Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:46:23 -0800 [02/13/2009 02:46:23 AM CST]
From: odhiambo okecth
Subject: Re: Mr. President and Prime Minister: stop guess work leadership with our lives!
— On Fri, 2/13/09, odhiambo okecth wrote:
From: odhiambo okecth
Subject: Re: Mr. President and Prime Minister: stop guess work leadership with our lives!
Date: Friday, February 13, 2009, 12:15 AM
In the US, President Obama has put a ceiling on the highest pay for public servants.
In New Zealand, Members of Parliament voted for their pay cut.
In Nigeria, President Yar Adua has asked for similar austerity measures.
All these leaders are responding to the hard economic times that is global.
In Kenya, it is only Kamba leaders who have come to terms with reality and launched a kitty to address the famine situation and pledged to make contributions of Kshs 250,000.00 each.
The rest are competing for sale of maize reserves to make profits as Kenya starves.
Odhiambo T Oketch
http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com
— On Thu, 2/12/09, George Nyongesa wrote:
From: George Nyongesa
Subject: Mr. President and Prime Minister: stop guess work leadership with our lives!
Date: Thursday, February 12, 2009, 8:29 PM
BUNGE LA MWANANCHI
“Amkeni ndugu zetu tufanye sote bidii…”
_________ ___
13th February, 2009
Press Statement
President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga: Stop guesswork leadership with our lives!
We are utterly dismayed at the fact that Unga (maize flour) prices have hiked back to KES 120/- per 2 kg packet. This even as Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Minister for Agriculture William Ruto have not yet recovered from a marathon public relation exercise duping Kenyans that the government has subsidized Unga price to cost KES 52/-for the poor and KES 72/- for the rich, per 2kg packet.
This present hike in price of Unga is even more alarming coming less than a month in the wake of Prime Minister’s launch of the “feed the nation” program that gave us above alleged subsidized prices. Yet there is no known Kenyan who can testify to the taste of the subsidized Bamba 50 unga?
If the two principals – President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga – can remember, the food agenda is the first priority item that Kenyans presented to the Coalition Government within one month of its formation. The matter of food is a life and death issue! World over, any government’s priority mandate is to ensure citizens’ security from within and without. Food is a basic human right. Food supports life and from life all other human rights emanate. Without food security there is really no need for external security. In this regard, can the government of Kenya really claim to protect Kenyans? Can the government of Kenya dare to claim to respect and uphold any human rights? Can the government of Kenya claim to be responsive and sensitive to its citizens?
It is now a year after thousands of urban poor Kenyans were clobbered, tear-gassed and arrested by Kenya’s state machinery of violence – the Kenya Police – and charged with illegal assembly for coming to the streets of Nairobi to dramatize their struggles and agony over inaccessibility of food due to unchecked increase of basic commodity prices; especially of Unga.
Although driven back to their hovels by the uncaring leadership, Kenyans would not be broken. Instead, Kenyans have kept up the struggle for survival: adopted skip-a-meal- a day program, eaten rats, wild tubers and berries; fed their children on alcohol to cheat hunger, risked their lives in the petrol fire tragedy and even risked jail or death for petitioning Mr. President on this man-made food scarcity.
Mr President and Mr Prime Minister, now that some Kenyans have already succumbed to starvation, what should we say to you and of you as our leaders? When you coalesced your campaign promises, your campaign pledges and your campaign manifestos under grand coalition government, we had imagined that we shall have grand solutions to our grand problems. However, we are rudely awakening to the fact that close to 50 years after the independence promise to get Kenyans out of poverty and 10 years after the NARC dream promise of prosperity, millions of Kenyans remain shackled in the poverty shame of hunger and starvation. Do you sleep peacefully in your mansions after evening news shots of hungry Kenyans gone wild on snake delicacy? How do you feel when you travel abroad to countries with serious leadership about their citizens’ needs? Do you ever feel ashamed at your claim of Kenya’s sovereignty when you put out the begging bowl to foreigners?
Your Excellencies, why should we beg for emergency food aid of KES 37 billion when in the last government financial year you presided over the loss of KES 200 billion through corruption, pilferage and mismanagement? How could you, while Kenyans are starving, spend in 3 days close to KES 100 million convening 2000 people for the “Kenya we want” to discuss what we presumed you were aware of or at least was in your manifestos, as you pursued the highest office? Why can’t you firmly deal with profiteer rackets in the maize industry led by members of parliament and their business cronies? When shall we have an end to messy politics being played with our Unga?
The maize scandal like other corruptions in your government must at all costs not be downplayed and must be named for the economic sabotage that it is. Without food, Kenyans are not able to work and even begin to achieve minimum personal or national development goals. Without food, billions of shillings invested in free primary education will be wasted as children won’t go to school. Without food, billions of money spent on anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS patients will not achieve much due to poor nutrition. Without food, the basic unit of the society – the family – will be threatened as pressure and tension increase on family breadwinners who cannot provide for their dependants. Without food, it will not take long for ethnic tension to resurface to threaten our shaky national cohesion as communities resort to fighting over scarce resources.
Kenya is not the only country globally, facing a financial and/or food crisis. However, where other countries’ leaders are actively exploring viable solutions to their citizens’ harsh lives and working overtime to acquaint each citizen with the recovery plan, Kenya’s leaders seem to be caught in a game of guesswork. For instance you came up with a government plan to subsidize Unga to cost KES. 52/- per 2kg packet but this Unga never got to the kiosk near those who desperately needed it and now it is become clear to all of us that that Unga no longer exists. How can this be when the conditions that pressured you to this action still exist and are even worse?
This flip flop government policy on Unga has now confirmed to us, the army of workers, poorly paid, starving taxpayers, that our leadership: the President, the Prime Minister, Members of Parliament and the political elite lack the humane spirit to drive them to volitionally stem hunger and famine related difficulties. Therefore, we as the nation’s workers and the taxpayers demand as follows:
1. Stop games on the food issue and urgently adopt robust mechanisms to stem the rising tide of anarchy of hungry and angry Kenyans – our patience is painfully worn out and in not so long we will be forced to vividly express our frustration.
2. The President and Prime Minister must take steps to order an immediate cut down on all wasteful government expenditures, including Mr Prime Minister’s luxurious new office purchase.
3. The government takes immediate action, including removal of taxes on basic commodities. On the same, since many Kenyans are unemployed with shaky income, we further demand that the price reduction on Unga is made to KES 30/= per 2kg packet. Further still, all old people living in Kenyan must be provided with free food on government’s tub.
4. All lawmakers must pay taxes including the President and Prime Minister and must with immediate effect take salary cuts or forefeit it as a patriotic act and to show solidarity with the 10 million plus Kenyans that are facing death from starvation.
5. Quickly review the agriculture laws and policies to facilitate a sustainable food security strategy to be adopted.
6. Considering the importance of the Ministry for Agriculture in food production and the centrality of food to all else that pertains to life, including personal and national development, we demand that the Ministry for Agriculture be allocated not KES. 10 billion but as much as KES. 90 billion in the national budget. Further, if it is necessary that the Ministry for Agriculture’s mandate be moved under the Office of the President in order that it receives adequate attention and budgetary allocation, then this must be fast-tracked.
7. The government must together with addressing the food issue, likewise concentrate on dealing with inter-connected issues such as creating environment for job creation, proper priority national budgeting and ending political impunity in the form of corruption involving basic commodities.
8. Kenyans refuse to have people that have been heavily implicated in grand corruption especially maize cartels to continue enjoying public office and flying our flag. We demand that that the President and Prime Minister “fires” all legislators implicated in maize cartels must desist from engaging in any public appointment and forthwith vacate their public office.
In the modern world, food scarcity, hunger and starvation can no longer be blamed on weather elements alone but must rest squarely on bad leadership. Therefore, Kenyans sternly warn that if this leadership does nothing or is seen to be doing something concrete in the next 30 days, Kenyans will have no choice but to take it upon themselves to make it extremely difficult for the current leaders to continue to hold office, carry out business as usual and fly our flags on their obscenely luxurious automobiles.
In straight language, Mr President and Mr. Prime Minister, you have the State tools, State power and State resources to ensure our security especially food security for all Kenyans. Therefore, if you do not take appropriate emergency and long term action in our best interests, Wananchi will have no choice but bring down your leadership and install for themselves a leadership that is responsive, people sensitive and accountable.
Prepared by
Bunge la Mwananchi
Grass root Leaders Council
W: www.bungelamwananch i.org
E: mwananchibunge@ gmail.com
T: +254 720 451 235