05/12/2022
Azimio press briefing.........
KAMUKUNJI MEETING AND THE CONDUCT OF THE UDA REGIME:
STATEMEMT BY AZIMIO LA UMOJA ONE KENYA COALITION PARTY.
5TH DECEMBER 2022.
We have a few pronouncements to make regarding our planned 7th of December meeting at the Kamukunji grounds and other matters of national interest.
First, the December 7th Kamukunji meeting. We confirm that the meeting is on as announced earlier. Secondly, we wish to clarify that the Kamukunji event is a public consultative forum. It is not a call to public protest. It is not maandamano. It is a coming together of Kenyans to share views on the state of affairs in the country. The meeting is in line with Article 37 of our constitution on assembly, demonstration, picketing and petition.
Under that article; “Every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities.”
That is what we will be doing on the 7th. It will be a peaceful, orderly gathering. We have appealed to those attending to be peaceful and orderly and we trust they will be.
The government has tried to paint a horror movie picture of this event. The maandamano they are talking about is theirs, not the event we are planning.
Should they try to plant people to disrupt the event or to take advantage of the meeting to create chaos, the government will have itself to blame. We appeal to our people to turn up in large numbers and peacefully deliberate on the state of affairs of our nation.
The public consultations are about the four IEBC commissioners who have been subjected to gross injustices and forced to resign. The consultations are also about other pressing national issues.
The consultations are also about the IEBC, which is being cannibalized, the consequences of which shall be grim. We will therefore be gathering to discuss the general state of affairs of our nation and the direction the regime is taking.
An area of grim concern to us, and which we intend to deliberate on, is the cannibalization and politicization of the public service and the skewed appointments in there.
We regard the public Service as the foundation of nation. Nations begin to fail when the civil service begins to fail.
We are concerned that that the fairly functional public service that Kenya has struggled to build over the years is being turned upside down by the UDA regime. Civil servants who have painstakingly built careers in public service have been overlooked and by-passed by the Ruto regime and now being made to answer to failed politicians, crocked businessmen and mercenary activists who have no experience whatsoever in the functioning of civil service. That is what has happened with the appointment of principal secretaries.
As if appointment of failed politicians, crocked businessmen and mercenary activists to run ministries is not bad enough, the appointments have been extremely skewed against other regions. We are seeing a massive return of nepotism, tribalism and favouritism in the public service.
Nepotism, tribalism and favouritism have long demoralized so many officers who then became mere hostages to a system they believe does not appreciate them. The regime change of 2002 and the subsequent regimes strived to professionalize the public service and by and large allowed career civil servants to be in charge. Now Ruto has turned that upside down.
The result is going to be a host of frustrated officers who stay on just to secure pension and who turn to other ways to supplement income.
We have always given our civil servants the assurance that if they work hard, maintain a clean record, exercise discipline, then nothing will stand between them and rising to the top. Ruto has instead betrayed them.
When a failed politician or a mercenary party activist is suddenly imposed on senior civil servants like directors and senior assistant secretaries who were looking forward to advancing their careers in public service, we can’t expect such officers to continue being committed to their jobs and give the nation their all.
We want our public service to attract and retain men and women of quality.
And that public service must have the face of Kenya. It can’t be two or ten communities. It must reflect the 47 communities. What we have today is skewed, unprofessional and unacceptable.
We want to start a robust conversation on the introduction of genetically modified foods and seeds into our country. We have a responsibility to educate our people about the ill effects of GMO and the corrupt motivations of those trying to introduce them here.
On the 12th of December, at Jacaranda Gardens, we will have our own celebration of our independence and our republic. Ruto and his deputy have a very narrow view of the Republic of Kenya. They do not know where Kenya has come from and they do not know where they want to take it. Ours will be a celebration by patriots. It will be Jamuhuri ya Wazalendo; men and women who have made sacrifices for this country and who know where the country was supposed to go.
We are also concerned about the very brazen attack on Chapter Six of our constitution. Brazen because the accused are being appointed to critical public offices that have immense bearing on whether we grow or stagnate as a country.
We are seeing a pattern where people facing serious criminal cases like money laundering, fraud and giving kickbacks are being appointed to critical positions, including leadership of the very institutions that have taken them to court.
Ruto is slowly imposing a mafia state on Kenya. This reign by gangsters is scary and unnerving. It has never been seen in Kenya even during our past bad days. It has been said jokingly in the past that whereas other countries have a mafia, in Kenya the mafia have a country. This is now officially true.
It’s clear that despite the outrage of the people of Kenya over the criminal backgrounds of most of the people being appointed to critical public service positions, between the appointees and the president, they are as thick as thieves.
ENDS.
