Outspoken city lawyer Donald Kipkorir has penned a strongly worded letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta lecturing him on dictatorial tendencies.
The lawyer’s remarks come in the wake of government arrests of some Opposition leaders. Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has particularly come under fire for the handling of former Nairobi gubernatorial aspirant Miguna Miguna.
In his letter, Kipkorir stated that the Interior CS is over excited and the harassment of opposition leaders is self-defeating.
Posting an old photo where he is in the company of Uhuru, the lawyer said that the two of them ‘wametoka mbali’ and that it was too late for the president to be a benevolent dictator.
Kipkorir further lectured Uhuru on the difference between Benevolent dictatorship and Kleptocratic dictatorship.
“There is a BIG difference between Benevolent Dictatorship and Kleptocratic Dictatorship … Benevolent Dictatorship leads a country completely devoid of corruption or ethnic or filial favour. No Benevolent Dictator names a building, street or university in their names or that of their family members. They leave no memorial in their honor other than their development record. They don’t do any business. The only money they earn is their State Salary. On the other hand, Kleptocratic Dictators do the opposite,” wrote Kipkorir.
He noted that the remaining four years of Uhuru’s presidency were too short to industrialize Kenya and he will probably leave office with the country worse off or slightly better.
“Four years is too short to industrialize Kenya. Unless we get huge deposits of Oil, Gas, Diamonds and Gold same time. Bottom line, you will leave Kenya in 2022, worse off or slightly better than now, but for sure not industrialized,” reads the letter in part.
The letter was posted on his popular Facebook page. Read below.
Dear Mr. President Uhuru Kenyatta
Your Excellency, it’s too late to be a Benevolent Dictator. A successful Benevolent Dictatorship needs uninterrupted One-Man show for minimum fifteen years, with economic growth of minimum 13% p.a. plus the population growth rate. So, for Kenya to be industrialized, we need a minimum 17% annual economic growth rate.
Park Chung-hee Of South Korea, Lee Kuan Yew Of Singapore, Mahathir Mohamad Of Malaysia and Recep Tayyip Erdogan Of Turkey delivered.
Leadership is a social contract between the King and the citizens. It’s inherent in all human beings to trade off certain freedoms for certain comforts. In the above dictatorships, the people slowly, gradually and finally surrendered their rights when the leaders delivered a completely new life for them. All above Benevolent Dictators took South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Turkey from backwater States to industrialized and developed economies in less than fifteen years.
And there is a BIG difference between Benevolent Dictatorship and Kleptocratic Dictatorship … Benevolent Dictatorship leads a country completely devoid of corruption or ethnic or filial favour. No Benevolent Dictator names a building, street or university in their names or that of their family members. They leave no memorial in their honor other than their development record. They don’t do any business. The only money they earn is their State Salary. On the other hand, Kleptocratic Dictators do the opposite.
Africa has never had a Benevolent Dictator except for Thomas Sankara and Paul Kagame.
Your Excellency, Four Years is too short to industrialize Kenya. Unless we get huge deposits of Oil, Gas, Diamonds and Gold same time. Bottom line, you will leave Kenya in 2022, worse off or slightly better than now, but for sure not industrialized.
Your advisers, may not be students of History and Politics. If they were, they will tell you that for the Four Years, the lasting legacy you can leave is solid Constitutional Order. Let the full implementation of our Constitution be what you bequeath the next Government.
What is being done harassing Opposition leaders is pyrrhic. It is an empty exercise. No High Court Judge will allow it. The High Court will countermand all the harassment. Your Minister for Internal Security is overexcited. But again, if he takes time to read books of History and Politics, he will know that his actions are futile and one day, he will be held accountable.
Your Excellency, I sign off reminding you that tumetoka mbali!“
