This is Africa’s moment. It is our time to rise, unite, and shape a future in which every African is empowered and our continent thrives. Together, we can construct a future that reflects our shared vision and power.
Those were careful words from the soon-to-be AU kingpin Raila Amolo Odinga speaking to Kenyans and the world from Kisumu.
Raila Amolo Odinga is going for the AUC job. He deserves it and it could actually be a great development for Kenya because Raila seems to have a very clear-headed vision of what the AU and our continent need, to do at a time when Africa is crucial to a world burning itself to death because of climate change and with wars everywhere.
So Raila is off to the AU from next year after the February 25, 2024 vote. I feel happy for him because I have known him for more than 40 years. The first time we met was Kilimani Police Station in 1982 after the coup attempt. We talked but it was a very dangerous place to say anything about the future of our country.
The Special Branch took him away after a few days. He was later detained for years and I was taken to INDA (Nairobi Industrial Area Remand Prison) and was detained there for seven months. I was then released and went back to college to finish my studies and was then given a job as a lecturer at Mombasa Polytechnic in 1984 then arrested again in 1986 and taken to Nyayo House detention center.
When I met Raila for the first time, it was at Kilimani Police Station in 1982 and I told him that we as students at the University of Nairobi where I was the Secretary General (SG) of the students union wanted to take out the Moi government.
He told me and other students at Kilimani Police Station that we need to calm down and see how things go. We were mad with him about that but he was right because he was telling us you cannot overthrow a government when you are already in prison.
After that our country had so many battles for democracy and Raila was in detention for so many years, but always came out even more determined to fight for multi-party in Kenya in the 1980s all the way to 2002, when he declared “Kibaki Tosha” and helped the country to get rid of the Moi Dictatorship which had ruined our country for 24 years.
Raila Odinga championed the Kibaki presidential campaign when Kibaki was hospitalized in London after a terrible car accident. On December 27, 2002 they won the election with a resounding 62 percent of the votes.
But as we know Kenyan history is loaded with contradictions and personal lives of our leading politicians and it is not starting now. It has been with us all along and it is good.
President Jomo Kenyatta led his Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga through a triumphal arch in the garden of the Mwingi CDs home in kitui district. Behind Odinga is Daniel Moi.
We know our country very well and now it is fair to say a new system of governance has to be set up and that means, a national referendum. For example, Mudavadi’s job as some PM is not in the constitution of Kenya. If the country needs that job it should be in our constitution.
Second and more important, NG CDF was declared illegal by the Supreme Court in August 2022, and yet the money is still pouring down to the MPs and they claim they are using the money to pay for bursaries. Where is the evidence for that? Because alleged payment of bursaries by MPs and governors is the easiest way to steal public money. They do not have to provide any evidence of those payments.
Funding for education in Kenya has to go to a referendum because all the politicians are milking money out of it and nobody knows what to do as kids are stuck. Can all student funding be put in one basket so Kenyans can get free education which is their only hope for a good life and a better country for them? Chief Justice Martha Koome hinted at that need but can it be framed in a legal framework for our kids and students?
MPs ask Kenyans to reject proposed abolition of NG-CDF
Members of the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) Committee have asked Kenyans to guard the kitty to ensure sustained grassroots development in the wake of a proposal to scrap it.
Led by Committee chairperson Musa Sirma (Eldama Ravine), the MPs noted that the fund has assisted many poor households pay school fees in addition to upgrading critical learning infrastructure across the country.
They were speaking during the insurance of NG-CDF bursaries to needy learners in Dagoretti-North Constituency in Nairobi.
“All of us are assembled here to benefit from this crucial kitty, and you can clearly see what the fund is doing in upgrade of our learning infrastructure. Any talk about abolishing NG-CDF is ill-intended,” Sirma said.
The debate surrounding the potential abolition of NG-CDF has drawn significant attention in recent days.
The proposal, championed by Nominated Senator Tabitha Mutinda, aims to reduce government expenditure as an austerity measure.
Mutinda argues that abolishing the NG-CDF would help streamline government functions and address the country’s pressing debt issues.
She says MPs should focus on their legislative duties rather than getting involved in development projects.
On Thursday, Dagoretti North MP Beatrice Elachi challenged parents to complement the efforts of the NG-CDF team by making timely payments of the remaining fees to ensure learners remain in school.
“My efforts to ensure the fair distribution of NG-CDF bursaries are not enough. I need your help as parents with the payment of the remainder of the fees so that our learners can remain in school,” Elachi said.
Kitutu Masaba MP Clive Gisairo challenged parents and university students to familiarise themselves with the new university funding model and to fix their applications accordingly to prevent being locked out of crucial government funds.
At the broad political level Raila Odinga in the country has done a great job by facilitating a smooth transition of leadership in ODM which right now is the only well structured and organized political party in the country.
Azimio is over for all practical purposes and the likes of Kalonzo Musyoka are building new alliances and where that takes them history will tell.
But Raila is leaving his ODM party with all its history and achievements for Kenya intact. I personally like Gladys Wanga as the new ODM leader. She is going to take ODM to new places and that is exactly what they need.
As far as Raila’s agenda for Africa as AU chair is concerned I am excited about his focus on infrastructure is concerned in the continent is concerned.
The first time I saw the Nile River was on a flight as a refugee from Tanzania and we saw the Nile River through Sudan. It was overwhelming to see it all the way to Egypt.
What are the possibilities of Africa developing its water and infrastructure systems using our our lakes and rivers? It can be a game changer in our continent. That is a starting point. And Africa will be a leading force in climate change. I know that because the first time I invested in climate change was when my mother told me I had to do something at home. The only thing I could do was to plant trees on our land. Today it is a forest.
I know my father would be mad at me about that because the old guy always planted fruit trees like mangoes and papayas and then the oranges which took centuries to grow. Just trees. My father would never take that.
And Happy Birthday to Min Piny.
ODM leader Raila Odinga and his wife Ida together with family during her birthday Sunday August 25, 2024.
