Maurice Odhiambo: Why Eldoret North MP is not fit to be president

WHY ELDORET NORTH MP IS NOT FIT TO BE PRESIDENT

Not every politician who uses democracy to get elected is a democrat. Many deeply anti-democratic politicians have abused democracy to get to the top. Such wolves in sheep’s clothing are deeply entrenched in Kenya’s political elite.

When Kanu was the sole political party, they were menacing sycophants. They denounced human rights groups as treasonous and called democracy a foreign ideology.

To them multipartism was un-African. They are opportunists who never miss an opportunity. Many are flying high harvesting the bounty of the freedom for which their victims fought. None of these converts to democracy is amazing than Eldoret north member of parliament William Ruto.

The genius of Christian faith is salvation. That is why many people believe that even those with the darkest of hearts can be redeemed. In secular logic, people are dynamic and can be transformed.

That’s why it’s difficult to irrevocably condemn someone, lock them up, and throw away the key. Not unless they are the worst of the worst. The human proclivity is to give the sinner and offender a second chance.

In my view Mr. Ruto and other anti-reform “graduates” of the Kanu regime must stay on the road to Damascus. But again we have a large body of evidence that Mr. Ruto has been unable to find the road to Damascus. That’s because he hasn’t wanted to find it.

Let my jog your mind on Mr. Rutos exploits in Kanu under president Moi which is not debatable. Ruto was Kanu’s blue eyed boy and this came when he was the organizing secretary for the notorious youth for Kanu 92 which was accused of ethnic violence against the kikuyu and other opposition groups in rift valley ahead of 1992 elections.

In 1997 Mr. Ruto was elected Eldoret north MP. His career then had a meteoric rise. At the young age of 31, he was appointed assistant minister in the office of the president. In 2002, elected Kanu’s director of elections and in quick succession Moi appointed him minister for home affairs and elected Kanu secretary general in 2002. He had a visceral hatred and disdain for reformers and human rights activists.

I will forever remember Ruto as a rabid Kanu defender even as the party disintegrated after 2002 polls. Ruto is no one’s dummy, he knew Kanu was dead and that Moi his former master was history. He then teamed up with Mr. Odinga to ‘bury’ Moi.

That’s how Ruto slew the former head of state and blew his towering legacy. Such a destructive man does not fit the bill to be president of this country in the new dispensation. I believe he is in the same mode of people like Hitler if given power can destroy a country. He must be stopped.

Mr. Ruto led the Reds, a coalition of churches and politicians, against the new constitution. He opposed accountability for the post election violence and has bitterly attacked the Kenya national human rights commission and international criminal court over his alleged role in post election violence.

Eldoret north MP should not at any moment be allowed to dine with reformers because he does not fit the bill to be president of this great nation.

 Maurice Odhiambo.

The writer is a young ambassador for world peace under United Nation

And youth federation for world peace.

Email:morriskings@gmail.com

Prof. Kamar, this is just a tip of the iceberg

Prof. Kamar, this is just a tip of the iceberg

I take time to appreciate the great work that HELB has done to poor university students. Without the higher learning lending institution, poor people like us would have not reaped from the fountains of knowledge in the university. We owe it our present status and the best present we can give to the institution is to faithfully and promptly pay back our loans, not only for sustainability of the program but also for other students to benefit.

The Higher Education minister must be commended for rising up against loan repayment dodgers. She noted that graduates must repay their loans promptly to increase access to education. She went further to reiterate that beneficiaries that default on repayment risk losing out on state jobs.

Bu I would love the good Prof. to focus more on the quality of graduates released from universities because this is the root cause of the loan defaulting. I believe that most graduates wish to promptly pay back their loans. If graduates would immediately get well paying and secure jobs immediately they graduate, repayment would not really be a problem. Most of us are dodgers simply because the little they get can not make ends meet, let alone be sliced to pay back HELB loans. How do you tell a person who has been jobless for the past seven years to promptly pay back loans?

We seem to be more focused on monetary matters. University lecturers have just gone on strike seeking salary increments. The government itself is piling pressure on jobless graduates to pay back loans. Universities are busy implementing the double intake policy yet the few stagnated resources in our universities can not cope with student numbers. Few lectures, limited lecture facilities and accommodation have continued to compromise quality education. University campuses and new universities are opened day in day out. The Kenyan Public University Education system seems extremely concerned with numbers. Quality is increasingly becoming compromised. It would be better if we even have only one university that is well equipped in capital and human resource which can produce graduates who can adapt to the job market demands.

What emphasis have we put on quality university education? Do the engineers, social scientists and health professionals who stream the market from college have the necessary technical skills to adapt to the swiftly changing job market?

How well have we moved swiftly to curb cases of exam irregularities, sexually transmitted marks and ethnicity in our learning institutions? A lot of talk and no action.

Solving loan defaulting in Kenya would be very simple of our universities would be well equipped to produce properly baked graduates who can easily get jobs that can secure them as they pay back HELB loans. This should be the major focus of the minister. In the meanwhile, let us work hard in these hardship times to heed to the minister’s call.

Chrispory Juma Ombuya,

Former student, Moi University, School of Public Health,

Resident of Oyugis town