http://blog.jaluo.com/?p=1755
Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 04:50:21 +0300 [12/26/2008 07:50:21 PM CST]
From: Robert Alai
Subject: Re: Lets Form Ourselves into a Party. Nothing to Loose

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— On Sun, 12/28/08, Okiya Omtatah Okoiti wrote:
From: Okiya Omtatah Okoiti
Subject: Re: Lets Form Ourselves into a Party. Nothing to Loose
Date: Sunday, December 28, 2008, 12:52 AM

Dear all,

Peace be upon you all.

I am happy and ready to play my small part in this great effort.

I am a republican at heart and would request all in the effort to give republicanism a chance. Kenya is a republic but it has NEVER BEEN GOVERNED AS ONE. Hence, my total belief that if we embrace republicanism as the ideology the inspires, informs and explains our efforts then we won’t become limits to what we can do with the opportunity history has given us to lift our country out of the bog greed has got it stuck in.

Because our leaders, who yesterday adorned glittering reformist garb did not have a solid ideological foundation, they sooner rather than later, ceased being catalysts for change and became total limits. We must avoid that at all costs…

It must matter that our country’s official name is The Republic of Kenya. We are not a kingdom, a fiefdom, a serfdom, a princedom, a dictatorship, an emirate, a junkdom, or a dominion of any kind. We are a REPUBLIC!

Invoking the republican foundations of the Kenyan Nation means that we leaders embrace republicanism, broadly, the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, with an emphasis on liberty, rule of law, popular sovereignty and the civic virtue practised by citizens.

Elected representatives must exhibit the sort of values and behaviour necessary for the republic to survive and flourish….

Republicanism is incompatible with office holders using public power for personal gain. It is worthless calling ourselves a “republic” when generally we have a leadership that does not protect the rights or liberty of the citizens.

Republicanism always stands in direct and firm opposition to any form of dictatorship, corruption, or tyranny in the political realm. More broadly, it refers to a political system that protects liberty, especially by incorporating a rule of law that cannot be arbitrarily ignored by the government, group, or individual.

In a republic elected representatives must use the power which is donated and entrusted to them for the protection the sovereign people, not their destruction. As John Adams put it, a republic is a government of laws, and not of men.

So, the new party we form, if it is to be for the good of Kenya, must be republican in ideology.

Merry Christmas and brilliant 2009.

Okiya Omtatah Okoiti
0722-684777

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Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 05:58:04 -0800
From: oyookraft@ . . .
Subject: Re: Lets Form Ourselves into a Party. Nothing to Loose

Omtatah is right

Republicanism should not be confused with Republican Party ideals. Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in the US are republican.

Republicanism is about representative democracy where the public appoints (elects) its workers (What we love to call leaders who should really be called servants) through an elaborate interview process (elections and Campaigns) to identify those that will most benefit the republic (The people of Kenya collectively)

What it means is that the state is in place to serve the common good and not individual good and those that do not serve the common good should be removed and others appointed instead (Recall clause).

Unless we want to have a monarchy (Appoint {Moi, Raila, Kibaki or Kenyatta Family} the monarchs,) we have no option but to enforce Republicanism as we have which is being abused and misused by the current elite.

Nikko

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Oyoo

It appears there is some deadline to be met. Could you guys organize a meeting or a teleconference so that this noble idea is not counted out due to inability to cope with the deadline set by the government.

Barack

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Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2008 03:02:40 +0000 [12/28/2008 09:02:40 PM CST]
From: barack abonyo
Subject: RE: Lets Form Ourselves into a Party. Nothing to Loose

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Subject: Re: Lets Form Ourselves into a Party. Nothing to Loose
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:14:25 -0500
From: angaluki@ . . .

Peter/Abonyo/Oyoo/Barack,

I think that with the prevailing political situation at home, this is a novel and noble idea. However, it is an onerous task that comes with heavy responsibilities that should not be taken lightly or casually. We need a serious movement with which ALL Kenyans can identify and with which they’ll be comfortable, not an ethnic outfit intended to negotiate for political validation by and accommodation with a “big.” We need a movement with credible leaders and members of integrity. We need a movement with a vision, mission and philosophy for posterity. We need a movement with principles and not one that will be used as an electioneering machine to catapult political mercenaries into 1m-shilling-a-month jobs. We need a movement with clear policies and agenda that will make a clear difference for our people and nation. Security, corruption, unemployment and poverty, infrastructure… are a few among our national challenges for which we need clear strategies of tackling. We need a movement which Kenyans can distinguish from the current plethora of parochial and ethnically factional political parties that serve to balkanize our country with nothing to show for the large salaries of their elected political representatives. We want a movement whose elected political representatives will do what they’re elected to do and not just to enrich themselves – legislate for the betterment of our country. Then, we’ll need a movement with the financial clout to penetrate every Kenyan village and directly reach every Kenyan homestead. The good news is that such a movement is entirely possible and our first major advantage is this forum that Ndu. Robert has set up for us. If we can adhere to the aforementioned values, I’d love to be part of the movers and shapers of the movement and I’m sure we’ll go places.

Hatua ya kwanza katika wajibu huu muhimu ni kuwahamasisha wanachama wa baraza letu hili la Mtandaoni kuhakikisha kwamba wao ndio mbegu za kwanza za harakati hii. Miti itakayoota kutoka mbegu hizi itakuwa mikubwa na imara, na manufaa yake kwa Wakenya wote yatakuwa bila kipimo.

My first branding suggestion would be to reexamine the movement name. Let’s have a brief, catchy name. “Progressive Development Movement,” although with a beautiful acronym, is a mouthful and a little awkward. “Progress” and “Development” basically mean the same thing and you don’t want one describing the other. How about just dropping “development” from the name altogether?

Please engage me as you feel fit.

Angaluki Muaka
Kiswahili Lecturer
University of Minnesota
Tel. +1.650.353.0013 (cell – accepts text messages)

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— On Fri, 12/26/08, mathias aguta wrote:

From: mathias aguta
Subject: RE: Lets Form Ourselves into a Party. Nothing to Loose
Date: Friday, December 26, 2008, 10:56 PM

More political parties will not solve Kenya’s problems. They’ll only add to the confusion. Let’s instead strengthen democracy in those we have. Supposing all wanabidii and the youth became registered members of, say Kanu or ODM. They’ll then use their numeric strength to vote out all the current officials, take over the party and nominate candidates all over the country. Call it a party coup d’etat if you wish but we will have killed two birds with a single stone: 1. Shown the old guards that we have the power and capacity to take power from them, 2. taken over a party with a brand name, may be tainted but can be sanitized with the right kind of campaigns and a new leadership.

mathias.

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Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:50:23 -0800
From: oyookraft@ . . .
Subject: RE: Lets Form Ourselves into a Party. Nothing to Loose

Mathias

I do not understand your fear for wanabidii and other progressive forces forming their party. let me inform you that infiltration like you are trying to advance has been tried before and in 2007 that was what stopped the youth from becoming a party. they were routed in all the leadership positions. Right now after the coronations, other elections can only happen in 2013 after 5 years. So it too late for doing the voting them out. and why waste resources fighting this guys in their terms?

a say there is nothing to fear but fear itself. we cannot continue doing what we have always done and hope that things will change. do you know how many parties are there in the US. more that 5,000. in a confused world you come out with a niche product. the answer is our on party advancing inclusivity, real democracy and progress. Not jionning non parties convincing ourselves they are parties ama we will change them. the structures formed now are going to be in place until 2013.

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— On Sun, 12/28/08, mathias aguta wrote:

From: mathias aguta
Subject: RE: Lets Form Ourselves into a Party. Nothing to Loose
Date: Sunday, December 28, 2008, 8:36 AM

Yes, Oyoo, nothing to fear except fear itself. Now if we fear to fight and beat them from their comfort zones, how do we beat them from outside? Recall that most of the current parties, formed as opposition to Kanu in the nineties, were by Young Turks then – Orengo, Muite, Raila, Kibwana, Martha Karua, Otieno K’Ajwang – all young in their 30’s and 40’s to early 50’s – but they were routed because they were not the “people’s” parties but elitist, town-based and out of touch with the realities of the politics “at home”. The votes are with the people in the villages, in rural towns. So what has changed now?

The goal is to win elections, acquire power by the youth and use it for better national governance. The culture of destroying everything originated bt political rivals/enemies is what has brought this country to where we are. The reason there are so many white-elephant projects around the country is because of the culture of hate-politics. We hate our political rivals so much we never want to be associated with anything they touch howver well-intentioned they may be.

People, wanabidii, YDems, there’s nothing wrong the “names’ Kanu, ODM, DP, etc; The leadership is bad. So we call ourselves YDEM, what about O’dems – the old democrats withi the old parties? Won’t we alienated them? We must learn to play real har4d politics. We must learn to compete with them and beat them. Let’s never discriminate against any Kenyan – old or young. Otherwise we wont be any different from them.

Mathias.

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Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 09:11:52 -0800
From: oyookraft@ . . .
Subject: RE: Lets Form Ourselves into a Party. Nothing to Loose

Mathias
I hear your concerns. It is not only the leadership that is bad. It is also the structures. And frankly, for me the name, the symbols, the logos, the flags do not really matter. For me what matters are the mechanisms within the party that will ensure that all are included, all can compete and win and those elected are not the masters of the others but their workers and servants

Do you realize that trying to uproot the stractures now that they have held election will anly be possible in 2013? that means they we will have elected them again.

It is not fear that makes us want to operate from outside those structures they have created and thus outside those parties. It is in fact strength that we do not have to rely on them. its being brave.

The root you talk about has been tried. In 2007 it failed miserably for the agents of change. they were tricked and robbed the little they had and kept busy in fights with those who were favoured and that denied this nation good ideas.

If there is a computer available, you do not choose to use a typewriter hoping yopu will one day cahnge the typewriter to become a computer. In fact it is fear of change that will make us not dare think outside the orbit.

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Thanks Nick,

the aim is to bring about good leadership for our country. If we can achieve that through a new Party so be it. The party elections just concluded were for party officials, not parliamentary nominations. Soon all the party will be going to the people to register members. If the youth and wanabidii can target one party and register therein in their millions, it’s possible to uproot the the old guards if we participate at the parliamentary nominations and the ensuing General Elections. That’s a less costly, more actionable strategy than starting from zero.

Mathias.

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Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:40:36 +0000 [02:40:36 AM CST]
From: mathias aguta
Subject: RE: Lets Form Ourselves into a Party. Nothing to Loose