Monday's by-election surprise where voters in Makadara constituency settled for green horn Kioko Mbuvi alias 'Sonko' has caused an unprecedented shift in the traditional norm of pitching for political leaders.
‘Sonko’ sealed the fate of two political heavyweights — Reuben Ndolo and Dick Wathika — who had widely been expected to slug it out for the right to represent their constituents.
It was also a victory for the never-say-die former Justice Minister Martha Karua, whose Narc-Kenya party grabbed two out of the three seats on offer. Karua is sure to jump into the 2012 election fray with more confidence, especially after silencing critics who had written off Narc-K.
The election results have also awakened the youth to the fact that they have the numbers and innovation to change the direction of politics in this country forever.
Unless the old guard change tack and start wooing this neglected voting bloc, they will meet their political Waterloo in 2012.
{Kabaria Muturi, Nairobi}
The results of the three by-elections should send a strong message to the political class.
Voters came out strongly to affirm their maturity and proved that contrary to what had been suggested, they were not going to be swayed to back candidates for expediency’s sake.
Another lesson is that the era of political patronage is over, and that parties that pride themselves on being democratic aren’t necessarily so.
ODM has been the major loser in these elections. It could not retain the South Mugirango seat before losing Matuga. Now Makadara is gone. This is because the party refused to allow interested aspirants to contest for a ticket in a free and fair nomination exercise.
The next MP of Makadara, ‘Sonko’, had initially shown interest in vying for the seat on an ODM ticket but unknown to him, the party ‘owners’ had other ideas.
There is also a strong indicator that in future, the electorate will only give mandate to leaders focused on service deliver rather than the inaccessible bunch that loves to politick all year round.
ODM party leader Raila Odinga should change tack and allow democracy to flourish, else he should prepare to suffer the same fate like his trusted ally Ndolo.
{Tijan Otieno, Nairobi}
The by-elections in Juja, Starehe and Makadara offered a glimpse of what can be expected in 2012.
PNU lost everything while ODM scraped through with one victory. However, the biggest winner was Narc-K, which gained two more seats in Parliament.
But even more revealing was the fact that President Kibaki did not join his party on the campaign trail, leading to the defeat of his long-time political friend, Kamanda. Talk of political apathy!
Raila’s last-minute soul-searching must have led him to decide that although Wanjiru had sided with the ‘No’ team during the referendum campaigns, the mini-poll was about the party.
And because he did not want the party to lose, he went out and pitched for his candidate. But two politicians who have been left with egg on the face are Uhuru Kenyatta and Kalonzo Musyoka.
The lesson to PNU, and by extension Uhuru, is that President Kibaki cannot be relied upon in future political contests.
{Kariuki Muiri, Karatina}
MDGs conference mustn’t be all hot air
A high-level United Nations plenary meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) takes place at UN Headquarters in New York.
This is against the backdrop of multiple failed attempts to shore up much needed support for the eight development pillars agreed on a decade ago.
The summit, whose primary objective is to ‘accelerate’ progress towards achievement of all the MDGs by 2015, is expected to undertake a comprehensive review of successes, best practices and lessons learned, obstacles and gaps, challenges and opportunities then lay concrete strategies for action.
MDGs incorporate key goals and targets of the broader development agenda, for example poverty, education, maternal health, child mortality, public health, environmental sustainability and biodiversity among others.
However, linkages to internationally agreed development agenda recognise the synergies among various development targets and the need for an integrated approach to achieving them.
Many countries, it’s clear, will miss out in their targets, a specter which spells doom for the progress of many a developing and underdeveloped nations. And although effects of other factors such as the global food crisis, climate change, energy and economic crises, have contributed to marked draw backs, failure to make progress can be attributed to several factors.
political goodwill
These include a lack of political goodwill to tackle chronic maladies such as runaway corruption, public resource wastage, politically instigated conflicts, no commitment to set goals and targets and a general lack of leadership.
The least developed countries, land-locked developing countries and some small island developing states will face even more acute problems as their vulnerabilities expose them to the vagaries of the spill over effect.
This is not the time to make certain political statements while failing to put in place mechanisms for achieving the same. The Millennium Declaration of 2000 on the irreducible minimum goals achievable before 2015 remains one of the humblest reminders to adamant world leadership to start performing their cardinal duty.
The world can’t sit back and wait as catastrophe unfolds. The New York parley will be a waste of time if it follows the set pattern of coming up with beautiful but hollow resolutions.
{Odhiambo Jamwa, via e-mail}
