HON.ABABU NAMWAMBA'S SPEECH DURING THE 18TH CELEBRATION OF LABOUR PARTY OF KENYA.
My fellow Kenyans;
I love this Land, every grain of sand, every blade of grass. What’s not to love? Everywhere we turn, we see its endless possibilities!
We gather here today, pregnant with expectation, expectations for a better Kenya, for our workers, our youth, for our women. A better Kenya for every single Kenyan.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to see each one of you here today.
That ours is a nation with a rich history is well documented. I thank those who came before us, heroes of the second liberation; Jaramogi, Masinde, Shikuku, Rubia, Matiba. Patriotic Kenyans who stood tall and fought for our right to chart new paths for our people. The fight for democracy. We will remain faithful to the ideals of these forerunners. These are the ideals we’re building on today. This is true democracy in action.
I am regular Kenyan guy. I was born in Jinja, Uganda to average Kenyan parents, immigrants in our western neighbour in pursuit of better opportunities. I grew up in the small beautiful picturesque beach town of Port Victoria. My high school education was financed by The Jomo Kenyatta Foundation. I studied law at the University of Nairobi. And tasted the American dream of opportunity with a Fulbright scholarship that took me to Washington, DC for my postgraduate studies in international law.
I am a child of the world. A product of doors of opportunity. A spirit best exemplified in the philanthropic work of my family charity, The Ababu Namwamba Foundation. Today in our midst are countless Kenyans who have travelled a journey similar to mine. Like our Secretary for International Affairs, the irrepressible daughter of the world, Lucy Nyoroka Mworia from Isiolo. Am also humbled to see products of Ababu Namwamba Foundation who are now building our nation. Like.....
Fellow Kenyans, today i re-introduce to you,The Labour Party.
The Labour Party has special pedigree. 18 years of existence with clear, lucid ideological identity of social democracy with special attention on interests of workers. From the elite Attorney in Nairobi to the flower worker in Naivasha, to the security guards and the nurse, they are all at home in Labour.
This is the Party that will generate policy and legislative proposals to promote equity in pay and just, fair value for every ounce of labour rendered. It will be no easy task in our man-eat-man society,--(but who are we?)--- We are up to the challenge.
My bill to equalize the public pay structure has been frozen in bunge for a year now. The Salary and Remuneration Commission has been held hostage. This is unacceptable. We are taking a vow. A vow to become labourers. To labour for the downtrodden Kenyan. To labour to lift the Motherland to glory. Create jobs. Real jobs, not stories. Create wealth. Not a handful of filthy wealthy amidst a sea of indigent struggling in poverty and miserable want. Make work a dignified endeavour as God intended.
Bishop Qampicha Daniel Wario recently shared something very profound on social media called the battle of significance. He explains it that The first evidence that you are in assignment is the Battle that you attract. When David killed Goliath, Saul was after him. When Jesus launched ministry, the Pharisees and Sadducees were after him. When Jeremiah prophesied, Pashur was after him.
Every man under assignment will fight three battles. 1.Accusations 2.Frustrations 3.Inner circle battle The secret of victory is to continue in assignment. Dogs never bark at parked cars. Pirates never capture empty vessels. A tree with fruits attract stone throwers... Just remember when the devil cannot fight you, he fights what is around you or uses the people around you to fight you. Don't forget a cow that feeds a whole village is always quiet but a hen that lays one egg makes the most noise. Silence is the greatest weapon in battles of significance.
This needs to be our take home for us today not to relent in our quest.
The Labour party is no ordinary party. We will lobby for strengthening of transport systems in our Country. This is the only way the traders from Timau will form a co-operative and transport their French beans to Nairobi for export and eliminate the exploitive brokers, It is the only way traders will not have to wait for days for their products from the port of Mombasa to hit the markets. Bananas from Kisii do not have to get to Mombasa ripe!
We will advocate for partnerships with relevant stakeholders to address our nation’s challenges of industrialization. Insist on better deals for our workers, dignified retirement terms and demand for high standard investment agreements that will help level the playing field for our Kenyan Companies. Better wages for our people is good for our country!
The Labour Party is an issue based Party. It is a party bigger than the individuals in it. We must move away from parties built on personality cults to parties anchored on institutional identity defined by clear policies. We need to escape from downward mentalities that insist on conditioning our people that, Without Raila there is no ODM, that without Uhuru and Ruto, there is no Jubilee.
KANU disappeared with Moi. Jaramogi and Wamalwa existed with Ford Kenya as did Matiba with Ford Asili.
Let us be objective and compare that with Western democracies such as Labour and Tories in the United Kingdom, Democrats and Grand Old Party in the United States of America, or closer home and analyze Chama Cha Mapinduzi which outgrew Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and continues to grow from strength to strength. Or African National Congress that has outlived Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and the incomparable Nelson Mandela, continuing to bestride the South African political scene like a colossus.
For a political party to serve better it doesn’t have to swallow other parties for the illusion of growing bigger, It only needs to grow a bigger vision and better ideas. You never see the CCM devouring CHADEMA, or ANC attempting to swallow the Democratic Alliance. They simply dominate by superior ideology. Not through illusions of grandeur and size.
We in the Labour party are offering a Kenya where, no matter who the President is; all Kenyans will be invited to share in the succulent meat their political affiliations notwithstanding. A Kenya where leaders are honest and do not have to sink to the level of lying in the name of the dead to score momentary cheap political points.
I say why not people?
On this day, we decide, as fearless warriors of this great Nation, to choose optimism over skepticism, courage over cowardice and most of all unity of purpose over discord and tribalism.
When we took the bold step to vacate our comfort zones, to chart our own political cause, we were ridiculed, profiled and branded all sorts of epithets. SOME even imagined they had buried us, but as the Mexicans would tell you, they forgot we were seeds! Try burying us and we simply germinate and blossom into a colossal shade of real transformation. A transformation devoid of the false hope, political jingoisim and ethnic hatred that has defined our politics for decades.
But we have taken it all in stride—and with a chuckle, drawing great inspiration from this age old truism: that first they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Then they fight you. Then you win!
And just like in the book, The River and the Source, the great river starts its journey as a little stream which at first meanders around without any apparent direction, sometimes disappearing underground altogether, but always there, always moving towards the sea.
We are winners. We shall triumph. We declare victory to all honest hard working Kenyans who have toiled, moiled and laboured in vain for decades.
When courting a suitor, you do not rush. You take your time to know her. To be sure she is the absolute best. We have taken our time, three months to be exact, and ended up with the best there is. And that is why I fully ascribe to the Labour Party. Because I believe in its direction and more so it’s inclusivity. It is the party that will stand firm and push for issues that have long been swept under the rug.
I am talking about Tourism. When people sit to talk, paradigms shift, Why can’t stakeholders in this industry come up with tangible solutions to rebuild our Kenya as a tourist destination? We have many creative young people who can help rebrand our Country back to the days when Nairobi was referred to as the City in the Sun and Zanzibar didn’t hold a candle to Mombasa. Aggressive marketing in new frontiers, Europe, Asia, South America. These are workable plans that need to be put into action! Use our labour to build our Labour!
I am talking about the health sector, just a few months ago…infact four months ago, we laid to rest a man in my village who was hit by a car next to the hospital but could not access blood transfusion services even after being transferred to the country referall hospital in Busia!Let’s think about the spike in marternal mortality we are currently witnessing in our country, can we even stop and think about the brain drain? Our nurses seeking greener pastures in the UK or even in Botswana. Why? Our collective inability to meet such challenges..….president after president…..government after government has brought us to this breaking point! This is our elastic limit!
Let me tell you, I met a young girl in Turkana – Asekon, Asekon is between six to eight years old and happens to be a beneficiary of the Free Primary Education, but Asekon’s learning environment is not conducive. Their classrooms are in deplorable state, lack of reading and writing materials, furniture, among other requirements that would make learning worth it are lacking. This situation is replicated in many other villages across the country. While the rest of the world is surging with modern technology, a large number of Kenyan children are still taught using primitive, old teaching models. Kenya needs to leapfrog old technologies into modern learning. We need to start making choices that will determine a bright future for children like Asekon.
Great people of our motherland, we will, we shall and we must do this. We must reclaim our land and relaunch it afresh. And our inspiration. The fuel that shall power our vessel on this exciting national odyssey shall be the WHY NOT spirit. We shall abandon WHY and ride on
WHY NOT!
And so, I ask you, great people of our motherland………………………., Can we really reclaim our land and detox it of all the poison of ethnic hatred, tribal profiling and all negative jingoism
WHYNOT! Is another Kenya, a different Kenya, and a Kenya of equal opportunity for all possible?
While acknowledging the tremendous progress that Kenya has made, we must admit that most of these gains stand on shaky ground. It is depressing that according UNICEF, 42% of our country’s population still lives below the poverty line-This is heartbreaking. It is wrong. We need to fix these systems so they can start working and we begin seeing a downward trend on these figures. That clean drinking water is still an issue 53 years after independence is a sad state of affairs. Isn’t that an assault to human dignity? Isn’t it time to have a government that focuses on core issues like food security, public health, quality education and affirmative action? Isn’t it time for the LABOUR PARTY?
For a beautiful new plant to sprout, something has to give way. We must abandon the poisoned past behind us. Like the early American immigrants who left all the bad manners of a disturbed Europe behind them, and forged a beautiful new land of equal opportunity for all, we must resolve to abandon all the bad manners that have defined our politics for the last six decades.
We are the epitome of valour. Only the brave dare hold the pen of history. Cowards never write history. Not even footnotes record their pitiful existence. We love this land! This is our land!
Brothers and sisters there’s a story that is told in a song that is very dear to me, I feel like it tells my story and I know that it tells your story too.
Nana Mouskouri in her song “Nickles and Dimes” says:
I used to stand on the corner when I was a child And I would play my guitar and sing as the people went by The sidewalks were crowded, but I'd just sing louder 'Cause I didn't mind Spending my time spending my rhymes And singing for nickels and dimes
Nickels and dimes A song at a time For nickels and dimes I'd brighten their day as they'd go on their way As they'd brighten mine A sidewalk rehearsal for dreams that I held in my mind I knew that some day, in my own special way I'd repay all their nickels and dimes
I recall the sidewalks each night as I stand on the stage As I play my guitar and sing for the people who pay 'Cause finally I made it to what they all call the big time But I still remember I still owe some nickels and dimes
Bottom-line my dear friends, is that all of us started somewhere---started small---and eventually made it big. And if we ain’t there yet, we’re headed there. We’re on the right track.
I remember the French Emperor/General Napoleon Bonaparte said that victory is won in INCHES not MILES. You capture one inch, cling onto that, and move one to the next. Before you know it, you are staring at massive captured territory! Stealthily, below the radar, we shall conquer! That is us, we will stealthily rise and we will conquer!
Today, in this room, I urge you to reject those naysayers and begin to interact with us - - us who have different beliefs that will bring changes in this country.
The Labour Party is the voice for the frustrated Kenyan that are domiciled in all corners of this great nation.
I urge you today, to join the Labour Party of Kenya.
Thank you. Thank you……
God bless you and God bless Kenya..
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