Kalonzo Opens New Ultra Modern Wiper Offices In City

By PATRICK KIMANZI, MP PRESS




TRUNCATED
STATEMENT BY H.E. DR. STEPHEN KALONZO MUSYOKA AT THE OPENING OF THE NEW WDM-K HEADQUATERS IN NAIROBI.
JUNE 19, 2018


Ladies and gentlemen;
We meet here today at an exciting time for our movement and indeed our country. As I welcome you to our new offices, I invite all Kenyans to join our movement in this journey of rebranding our party. Our collective focus on deepening and widening this great movement in all the corners of this Republic is unstoppable.
Top on the agenda in this journey of rebranding, is to strengthen youth involvement in the affairs of our party not just as crusaders of our ideology but to sit at the center of decision making. Aware that the youth constitute more than 80 per cent of our national population, we recognize the key role that they must continue to play in building our democracy. In this regard, Wiper is investing heavily in building a national youth league that will properly refocus the youth agenda in the politics of this country.
In equal measure the party has embarked on a mission to mainstream the role of women and persons living with disability in our national and global agenda.
Over the last two months, Kenya has been in the global limelight for the wrong reasons on the subject of institutionalized corruption. From the NYS rip-off to reported seizure of contraband products corruptly imported into our country, the lives of our people are in grave danger.
As a party, we fully support the war on graft. The fight against high level corruption must move beyond statements of intent to the realm of action consistent with the law. While we support the ongoing fight against corruption in public offices, we call on investigating agencies to expand the dragnet to cover private sector actors involved in the complex web of corruption in Kenya.
As a first measure in this fight, we support calls for an immediate lifestyle audit of all top public and state officers. To actualize this, our movement proposes the establishment of a legal framework to guide the process of the lifestyle audit and ensure that no one escapes scrutiny. Once this framework is in place, we call for the involvement of reputable international audit firms to work closely with Kenyan agencies to get to the bottom of this unprecedented theft of public resources.
Illegally acquired public resources must revert to the public and those found culpable must face the full force of the law.
As a movement in the Opposition, Kenyans expect that we keep the government in check and be at the forefront in advocating for a just and fair society for all. On June 16, 2018, the Treasury CS presented national budget estimates that have made the burden on Wanjiku heavier.
In the estimates, the national debt burden has risen unsustainably to Sh5 trillion which is nearly double the annual budget. The 12 percent surprise increase on the excise duty on mobile money transactions, the increase of excise duty on kerosene and general increase in the price of petroleum products are all adversely affecting the livelihoods of ordinary Kenyans.
It will be remembered that our movement took the lead in calling for national healing through dialogue. Kenya is at a constitutional moment where we need to reopen our Constitution to fix the gaps that exist in regard to inclusivity, strengthening of devolution, electoral justice and systems of governance. Indeed the main focus should be to come up with a truly people-centered constitutional order. The reference document in the proposed review should be the Bomas Draft.
In this journey of rebranding our movement we shall continue reaching out to all communities and their leaders in every corner of this country.
Thank you.