Thursday, July 5, 2012

Raila: I am best in reforms, protecting new Constitution


  Raila: I am best in reforms, protecting new Constitution

Raila: I am best in reforms, protecting new Constitution

Related News

SHARE THIS STORY

Updated 2 hrs 2 mins ago
BY VITALIS KIMUTAI
Prime Minister Raila Odinga says his opponents’ main agenda is to block him from ascending to the presidency.
Raila said anti-reform agents had ganged up against him and were keen on curtailing full implementation of the Constitution.
“For the first time in our history, blocking one presidential candidate has become an entire election agenda,” Raila said.
He said the next General Election would be a two-horse race between reformers and anti-reformers.
“The horse of reform will run against the horse of reversal and negation, the horse of hope against that of despair,” Raila said.
Raila added: “This election is our best chance to make a clean break with the past. If we don’t then we must go back to the past.”
Raila was speaking in Nairobi when he launched his presidential campaign website on Wednesday night, which will enable him directly engage with voters on issues affecting the country through social media.
Revisionist agenda
The PM said the dreams of majority of Kenyans for a corruption free and democratic society would prevail. “Our dreams must not die. It should not die, it cannot die and it will not die,” Raila said.
He said that anti-reform agents who wanted to ascend to the presidency were telling Kenyans that it did not matter how the new Constitution was achieved and anybody could be trusted with it.
“Lately, we have heard revisionists telling us that it does not matter how much blood was shed, how many families were broken, how many people disappeared and how many young students went to jail and lost their dreams for university degrees so that this Constitution may be born,” Raila stated.
“They are telling us now that the reforms are here, anybody alive and in politics today is a reformer and can be trusted. I disagree. These are issues I want us to stay engaged on,” he added.
He said a significant majority of the people were keen to secure the democratic and governance gains that have come with the new Constitution – but anti-reforms forces were out to block them from achieving that goal.
“The Constitution is written with the blood, sweat and pain of many of citizens,” Raila said.
The PM revisited the incarceration he and many Kenyans who fought for constitutional change during the Kanu regime were subjected to at the Nyayo House torture chambers. With a crack in his voice, Raila said what went on in the torture chambers was “madness and unbelievable”.
“Each person who was taken there believed he or she was going to die. And many died,” Raila stated with dead silence from the crowd.
“We must remember the comrades who were killed, tortured, the children who were orphaned, the women who were widowed in the process.”
The website – Raila for President 2012 (www.raila 2012) – is complete with Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and a blog.
The site also contains the PM’s life history, his agenda for the country, a photo gallery, press releases and people will be able to e-mail him and get feedback.
As a break from similar sites launched by his rivals, Raila’s has a Kiswahili version to enable ordinary people understand his ideals and engage with him.
By mid Thursday, 14,742 people had liked the site which will be streaming live the activities of the PM until the polls. Raila said the website was designed to encourage and facilitate an expanded dialogue with voters and other stakeholders in the society.
“You will tweet and I will tweet back. We need to define the direction our country is taking,” he stated.
“Mine will be a ‘listening’ presidency. I want to hear your views, so that I know what you want, so that I can try to fulfill your needs, as you have expressed them,” Raila said.
He said he was ready to work with everybody in seeking to transform the country for the better.
GOOD COMMUNICATION
“At the same time, I can make you privy to my thinking on the urgent issues that affect us all. We need to reason together to define the country we want and the leadership that will take us to the land of our dreams,” Raila stated. He said ODM would be the party to beat.
“I feel proud to be associated with this movement. We can move together to make Kenya a great country,” he stated.
Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba said the PM will now be able to understand and embody aspirations of all Kenyans irrespective of their class in society. “It has brought down physical space and barriers for people to directly engage and dialogue with Raila,” Namwamba said.

No comments:

Post a Comment