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From: ouko joachim omolo
BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
KISUMU-KENYA
TUESDAY, 30, 2011
The attempt by former Foreign Minister, Mr Raphael Tuju to destroy the Odinga dynasty is like the battle between David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. David hurls a stone from his sling with all his might, and hits Goliath in the center of his forehead. David takes his sword and cuts off his head. The underlying purpose of the story of Goliath is to show that Saul is not fit to be king, and that David is.
While politicians allied to Prime Minister Raila Odinga are crying foul over Tuju’s bid to run for presidency in 2012, arguing he has been bought by President Mwai Kibaki’s PNU party to spoil votes for Raila, Mr Tuju, who was a special advisor in the Office of the President before resigning on Sunday to join presidential race, said he wanted to prove that Kenyans could look beyond tribal inclinations.
Tuju wants to destroy once for all the divisive game of tribal politics which he says is extremely profitable to some, even as it levies a heavy cost on tribal followers. He wonders why Kenyans should die for their tribal political leaders who cannot even assist them excel in life.
The political vision and mission Tuju has is that the Luo should look beyond the Odinga dynasty for leadership. The situation of IDPs in Luo Nyanza is pathetic because they have not been compensated and nobody talks about them, yet they would still want to fight for one man come another election.
They would still want to fight because Luos have not come out from suffering under the culture of modern slavery well-orchestrated and managed by those in power. It is the politics of ‘our own’ that cannot elevate them from poverty and ignorance. Majority of jobless and hungry Luos are consistently languishing in poverty.
Speaking during the launch of his campaign at a Nairobi hotel Sunday, Tuju promised the youth job opportunities and also to unite all Kenyans regardless of their ethnic background. He was particularly concerned on the issue of negative ethnicity and would make it a priority to ensure unity among all Kenyans.
But not even all the politicians allied to Raila are supporting his presidential bid. Defense Assistant Minister Joseph Nkaissery and Samburu East MP Rapheal Letimalo have distanced themselves from Raila and want Internal Security Minister Professor Prof. George Saitoti to vie for presidency in the next general election, saying that it was time to support their own to lead this country.
“It is time to support Saitoti who is our son since he has the experience in governance matters having served for a long time in government,” Nkaissery was quoted by press to have told Maasai communities during a fundraising in aid of Esokon Primary School in Transmara District of Narok County, where Prof. George Saitoti was the chief guest.
One of the reasons given by Nkaissery for ditching Raila for Saitoti who is also Kajiado Central MP, is that they supported ODM party in 2007 and were given low-key ministries, adding that his people are questioning him over the recent appointments in government which went all to Kalenjins.
Born March 30, 1959, Tuju formed the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) in 2005 with a view to swaying votes away from the “orange No campaign” as opposed to Raila. When he joined Narc through the LDP, this was seen by Raila allies as an act of betrayal by his Rarieda constituents and by extension the Luo Nyanza populace of which he was a member.
But because of dynasty concept in Luos, even though Tuju is the first Luo MP to do something positive about the grinding poverty in Rarieda, Raila’s supporters viewed him as a traitor. Late Kisumu archdiocese, Fr Norbert Owino escaped death narrowly when he told Christians at Lwak church that they should appreciate what Tuju has done for them.
Fr Norbert who was to be lynched alive in 2007 presidential violence by rowdy youths from Rarieda constituency was rescued by good wishers and taken to Nyabondo parish for hiding. He had highlighted the projects done by Tuju as a 350m water project that would benefit half the constituency.
Other projects initiated by Tuju included mobile clinics with free medicine, building and commissioning Rarieda secondary school, road construction from Ndori to fish landing beaches, construction of hygienic fish landing beaches and refrigerated storage for fish, linking Women groups and SME’s to available credit facilities and building houses for widows.
Rarieda Constituency is one of the rural constituencies in Luo – Nyanza. It has over 48,000 registered voters and was created after being hived out of the old and larger Bondo constituency in the middle of the 1980s. Most of Rarieda constituents live below the poverty line. This is due to minimal economic activities within the constituency of which Tuju wanted to make a thing of past tense.
This is because Tuju has made it clear that his priorities are on development, not endless politicking. No wonder why during his tenure, Tuju turned Rarieda into a model constituency in Nyanza.
Apart from the above mentioned projects, others include Aids orphans, power supply from Ndori to Luanda Kotieno through Asembo Bay and the tarmacking of Ndori – Owimbi – Luanda Otieno road. Tuju has also been effective in lobbying private sponsors from overseas to support Rarieda projects.
On his insistence, the CDF money allocated to Rarieda has been concentrated on women groups, who he is keen to empower as a way of tackling grassroots poverty. Ruma Aids orphanage is one of his pet projects that benefited from the CDF.
Though the children stay with relatives, they came to the orphanage for food where they also got assisted with fees, uniforms and vocational training. Apart from CDF, a Dutch organisation helped with the funding. The orphanage had about 306 children.
Rarieda area’s first MP was former Envoy Bob Jalang’o between 1988 – 1992, and the late Achieng Oneko 1992 – 1997 upon which Odeny Ngure took it in 1997 – 2002 paving way to Raphael Tuju. The current MP is Engineer Nicholas Gumbo.
Letters to the Editor
WHY RAILA SHOULD THINK TWICE
This is a very critical moment for Raila and his ODM partners. I would advice him together with his counterparts to have a retreat for them to succeed in the future politics. ODM losing the two seats of Kamukunji and Ikolomani is a show that Raila and his team may lose greatly in the next general election.
Ruto has been a great “friend” of Raila but their division may cause a great political harm to the ODM team. The other day I was in Luo land talking to a friend about the politics of Raila and after much discussion, it seems many people are tired with his politics. For them Raila may not make it to the State House.
By Chrispine
Nairobi, Kenya
People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
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