Tuesday 12 February 2013

Anti-CORD Media Conspiracy Revealed

Some of the Prime Minister’s statements on critical issues are being ignored by most of the media. PM had a clear response to President Obama’s message on Kenya (pasted below). The views of Hons Kenyatta, Ruto, Mudavadi, Karua on the US position have been extensively reported, but not what the PM said, even though he, unlike Jubilee, correctly interpreted the Obama message.

Interestingly, both the Nation and Standard websites covered the Raila statement prominently but there was nothing on their TV or radio stations that night or on their newspapers in the morning.

Similarly, there was a very prominent (but completely false) story in the Sunday Nation  indicating that there was a 50-50power sharing agreement between Raila and Kalonzo, but the CORD response calling this a fabrication was tucked away in a “Brief.”

Read the two statements and judge for yourself whether they were worthy of coverage.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga hails President Barack Obama’s statement on upcoming Kenyan elections

I and my colleagues in the CORD Summit took the greatest satisfaction from President Barack Obama’s strong affirmation of continued US support for democracy in Kenya.

Every word the President uttered, and every point he made, spoke to every Kenyans’ heart. All Kenyans want an end to violence and intimidation during this campaign period. We want the coming elections to be free, fair and peaceful so that those who win are seen to reflect the true will of the people. Kenyans want to come together as one nation and vote for leaders of their choice without coercion or blackmail.

Mr. Obama also asked us to “reject a path of violence and division.” If we successfully pursue this path and hold free and fair elections, the President said, Kenyans will continue to have a strong friend and partner in the US.

The President praised us for our extraordinary achievements since 2008, highlighting the most important of them. Every one of those achievements was made possible by the strong international support, led inevitably by the United States, for the reforms Kenyans agreed to undertake in our Kofi Annan-mediated Peace Accord.

These reforms are indispensable to a peaceful and prosperous Kenya. Kenyans know that their full implementation will only be possible under a CORD government.

We in CORD are committed to respecting the will of Kenyans as expressed in a free and fair election. We are also confident that any deviation from this goal will be fully arbitrated by our new Judiciary. We urge our political opponents to commit to respecting the will of Kenyans.
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However, we are noting some worrying steps that are being taken to unfairly influence the outcome of the election. The electoral process can only be free and fair if all institutions with related responsibilities work to ensure this outcome. We have seen recently that a number of radio transmitters of Royal Media were closed down arbitrarily. Officials of other powerful institutions are also trying to limit discussion and debate about crucial issues that lie at the root of widespread discontent among Kenyans in all regions.

6 February 2013


CORD condemns 50-50 power-sharing report as fabrication

The three CORD principals – Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Trade Minister Moses Wetangula – have condemned as “a complete fabrication” a prominent article in a Sunday newspaper which alleges that CORD Presidential candidates Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka have agreed on a “50-50 power-sharing agreement.”

“We have a very clear understanding of how our CORD Coalition will share power. There are three CORD principals and each of them has a full role to play in the new Government, with the help of the other constituent Parties of the Coalition,” the principals said today in Mombasa.

“The broad outline of this power-sharing framework has been deposited with the Registrar of Political Parties, as required by the law. In addition there are other agreements which more clearly spell out the full distribution of roles and responsibilities within the CORD Government. “

“The fabrication is the work of our opponents who are using the media to create divisions within CORD and therefore in the nation. It is the figment of the imagination of the mischief-makers, who realize they do not have a strong national following. Indeed they openly proclaim that the votes of their two standard bearers’ communities are sufficient to propel them to win the 4 March election. They are, therefore, resorting to these underhanded attempts to fracture the national and nationwide movement that only CORD represents and which will ensure its victory. Such tactics will not succeed in dividing us.”

“Kenya’s potential has not been fully tapped by the three previous regimes of the last 50 years. Our country is now primed under the new Constitution and a CORD Government will help fulfil the enormous potential of all its people and the abundant natural resources that are dispersed in every part of our great country.”
10 February 2013