Dr. Job
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 22, 2013
- 813
- 220
An Open Letter on The State of The Nation and Corruption
JOHN GITHONGO TOM MBOYA PLO LUMUMBA P.O BOX 23111 PO BOX 1501-00502 P.O BOX 10676-00400 NAIROBI NAIROBI NAIROBI
Emails
:
johngithongo@gmail.com
,tjmboya@gmail.com
, [EMAIL="plolumumba@gmail.com"]plolumumba@gmail.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OUR REF : JG/PLO/TM/UKP/2014
YOUR REF:
DATE:
H.E Hon. Uhuru M. Kenyatta EGH
President of the Republic of Kenya Commander in Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces State House Nairobi
KENYA
RE: AN OPEN LETTER ON THE STATE OF THE NATION AND CORRUPTION.
We write to you as patriotic citizens in good faith, to share our deepening concern regarding a number of issues which in our humble view threaten the soul of our beloved Nation. We do this cognizant of the fact that your administration has been in office for only nine months, and in addition to presiding over the implementation of a new constitutional dispensation and managing the execution of devolution in the face of high expectations by an impatient population. Amidst the plethora of challenges, it is our humble opinion that Kenya is not at a crossroads as doomsday sayers opine, but that we have reached a critical tipping point, hence our decision to address your Excellency on some critical issues that affect our Nation.
Corruption
Corruption has always been a Cancer in our Country's body politic and numerous are the unresolved scandals that continue to haunt our Nation. While the ghosts of ‘Goldenberg', ‘Anglo Leasing', ‘Maize', ‘Kazi kwa Vijana' continue to dance their macabre dance of defiance; over the past few months the Country has been seized in the thrall of the proposed new ‘Standard Gauge Railway Project' from Mombasa to Nairobi. No sooner had your Excellency launched the noble and timely project with pomp and circumstance than critical ethical issues were raised from within your administration. For example, evidence tabled before the Parliamentary Investment Committee (PIC) suggests that the contracted Company has questionable credentials, and the project cost is unclear and inflated. Given the whiff of irregularity, it is our submission that it would be prudent to immediately terminate the current process, and begin a transparent process afresh, so as to ensure efficiency and value for money.
Your Excellency's administration took office on the promise of making a break from what you described as the ‘analog' past to embrace a new ‘digital' future with zero tolerance for Corruption. It is therefore worrying that under your watch a possible scandal of gigantic proportions is consolidating the widespread perception that every Kenyan President must as a way of ‘initiation' into Office, preside over a mega corruption scandal that costs Kenyans dearly. These perceptions are easily tribalised and politicized in a manner that may make governance more difficult, to the detriment of the Country. We therefore respectfully urge your Excellency to immediately suspend the project and to make all documents germane to the Railway Contract public for scrutiny. This, in our view, will enhance your stature and spare you history's indictment.
Cost of Living
The age old adage is that, ‘a hungry man is an angry man'. Indeed, in the last few days we have seen Kenyans vent their anger in the streets of Mombasa, Meru, Thika, Machakos, Nairobi and many more will come because of a sense of despondency. Taxation measures designed to raise money without due regard to the already unbearable cost of living will only exacerbate the situation. While we respect and even admire your administration's desire to sustain the Country on a rapid growth trajectory, we urge you to keep public servants on a short leash and to reign in your Government officials from engaging in corrupt practices and arrant profligacy amidst sorrow and want of the majority of the Population. In the recent past, we have seen the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Supremo, whom we respect in town. If history is a good teacher, we learn from her that the long-term health of our nation not only requires but demands that we wean ourselves off the IMF, which has a history of capturing Government policy and prescribing unpalatable solutions.
Insecurity
Each and every Kenyan is mindful of the rampant insecurity that continues to plague every corner of our Nation. No-one, regardless of their station in society is exempted from the vagaries of the opportunistic criminal such as theft, carjacking, & robbery, or horrific atrocities such as that which unfolded at Westgate last September. That senior police officers are currently undergoing vetting is positive, and indicative of your administration's cognizance of the reforms required in the security sector to improve the capacity of the Police to provide security to all Kenyans, across the country. We are also sensitive to the fact, however, that the Police is one of our ‘disciplined forces'. As such members are not so much ‘retrenched' like as in a private company but rather demobilized with due dignity.
One of the most critical institutions in the country, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, has in recent months been plagued by a number of incidents, ranging from the fire that consumed the International Arrivals building, to an explosion, and the discovery of sensitive security equipment in an airport toilet. The dearth of official communication on these matters exacerbates the trepidation of the public, and creates an impression not of laxity, but rather inability to secure one of the most important installations on Kenyan soil. With the memory of Westgate so fresh in our minds, it is incumbent upon the relevant organs within your administration to communicate accurate and confirmed information to the public in order to stem speculation. Furthermore, full investigation of such incidents, as well as the responses thereto must be conducted and reports made available for public scrutiny. Your Excellency, we have written this humble letter not because we have monopoly of wisdom but because like you, we love this Country and we have a patriotic, moral and constitutional duty to protect Her even with our lives.
Yours faithfully,
JOHN GITHONGO, PLO LUMUMBA, TOM MBOYA
http://www.scribd.com/doc/202184232/An-Open-Letter-on-the-State-of-the-Nation-and-Corruption
JOHN GITHONGO TOM MBOYA PLO LUMUMBA P.O BOX 23111 PO BOX 1501-00502 P.O BOX 10676-00400 NAIROBI NAIROBI NAIROBI
Emails
:
johngithongo@gmail.com
,tjmboya@gmail.com
, [EMAIL="plolumumba@gmail.com"]plolumumba@gmail.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OUR REF : JG/PLO/TM/UKP/2014
YOUR REF:
DATE:
H.E Hon. Uhuru M. Kenyatta EGH
President of the Republic of Kenya Commander in Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces State House Nairobi
KENYA
RE: AN OPEN LETTER ON THE STATE OF THE NATION AND CORRUPTION.
We write to you as patriotic citizens in good faith, to share our deepening concern regarding a number of issues which in our humble view threaten the soul of our beloved Nation. We do this cognizant of the fact that your administration has been in office for only nine months, and in addition to presiding over the implementation of a new constitutional dispensation and managing the execution of devolution in the face of high expectations by an impatient population. Amidst the plethora of challenges, it is our humble opinion that Kenya is not at a crossroads as doomsday sayers opine, but that we have reached a critical tipping point, hence our decision to address your Excellency on some critical issues that affect our Nation.
Corruption
Corruption has always been a Cancer in our Country's body politic and numerous are the unresolved scandals that continue to haunt our Nation. While the ghosts of ‘Goldenberg', ‘Anglo Leasing', ‘Maize', ‘Kazi kwa Vijana' continue to dance their macabre dance of defiance; over the past few months the Country has been seized in the thrall of the proposed new ‘Standard Gauge Railway Project' from Mombasa to Nairobi. No sooner had your Excellency launched the noble and timely project with pomp and circumstance than critical ethical issues were raised from within your administration. For example, evidence tabled before the Parliamentary Investment Committee (PIC) suggests that the contracted Company has questionable credentials, and the project cost is unclear and inflated. Given the whiff of irregularity, it is our submission that it would be prudent to immediately terminate the current process, and begin a transparent process afresh, so as to ensure efficiency and value for money.
Your Excellency's administration took office on the promise of making a break from what you described as the ‘analog' past to embrace a new ‘digital' future with zero tolerance for Corruption. It is therefore worrying that under your watch a possible scandal of gigantic proportions is consolidating the widespread perception that every Kenyan President must as a way of ‘initiation' into Office, preside over a mega corruption scandal that costs Kenyans dearly. These perceptions are easily tribalised and politicized in a manner that may make governance more difficult, to the detriment of the Country. We therefore respectfully urge your Excellency to immediately suspend the project and to make all documents germane to the Railway Contract public for scrutiny. This, in our view, will enhance your stature and spare you history's indictment.
Cost of Living
The age old adage is that, ‘a hungry man is an angry man'. Indeed, in the last few days we have seen Kenyans vent their anger in the streets of Mombasa, Meru, Thika, Machakos, Nairobi and many more will come because of a sense of despondency. Taxation measures designed to raise money without due regard to the already unbearable cost of living will only exacerbate the situation. While we respect and even admire your administration's desire to sustain the Country on a rapid growth trajectory, we urge you to keep public servants on a short leash and to reign in your Government officials from engaging in corrupt practices and arrant profligacy amidst sorrow and want of the majority of the Population. In the recent past, we have seen the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Supremo, whom we respect in town. If history is a good teacher, we learn from her that the long-term health of our nation not only requires but demands that we wean ourselves off the IMF, which has a history of capturing Government policy and prescribing unpalatable solutions.
Insecurity
Each and every Kenyan is mindful of the rampant insecurity that continues to plague every corner of our Nation. No-one, regardless of their station in society is exempted from the vagaries of the opportunistic criminal such as theft, carjacking, & robbery, or horrific atrocities such as that which unfolded at Westgate last September. That senior police officers are currently undergoing vetting is positive, and indicative of your administration's cognizance of the reforms required in the security sector to improve the capacity of the Police to provide security to all Kenyans, across the country. We are also sensitive to the fact, however, that the Police is one of our ‘disciplined forces'. As such members are not so much ‘retrenched' like as in a private company but rather demobilized with due dignity.
One of the most critical institutions in the country, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, has in recent months been plagued by a number of incidents, ranging from the fire that consumed the International Arrivals building, to an explosion, and the discovery of sensitive security equipment in an airport toilet. The dearth of official communication on these matters exacerbates the trepidation of the public, and creates an impression not of laxity, but rather inability to secure one of the most important installations on Kenyan soil. With the memory of Westgate so fresh in our minds, it is incumbent upon the relevant organs within your administration to communicate accurate and confirmed information to the public in order to stem speculation. Furthermore, full investigation of such incidents, as well as the responses thereto must be conducted and reports made available for public scrutiny. Your Excellency, we have written this humble letter not because we have monopoly of wisdom but because like you, we love this Country and we have a patriotic, moral and constitutional duty to protect Her even with our lives.
Yours faithfully,
JOHN GITHONGO, PLO LUMUMBA, TOM MBOYA
http://www.scribd.com/doc/202184232/An-Open-Letter-on-the-State-of-the-Nation-and-Corruption