Fellow Kenyans,
Yesterday marked an important milestone in the nation's history. It marked the end of the 2007 elections. We finally have a government that President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have weaved together to help heal the deep wounds a sham electoral process opened up in our country. As this new government gets down to business, there will be people who gloat about PNU retaining the plum ministries. There will be those who complain about the ODM having absorbed a further body blow after being robbed of victory at the polls. Such gloating by the PNU supporters and complaints by the ODM supporters are understandable.
But they are also childish and misplaced.
The point here is that
But the work is just beginning. At this point there are three crucial issues that need urgent attention:
1. Our brothers and sisters in the camps (IDPs) need to be settled urgently. It shames us when our fellow countrymen sleep in tents and beg for food within our borders. As a matter of urgency, let's move swiftly to settle our people and close the camps.
2. We must act with speed to disband the Electoral Commission of Kenya and replace it with one that brings together men and women of character. It would indeed be immoral for the current discredited body to be allowed to conduct another election. Mr. Kivuitu and his team represent men and women who have disgraced themselves and betrayed the Kenyan people. They deserve no part in shaping the future of our nation.
3. Finally, there's the matter of the constitution. And though I mention this third, it is critical to understand that this is the most important assignment the new government is going to confront. Changing the constitution, and making it reflect the hopes and dreams of the Kenyan people, will require wisdom, patience and tolerance of the kind usually displayed by statesmen. Those who will cling to a tribal agenda, who will champion the narrow interests of certain communities, will be doing a grave diservice to the nation. Because at the end of the day, the three issues will form the basis for how we judge the conduct of the government and those we elected to represent us in Parliament.
It is my hope that should the PNU, ODM and ODM-Kenya officials work hard to deal with the three issues mentioned above, we will move foward in harmony and face future elections without fear. If we don't start the work right away, we will be stunned by how fast time rolls by. Then we'll have created room for those who scheme evil to come in and derail our democracy further.
That would be sad.
For Love of Country,
Sam Okello
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