People's assembly on mou

1. STATEMENT OF THE PEOPLES ASSEMBLY ORGANIZING COMMITTEE ON
THE MEMORANDUM SIGNED BY H.E. UHURU KENYATTA AND H.E. RAILA
ODINGA
The purpose of this statement is to provide an update on the People’s Assembly
process and roadmap in the light of the historic memorandum signed by the H.E
Raila Amolo Odinga and H.E Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday 9th March, 2018.
We take this opportunity to commend the two leaders for putting Kenya first. We
are 100 percent behind them. We urge our supporters to rally behind this
initiative.
We wish to make a number of observations regarding the memorandum to clear
the air on misunderstandings that we have already noted in the public debate.
We will begin with what it is not. It is not a NASA-Jubilee government
engagement; it is not about power-sharing and it is not about 2022 elections. It is
not a done deal. It is a statement of intent. For the avoidance of doubt, no
negotiations on any issue has taken place.
The memorandum is an initiative of the two leaders in their individual capacities.
In the memorandum, they describe themselves not as presidents or leaders of
political formations which they are, but as friends and compatriots. The two
leaders have acknowledged the historical origins of our current crisis and the
many opportunities over the years that leaders have missed to right the ship.
They recognize that they too have a historic opportunity to set the country on the
right course, and they do not want to be remembered as another generation of
leaders that did not rise to the occasion.
We also wish to underline that the memorandum acknowledges that the nature of
the crisis we are in is political, and that the dysfunction we see in the State is
societal. It is the first time in our history that leadership at the highest level has
acknowledged that we have a problem called tribalism. They have acknowledged
that institutions and infrastructure do not make a nation. A nation is a shared
sense of belonging.
This is the glue that hold diverse people together, enables them to overcome
adversities, and achieve great things. They have acknowledged that this glue is
weak, the result of which is “deterioration of relationships between ethnic
communities and political formations.” It is of course the case that our political
formations are themselves ethnic formations.
We must commend and congratulate the two leaders for this meeting of minds.
Acknowledging a problem is the first step towards solving it.

2. China Achebe bequeathed us the timeless African wisdom that ‘a man who does
not know where the rain started beating him cannot say where he dried his body.”
This initiative is about retracing our steps to where the rain started beating us.
This we can only do as a people. Not as the state, not as government, not as
social and economic interest groups but as communities— as Abagusii,
Abaluhya, Luo, Kambas, Kikuyu, Maa, Mijikenda, Makonde, Somali, Waswahili,
Turkana and every other community that inhabits this land.
As the People’s Assembly Organizing Committee we embrace and support this,
for this is precisely the purpose for which The People’s Assembly has been
established.
The two leaders have asked us to give them an opportunity to spearhead this
process. We have accepted. We acknowledge that it is better to reason together
than separately. As another piece of African wisdom tells us, one fingernail
cannot kill a louse. We are therefore in this spirit suspending the People’s
Assembly process.
But this support is not a carte blanche, neither is it unconditional.
We have impressed upon the leaders of the imperative for this process to be
honest, truthful and courageous. Honest, truthful and courageous introspection
will acknowledge that tribalism is not an end in itself but a means that has been
used to acquire and use political power for unjust enrichment.
It has been used to skew public resource allocation and opportunities to
particular communities and regions so that they can in turn protect those in
power. Tribalism is an unholy alliance between communities and their leaders to
further the interests of the latter at the expense of other Kenyans. In a nutshell, it
is the continuation of the divide and rule strategy of the colonial era.
We have impressed upon the leaders that we cannot afford sacred cows, and “no
go areas” and “raw nerves”. A decade into our new constitutional dispensation we
continue to tiptoe around historical injustices. As we speak, public land is being
enclosed, and tenderpreneurs are bankrupting the country.
We have been assured that this initiative will be about the people, will involve the
people, and will be validated and owned by the people. But we are alive to the
painful history of political betrayal. We know that once crisis subside, leaders
can get comfortable and allow the issues of the people to fade into the
background. That’s how we have ended up where we are.
It is our duty as citizens to hold these leaders’ feet to the fire and ensure that this
does not happen again. We are remaining vigilant and we urge all Kenyans
across the political divide to join hands so that we do this together.

3. God Bless Kenya
Peoples Assembly Organizing Committee
March 12, 2018
NATIONAL SUPER ALLIANCE
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