Rank: Veteran Joined: 7/3/2007 Posts: 1,635
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Uram wrote:Wakanyugi wrote:Wakanyugi wrote:Dear Uhuru
It seems everyone is writing letters to Baba. Mine is to you.
It is quite clear you are on the way to a convincing victory. But, even as you celebrate, you should pause to ask yourself: exactly what have I won?
A clear eyed look will show you it is not exactly the prize your supporters would like to imagine. You have won a broken nation.
A lot of ink and hot air will be spent in the coming days on this subject, so I'll not belabor it. Mine is a suggestion on how you can start with what is clearly your job number one, uniting this nation.
1. Bring Raila, Kalonzo and Mudavadi back into government. You have a majority in both houses. Use it to change the constitution, or whatever law, to create the post of Prime Minister and two deputies. Many will scream it can't be done. Ignore them. Thé future öf Kenya is more important than pandering to know it all busy bodies or even constitutional niceties.
When chosing your Ministers make a point of accommodating opposition leaning communities.
Doing this will demonstrate your desire to be the President of all of Kenya. It will give Kenya the benefit of the immense talent resident in these three political giants and may create space for a new, younger, opposition to emerge.
More importantly it will allow us, as a people, to rehabilitate Railas image so that he goes into his sunset years with pride and reaps the benefit of a grateful nation. Let not history record that we used our heroes and then dumped them.
2. You will be sorely tempted to settle scores with the Supreme Court. Give it up. They were doing their job. They are not perfect but then neither are you. Give Maraga a quiet call and let him know you are not going to seek revenge.
3. Finally we need to do something about our winner take all constitution. I suggest you ask parliament to create a people's assembly to discuss this matter over the next one year followed by an omnibus referendum bill that will fix the most contentious issues. Let your legacy be an amended constitution that is trully ours, one that acknowledges the uniqueness of our nation and people.
Doing these things is not capitulation, as many hardliners will be quick to claim. It is not even magnanimity in victory. It is statemanship. You are the President of all of Kenya and the price you pay for this honour includes doing things that offend your base or make you uncomfortable. One of your biggest challenges will be to ignore those hawks in your party who are saying that you should crush Raila completely. You can't.
Think of it Mr Ptesident. This is your last term. What have you got to lose? Bwana Rais, Finally, you bit the bullet. It may turn out that your lasting legacy for Kenya is fixing our winner take all constitution, something to be remembered long after all the Mandeleo goodies we crave have worn off. Who knew? But every battle causes collateral damage, and for this one, it is significant. For instance, in proposing a padded leadership structure (which to be honest seems reasonable to me) you have handed your Deputy a powerful kiboko with which to beat you politically. So you need to play some politics too. Here is a start. I suggest you call a meeting where you, Raila and Ruto make a solemn promise to Kenyans that, as an indication of your honesty and good faith: none of you will benefit from the opportunities created by BBI for the next electoral cycle. Doing this will demonstrate your honesty and good faith and that you are truly proposing BBI for the good of Kenya, not yourselves. It will also take the wind out of this Dynasty/Hustler posturing that we are seeing, that could take us to a very bad place. It will reduce tensions and create a platform for a true national conversation, rather than the shouting matches we are already seeing. Note: making this promise does not stop any of you from playing kingmaker of course. Just so long us none of you uses this as an opportunity for self benefit. By the way, any two of you making this promise will suffice. The recalcitrant one will then be seen for his self serving intentions and Kenyans will take note. Am not understanding how this BBI will fix winner take all issue. PM will be nominated by President and deputy PMs appointed by the President. What will stop the elected President repeating Uhuru's appointments circus? The fellow has been appointing Kiuks and Kales since 2013 without batting even an eye. You have a good point. For me though, the winner-take-all fix is the leader of opposition. The others are Presidential goodies to be used to bribe his cronies or competitors. There are many things I see wrong with this BBI but if it cures our litany of harmful electoral stupidity, I say it is a small price to pay. "The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." (Niels Bohr)
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