Nasa plots to directly exercise governance through the people

National Super Alliance leaders and supporters at a press conference on November 4, 2017. PHOTO | FRANCIS NDERITU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The main objective of the outreach programmes will be to sensitise Nasa supporters.
  • Suna East MP concedes that the current activities are co-ordinated and sanctioned by the Opposition.

A couple of days after his declaration that the National Super Alliance (Nasa) would not recognise the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta, the full effect of Opposition chief Raila Odinga’s sentiments now appears to be taking shape – thanks to secession demands, boycott of targeted products and services and formation of a people’s assembly.

Starting Monday, governors, senators, MPs and ward representatives allied to Nasa will embark on outreach programmes in their respective constituencies and wards to drum up support for the boycott of products offered by firms deemed to support the current regime.

BOYCOTT

The main objective of the outreach programmes will be to sensitise Nasa supporters on alternatives they can use.

Leading communications provider Safaricom, Bidco Industries and Brookside Dairies are the three companies whose products Nasa is calling on its supporters to boycott.

The Sunday Nation has learnt the multipronged assault comprising the boycott of products, the formation of people’s assemblies and secession demands is geared at laying the ground for a credible repeat poll if not creating a parallel avenue of governance.

And while Nasa deems this a most potent co-ordinated approach to realise their desired goal, Jubilee rivals view it as an uncoordinated experiment of a collapsing political outfit.

“Today they are talking secession, the next day they are economic saboteurs, yet still they want to take their supporters to the forest for some resistance battle, so which is which? My take is that the opposition is in total tatters and is only on trial and error errand,” said Mr Aden Duale, the Leader of Majority in the National Assembly.

EXTORTION

Deputy President-elect William Ruto has equally weighed in on the boycott call.

In a series of tweets on Friday, Mr Ruto accused Nasa of hiding behind the boycott of products threat to execute an extortion scheme: “We urge all companies to continue to partner with Kenyans, pay taxes only to the Kenya Revenue Authority and reject the extortion scheme-styled boycott.”     

But a member of Nasa’s think-tank, Dr Adams Oloo, explains the ongoing activities are designed to realise fresh democratic presidential elections. The political scientist says

Nasa’s moves are anchored in Article 1 of the Constitution which states that the sovereignty of a country belongs to the people, who can exercise it directly or indirectly.

“In a situation where large sections of Kenyans feel left out in a critical exercise such as a presidential election, then the affected people have a constitutional right to fall back on Article 1 and say they have an alternative choice,” argues Dr Oloo.

Except for the secession plot, which ODM director of elections Junet Mohamed says has not been discussed, the Suna East MP concedes that the current activities are co-ordinated and sanctioned by the Opposition.

SERIOUS MATTER

“It is a reaction of people in different parts of the country who feel their will has been subverted by the government of the day. And this is a very serious matter considering that this is the very first time in Kenya’s history for the people to be excluded in an important exercise such as election of their President,” says Mr Mohamed.

On Friday, opposition leaders from the coastal region resolved to push for secession in protest at President Kenyatta’s re-election.

Led by Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and his Kilifi counterpart Amason Kingi, the politicians affirmed they had started talks to ensure the break-away from Kenya succeeds.

They vowed to use all legal means at their disposal, locally and internationally, to achieve their ambition.

The secession development unravelled on the same day the parliamentary wing of the National Resistance Movement officially launched a boycott of products from companies it claimed were supporting Jubilee.

The legislators listed Safaricom, Bidco and Brookside as some of the firms whose products and services their supporters should boycott. The MPs are “resisting” products of these companies because they are allegedly beneficiaries of “the regime that has killed our people” in the recent electioneering mayhem.

COALITION

Only a day earlier, Mr Odinga held a meeting with Nasa friendly governors in a move geared at laying the ground for the establishment of the proposed People’s Assembly.

According to Mr Odinga, the People’s Assembly is the vehicle through which the coalition will exercise the “solemn duty of restoring democracy, constitutionalism and the rule of law”.

The duties and operations of the National Assembly and the Senate are stipulated in Article 95 of the Constitution and Dr Oloo opines that the notion of a People’s Parliament opens up the horizon for a wider participation of the citizenry.

Separately, the move by Mr Joho and Mr Kingi may just be a curtain raiser to a series of similar moves by the Opposition.

The Sunday Nation has reliably established from multiple sources within Nasa that a big announcement from Nyanza and Western Kenya region politicians is in the offing. Our sources hint at a similar secession demand.    

RIGGED

Indeed talk of secession is not new. It has been on the lips of Nasa leaders and their supporters for some time now and only peaked after the August poll, which the Nasa fraternity believes was rigged in favour of the Jubilee leadership.

In addressing what they regard as subversion of the people’s will, economics lecturer at the University of Nairobi, Dr David Ndii, has suggested that the country be divided into two states.

Dr Ndii, who is also head of Nasa’s technical team, has previously explained that the move by Nasa is persuaded by endless frustrations owing to denial of justice through successive “sham elections”.

Dr Oloo says that if the people of the coastal region and their leaders feel they are not democratically and ably represented at the national level, then it is within their right to push for secession. According to the Constitution, it is the people who delegate power to the State and, therefore “what you delegate, you can take back”.

LEADERSHIP

The hair-raising activities of Nasa notwithstanding, Mr Duale claims the Opposition outfit remains “confused and leaderless”: “This scenario is evident even in the National Assembly and Senate where to date they are yet to identify parliamentary leadership.

The rank and file within Nasa must now close shop or get new leadership because the current team has failed to deliver.”

But an irked Junet Mohamed equates Mr Duale and his colleagues in Jubilee to people who are locked in a dark room without ventilation: “They can downplay our move as they wish, but when they finally get out of their room of ignorance or denial, that is when they will see the light of what Kenyans really want.”

Regarding the boycott, the Orange party’s secretary for political affairs, Mr Opiyo Wandayi, considers it a success story already: “This is a long term measure and there is no specific time frame for its conclusion.

The ultimate goal is to send a clear message to businesses that meddle in politics by funding the reactionary forces and aiding subversion of our democracy”.
DESIGNED TO LOSE
Nasa’s current hard position is a product of the realisation that they were reportedly designed not to win the polls – in August and even last month’s repeat poll.

According to Nasa’s CEO, Norman Magaya, Jubilee with the help of some officials within the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) executed the rigging of the August polls.

And following the shocking annulment of the said polls, Jubilee went ahead to seal all loopholes pointed out by the Supreme Court by making amendments to the Elections Act, which Mr Magaya describes as “watered down and mischievous”.

The move in itself was according to Nasa a trap for its leadership, and coupled with the failure by IEBC to attend to most of their “irreducible minimum” demands, Mr Odinga and his running mate, Kalonzo Musyoka, opted out of the repeat poll.

And although Mr Kenyatta has since defended himself that he declined to sign into law the “offending” legislation in order to create a level-playing field for the repeat poll, he never made such a decision known to Kenyans. In fact he promised the exact opposite – to immediately sign the bill into law.

Nasa views the surrounding secrecy over the said amendment Bill as Jubilee’s secret weapon. In fact, Mr Magaya suggests that had Mr Odinga proceeded with the race, Mr

Kenyatta would have signed the bill into law. But, even by not signing the same, the Bill has naturally come into force.