CORD now drops dialogue, calls for referendum

Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana during Sabasaba rally organised by CORD leaders at Uhuru Park on Monday. [BEVERLYNE MUSILI]

NAIROBI, KENYA: Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leaders have abandoned their demand for national dialogue and now want a referendum to address issues they say are afflicting the country and which they say the Government is either unable to tackle or has ignored them.

The coalition’s leaders led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetang’ula launched their agenda while addressing a rally at Uhuru Park.

Unlike in the past, the much-awaited Saba Saba rally did not draw the kind of huge crowds that have characterised Raila’s rallies.

“We decided that even if it’s only 12 people, we will come here and talk to you,” Kalonzo said with Wetang’ula alleging that the State had intimidated their supporters by blocking them at Eastlands and Dagoretti from accessing Uhuru Park.

“You can frustrate a dream, you can postpone a dream and you can lock a dream but you can never kill a dream,” Wetang’ula said.

And in a 13-point resolution which included their latest demand for a referendum, CORD called for the immediate withdrawal of Kenyan forces from Somalia.

According to the new game plan, CORD now wants to convene an all-inclusive National Referendum Committee (NRC) for the purpose of preparing Kenyans for a referendum on the critical challenges facing the nation.

CORD will be seeking to collect one million signatures to compel the country to go to a referendum even as they push for the disbandment of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

“The mandate of the NRC should include ensuring the maximum participation of Kenyans in the referendum at the county, sub-county and ward levels all over Kenya; in formulating the referendum question(s), collecting and collating one million signatures to initiate the referendum,” one of the resolutions reads.

Top on the agenda of CORD’s demand will be devolution, which they now claim Jubilee has been subverting and other issues such as insecurity.

CORD chiefs who addressed their supporters at Uhuru Park said they had been dismayed by the Government’s rejection of dialogue and now had decided to express sovereignty directly as per article 1 of the Constitution.

“Today, we announce that we have vacated calls for dialogue because we can’t talk any more to ‘deaf’ people,” declared Kalonzo.

Raila on his part said the coalition was perturbed after President Uhuru Kenyatta reneged on his earlier position to hold talks with them following pressure from Jubilee leaders.

He scoffed at Jubilee’s assertion that dialogue can only be held in Parliament, describing the Legislature as a rogue body that cannot spearhead any meaningful talks.

“On Madaraka Day, the President accepted dialogue and I said Alhamdulillahi but as we prepared for the talks, Jubilee met and said dialogue can only take place in Parliament. They said I can call State House,” Raila told his supporters.

The Opposition leaders further demanded an immediate pull-out of the country’s soldiers from Somalia following a lapse of their deadline to the Jubilee government to convene national talks.

WITHDRAW SOLDIERS

“We demand that the Jubilee administration takes immediate steps to withdraw our gallant soldiers from Somalia to join our forces in securing our nation from home,” read part of the resolution by CORD.

Kalonzo claimed that senior military officers were using KDF soldiers in Southern Somalia to do illegal business which including selling of charcoal seized in Kismayu. “We need to be told when our boys are coming back,” he said, adding that he and other leaders have always opposed deployment of the soldiers to Somalia.

CORD is further demanding a national audit and publication by the Public Service Commission of all appointments made in the public service by the Jubilee administration, with full details listing names, ethnic backgrounds and percentages.

The Opposition leaders also demanded that the Jubilee administration immediately cancels the “inflated” security contract awarded to Safaricom demanding the contracts be subjected to competitive bidding, failure to which they would commence commercial sanctions on Safaricom and other companies engaging in “monopolistic practices”.

CORD said they reject attempts by the Executive through Parliament to “bastardise” the report of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission.

“We demand that the Jubilee administration immediately addresses the underlying land issues that are at the heart of some of the most enduring historical injustices and conflicts in our society,” adds the resolution.