Dear readers,
The world is full of difficulties and trials. You probably will not find a person who does not have some faults, nor will you be without them yourself. We should all have self-discipline, remain faithful to our own principles. What is democracy?. Does democracy means that if you share the same house with some one who does not want to use toilet but instead prefers to shit or urinate on the floor then you should keep on cleaning it. Will you not tell him to use the toilet or clean his shit himself?. So if he fails completely to use the toilet will you be called undemocratic if you kick him out of the house?. Democracy applies to all, the abuser must also know that by offending the other he is also not practicing the democracy.
ODM is a party which must have discipline if they want to win any election next time. You can not have a party being run like a junkyard, where some members campaign even against their own candidate and if luo MPs say it is wrong then all we hear is that ODM will soon remain a luo party. What right do those who does not want to abide with ODM rules have?. Luos as a tribe should not be allowed to be hold at a ransom, never should they accept blackmailing. They should be proud of themselves. We have heard a lot of nonsense and crap we have to stand against. In 2007 Raila was told that because he comes from Luo and he is not circumcised nobody will vote for him. Were those guys exercising their democratic rights or what?. And where was the luos democratic or Raila`s democratic rights held at?. Another thing most of people does not understand even in this forum of mlalahoi is the committee on implementing the new constitution: It is right and good that NO Mps are not included in the committee, this does not mean that they are excluded from Kenya or their democratic rights is being abused. BUT it just means that the winner dictates the terms under which the new constitution should be implemented and the winners were the YES voters, the majority= democracy rules. If the NO voters would have won then we would be having now nothing to implement. So people do not confuse omitting NO Mps from the committee and ommitting them from Kenyan politics, that is completely a different thing. The NO voters or NO MPs will enjoy the new constitution just as any other Yes voters, they will be allowed to seek for jobs under the constitution just as the yes voters etc. They are allowed to file amendment just as the law requires; Isn`t that not democracy?. SO guys stop cheap politics without portfolio. Let us stop spreading lies in the name of I know it all.
By the way there is nothing wrong with being a luo or being a luo Mp. All tribes in Kenya should be treated equally in the face of law and Kenyans should vote for a good leader whether he is a luo or not. It is good leadership which is lacking in the country and that is what we need. So blackmailing that if so and so is omitted they will not vote for Raila is a crap. We need a good Kenya; we do not need blackmailers. With good strict rules and discipline ODM will attract many supporters but if run like a junk yard where members do whatever they want, it will be worse than even if it was only a luo party . By the way it was NDP which brought Dictator Moi into its knees: Where was NDP`s home land?. Every tribe should be proud of his culture and we should respect each other equally. We Kenyans should see and exploit the common factors which affect us all regardless of your tribe and invest and venture into them for our prosperity. That is when we can build Kenya. But blackmailing and cheap politics will take us nowhere. Kenya will keep on begging from UK, USA, China etc for a long time if we do not act intelligently. We will just be changing masters as we have done since 1963 with no development.
Paul Nyandoto
Dear Paul,
The only way Kenyans will ever stop begging from UK, USA, and China is when we stop tribal politics. What is tribal politics that is when you, me, and everybody equally make political decisions based on tribal affiliations
The truth is people like Raila, Uhuru, Ruto, etc. are not the kind of people who bring development into a country, they all have tainted histories, and all have blood on their hands. None of these so called leaders are “national.”
Yes, I agree with you that we “should see and exploit the common factors which affect us all regardless of your tribe,” but that will never happen as long as we talk about how we are so proud of our tribes.
In the Chinese, the UK, USA, people have ethic groups, not tribes, that is why they are healthy societies, with trust, common wealth, and prosperity. We will never..never…ever…obtain the fresh air of development and opportunity for our future children as long as “tribal politics” is around, and tribal politics will always be around as long as we think of ourselves as primarily members of a tribe.
Are we not first suppose to be Africans, and than Kenyan. Yes, I am proud of being Mukamba, but really…I mean really as an educated African, I see this pride in my being kamba as really a bunch of bullshit. I should be more proud of being African and being Kenyan, and only thirdly proud of being Kamba, because me being Kamba or you being Luo is not what is going to enable our nation to become a innovator of science and technology, green energy, full employment, masters of the arts of freedom, charity, discipline and etc.
My being Kamba will play absolutely ZERO role in that progress. Actually, me being proud of Luo culture as an African and you being proud of Kamba culture as an African will not only do more to advance our civilization (right now we are just slaves to white people in this world), but its actually the more civilized thing to do, because we are broadening our African cultural understanding.
After traveling to the states, UK, China, Iran, Turkey and seeing what real independent societies are made of (a common culture that is stronger than any provincial local culture and identity), I see, and bitterly know that we are a long way from becoming grown up nations in Africa and Kenya. We are steal dealing on the tribal versus tribal level, while these other nations have moved even beyond ethnicity into idealism (liberalism, confuciusism, shia Islam, Turkishness etc.) All these countries are multi-ethnic-tribal, but they have a greater identity that they are more proud of.
I pray you don’t take offense at my statements and you see them for the truth that they are. When our MP’s make as much as United States Congressmen, yet the average Kenyan makes less than the average person in Sudan, I see how the majority of Kenyans from all different backgrounds really are united in a bond more real than this tribalism, that is the bond of poverty, lack of education, opportunity, and the desire to get a green card to leave the country, but who can blame them.
It is from those common realities that a new Kenyan identity will rise which has little interest in tribal pride, because they will be more concerned about the new relationships, culture, identity and ideology of thought and practice that they would have created out of a common struggle, just as much as the people within the nations of the developed world all use to be members of different tribes-ethnic groups that they use to show greater allegience to.
Just like France before its modernity use to be a tribal country, China before Confucius use to be a tribal land, America before its ideals of Liberalism use to be a tribal land.
All free and independent upstanding and developed regions/nations of the world only get their because they leave their divided pasts with its prejudices, group pressure against individual thought and consciousness, with its generalizations and demonisation of entire groups that lead to innocent victims from those groups being killed in the name of group violence, with its natural ever occuring tendency to breed distrust of the “other”.
Its only once they, through visionary new leaders left these old ways from an old world behind and created new ways to unite together with others to create a greater society, it was than that they set themselves on the path to the incredible development of the West and East.
It is only when those of us who love Africa more than we love our small powerless tribes that we will make our ancestors proud to be able to make societies on the same level as the east and west. Because none of them know what a Kamba, Luo, Gikuyu, is or his or her culture, nor do they care. But we know what a Chinese is, his culture and ways, what a Brit is, what a French man is.
I start today by proclaiming that I am proud to be a Luo because to be a Luo is to be an African, that I am more interested in learning about what it means to be an African by learning to value African culture other than this small puny part of it called Kamba. I pray to God that one day soon we Kenyans will get leaders who can bring us up out of this divide and create a new large Tribe, before our continent and region is taken over again a third time by the Chinese and we continue to lose our dignity in not being able to be economic, political, cultural leaders in this world.
Julius
Sure, only fools can have people like Ruto and Poghisio in a body charged with implementing the new constitution. This stand has nothing ODM or Luo in it.
After peddling lies about the new constitution, how do you turn around on the basis of ‘democratic rights’ to demand to be included in the implementation oversight organ. That is an abuse of our intelligence and somebody need to tell Ruto that. We have more sober Kenyans, we have more sober Kalenjins, more sober Nandis. Ruto is not the only Kalenjin, Nandi or Kenyan with brains.
He is not a senatorial, ministerial or County Governer material let alone presidential material. This guy is a matrial for Hague. Period.
Eh! Give us a break.
Bwana Nyadoto,
“…there is nothing wrong with being a luo or being a luo Mp.” My sentiments exactly. I am a luo and am mighty proud of my heritage. I am not ODM or member of any party for that matter. But I agree with the notion that if one is a member of any organization with specific rules then adherance to those rules and any resolutions arrived at by those rules define the membership. One will reserve the right to walkaway from that organization should one feel that she/he no longer subscibes to the ideals of that organization. But so long as one remains a member the rules of the organization shall be observed. How can it be otherwise?
That principle applies to recent referendum campaigning and voting. Each party reserves the right to apply the stipulations of its set of rules as long as those rules existed before the campaigns began. I am saying that so long as the parties are NOT moving the goal posts when the game is on it is fair play.
I caution, however, against stigmatizing any community based on how they voted. That will be undemocratic. The luo community will understand that. Real or imagined we suffered that baggage the entire duration of the First Republic. Don’t you mind that some in the community were hardcore members of the successive administrations in place at the time. We must resist the same fate happening to any community.
I fail to understand Julius Ndeti’s argument. It is not incompatible to be proud of one’s Kamba heritage and still be staunch Kenyan and African. To know who we were enhances our quest for where we want to be. All we need to learn and hold as sacred is that the other person has a right to the same. We seem stuck on negativity. Let us free our minds and be mindful of others God given rights as basis for just society.
I want to repeat here for emphasis that I am mighty proud of my Luo heritage. I find a lot in that heritage that teaches and requires of me to be a useful member of society and be provider to those less fortunate than me. I have foraged through other cultures and finds that requirement universal.
I support the notion that luo Mps should behavior the great jaramogi Oginga died fight for democracy that was the soul objective of us passing the new constitution.
What we as Luos experiences during the ODM primaries contradicted with our crys for democracy.some of our leaders who we elected in 2007 to represent us dont show that level of political maturity that we expected be consider defeat that have turned to this political hyenas hungry for power