The first time PLO and I meet is at Usenge High School in 1983. I just came out of jail after the 1982 coup attempt and got a teaching job at the High School. PLO was there as a teacher too and we talked about what was best for the young students taught there.
That was my second time being a teacher at Usenge High School. The first time was after I left high school and was waiting to go to the university. I was a teacher there and some of my students joined me at the University of Nairobi. Some of them had better grades than I did at the university.
The second time I meet PLO is at the BOMAS constitutional conference in 2003 in Nairobi when he had taken over as the coordinator. PLO was very generous to me. He gave me all the publications on the Bomas Drafts at that time. We had access to all functions at Bomas and participated fully in the process which had very good results later to be killed at the Naivasha meeting.
Now PLO is going nuts. Which is normal but very sad.
Raila’s Mass Action Call Amounts To Treason, There Will Be A Bloodbath – PLO Lumumba
Constitutional lawyer Prof. PLO Lumumba has described the recent threats by Opposition leader Raila Odinga and his supporters to lead countrywide demonstrations from next week as an attempt to overthrow the government, noting that the actions are treasonable.
Speaking on the JKLive show on Wednesday, the seasoned lawyer noted that if the demonstrations witnessed in Kisumu on Wednesday were a precursor to Raila and his followers overrunning State House, then their move will infringe on the constitutional right to hold peaceful demonstrations and become anarchic.
“Mass action presupposes and requires leadership not to use demonstration as a basis for creating confusion. It is about doing things that are in accordance with the law and using methods that are recognised,” Prof. Lumumba told show host Jeff Koinange.
“If that is going to happen on March 20, I dare say without mincing words that the opposition led by Raila is actually saying that they are going to overthrow the government of Kenya and that is treason.”
He added that should Odinga and his followers follow through on their threats and breach State House then all hell will break loose.
“If there is a march on State House on the 20th and God forbid that the mob succeeds in getting into State House and imagine that someone is shot dead and there is a stampede there will be a blood bath and Kenya will never be the same again. What happens on the 21st? What is the endgame?” he posed.
According to Lumumba, Raila should use existing institutions to hold the current regime accountable while keeping it on its toes instead of calling for mass protests.
“Thus far I have not seen a petition made by a member of Azimio or governors of Azimio saying that there is a crisis in the country. It cannot be right that we use the constitution to intimidate Kenyans. It is improper, selfish, undesirable and wrong and it must be condemned without fear,” he said.
Talk about panic from the status quo. Lumumba puts it best. Good luck with that buddy.
