Tuju's candidacy is progressive. It is about a Kenya of our shared humanity and wellbeing.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012 at 19:38 ·
Dear Friends,
We are a country of many nationalities (or tribes) and in the political arena, each ethnic group has gone through difficult and sometimes traumatic experiences.
When I talk to my Kikuyu friends, brothers and sisters, it is always easy for me to understand trauma experienced by this community in the political arena.
The Mau Mau experience is in living memory. We know the litany of suffering associated with the colonial experience. Many of the wounds were so deep and the scars, the consequences are with us today.
The landlessness.
These are those who were internally displaced due to post election violence after the 1992, 1997 & 2007 elections. These are harsh realities that have affected Kikuyus in our political history. I therefore understand when Kikuyus say they must be in government. I understand when the Kikuyu say they do not want their business interfered with by people who preach the ideology of hate of Kikuyus.
I understand when Kikuyus say that they are Kenyans by right and they do not want discrimination against Kikuyu. I understand when Kikuyus are worried and fear a political dispensation is organized on the principle of hate of the Kikuyus.
I understand that Kikuyu want a fair and safe pair of hands – not vengeful politicians at war with the community.
In the last elections, Kenyans voted for their hate and fear. And that is why we ended up with post election violence. Kikuyus mainly voted their fear at a time when the rest of Kenya forged an alliance to throw them out.
If Kenyans had considered other factors like development and vision then I would have been voted in, not out. Kikuyus, because of the trauma of their past political experience voted because of the fear of a political dispensation that would exclude them and I believe that would inform their voting behavior in the next elections.
Ladies and gentlemen, my candidacy is about voting for the hope of the good that this country is capable of experiencing. It is about a Kenya of our shared humanity. A Kenya in which all of us; Kikuyus, Luos, Luhyas, Kalenjins, Kambas, Rendiles, Turkanas, Swahilis, Muhindis, can all feel safe and secure - now and in future generations.
No Kikuyu or any tribe should have to feel under siege, reviled, hated, unsafe or schemed against. Under a Tuju presidency, every Kenyan should feel safe. I am sensitive to the trauma that has defined the political and historical experience of most, if not all, Kenyan communities that I know.
Take the Mombasa Republican Council phenomenon emerging at the coast—with agitation to secede. I have given this some thought. Think about it. Mombasa has never had a national government high school of excellence since the colonial days up to today. Around here, we have Alliance, Mang’u, Lenana, Nairobi School, Kenya High, Starehe, Mary Leakey, Limuru Girls, before you go further up to Ngandu Girls, Kagumo, Nyeri High etc.
Most of the top leaders of this country are products of these centres that propelled them to universities here and abroad.
In the previous years, if you were not Catholic, you could not go to Catholic schools—the Mangu’s of this world. What were the chances of a brilliant Muslim boy or girl who getting admission to Mang’u High or Limuru Girls in those past years? Show me one who is your contemporary.
The marginalization of the people of Mombasa started with the colonial experience. We have not addressed that problem enough in the last 50 or so years and therefore we have the MRC challenge today.
I belong to a tribe called the Luo: Very angry people because of a historical political experience that most of us know about. A feeling of betrayal in the political arena dating back to the Limuru conference of 1966 when Jaramogi Odinga was outmaneuvered from KANU. The political assassination of Tom Mboya in 1969. The political assassination of Dr Robert Ouko in 1991. A spate of political detentions in independent Kenya in which mainly Luos and Kikuyu formed the majority, not to mention the bungled elections of 2007 among a litany of other political and historical injustices.
The anger runs so deep that those of us who approach these matters with moderation, understanding, and the spirit of constructive engagement, are considered betrayers of the tribal course and worthy of stoning.
I understand the trauma of the Kalenjin tribe in the political arena and understand why it is so easy to whip negative emotions among a community I know to embrace Christianity and humility.
With the advent of the NARC government, and after 24 years of President Moi, an inordinate number of Kalenjins in government and parastatals lost during any purge in the civil service. To my knowledge it was not official government policy. But I remember a few cabinet colleagues teasing me when I appointed Julius Kipng’etich to KWS that I was bringing into government people we were supposed to be getting rid of.
The seed of hate of the Kikuyu was planted at this time. It just needed a little watering from an angry Luo political wing and the die was cast against the Kibaki Presidency that was now being viewed as a Kikuyu Presidency.
I recall that when I was minister for Foreign Affairs, I noticed that since independence almost 50 years ago; there had never been a Turkana Ambassador. I was able to identify the first Turkana PhD and with the President’s indulgence, we got our first Turkana Ambassador. The President had also broken the record by appointing the first Turkana cabinet minister in the history of the country in 2005—some 43 years after independence.
You can understand how Kenyan Turkana feels. We should understand their anger when they learn that some people in Nairobi and Canada have already made billions of shillings out of the oil beneath their soil when thousands of them died from hunger.
Many members of the communities in Kenya have issues with the way they have been treated. I have talked with Somali youth who are fed up of being stopped by police at every excuse and made to pay bribes to buy their freedom every so often because they forgot to carry their identity cards.
All ethnic related tension that defines our politics is diverting attention from our real problems. How well do we understand the problem of the youth population bulge that now requires us to implement more sophisticated interventions?
Because of Kenya’s high population increase in the late seventies and eighties, we now have an explosive youth population bulge.
Yet in this youth population bulge lies our biggest opportunity. In a world where countries like Japan are grappling with the challenge of an aging population which is retiring and demanding pension benefits, we have a young population demanding work.
All we need is to get our act together. Embrace industrialization, mechanized agriculture, information technology & value addition to all our products.
We must take advantage of our geo strategic position right in the middle of Africa - and leverage it to the maximum in the East & Central Africa region.
We need to reform our education system to be responsive to the new economy and global reality.
We must elect and create governance that is pro-business – make the paradigm shift from a peasant, jua kali led economy to an industry led economy.
I am able and we should all be able to envisage a better Kenya. Others, like Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea who were at the same level with us at independence have done it. President Kibaki has made some very bold and laudable steps and foundations that I believe we must build on.
If we can fix our politics, by making the transition from voting for our hate and our fears, our next election will be determine whether we cross the bridge to a better future or be stuck with our prejudices, hate and fears of the past.
I share these thoughts with you because I believe that you can help in your own way to change the narrative of fear and hate to one of hope, peace and development. Thank you and may God bless Kenya.
Raphael Tuju
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