Kalonzo: My bid is a call for a Kenyan renaissance

NAIROBI: Exactly one year to elections, our country will go to the polls to elect the fifth President of the Republic of Kenya.

By now, most Kenyans know that I will be launching my bid for the presidency on a date to be announced soon.

Kenya is on a precipice. It is teetering on the brink of collapse. Massive corruption, unbridled tribal balkanisation and negative ethnicity hover on the nation like the proverbial sword of Damocles.

Hence, I am offering myself as the new hope; the new dream of a Kenyan renaissance. I will purposefully aim at restoring the trust of the Kenyan people on leaders and institutions.

This trust has been lost following decades of politics of betrayal and selfishness that gave birth to massive corruption, political wheeler-dealing and tribal bigotry.

A nation that thrives on the dictum "every man for himself and God for us all" cannot prosper.

Kenya's massive socio-economic and moral decline in the past few years has been as a result of a leadership that abhors good governance.

So entrenched is corruption and its sister, tribalism, such that what we have been witnessing is a situation where people from one or two ethnic communities are the only ones being considered for appointments in top State jobs.

If left unchecked, this trend could greatly compromise the public service. My leadership will aim at enhancing inter-ethnic harmony and burying deep-seated suspicions among leaders and ordinary Kenyans.

As a nationalist, from the bottom of my heart, I believe that every Kenyan deserves an equal chance in life. However, before launching my bid, I will subject myself to the nomination process within the CORD family.

Therefore, I urge Kenyans to trust us with the job of leading this country to prosperity. We are the new dream for Kenya. Our utmost attention will, therefore, be focused on national integration.

Our rallying call will be, "Let us start afresh and move together as one people, one country; and one nation."

We will strive to be true servant leaders who embrace and encourage all Kenyans to live together as brothers and sisters.

In this regard, we will lead from the front. It may be difficult to change the national psyche against the vices that have bedevilled our country for a long time.

But it can be done.

We will aim at promoting politics of service for all, not of personal aggrandisement and grandiose or primitive accumulation of wealth by instituting drastic socio-economic reforms aimed at promoting good governance, gender parity, social democracy and a decisive fight against the scourge of poverty.

Kenya's position within the community of nations will be one of honour and demonstrable leadership, as the country moves towards realising Vision 2030, which the Jubilee administration has failed to spearhead.

In this regard, under our leadership, Kenya will aim at realising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and will strengthen national and regional peace.

We will enhance the culture of constitutionalism and deepen the meaning of the rule of law as envisioned under our 2010 Constitution.

The need to realise the letter and spirit of the Constitution will be paramount.

A major plank is that of devolution, which we will strengthen in order to ensure equal distribution of national wealth and opportunities.

In conclusion, the third and final liberation of our country is in the offing and I must remind Kenyans to keep HOPE ALIVE.

 The writer, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, is the Wiper Party leader and a co-principal in CORD