Raila, Kalonzo capture the mood and resolve

By MARTIN MUTUA

Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka hailed the new Constitution as a unifying factor and paid tribute to the country’s liberation heroes.

Raila said Kenyans will never again agree to be governed through dictatorship and negative ethnicity.

He noted that with the promulgation of the new Constitution, the country had embarked on a new governance system by confining dictatorship and negative ethnicity to the dustbin of history.

"Today, we close a long chapter in our history. We put repression, exclusion and heroic struggle behind us once and for all. We have opened a clean new page in our book. On that page, we begin writing the story of an equal and just society," he added.

NATIONAL UNITY

Raila, who addressed an ecstatic crowd that had gathered at Uhuru Park to witness the promulgation of the new Constitution by President Kibaki, further said no one could have thought out of the bitter harvest of the 2007, disputed elections and violence the country would witness a rebirth of national unity.

"We gather here now to ratify the pledge we made to ourselves and to the world, that Kenya shall redeem herself and extend the frontiers of democracy and freedom. This freedom has eluded us for more than forty years. Each time we came close to attaining it, it slipped from our grasp," he added.

Kalonzo said the National Rainbow Coalition dream has finally been realised, with the promulgation of the new Constitution.

"The Narc dream, personified by such leaders as Wangari Maathai, and the late Kijana Wamalwa, among others, and the moral high ground it espouses, has now been realised. Kenyans now rightfully belong," he added.

Kalonzo, however, noted that as Kenyans celebrate "this great day" there was need to reflect on the great sacrifices that others, in the past and present, made in bringing the nation this far.

LIBERATION HEROES

"The dawn of the new era also portends tremendously well for our national pride, prestige and image in Africa and the world. We have regained our honour," he said.

He named some of these heroes as Ezekiel Apindi, Orkoiyot Koitalel Samoei, Moraa Moka Ngiti, Waiyaki wa Hinga, Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi, Ojijo Oteko wuod Yimbo, WWW Awori, Mekatilili wa Menza, the founding President Jomo Kenyatta and the ‘Kapenguria Six’.

But the VP said the new dawn would only come once Kenyans shed off destructive ethnic-based leadership and embrace a high moral value-based style of leadership.

He said such kind of leadership must focus on addressing economic and social needs of Kenyans.