The Scandinavia branch of the Orange Democratic Movement has supported the position of the mother Party regarding rebel Party MPs led by William Ruto. In a Statement released to KSB in Stockholm, the Party leadership, through its Chairlady Mrs Hellen Opwapo, said that ODM must take action against Ruto and company because their agenda is no longer geared towards promoting the interest of the Party.
“It is now very clear that Ruto and company are simply buying time before quitting ODM and any political shows they are staging at the moment is not in the interest of the Party”, said the statement.
The Party branch urged the mother Party to utilize available Party machinery to end the “Ruto menace”, saying that all political parties are guided by rules which, if not followed, should lead to disciplinary action.
ODM-Scandinavia’s leadership observed that a section of the rebel MPs are currently planning to take a different position on the Draft constitution ahead of the Referendum with the purpose of using opposition to the draft Constitution as propaganda to gain political mileage.
“As a Party, and after extensive consultations, ODM is united in its support for the draft Constitution and those taking a different line within the Party’s leadership should be regarded as saboteurs and not democratic forces seeking change”, said the statement.
ODM-Scandinavia also condemned the recent killings in Samburu by Administration Police and called on the government to disarm APs or disband the force because it is currently out of control.
“We cannot sit by and watch APs executing Kenyans almost on a daily basis without the Minister of Internal security Professor George Saitoti being made to account for the deaths. The Party’s leadership said that recent public executions by APs in Samburu and Nairobi where seven taxi drivers were shot dead is a reincarnation of executions witnessed by Kenyans during the days of dictator Daniel arap Moi. “This is unacceptable and those in command of APs should be made to account”, the Statement said.
The Party branch also castigated Kenyan MPs for engaging in bogus debate regarding the draft Constitution at a time when Kenyans are waiting to ratify the draft in a referendum. “After 20 years of searching for a new constitution, the MPs should know better that the delivery of a new Constitution is long overdue”, the statement said.
The Party branch regretted that once again, Kenyans in Diaspora will not be able to vote from abroad after their demands that voting from abroad be included in the constitution was ignored. The statement said that Kenyans in Diaspora should not give up on the question of voting from abroad and that they should continue to raise the issue and push for an amendment of the Constitution once it comes into effect.
The statement added that if Kenyans in Diaspora did not push for the inclusion of dual citizenship in the draft Constitution, their views could have been ignored and the provision for dual citizenship may not have been included in the current draft.
The statement urged Kenyans in Scandinavia to join the Party branch and help push for a collective political agenda from the point of view of Kenyans in Scandinavia.
Okoth Osewe
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Ordinarily, I would whole-heartedly agree with you. However, as an ordinary Kenyan, I am tired, hungry, scared and generally fed up of this constitution thing. Therefore, anyone who will stand in the way for an imperfect constitution being inaugurated before 2011 is an enemy. We gave constitution writing to experts and what they delivered ended Kenya as we knew it. We have now given it to people who are not really experts and theirs’ i will term ameturish. My take is that an imperfect constitution can be improved on. More so, as it stands now, it is better than the current octogerian document that has suppressed democracy. Also remember that ODM and PNU may not even be the main parties come 2012 campaigns. Indeed, alliances have shifted and will shift again. So arguing that an imperial president will short change ODM or executive PM will short change PNU is indeed moot. It is also moot because Kibaki is out of the picture and Raila is able to accept either a ceremonial president of exceutive PM. Lastly, have you thought of the scenario whereby the person gunning the majority of votes to be president also gets his party win majority of seats in parliament? There will be no one short changed don’t you think? Just a thought.Have a
We say Yes to constitutin not because its the best its better than what we got
great evening.