Raila Denies CORD Wants to Join Government - Reaffirms Demand for National Dialogue

CORD LEADER RAILA ODINGA says CORD NOT INTERESTED IN JOINING GOVERNMENT:

Hon Raila Odinga wishes to state that the CORD coalition has never contemplated and will never contemplate, joining the Government.

CORD however will not relent on its demand for a national dialogue focusing on the most immediate and compelling problems facing the country including:

1. High cost of basic necessities.

2. Peace and security for the land and the review and reform of security organs.

3. Implementing and empowering devolution and ensuring the county governments get their equitable share of national revenue.

4. The electoral system and process and the overhaul of IEBC.

5. Eradication of corruption.

CORD’s intervention is driven by a growing feeling that the Jubilee administration has lost touch with the pains of ordinary Kenyans who struggle with house rent, bus fare, school fees and high cost of basic commodities like milk and unga.

CORD is concerned that Jubilee may be missing what the evacuation of hundreds of tourists and closure of hotels means to the many waiters, cooks, tour van drivers and tour guides who depend solely on the tourists.

CORD is convinced the fact that Jubilee is quoting figures indicating the economy is well on track further indicates a government losing touch with the struggles of its citizens.

The Opposition coalition views the fact that Jubilee is quoting figures indication the economy is on right track as further indication of loss of touch with the struggles of the voters.

If the trends continues, the next year will be as painful as the last, if not worse.

Cord is not keen on joining such an administration. It is keen on standing up for Kenyans, and it shall do that.


DENNIS ONYANGO
JUNE 1, 2014

CORD Statement on Governments Restructuring of Provincial Administration and Order to Pay Anglo Leasing Debt

Fellow Kenyans, for quite some time now we have constantly voiced our concern that indeed the Jubilee coalition is not committed to devolution. President Uhuru and his deputy have not missed any opportunity to volubly assure Kenyans that they are devoted to devolution. However as the saying goes, action speaks louder than words. This act has clearly vindicated our long held view that this government is not committed to devolution.

1. The president’s unilateral action of restructuring the maligned and archaic system of provincial administration is unconstitutional and negates the well-established principles of devolved system of government. The constitution vests sovereign authority in the people of Kenya which power is exercised by the people through their elected representatives. The people of Kenya overwhelmingly voted for the 2010 constitution and by dint of that act vested their trust and authority in the devolved government.

2. We wish to remind the president that reliance placed on Article 132 (3)(b) of the constitution and section 7 of the National government Coordination Act is exaggerated, misinformed and misconceived. Indeed it is an elementary rule of Constitutional Construction that no one Provision of the Constitution is to be segregated from the others and to be considered alone, but that all Provisions bearing upon a particular subject are to be brought into view and to be interpreted as to effectuate the great purpose of the Instrument. In a nutshell article 132(3)(b) must be read together with articles 1(3)(ba),6,10 and section 17 of the 6th schedule to the constitution. As it is now, the belated introduction of the provincial administration through the back door is unconstitutional and we will use all legal means available to reverse it

3. That section 17 of the 6th schedule to the constitution demands that within five years from the effective date, the national government should restructure the system known as provincial administration to accord with the new devolved system of government. The letter and spirit of this section requires a participatory approach in restructuring the provincial administration including public participation as envisaged under article 10 of the constitution. More importantly emphasis is placed on the process being undertaken by the national government. As it were there is no evidence to suggest that both the Senate and the National Assembly have been involved in restructuring provincial administration as contemplated under the constitution. The process envisaged cannot in anyway be discharged by a few bearcats in the public service. The president’s actions are manifestly unconstitutional and this amounts to a flagrant violation of the constitution

4. That the presidents unilateral decree for payment of Ksh.1.4 billion to the architects of the Anglo leasing scandals is the lowest ebb in our struggle to combat corruption and engender prudent management of public resources in this country. The rational given by the president is at best laughable and at worst cynical. It must be remembered that in 2006, the president while serving as the chairman of the parliament public accounts committee (PAC) conducted investigations and filed a robust report that was duly adopted by parliament. At the core of the report was a solid recommendation that no payments whatsoever should be made to Anglo leasing contracts. Parliament has not varied that recommendation and it remains to date. We wonder what spiritual baptism the president has undergone as to irrationally demand the clearance of the fraudulent sums.

a) The arguments that nonpayment of the kshs.1.4B affects the capacity of the government to borrow internationally are neither here nor there. The bottom line is that the Anglo leasing contracts were fraudulent and therefore cannot be honored. The international community that espouses best business practices cannot in anyway compel the government to honor contracts that are tainted with fraud and illegalities.

b) The threat that Kenya’s embassies will be attached and put up for auction is a scare monger tactic by the government to coerce the country into honoring evil deals. There is no evidence even to suggest that Kenya owns those embassies. Most of them are rented and cannot be the subject of attachment. More significantly, our embassies are fortressed by the Geneva conventions and cannot therefore be liable to attachment and auction.

5. That attempts to honor Anglo leasing contracts violate Article 201 of the Constitution which sets principles that guide all aspects of public finance in the Republic. This includes the requirement that public money shall be used in a prudent and responsible way and further that there shall be openness and accountability including public participation in financial matters. The fraudulent nature of the Anglo Leasing deals further offends Article 227 on legitimate contracting and Article 10 which enacts national values and principles that bind all State organs, State officers, public officers and all persons whenever they make or implement public policy decisions”. These include integrity, transparency and accountability.

6. It is regrettable that the president has turned into a rodent that is eating away the very core of the constitution that he swore to protect. We wish to remind him that our constitution is not a lifeless piece in a museum. We will use all means possible at our disposal to defend it and secure public interest.

7. It is our considered view that the president’s decree in favor of Anglo leasing is inadequate even to invite our conscience, impotent to warrant payment from the exchequer, ridiculous for for sanitizing fraud, scandalous if brought forward to earn public support and monstrous if to ruin our already strained economy.

Hon KalonzoMusyoka _______________________
Party Leader, WDMK


Hon Moses Wetangula ________________________
Party Leader FORD-K


Hon Sen Anyang Nyong’o _______________________
Ag. Party Leader ODM

IEBC Lack Moral Authority to Comment on Voter Apathy

CORD PRESS RELEASE 15TH MAY 2014

The CORD Coalition takes great exception with the sentiments expressed by the IEBC Chair and his IEBC Commissioners regarding the conduct of the 4th March election. We wish to state as follows

1. That IEBC has no moral authority to comment on the voter turnout during the last general election for the following reasons:

• The Commission had fluid voter registers that kept oscillating with changing circumstances. This was a clear scheme to accommodate their cooked figures as evidenced through audit reports by various organizations

• The Commission deliberately bungled the Electronic Voter Identification Devices (EVID) or otherwise set them up for failure ab-initio. It is this devices that would have ascertained the voter turnout with razor accuracy. The argument that the low voter turn-out in CORD areas accounted for the coalition’s loss is frivolous, hopeless, scandalous and malicious to say the least. It is a belated attempt to sanitize the flagrant rape that the commission visited on the democratic rights of Kenyans.

2. That the assertion by IEBC that majority of eligible voters did not register in CORD areas and therefore significantly affected the coalition’s performance is both cynical and immoral in substance. It is on record that the commission orchestrated an evil voter registration exercise that was designed to produce certain results by disproportionately allocating few BVR machines in CORD areas where in many instances over 5 polling stations shared one BVR machine. These areas could therefore not achieve the same number of registered voters compared to the jubilee zones where the BVRs were sufficiently availed.

3. That the IEBC in a clear sign of moral and integrity retrogression proceeded to deploy a different voter register from the one gazetted in February for purposes of the election without notifying either the participating parties or the public as is by law required. This can only have been a promotion of a well-conceived plan to tilt the scales in the elections.

4. That the IEBC failed miserably in its constitutional duty to conduct a robust national wide voter civic education and awareness campaign. It must be remembered that it is the solemn duty of the commission to mobilize and register voters using the billions of taxpayers’ money allocated to them for the same purpose. The flawed attempt to shift this responsibility to parties must be condemned in the strongest terms possible

5. That the proposal by IEBC to stagger the elections will not impeach the corrosive damage that the commission inflicted on itself by bungling the election and descending to the arena of the contest. It is a belated attempt to run away from taking responsibility for the various actions and omissions during the 4th March elections. The golden truth is that the current officials of the Commission must be send packing to pave way for reconstitution of the commission with people who cherish high democratic ideals, democracy and strict adherence to electoral laws.  It will be unbearably expensive to an already overburdened Kenyan taxpayer by staggering the election.

To the contrary, we propose the devolution of the IEBC as an organization to the county level so that election results are managed and reported at the county level as it happens in South Africa where voting districts and provinces only report their aggregated results to the national aggregation centre.

FROM CORD SECRETARIAT

Senators Should Allow Devolution to Grow - Wetangula

Devolution is at the heart of majority of Kenyans and it is the responsibility of relevant constitutional organs to defend and protect it.
 
The coming into being of devolved units early last year has realized enormous development and this, if well protected; Kenyans will enjoy more fruits that come with Devolution.
 
However, it is disturbing to see some forces ganging up to frustrate, intimidate and try to humiliate Governors in the name of holding them accountable. This is not the spirit of devolution.
 
Yesterday’s remarks by the Deputy President Mr. William Ruto at a function in Murang’a which was attended by Senators, Members of the National Assembly and MCAs touching on the integrity of Governors were just the tip of the iceberg. It send out a clear message that Jubilee administration is not for Devolution.
 
The DP and his group outrightly intimidated Governors particularly when speakers (including himself) incited Members of County Assemblies against the Governors. The meeting in Murang’a was like a lynch mob trading their guns against Governors accusing them of all manner of wrong doings.
 
The support for MCAs to rout Governors was in bad taste and the Deputy President ought to weigh his words when it comes to such matters. Each Governor is individually accountable for any wrong-doing. One Governors’ mistake should not be made to be a ‘collective responsibility’ for all the Governors. We must stop this cheap and unpopular politics.
 
Of concern is the manner with which some Senators are using their offices to harass and intimidate Governors and their staff. Annoyingly, is the fact that some of these Senators tend to speak with authority as if they speak for the Senate Leadership. This must stop. A Governor is not an appointee of anyone, they are elected just like Senators and Members of the National Assembly are and each one of these categories must respect the other.
 
 Senators should desist from making statements that could have far reaching implications especially on constitutional matters that involve Devolution. The Senate leadership should provide guidance on what Senators should say in public to avoid them from over-stepping their mandate. Senators must stick to their role as spelled out in the constitution and should do their work without interfering with that of the Governors.
 
As the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD), we shall not stand aside and look as some forces try to kill Devolution in the name of providing checks and balances on county bosses. Devolution must be left to grow and Governors allowed to exercise their constitutional mandate of fostering development at the grassroots level.
 
CORD will not allow any organ of the government to frustrate Devolution for personal gains. This is not why Kenyans voted for the current constitution; they supported it so as to have resources trickle down to them from the seat of power.
 
Endless supremacy battles will only slow down the Governors’ work and in the end kill Devolution completely.
 
Sen. Moses Wetangula
CORD Co- Principal
Senate Minority Leader
Senator Bungoma – County.
5/5/14

Jubilee Leadership is Aiding and Abetting Grand Corruption

To be corrupt or not to be corrupt; that is the question the Kenyan people are today posing to President Uhuru Kenyatta. 

In 2006, during the tenure of the ninth Parliament, Uhuru Kenyatta served as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. This same PAC conducted an investigation into the Anglo Leasing Scandal to do with the procurement of a forensic lab for our police force. The committee found Mr Deepak Khamani and Mr Anura Pereira culpable as the main architects behind this scheme to defraud the Kenyan people.

On March 28th, 2009, as Chairman of this Committee, Uhuru Kenyatta named these two individuals and gave a sixty day ultimatum to the government of the day to respond to the findings of his report. Again, in 2009, Uhuru Kenyatta served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. He reiterated the commitment of the Treasury not to honor any of the controversial Anglo Leasing related promissory notes then valued at Kshs 270 million. He even went as far as publishing a tax-payer funded advertisement on Friday, February 27th, 2009, in the local papers reaffirming his resolve to deal with the issue of Anglo Leasing conclusively.

Eight years later, Uhuru Kenyatta is President, those responsible for these economic crimes are known and yet Kenyans are STILL waiting for answers to the Anglo Fleecing question from the Jubilee Government. Instead of out rightly rejecting the move to pay these briefcase companies for goods that were never supplied, President Kenyatta has gone back on every promise his Jubilee Government made to the Kenyan people on the issue of corruption.

Jubilee continues to push ahead with this nefarious plot to pay KShs 112 billion shillings of Kenyan tax payers’ hard earned money for services NOT RENDERED.

 Furthermore, as CORD, we strongly disagree with the assertion by the Attorney General Githu Muigai, that Kenya is legally bound to make these payments. Any lawyer worth his salt will tell you that any contract is rendered invalid in the event of fraud by any of the parties involved. The companies behind this scandal defrauded the Kenyan people. Jubilee should spend more time exploring this angle as opposed to rushing to recklessly pay the monies.

We, the Kenyan people, therefore CANNOT pay and WILL not pay. Our hospitals are already short of medicine, our youth are lamenting under the burden of unemployment, our homes are under threat from insecurity; we cannot afford to humor the personal projects of the Jubilee Principals - The President and his laptops and his Deputy with his national registration.

If Jubilee insists in going ahead with this economic onslaught on the Kenyan people, we as CORD will file a motion of no confidence in the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta in order that we may protect the Kenyan tax payer from further suffering.

In addition to this, we call upon the Attorney General to declare any interest he may have in the Anglo Leasing matter for the sake of transparency.

We also expect the Government to clear any lingering doubts surrounding the peculiar coincidence that sees the figure of the proposed Eurobond coincide exactly with that of the Anglo Leasing payments.

Wednesday, April 30th, 2014.

CORD Press Statement of 24 April 2014

COALITION FOR REFORMS AND DEMOCRACY PRESS STATEMENT, 24TH APRIL 2014 

Fellow Kenyans, it is now more than one year since we went to the polls to elect new leadership for our beloved country. Being the opposition coalition and in exercise of our constitutional mandate we wish to state as follows;

1. That this being the first election under the new constitutional dispensation, Kenyans had high hopes and expectations that there will be a paradigm shift in management of public affairs. To their consternation however, the past one year has only yielded so much from the past, regurgitated the old bureaucratic and corruption networks, bred a new cycle of crippling unemployment and condemned millions of Kenyans to abject poverty through unconscionable policies that have driven the cost of living well beyond the means of ordinary Kenyans. Indeed there is no adjective - at least not one that could be legitimately printed in these pages - that does justice to just how appalling this one year has been.

2. That the security situation in the country has oscillated from bad to worse under the watch of the jubilee government. Whereas CORD abhors terrorism in all its manifestations, we take exception with the brutal and inhumane manner in which the government is undertaking the security operation. Ethnic profiling of members of the Somali community is in itself an illegality in law and runs against well-established doctrines of international human rights law and conventions that Kenya is a party to. Similarly we decry the escalating insecurity across the country under the watch of our security forces. We demand for a well thought out security mechanism that will secure our homeland and international borders.

3. That the proposed digital registration of persons is another conduit to syphon public funds through dubious tendering process that have become so reminiscent of the jubilee administration. While the idea could be noble in the long run, we take exception with its timing and implementation mechanism. The Kshs.8 billion projected for this kind of project has not been factored in the budget neither has the senate and the national assembly been afforded an opportunity to deliberate on the matter. It is even telling, that IEBC, the very institution that tragically failed in utilizing technology despite expending billions of tax payers’ money is being proposed as the implementer of the process. We take this as an immoral reward of the commission for bungling the election

4. That we applaud the standard group for its in-depth investigative journalism in unearthing the folly and rot of the bungled march 4th 2013 elections. Indeed the expose has vindicated the long held position by the Coalition that the March 4th elections were bungled and as indicated in the Jicho Pevu expose, no candidate garnered the required constitutional threshold of 50% +1 yet IEBC manufactured a set of its own results and a winner. As nature would have it, the ghosts of the bungled elections still loom large, not even the belated public mechanizations’ by IEBC can wish them away. The truth will ultimately prevail.

5. It is now clear that the “Independent” Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) contrary to its name never exercised independence and impartiality during the March 2013 elections. It instead blatantly mortgaged its Independence to security and business interests hell-bent in seeing a jubilee government in power. The courage exhibited by Mohammed Ali and John Allan Namu is so strong that it even overwhelms impunity in all its manifestations. In furtherance of this;

• CORD will in the pendency of the current session of parliament sponsor a bill in parliament which among other things will seek to devolve IEBC and fix other far reaching electoral reforms aimed at ensuring that, never ever again will Kenyans ever go into an election where their votes count for nothing.
• CORD is also in the process of compiling a list of IEBC officers who served as returning officers in the last general elections; where it has been reported and there is evidence that form nos. 34 and 35 are missing, with the view to holding them individually responsible for losing those forms and thus taking them to court for Professional negligence among other crimes of omission and commission against the Kenyan people as envisaged under the Elections Act.

6. That CORD will continue to proactively check the government and secure public interest through the two chambers of parliament. We commit to strongly work together with other actors such the civil society and the media in protecting public interest and offering alternative policies to develop our country.

SIGNED
Hon Kalonzo Musyoka _______________________
Party Leader, WDMK

Hon Moses Wetangula ________________________
Party Leader FORD-K

Hon Sen Anyang Nyong’o _______________________
Ag. Party Leader ODM

CORD Statement on Hon. Wetangula's Court of Appeal Judgement

PRESS STATEMENT

18/03/14

Our attention has been drawn to recent media reports concerning the verdict delivered by the Court of Appeal on Friday the 14th of March 2014, sitting in Kisumu. This was in relation to an appeal launched by Bungoma Senator and CORD co-principal Sen. Moses Wetang'ula following a ruling made by Judge Francis Gikonyo nullifying his earlier win in the March 4th Senatorial election.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Kisumu had delivered a verdict cementing its earlier decision that threw out Senator Wetang'ula's appeal against a high Court decision to nullify his March 4th victory. In so doing, the appellate Judges therefore allowed a Senatorial by-election in Bungoma County to go on as scheduled by the IEBC on 19th Dec. 2013 which Sen. Wetangula won with an overwhelming majority.

In light of the misleading impression created by recent media reports we wish to state as follows:

• That the Court of Appeal delivered its ruling regarding the said appeal by Sen. Wetang'ula on the 11th of December 2013, during which the appellate Judges threw out Senator's appeal against the high court ruling that had nullified his March 4th senatorial win. In the ruling, the three judge bench headed by Hon. Justice David Maranga had PROMISED TO ISSUE REASONS FOR THE DECISION LATER.
• That the above case is similar to the case where the Supreme Court dismissed the case by Hon. Raila Odinga against the election of Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta, where the case was dismissed and the Supreme court promised to issue the reasons for the dismissal later.
• That the public should be informed that the verdict as read out on Friday 14th March opens nothing new to the already closed petition; the petitioner won the case and a Senatorial by election was allowed in Bungoma County where Senator Wetang'ula trounced the rivals.
• That the merits and demerits of Sen. Wetang'ula's eligibility to contest were thoroughly exhausted up to and a categorical statement by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions exonerating the Senator from any culpability in the alleged election offences based on evidence adduced. Justice Gikonyo in his clarification days after nullifying his election gave Sen. Wetang'ula a-go-ahead to vie in the resultant by-election despite spirited efforts by his detractors to have him barred from running.

We are fully aware of the desperate attempts by known political detractors to continue with their wicked machinations to frustrate the CORD leadership in general and Sen. Wetang'ula in particular through legal and extra legal machinations. CORD will not sit down and watch as its leadership is wrecked by a people whose political relevance is past tense.

It is not lost to the Kenyan people that, the recent Bungoma Senatorial by- election was in itself a desperate ploy by the said detractors to deny the people of Bungoma their democratic will to elect Senator of their choice. However, the people of Bungoma County saw through these evil schemes and re-affirmed their trust and belief in Senator Wetang'ula by an even bigger and overwhelming victory.

We wish to categorically state that no amount of witch-hunt, intimidation or backstabbing will prevent the CORD leadership from pointing out the ills of enormous corruption and bad leadership bedeviling this country under the Jubilee leadership. Not even attempts to eliminate the leadership through attempted assassinations casually and comically dismissed as "billboard accidents" will stop CORD from exercising its democratic right of providing the checks and balances to the already failed Jubilee administration.

We appeal to our supporters to be calm and treat the information being peddled around by our detractors with the contempt it deserves. The Media needs to give facts to the consumers of their information and not choreographed stuff. Such misleading information is meant to unsettle and distract not only our leadership but also our supporters.
CORD further wishes to reaffirm its commitment to providing innovative, alternative, effective and pragmatic solutions to the challenges facing the Kenyan people.
God Bless Kenya.
Signed

Hon Wafula Wamunyiyi
Hon Jared Opiyo
Hon Eseli Simiyu
Hon. Dorcas Kedogo
Hon Silvance Osele