Raila calls on Kenyans not to create alliances

Written By:PMPS,    Posted: Mon, Sep 24, 2012

The PM stated that the polls should provide Kenyans a lifetime opportunity to choose leaders based on ideology and policy Prime Minister Raila Odinga has challenged Kenyans to use the coming polls as a unique opportunity to move the country forward by choosing leaders with determination and vision to carry out the much needed reforms. He said that the outcome of the forthcoming elections on the 4th of March next year will determine whether the country progresses or stagnates. ‘'The choices we make in the coming months will determine whether we forge ahead as the region's undisputed economic motor and diplomatic nerve-centre, or collapse in the bundle and go back to the squalor and ethnic suspicions that have marked our five decades of independence'', he said. The PM made the remarks Monday when he launched a book entitled ‘'Africa's third liberation'' at the Institute of Security studies. He stated that the polls should provide Kenyans a lifetime opportunity to choose leaders based on ideology and policy and not merely on tribe. The Premier also added that Kenyans should not create alliances based on ethnic arithmetic but on issues and ideologies that carry the nation forward. Mr.Odinga explained that the country's next phase of liberation from poverty and abject human conditions must take place. He said  that the country's final liberation is captured in Kenya's Vision 2030 through its three pillars. The PM noted that Kenya became liberated for the first time in 1963, when she attained political independence from the British but like everywhere else on the continent, the country sank into bad governance by the first generation of leaders. But was categorical that the time for third liberation was now. ‘'The third Liberation of Kenya and Africa in my view must entail a new path for economic rejuvenation that will create wealth and jobs for the youth in the continent' 'the PM posed. He said that for the continent to move ahead, it must also burry once and for all the politics of tribalism, the doomed politics of ‘one of our own'. While calling on Kenyans to stand up for peace during the country's 2013 general elections, the PM pointed out the the nature of politics itself is the change that is being called for in the continent ‘'Our leaders and our people have to embrace the culture of making hard choices based on what works and not what is expedient; based on performance rather than identity and social difference such as race, tribe and religion'', he said. He thanked the Brenthurst foundation for assisting the government and other African governments in devising policies for growth and development. Among the dignitaries present was the main author of the book Greg Mills. Betrayal Meanwhile, Raila is urging MPs to support the Kenya Amendment Bill 2012 to enhance gender parity in the country. ‘'In the interest of the constitution, the minorities and disadvantaged, I urge all MPs, regardless of party affiliation, to support the Bill and vote for it in the house'', he appealed. He noted  that failure to do so will be tantamount to betrayal of the constitution, the people of Kenya in general and women in particular. At the same time the PM said that the positions taken by MPs from the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) on the bill are personal and do not reflect the position of the party. Mr. Odinga therefore appealed to all MPs from the party to remember their contract with the Kenyan people and rally behind the Bill so that the country can achieve the right proportion of either gender in the coming general election. ‘'I wish to inform Kenyans that positions so far taken by MPs from the Orange Democratic Movement are personal and do not reflect the position of the party on this critical constitutional matter' ',he said in a written statement. He stated that ODM as a party stands for, and remains committed to full and faithful implementation of the constitution and will remain committed to gender parity having fought hard for the inclusion of its provisions in the constitution. ‘'I believe that if we have the will to support the constitutional provisions on gender, we will find the way to implement them'', the PM said.