How the ODM presidential hopefuls 'answered' quiz

Story by MACHARIA GAITHO
Publication Date: 2007/05/22

THOSE RUNNING, OR pretending to run, on an ODM-Kenya presidential ticket are having to return application forms with answers to a very interesting quiz.

I suspect the quiz was designed by an enemy of the party. For if the aspirants were to be rated on how they have answered the questions, then the whole lot and caboodle of them will be disqualified.

The questionnaire has a lot of trick questions, designed to catch all the applicants off-guard. Some of them have expressed fear that the questionnaire is designed to favour one candidate. They have also wondered whether being allowed to vie for the nomination will hinge on how satisfactorily they have responded to the queries.

And, as is well known, they are concerned about how the questionnaire will be assessed and by whom, all linked again, to the fears, that the party secretariat and the so-called Council of Elders are organs serving one candidate who has virtually declared victory.

One item that really irks them is where they are supposed to outline the role they played in the fight for the second liberation. But what they are not seeing is that the questionnaire is not just about the second liberation, but also about germane issues such as commitment to democracy and human rights.

I repeat, below, some of the questions in the quiz and how I imagine they have been answered:

Provide evidence of your performance promoting democracy, human rights, people’s rights and the Second Liberation.

RAILA ODINGA: I was in at the very beginning when my rivals were still learning to walk. The 1982 military coup attempt speaks for itself.

KALONZO MUSYOKA: I faithfully served the Moi regime in resisting attempts to subvert democracy .

UHURU KENYATTA: I learnt to respect democracy under the feet of the Father of the Nation, and his successor.

WILLIAM RUTO: I was still in school when all these things were happening. And when I came of age, I democratised Kanu from within.

MUSALIA MUDAVADI: I faithfully served the Moi regime in resisting attempts to subvert democracy.

Have you ever been convicted in a court of law on a criminal offence?

RAILA: No. My 1983 treason case was withdrawn. But I hold the record for the longest stints in detention without trial.

KALONZO: No. But that little matter of the 1991 High Court finding that a land case my law firm was involved in amounted to fraud was dredged out of old files by Mr Odinga’s dirty tricks campaign squad.

UHURU: No. And all the land my family holds was legitimately acquired. We have been accused, but never convicted, of land-grabbing.

RUTO: No. The court case I am presently facing is politically motivated. So are all those unfounded allegations in the Ndung’u report.

MUSALIA: No. I was Finance minister during part of the Goldenberg scandal, but I was not personally culpable. I have been cleared by the courts.

Have you ever been declared bankrupt?

RAILA: Me? the owner of a Sh40 million Hummer and the Kisumu Molasses plant?

KALONZO: No. I served in the Moi Cabinet from the mid-1980s.

UHURU: Bankrupt? The son of Jomo?

RUTO: No. I was in YK ’92.

MUSALIA: No. I was Moi’s Finance minister.

Would you describe yourself as a corruption free leader committed to achieving a corruption free Kenya?

RAILA : Pass

KALONZO : Pass

UHURU: Pass

RUTO: Pass

MUSALIA : Pass

President Kibaki was at his “home” golf club at the weekend, and duly directed that all sports and recreational facilities which had fallen victim to the land-grabbing mania be repossessed and put back to their proper use.

Perhaps he might find time to pay attention to a small playground in Nairobi West. Many years ago, the field — complete with swings, monkey climbs, merry-go-rounds and the like — was grabbed by an influential City Council boss and fenced off.

Local MP Raila Odinga came around and led a large group of residents in pulling down the fence and taking back possession of the playground.

But the children of Nairobi West were to enjoy the facility for only a short time after that. Police, acting with unusual resolve, scanned television and newspapers images to identify those responsible for taking back the grabbed property. A number of residents were swiftly arrested and hauled before a magistrate to answer to all manner of criminal charges.

In the meantime, the land-grabber got the reprieve needed to erect a stronger fence and position a group of thugs in readiness for any further invasion. Mr Odinga moved on to bigger things.

The grabbed playground remains behind an imposing stone wall, and nobody at City Hall wants to hear about giving it back to the children of Nairobi West.

Perhaps they can now act on the presidential directive.