Post by Mutua on Dec 18, 2005 7:26:19 GMT 3
ODM is not the answer
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Makau Mutua
The Orange Democratic Movement cannot redeem our country from d**nation.
The ODM is neither democratic, nor a movement.
President Kibaki’s betrayal of Kenya is not a sufficient excuse to embrace the ODM.
There is nothing strategic or intelligent about jumping from the frying pan and into the fire.
Kenyans must dispense with the euphoria of the ‘No’ victory and coldly analyse the ODM to appreciate its monster proclivities. Do we know the ODM and what it stands for?
The political biographies of its leaders tell the entire story. But for Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, the ODM cannot produce any other single leader with serious democratic credentials.
Raila Odinga suffered under the Moi regime, but suffering does not a democrat make.
The rest of the ODM leaders are Kanu mandarins, many of whom have been linked to economic scandals and human rights abuses.
It is a historical fact that virtually all ODM leaders have always been anti-reform. So, why would Kenyans expect the ODM — a resurrection of Kanu — to reform the country?
Did they not plunder it for 24 years? I get sick to my stomach when I see ex-Kanu ministers in the ODM take the platform to cloak themselves in the language of reform.
These are the same folks who ran the Nyayo House torture chambers, instigated so-called ethnic clashes, perpetrated the Goldenberg Affair, and committed the Wagalla and other massacres.
How could this lot bring about reform, or the third liberation, to consolidate and deepen democracy?
Would they countenance a truth commission or prosecutions for the recovery of stolen funds and property?
I do not think so. Nor would they give the country a democratic constitution.
They are opposed to the Kibaki government simply because they want to rule in its stead, not because they care.
Kenyans should internalise this basic fact, or they will be duped into exchanging one set of looters for another.
The conduct and speech of key ODM leaders prove my point. How can responsible statesmen spew the kind of rhetoric that has come from the ODM leaders of late?
Do Kenyans crave a leader who seeks power by any means necessary?
Or do they want a leader who recognises that Kenya is a constitutional democracy in which power must be peacefully sought?
Odinga and the ODM have been vague on what reforms, if any, they would introduce were they to ascend to power.
Even the betrayed MoU — on which Narc was destroyed — would not have given Kenya a reformist Cabinet. Odinga’s spurned Cabinet choices were NDP cronies and ex-Kanu anti-reformers.
I am certain that Odinga would form a government of the same tired sycophants and looters if he were President. That is why he has ruined the political careers of James Orengo, Shem Ochuodho, and Joe Donde — superb democrats.
Kenyans do not have any meaningful choice between ODM and Kibaki’s bankrupt Cabinet.
Yet the political class wants us to believe that these are the only two options.
I can only see one difference between the two factions of the political class.
President Kibaki’s government is controlled by a narrow cabal of looters from one part of the country. ODM, on the other hand, is a broader inter-ethnic coalition.
National interests drive neither the ODM nor the Kibaki government. Both are bad news.
We know that President Kibaki’s cronies are knee-deep in the Anglo-Leasing scam.
We are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Our only salvation is looking outside the traditional political class.
------------------------------------------
Makau Mutua
The Orange Democratic Movement cannot redeem our country from d**nation.
The ODM is neither democratic, nor a movement.
President Kibaki’s betrayal of Kenya is not a sufficient excuse to embrace the ODM.
There is nothing strategic or intelligent about jumping from the frying pan and into the fire.
Kenyans must dispense with the euphoria of the ‘No’ victory and coldly analyse the ODM to appreciate its monster proclivities. Do we know the ODM and what it stands for?
The political biographies of its leaders tell the entire story. But for Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, the ODM cannot produce any other single leader with serious democratic credentials.
Raila Odinga suffered under the Moi regime, but suffering does not a democrat make.
The rest of the ODM leaders are Kanu mandarins, many of whom have been linked to economic scandals and human rights abuses.
It is a historical fact that virtually all ODM leaders have always been anti-reform. So, why would Kenyans expect the ODM — a resurrection of Kanu — to reform the country?
Did they not plunder it for 24 years? I get sick to my stomach when I see ex-Kanu ministers in the ODM take the platform to cloak themselves in the language of reform.
These are the same folks who ran the Nyayo House torture chambers, instigated so-called ethnic clashes, perpetrated the Goldenberg Affair, and committed the Wagalla and other massacres.
How could this lot bring about reform, or the third liberation, to consolidate and deepen democracy?
Would they countenance a truth commission or prosecutions for the recovery of stolen funds and property?
I do not think so. Nor would they give the country a democratic constitution.
They are opposed to the Kibaki government simply because they want to rule in its stead, not because they care.
Kenyans should internalise this basic fact, or they will be duped into exchanging one set of looters for another.
The conduct and speech of key ODM leaders prove my point. How can responsible statesmen spew the kind of rhetoric that has come from the ODM leaders of late?
Do Kenyans crave a leader who seeks power by any means necessary?
Or do they want a leader who recognises that Kenya is a constitutional democracy in which power must be peacefully sought?
Odinga and the ODM have been vague on what reforms, if any, they would introduce were they to ascend to power.
Even the betrayed MoU — on which Narc was destroyed — would not have given Kenya a reformist Cabinet. Odinga’s spurned Cabinet choices were NDP cronies and ex-Kanu anti-reformers.
I am certain that Odinga would form a government of the same tired sycophants and looters if he were President. That is why he has ruined the political careers of James Orengo, Shem Ochuodho, and Joe Donde — superb democrats.
Kenyans do not have any meaningful choice between ODM and Kibaki’s bankrupt Cabinet.
Yet the political class wants us to believe that these are the only two options.
I can only see one difference between the two factions of the political class.
President Kibaki’s government is controlled by a narrow cabal of looters from one part of the country. ODM, on the other hand, is a broader inter-ethnic coalition.
National interests drive neither the ODM nor the Kibaki government. Both are bad news.
We know that President Kibaki’s cronies are knee-deep in the Anglo-Leasing scam.
We are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Our only salvation is looking outside the traditional political class.