Within the Kenya Stockholm scene, this Saturday is, probably, the most packed with activity in recent times. If you are one of those “Kenyan rioters” , there is no shortage of action. In Marsta, “Kilimanjaro Leopards” will throw a bash at Norrbackaskolan while in Alby, Narc-KS will, at long last, “launch its website”.
Both Parties will run up to morning although preferences might have to boil down to whether you are political or simply looking for fun. Narc supporters or sympathizers will, most likely be at Alby where Narc-KS will also be testing its ability to “pull crowds”. A poor turn-out will be very demoralizing while a respectable show will boost the morale of Narc-KS Committee which is thirsty for something successful to show off.
However, the biggest excitement will be at the Wananchi Pavillion where two ODM-KS Committee members have called for an “Emergency member’s meeting” at 16.00. Two hours before the meeting, ODM-KS Executive committee will meet to discuss “the situation in the Party. The Committee has indicated that an item on the agenda is the planning of an Annual General Meeting (AGM) so that ODM-KS members can elect their leaders since the current Committee has completed its mandate. The Committee has been in Office on a voluntary basis.
In the last two weeks, there has been disagreement between the two Committee members and five others and now, the two, namely Dancan Munala, the Secretary and Odhiambo Opee, a Committee member, believe that they have to go it alone.
While this sounds perfect, the curious question a critical mind might ask is why they have refused to wait for the AGM that majority of Committee members are planning so that they can have their say, choosing instead, to call their “Members meeting” on the same day that the Committee, led by Mrs Hellen Opwapo, are also meeting.
According to the ODM-KS Constitution, both members meetings and the AGM are supposed to be organized by the Executive committee, not individual Committee members. In calling for the meeting, Munala and Odhiambo seem to be violating the ODM-KS Constitution in four ways.
This is because such a meeting can only be called by the Executive committee which, at the moment, constitutes eight members. In the current show-down, it is two against five because the position of one Committee member is unknown. Mr. Charles Otieno Owiyo, a Committee member who is currently in Kenya, has condemned the Munala-Odhiambo action.
According to ODM-KS Constitution, if a “Members’ meeting” or an AGM has to be called, members have to be given at least two weeks notice. The two have given members only two days. The circumstances of the meeting might itself scare members, some of whom have read a “hidden agenda” in it. Why calla meeting unconstitutionally, abruptly and with a notice of two days when the Committee you belong to is planning the same meeting?
Thirdly, the two have called for “An Emergency meeting”. This type of meeting does not exist in the ODM-KS Constitution which has room for an ordinary “Member’s meeting”, an “Annual General Meeting (AGM)” or an “Extra ordinary meeting”.
The Constitution empowers the Committee to call both the “Members meeting” and the AGM. An Extra-ordinary meeting can only be called by 20% of members who must inform the Committee in writing to call such a meeting. If that happens, the Committee has to call such a meeting. In short, the meeting the two have called is unconstitutional but this is a loop hole the two do not see, raising questions as to whether they really understand the ODM-KS Constitution.
UNDERSTANDING WAKENYA IN STOCKHOLM AND POLITICAL MEETINGS
Prior to the call for the meeting, Munala had usurped the powers of the Chairperson by acting as its “Spokesperson”. He released a public statement on behalf of ODM-KS without consulting the Committee, an act that perplexed many ODM-KS members and the Committee members alike. Some members called Munala to question his methods of work.
Munala appeared to have released the statement in order to trap the Committee into a public exchange over the “Raila nomination” issue, a strategy that was very easy to read into. The Committee never responded and instead, called a Committee meeting scheduled for this Saturday.
Munala knows that he had violated the Constitution and that his conduct would come under discussion at the Saturday Committee meeting. The unconstitutional “Emergency member’s meeting” the two have called is intended to help Munala “hide” from the Committee meeting where he has no support. To do this, the two had to elevate a “disagreement” into a “crisis”.
Apart from violating the ODM-KS Constitution, both Munala and Odhiambo have boxed themselves into a tight corner. ODM-KS Committee will definitely meet at 14.00hrs but it is what happens next that will be a make or break for the two members.
Both Munala and Odhiambo are green horns in Kenya- Stockholm politics. Until he was constructed “from scratch” by myself six months ago, Munala was an unknown quantity in the stormy politics of Stockholm. At the children’s Party that was held on 7th April at Alby, I was still introducing Munala to Wakenya who could not put a face on his name. “This is Munala”, I told Ofore.
Few Kenyans who had interacted with Munala knew him as a “man of religion” or a “Preacher” and when he surfaced during the time when ODM-KS was being formed in October last year, critics accused me of trying to create a “Political Munala” from nothing. I declined to assume the position of ODM-KS secretary and proposed Munala. As a revolutionary Socialist, I have no problem in creating or promoting young leaders. Munala is not my first creation and both Wakenya and Narc-KS leaders know this. I am not blowing my own trumpet here and so don’t attack me.
Now, Munala believes that he is mature enough to test his “political muscles” within ODM-KS. As Munala prepared to enter into political controversy, his “Enemies in the Church” saw an opportunity to feed KSB with his dossier and they were really payukaring. Much of the material are unpublishable because KSB does not encourage rumor mongering , character assassination and getting even simply because there is a controversy. Munala and his new acquaintance, Odhiambo Opee Jr, are on a war path apparently “to teach ODM-KS Committee a lesion” and they are really working over time.
In the past, Kenyan organizations in Stockholm have had their share of wars, the last one having been fought in KUWA four years ago. At that time, a total of 17 members ganged up against the Committee but when elections were called, they all lost with members of the sitting Committee enjoying a comfortable win. Even KUWA members who had never attended a members’ meeting before came to vote opponents out because they were seen as “opportunistic” and “petty”.
The current ODM-KS Committee has made it clear that the next stop for ODM-KS is an AGM because the mandate of the Committee is over. One therefore wonders what Munala and Opee are actually fighting about.
Odhiambo is another unknown quantity who should have been preparing for elections instead of getting into small-time controversy. Whatever happens, the worst case scenario is if ODM-KS members boycott the meeting and the two suddenly find themselves without support.
The situation could be complicated because it could mark the beginning of the writing of political obituaries of two of the youngest “politicians” to have entered the scene in Kenya-Stockholm. This could be unfortunate because Kenya is burning and young Kenyans across the world need to get into politics with or without ideologies.
An organization or a political Party is not a website, an address or a piece of paper but the Membership and the ideas. Stockholm is not Kenya where Wananchi follow opportunistic politicians blindly because of money or because ODM-Kenya is a big name.
Experience in Stockholm teaches that for Wakenya to leave their jobs, abandon planned activities or spare valuable time for relaxation on a Saturday to come to a political meeting, there must be a very good and convincing reason.
Wakenya feel respected when you give them enough time to become available and the only exceptional case is normally bereavement.
In their quest for “Supremacy”, these are lessons that might soon be learnt by Munala and Odhiambo who are sitting in a “Political Committee” for the first time in their lives. When ODM-KS members eventually speak through the ballot, the two may have to return to the drawing board or simply eat humble pie. ODM-KS is ripe for Elections and any “Members meetings” without elections will simply be new and time wasting sessions of “Merry go round”.
Okoth Osewe
About the Author
