Mobilize against any future election violence

Kenyans pose for a photo with the visiting former Justice and national cohesion minister, Martha Karua(center) during a speech delivered at the harvard University school of law. H.Maina/Ajabu

By Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. , MARCH 13_Active participation of Kenyans both at home and abroad in holding leaders accountable for their actions will play a crucial role in reforming and improving governance as well as inoculate Kenya against yet another wave of violence in the 2012 general elections.

The visiting former Justice and national cohesion minister, Martha Karua, who is now aspiring to be the first female Kenyan president in the upcoming general elections, made the call here in Boston during a rare open discussion with Kenyans at the Harvard Law School on Monday, March 7.

Popularly known as the “Iron lady” for her tough stance against corruption and bad governance, Karua has been on a visit to the US during which she has gone out of her way to engage Kenyans in several states in discussions about the future of their country.

While most leaders in Kenya are avoiding interactive public discussion with their citizens, Karua is emerging as a responsive leader who has no qualms about holding honest one on one discussion, taking tough questions from Kenyans concerned about the direction of their country.

Last year, the former minister held several of such candid meetings with Kenyans in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington DC.

During the Harvard event, organized by the Harvard African Law Association, the combative former minister said that the breakdown of the rule of law in Kenya has led to rising insecurity and poverty levels in a country that in 1965 had the same GDP output with South Korea.  

Kenya continues to fall into economic doldrums despite being well endowed with massive natural and human resources, while South Korea has since continued to grow economically and is now referred to as one of the “Asian tigers” (fast growing economies in South East Asia).

Karua bemoaned the sad situation that Kenya used to export skilled manpower to Botswana, which has now more developed than Kenya, with its citizens enjoying awesome infrastructure and a better standard of living.

She said that insecurity, corruption and mismanagement is robbing hardworking Kenyans of the opportunity to develop their country and “thus making us all live a miserable life.”

“There is a huge influx of Non-Kenyan Somalis from Somalia and other places who come and get the Kenyan National IDs through corrupt means, buy plots in Nairobi, maybe with money from pirated ships,” said Karua. “This compromises our security and undermines the rule of law,” she added.

Karua sympathized with Kenyans in the Diaspora who have sent a lot of money to invest in properties in Kenya, only to loose them due to corrupt deal making, with many plots emerging as public land while others getting fake title deeds for purchased land.

“But you have to understand that even us Kenyans living in Kenya also suffer the same losses as you,” the MP for Gichugu told attentive Kenyans at Harvard.

Karua said that every imaginable area in governance is not working due to rampant corruption and mismanagement despite government’s lip service pledge to fight it.

“Kenya suffered a near breakdown in the rule of law after the disputed 2007 elections,” said Karua”. “The public has lost confidence in public institutions, their authority was eroded and people could no longer believe in them.”

A section of Kenyans who came from many cities in Massachusetts listening to Martha Karua

She said that as a result, a comprehensive reform to restore the rule of law in the criminal justice system is needed urgently. The judiciary, the police and the attorney general’s institutions need urgent reforms. In fact, all the arms of the government need an overhaul,” Karua said.

The former chief legal advisor said that with the proposed and ongoing efforts to review the Kenyan constitution, there is hope that reforms can be instituted that will get the country run once again on the rule of law.

Responding to questions from Kenyans present, Karua said that she hopes that those who will emerge as having been responsible for instigating the 2007 post election violence in Kenya will be prosecuted in The Hague.

“Kenyans are anxiously waiting for that list by Ocampo,” said Karua.
“However, even as those on the list face the International court, what happens to those other people not mentioned in the list who committed criminal acts. What about those who committed murder and rape and destroyed property,” she posed “We need to prosecute them ourselves in Kenya.”

She also said that the ongoing constitutional reforms have reduced the political parties to compete in the next general elections from some 200 to about 50, and hopes that the number can even be brought lower than that.

“There is no need to have all these brief case parties formed along tribal, religious and other narrow lines. The former minister added that Kenyans need a smaller number of democratically run parties that are based on strong ideologies.

On the contentious issue of legalizing abortion in Kenya, Karua said that the constitutional reform process needs to separate religious beliefs from legal principles.

Defending herself from the notion that she might as well quit if she was elected the president only to find it difficult to get along with corrupt or inept members of her cabinet like she did as a minister of Justice, Karua simply said that, “as a president, if you disagree with some people and they refuse to change, you don’t quit, you fire them because the buck stops with you.”

“You can even dissolve the entire cabinet, something you don’t have the power to do as a minister,” she added to the applause of those present.

Nkatha Kabira, a Phd student at Harvard School of Law, grills Martha Karua on issues pertaining to governance in Kenya

Karua said that if Kenyans get more involved in the politics of their country, they can even reduce the effects of tribalism which has caused a lot of harm to ordinary Kenyans, most of whom do not benefit even if the president comes from their tribes.

“The tribe that benefits when there is bad governance is the elite who surround the president, barring everybody else to get near the president. The people of Baringo are among the poorest in Kenya even after the former president who came from their tribe ruled for many years. Gatundu is among the poorest areas in Central province even though the first Kenyan president, Jomo Kenyatta came from this area,” said Karua.

Answering a question from Abel Mote, a Kenyan who teaches at the Brandeis University in Waltham, Karua told Kenyans in the Diaspora that the upcoming constitutional reforms will make it possible for any Kenyan to access information from the government on any issue of interest, either for research or otherwise, as opposed to the situation right now that requires you to prove beyond any reasonable doubt why you need the information.

Another Kenyan, Wanjiru Kamau, demanded to know how Kenyans could hold Karua responsible for the great promises and visionary agenda she was artuculating once elected as the president. Karua responded that as a woman who has broken the barriers aganist women running for office in her own Gicugu constituency, she has been endorsed and elected for four consecutive terms.

Innocent Lugumamu, a Tanzanian guest who wanted to know about the chances of a pure coexistence of good democracy and the private sector in Africa

This, Karua said, was becasue she does what she says she is going to do, without relying on distributing handouts to the electrolate for their vote. "I will do the same as the president of Kenya", she reassured.

She asked Kenyans in the Diaspora to find and use the right platforms to channel their ideas for making Kenya a better place. Karua also challenged the media to keep up the pressure on reporting on issues that will enable Kenyans to transform their country for the better.
 
“I hope Kenyans will have the power to agitate for the right reforms in our country. Vote for me as the CEO of the country and I will surely not disappoint you in bringing the necessary reforms,” said the hopeful candidate who is now in the second position in the Kenyan presidential polls after the current Prime Minister, Raila Odinga.

Comments

Other Top Ajabu News
Sell Compatible Music Discs, Kenyan Artists asked
Gays Protest Jamaican Raggae, Not American Rap
Never been to Washington, D.C.? A rare chance for you & your family!
Mobilize against any future election violence
Ethnic Special Needs Children Face Longer Wait for Health Care

Return to Home Page