Whereas the two principal presidential candidates in 2002 were both from Central Province, and received support from every corner of the country, the referendum results now reveal a deep divide between that province and the rest of the country.

This kind of isolation has been imposed by short-sighted Banana leaders on the people in the province, for the first time in history. The Orange Democratic Movement is determined to avoid such divisions.

That is why, from our very first victory statement, we reached out to our brothers and sisters in the Banana camp, and offered to work with the Government to chart the way forward. But the leaders who lost in the referendum continue to avoid seeing reality by down playing the significance of the people's verdict and claiming that it was merely a verdict on the constitution that alters nothing in the political landscape.

There is, however, ample evidence to indicate that the November 21 result also reflected people's lack of trust in the Government and dissatisfaction with both its commitment as well as ability to deliver on its promises on jobs and corruption, and on an inclusive and national approach to governance.

In any case, the Banana leadership itself proclaimed that a win for the Wako Draft would be a vote of confidence in the Government. Now they are studiously avoiding the issue of confidence. The celebrations that greeted the referendum results are not unlike the euphoria that swept the country when Narc won the elections three years ago. Kenyans were ranked in a Gallup International poll as the world's most optimistic people, and the Government was rapturously applauded at home and abroad for making Kenya the first country to sign the new international convention against corruption.

The change of the mood over the last three years is a result of severe disappointments in the Narc Government on two crucial issues: corruption and good governance, the latter including the non-delivery of the constitution the people wanted.

It is universally recognised that the popularity of Narc came out of its representation of the mosaic of the Kenyan people as a legitimate coalition government, crafted by the leaders through the Memorandum of Understanding.

But as soon as he took power, the President began to behave as if his Democratic Party alone had won the election, dispensed with any consultations with his coalition partners and dismantled Narc governing organs.

At the time, there was strong opposition within LDP to our accepting positions in the Government after Kibaki reneged on our pre-election coalition arrangements. I counselled compromise, believing that while the President was on a wheelchair after having suffered stroke, any serious divisions would create instability in the country. Unfortunately, our magnanimity was seen as a weakness. We will not make the same mistake again. But it is still not too late for the President to initiate consultations with us.

It is vital that he lead the way towards restoring national as well as international confidence in Kenyans' ability to pull together, as they so clearly showed in the 2002 election and in the current referendum by voting peacefully, with even the losers happily accepting the outcome.

The only way to move forward is a collegial and participatory approach among all the political parties in Parliament.

The writer is the Langata MP and former Roads minister Source: www.eastandard.net

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