KENYA'S 4TH PRESIDENT

This is a dated post by kumekucha which is quite revolutionary by Kenyan standard, and he rightly says so. For this blogger, its not really so farfetched. The qualities i must say are what we really need to get to the next level.

Here it is:


The charade in Mombasa involving presidential hopeful Kalonzo Musyoka and a highly charged jeering crowd and the rest of the high drama revolving around ODM's selection of a presidential candidate is really occupying many Kenyans. One of the reasons for this is that many believe that if ODM sticks together and supports one candidate for the presidency, they will win the presidency hands down.

What we have all failed to do is to soberly look at the work that needs to be done so that we may seek the candidate best suited for the office of president. Many Kenyans choose to be "realists" instead and in the process we fall neatly into the plans of the political ruling class. I urge all you "realists" out there to spare a moment to read this article and also our guest post by a Michael Mundia Kamau. It is my hope that your eyes will be opened.

At the very least I beg you to think outside the box. Because we have some extraordinary challenges and problems facing us in Kenya just now, which cannot be solved using the same old tricks which have failed us in the past.

Many times, my ideas here have been dismissed and I have been called a dreamer. And yet the saddest thing that can ever happened to a human being is for them to stop dreaming. I once met an old man in his late 60s at a jua kali garage where I had taken my ramshackle of a vehicle for repairs. It was a time in my life when I was facing so many problems and auctioneers were around the corner waiting to pounce on my car at any time. The man looked at my car admiringly and said to the mechanic in Kikuyu that in his entire life he had never owned a car. That’s statement struck me and I realized that every little kid dreams of owning a car, but what happens along the way? Many of them become "realists" and they lose the dream and in many cases the chance to own their own car. I hope I am not getting too deep when I say that life gives only that which you demand and nothing more, nothing less. What a man can dream of having, deeply desire and even imagine having, life will always give. But "realists" true to their realism receive only what is within their realistic reasoning.

My question here has always been; even after the harsh reality and hard knocks of this life, can you dare dream? Are you man enough to dream of something bigger than a car? Can you dream big dreams? Like a just government led by a fearless courageous president (preferably not older than 45) ready to give all for the cause of a better Kenya? Can you dare dream of playing a part in installing such a president as the fourth president of Kenya?

But let us start with a job description. What is the job on hand waiting for the 4th president of Kenya? Here is a short list;

1) Must be courageous enough to constitute a truth and reconciliation commission to bury all the skeletons in Kenya's closet because that is the only way we can have a truly new beginning.

2) Be courageous enough to take some tough decisions that will be politically unpopular but will be for the greater good of the country, like 1) above which will mean various popular tribal chiefs confessing their terrible sins and thus destroying their future political careers to stay out of prison. Others will refuse to confess and will have to be jailed or punished according to the law.

3) Be courageous enough to end corruption from the top. President Kibaki sounded very determined making his acceptance speech shortly after being sworn in as the 3rd President on that unforgettable December day, 2002. So what happened after that? I will tell you. Powerful forces came into play and the president had to survive. He had to abandon the dream and be a realist. Kenya cannot afford a repeat in the fourth president, we are rapidly running out of time here.

4) Be courageous enough to tackle tribalism head-on. For starters by appointing persons from as many different tribes across the country as possible to key positions. And also by passing laws that will clamp down hard on tribalism and any future administration that will "want to do things the way they have always been done."

5) Courageous enough to tackle the huge land crisis which is a time bomb waiting to blow this country into many tiny fragments if it is not dealt with quickly, like yesterday.

6) Courageous enough to implement new creative (out of the box) ideas that will make use of the resources that we have in plenty lying idle in the country while Kenyans suffer. Resources like lots of idle land and idle labour (Kenya's labor force is the most highly skilled and qualified on the continent today). We also have plenty of sun that can be turned into electricity. Enough rain to end all our water problems with the right rain harvest and storage strategy and policies etc.

7) But most of all courageous enough to start their administration with one priority. To get Kenyans working whether it is abroad or locally, to create laws and policies that encourage existing employers to employ more people and also to grow small businesses dramatically with a lot of help from the government because small businesses are the largest creators of employment in the world (not big foreign investors establishing factories in Kenya. Did you see what happened with the EPZ's.)

With all due respect to my dear readers and their preferred presidential candidates, let us remember that what we are doing here is not the same thing as naming our favorite soccer striker in the English premiership. Or our favorite ice-cream flavor. This is a matter of grave importance. A matter of life or death for many ordinary voiceless Kenyans. In fact the lives of millions of Kenyans hangs on it and that of your children and great grand children many generations to come. We cannot afford to get it wrong this time. Resigning ourselves to 2012 is suicide because one wrong move and we will not have a country left by 2009 let alone 2012. Can't you see the writing on the wall?

With this in mind I respectfully disqualify the following candidates;

Raila Odinga: does not qualify because despite his demonstrated courage, there is no way he will be able to deal with corruption with the current structure in ODM because many (if not all) of his tribal chiefs he is relying on to corner votes in various parts of the country are suspects of grand corruption. William Ruto should tell us how he made his wealth. Sally Kosgei whom Raila has been warning up to also has scandals linked to her. Musalia Mudavadi knows a thing or two about Goldenberg (the single scum that impoverished and killed the largest number of Kenyans in the history of our country). The same thing that happened to President Kibaki's resolve is bound to happen to his come March 2008 when the pressure will be unbearable.

Kalonzo Musyoka: I do not want to repeat that it is a fact that he hid in the National assembly toilets to avoid voting on important matters of national importance in parliament. Mr Musyoka told the Sunday Nation that he is a revolutionary. I'm sorry but that is laughable. These are not the Kanu days when mere words and slogans were peddled countrywise as the gospel truth and Kenyans were forced to swallow it hook line and sinker or else… I have tried very hard to look for something courageous that this fellow tribes-mate of mine has done in his life and the only one that comes close was his attendance of the controversial ODM rally in Mombasa last weekend. And the fact that he asked a hammer wielding charged, emotional man in the crowd to pass the hammer to him. That was brave.

I can't imagine this guy driving out the influential drug Lords who control Kenya at the moment and have made the country one of the major transit points in the world for all sorts of illicit drugs. Or saying "No" to the corrupt moneyed and very dangerous individuals who are the real rulers of Kenya.

Let me stop there and drop names of two individuals who have proved their bravery and ability to risk everything on a matter or principal. This is what we badly need in Kenya today.

John Githongo: John Githongo's Dad is a close friend of the President. Imagine that! Githongo was so principled that he was willing to say "No" to his own family and close friends. In fact many Kikuyus view him as an enemy instead of the national hero that he is. Believe me it would have been very easy for John to just turn the other way and play ball and he would have been a very wealthy man today and comfortably living in his own country instead of in exile. And amongst other things his father's outstanding bank loan would have quickly been paid off a long time ago. It is not an impossible dream to get John Githongo elected the 4th President of Kenya. It can be done. All we need to do is agree and the means will be found quicker that you think.

I dream of a Githongo presidency that will give Kenya the true new beginning that we all seek.

Stephen Muiruri: The former Nation crime editor is an example of the kind of character that we should be thinking of for this high office. Don't laugh. Remember we agreed to think outside the box here. If you carefully study the kind of wars this brother of ours is fighting, you will begin to understand where I am going with this.

The 4th president will need to be a courageous fighter. This is not the time to dream of long motorcades and everybody calling you "your excellency" which is what the ODM brigade and everybody else is dreaming about.

I bet you none of them are thinking about the ordinary Kenyans who have lost all hope and now have to face the prospect of losing their head even when they are desperately confronting the challenge of putting food on the table amid record economic growth figures.

Somebody has put it in the minds of Kenyans, and sadly including readers of this blog that to be president somebody needs to be very well known and already a politician. I put it to you that as per the current constitution anybody can become president. ANYBODY. All he needs are votes. Al we need is a people-driven wave to sweep our chosen candidate to victory. We can put anybody we want on that seat as long as enough of us have unity of purpose. All we have to do is reach across all the imaginary tribal boundaries like we are starting to do in this blog and seat down and agree.

I dream of a situation where the Nark-Kenya brigade will be busy fighting amongst themselves over parliamentary seat nominees for the party as ODM holds endless discussions over which one of them will be the party's presidential candidate (the reason why they can't decide is because of GREED, nothing else) and meanwhile we ordinary folks say enough is enough and make our own plans. After all it is we who have the voting cards, is it not?

The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

There is nothing, which the mind of a man can imagine and dream about that cannot be turned into a reality.

Most of all my friends, I dream of the day when all of you will abandon your preferred presidential candidate for us to join together to change our country.

The above article was blogged by Kumekucha on July 10th 2007 and re-blogged here by Assidous.