When the US is setting world trends with calls for unity that transcends colour, creed, religion and ethnicity, back in Kenya, the former House Speaker, Hon Francis Xavier Ole Kaparo, is busy reminding Kenyans in Kilgoris that that is Maasai land, and no one should vote for the Kipsigis.

This is how low our leaders descend. We thought this man was presidential material! How wrong we were.

Kenyans of goodwill are busy talking Peace, National Healing and Reconciliation, yet, people in the Presidents party of choice, the PNU, are dividing Kenyans along tribal and regional lines.

It is worth noting that what Ole Kaparo started is now catching up, and all PNU politicians in Kilgoris have taken to that bad road. They are saying that they cannot give the Kipsigis land and leadership, all at the same time! I thought a constituency if defined by geographic boundaries, not tribal boundaries!

I also thought that a Kipsigis can vote for a Maasai, a Turgen, a Kikuyu, a Luhya, just like the rest can also do. I did not know that the Maasai must only vote for a fellow Maasai. They have been voting for George Saitoti all along in Kajiado, and Ole Kaparo has never raised his voice.

This is all coming at this time in history when we are all trying to heal the wounds afflicted on Kenyans by the stupid way in which the December 2007 elections were blatantly rigged in favour of the incumbent. We all know what followed.

As ardent supporters of our various parties, we all paused and sighed with relief when common sense prevailed, and President Kibaki and the Right Hon Raila Odinga signed the National Accord on 28th February.

What we all hoped for and wanted was that sanity should prevail, and no Kenyan should ever kill, rape, and torch each other’s house in the name of politics. We all hoped that these leaders will be sincere to the accord, and spare Kenya the ignominy that we so stared in the face.

We all hoped that not once again will tribal tendencies be brazenly displayed in public for all to see the way Kaparo, Sunkuli, and their PNU candidate are doing in Kilgoris.

It does not matter whichever side you are politically affiliated to. These people are funning tribal animosity, and it could turn worse on the 11th, when the people of Kilgoris will line up to vote.

Kenyans of good will must condemn these attempts at balkanizing Kenya into tribal enclaves. All Kenyans of goodwill must stand up for Kenya at this moment in time. It does not matter whether you are ODM, ODM-K or PNU. Kenya is more important.

Lets us not accept to be led by rabid tribalist. People who see us as Luos, Kalenjins, Kikuyus, et al. Let us be led by people who preach unity, people who want votes from all Kenyans, not sections of Kenyans.

We just came from a very shameful episode, and we must not allow some rabid tribalists like Kaparo and Sunkuli, to drag us back there. Or maybe, power corrupts, and Ole Kaparo, having been defeated by an ODM candidate in the election of the House Speaker, has seen that this is his best time to rub salt into injury.

If Ole Kaparo wants any semblance of respect, he must cultivate a national unifying image. He must not project himself as a champion of the Maasai interests. He must be in the fore front of creating Peace, National Healing and Reconciliation.

He must not be at the fore front of creating discord and disunity among Kenyans. All the time he served as our House Speaker seem to have been wasted years, and Kenyans must take note of this.

All the young generation in Kenya must rise and learn that we can compete politically, and still love Kenya and Kenyans all the more. We all need each other even as we vote differently.

God bless you, God bless Kenya, God bless Kenyans.

Odhiambo T Oketch,
Komarock Nairobi

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Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 02:02:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: odhiambo okecth
Subject: Ole Kaparo reduced to a rabid tribalist