Kofi Annan came for three days and scheduledmeeting after meeting with the key players of his negotiated agreementto discuss the progress of the National Accord implementationprogramme. He did not however meet the Kenyan public who are the raison d'être of his negotiated Agreement.

He did not meet with any of the Victims of the Post Election Violence

He did not visit any IDP Camp

He did not meet with any of the Voters fromShinyalu and Bomachoge, the only Kenyans who currently have voterscards, to ask them what kind of elections were conducted by the InterimIndependent Electoral Commission on August 27^th 2009.

He did not visit any Police cell or prison

He did not leave the Serena Hotel except to visit Kibaki, Odinga, Moi and Marende.

Instead he met the heads of the Institutionsthat have been created by the Grand Coalition Government; self selected‘stakeholders' and his own secretariat. More or les the same people hemet in Geneva six months ago when he started talking about the windowof opportunity for the National Accord reforms closing. In March 2009 in Geneva Kofi Annan had the following to say

"It isnot too late for Kenya's political leadership to lead. Statesmanlikedetermination to work together to support, if not initiate, actions toimplement the recommendations of the Waki and Kriegler Commissions andsome of the ideas emerging from this consultation could have adramatic, positive effect. But at a time when there is a growingskepticism about the behaviour and motives of the ruling elite, thewindow of opportunity is closing. Time is running out. There is a needto move beyond criticisms and playing blame games. Every element ofKenyan society has a role to play in taking the country forward andKenyans should take individual responsibility to contribute to thisprocess. You can be sure that the Panel remains ready to assist inevery way and I have no doubt that the international community willcontinue to support you."

So 6 months later, and without any reference to the Implementation Matrix of July 30^th 2008, Kofi Annan's Verdict after 17 months of the existence of the Grand Coalition Government is: there has been progress. It's up to the Kenyan Public to put pressure on their Government and Donors should pick up the tab.

Agenda 4 reforms can be foundin the Implementation Matrix of the Long term issues. Here theGovernment has demonstrated that the Grand Coalition Government isunable, and incapable of dealing with Agenda 4. The Agenda 4 issuesrequire resources for which the Government has made no provisions for.The truth is that there will be no Agenda 4 reforms as there is nomoney for it. A government that fails at the very minimum to plancannot be given the responsibility of implementing reforms. We need asKenyans to be candid and accept our fate. We restate our position thatthe Grand Coalition Government has reached its sell by date.

Kofi Annan did not bother to restate thetimelines of the implementation matrix of the National Accord - themandate rules of the Grand Coalition Government that gave Kenyans abench mark to measure the success of the Grand Coalition Government inimplementing the reforms.

In telling Kenyans to push their GovernmentKofi Annan failed to tell Kenyans how they were to go about this sincethere is no democratic space to even don t-shirts in protest. Lettersare issued by the Police barring citizens from freedom of protest andexpression.

Kofi also asked donors to pay for the follyof the Grand Coalition Government without asking the same Government toprovide resources for the Implementation of reforms. As he was makingthis request the Grand Coalition Government was issuing cheques forhundreds of brand new cars and the IDP's were sleeping in the cold.

Reports by the BBC that Kenyans wererearming were dismissed by Kofi Annan as rumours and mere criminality -rather than clear evidence of impunity requiring immediate action;rather than the harbinger of crimes against humanity being planned inthe Rift Valley.

Apart from that, why did Kofi Annan disappoint?

Kofi Annan set very low standards forKenyans. Just because Kenya is a not a first world country, does notmean that we do not understand Democracy and the Rule of Law. It doesnot mean that we want standards lower than the rest of the World. Wewant to be clear his reform window of opportunity analogy has wornthin, and is now meaningless.

Wewish to point out three weaknesses with the way the reform process isgoing on in Kenya today and then point out 5 practical things thatshould be pursued to change the direction and pace of reform in order to attract;

Problem analysis

Duringthe KNDAR mediation, the National Civil Society Congress proposed tothe Kofi Annan Mediation Panel and the Kenya National Dialogue andReconciliation Committee that the best solution to the post electioncrisis was a transitional government for only two years but this wasturned into a five year transitional period. This effectively removedthe pressure points and incentives for the political class to undertakethe reforms stated in the final National Accord Agenda. In fact thepolitical class in Kenya thinks that Kenyans lost their right to electa clean, lean, effective, accountable and responsive government (CLEAR government).Kenyans have overwhelmingly called for a fresh election because nearly74% of Kenyans according to an April 2009 Steadman Opinion Poll, do notapprove of the performance of this coalition government.

KofiAnnan understands that by accepting the role of mediator he effectivelybecame a servant of the people of Kenya seconded to Kenyans by theAfrican Union. But he seems to tread too carefully inadvocating for the people of Kenya before the political leaders he hadof necessity to deal with. He accepts at face value what Kenyans have seen through as delay tactics or even outright lies. Duringyesterday's press conference he refused to castigate the Government forissuing false statements to the effect that 90% of the reform agendahad been accomplished. And yet every presentation to him indicated that the situation was extremely desperate and dire. Speaking the truth to our Government is what we expect from Kofi Annan. Thishe may very well have done behind closed doors, but yesterday he missedan opportunity to show his empathy for the victims of this Government'smisconduct and mismanagement. We foresee this as astrategic error in his mediation mission and fear yesterday's pressconference will diminish his respect in the eyes of Kenyans should Godforbid things fall apart in Kenya.

So we addresses Kofi Annan as Kenyans he chose to serve and wish to outline that this Coalition government firstly:

a) Is NOT Clean;Your Excellency we have evidence to show that more than 60% of ourcabinet consists of Ministers who have been involved in corruption,misuse of office and of individuals who have been involved in theviolation of the rights of Kenyans or condoned the same. It is Publicknowledge that some cabinet ministers are suspects who might havecommitted crimes against humanity earning the infamous distinction ofbeing in the Waki envelope. This does not tell us of a cleangovernment. Parliament has been used as forum for dealing where hugebribes are offered to obtain votes. The Judiciary is known to becorrupt. Where are the reformers that will drive the reform Agenda thenif we do not turn to the people?

b) It is NOT Lean-such a bloated cabinet and government that remain highly wasteful.Wastage of public funds and resources has given profligacy a new face.Yet as expected, large government is always non effective because youcan not coordinate 93 ministers and assistant ministers that are seento be ODM and PNU ministries effectively.

c) It is NOT Effective-Kenyans are starving and dying all over the nation. There is no policycoherence. The much rumored about harmonized PNU-ODM Manifesto hasnever been published so the people of Kenya simply do not know what thepolicies of this government are. The 5 year Development plan based onthe vision 2030 does not seem to be followed by any one in government.

d) It is NOT Accountable-corruption has just risen and no one seems to face punishment for thecorruption that is all over the country from the local councils,parastatals, in ministries or at State House.

e) It is NOT Responsive- impunity remains intact. Kenyans are being killed by the police; TheNational Accord from Agenda 1 to 4 has been handled so badly. That samegovernment is using our taxes to do propaganda about reforms.

The Partnership for Changepublished a technical assessment on the delivery so far on the wholeNational Accord Agreement from Agenda 1 to 4 and we found that far fromthe propaganda doing rounds and held as the truth in governmentcircles, the National Accord Agreements, which are Law in Kenya are notbeing implemented.

Secondly Sir,Last Year during the negotiations, the National Civil Society Congressand the Vital Voices called for a 21-member National AccordImplementation Oversight mechanism to over see the signed NationalAccord Agreement. The oversight Body would be necessary to ensure thatthe reform process can and shall be owned by the widest cross sectionof Kenyans and not by the two principals and the parties in government.This was not granted.

Weare very frustrated that the politicians are basically in charge ofholding themselves to account. Even progress reports from outsidegovernment do not have any impact on the catalyst and facilitative roleyou are playing to promote implementation of the National Accord. The Partnership for change wrote to you a letter in February 21, 2009 but we have never received a reply from your office Sir.

Thirdly,Clearly the government is not interested in implementing the Nationalaccord in accordance with the wishes and demands of the people of Kenyabut according to the wishes of the cabinet and PNU and ODM. Wetherefore in Principle, find it a serious miscarriage of the people'sright to democratic participation in processes concerning them when wedo not strong citizens participation in the implementation of theNational Accord.

As Kenyans we propose the following five concrete steps to Implementing Reforms

1. The immediate establishment of a 21 memberNational Accord Implementation oversight Committee to work with thePanel of eminent Africans to ensure the systematic assessment andoversight. We will need a carefully selected Committee of serious andindependent-minded Kenyans who represent the widest cross section ofthe Kenyan nation to sit on the Oversight Committee.

2. That a clear road map be outlined by thisOversight Committee. This is the road map that shall offer clearstandards and benchmarks against which the government and all NationalAccord Implementation bodies and agencies shall be held to account.Right now we are groping in a discretionary Assessment environment.Kenya has since the pre- independence struggle fought fordemocratization using universal standards as first enshrined in the UNDeclaration of Human Rights and the later International Covenant onCivil and Political Rights. This is how we have been advancing our democracy. KofiAnnan is too easy on those violating the peoples' rights. Now is thetime that the standards have been lowered below what can be acceptableto the people of Kenya.

3. That Kofi Annan's office immediately releasesa provisional progress report on the progress. It must be a report thatenjoys the greatest input from the agencies that are working on thereform agenda and not government. It must be current to October 2009 -the South report is now out of date. Finally, Government cannot be a referee in its own assignment.

4. We propose that the International Communitydelivers to the government our clear message that the National Budgetas currently partially passed by the National Assembly clearly showsgovernment is not interested in implementing the National Accord. ThePartnership for Change has completed a detailed analysis of theNational Budget- the most elaborate government policy tool- and we havefound out that government is not putting the money where it is required- rather spending is actually away from the National Accord reformpriorities. For example the Government Spokesman's advertising budgetis larger than the individual allocations to the Truth Commission andthe Witness Protection programme. We want government to review itsspending priorities to reflect the National Accord priorities - theAppropriation Bill pending before Parliament should be amended toreflect a new focus as implied by Kofi Annan's final statement. Thewindow of opportunity for the political elite to continue to perpetratea fraud on the public by retaining status quo under the guise of lackof resources for implementing the National Accord should be slammedshut now.

5. Lastly, Kenyans are concerned that the voicesof the women and the youth of Kenya have become even furthermarginalized under the Grand Coalition than ever before. Kenyans do notwant to be spectators in the governance of their country. These twoconstituencies represent the vast majority of the livelihood interestsof Kenyans. We call for the immediate structural and policy steps toimprove the playground for the youth, women of Kenya and the people ofKenya generally. This includes for example the passage of a budget thatimplements a 60% developmental and 40% recurrent expenditure policy.This will release resources for reforms will benefit the youth andwomen of Kenya first.

We also recommend that, as thereligious leadership and we the Partnership for Change have saidbefore, to ensure that the National Accord is implemented to save ournation from a fresh round of conflict, the Interim IndependentElectoral Commission should be empowered to immediately register allKenyans as voters to vote in the referendum but also to vote for aCLEAR government as soon as possible before 2012. We are keen to cutshort the suffering of Kenyans who may be asking themselves: why did Kofi Annan actually come to Kenya and what does he plan for us on his next visit? Hopefully,not another indefinite lease of life to this non-performing GrandCoalition Government OR more talk of reform windows of opportunityclosing. Truth is you lose a day every day that we do not implementreforms and no one can predict the exact date the reform window slamsshut in our faces. That was a disappointing visit but since it is ourcountry it is truly only our responsibility as responsible citizens.

Issued at Nairobi Thursday 8, October 2009

MARS GROUP KENYA

NCEC

From dictatorial impunity to democratic accountability in Kenya, Mars Group Kenya is a leadership, governance and accountability web portal for Kenya since 2006.  Visit their website for more resources and articles.

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