the orange newsletter volume 1 number 2. 25 october 2012

7/31/2019 The Orange Newsletter Volume 1 Number 2. 25 October 2012

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NEWSLETTER OF THE ORANGE DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT PARTY OF KENYA

Volume 1 Number 2 Thursday 25 October 2012

Party Leader Raila Amolo Odinga Addresses a Rally at Cheptais Town, Mt. Elgon.

Statement on Elections Date

Kenyans embarked on the final stretch to

our next General Elections with a generalunderstanding that they would be held inAugust 2012.

When August 2012 looked untenable asdate of elections for various reasons, asignificant majority of Kenyans embraced

the hope that the polls would be held inDecember 2012.

December has been the traditional Electiondate every five years particularly since the

return of multiparty politics.

But then the IEBC settled on March 4,

2013 as the Election date, following a courtruling.

As a party, we agreed to respect this ruling.Consequently, we embarked on plans forMarch 4, 2013 Elections.

We remain firmly committed to electionsbeing held on March 4, 2013.

But we remain concerned by the voices

from different quarters expressing doubts

on elections being held on time; March 4,

2013.

We are concerned over doubts about the

commitment of everyone in Government tosee elections held on time.

We are equally concerned that despite

government assurances, some politicianshave added to the doubts and fueled moreconfusion by openly stating that they see nopossibility of Elections being held on time

in view of the delays in acquiring theelectronic Voter Registration kits.


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ODM wishes to state that Elections must be

held on March 4, 2013. Not a day earlier.Not a day later. Anything to the contrarywould amount to defiance of theConstitution.

We are encouraged by the assurance by theGovernment, through Prime Minister Raila

Odinga, that the March 4, 2013 Election

date is cast in stone.

We are equally encouraged by the PMsassurance that all the officers involved inthe exercise of acquiring the election kits,from the Attorney General to Treasury andIEBC, are committed to doing all that they

can, at required speed, to ensure everythingis in place for March Elections.

Treasury must keep its word and fulfill its

commitment to make the remaining 60 percent payment on Friday this week.

We wish to appeal to all leaders and all

political parties to make their positionsknown on this critical matter and to assureKenyans that they support March 4, 2013election date.

It is also our hope that the relevantgovernment agencies will work together,

and with speed, to ensure all the 18 million

Kenyans who have attained the voting ageare registered to vote.

Party Leader Raila Amolo Odinga Addresses Supporters in Narok County.

ODM Primaries will be Free, Fair and TransparentPhilip Etale

Free and fair elections is a song every

politician sings day and night. It is alwaysthe wish of everyone aspiring for anyelective seat world over that the election isfree, fair and transparent and the process

must be above reproach.

In mature democracies like in the US,France, Britain, Australia, Canada etc.,cases of bungled elections are never heard

of and winners are always winners whilelosers accept defeat honourably.

In Africa, the disease of the incumbents

refusing to be defeated in an electionespecially the Presidential race has spreadto almost all the countries in the continent.

In fact, they say, in Africa, removing

a sitting president from office is like trying

to slaughter a camel while it is on its feet.In short, sitting presidents retire voluntarilyor at the expiry of their term in office.

In Kenya, President Daniel Arap Moiretired from office after 24 years in office. Iam sure, if the two year term limitintroduced after the repealing of Section 2(A) of the constitution that killed the single

party regime and introduced politicalpluralism was not there, then Mzee Moicould still be in power to date. Look atwhat is happening in Zimbabwe, Uganda,

Cameroon etc.

A lot of gains have been achieved in

Kenya since the struggle for political

pluralism in the early 1990's, the struggle

for reforms and the second liberation thatsaw the four decade KANU rule brought toan end in the year 2002 by NARC.

Prime Minister Mr. Raila Odinga togetherwith several other brave men and women ofthe soil, both living and deceased, takecredit for the freedom Kenyans areenjoying today.

This is why, Mr. Odinga would wish tohave the Orange Democratic Movement -ODM be on the lead in ensuring that the

law is upheld and that the coming generalelections is conducted in a level playingground and that it is free and fair.


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ODM, the party that Mr. Odinga leads has

to be on the forefront in advocating forpeaceful and free, fair and transparentgeneral election and that a repeat of the2007 fiasco is avoided.

This is why the ODM primaries will be freeand fair and that winners will be winners

and losers will be losers. It is worth noting

that bungled party primaries are a recipe forgreat loses in the general election especially

under this new constitutional dispensation.

The restructuring of the party's National

Elections Board (NEB) which saw theappointment of new commissioners and anew chairman was a clear indicator thatindeed, ODM has come of age and it wants

things done the right way.

The Board's new chairman Col. (Rtd) Dr.

Henry Muthee Kathurima and his entireboard are up to the task and they want toensure that nobody complains after the

nominations. In a nutshell, the partyselectoral body wants every aspirant to besatisfied with the outcome of the partyprimaries.

The issues of direct nomination, politicalpatronage or sacred cows do not arise in

this respect. Everyone will be treatedequally just like each one of us will betreated during the judgment day as the Holy

Bible says.

The ODM members aspiring for variouselective seats on the 4 March 2013 general

election should have no cause for alarm as

not even the party leader will be involved

in the nomination exercise. Only the

Elections Board will manage the partyprimaries without any external influence.

ODM is a believer in democracy and beingthe only political party that conductedmeaningful party elections at the grassroots

level, it must be the one to lead in

exercising what it stands and agitates for.

So if there is any aspirant going roundboasting of being 'well connected' with theintention of scaring away their opponents,

we say sorry, that kind of politics has beenovertaken by events. Everyone must fightfor the ODM certificate.

Director of Communications - ODM

Infrastructure Development: The ODM VisionLarry Gumbe

The ODM government, elected into officeon 4 March 2013, will focus oninfrastructure development as the

foundation of quality job creation andnational development.

ODM believes that the heart and spine of

any economy especially in terms ofeconomic activity, security and integration

is the state of its infrastructure. ODM has avision of infrastructure that caters for allparts of Kenya in order to promote

economic activities. It is also our beliefthat one cannot govern what they do notknow and control. It is our pledge to thepeople of Kenya to develop and maintain

functioning infrastructure countrywide.

There is a strong nexus between povertyreduction and infrastructural development.

A good road network in the countrywide isof priority as it will not only inter - link thecountry but also link us to our neighbouring

countries. ODM believes that this willenhance the movement of the people,promote trade and investment, reduce thecost of doing business and enable the

provision of affordable goods and services

Massive investment in roaddevelopment and maintenance;

Priority to ASAL and othermarginalised areas;

Strategically investing in urban roadinfrastructure;

Long-term Bonds for infrastructuredevelopment;

Public-private partnership; Modern, electric, standard gauge

(1.6m) high-speed electric inter-urbanrail network;

Extending the railway networkcoverage to link Kenya to itsneighbours;

Revitalising port infrastructure in thelake region;

Developing sea ports; Development of inter-modal

infrastructure to link maritimeinfrastructure;

Invest in high-speed internetbackbone networks;

Establish educational ICTinfrastructure countrywide;

Road Transport InfrastructureRoad Transport Infrastructure

Road transport alone accounts for over 80%

of the total internal freight and passenger

traffic in the country. The ODM believes inhaving good roads that reach all Kenyans inall parts of the country through:

Massively investing in roaddevelopment and maintenance;

Ensuring roads are built to the highestinternational standards;

Addressing the existing imbalance inthe provision of road infrastructure by: Bituminizing roads to and in the

marginalized areas of this country

especially the NorthEasternprovince and Northern RiftValley specifically to all majortown such as Mandera, Moyale,

Garissa, Lokichogio, North Horrand Lamu;

Bituminizing all roads linking allregions in the country;

Bituminizing all roads linkingrural areas to district headquartersand key service centres;

Bituminizing all urban arterial,distributor and access roads,especially roads serving lowincome areas;

Improving to all weathercondition all rural access roadsthat facilitate rural transportation.


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Hastening the dualising of major roadsespecially from Mombasa toBusia/Malaba and link roads to

Southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzaniaand Somalia;

Streamlining the provision andmanagement of roads in Kenya byembracing the four Road ManagementInitiatives (RMI) concerning

Ownership, Responsibility, Financingand Providing an Effective andBusiness-like approach to roadmanagement in Kenya;

Encouraging public-privatepartnership in financing, building andoperating roads as appropriate;

Strategically investing in urban roadinfrastructure to reduce transport costsand travel time;

Enforcing road use regulations toavoid premature failure.Railway Infrastructure and Services

ODM believes that to achieve her vision, amodernised and integrated rail

infrastructure that covers the whole countryis necessary. Over the years, there has beena general lack of investment by both thegovernment and the private sector on rail

infrastructure.

ODM shall achieve this through thefollowing:

Establishing of a modern, electric, standardinternational/modern 1.6m gauge, highspeed urban railway system to urgently

deal with the traffic congestion problemsand mass transit requirements in our cities;

Constructing of a modern, electric,standard gauge (1.6m) high-speedelectric inter-urban rail network that

links key cities and all regions in the

country for rapid transit of passengers

and bulky goods.

This would protect our roads frompremature failure, save on transportingtime and lower costs for businesses;

Actively pursuing more public -private investment in railway systemsin the country;

Investing in optimal power generationsystems to establish electric powersupply capacity for modern electricrailway infrastructure;

Extending the railway networkcoverage to link Kenya to itsneighbours.

Maritime and Inland Waterways

Infrastructure

The maritime sector has not had any majorinvestment in infrastructure for ages. ODMis committed to developing maritime andinland waterways infrastructure in the

following ways;

Increasing the capacity of the Port ofMombasa and overhauling theequipment required for efficient portoperations in addition to partneringwith the private sector to turn the port

into a Landlord Port

Establishing a free trade area at DongoKundu to tap the potentials that exist

in the integration of sea-borne andland based trade;

Developing other minor satellite ports(Funzi, Vanga, Shimoni, Kilifi,

Malindi, Lamu, Kiunga and Mtwapa);

Enhancing safety of maritimetransport;

Establishing a Coast Guard to link up

with other international community

coast guards in strengthening a safeand secure maritime industry;

Revitalising port infrastructure in thelake region with Kisumu as a regionalinland waterways hub to link with

other regional ports such as Bukoba,

Jinja, Mwanza and Port Bell;

Establishing an inland waterwaystransport infrastructure around LakeTurkana to improve mobility around

the lake and also provide a link withneighbouring Ethiopia;

Development of inter-modalinfrastructure to link maritimeinfrastructure like ports and piers with

roads, airports and railways to enhancetransport and tourism in all parts ofKenya.

Information Communication Technology

ODM shall urgently invest in ICTinfrastructure especially high-speed internet

backbone networks and educational ICTinfrastructure countrywide so as to speedup the creation of an e-literate society,encourage investment in this area to create

a lot of high quality jobs and spur researchand innovations in this field.

ODM shall seek to reduce bandwidth costs

in Kenya by use of fibre optics nationalgateways and mechanisms to ensureequitable access to these networks to avoidmonopoly. Additionally, the ODMgovernment shall hasten licensing of

players as well as provide tax and otherincentives in the sector to promotecompetition and create more jobopportunities for our youth.

ODM Set for an Historical National Delegates ConventionPhilip Etale

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM)

is set for the most historic and uniqueNational Delegates Convention (NDC) atthe end of November this year.

The two-day event which will see over fivethousand delegates from all corners of the

country converge in Nairobi, is expected to

be the one of its kind, only equaling the US

Democratic and Republican NationalConventions.

The NDC is scheduled for the 29th and 30th

November 2012 in Nairobi and is expectedto give the party members a carnival mood.

There will be lots of speeches from party

members, political analysts, guests among

others said one of the organizers of theevent.

The delegates will be treated to lots of

entertainment i.e. live music, poems, andcomedies among others.


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During the two day event, the delegates

will endorse the Party Leader Mr. RailaOdinga as the party's presidential flagbearer. The Prime Minister early this monthproposed by the joint National Executive

Committee (NEC) and ParliamentaryGroup meeting in Naivasha to be the party'spresidential candidate. After the

endorsement by the party's top decision

making organ, the Party Leader will on thelast day of the convention give the

acceptance speech which will be the climaxof the event.

This will be the first NDC of its kind to be

held in Kenya by any political party. Wewant it to equal the US Democratic Party

and Republican Conventions, we want it to

be a real carnival said the Prime Minister

at the ODM NEC/PG retreat in Naivashaearly this month.

ODM Executive Director Ms. Janet

Ong'era said the event must befit the statusof the ODM. ODM is the party with thelargest following in Kenya and we must be

on the lead in everything she said.

Already, the steering committee that is

organizing the event has held severalsittings to plan for the grand event. Thecommittee chaired by Local GovernmentMinister Mr. Paul Otuoma also has several

sub-committees that have different roles.

This will not be like any other NDCs thatare held by political parties, ODM wants a

unique event to endorse our Presidentialcandidate and the country gets the

opportunity to watch him live as he delivers

the acceptance speech said Mr. Otuoma.

Events

Date Event Venue

1. Thursday 25 October 2012 Public Rally Machakos County2. Thursday 29 to Friday 30 November 2012 ODM National Delegates Conference3. Monday 3 to Thursday 6 December 2012 ODM Nominations

The Orange is a Newsletter of the Orange Democratic Movement Party of Kenya

Readers are invited to submit their articles for publication at the address given below:

Prof. Larry GumbeEmail:[email protected]

SMS: 0713 764809

-

The Orange Democratic Movement Party of KenyaOrange House

Menelik Road, Kilimani AreaP.O. Box 2478, 00202

Nairobi.Email:[email protected]

Check out our website atwww.odm.co.ke

Opinions of contributors are not necessarily those of the ODM.
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the orange newsletter volume 1 number 2. 25 october 2012

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