Kenyans in Scandanivia Urge a NO Vote
September 7th 2005
email: mapambanokenya@gawab.com
November 21st has been set by the Kenyan ruling class as the date for a national referendum for a new Constitution. As the count down began, rotten politicians allied to the corrupt NARC government began prattling on the necessity of Kenyans to vote "Yes" to a distorted and mutilated Constitution. We take the view that the Kibaki Constitution is in opposition to the National aspirations of the Kenyan people who have been waging struggle for a new Constitution for more than 4 decades.
The alternative that Kenyans vote "Yes or No" to "The Kibaki constitution" contradicts the reasons why Kenyans voted out the undemocratic dictatorship of former President Daniel arap Moi in December 2002.
When Moi refused to address the inadequacies in the KANU Constitution, thousands of lives were lost, people were sent to prison, activists forced into exile while hundreds of other Kenyans were maimed or crippled in the process of struggle for a new and democratic Constitution.
By fidgeting with the Constitutional writing process, does Kibaki and his cohorts understand the history behind the real struggle for a new Constitution in Kenya?
After more than Ksh 4 billion was spent by the government to draft a new Constitution that truly represented the wishes of Kenyans (The Bomas draft), the document was fraudulently referred to Parliament, not to improve it but to water it down in favor of the wishes of Mount Kenyan Mafia currently responsible for the looting and plunder of Kenya's resources.
During 24 years of ruthless dictatorship of former President Moi, the most notable maladies of the colonial KANU Constitution were to be found in sections that accorded the President God like powers. In the Kibaki Constitution, there is no fundamental difference because the President is left with powers that effectively places his office above the law.
Kibaki wants the same powers as his former boss Mr. Daniel arap Moi. The document Kibaki has presented to the referendum cannot be ratified by any right thinking people anywhere and Kenyans are no exception.
The butchered Bomas draft that President Mwai Kibaki is urging Kenyans to vote for leaves the President with powers to hire and fire vital officers of the State, just like the days of Moi. The powers of the Prime Minister proposed in the Bomas draft have also been reduced to an extent that will make any Prime Minister an effective puppet or errand boy
of the President.
As Kenyans resident in Scandinavia, we have already studied the mutilated Kenyan Constitution in detail and our position is that Kenyans should reject it by voting "No". A Constitution that was written by Kenyans themselves in the name of the "Bomas draft" exists. It is this Constitution that should have been brought before Kenyans for a referendum, not the altered version in Kibaki's mangled brief case.
Political rags who have been mobilized to campaign for a "Yes" vote are well known for both their carpet-crossing and turn-coating at the slightest invitation to a "retreat" where they are routinely bribed to vote yes to even the most obscene bills that have come before Parliament. These political elites are in business, not to sell any products but to play with the future of Kenya.
Other traitors like Professor George Saitoti, the Minister of Education, should be in jail after stealing billions of Tax payer's money during the Moi dictatorship. The new Constitution should have contained clauses that make bandits who commit economic crimes like Saitoti to be charged with treason. The gang of fraudsters surrounding President Kibaki like Dr. Chris Murungaru, Mirugi Kariuki, Kiraitu Murungi, Simeon Nyachae, Moody Awori, Amos Wako et al have no credibility to sit in government, leave alone campaign for a "Yes" vote. Is it an exaggeration to ask Kenyans to show these hooligans the door?
Kibaki is leading a regime of tainted land grabbers who have been responding to past crimes by setting up bogus money guzzling Commissions which have ended up protecting the rich. Kibaki, who is leading the "Yes" vote, has himself sold the country to imperialism. Foreign soldiers are walking away with crime while grand children of former colonial masters are walking away with cold blooded murder in our country. What is more?
We still remember how Kibaki tried to convert Kenya into a one party state after taking power by suggesting that political parties should be dissolved. He failed when Kenyans rose strongly and told him to dissolve his own DP Party. That is after he lied on the Memorandum of Understanding and cheated Kenyans that he would create half a million jobs per year. The ailing President is on a new experiment with his half-backed Constitution and we believe he is going to fail again!
Minority tribes like the Masaai continue to be marginalized while other Kenyans continue to be collectively expelled from their land without alternatives. National resources like Tiomin have been handed over to foreigners to exploit while the national economy is firmly on the hands of imperialist institutions - many thanks to Kibaki!
Kibaki's campaign for a "Yes" vote is against a backdrop of landlessness that he has failed to address since he took over power. He is now telling Kenyans to accept a Constitution that will lease land to foreigners for 99 years. This is the same arrangement that has been protecting settler land grabbers in Kenya since the days of the colonial revolution. From our vantage point, we view the Kibaki Constitution as a document weaved to appease donors and to block the sharing of the national cake among all Kenyans!
Through the Privatization program, vital wealth producing institutions are being sold to multinational companies whose agenda is to deepen poverty in Kenya. The current Constitution is crafted to protect the rich property owners who form less than 10% of the Kenyan population. It is not intended to transform the lives of millions of Kenyans languishing in poverty.
Since Kibaki took power, political assassinations, human rights violations, torture in police cells, violent attacks on demonstrators, attacks on striking workers and numerous other undemocratic practices that were seen during the Moi dictatorship are back in Kenya. The bogus Constitution nursed by Kibaki's pimps and which Kenyans are being asked to accept is designed to maintain the status quo, entrench capitalist class rule and continue with the capitalist tendency of sidelining workers and millions of youth from the running of society. We say, oppose this Constitution!
The Kibaki Constitution is silent on the question of a minimum living wage for workers who are living on starvation wages. This Constitution must be opposed by a strong "NO" so that President Kibaki can go into quiet retirement. As Kenyans in Scandinavia, we are united with all Kenyans at home and abroad mobilizing for a "No" vote.
At this critical time of national crisis manufactured by President Kibaki and his kitchen Cabinet, we wish to condemn the Church for opting to remain neutral in the situation. By sitting on the fence at this point, the Church is eroding its well documented history of struggle when Moi was murdering people. The Church's current weak position is a betrayal of congregations they represent in Kenya because it amounts to telling their flock not to vote "No" in the referendum. This situation will only help Kibaki and it is for this reason that we also wish to urge the church to stop doing business with the devil that Kibaki has become. We urge the faithful in Kenya to defy their compromised Benz-riding figure-heads and vote "No". This will help the nation!
The government has said that it will use "every means available" to get it's way in the November referendum. We are confident that President Kibaki and thieves in his government are going to lose this game. We urge all Kenyans to take to the streets in case the President employs dirty Moi-like tactics and rigs the vote in his favor.
Kibaki was elected democratically. But this is the same case with Adolf Hitler in Germany whom, after his election, engineered one of the bloodiest genocides in the history of humankind. The Kibaki Kenyans elected is not the same person currently running against the wind, trying to get Kenyans to pass a counterfeit Constitution. We urge Kenyans to stop this old man in his tracks!
We, Kenyans in Scandinavia, expected any democratic Constitution to end the culture of Saidia naskini and to stop the tendency where only the rich have access to justice. The Kibaki Constitution is sending very worrying signals because it looks more like a project to protect the interest of the rich. We believe that there is nowhere in the world where a democratic Constitution can be written by traitors, reactionaries, opportunists, wealth grabbers, boot-lickers, political prostitutes and former red-eyed home guards. Let it not happen in Kenya!
Former dictator Moi was defeated through mass mobilization and there is no reason why Kibaki should not have a taste of the same medicine. The Yes campaign is doomed.
Fagilia Kibaki and his sycophants with a strong NO!!
Martin Ngatia: Kenya Peoples Democratic Movement (KEPEDEMO Mapinduzi)
Okoth Osewe: Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA)
Desmond Nyamu: Kenya Social Forum in Norway (KSF - Norway)
Betty Shangazi: Muungano Ya Akina Mama Scandinavia
Omariba Kadikiye: Organization of Kenyans in Denmark (OKD)
Christopher Omondi: Association of Kenyan Students in Finland (AKSIF)
email: mapambanokenya@gawab.com
STATEMENT OF KENYANS IN
SCANDINAVIA ON THE NOVEMBER REFERENDUM ON THE CONSTITUTION:
VOTE A STRONG "NO" AND SHOW PRESIDENT KIBAKI THE DOOR
SCANDINAVIA ON THE NOVEMBER REFERENDUM ON THE CONSTITUTION:
VOTE A STRONG "NO" AND SHOW PRESIDENT KIBAKI THE DOOR
November 21st has been set by the Kenyan ruling class as the date for a national referendum for a new Constitution. As the count down began, rotten politicians allied to the corrupt NARC government began prattling on the necessity of Kenyans to vote "Yes" to a distorted and mutilated Constitution. We take the view that the Kibaki Constitution is in opposition to the National aspirations of the Kenyan people who have been waging struggle for a new Constitution for more than 4 decades.
The alternative that Kenyans vote "Yes or No" to "The Kibaki constitution" contradicts the reasons why Kenyans voted out the undemocratic dictatorship of former President Daniel arap Moi in December 2002.
When Moi refused to address the inadequacies in the KANU Constitution, thousands of lives were lost, people were sent to prison, activists forced into exile while hundreds of other Kenyans were maimed or crippled in the process of struggle for a new and democratic Constitution.
By fidgeting with the Constitutional writing process, does Kibaki and his cohorts understand the history behind the real struggle for a new Constitution in Kenya?
After more than Ksh 4 billion was spent by the government to draft a new Constitution that truly represented the wishes of Kenyans (The Bomas draft), the document was fraudulently referred to Parliament, not to improve it but to water it down in favor of the wishes of Mount Kenyan Mafia currently responsible for the looting and plunder of Kenya's resources.
During 24 years of ruthless dictatorship of former President Moi, the most notable maladies of the colonial KANU Constitution were to be found in sections that accorded the President God like powers. In the Kibaki Constitution, there is no fundamental difference because the President is left with powers that effectively places his office above the law.
Kibaki wants the same powers as his former boss Mr. Daniel arap Moi. The document Kibaki has presented to the referendum cannot be ratified by any right thinking people anywhere and Kenyans are no exception.
The butchered Bomas draft that President Mwai Kibaki is urging Kenyans to vote for leaves the President with powers to hire and fire vital officers of the State, just like the days of Moi. The powers of the Prime Minister proposed in the Bomas draft have also been reduced to an extent that will make any Prime Minister an effective puppet or errand boy
of the President.
As Kenyans resident in Scandinavia, we have already studied the mutilated Kenyan Constitution in detail and our position is that Kenyans should reject it by voting "No". A Constitution that was written by Kenyans themselves in the name of the "Bomas draft" exists. It is this Constitution that should have been brought before Kenyans for a referendum, not the altered version in Kibaki's mangled brief case.
Political rags who have been mobilized to campaign for a "Yes" vote are well known for both their carpet-crossing and turn-coating at the slightest invitation to a "retreat" where they are routinely bribed to vote yes to even the most obscene bills that have come before Parliament. These political elites are in business, not to sell any products but to play with the future of Kenya.
Other traitors like Professor George Saitoti, the Minister of Education, should be in jail after stealing billions of Tax payer's money during the Moi dictatorship. The new Constitution should have contained clauses that make bandits who commit economic crimes like Saitoti to be charged with treason. The gang of fraudsters surrounding President Kibaki like Dr. Chris Murungaru, Mirugi Kariuki, Kiraitu Murungi, Simeon Nyachae, Moody Awori, Amos Wako et al have no credibility to sit in government, leave alone campaign for a "Yes" vote. Is it an exaggeration to ask Kenyans to show these hooligans the door?
Kibaki is leading a regime of tainted land grabbers who have been responding to past crimes by setting up bogus money guzzling Commissions which have ended up protecting the rich. Kibaki, who is leading the "Yes" vote, has himself sold the country to imperialism. Foreign soldiers are walking away with crime while grand children of former colonial masters are walking away with cold blooded murder in our country. What is more?
We still remember how Kibaki tried to convert Kenya into a one party state after taking power by suggesting that political parties should be dissolved. He failed when Kenyans rose strongly and told him to dissolve his own DP Party. That is after he lied on the Memorandum of Understanding and cheated Kenyans that he would create half a million jobs per year. The ailing President is on a new experiment with his half-backed Constitution and we believe he is going to fail again!
Minority tribes like the Masaai continue to be marginalized while other Kenyans continue to be collectively expelled from their land without alternatives. National resources like Tiomin have been handed over to foreigners to exploit while the national economy is firmly on the hands of imperialist institutions - many thanks to Kibaki!
Kibaki's campaign for a "Yes" vote is against a backdrop of landlessness that he has failed to address since he took over power. He is now telling Kenyans to accept a Constitution that will lease land to foreigners for 99 years. This is the same arrangement that has been protecting settler land grabbers in Kenya since the days of the colonial revolution. From our vantage point, we view the Kibaki Constitution as a document weaved to appease donors and to block the sharing of the national cake among all Kenyans!
Through the Privatization program, vital wealth producing institutions are being sold to multinational companies whose agenda is to deepen poverty in Kenya. The current Constitution is crafted to protect the rich property owners who form less than 10% of the Kenyan population. It is not intended to transform the lives of millions of Kenyans languishing in poverty.
Since Kibaki took power, political assassinations, human rights violations, torture in police cells, violent attacks on demonstrators, attacks on striking workers and numerous other undemocratic practices that were seen during the Moi dictatorship are back in Kenya. The bogus Constitution nursed by Kibaki's pimps and which Kenyans are being asked to accept is designed to maintain the status quo, entrench capitalist class rule and continue with the capitalist tendency of sidelining workers and millions of youth from the running of society. We say, oppose this Constitution!
The Kibaki Constitution is silent on the question of a minimum living wage for workers who are living on starvation wages. This Constitution must be opposed by a strong "NO" so that President Kibaki can go into quiet retirement. As Kenyans in Scandinavia, we are united with all Kenyans at home and abroad mobilizing for a "No" vote.
At this critical time of national crisis manufactured by President Kibaki and his kitchen Cabinet, we wish to condemn the Church for opting to remain neutral in the situation. By sitting on the fence at this point, the Church is eroding its well documented history of struggle when Moi was murdering people. The Church's current weak position is a betrayal of congregations they represent in Kenya because it amounts to telling their flock not to vote "No" in the referendum. This situation will only help Kibaki and it is for this reason that we also wish to urge the church to stop doing business with the devil that Kibaki has become. We urge the faithful in Kenya to defy their compromised Benz-riding figure-heads and vote "No". This will help the nation!
The government has said that it will use "every means available" to get it's way in the November referendum. We are confident that President Kibaki and thieves in his government are going to lose this game. We urge all Kenyans to take to the streets in case the President employs dirty Moi-like tactics and rigs the vote in his favor.
Kibaki was elected democratically. But this is the same case with Adolf Hitler in Germany whom, after his election, engineered one of the bloodiest genocides in the history of humankind. The Kibaki Kenyans elected is not the same person currently running against the wind, trying to get Kenyans to pass a counterfeit Constitution. We urge Kenyans to stop this old man in his tracks!
We, Kenyans in Scandinavia, expected any democratic Constitution to end the culture of Saidia naskini and to stop the tendency where only the rich have access to justice. The Kibaki Constitution is sending very worrying signals because it looks more like a project to protect the interest of the rich. We believe that there is nowhere in the world where a democratic Constitution can be written by traitors, reactionaries, opportunists, wealth grabbers, boot-lickers, political prostitutes and former red-eyed home guards. Let it not happen in Kenya!
Former dictator Moi was defeated through mass mobilization and there is no reason why Kibaki should not have a taste of the same medicine. The Yes campaign is doomed.
Fagilia Kibaki and his sycophants with a strong NO!!
Martin Ngatia: Kenya Peoples Democratic Movement (KEPEDEMO Mapinduzi)
Okoth Osewe: Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA)
Desmond Nyamu: Kenya Social Forum in Norway (KSF - Norway)
Betty Shangazi: Muungano Ya Akina Mama Scandinavia
Omariba Kadikiye: Organization of Kenyans in Denmark (OKD)
Christopher Omondi: Association of Kenyan Students in Finland (AKSIF)
posted by Kenya Democracy Project at
10:18 AM
