You have failed, Cord leaders told

The Cord coalition has been accused of failing in its role of checking the Jubilee administration.

The criticism came from analysts Peter Kagwanja and Larry Gumbe.

Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar Hassan and former MP Gitobu Imanyara echoed the sentiments, saying Cord had failed in its watchdog role.

However, Deputy Minority Leader in the National Assembly Jakoyo Midiwo attributed the lacklustre performance to the failures of the Jubilee Government, stating Cord had no role to play.

Crisis of vision

Prof Kagwanja, the Africa Policy Institute boss, linked the crisis in the opposition to the absence of Cord leaders Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka from Parliament, arguing they cannot check the government effectively from outside.

“They are in disarray and have not really conceptualised what their real task is in the current dispensation. They are suffering from a crisis of vision, a crisis of programme and a crisis of leadership,” he said of the opposition, a day after President Kenyatta and his deputy, Mr William Ruto, marked one year since their inauguration on April 9, last year.

“Ideally, Agwambo (Odinga) and Kalonzo should have been in Parliament to provide the requisite leadership but they are out. You cannot drive a bus from outside.”

Prof Kagwanja argued that Cord lacked structures, the drive and organisation to propel the opposition to play their role of challenging, checking and auditing the government excesses.

This, he said, was because Cord leadership never imagined losing in the last elections.

“The opposition as currently constituted, had no idea that they will be in the opposition. They have established structures which will have enabled them to take on the government on issues like the wage bill. You don’t have an office for Cord. What is there is Orange House which is for ODM,” he said.

Prof Gumbe, who works for ODM, stated that the opposition had failed to question, robustly, the policies and actions of the Jubilee Government.

Excuse for poor show

Citing the ongoing debate on the public sector wage bill, he argued that the opposition should have proposed ways of solving it and at the same time faulted the contribution of the government to the problem.

Former MP Gitobu Imanyara described the opposition as a disappointment to Kenyans.

He accused its leadership in the Senate and National Assembly of failing their supporters.

Mr Imanyara said the absence of Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka from Parliament should not be used as an excuse for the poor show by the opposition.