OUR FINAL STAND FOR DEMOCRACY

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:06:57 -0700

Fellow Kenyans,

The road to creating a nation steeped in democratic governance and the rule of law has been more painful than any of us ever imagined it would be. Did you ever imagine that our beautiful nation, where we've lived in joy and peace, would one day explode in the violence we've witnessed these past two weeks? Did you ever imagine that five hundred Kenyans would die at the hands of fellow countrymen? Had it ever crossed your mind that a shoot-to-kill order would be issued by someone in government, resulting in the death of more than sixty Kenyans in Kisumu? And did you ever think that a day would come when infuriated Kenyans would find it necessary to douse a church in paraffin and burn fellow Kenyans sheltering therein?

You never did.

Neither did I.

What has gone on has been wrenching. Seeing our children lying in morgues, our brothers' bodies riddled with bullet wounds, our sisters' faces slashed and scarred beyond recognition, our fathers and mothers scrounging for food in damps and thousands of Kenyans putting their hands out to accept food from the Red cross and other humanitarian agencies has been too painful to deal with.

But as we march into a suddenly less certain future, Kenyans must be ready to defend the democratic rights we've gained in the last few years. There are men and women who've decided that they can determine who leads Kenya and who doesn't. We must demonstrate to them how wrong they are. And so from the north to the south, the east to the west, may Kenyans rise up and save the country from the path of renewed dictatorship.

We must not let ourselves go back to the days of press censorship, inexplicable assassinations, blatant corruption, sickening impunity and a total disregard for the wishes of the Kenyan people. We can't afford that kind of life again. We must not accept it...even if the police make our blood flow to the Victoria.

And so, my fellow countrymen, this week marks the time Kenyans will make a final stand for democracy. We must be prepared to peacefully gather at the venues designated by our leaders and protest for days, even weeks, until the illegal government of Mr. Kibaki is put out of business. If we let these guys get away with impunity, we'll have lost out democracy forever. Is tyranny and oppression something we are ready to pass on to our children?

Mr. Kibaki has refused to negotiate. He practically turned the last negotiation round into a joke, even making the president of Ghana look like a fool. What a man like him understands is not a round-table give and take, he understands the language of being boxed into a corner. For the sake of our future, let's come out in force this week and start the painful process of forcing Kibaki to give us our country back. We must not rest until Kibaki is gone and Kenyans can live in peace one with another again.

We shall overcome.

That's our pledge. So Help us, God!

Sam Okello
President & CEO
Sahel Books Inc.
P.o. Box 6451
South Bend IN, 46660-6451
USA
Phone: Toll Free: 1.877.297.2435
samokello aT sahelpublishing Dot net
www.sahelpublishing.net