By DAVID OCHAMI
There will be no endorsements from State House,
President Kibaki said Friday even as he hinted he knows the kind of leader he
would prefer to hand over to.
The Head of State, however, said he is keenly
following campaigns by those seeking to be elected fourth President with an eye
to a clean hand-over of leadership.
“If you hear I am not campaigning or (saying)
anything don’t think I don’t believe in anything,” President Kibaki told MPs
gathered in Mombasa for a conference to facilitate peaceful elections and a
smooth transition. “I know the kind of project we want in Kenya,” the Head of
State said, drawing laughter from the audience who drew inference from the
political connotation linked to the word ‘project’. The term gained political
currency in 2002 when the Opposition used the label to discredit Nominated MP
Uhuru? Kenyatta, whom then President Moi had endorsed as his preferred
successor. It has become a political tag used to label those apparently
controlled by larger political masters, and is being applied in the race to
succeed Kibaki.
Kibaki’s off-the-cuff remarks at the end of his
official speech during the opening of an MPs’ conference on peaceful ?elections
and devolution in Mombasa left participants reeling in mirth.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice-President
Kalonzo Musyoka, National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende, and Chief Justice
Willy Mutunga also addressed the forum. They echoed the President’s call for
those seeking high office to ensure peaceful campaigns.
Selfishness
Kibaki vowed? not to allow a repeat of the 2008
post-poll chaos warning leaders that are inciting people that they would be
rejected by voters and? punished under the law.
“Even if you try [to stir violence] this time
you will not go far as? you went the last time. The people are now more
enlightened,” the President said.
He said in spite of? his silence, he was
convinced about whom he should support to take over the reigns of power when he
retires next year. President Kibaki hinted at the qualities his preferred
successor should demonstrate. Two values he highlighted were a commitment to
peace and to securing Kenya as “a unitary State”.
The latter remark was pointed given he spoke
from the Coast where a proscribed group pursuing a secessionist agenda has been
making trouble ahead of the election.
Some politicians are falling over themselves to
appease the Mombasa Republican Council, with ODM and UDF attempting to move
competing Motions in Parliament touching on MRC. Wiper Democratic Movement’s
Kalonzo Musyoka, meanwhile, has vowed not an inch of Kenyan soil would be lost
to groups like MRC.
On Friday, President Kibaki also spoke out about
the kind of politician he believed voters would shun at the ballot in the
elections due in March, next year: divisive candidates who preached ethnic
hatred. He rebuked leaders seeking to succeed him through? campaigns based on
regional and ethnic mobilisation, which he said had no place in the new Kenya.
He said the 14 presidential ?aspirants
dominating the political scene include “characters who are preaching hatred for
one? another” and whom he described as “disgraceful”.
He also advised the ?media to avoid sensational
reporting of succession politics that might give the impression of rising
tensions. The President said the discourse on his succession has been distorted
by hate speech and a sensational media,? including radio stations he said are
stirring emotions.
The Ministry of Justice and National? Cohesion
has convened the forum to take stock of preparations for the next elections and
to implement measures to? forestall post-election violence such as that
witnessed after the disputed 2007 presidential vote.
Kibaki warned against any attempts by leaders to
incite instability before the polls or promote violence after the next
elections.
His regime, he observed, had spurred a great
deal of socio-economic progress that he hopes will be sustained by the
successive regime.
To ensure peaceful? transfer of power, Kibaki
said his Government has facilitated electoral reform by establishing the
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)? to spearhead free, fair
and “cost effective” elections. The president also cited judicial reforms and
passing of laws on elections. He ?added that rational political behaviour was
expected from politicians? to avoid inflaming passions.
“I urge you to preach peace and conduct
yourselves in a manner that ?promotes unity in our country,” Kibaki said. He
criticised “forces that will seek to divide us along clan, ethnic or regional
lines.”?
On media responsibility, he cited recent
headlines that he said were packaged to “propagate as if one is saying some
genuine truth” when in? reality they were allegedly twisting the true picture
of the? presidential campaigns discourse. Kibaki urged politicians to avoid
hate speech and asked the Media ?Council of Kenya to “take steps” to clamp down
on hate media.
source: http://standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000059520&pageNo=2
No comments:
Post a Comment