Makokha Wanjala M’s Remarks On occasion of celebrating Oulu G.P.O’s First Anniversary at Shooting Site, State House Avenue, Nairobi Kenya.

Republic of Kenya
Citizen No. 22045386
For Immediate Release
March 5, 2010
Makokha Wanjala M’s Remarks
On occasion of celebrating Oulu G.P.O’s First Anniversary at Shooting Site, State House Avenue, Nairobi Kenya.

My good friend Crispus Fwamba
My very good friend Juma Khauka
My friends Dann Mwangi, Booker Ngesa, Mamluki and others

This is an evening worth of our memory, on this day 366 days ago, a bullet from a gun fired at Oulu took away his life. Another bullet fired at the same time perhaps from the same gun took away the life of Oscar Kang’ara.
We gather here today to remember Oulu, Oscar and many other heroes and heroines that have fallen in the struggle for a better Kenya. In a way, our gathering mirrors the celebration in South Africa on the student uprising of 1975. Our nation suffers a collective hate to those who persevere, those who toil away, those who slave as prisoners of conscience, those who suffer broken promises, broken limps and shattered lives so that we could have a better nation. We, as a country in a span of four decades have not found it right to celebrate many youthful heroes and heroines. A majority of these youthful yet gallant sons and daughters of Kenya met their bullets right at or from universities, tertiary and other institutions. They spared nothing in their love for their motherland Kenya.
It is refreshing that this meeting, a congregation of largely young minds found it worth to celebrate GPO. George Paul Oulu, many of us thought it was General Post Office. We took it for granted that we had such a long time and a long company in his life. March 5, 2009 proved us wrong.
In celebrating Oulu, we celebrate many others who lived like him and died like him for all of us. It is even more humbling that I was chosen to give a speech at this maiden anniversary. I am alive to the high standards expected of me so that this annual event begins to speak to our nation. In discharging this tall order I have no doubts that I fall short of your expectations but then, I am yet to see a man who pleases everyone.
Maybe I was selected to speak because at the time of GPO’s death, I was staring at another calamity at family level. News that GPO is no more reached me at the bedside of Webuye District Hospital where another fine Kenyan, the Late Charles Makokha Wambulwa lay comatose. My Dad succumbed to spinal cancer on March 7, 2009. In a way my family will always unite with GPO’s and their friends in sorrow as we commemorate these anniversaries. These twin tragedies help to explain my very loud absence at Oulu’s graveside. I hope to pay my homage to him a year later.
In the cabinet in which I served as the Secretary General, God has been so generous in calling us home. He called to his fold Onkoba Marube, a fine young Doctor and my Secretary for Health & Accommodation. He again called for his keep; no I think an assassin forced him to accept for his safe keep another patriot named GPO who was the Governor- Kikuyu Campus in my student government, SONU. Since the executive council was only 18 in number, I guess myself and the remaining 15 must always be ready. If they don’t force me or you to meet our maker that soon, let us continue to draw on God’s oasis of infinite blessings and surrender ourselves to the service of our great nation Kenya.
A good speech rarely changes a nation, a life well-lived does. The life of GPO teaches all of us that you do not have to grow to a ripe old age to contribute to your nation. If you are among the many who expect that I share much on the life of GPO; in that I am afraid I will disappoint. I knew GPO almost in the same way as you did. I may not have any special knowledge about this gallant son of Kenya. Indeed, I must confess that some of you shared a life with him, lived with him, worked with him and knew him in a way none of us did. To me GPO came through as a sincere, charming and courageous young man. He was not to be cowed with his not-so –eloquent speech. In fact, I believe for what he may have lacked in eloquence it was well made up by courage and lots of it.
I will return to his life shortly, but I believe in a forum as this Kenya is listening. I see in front of me the very essence of Kenya. I see the enthusiasm, the beauty and the hope of our nation. I see the energy that will take Kenya to a new level; I want to speak to this promising future of our nation. I want to be brutally honest with my audience, I do so in the firm faith that the good Lord set aside a time like this for a message like this. I am animated to be part of Kenya’s future, I am proud to be speaking back to myself for I believe I am part of the hope that will transform our nation.
I believe this day will be wasted if we fail to talk through the struggles that GPO fought. We will have squandered this moment if we do not size up and face the challenges that pre-occupied GPO’s days. I want to look straight into our civil society; an arena in which Oulu was a lead character. Civil society plays an integral role in our society. They play watchdog and interrogate our leaderships at all levels. They demand much from those in positions of leadership and it is in the same vein that a lot must be demanded from them. Leadership is not presidency, leadership is not government, and leadership is not all about elective, competitive and oftentimes divisive politics.
Kenya will not be changed from statehouse; In fact, it will not be changed by happenings at that prestigious address on Harambee Avenue. Kenya is unmoved by the bickering and mostly confused 220 fellows in the August house. Yet statehouse, that office on Harambee Avenue and the character of those two-hundred and twenty fellows explains much of where we are today. It explains why truthfulness and honesty are no longer hallmarks of public service. And that is why today is poignant. Today is so important to me for I get to meet the people who each day put their lives on the roll in the streets for us. I get to speak to the people who occupy the moral high ground from which they beckon at us. I get to speak to the civil society.
As I said Kenya is here, Kenya is listening and Kenya wishes to hear the brutal truth if not for anything for the sake of the life of Oulu and the suffering of Kang’ara’s widow.
Does it offend if I asked how many of us are in the civil movement with the interests of our nation at heart?
Will it hurt if I wanted to know how many of us practice what we demand of our leaders?
Does it bother our conscience just how many NGO’s are run in a transparent fashion?
In memory of a very courageous son of Kenya, why not just pick a bit of it and ask just how many of us in the civil movement have succumbed to guns-for –hire?
It should jog our minds but leave no hatred to establish how many of our demonstrations are privately funded by a select corrupt at night and aimed at other corrupt fellows during the day?
In our search for justice for our fallen brother, can’t we pose and ponder justice for those who cannot be appointed to certain positions because of where they were born? Is it a coincidence that 47 years after independence we have some talent that can’t be replaced occasioning pensioners in key state offices?
Can’t we as we search for justice seek justice for our primary school children whose free primary education is now very free of any meaningful education?
Does it hurt and should it hurt in asking where the truth that we so fondly announce on rooftops is?
Are we ready to choose the responsibility of a new just and prosperous nation or would we rather remain in the present confusion for which we are the architects? Would it be wrong to question an apparent government policy that talent, competence and indeed incompetence is also tribal?
If we cannot live the narrow path of accountability, we loose the moral ground to demand it from others. We have to confront the venom that constantly poisons all youth initiatives. We must confront the differences that make it impossible for the youths of this nation to speak as one voice. We must raise to the challenge that is, tribalism. Ethnic profiling and organization is a cancer that we must overcome. It is never easy but the young people of this nation must lead the way. We must ask those difficult questions, we must ask why forming an NGO is a sure way to driving a sleek car. We must ask why donor-driven agenda have been converted to national agenda. We must ask who is setting the agenda for the young people of this nation. We must isolate and condemn those local and international donors who wish to dictate on us Kenya’s agenda. We have to look within and exorcise the venom that has slowly but surely de-activated the Munovi’s, Khauka’s and Osido’s of student activism?
We are not going to do so if we all admire Mercedes Benz irrespective of how it was acquired.
We won’t fight corruption if we are part and parcel of ethnic cocoons that rise to defend our tribesmen whenever they are found with their hands in the honey jar. Corruption is personal and political, those telling us otherwise, we know what they are saying. I hear them. If you hear them as I do, they are asking us to trust government agencies to deal with corruption when these agencies are known more in failure than success. Trust government as presently constituted when no where else provides a fertile ground for graft to sprout than in government agencies themselves. I dare say again, if you ask us to forgo political responsibility and the honour to serve that requires people to step aside to allow for independent and impartial investigations, then we hear you. We know that you are asking us to burn the church so that the gospel can be preached. You are asking us to break the sanctuary of ethics in order to fight corruption, you are asking us to give up virtue and replace it with value. You are asking us to doubt our education. You are asking us to re-check our civility and in all these endevours our un-equivocal answer is this. We refuse. We refuse your convenient confusion as a medium of exchange in transacting public affairs in our nation Kenya.
We will not overcome the small thinking that characterizes the leadership of our nation if we fight corruption to attract invitation to the very table of corruption. Corruption has to be fought from within. We must search within our souls and create a resolve to quickly replace the punctured tyre that keeps the youths of this country off road.
All of us or at least many of us have participated in installing the current leadership. In 2002 half of my friends were with Uhuru as I and others were with Kibaki. By then we were puritans, we believed Moi had a fundamental mental flaw, how wrong we were. In 2007 I saw half of my very good friends on PNU and the other half on the ODM side. Their voices were the same, their message had changed. Their body frames the same but their weight had significantly increased. We are to blame. GPO’s life and other lives lost are actually a loss and not an indication of progress in the struggle because of our greed. We have terribly let ourselves down. We cut deals on campaign money then dish it among ourselves in a fashion no different from the workings of the corrupt tentacles that raise campaign funds in the first place. We are the problem. I should just say it as it is, we derive comfort in company of thieves. We have fallen short of our expectations; we need to reform ourselves first.
I will not attempt a catalogue of our nation’s problems, for that is common place. I will also not detail solutions for those are never in short supply. The only worthy project for us, the only option for our nation is to invert this pyramid of leadership. I am tired; I am frustrated and am annoyed that many of our youths are being promoted on the very convoluted pyramid of leadership once they soak their hands in illicit honey. What will become of us? Are we prepared to sacrifice our ideals, our ethics and everything we hold dear so that we are allowed to climb the pyramid? The choice that Oulu made is before us today. Lets choose the way for Kenya’s brighter future not our own. Those who pulled the trigger and took away the life of Oulu will never muster the courage to tell us why they did so. They will not tell us, what Oulu’s life threatened in them, they will never tell us why killing him was the only option. We will never know for sure why GPO and Oscar had to die. We are left only with the memories we had of him, we are only left with the impressions we had of him. With this memory we can only postulate on why they wanted him dead.
They wanted him dead for he was not one of them
They wanted him dead for he operated differently
They wanted him dead for his thoughts were not theirs
They wanted him dead for he terrified them
They wanted him dead for it worried them, his plans, his dreams, his ambitions and more so his approach. They knew his flock will flatter, they knew in killing him they will disorganize us, they knew in killing him we will scatter. They wanted to kill his dream, his ambition and frighten his disciples.
Today, I look into your eyes and I ask are we frightened? Are we cowed? Are we so afraid of them? I don’t know but for me my path is cut out. I know I have made mistakes, I have been tempted like everyone else but I refuse to form company with known thieves.
I may have sinned but I call upon all the young people to resonate to the higher calling of leadership with an affirmation that Kenya will live on.
I may have made mistakes but I refuse to be condemned by my history
I refuse the habit of mistakes
I refuse the snare of corruption
I refrain from the temptation of shortcuts to wealth
The young people of this nation have heard many things; they have been told they will lead tomorrow. Their mistake is they have accepted all this without question. They have been condemned without batting an eyelid. They have been abused and all they ever did was to accept the humiliation in silence. Of course, with rare exceptions in the mould of GPO.
It is time now, not just to say enough is enough for that has been said before. It is time not just to say, it is our turn, because as well that has been said before. It is not in order to say we will chase the corrupt out of town, for we could as well be the very corrupt. We shouldn’t say the time for roadside declarations will end, for we have seen those who condemn are the very ones who indulge.

What then is our way forth. Why then are Oscar and Oulu dead? Why then do people pay the ultimate prize in their quest for a better society? What should the young people of this nation do? What strategy will work? Will our past failure become a permanent feature of our future struggles? The genuine answer to all these is “I don’t know”
I don’t know how we will reform this country, but reform it we will
I don’t know how we gonna deal with a corrupt judiciary but deal with it we must
I don’t know how we will deal with our tribal warlords but yet we must confront them
I don’t know what we will do with our docile church whose indulgence is to forsake its people and let lies reign freely.
Friends, there is so much I don’t know, but the little I know is that the great future of ourselves and our children will not arrive on the shores of our nation as did the British colonialists. I don’t know how we will ensure that there is better accountable leadership for our country but what I do know is waiting patiently, obediently to the current status quo will not take us far. I don’t know just who or how we could manage our taxes better but I do know that no solutions will alight aboard a Boeing at JKIA irrespective of how well we pray. What I do know and know so well is that:
We must be heard
We must be listened to
We must be understood
We must be involved
But friends no one will give it to us. We must grab the leadership of this nation. We must create awareness among our people never to settle for less. We must engage in all fronts, in all ways. I mean be it technical, professional, innovatively, scientifically; businesswise the young people of this nation must arise.
To do so we must live the change we wish for. We must not condemn on basis of tribe, we must never disengage however long the night might seem. I believe from wherever he is GPO is urging us on
He is urging us on to contemplate then complete his works. We must now proceed in honesty, firm in faith that no one knows it all. We must give way for a brother who has better skill; we must leave way for a sister who is more experienced than us. We must begin to engage on the basis of truth. We must run our affairs differently; we must begin to live in the new Kenya we wish to see. We must refuse to bow to tyranny. We live true to the creed that disobedience to tyranny is obedience to God. We must forge love among us.
I could conclude but let me not do so without reminding you and myself that we will not be young forever. That being young ascribes no special benefits to us for reason of age alone. I wish it dawned on all of us that this nation owes us nothing just because we are young. Youth is just a phase. It is up to us to utilize it to the greatest of benefits to our collective stay as a nation.
I pray that God keeps and blesses you. I pray that in his redemption spirit, may he allow us to live a new. May he keep in you a sense of urgency to surmount and summon all the energies for good of our nation.
Kenya is great,
Kenya is marwa
Its leaders have small heads,
Moreover, it is so because we have accepted it to be so
To those who killed GPO, Oscar and Godwin, messed up March 5th, Your cowardice gave us yet another day on which we pause and reflect on the struggle this far. By killing, you made the cause louder, by killing you made us bolder; by killing, you united us further, by their blood our resolve got even much tighter. As you stilled their voices, you made the voice of the struggle louder.
Kenyan state may never tell us the truth; it may never tell us who pulled the trigger. It remains their duty. President Kibaki and his co-principal Raila must now share information so far gathered. It was their duty to protect GPO, Oscar and Godwin, a sacred duty in name of our nation in which they failed. We ask them to attest that they indeed are not part of the conspirators by hauling before justice the real conspirators. We wait, but not forever, for sooner than later we may find them guilty in their first line duty to protect Oulu, Oscar and Godwin and in the second line duty of protecting the killers. If they fail then we know it is not their inability to do so.
Asanteni sana