STATEMENT By Rt Hon Raila at The Meru Slopes Hotel, LET US WALK TOGETHER

STATEMENT BY RT. HON RAILA ODINGA AT THE MERU SLOPES HOTEL:
LET US WALK TOGETHER.

MERU, FEBRUARY 28, 2017.

We are here to listen to Kenyans living in this part of the country; their fears, hopes and expectations.

The more we have listened, the more we have learnt that the problems, dreams, fears and aspirations are not any different from those from the other parts of Kenya.

We are here to sell our policies as NASA and invite the people of Meru and Tharaka Nithi and all Kenyans to join the push for lasting change that is gathering momentum across the nation, propelled by a shared feeling that the nation is sick and needs a cure.

Above all, and most importantly, we are here to reaffirm our belief that Kenya is, and must remain one indivisible nation.

There is no Kenya called Mt Kenya region or Jubilee stronghold or NASA stronghold. There is no Kenya of Uhuru Kenyatta or Raila Odinga or Kalonzo Musyoka or Musalia Mudavadi or Moses Wetangula.

There is only one Kenya, the Republic of Kenya. We are seeking the unity and the oneness of this nation.
In times like these, some politicians try to divide us along ethnic and geographical lines.

These are the times some politicians tell us so and so is not one of us, is not circumcised, is not fit to lead and will punish our people if he or she ascends to power. We are here to urge a total rejection of politics of that kind.

We are here to appeal for politics that clearly identifies our problems and that prescribes realistic cures for those problems with the caveat that whenever the prescriptions fail, those responsible for them are voted out regardless of tribe, religion, race or region of origin.

We are here to appeal for the embrace the politics that takes responsibility instead of passing the buck and spreading blame.
Going into 2017 elections, our problems are clear and universal. There are no Meru, Luo, Luhya or Kikuyu problems. There are only Kenyan problems.

The cost of living high for all Kenyans. Insecurity is unprecedented for all Kenyans. Corruption is hurting all Kenyans. The Kikuyu or Meru or Embu or Kalenjin are not paying lower prices for unga, bus fare, house rent because they voted Jubilee. They are not getting better security because they voted Jubilee. They are not paying lower school fees. All Kenyans are suffering the same fate. The people being killed in Kerio Valley voted largely for Jubilee. The people struggling to find markets for Miraa here in Meru voted for Jubilee.

The doctors and lecturers on strike serve Jubilee and NASA supporters alike.
When a regime fails, it fails the entire nation. We believe that is what has befallen Kenya under Jubilee.
We must therefore confront the problems as Kenyans and bring change together as Kenyans.
We have monumental problems that indicate system failure.
I know no time when doctors have been on strike for months and the president goes on with business as usual looking for votes.
I know no time when we were listed the number three most corrupt country in the world as happened this year.
I know no time when hunger and drought have hit our people as is the case today and the president and his deputy go around looking for votes. Lecturers have been on strike before in this country but the government engaged them and pleaded it’s case. That is not the case today. I know no time when Kenya has been in a bigger debt as is the case now and the president thought it can be addressed by borrowing more.
Governments are elected to solve and not to create problems.
Here in Meru, you are struggling with a crop, Miraa, which has sustained you for years. Jubilee failed to negotiate for you.
You are not different from the fishermen in Nyanza who now live with the reality of Chinese fish in the market and sugarcane farmers in western fighting Uganda sugar in the market.
You are not any better off than maize and wheat farmers in the Rift Valley struggling with low prices because of cheap imports flooding the market.
When a regime fails, everyone pays the price except for very tiny elite with connections and relatives in government.
We have come here to tell you that these are the realities we face as a nation and to assure you that in NASA, we have the cure to these problems. We say NASA Tuna Dawa.
We are laying out our vision for addressing insecurity, supporting farmers, addressing youth employment, fighting corruption, reducing the cost of living, ending tribalism and ensuring that Kenya returns to being the one united nation that our founding fathers handed over to us.
We appeal to the region to join and support the change and benefit from the cures we have. Nasa Tuna Dawa. We urge you to try it. Above all, we urge that we face the future as one nation, the Republic of Kenya.
Thank you.

The post STATEMENT By Rt Hon Raila at The Meru Slopes Hotel, LET US WALK TOGETHER appeared first on Kenya Today.

”IEBC DATA Protection is Weak, Cannot Guarantee Credible Free and Fair Election”- Raila NASA Reveals

The National Super Alliance has expressed doubt the IEBC can deliver an honest General Election and raised fears the data centre could be hacked.

It said the polls stand impugned, the timelines breached, the voter register polluted and without a credible independent audit.

“There is no chance in the world you will be able to comply with … provisions of the Elections Act, even within the next 60 days. In any event, the timeliness have been breached,” NASA said in a letter to electoral agency boss Wafula Chebukati. It raises issues it wants addressed.

In an eight-page letter dated February 20, NASA says the August 8 polls could be legally compromised even before they are held.

On February 8, the opposition raised many of the same issues in a meeting with the IEBC and at a press conference. They also include auditing, cleaning and unifying the voter register, vetting secretariat staff, disclosing details of diaspora voters, accepting as final results declared at the constituency level.

The IEBC had promised to respond within a week. It has not done so.

NASA chiefs are demanding answers in 11 areas involving security and integrity of the IEBC data centre, including any external connections to critical electoral database and servers.

“What are the external interfaces connected to IEBC and the identity of the users and purpose thereof?…Do these include NIS, Jubilee Party, the Immigration Department and other third parties?” the letter said.

The allegation of server security rekindles memories of the 2013 polls when Cord alleged that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA hacked the results transmission system.

ODM chief Raila Odinga had claimed that a call center, Kencall EPZ Limited, co-hosted on one server the database of the IEBC — together with that of TNA — and both these databases were synchronised. Raila said the two databases shared the same IP address.

Yesterday, IEBC chief Wafula Chebukati was meeting diplomats and promised to respond at another time.

The new letter to the IEBC is written by Siaya Senator James Orengo on behalf of NASA principals Raila, Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC) and Moses Wetang’ula (Ford Kenya).

Orengo writes that IEBC had described disturbing challenges during at a meeting on February 16.

Among the challenges reportedly raised by the new commissioners is the storage in unsecured warehouses of servers used in the 2013 polls — loaded with critical data.

“At our meeting, the commission painted a grim and pessimistic picture of the challenges ahead and the state of unpreparedness shackling the commission,” the letter said.

Publicly, the IEBC has often stated it is ready to deliver free and fair polls.

NASA demands answers and gave a one-week ultimatum, which lapsed yesterday.

“How is data from the BVR kits moved to the main database? Who is responsible for consolidation? Veracity of the ability of the NIS to access data with a parallel system of managing electoral results?” the letter asks.

“What is the role of Morpho (a private company), if any, at the commission? What are the skills sets of the persons operating the database, together with their qualifications and identity?”

Morpho is the French firm that supplied the 15,000 Biometric Voter Registration kits used in 2013.

However, just last month, there were claims that IEBC tender documents for supply of an integrated electronic electoral system were designed and prepared by Morpho. IEBC denied that.

But NASA says various licenses for software and equipment used by the electoral agency belong to Morpho and most have expired. This means Morpho will invoice Kenya to renew the license of every piece of expired software.

NASA wants the IEBC to establish a new data centre and secondary data centre, acquire new servers and assure generally the commission will have suitable IT infrastructure before the polls.

In the letter, NASA expressed concern the tender for award of the Integrated Elections Management Systems, IEMS, has not been awarded five months to the polls.

According to the elections Act, IEBC should put in place the technology at least eight months to the General Election.

“The systems have not been integrated. With just over five months to go you have not procured, let alone put in place technology necessary to conduct the General Election,” the letter states.

With a contaminated register not subjected to a statutory audit, NASA said the 2017 polls stand impugned and their legality compromised even before they are held.

In a startling admission of a flawed register, the IEBC acknowledged 128,926 Kenyans share ID or passport numbers in its database. Former Presidents Mwai Kibaki and Daniel arap Moi are among thousands of Kenyans whose IDs were used in the double registration.

On January 24, Raila said the opposition has credible information the NIS is interfering heavily in voter registration to skew the poll outcome. He said the NIS and its new director general Philip Wachira Kameru were again setting the stage for rigging, as he said happened in 2007 and 2013.

Raila says both elections were stolen.

“The NIS is also interfering with voter registration by having youths, whose data were collected through the dubious NYS exercise over the last few years, registered as voters without their knowledge,” Raila said.

He said it was using BVR kits to register Ugandans and Ethiopians, a statement the IEBC denied.

However, weeks later bodyguards to Teso South MP Mary Emase were arrested in Uganda on claims of recruiting Ugandans to register as Kenyan voters.

Emase herself allegedly escaped narrowly.

The post ”IEBC DATA Protection is Weak, Cannot Guarantee Credible Free and Fair Election”- Raila NASA Reveals appeared first on Kenya Today.

DP Ruto and CS Aden Mohammed ACCUSED of MISLEADING Uhuru on Somali Community REJECTION of Jubilee

The Garre Council of Elders has castigated incumbent Mandera County Governor Ali Roba, industrialization Cabinet secretary Aden Mohamed and two Members of Parliament; Mohamed Maalim Mohamud (Mandera West) and Shaaban Ali Isaack (Lafey), for misleading President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Jubilee Party regarding Mandera County.

Senator Billow Kerrow disclosed that the trio have defied the will of the elders to step down and therefore cannot deliver any votes to the president.

He also implicated Deputy President William Ruto and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in the ‘misguided scheme’ to force Governor Ali Roba on the people of Mandera.

The veteran politician accused NIS of soliciting false information regarding Governor Roba and his allies’ popularity on the ground and relying the same to the president.

In the 2013 General Election, Mandera County voted overwhelmingly for the Jubilee government, with 98 Percent of the votes cast.

Kerrow attributed the massive support to a unanimous decision by the elders to support the ruling coalition, adding that all the elders nominees for various posts won the seats.

He warned the president against following the counsel of his deputy and Governor Roba saying Roba and his team can barely marshal 10 per cent of the voters.

“If William Ruto wants the President to win in 2017 election, he must abandon his interferences in Mandera County politics,” said Kerrow.

According to Senator Billow Kerrow, the elders will in two weeks time announce their preferred political party and also develop a list of suitable candidates for various posts after considering all submissions from the people.

Senator Billow Kerrow is set to retire from active politics as the elders have settled on Hassan Osman to represent them in the Senate.

Hassan Noor is the elders’ favourite candidate to replace Governor Ali Roba.

Garre Council of Elders from Mandera County met on Monday, February 27, to chart their political path in preparations for the August polls.

The meeting held in Nairobi that brought together the elders, political leaders, and residents of Mandera County provided a consultative forum to appoint suitable candiadte they would support in the forthcoming elections.

Garre Clan of the Somali Community is famously known for negotiated democracy in elective politics.

The post DP Ruto and CS Aden Mohammed ACCUSED of MISLEADING Uhuru on Somali Community REJECTION of Jubilee appeared first on Kenya Today.

KANU’s Hon Kibet VOWS to Support Jubilee, BLAMES Prof Lonyangapuo for Lobbying to Support Uhuru

INAUMA SANA.
By Bettern Chero Kibet
To be sincere irrespective all favours got from my party kANU I find it hard working with jubilee ..

I am damn independent minded girl .. my position and that of our SG was to let kANU be independent from jubilee or NASA but prof John lonyangapuo lobbied and outnumbered us .. anyway I remain independent whatsoever I won’t betray my conscience to defile my mother Kenya by voting Jubilee …

Any Kikuyu or kalenjin I meet they all agree that jubilee has run down Kenya but they have a phase that yes jubilee ni horrible but opposition hawajafanya kitu … You wonder when did opposition ran Kenya? Even during mukate nusu kibaki called shots with muthaura…

If opposition gets one vote in sacho kiptagich know it’s my vote .. myself and family presidency it’s NASA but governor to MCA it’s kANU

The post KANU’s Hon Kibet VOWS to Support Jubilee, BLAMES Prof Lonyangapuo for Lobbying to Support Uhuru appeared first on Kenya Today.

PHOTOS: Raila Kalonzo, WHAT and HOW It All HAPPENED, Ground Shifts in Favour of NASA

The post PHOTOS: Raila Kalonzo, WHAT and HOW It All HAPPENED, Ground Shifts in Favour of NASA appeared first on Kenya Today.

VIDEO: Raila and kalonzo SPEECH in Meru, Promised a Robust Economy, Good Governace and Rescuing Miraa Farmers

The National Super Alliance supreme leader Raila Odinga on Monday asked Meru residents to support their bid to remove Jubilee from power during the August poll.

The former premier who was accompanied by Wiper Democratic Party boss and former vice president Kalonzo musyoka said their team was best placed to unite the country and steer development.

The two NASA luminaries who were accompanied by a dozen MPs said Jubilee has failed to fulfill most of the things it had promised to do for Kenyans during their first term in power.

They were treated to a rousing reception when they addressed meetings in Timau, Makutano, Meru Town and Laare in Igembe North.

The two said they will introduce robust development projects unlike those that President Uhuru Kenyatta and DP William Ruto ‘commissioned but failed’.

Raila singled out the Miraa farmers’ woes, saying the lot is suffering since the state has failed to protect their trade amid increased taxation in Somalia.

“They gave Sh1 billion to cushion Miraa farmers. Have you seen the money? Has the task force formed to improve the sector produced any results,” Raila asked.

“If you vote for us, we will make a difference within 90 days after we take office,” he said amid cheers from the gathering at the Laare Stadium in Igembe.

The post VIDEO: Raila and kalonzo SPEECH in Meru, Promised a Robust Economy, Good Governace and Rescuing Miraa Farmers appeared first on Kenya Today.

BREAKING: Raila STORMS Meru County in Style, Turns Uhuru Support UPSIDE DOWN #MadLove4NASA

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has chided Jubilee for not delivering election pledges, he wooed Meru electorate by promising to ease cost of living within 90 days in office.

While speaking in Meru Kalonzo Musyoka asked Meru people to support NASA in the coming election stating that the current government has failed to bring development to the country, saying that they are only riding on the previous administration’s achievements.

The post BREAKING: Raila STORMS Meru County in Style, Turns Uhuru Support UPSIDE DOWN #MadLove4NASA appeared first on Kenya Today.