Mr. Martin Ngatia, the Chairperson of KESDEMO (Kenya Scandinavia Democratic Movement) and Vice chairperson of ODM-K Scandinavia has said that Honourable Raila Odinga needs every support from Kenyans genuinely looking for change because he is fit to lead Kenya.
Speaking to KSB, Mr. Ngatia said that politicians who are afraid of Raila taking over power in Kenya as President are corrupt political and economic criminals who have violated human rights and who are afraid of being brought to justice once Raila becomes President.
“The hate campaign being directed against Raila is ethnic oriented and is built out of a colonial heritage which pitted Luos against Kikuyus during the colonial era”, said Mr. Ngatia.
Mr. Ngatia told KSB that Raila is one individual who is capable of forming Commissions of inquiries and ensuring that the findings of such Commissions are not made secret after tax payer’s money has been spent on them.
Mr. Ngatia pointed out that those who have accused Raila of changing parties do not understand political strategy which dictates that you create or work with forces which can move the liberation struggle forward at any point in time as long as there is political agreement about the main objective.
“At the ideological level, a progressive politician has to abandon retrogressive and opportunist forces who have no role to play in the struggle and this is what Raila has been doing”, Mr. Ngatia said.
“There is nobody in Kenya today who has the leadership credentials that can be compared to those of Raila Odinga”, Mr. Ngatia declared.
The Kenyan politician said that Raila was involved in the 1982 coup attempt to overthrow Moi because he understood that there was no other way of ending tyranny under a one Party dictatorship that was being presided over by Dictator Moi.
“Election rigging was rampant, Parliament had become a rubber stamp of the Executive, alternative political parties were banned, Press freedom was muzzled, freedom of Assembly was abolished while freedom of Association had been thrown out of the window by Moi. Only freedom of religion was allowed to perpetuate the brainwashing of Kenyans to accept the status quo”, Mr. Ngatia said.
The KESDEMO leader said that Raila was right in participating in the 1982 coup because there was no other way of overthrowing the dictatorial Moi regime since whoever opposed Moi would be intimidated by security forces, detained without trial, maimed, crippled, imprisoned, tortured to death or forced into exile.
He said that Raila took over the leadership of the coup at a time when all Intellectuals were singing pro-Moi hymns like Kasukus.
“Raila paid heavily for his role in the struggle against Moi dictatorship who detained him for seven years. Obeying the rules of strategy, Raila joined hands with Moi after he came out of detention because he believed that Moi could be persuaded to go peacefully”.
KENYA NEEDS A COURAGEOUS LEADER
Mr. Ngatia told KSB that when Moi tried to play dirty politics through the “Uhuru Project”, Riala abandoned the dictator.
“Raila quit and wrecked Moi through Narc before he was betrayed by Kibaki”, Mr. Ngatia told KSB.
The KESDEMO leader said that without Raila Odinga in the frontline in the struggle against the Wako mongrel Constitution, Kenyans could by now be having a Mount Kenya Mafia Constitution controlled by home guards who surround Kibaki and whose every move is anti Kenyan people.
“According to Raila’s political history and background, I am not ashamed to say that Raila is fit to be President of the Republic of Kenya. I can repeat several times that Raila Tosha”, Mr. Ngatia said.
Observing that Kenyans needed to wake up to the political realities of the day, Mr. Ngatia pointed out that Raila cannot be compared with Kalonzo Musyoka, Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto, Julia Ojiambo, Najib Balala, Nazrin Mohammed and others in the race for President.
“To speak the truth, Nobody comes closer to Raila’s credibility and those opposed to him because of ethnic bias should rethink their positions because Kenya will not be built on ethnic foundations”, Mr. Ngatia said.
“If we look at recent developments in Kenya, Raila is responsible for averting an assassination spree by the Armenian mercenaries whom, according to evidence in the public domain, were brought in the country by the government of President Kibaki”, he said.
Mr. Ngatia said that after committing crimes, the Armenians were released and deported without being charged.
“That would not happen anywhere in the world. The deportation of the Armenians after they had humiliated the Kenyan people is evidence that Kenya has no government in control”, Mr. Ngatia said.
He said that Kenya needs a courageous and visionary leader who can stand up to the Kenyan people and say no to corruption, tribalism and nepotism in the appointment of public servants.
“We need a leader who can defend the human rights of Kenyans, stop the ethnic cleansing across the country, end police brutality against innocent civilians, end landlessness, defend rights and freedoms of Kenyans and punish political and economic criminals who have looted that country and stashed billions of Kenyans shillings in foreign Bank accounts”, Mr. Ngatia told KSB.
Mr. Ngatia said that as a leader, Kibaki is a failure because he has failed to: deliver a new Constitution, create jobs, end corruption, end tribalism in the appointment of civil servants and failed to deliver election promises.
“Kibaki has failed to visit Mount Elgon, Garsen and other areas of North Eastern and Central Province where members of the Mingiki sect are terrorizing innocent civilians. He has failed to issue even a Press release to condemn the massacres”, Mr. Ngatia said.
“Kibaki has not even tried to speak his native language to stop the slaughter of Kenyans in his own back yard of Central Province where tens of innocent Kenyans are losing their lives every day and becoming internal refugees in their own country as a result of ethnic cleansing and the Mungiki menace”. Mr. Ngatia told KSB.
RAILA CAN OPEN THE DEMOCRATIC SPACE EVEN FURTHER
“If Kenya was a democratic country, the government should have resigned to pave the way for elections immediately because the government has failed to deliver”, Mr, Ngatia said.
Mr. Ngatia said that if the Kenyan Army cannot intervene to stop ethnic cleansing perpetrated by gangs armed with crude weapons, how will they be able to protect the country if there is an attack.
“Instead of intervening to stop the slaughter of innocent civilians, the Army is burning houses of poor villagers and raping women because solders have been given directives to commit atrocities against their own people”, Mr. Ngatia said.
Mr. Ngatia appealed to Kenyans not to be afraid of Raila arguing that if he doesn’t deliver, Kenyans will have the opportunity to throw him out after five years because political consciousness is rising in the country and no leader will be able to impose himself or herself on the Kenyan people in the future the way past Presidents have done.
“People can continue to politik but for now, Kenyans should count themselves lucky that a person like Raila is available and asking them to give him an opportunity to lead the country and clean the house”, he said.
“The democratic space in Kenya needs to be opened even further and after Kibaki began to ban political rallies, refuse registration of new parties, muzzling the mass media and arresting journalists, Kenyans should have realized that the struggle is far from over. Raila is the only hope at the moment”, he said.
“Raila will not be able to stick to power if the Kenyan people do not want him at the top therefore there is nothing to be afraid of. He is the only surviving member of the anti-one Party state movement who has been consistent enough. Let Kenyans give him a chance”, he told KSB.
Okoth Osewe
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