Open Letter To President Uhuru Kenyatta

Dear Mr. President,

Thank you for your great speeches that have given comfort and hope to many Kenyans during this trying time. I would also like to pass my condolences on the loss of your Nephew and his fiance, the loss of your/our country men and women. It is unfortunate that Kenya has to go through such a horrific tragedy. It has been said and it looks like there was a failure in the part of the government security apparatus resulting in the tragedy.

I will not get into the past but will put a few pointers for the post tragedy. Mr. President, I have never been a fan of yours and I doubt if that will change any time soon but there is a possibility that you could. I will start with the main message that I got from your speech. Many liked your speech and I must say that I was looking for every opportunity to dig holes into it but I was not successful. The only thing left for me after trying my best was to rush to a conclusion that it was all rhetoric and no action. So Mr. President, you have a chance to win me over and if you do, so will you win over many more Kenyans who do not care for you.

The main message that I got from you is that “WE ARE ONE.” My understanding of this is that, even though we have 42 tribes in Kenya, we are all Kenyans and belong to one Kenyan family. I hope I got the message right Mr. President. Your predecessor President Mwai Kibaki was a good man, I wouldn’t say I was a fan of his but I respected him as an elder. The problem I had with him was that he demonstrated a negative attitude towards the message “WE ARE ONE.” He may have said the words but his actions demonstrated otherwise and it is what I’d like for you to fix.

It was whispered to me that you will be chairing a National Security Council meeting today. Out of curiosity, I looked up who would be attending the meeting and my list came up as follows Uhuru Kenyatta, Githu Muigai, Mutea Iringo, Thuita Mwangi, Ndegwa Muhoro, Micheal Gichangi and David Kimaiyo. I know when you sit in that meeting, something will strike you about your “WE ARE ONE” message. You have spoken and declared that “WE ARE ONE.” From the National Security Council meeting that you had, I feel left out of the equation and so do many other Kenyans. The “WE ARE ONE.” message gets distorted and takes on a different meaning that I’m sure is not what you meant in your great speech.

The Westgate tragedy brought out the true Kenyan spirit Mr. President. You managed to capture that spirit in your speech. Can you capture that spirit in your actions? Ordinary Kenyans showed the world that “WE ARE ONE” by their actions and with their blood. Many lost blood and in their moment of need, many more lined up to share blood with those who needed it. A true “WE ARE ONE.” action. The ball is now in your court Mr. President, will you emulate them? Normally leaders provide the direction but this time Mr. President, the ordinary citizens have provided you with a direction to follow. You said “WE ARE ONE.” in words but Kenyans have signed a covenant and symbolized through their blood that “WE ARE ONE.” It is time for you to show commitment to this covenant by your actions. If you do Mr. President, you shall have won me and many Kenyans over. Kenyans await!!!!!

In Solidarity,

Eric Otiende

Kenya’s Parliament Must Apologize And Accept Responsibility………

   

 In June parliament approved the nomination of  Joseph ole Lenku as cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government. Dagorreti North MP Simba Arati however opposed the Motion arguing that Lenku was not qualified for the job.  “We cannot have a conductor jumping onto a pilot seat. We will have failed completely,” he explained. Now Parliament is furious claiming laxity in what is genuinely incompetence. They placed a man with experience in arranging relaxation to head a government department needing round the clock vigilance. Simba Arati has been vindicated by his peers. They nominated an unqualified person and now the result is a devastation to the country. Not to be left off the hook is President Uhuru Kenyatta. He nominated Lenku knowing very well that the closest Lenku had been to Internal State functions and disaster management was hiring watchmen to guard sleeping hotel guests. Yes we are one but on this one it is a one Jubilee mess that they need to accept and this time, Kenyans should not move on. They need to demand for the punishment of those responsible. Since the start of the tragedy, the President has made some very good speeches just like he did when nominating Mr Lenku. My personal opinion is that where as a good speech is soothing and may provide comfort, it is temporary and deceiving. If the President had true remorse and the interest of the country at heart, he would be showing it rather than telling us. The action I would expect from him would be to immediately apologize to Kenyans for poor judgement and to replace Mr Lenku. I see why this would be difficult for Uhuru. He himself was missing in action for over 10 hours, most likely having been given a comfortable bed by Mr Lenku where he felt very safe and very secure thus the trust in Lenku. 

    Kenyans need to see this government for exactly what it is and the appointment of Mr Lenku sheds a lot of light on it. This is a government that from the beginning wanted to go to sleep. They hired the most experienced lodging manager to make sure that they slept in comfort and it is telling less than three months after the culprit took office. We now have many Kenyans dead and property lost. The most amazing word that came from this individual, in a press conference televised to the whole world was the word “Mattress”. Surely, this man walks, sleeps and feeds on relaxation as a profession and a life style. Can someone please tell me how one could confuse Mr Lenku for a Internal State functions and disaster management professional? 

Propaganda Will Not Fly In Court And Ruto Recognizes The Fact

Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto and his Co-accused Joshua arap Sang took their places in the courtroom before the judges arrived both appearing relaxed and in good moods. Ruto and Sang are charged with orchestrating  the post-election violence that rocked Kenya in 2007/2008. The trials have now officially begun.

The prosecution took its turn to present their opening statement in which they portrayed the alleged crimes as not just random and spontaneous acts of brutality but as a carefully planned and executed plan of violence with Ruto’s ultimate goal being to seize political power for himself and his party in the event they could not do so via the ballot box.

What is important in these proceedings is the fact that propaganda time is over and time to deal with facts has finally arrived. It should be pointed out that Ruto’s  lawyers had prior to the trials warmed up to the ODM brass and looking at the teams opening statement, it looks like they have settled on throwing away the propaganda that we heard on the campaign trail and are sticking to the facts as they stand. I think with this new strategy, Ruto is bound to clear his name. One thing about a court room is that propaganda doesn’t fly. It is the place where facts overwhelm feelings and opinions. It is interesting that after blaming Raila Odinga for his woes at the Hague, Ruto has publicly brought Raila as his first witness via video. It was powerful to have the court room watch Raila Odinga’s call for peaceful Mass Action de-banking the widespread propaganda that ODM had called for Violence.

It now appears that the way out for Ruto would be to embrace his former party and denounce his political speeches from the last two years. Ruto now has to embrace the truth and clear his former party and boss from the plethora of propaganda that he and his new detractors TNA spewed. It is time for Ruto to accept that PEV in 2008 was spontaneous and he is innocent. It is not time for him to antagonize ODM on the contrary, it is time for him to call out PNU. It will now be evidently clear that unlike what was said on the campaign trail, the real responsibility for Ruto landing in ICC is not ODM but PNU. His lawyers will have to bring out the facts and point at the real enemies of Ruto. It will no longer be a tirade towards ODM but an embrace of ODM. 

Finally some truth will be shed and hopefully, the truth will set Ruto free. Looking at Ruto in court, one could sense a man who was getting comfortable with himself, the truth was beginning to come out and his soul was opening up. The time for reckoning is here. He has finally embraced Henry Kosgey’s line of defense. PEV were spontaneous acts and ODM did not call for violence but peaceful mass action. If Ruto uses this approach as a line of defense, then I do not see how he gets convicted. The trials have begun, let us see how they develop and come to an end.