Martha Karua Meets Kenyans in Worcester, Mass.

Hon. Martha Karua, a Kenyan member of parliament and former minister for Justice and National Reconciliation takes a question from a Kenyan man who was among many who attended a twon hall meeting convened in Worcester , Mass last week. Karua announced her bid to become the next president of the republic of Kenya. H.Maina/Ajabu

By Harrison Maina, AjabuAfrica.com

WORCESTER, Mass-'Too early when the economy lacks basic security measures? Martha Karua 2012', read the message on T-shirt merchandise for sale at the entrance during the Hon. Martha Karua meet the Kenyan Diaspora in Worcester, Mass. last Thursday.

Karua, the  MP for Gichugu , in central Kenya, is the former minister for Justice and National Reconciliation, a seat she resigned from after serving for a year in the hurriedly cobbled up coalition government in Kenya following the 2008 disputed general elections.

The coalition brought several parties together to share power and thus at least put to an end the  then escalating  violence that pitted tribe against tribe, leaving over 1000 Kenyan dead, thousands more injured and hundreds of thousands more  uprooted from their homes and effectively becoming  internal refugees across the whole country.

“There is still a festering tribal animosity right now in Kenya, and there is a lot more work that remains to be done”, said Hon. Karua, who is a founding member of one of those political parties, NARC – Kenya.

Hon. Karua, who also goes by the nickname ‘Iron Lady’ for her tough stance on issues, was speaking to dozens of Kenyans at the Safari Café in Worcester. She told Kenyans in Worcester that the coalition government is so divided, ineffective and corrupt that she could no longer consciously continue to serve as the Justice and Reconciliation Minister.

She said that the different parts of government in Kenya can not agree on anything.

Hon.Karua, greets Kenyans on arrival at the Safari Cafe on Chandler Street in Worcester

“If there is anything that the coalition does not argue about, it is the corruption. On that there is full cooperation of, at every level of the government, starting from the civil service all the way up”, said Hon. Karua, drawing loud laughs from the crowd.

Safari Café is a recently opened, Kenyan owned restaurant on Chandler street in Worcester that provides excellent traditional Kenyan cuisine to patrons  such as Chapati, Mukimo, Githeri, Ugali , fish , goat meat and many more.

The café was the venue for what was dubbed as ‘candid talks’ , designed to have the  former  minister  meet on a face to face basis with Kenyans in the USA.

Before Hon. Karua arrived at the venue, several Kenyans who had been part of organizing for the the Karua visit to Massachusetts asked Kenyans to be showing up for events like those because it was their lives that were at stake.

“It is very important for you to take part in such political events because you can ask the politicians questions that will keep them tuned to your problems”, said Philip Gitonga, one of the organizers.

“As Kenyans, we need to come together irrespective of our tribal backgrounds and build one another up,” said Aggrey Lidonde, another prominent Kenyan in Worcester who is also gunning for elective office come the 2012 Kenyan Elections.

Lidonde is the founder of the Beverly schools in Kenya that has campuses in Nyahururu, Central Province, and is looking to open several more in different parts of the country.

Abdi Lidode addresses Kenyans at the Safari cafe during the Martha Karua 'candid talks' event

The Safari café’s candid talks where no questions where asked due to time constraints lasted for about 30 minutes. The entire group then moved two blocks down the street to the Martin Luther King building for a more interactive session in the hall that accommodated more Kenyans who continued to stream in.

Inviting the Kenyan leader to speak during the interactive session, Mr. Joseph Mwangi, a Kenyan Nurse in Worcester who is also a political science student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, thanked Hon. Karua for coming to meet with Kenyans directly to listen to their needs.

Mwangi said that it was very important for the voices of Kenyans in the Diaspora be heard in the political debate taking place now in Kenya. “Many politicians claim to represent the voices of the people, but if they don’t come and meet with us in a situation like this, then how did they hear our voices,” Mwangi said.

During the town hall meeting, Hon. Karua defended her decision to resign from the Kibaki led coalition government that she has sided with during most of her political career and has rigorously defended in the past against various forms of accusations.

She said that that her job was so difficult to perform as many parts of the government could not agree on anything and there were a lot of structures in place that prevented her from implementing any meaningful reforms in her work.  “I felt I did not have to live a lie, so I had to quit”, Karua said flatly.

Phillip Gitonga, one of the main Martha Karua Worcester event organizers

Displaying a skilled and deep understanding of the Kenyan political set up, the  former minister said that the biggest challenge Kenya is facing as a country is how to dismantle the current  Kibaki regime, which she said is  practically running on former president Mio’s policies.

“Tunashida za Kiuchumi, Kisheria, na Kimaisha,” said Karua in the national Kiswahili language. (We are having economic, legal and social problems right now).

Karua went on to narrate a plethora of the self inflicted problems facing Kenya,  leaving most of the Kenyan present thankful that they  were out of there.

Steve Mwangi , a political science student introducing Martha Karua to Kenyans at the MLK hall in Worcester.

“The members of parliament don’t want to pay taxes, yet they want to keep raising their won salaries, the economy is facing a recession just like other world economies, corruption is so high that even the money to resettle the IDP’s (Internally displaced persons) ended up in some politicians pockets hence many people still living in tents in their own country.” Karua said that even the Mungiki issue has now become a cover slogan for the police and other politicians to use against an entire generation of people from a particular ethnic background and especially the Mt. Kenya region

 “Even the police are using Mungiki as a cover up for their inefficiencies and to advance their extortion schemes ”, said Hon. Karua to the amazement of those present.She added that when criminal activities happen, the police just arrive and shoot, only to dismiss the event saying "that was mungiki".

“There are illegal gangs practically in every  tribal community now in Kenya but it is only those termed as Mungiki are marked for death,” said Hon. Karua. “It is similar to what happened years ago with members of the Somali community who were generalized as “Shifta” so they could get killed on sight.”

“If the police don’t want to investigate a criminal offence, they just kill people involved and say that was Mungiki,” Karua said.

Answering a question from one Kenyan on the investment regulation in Kenya, Hon. Karua said that the Capital Markets Authority is basically a toothless dog that stood by as corrupt brokerage firms swindled unsuspecting Kenyans of millions of shillings by illegally trading with their money without the investors consent.Some firms ended up bankrupt causing huge losses to investors.

"The capital markets authority needs serious reform as well to safeguard your investments", said the MP.

However, the MP said that Kenya is not an entirely hopeless situation. She credited the Kibaki led government for a plus 7 percent growth in the economy during his first term that has now dropped to a paltry 1 %.

“It’s not ethnicity that is wrong with Kenya, it’s bad leadership”, she said. “We need to focus on the issues,” said Karua.  “I am not a quitter, so I am going to fight against corruption,” she added sternly.

Catherine Karanja, one of the event moderators, shoots a question submitted by a Kenyans for Martha Karua

The iron lady thanked Kenyans in the Diaspora for sending remittances to Kenya even when things got tough due to recession. She told them that money remitted by Kenyans abroad has exceeded tourism as the number one foreign exchange earner, and so the government was committed to providing an enabling environment for Kenyans abroad to do their business more conveniently.

 “in the current reforms we are doing, we will allow for due citizenship for Kenyans abroad”.

She however said she would not support the idea of Kenyans abroad being able to cast absentee ballots.

“If we cannot monitor votes inside Kenya, how about absentee ballots?” She posed. “The next thing you would hear is that someone just won in Gichugu based on votes cast in Worcester, USA”, she added drawing wild cheer from Kenyans present.

Karua said that it was because of the bad governance that she has decided to run for the Kenyan presidential elections in 2012. “I will be consulting with people like you so I become the Chief executive of the country.” She told them that  it was time that Kenyans should bury the old system and build a new system void of the old habits from previous regimes.

“I therefore ask you to back my bid to become the next president of Kenya”, she told the Diaspora Kenyans as she ended her speech   getting ready to leave for her next stop,  New Jersey.

View more pic from this event here

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