Post by akida on Sept 16, 2005 5:41:45 GMT 3
Open Letter to President Kibaki
Written by: Otieno Mbare, PhD
Turku, Finland.
Thursday, 15 September 2005
His Excellency The Hon. Mwai Kibaki C.G.H., M.P.
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces
Harambee House, Harambee Avenue
P.O. Box 30510, Nairobi
Tel. (254-020) 227411
Your Excellency,
Allow me to write this open letter to you, Sir, after
a very long period of silence on my part. The last
time we were together, was in 2002 campaigning to get
rid of Moi and his government. We had a rallying song,
yote yawezekana bila Moi, that we all danced to
together in Nairobi, Thika, Kisumu. At the same time,
we had a lyric unbwogable that bolstered our resolve
to rid the country of authoritarian regime and rampant
tribalism in all sectors of government. Mr. President,
a lot of water has since passed under the bridge. When
I heard you speak at Uhuru park where I was seated two
rows behind you, I said, this is a turning point for
the entire country because you made such eloquent
speeches that no one in his/her right mind would have
thought that after just three years Kenyans would be
saying afadhali Moi. Mr. President, I believed so much
in your presidency that I did not even bother to
challenge the flawed nominations in my constituency
after some of us had been prevailed upon. We still
believed you will honour your words and let some of us
serve in your government. Mr. President you will agree
that when we took the unbwogable campaign to Thika
where I almost lost my life due to some reckless
driving by some in the convoy, some of these people
calling the sorts in your government today were not
there. In Thika, I listen to you with so much
nostalgia that when you told the crowd about your
plans for the nation and how you would want even those
who are abroad to come and provide their expertise
home, I believed you. It only dawned on me when even
some of us who had been very active and visible
throughout your campaigns started trooping back to
Europe because you preferred to offer these jobs to
these old Wazees who kept on chiding us as leaders of
tomorrow. Your Excellency, I have not told you how I
came back to Finland to check on my family only to
hurry back to welcome you in Kisumu as the
president-in-waiting. You may not agree with me, sir,
but Kenyans elected you on a reformist platform and
they expected a major departure from that of KANU.
Mr. President, I have always believe that you are a
level-headed rationalist person who will derive right
from reason and gives it a value independent of the
will. This is also part of the reason I decided to
support you with everything I had including my hard
earned money. However, there are a considerable number
of things that have gone wrong in your government.
Apart from the eloquent speeches nothing of substance
that could shake all corners of the country (if I may
borrow Murungi’s words) has happened to this great
nation in terms of development or job creation. The
promised constitution has been turned into a theatre
of the absurd. There is a lot of melodrama which
requires your urgent intervention as the president of
the republic of Kenya without taking sides. The entire
process has been flawed whether it is Bomas Draft,
Kilifi or Ufungamano. My advise to you as one of your
obedient voter in 2002, stop the referendum! Mr.
President, your advisors have really failed your
presidency for I believe, there is no president that I
know of who has got that massive support like you had.
Please, consider this appeal from me in the interest
of the nation. Your time as president of this nation
will come and go; and someone else will assume the
throne of power. That’s why Kenyans want a
constitution that will not just address short-term
needs of Kiraitus, Kalonzos, Railas, Murungarus, etc.
but a constitution that meant for posterity.
For example, Your Excellency, don’t you envisage chaos
with the law of inheritance when we copy European
inheritance laws without taking our cultural way of
life into consideration. I suppose, as the president,
that you would provide guidance and revisit our
histories so that our laws are ultimately based on our
history and cultures of our people. I say this because
law serves as the spirit of the nation. The law of
reason must be created by the people not imposed upon
them by nature. It is also important that the laws and
the constitution are clear and coherent to the
understanding of everyone alike.
Accordingly, in the current debate on the
constitution, we may borrow from Hegel’s work in the
philosophy of Right that though constitutions can be
changed, constitutions cannot be made. He goes on to
stress that the policies of a government should be in
accord with the spirit of a nation, in agreement with
its concrete circumstances and way of life, and not
imposed from above by some leaders or committee. Mr.
President, the people of Kenya are not comfortable
with the way ministers close to you are trying to
coerce the nation to support a constitution which
cannot even be accepted in a banana republic. If I
still borrow from the same Philosophy of Right, Hegel
states that everyone deserves certain basic rights
just in so far as they are human beings, regardless of
whether they are Catholics, Protestants or Jews; and
he is clear that there are some fundamental goods that
are inalienable and imprescriptable for all persons in
so far as they are free beings, such as the right to
have religious beliefs and to own property.
This constitutional debate has brought sharp divisions
in otherwise a country that was relatively peaceful.
Even the churches have abandoned their flock at the
hour of need just to please the leadership in this
country. Anyone who has read Christianity and it Fate
will obviously hold the church with contempt. Although
I have deep beliefs in Jesus as the saviour, we also
have to agree to some extent with those who chastise
him and charge that he doomed himself by fleeing from
the world to seek redemption in heaven alone. The
pastors have also run away from their congregations to
seek sympathy from State house alone. Your Excellency,
although you have already made it clear which side you
support in this constitutional melodrama, I still
believe you can stop the referendum. Please, do it, if
only for posterity.
Mr. President, this constitution is going to divide
the country and all the gains we made; the pride
Kenyans had after the peaceful transfer of power from
ex-president Moi – everyone will blame you if you
don’t act now! Sometimes one may wonder that if the
people were only aware of their natural rights, I
believe, they would demand them and overthrow their
oppressors. What has happened is that the politicians
had never had any interest in the people but have been
busy fighting to acquire power and wealth of the
nation for themselves. Kenyans should know that
politicians act not to realise their ideals but to
maximize their power. They make treaties but violate
them whenever it suited their self-interests.
Our politicians are always engaged in realpolitik. It
is the only nation where people start politicking
immediately after every election. Realpolitik is the
doctrine that politicians always act in their
self-interest, that their self-interest consists in
acquiring, maintaining or increasing power, and that
therefore the principles of morality have no
application to the political world.
Your Excellency, the people of Kenya have entrusted
you with a very unique office on land. How you go
about protecting their liberty will depend a great
deal on your ability embrace all shades of opinion and
your focus on the common good. I would like to believe
that the chief purpose of the state is to protect
liberty, the rights of citizens to pursue happiness in
their own manner and to ensure the common good, which
is more than the sum of private interests but those
basic goods essential to everyone as a human being.
Mr. President, is it possible that as a president of
the great republic of Kenya, you can put the interests
of the republic before your private interests? Our
country cannot survive if the people have not any
share in government, some right, even if indirect, to
govern their own affairs. It is precisely through
public participation in the affairs of state that the
individual would identify with the state and regard
itself as part of the community. Let me stop this long
letter by saying that you are the president of Kenya.
All of us are looking upon you for guidance. This
guidance also requires that you carefully check the
public mood. There opportunists who will tell you,
Mzee, kila mtu, kutoka Mbeere, Embu, Meru, Kirinyaga –
everyone there have gone bananas! Your Excellency, I
hope you will listen to this lonely voice from
Finland.
Yours Sincerely,
Otieno Mbare, PhD
The author is a research fellow in Finland
------------------------------------------------------
Otieno Mbare, M.Sc.(Econ),D.Sc.(B&Adm)
Åbo Akademi University
Institute of Advance Management Systems Research
Lemminkäinengatan 14 (Fabriksgatan 7: Office location - Kultur Huset)
Tel. +358 2 2154 095 (off1)+358 2 2154 976 (Off) +358 40 5341 996
www.abo.fi/~ombare or iamsr.abo.fi
Email: Otieno.Mbare@..., awachtin@...
20520 ÅBO
Finland
Written by: Otieno Mbare, PhD
Turku, Finland.
Thursday, 15 September 2005
His Excellency The Hon. Mwai Kibaki C.G.H., M.P.
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces
Harambee House, Harambee Avenue
P.O. Box 30510, Nairobi
Tel. (254-020) 227411
Your Excellency,
Allow me to write this open letter to you, Sir, after
a very long period of silence on my part. The last
time we were together, was in 2002 campaigning to get
rid of Moi and his government. We had a rallying song,
yote yawezekana bila Moi, that we all danced to
together in Nairobi, Thika, Kisumu. At the same time,
we had a lyric unbwogable that bolstered our resolve
to rid the country of authoritarian regime and rampant
tribalism in all sectors of government. Mr. President,
a lot of water has since passed under the bridge. When
I heard you speak at Uhuru park where I was seated two
rows behind you, I said, this is a turning point for
the entire country because you made such eloquent
speeches that no one in his/her right mind would have
thought that after just three years Kenyans would be
saying afadhali Moi. Mr. President, I believed so much
in your presidency that I did not even bother to
challenge the flawed nominations in my constituency
after some of us had been prevailed upon. We still
believed you will honour your words and let some of us
serve in your government. Mr. President you will agree
that when we took the unbwogable campaign to Thika
where I almost lost my life due to some reckless
driving by some in the convoy, some of these people
calling the sorts in your government today were not
there. In Thika, I listen to you with so much
nostalgia that when you told the crowd about your
plans for the nation and how you would want even those
who are abroad to come and provide their expertise
home, I believed you. It only dawned on me when even
some of us who had been very active and visible
throughout your campaigns started trooping back to
Europe because you preferred to offer these jobs to
these old Wazees who kept on chiding us as leaders of
tomorrow. Your Excellency, I have not told you how I
came back to Finland to check on my family only to
hurry back to welcome you in Kisumu as the
president-in-waiting. You may not agree with me, sir,
but Kenyans elected you on a reformist platform and
they expected a major departure from that of KANU.
Mr. President, I have always believe that you are a
level-headed rationalist person who will derive right
from reason and gives it a value independent of the
will. This is also part of the reason I decided to
support you with everything I had including my hard
earned money. However, there are a considerable number
of things that have gone wrong in your government.
Apart from the eloquent speeches nothing of substance
that could shake all corners of the country (if I may
borrow Murungi’s words) has happened to this great
nation in terms of development or job creation. The
promised constitution has been turned into a theatre
of the absurd. There is a lot of melodrama which
requires your urgent intervention as the president of
the republic of Kenya without taking sides. The entire
process has been flawed whether it is Bomas Draft,
Kilifi or Ufungamano. My advise to you as one of your
obedient voter in 2002, stop the referendum! Mr.
President, your advisors have really failed your
presidency for I believe, there is no president that I
know of who has got that massive support like you had.
Please, consider this appeal from me in the interest
of the nation. Your time as president of this nation
will come and go; and someone else will assume the
throne of power. That’s why Kenyans want a
constitution that will not just address short-term
needs of Kiraitus, Kalonzos, Railas, Murungarus, etc.
but a constitution that meant for posterity.
For example, Your Excellency, don’t you envisage chaos
with the law of inheritance when we copy European
inheritance laws without taking our cultural way of
life into consideration. I suppose, as the president,
that you would provide guidance and revisit our
histories so that our laws are ultimately based on our
history and cultures of our people. I say this because
law serves as the spirit of the nation. The law of
reason must be created by the people not imposed upon
them by nature. It is also important that the laws and
the constitution are clear and coherent to the
understanding of everyone alike.
Accordingly, in the current debate on the
constitution, we may borrow from Hegel’s work in the
philosophy of Right that though constitutions can be
changed, constitutions cannot be made. He goes on to
stress that the policies of a government should be in
accord with the spirit of a nation, in agreement with
its concrete circumstances and way of life, and not
imposed from above by some leaders or committee. Mr.
President, the people of Kenya are not comfortable
with the way ministers close to you are trying to
coerce the nation to support a constitution which
cannot even be accepted in a banana republic. If I
still borrow from the same Philosophy of Right, Hegel
states that everyone deserves certain basic rights
just in so far as they are human beings, regardless of
whether they are Catholics, Protestants or Jews; and
he is clear that there are some fundamental goods that
are inalienable and imprescriptable for all persons in
so far as they are free beings, such as the right to
have religious beliefs and to own property.
This constitutional debate has brought sharp divisions
in otherwise a country that was relatively peaceful.
Even the churches have abandoned their flock at the
hour of need just to please the leadership in this
country. Anyone who has read Christianity and it Fate
will obviously hold the church with contempt. Although
I have deep beliefs in Jesus as the saviour, we also
have to agree to some extent with those who chastise
him and charge that he doomed himself by fleeing from
the world to seek redemption in heaven alone. The
pastors have also run away from their congregations to
seek sympathy from State house alone. Your Excellency,
although you have already made it clear which side you
support in this constitutional melodrama, I still
believe you can stop the referendum. Please, do it, if
only for posterity.
Mr. President, this constitution is going to divide
the country and all the gains we made; the pride
Kenyans had after the peaceful transfer of power from
ex-president Moi – everyone will blame you if you
don’t act now! Sometimes one may wonder that if the
people were only aware of their natural rights, I
believe, they would demand them and overthrow their
oppressors. What has happened is that the politicians
had never had any interest in the people but have been
busy fighting to acquire power and wealth of the
nation for themselves. Kenyans should know that
politicians act not to realise their ideals but to
maximize their power. They make treaties but violate
them whenever it suited their self-interests.
Our politicians are always engaged in realpolitik. It
is the only nation where people start politicking
immediately after every election. Realpolitik is the
doctrine that politicians always act in their
self-interest, that their self-interest consists in
acquiring, maintaining or increasing power, and that
therefore the principles of morality have no
application to the political world.
Your Excellency, the people of Kenya have entrusted
you with a very unique office on land. How you go
about protecting their liberty will depend a great
deal on your ability embrace all shades of opinion and
your focus on the common good. I would like to believe
that the chief purpose of the state is to protect
liberty, the rights of citizens to pursue happiness in
their own manner and to ensure the common good, which
is more than the sum of private interests but those
basic goods essential to everyone as a human being.
Mr. President, is it possible that as a president of
the great republic of Kenya, you can put the interests
of the republic before your private interests? Our
country cannot survive if the people have not any
share in government, some right, even if indirect, to
govern their own affairs. It is precisely through
public participation in the affairs of state that the
individual would identify with the state and regard
itself as part of the community. Let me stop this long
letter by saying that you are the president of Kenya.
All of us are looking upon you for guidance. This
guidance also requires that you carefully check the
public mood. There opportunists who will tell you,
Mzee, kila mtu, kutoka Mbeere, Embu, Meru, Kirinyaga –
everyone there have gone bananas! Your Excellency, I
hope you will listen to this lonely voice from
Finland.
Yours Sincerely,
Otieno Mbare, PhD
The author is a research fellow in Finland
------------------------------------------------------
Otieno Mbare, M.Sc.(Econ),D.Sc.(B&Adm)
Åbo Akademi University
Institute of Advance Management Systems Research
Lemminkäinengatan 14 (Fabriksgatan 7: Office location - Kultur Huset)
Tel. +358 2 2154 095 (off1)+358 2 2154 976 (Off) +358 40 5341 996
www.abo.fi/~ombare or iamsr.abo.fi
Email: Otieno.Mbare@..., awachtin@...
20520 ÅBO
Finland