Mrs Hellen Opwapo, the Chairperson of ODM-Scandinavia, has said that tribalism in Kenya is mainly a “class issue” and not a major problem at the grass roots level. Addressing members of ODM-Scandinavia in Stockholm on Saturday November 4th, Mrs Opwapo said that millions of Kenyans at the grass roots level continued to interact and deal with one another without the element of tribalism coming into play.
“Tribalism is a tool being used by the ruling class to keep Kenyans divided so that they can be controlled”, she told the meeting. The party branch was laying strategies on how to help fight tribalism in Kenya and among the Kenyan community in Sweden especially in Stockholm.
Since ODM-Scandinavia was set up, Kenya Stockholm Blog has established that a tiny group of Narc-Kenya sympathizers in Stockholm have been spreading dirty politics of hatred and tribalism after realizing that Stockholm is an ODM-Kenya zone.
Mrs Opwapo gave a background of ODM-Scandinavia for the benefit of new members who had just joined the Party and reiterated the Party’s commitment in doing everything within its means to help ODM-Kenya win the General election scheduled for December next year. The Party’s Constitution and “12 point Program” were made available to new members at the meeting.
There was hot debate at the meeting about Kenyan politics and the general political situation in Kenya. Some issues which cropped up had to be carried forward to give room for other pressing matters at the meeting which lasted for three hours.
Mr. Mark Gaya, a Kenyan who had just joined the Party and who returned from Kenya recently, said that some Kenyans had been so much brain washed that when Cabinet ministers stole from public coffers, they were regarded as “heroes”.
The meeting, which was well attended, resolved that ODM-Scandinavia would push for the leveling of the political playing field before General elections next year and ensure that the twin issues of dual citizenship and voting from abroad were constantly highlighted during public debates.
The meeting also resolved that the Party branch in Scandinavia would warn ODM-K to stop being inconsistent especially in political struggles. Members were disappointed that after ODM-Kenya began organizing demonstrations to push for the resignation of Justice Aron Ringera as Anti-corruption chief, ODM-Party leaders suddenly stopped anti-Ringera public campaigns without explanations and before Ringera was forced out of office.
Another resolution was that ODM-Scandinavia would strive to give a “class perspective” of the struggle against tribalism in Kenya to expose the myth that different ethnic groups were fighting against one another across the country. The dominant view at the meeting was that there are only “two tribes” in Kenya, “the rich and the poor tribes”.
On the issue of nomination of ODM-K Presidential candidate, the meeting took the position that the process had to be democratic and that ODM-Scandinavia will distance itself from any attempts to impose a Presidential candidate on members.
Mr. Gerry Changa Midenyo, the branch Treasurer, said that ODM-K politicians who are trying to dictate on the issue of ODM-K Presidential candidate should be stopped on their tracks because any dictation over the issue would send wrong signals to ODM-K supporters at home and abroad and compromise the Party’s basic democratic principles.
Addressing the meeting, Mr. Dancan Munala, the Party Secretary, said that there were no ready-made solutions to problems in Kenya. He pointed out that apart from supporting the Party in Kenya, ODM-Scandinavia should also focus on long term development projects with major target groups being the poor in Kenya.
The Committee was given the task of calling another members’ meeting as soon as possible to continue with political debates and to discuss how the party branch would organize political activities in Stockholm to further the agenda of ODM-Scandinavia.
Okoth Osewe: makosewe@gmail.com
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