Kenyans have continued piling pressure on Azimio La Umoja leaders to focus on uniting the country and drop plans to hold countrywide public meetings and demonstrations.
Subsequently, all leaders irrespective of their political affiliation have been urged to work together towards building a more inclusive society, a more just government and a more prosperous economy where all Kenyans matter, and no one is left behind.
Kenya Internally Displaced Persons Organization (KIDPO) Patron Mr Peter Tena said it was time political party heads, Senators, Members of Parliament and Members of County Assemblies were united in a common purpose of pulling the country’s politics out of the swamps of ethnicity and sectarianism into the domain of issues and ideas.
Tena stated that the plan by Azimio La Umoja leader Raila Odinga to call for demonstrations was the wrong way to push for accountability in government, saying there were other ways to keep the Kenya Kwanza alliance government in check.
Odinga had announced planned rallies in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu and Kakamega to defend Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission members Juliana Cherera, Irene Masit, Justus Nyang’aya and Francis Wanderi, who face ouster.
“Politics is over and both the government and the opposition should work for the best interests of all Kenyans irrespective of how they voted,” Tena said. “Issues of hunger, economy, employment and development opportunities are the matters of interest across all communities,” he added.
Addressing a press conference in Nakuru the KIDPO patron stated that citizens were yearning for an economic system that seeks prosperity, increases incomes, creates jobs and eliminates inequality.
Political leaders, he affirmed, should prepare to shift their attention away from competition and contestation to Kenya’s social-economic progress.
“The electioneering period is over. Coalitions that competed in the August 9 polls should be jointly cooperating in consolidating our country and I want to urge our brothers in the Azimio la Umoja Coalition to work with their Kenya Kwanza counterparts, to criticize them, but keep the country united and peaceful,” he said.
Tena said, “I don’t believe that staging demonstrations is part of holding the government accountable. Asking Kenyans to do whatever Azimio la Umoja Coalition wants them to do can only be disruptive to the prevailing calm business environment and will only serve to polarize the country along ethnic fault lines,” he said.
The call for mass action the KIDPO patron observed was proving divisive as it did not capture the aspirations of the people to join them on the streets. “They need to come to the people with a solid reason why they should go to the streets. There are more pressing issues that need to be addressed by our leaders,” said Tena.
He used the opportunity to further appeal to the government to finalize the resettlement and compensation process for some of their members who were left out.
Tena explained that the compensation process initiated by the Jubilee government is yet to be completed as some 8,000 of their members are yet to be resettled.
He said the National Consultative Coordination Committee on Internally Displaced Persons (NCCCIDP), which oversaw the resettlement, was disbanded before it completed its work.
On the other hand, KIDPO member Ms Ruth Wanjera said those who resettled on land bought by the government have not been able to utilize it as the subdivision of the land was thwarted by court cases.
Because of the drawn-out court cases, some elderly members died before being settled. “We request our President to establish the status of the farms and help members settle on them. Our members have been suffering for a very long time waiting for this compensation,” Wanjera pointed out
She also lamented that the IDP Act 2012, formulated to deal with the affairs of the IDPs is not being implemented and urged the government to fast track its implementation.
