NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 11 – Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi has urged the youth to turn out in large numbers and register as voters in the ongoing mass exercise by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Mudavadi said voter apathy has been responsible for bad leadership and called on the thousands of youths without ID cards to register for the same and take up the voter’s card.
“There are millions of uncollected ID cards at chiefs’ offices. I call upon the many people who have not collected the same to do so and ensure they register as voters. That is the only way we can elect the leadership we deserve,” he said on Sunday in the company of One Kenya Alliance (OKA) co-principals during roadside rallies as they campaigned for Wiper Party candidate Eshio Mwaiwa for the October 4 Nguu/Masumba ward by-election in Kibwezi, Makueni county.
He was accompanied by Kalonzo Musyoka of Wiper party, Moses Wetangula (Ford Kenya), Cyrus Jirongo of UDP among other politicians. KANU party leader Gideon Moi was represented in the engagements by the party’s Executive Director George Wainaina.
They assured that they will stick together and ensure one of them becomes Kenya’s fifth president when Uhuru Kenyatta’s second and final term lapses in August next year. The leaders said they stand for a united and a prosperous country, devoid of tribalism and hatred.
The leaders have maintained that they will field a presidential candidate even as pressure mounts on them from President Kenyatta and his handlers to support former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Appearing to hit out at Odinga’s campaign promise of offering unemployed youths a stipend of Sh6000 per month, Mudavadi said the country needs truthful leaders even with their promises.
“Our economy is doing badly and we need practical solutions to resuscitate it not lies meant to woo the youth. The country’s pockets are empty and let no one lie to you that there is money to be handed out. We need practical solutions of providing decent jobs and not handouts and wheelbarrows,” he said in an apparent reference to Odinga’s latest campaign pledge last week that his government will guarantee Sh6,000 for any unemployed youth.
Odinga’s strategy is seen as a move to counter Deputy President William Ruto’s bottom-up economic model in which he promises to empower the youth.
Mudavadi urged the electorate to carefully elect leaders of integrity who have the interests of the country at heart.
He urged Kenyans to be weary of leaders and politicians promoting and playing politics of handouts at the expense of providing practical solutions affecting the country.
At the same time, Mudavadi urged leaders to be truthful in their campaigns and the promises they make to Kenyans.
The leaders took a swipe at Deputy President William Ruto accusing him of propagating tribal politics and promoting ethnicity.
They accused him of sowing seeds of hatred among Kenyans and being selfish with leadership positions.
“During the first term of the Jubilee administration, Ruto shared the Cabinet with President Uhuru 50-50. While Uhuru filled his slots from across the country, his deputy filled the positions with his cronies and people from his community, is this the president we want?” posed Mr. Jirongo.
Jirongo said the OKA leadership is committed to growing the economy and sealing all graft holes.
At the same time, Mudavadi called on the government to jealously guide the country’s territorial boundaries.
In reference to the simmering Maritime border dispute with Somalia, Mudavadi asked the government and the military to be steadfast in guarding Kenya’s boundaries and not cede even an inch.
“No single inch of the country should be given away. We will remain steadfast in guarding our territory and I ask President Uhuru to be on the watch out for any external aggression on our territory,” he said.
Kalonzo said the OKA administration will ensure all graft loopholes are sealed and any wealth that has been fraudulently gotten will be returned.
“We shall ensure corruption is put to hold. All the ill-gotten wealth will be returned and we shall be able to offer free secondary education,” he said.
Kalonzo said the OKA administration will seek to grow the economy and ensure people live a dignified life and that jobs will be created.
Wetangula urged President Kenyatta to not compromise on the Kenyan territory despite the international Court decision.
He said the Kenyan government had signed an agreement with the Mogadishu administration concerning the disputed Maritime boundary when he was the Foreign Affairs minister.
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