Cord leader Raila Odinga addressing supporters at Eldoret 64 Stadium on
Friday June 27, 2014. He gave President Uhuru Kenyatta a 10 day
ultimatum to call for a national dialogue. PHOTO/JARED NYATAYA
NATION
Our politics is really interesting and
we never have a dull moment. We would actually enjoy our politics save
for the fact that our negative ethnicity politics sometimes run out of
hand and cause nasty episodes like Mpeketoni, Wajir and elsewhere.
An
important topic has been thrown on the table, a request for a national
dialogue by Mr Raila Odinga. The word dialogue has attained a new
meaning.
I decided to read more on the subject,
courtesy of materials sent by a friend who has spent time boning up on
the subject. Upon reading the material, I discovered some key points:
1.
An inter-parties dialogue is best handled in Parliament. There must be
very good reasons for seeking complementary spaces outside democratic
institutions paid for by taxpayers like Parliament where dialogue
happens as a matter of course. The Jubilee-Cord dialogue should happen
in Parliament.
2. Dialogue is good during transition
and post-conflict periods. For instance what we had in 2007/08
qualifies. Dialogue follows violent conflict (God forbid). Kenya is not
in such circumstances. We concluded our peaceful election more than a
year ago and the challenges we have can be handled by the government of
the day.
3.
In the event that dialogue is to be held, extensive preparations are
required in a highly political and contentious process. We don’t need to
get into this at the moment seeing that we have an economic agenda to
pursue, coupled with continued implementation of our democratic
Constitution, the best in Africa.
4. The agenda must be
realistic and well communicated and there must be absolute transparency
on the purpose of the dialogue. The objectives must be clear. To what
end should we hold the dialogue?
There are some people
who remain opposed to the new Constitution and its promises and
principles and they would use this opportunity to change it, especially
the electoral system. Mr Odinga and his running mate, Mr Kalonzo
Musyoka, are the only ones outside the democratic institutions. The
dialogue might be a ploy to try to get them back into the fold.
WHAT KIND OF DIALOGUE?
It
is not easy to understand the purpose of the dialogue as most of what
we needed to have in Kenya happened during the passage of the new
Constitution.
Issues like security and cost of living
are handled through many laws, policies and budgetary allocations, work
done by the Executive and the Legislature.
Cord can
very well table some policies, laws and other measures to bring down the
cost of living or address security challenges as they have done through
a censure motion against Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku.
5.
The participants in the dialogue are another contentious matter. They
must be scrutinised and picked through various models, including
elections. The dialogue must include a cross-section of people including
women and youth.
6. There are many types of dialogue:
Sustained dialogue, reflective dialogue (an inquiry), generative
dialogue, and democratic dialogue. Which dialogue is the Cord leader
asking for? The type of dialogue determines the quality of the
conversation.
7. The dichotomy of democratic dialogue
vs democratic institutions is deep as dialogue would end at the
democratic institutions anyway. As we have a National Assembly and a
Senate, the Cord leaders have to take their place there and raise
issues.
Cord leaders have sufficient space in the
democratic institutions to raise issues. The Cord alliance has admitted
it has not played its role of official opposition well. They need to
start by internalising what it means to be a responsible opposition.
As
an MP serving on the Jubilee side, I see many opportunities that Cord
has to improve matters in Kenya. For instance, when they opposed the Nyumba Kumi
security strategy, they should have offered an alternative. When they
criticise the laptops project, they should offer an alternative
approach.
Kenya does not need a national dialogue as
proposed by the Cord leaders. It needs a government that is working hard
to deliver on its election manifesto and a Cord side that keeps the
government on its toes. All the leaders should be responsible,
effective, hardworking and not corrupt.
Ms Nyokabi is the Nyeri County Woman Representative
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