STATEMENT BY ODM MPS-ELECT ON JUBILEE’S CHOICE TO DISCREDIT THE NASA CASE.
JUBILEE MUST PREPARE FOR RESISTANCE:
Ever since Kenyans went to the polls and got their votes stolen by Jubilee Party two weeks ago, the Jubilee leadership has gone on an over drive trying to convince the people that the contest was merely between Uhuru Kenyatta and our candidate Hon Raila Odinga and the people had and continue to have no role in it.
Jubilee has not only intensified this narrative since we moved to the Supreme Court to challenge the declaration of Uhuru as the winner but has also gone ahead to prosecute our case in public despite the fact that the case has been properly filed in court. They want to intimidate the Judiciary and the people at one go.
It has accompanied these narratives with the most vicious crackdown ever seen in recent years on civil society organizations.
Because of these developments, we wish to make the following declarations to Jubilee and to our supporters.
First, all indications are that this regime, if allowed to get away with the electoral theft, is going to be worse than anyone could have feared.
But Jubilee must make no mistake. It is going to be resisted more widely and strongly than it imagines. In fact, that resistance begins today.
On Thursday, we will assemble here at Orange House to pray for justice and an end to the culture of electoral theft that is taking roots in our country. Our supporters elsewhere outside Nairobi are encouraged to equally assemble and offer prayers for justice wherever they are.
Secondly, we wish to make it clear that what was stolen and trashed was not Raila’s victory or votes. It is the people’s votes and the people’s victory. Jubilee and Uhuru Kenyatta must know this is a battle between candidate Uhuru and the people of Kenya, not between Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga. Our people have a legitimate role to stand up and demand that their votes count and their victory be restored. As leaders, we will stand with our people in this legitimate quest. That solidarity begins today and will continue until justice is done.
Jubilee is trying to use shock-and-awe tactics to panel beat the country into silence and reduce voters into mere bystanders in a struggle that is truly theirs. Jubilee is casting a wide net of surveillance not only on whistleblowers, activists, and dissenters but also on citizens who decided to be guardians of democracy. That is the signal being sent with the brazen attacks on civil society organizations and clamping on people’s rights to assemble, to express themselves and to protest.
Jubilee is also trying to bully the Judiciary by passing judgment on a case properly before the courts. That is what they are trying to do by passing illiterate and panicky judgment on a case that is yet to begin.
This pattern, if allowed to continue unabated, will lead to the destruction of our Constitution as well as our democracy.
We ask Jubilee to set our courts free and stop the intimidation of judges. But we also remind Jubilee that this battle is far from over. It has barely started. It can intimidate the courts. But Jubilee will not intimidate the people.
The streets may be quiet now. But Jubilee must not misread this. It is a deceptive calm. The issues behind the revolt against Jubilee during campaigns and at the polls, like unemployment, impunity and corruption have not been addressed. They have only been magnified by this brazen robbery.
We will resist and we are asking our people to be prepared to resist and that process begins today.
Thank you and God Bless Kenya.
- 22/08/2017
