Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:35:19 -0700 [07:35:19 AM CDT]
From: Douglas Ndenga
Subject: Re: Responsible leadership

hello everyone,
Iam glad with discussion for the youth forum,well we have all the power to form youth struggle and human rights and fighting corruption in our beloved country, and the question is how far can we go with this?remember aleader is born not elected.another challenge is,our aged politicians are scared of youths,in that once we get that power,we can spoil there assorted soups on the table.another thing is we have seen some youth leaders being eliminated (assasinated) for the truth they stand for.upto date no one (GOK)has ever come up with truth on there killings.
It pays alot to have freedom,but what we to know justice comes first then freedom.its like going to heaven without death,death comes first then heaven 2nd,so lets pull our minds and reason togather as youths then we heat the ground with one spirit.thanking you all.

From: Linda Wamalwa
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 10:11:54 AM
Subject: Re: Responsible leadership

Hi People,
I completely agree with you guys on having a party of our own. In fact in many of the meetings that i have attended in the minor youth groups around, they all echo the same sentiments. from having a party to identifying potential leaders to fill all leadership positions.I am for it 100%, my concern is this, as its said,’The branch doesn’t fall far from the tree’, lets please ensure that the leaders we elect will not follow in their predecessors steps. Their character should be tested first, Abraham Lincon ably stated, ‘Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.’ Well let me not get ahead of myself, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, just food for thought. On the other matter of having TV and Radio shows, that should be taken up, the youth in these media houses should do something about it asap.It will do us a lot of good.

Linda Wamalwa
YAA
On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 10:06 AM, Mwaniki Mageria wrote:

Sasa Watu,

I see what you are saying about a mass movement party. Very good idea! Only worry is who is willing to finance this? From little experience working for parties it costs a lot of money every day. No money no visibility. But since there are many ways to skin a cat, let’s be creative in ways of popularizing a youth party. Maybe use youth in media stations to push the agenda? Would their employers allow that? Maybe have monthly barazas at Uhuru Park or suchlike places. Double up as Lower Chamber and Party matters too. If my memory serves me right there used to be a Peoples Parliament meeting at either Kamkunji or Jeevan Gee Gardens. Do you feel this is possible? All we need is a set of conveners across the country.

Let’s get the ball rolling.

Mwaniki

From: muthuri bundi
Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 6:04 PM
Subject: Re: Responsible leadership

Dear All,

This is getting us somewhere. I am pleased and charged by the ideas and from you all.

On TV/ Radio for the group: This is a very good idea that can easily reach and charge the others who might not be subscribing to this group. The challenge now is to the fellows at the media and particularly the FM stations. While i would appreciate the vigor put in by some like Caroline, most of the others need to up the fight. If we could have people with acquaintances to them (through whom we could reach them), i would suggest we sign a kind of petition to have them included in the group or have a way of raising our plight through the media.

The lower chamber: While we could be waiting for constitution ammendment to include this, i think it makes no harm to have a forum in which we could engage the authorities by inviting them (MPS, PSs, Ministers, etc) on a face to face discussion with the youths. This could be possible by having them scheduled weekly or even twice a month through a committe or even through the conveners of NYC. (e.g. L. Otieno live: a citizen tv prog). Here we only need sponser who could then facilitate have it on air through the major media media.

Party: The main problem with the youth are the financial middle class. These people are mostly not willing to be involved in any agenda and are busy perfecting their own. Particularly because they believe that the political class is controlling and are therefore tired of it. By holding these already condemned parties we will not be making any good with it. The only solution is having a new party that is seen as a fresh mind to the whole idea of politics. It is no problem getting the so called “big” people latter when the youth are convinced that its a new crop. Mageria, while heavy weights make heavy weight parties, in this kind of revolutionary move we are taking, heavy weight parties can make heavy weight people. e.g madagascars heavy weight population made a heavy weight.

I fully support Bonnie in what he did. While i might be a coward he isn’t!

An inspiration for you:

“That’s the question before you tonight. Not, “If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to my job. Not, “If I stop to help the sanitation workers what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?” The question is not, “If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?” The question is, “If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?” That’s the question.” Dr. Martin Luther King Junior in speech “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” 3rd April 1968.

With regards
Muthuri

— On Tue, 6/9/09, Mwaniki Mageria wrote:

From: Mwaniki Mageria
Subject: Re: Responsible leadership
Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 3:56 AM

Hi all,

I like Thomas’ thinking. I have some suggestions.

1 while we await the funds to start our own station how about engaging current national and community stations to carry these topics for youth to participate in. Can we identify our own experts in the fields of concern to lead the discussions on already existing stations. They are always looking for fresh and captivating content and this will be providing it for them. Caroline, Fareed, Marcus, Maina, Munene, Ciku, DNG, etc you are all youth. Kindly make this happen.

2 the idea of a 2nd chamber is great but requires a constitutional amendment I guess (lawyers please shed light). This would bridge the morality gap our leaders openly exhibit. Wish we could do it like yesterday.

3 as for a youth party, I think what we need to do is infiltrate existing parties and take over from within. We should seek to be relevant and influential in the current parties. It’s cheaper and we benefit from the infrastructure. If we are focused and persistent in spreading this word thru NYC it is easier to be at the helm sooner rather than later. A new party will require already established names and their funding in order to have the impact we would require. Look at Tip Tip Party for instance. Heavy weights make a heavy weight parties.

Time for action.

Mwaniki

From: Thomas Musau
Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 11:51 AM
Subject: Responsible leadership

Dear All,

I want to contribute to this debate of responsible leadership and good governance which I find very interesting and empowering as well.

First, What Bonnie did was excellent and shows how our political awareness has advanced in the recent past.

I want to say that there are many ways of killing a cat and what Bonnie did was just one of the many. Kudos to him because from exprerience of myself living in the the western world this is a very powerful tool for the oppressed and the powerless to express their disgust to those leaders who have cut themselves off from the common citizens. More Bonnies in future will definitely make a big difference.

Our cat being as big as it is from years governance without accountability and complete disregard of personal responsibility among our leaders we definitely need many more ways to deal with the democratic etiquette breakdown in our country particularly through a youth-led political revolution.

1) My first suggestion is to increase our recruitment drive through the media -even if starting our own radio/TV station dedicated to discussing promoting youth issues about youth, development and the future of Kenya. This radio station can feature role models from across all the the development sector, the civil society, the youth in the diaspora and world leaders alike giving views about how to develop youth talents in all their spheres of life ie politics,business, music,drama and in their other careers and proffessions.

Important national issues can be scheduled on prime hours of the day like evenings for contributions from youth and general public . Such topics could include the constitution, succession battles, scandals in government and public sector with view to encouraging youth to engage wholly in matters of national importance.

2) My second suggestion relates to the current constitutional review; Since the issue of tribalism is as old as when western democracy was being introduced in our country and probably older than that (I am not an historian!) and also because our MPs can nver be trusted where it comes passing laws regarding their own payment as well as their high rate of absence from parliament proceedings I would like the Youth to press for the second chamber of parliament in Kenya.

The chamber would have regionally nominated personalities representative of local communities.

Such people will be people who have wide experience in particular areas eg- religious leaders, traditional value and history experts, retired senior government officialsreknown businessmen people who have excelled in other fields such as sports or even former Presidents and Prime Ministers. Most importantly the chamber to have representatives from various nterest groups such as the Youth, Workers Unions, the Civil society, the Kenyan Diaspora Community and probably the head of certain missions working in areas that would be affected by the individual policies to be tabled. And of course the relevant Minister /Permanent Secretary can be called to attend particular sittings.

To cut the costs for the taxpayers down we can have such posts voluntary and members can only get travel and sitting allowances if nominated .

This Second Chamber (headed by the head of state ) will not have more powers than 1st chamber but the president will have a duty to decide if to pass a bill into law if the second chamber has reservations. In other words the second chamber will have the responsibility of admistering checks and balances to the activities of the 1st chamber ( elected MPs) headed by the Prime Minsiter to make sure that MPs there are not driven by greed and other influences when passing important policies.

Since I have not gone through the current draft I apologise if this is something that has already been proposed in the draft.

But the key thing is the Youth will do Kenya alot of pride if they can sort the issue of tribalism and press for checks and balances to our greedy MPs once and for all through the creation of the second chamber of parliament.

3) My third suggestion is for the Youth to form and register our own political party.

eg The Youth Party of Kenya or whatever name you want to give it – This party will ensure that come the next general elections we shall have a voice of our own, agenda of our own, candidates of our own and even our own President of choice who the National Youth conferederation will choose to back or field.

From experience it is very hard to make a major difference if you work from the peripheri and to have our representatives in the parliament we shall be assured of our views being driven through to the highest policy making organ in the country.

Please note that my reference to Youth does not mean people who are in experienced untested, and poltically challenged but leaders with youthful ideas and who conform to the current changes in political arena across the globe.

With these few i look forward to your responses and meeting you soon when I visit Kenya in August.

Many thanks,

Thomas Musau, UK

— On Tue, 9/6/09, john cheburet wrote:

From: john cheburet
Subject: Re: Responsible leadership
Date: Tuesday, 9 June, 2009, 6:46 AM

Ndenga,

Thanks will look for it. Good day.

Cheburet

“Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. You can be that generation” – Nelson Mandela

From: Douglas Ndenga Sent: Monday, June 8, 2009 7:42:00 PM
Subject: Re: Responsible leadership

cheburet weldone man also watch, cry freedom you will learn more.

From: john cheburet
Sent: Monday, June 8, 2009 3:30:29 PM
Subject: Re: Responsible leadership

Hi all,

I agree. I’d like to recommend one movie that gave me an indelible lesson on non-violence: “The Great Debaters”, a movie by Denzel Washington, Nate Parker, Forest Whitaker among others . Look for it, find time and watch it.

John

“Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. You can be that generation” – Nelson Mandela

From: Emmanuel Dennis
Sent: Monday, June 8, 2009 4:49:30 PM
Subject: Re: Responsible leadership

Isn’t the debate getting better,
I would like to bring in a small reflection here

One great man said
“You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of
madness. It comes through non conformity, the courage to turn your
back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future” Thomas
Sankara

On 6/8/09, Ngunjiri wrote:

I agree with Kepta on this.

There is a perception that because one can more easily access press
conferences or say whatever they want, then we have dialogue, and we should
not be out shouting. However, I want to remind us that dialogue is about
communication, it is 2 way, I speak, you hear, you speak, I hear, and the
results is either the mutual decision to agree or disagree on a certain
course of action. Friends, this is not what we have in Kenya today. Citizens
are speaking and not being heard, politicians are speaking, and not being
listened to. There seems to be a complete disconnect between the political
leadership & the citizenry of this country, and that is a dangerous thing
for stability. For those who might have heard President Kagame’s message to
the Kenyan political class during the recent prayer breakfast at Safari
Park, at some point he said:

*“For those societies that exhibit features of real or latent conflict, the
single most decisive & pressing task facing them, & their leaders in
particular, is to confront the root cause of instability before degenerating
into conflict or even wars. It cannot be otherwise because real solutions
cannot come from anywhere but from within. It is only the leaders & citizens
of such nations that can fully grasp the high stakes involved and as such
posses the power & tools to arrest the disintegration of their nations” *

What Bonnie did should really scare the political leadership-a middle class
award-winning guy announced on radio he was going to heckle the president in
a national stadium, left the studio to the stadium, sat with the crowd, knew
he would most probably be alone, but still stood up and shouted ‘Unga’! Did
he know he would get in trouble, be ridiculed, maybe worse? Of course did.
But he wanted to pass a personal message to his leaders, and he did. Did he
do it the ‘right’ way? Who are we to judge-we haven’t done anything
ourselves.

What did Bonnie achieve? The media took up his story and now a lot of people
know another way to be heard, he started a discussion that we are all
engaged in, political cartoonists have featured what happened, the president
actually referred to it, and got himself in trouble with religious leaders
coz of how he did it, the political class are realizing the tide is rising
and they will be even more nervous the next time they are before a crowd,
etc (reminds me of the guy who threw a shoe at Bush)

As we go about talking about how we will do the big things that require
10,000 or 100,000 people, to make change happen, some men and women are
doing small things that are keeping the process of change happening. You do
not have to agree with what they are doing, you do not have to want or be
able to do it, but do not shoot it down unless you have done or are doing,
not saying, something yourself.

On this particular process that Kenya has embarked on, history will judge us
by what we did or didnt do, not by what we said we would do.

Ngunjiri

www.kikuyusforchange.com