The Chairlady of ODMK-Scandinavia Mrs Hellen Opwapo has said that the Party will soon begin to teach Kenyan history and to give political education free of charge to Kenyans at the Wananchi Pavillion in Stockholm. She said that such education programs would reduce ignorance about Kenya among both Kenyans and Swedes who were interested.
The meeting, which was held on Saturday 24th February, was called to enable ODM-KS members to get a briefing from the Committee about the Party’s activities since it was launched in October last year.
Mrs Opwapo said that ODM-KS believes that politicians in government have a responsibility of ending rampant corruption in the country. She said that the government should look into the plight of the disabled in Kenya and give priority to projects geared towards improving the conditions of the disabled in Kenya.
Mrs Opwapo appealed to Kenyans to support ODM-K because it was the only party with an agenda that could help address the problems facing Kenyans today. She said that ODM-KS was united in its support for the mother Party in Kenya and pointed out that the fundamental issue in Kenya today is how President Mwai Kibaki and the Mafia around him can be removed from power.
She said that Kibaki had taken Kenya backwards since he took power and stressed that if this government is not defeated, Kenyans will continue to suffer. She said that ODM-KS will continue to work in the interest of the Kenyan community in Scandinavia and the Kenyan people back home.
Mrs Opwapo attacked the Kenyan Ambassador to Scandinavia Mrs Purity Muhindi for being insensitive to the Kenyan community in Scandinavia.
“It is a big shame that the Kenyan Ambassador Purity Muhindi has refused to work with Kenyans and to look into the interest of the Kenyan community here”, she said. She encouraged the Ambassador to open the door of the Embassy to Kenyans whose interest, she said, should come first.
At the meeting, Ms Sofia Njoroge, the new Party Treasurer, gave a comprehensive report about a poor Kenyan family in Korogocho, Kenya, which members of ODM-KS had decided to help after her plight was brought to the attention of the world by CNN last year.
During his contacts with ODM-K in January this year, Mr. Dancan Munala, the Party secretary, was also given the responsibility of taking contacts with the poor woman in Korogocho and to look into how she could be helped by ODM-KS members who were moved by her plight together with her four orphaned grand children. Members were happy with the progress that had been made in helping the Korogocho woman. During the visit, Mr. Munala took pictures and video footage of the woman’s living condition as part of the documentation of the help ODM-KS members were giving the woman.
Mr. Sospeter Opee Senior, a member of the Party, told the meeting that ODM-KS was not financially equipped to engage in charity work in Kenya but welcomed the help independent members of the Party were according the Korogocho woman. Mr. Opee said that the main task of ODM-KS members now was to finance the Office in Stockholm and to make sure that ODM-KS members had a meeting place. He said that the Party needed to go out clearly that it was not a charity organization and that any help given to the poor in Kenya was at the individual level within the party and not Party policy.
The Party Committee encouraged Kenyans to join ODM-KS to help bring down the corrupt and tribalistic government of President Mwai Kibai which believes that Kenyans are stupid people. Mrs Opwapo encouraged Kenyans to get in contact with the Party through its Office at Högbersgatan 48. She thanked the Committee for the good work it was doing.
ODM-KS members agreed that they needed to meet on a regular basis and the Secretary was given the task of planning the meetings accordingly. The meeting agreed that the details of Party activities would be compiled and sent out to all members through snail mail including those who could not attend the meeting due to various reasons.
Okoth Osewe
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