From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste in images
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013
Kenyans were surprised yesterday when Uhuru Kenyatta appeared on second presidential debate when his party, TNA had sent a letter to the Presidential Debate Steering Committee explaining why Uhuru could not attend the second debate.
The party had cited bias and failure of the moderators to ask other candidates other than Uhuru hard questions. The party claimed moderato Linus Kaikai had a bone to chew with their candidate and that he had been coached on how to set the stage for direct attacks on Uhuru. Kenya’s first-ever Presidential Debate took place on 11th February, 2013.
The party claimed it was profoundly unprofessional and tasteless for Kaikai to use the ICC indictments as a platform for allowing the other candidates to ride roughshod over Uhuru without equally raising questions related to their suitability and competency.
The argument was based on the fact that if Kaikai had genuine intentions of exposing the weaknesses of all the candidates in the debate, then he would have dredged into the shady past of candidates like the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Raila Odinga, Hon Peter Kenneth, Paul Muite, Hon Martha Karua and Hon Musalia Mudavadi, and former PS John ole Kiyiapi, all of whom are burdened by varying degrees of either graft allegations or issues of moral probity.
They wondered why Kakai did not probe Odinga over his alleged role in several multi-billion shilling instances of grand corruption; most notably the Triton, Maize, and Kazi Kwa Vijana scandals that have blighted the Prime Minister’s Office for a number of years.
In addition, the two moderators failed to put Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi on the spot for his alleged role in the complex Goldenberg Scandal when he served as Finance Minister.
Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua was not grilled on her dubious role in the South Ngariama Ranch and allegations of moral impropriety, all hard issues in the public domain.
Peter Kenneth was not questioned on his suspected role in scandals involving the Kenya Re-Insurance Corporation and the Kenya Football Federation (KFF) when he was the head of the two institutions.
And James ole Kiyiapi was not questioned on his suspect role in the Education Fund scandal while Paul Muite was not taken to task on allegations that the Goldenberg Scandal chief architect Kamlesh Pattni paid him KSh20 million.
Pattni made the allegations, complete with facsimiles of the cheques involved, and a senior business associate of Muite’s confirmed that the cheques were indeed banked in their firm’s account.
The party alluded that perhaps the choice of Kaikai as Moderator was not a well-thought-out decision by the organizers. This moderator has previously and publicly displayed a soft spot for the Prime Minister.
Kaikai they claimed is known to have expressed interest in seeking a parliamentary seat in Narok on an ODM ticket in the 2007 elections, but was reportedly talked out of his ambitions and promised the post of Director of Communications in a Raila Presidency.
The party further claimed that some of the organizers were keen to use the Debate to further their own political agendas and support their favoured candidates.. For example, Samuel K. Macharia, the proprietor of Royal Media Services (RMS) – which contributed one of the moderators – has openly opposed Kenyatta’s candidature and aligned his broadcasting empire to bolstering Odinga’s campaigns.
They claimed Macharia was recently appointed head of CORD’s so-called Summit, becoming the first media owner in Kenya to participate directly in the affairs of a political formation.
The second debate was intended to cover economy, land and international relations. KTN’s Joe Ageyo and Citizen TV’s Uduak Amimo were slated to moderate. The first debate covered governance, social services, health and education, security and resource management.
Kenyatta has maintained that the ICC charges shouldn’t affect the election and has dismissed potential sanctions that could come from cautious foreign governments by claiming that the economy will survive on trade with neighbouring countries and the Chinese.
But even if sanctions were to be imposed on Kenyans, the fact that elections in Kenya are tribally based, Uhuru will still have votes from his fellow tribes, and with William Ruto as his running mate, Kenyatta will have strong support from both Central Province and the Rift Valley.
The two communities would not mind whether Uhuru’s government will reform land, efficient use of government land, a reverse in the pattern of fragmentation, with smallholder farmers on private land, and whether to establish individual land rights for those on community land or not. What they want is ‘our own has made it’.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
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Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002