PNU, ODM POWER STRUGGLE A THREAT TO NATIONAL COHESION AND UNITY

KENYA TIMES EDITORIAL
NAIROBI, KENYA
March 13, 2009

A recent opinion poll by one of the regular pollsters in the country came up with results which showed the inability or unwillingness of the powers that be to fight corruption as one of the reasons Kenyans were losing confidence in the grand coalition government. Indeed, one year down the line, the political marriage between President Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) and Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has failed to inspire confidence among Kenyans.

Instead of addressing the issues that prompted the formation of the coalition government, the principal partners are engaged in the very political arm-wrestling that hurtled the country to the brink of the precipice during the electioneering period ahead of the discredited presidential election results of 2007.Today we see a dangerously divided government that threatens the social fabric of the nation, causing Kenyans to have genuine anger towards the country’s political leadership. But it is not only Kenyans who are worried about the direction their country is taking.

The international community which has a legitimate interest in the well-being of Kenyans is also genuinely concerned about the state of the nation. The other day, the United States ambassador in Nairobi warned that Kenya risks losing assistance from Washington if high-level corruption is not tackled with the seriousness and thirst that it deserves. And to drive the point home, ambassador Michael Ranneberger said that President Barack Obama’s administration would not give Kenya any preferential treatment in spite of the US leader’s Kenyan roots.

On this matter, we want to join all stakeholders who have a legitimate interest in the well-being of Kenyans in insisting that President Kibaki and Premier Odinga must take tangible and genuine steps to fight graft and address all other issues that are causing Kenyans to lose confidence in the coalition government. We appreciate the difficult task that the two principals are facing in attempting to build a coalition of people with diametrically opposed political views. But we refuse to accept the theory doing the rounds that Kibaki and Raila are hostages of their political allies, hence the excuse for their inaction.

We specifically believe that the President bares a heavier responsibility to fight top level corruption because he has more command over the instruments of coercion than the Premier. The buck therefore stops with the President, the coalition arrangement notwithstanding.We also wish to take great exception to the rhetoric that has been coming from some political quarters to the effect that, by demanding accountability from Kenyan leaders, foreign envoys are encroaching on Kenya’s sovereignty.

In this era of globalisation, we don’t think that a country loses its sovereignty merely because a well-intentioned neighbour or partner has pointed out its mistakes. We therefore find this "sovereignty stunt" to be nothing but a cheap move by a discredited government to conceal the consequences of irregular dealings.But be that as it may, we believe there is room to salvage the fledgling coalition government. Our take is that, if politicians honestly worked in the best interests of the country and did not pursue selfish ends, Kenya would be well on the path of recovery.

We still believe that the coalition government was an excellent experiment which, if pursued to its honest and logical conclusion, would address the very political challenges that faced the country prior to the volatile general election of 2007. We therefore urge Kenyans to give the coalition a chance to prove its worth. But while they remain patient, the political leadership must demonstrate that it merits being in power.