I like the rhetoric by Joshua Kutuny, the Member of Parliament for Cherangani, in yesterday’s Star newspaper.
What he says is all too familiar from politicians when elections are around the corner. In 2002, we heard the same talk from the then opposition led by Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga, the late Wamalwa Kijana and others.
In 2007, we heard similar talk from Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and others who were running against president Kibaki on different political platforms. Just like Kutuny, these politicians made promises to the electorate, chief among them being that their administration will not tolerate corruption and nepotism and many other negative isms.
Kutuny should know that we as Kenyan voters are the wiser now! We will not be taken down the road just like that. Unlike Kutuny now who cannot show what he stands for or what he has done in this country, Kibaki, Wamalwa, Raila and other pro-reform advocates of the past had a solid resume as far as public service and agitation for reforms in the country was concerned, when they first ran against former president Moi for presidency in the 90s.
Currently, Kutuny belongs to the amorphous group the G7 that brings together players from different political parties. I think he is referring to that group when he says that “the only option left is to embrace a paradigm shift to a focused and visionary third force leadership.”
That is well said. But that is as far as Kutuny goes. Apart from mentioning the ills that bedevil the grand coalition government that is now governing in Kenya, he does not tell Kenyans how his group of “like-minded progressive Kenyans” will achieve its goal of liberating Kenya from the misrule of the grand coalition government.
Those who have been following the politics of the G7 know that other than bashing the prime minister, whom they perceive to be the only stumbling block between them and power after the 2012 elections, there is no clear vision that they have shared with Kenyans. They have no known manifesto.
If Kutuny and company were serious, they would by now have realized that Kenyans are getting tired of their parochial tirades against the prime minister in any public forum that they attend. Theirs has become a tired song and they need to come up with something fresh and realistic.
I wonder what they will be saying by the time the elections come in the later part of 2012. They have been going all over the country trying to sell the G7 or the United Democratic Party (UDM). This is good but they need to sell ideas that they hope will help to fight poverty in the country and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, a situation which Kutuny decries.
Kenyans want something much deeper than what Kutuny and his friends are talking about. They should come up with something more concrete than the rhetoric that they have been dishing out to voters in recent days.
Kutuny castigates President Kibaki, PM Raila and VP Kalonzo. To him, these gentlemen have failed the country. The irony about the position Kutuny has taken is that he is currently hobnobbing with politicians whose character is questionable as far as the Kenyan public is concerned. Even though he says that Kalonzo has failed since he is a part of the grand coalition government, the same Kalonzo is part of the G7 grouping.
Moreover, some of the politicians in the G7 group have been mentioned as having committed heinous crimes against Kenyans during the 2007/2008 post election violence. Even if the law says that one is innocent until proved guilty, just the fact that ones name has been mentioned in such circumstances raises serious doubts about their integrity and character. That fact alone should be reason enough for one to be cautious when dealing with such politicians.
When these politicians appeared before the International Criminal Court during the pre-trial hearings in the Hague some days back, I did not hear any of them express any remorsefulness for what happened in that orgy of violence other than trying to shift blame to others. So by keeping company with such people, what is Kutuny telling Kenyans? That he is comfortable being part of a team that has failed previously and has questionable character?
I think it is incumbent upon Kutuny and company to point out the specific failures of this government then give us the remedies for the same. But coming around to tell us that they are going to bring about the much desired changes by Kenyans, I think they are promising too much than what they can deliver if they form the next government. We have heard that previously and it didn’t happen.
Without seling their manifesto to Kenyans, no one is going to take Kutuny and company seriously, however hard they may try to sell the G7 or UDM.
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