While it is healthy to argue what is best for Kenya and What ideal leaders ought to offer for Kenya, it is imperative that as a democracy we must not forget or push from the limelight the significant issues that brought the whole impasse in Kenya which facilitated all these deaths and created all the IDPs.
ECK failed the Kenya People in the last elections by declaring Mwai Kibaki as winner for the Presidency while Kibaki had lost to Raila Odinga. This is ultimate abuse of any democratic ideals any country can tolerate. As a Kenyan I want that error to be corrected for justice to be seen to be done. ECK ought to have nullified the results and ordered for fresh elections to avoid the violence and brutal killings by police that followed. I would like to see Kibaki, PNU and Kalonzo Musyoka to respect the outcome of the elections and give the Preseidency back to the party (ODM) which won the seat comfortably before the infamous blackout. Secondly, it would be important to disband ECK and indict the commissioners, the CJ, AG, and all the Senior Government Officials who took part in the illegal swearing-in ceremony at State House period. All other mediations on who gets what in the government should never be allowed to take centre stage. Kibaki lost the elections
 and he should vacate State House immediately. There is no need to hold Kenya at ransom and expect that things will change by some miracle.

 Subject: RE: Constitutional Change 

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:21:38 

ODM is for Bomas Draft while PNU is for “WAKO draft” I agree. having said this, ODM needs to pull out. Some time back, someone recommended in this forum that ODM needed to pull out. Now I see such need. Kabaki is playing games with people’s lives. I thought PNU would be civil about this matter but they are not. How can WAKO Draft, a loosing document even be considered in this matter? I don’t think these people are looking ahead at all. There will be a civil war if this matter is not resolved accordingly. Kenya will have to be divide or there will be a civil war. Kabaki can take Eastern Kenya and Central and ODM take the rest. ODM is for Federal System which we all like and PNU is for dictatorship and mismanagement of resources.
 
Thanks,

Gerald 

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 Subject: Constitutional Change 

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:53:10 

ODM is for “Bomas Draft” while PNU is “WAKO Draft”.  Bomas Draft deafeted Wako Draft in the last referendum. Do we all agree to this at least?

With WAKO Draft having been overwhelmingly shot down by majority of Kenyans during the referendum do we still need to argue how long it should take to change the constitution? Kenya already has a new Draft Constitution in place, the BOMAS Draft. At the very most, it should take less than 2 weeks to enact this Document as the new Constitution for Kenya. From then, our Parliament can embark on legislative debates for necessary ammendments i.e. 1st amendment, 2nd amendment etc

Of priority right now is to put in place the New Constitution (BOMAS Draft), begin the process of transitioning to a devolved government, start building solid institutions that cannot be abused by anyone.

Kibaki still argues as if there was no new Constitution in place. Talking of 12 months to write a new Constitution is to say the least showing off ones ignorance to the extreme. Does Kibaki understand that Kenyans already wrote a new Constitution while he became complacent during his last five years in office. Who advises this guy? Does he remember how the party that trashed his party in the last elections which he decided to steal to hang on to power, got its name Orange?

Obviously, Kibaki is not fit to lead Kenya even if this mediation process decides to make an allowance for him to stay on as head of State. Kibaki sounds to me like an incapacitated person who needs medical help. Why should kenya be at the mercy of a sick person like Kibaki honestly?

We need to be blunt with some of these people. Kibaki is sick. There is no doubt about that. If you doubt me, then I would ask you to question your faculties first.

Julius Okelo

Kenya has a constitution in place and that has been the problem since independence. I don’t think that Kenyans woke up and said enough is enough to themselves and started burning homes belonging to neighbors for the sake of it. I condemn acts of such violence personally and I hope that such atrocious acts do not reccur. Having said that I would like to comment on Kibaki’s latest rhetoric on the impasse.

Kibaki, after having been holed in State House, while Kenyans were butchering themselves and burning homes, comes out to say that “he would not mind sharing responsibilities (note the change of terminology) with ODM as long as it is within the Kenyan constitution. I think this is one of the most outrageous statements that Kibaki of all the people could say.

First and foremost, Kibaki violated the constitution that he pretends to uphold. By putting pressure on ECK to declare an unlawful announcement of stolen election results, trigerring violence and killings, usurping executive powers of the presidency and ordering innocent kenyans to be shot and killed by police, to me is murder and felonious. If this is not enough to send this man to the gallows then I don’t understand the law. Are these not stipulaed clearly within the legal statutes of our constitution that he is invoking now when Kenyans need a way forward?

This is the kind of impunity that has been used to abuse kenyan citizens for a very long time. We have to put more pressure and petition all the help that we can get for the right change to come to kenya. I welcome US, EU, UN call for immediate resolution to the whole impasse as long as justice is seen to be done to meet majority demands. kenyans voted to bring change. This demonstration was denounced by an iron fist. Kibaki abused the constitution so much in the extreme that it is an insult to kenyans for him to come out and make such a foolish demand that Kenyan constitution ought to be respected after he has shown total disrespect for the same constitution himself!

I am calling upon brave Kenyans to tell Kibaki that he is very wrong on this and change must be made. He is already getting away with so much just being offered some sort of power sharing because Raila should have been in State House already, having won the elections by popular vote and provincial percentage. If Kibaki cannot realize the plight of the majority of Kenyans, then we ought to force him to vacate State House because he is not living there legally. He should be in jail together with Kivuitu, Gicheru, Ali, and all those who took part in the illegal swearing in ceremony based off forged results. Haiti, Iraq, Liberia among others have been helped to rid such dictators in the past. Same should be applied to Kenya. I call upon the Kenyan and International Community to do the same to Kibaki if he continues to stand in the way of this, Kofi Annan, mediation process with such foolish rhetoric!

Julius Okelo

I found this commentary by Patrick Maina from Kampala lacking in intelligence and quite shallow in its attempt to compare Kenyan situation with the US elections.
 
The incumbent, Mwai Kibaki has abused and violated the Constitution on the extreme!
 
A few things that this writer ought to understand first hand:
 
1. President George Bush, won the the elections against Gore because he had the majority of the Electoral votes and popular votes as well. Florida helped to maintain this win for Bush after all the counting was complete. Your understanding of this outcome may be skewed.
 
2. The electoral process of the US is quite transparent and anyone including a common person can verify the data.
3. Police force or Military or Paramilitary are never used to cover the voting places or vote tallying centers as was done at the KICC.
4. The international community is not imposing nothing on Kenyans. They are friends of average kenyan citizenry and are determined to see that the interests for us Kenyans are upheld and not abused by those in authority.
5. Kibaki and PNU themselves do not respect the very constitution they are calling upon. First, the corruption is a relfection of that. Secondly Kibaki stole the elections which is a felony in the criminal code. Kivuitu was drugged and we need to find out who was responsible for this. Was it Muttu or one of the junior officers serving the commissioners.
6. The Judiciary is delinked from the executive in the US. You have seen Senators and Congressmen close to President Bush get indicted for the wrongs committed by them. In Kenya this is impossible!
 
We should be proud that the International Community has come to our aid on this political thievery!

Julius Okelo