Pastor Beatrice Kamau, a key member of Narc-Stockholm, has defected to ODM-Scandinavia claiming that the Narc-Stockholm is composed of a group of Kikuyu chauvinists pursuing personal and selfish interests.
Speaking to Kenya Stockholm Blog, Pastor Beatrice said that when she organized a meeting with Narc-Kenya MPs in Skarpnäck in September, she never knew that some Kenyans would hijack the MPs to set up an ethnic Narc-Kenya branch in Stockholm.
“I invited Kenyans who were both Narc-Kenya and ODM-Kenya supporters without thinking about their ethnic groups because I do not believe in tribalism”, she said.
“At first, I thought Narc-Stockholm was an all inclusive Party where every Kenyan who was interested could join”, Pastor Beatrice told KSB. She said that the group behind the Party were doing more damage to the Party because they were operating in secrecy and pushing for a Kikuyu agenda instead of being open and addressing issues.
“I believe in Jesus Christ and Jesus was not a tribalist. I cannot therefore be party to a group of people who are promoting tribalism, hatred, mud-slinging and cheap gossip using bogus political bases in Sweden”, she said.
“In my working life, I don’t entertain tribalism and for me, it doesn’t matter whether a person is a Turukana or a Mjikenda. As Kenyans, we are all the same and once we understand this point, we will be a step towards solving our problems as Kenyan citizens”, she continued.
“You don’t build a Party and recruit new members by hand-picking who is to attend meetings and organizing meetings in hidden places”, she said.
When questioned further, Pastor Beatrice said that she has Kenyan friends and contacts from different ethnic groups and that when she linked up people behind Narc-Stockholm and Narc-Kenya MPs in September, she thought that those behind Narc-Stockholm were politically mature and that her grand expectation was that the Party branch would be open to everybody.
“From what I know, some Kenyans who were initially interested in the Narc-Stockholm have been scared by the Kikuyu outlook of the Party because people behind it believe that Narc-Kenya is a Kikuyu party”, she told KSB.
At a secret meeting with Narc-Kenya MPs in Stockholm, a member of Narc-Stockholm reportedly declared that Narc-Kenya belonged to “The House of Mumbi”, prompting Assistant Minister Alicen Chelaite who was at the meeting to protest.
Pastor Beatrice said that another problem is that people behind Narc-Stockholm have no political experience and that they don’t have basic ideas on how to run a Party.
“I cannot be led by people who are more interested in riding in Mercedez Benzes with MPs when they visit Kenya on holidays than in changing the politics of Kenya”, she said.
In a long interview soon after she declared her defection to ODM-Scandinavia, Pastor Beatrice said that many Kenyans in Stockholm are too mature for tribal politics and predicted that Narc-Stockholm will continue to exist only by name and in the imaginations of the handful of tribalists who have Kikuyunized the Party.
“Members of the Kikuyu community should wake up and join other Kenyans in fighting tribalism and struggling for a better Kenya. You don’t fight tribalism by building a tribal out-fit and it is for this reason that I am quitting the Party”, she said.
The Pastor said that she was impressed by the openness and democratic way in which ODM-Scandinavia was conducting its activities.
“Interim Officials of the Party were elected openly and in a public meeting where all Kenyans were invited”, she said, adding that through its 12 point Program, ODM-Scandinavia was more “issue oriented” as compared to Narc-Stockholm “whose members were stuck with the illusion that Kenya belonged to Kikuyus”.
The defection of Pastor Beatrice to ODM-Scandinavia is a big blow to people behind Narc-Stockholm because it is a confirmation of the general belief that Narc-Stockholm is not a Party but a fragile contraption where political opportunists have congregated to further personal and narrow selfish interests.
Okoth Osewe: makosewe@gmail.com
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