SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY HON. MWAI KIBAKI, C.G.H., M.P., PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA DURING THE LAUNCH OF H.E. THE PRESIDENT’S OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN WEBSITE AT SAFARI PARK HOTEL, NAIROBI ON 22ND NOVEMBER, 2007

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very pleased to be with you today, as we launch the official website for my presidential campaign.

In this day and age, the internet has become an indispensable source of information for people throughout the world. The development of a website is essential for informing our supporters about the decision I have made to seek a second term as President of the Republic of Kenya.

But most important of all, there are many people who face difficulties in accessing correct and up-to-date information about what we accomplished in my first term in office as well as our agenda for the future. This website will enable such people to be better informed about our testimony of achievements in all sectors of our national life as well as my vision and agenda for the country in the next five years.

Armed with this information, our supporters will be better equipped to deal with those who peddle propaganda and dispel any misinformation or deliberate distortions of the truth aimed at eroding the real impact of our achievements. In particular, candidates in our Party of National Unity will now be able to tell the ordinary Kenyans what we stand for, and confidently address wananchi’s aspirations and fears, with the straightforwardness that comes from being well informed.

The website will also continuously update our supporters and candidates on the progress of the campaign. Further, the website is a useful tool for those who are keen to contribute good ideas and finances that will make the campaign even more effective and popular with the voters. I therefore urge all our candidates as well as our supporters and campaigners in Kenya and abroad who have access to the internet to use this website effectively. In addition, I want to urge our youth supporters who are most adept in using this type of information technology to turn this website into an effective campaigning tool that will ensure our victory in the elections next month.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In 21st century politics, a campaign website is as essential to our presidential bid as radio, television, and print media. This website allows our supporters, here in Kenya and everywhere else in the world to keep track of our campaign from their desktops. It is also a testament to the progress we have made in the last five years towards creating an open, democratic, and united society. Today, everyone has the freedom to air their views freely, and to access information from any part of the world through the internet, television, and mobile telephony. We have greatly expanded media coverage in this country, with many more television channels and newspapers and four times as many radio stations as we had five years ago.

The information and communications revolution has not only enabled greater freedom, but it has also enabled greater vigilance and accountability. The website we are launching today therefore testifies to the increased openness we now enjoy in this country. In it, we have spelt out my achievements and my vision for the future, and through it we will receive views that will make us responsive and accessible to our supporters and voters.

However, as we progressively open our society to even greater freedoms and liberties, we need to ensure that these gains are used in a responsible manner. I have in mind tools of communications such as the internet, television, radio, newspapers, e-mail and mobile telephone short messages. These tools represent the reality of the world we live in today. However, they can be abused by those who are out to peddle rumours, and propaganda in their effort to create suspicions and hatred amongst our people.

Nevertheless, the internet can also be used to propagate positive values such as education, wholesome entertainment, information, and creation of a more cohesive society. The manner in which these communications instruments are used is particularly pertinent in an election period when political competition between various parties and candidates in an open and democratic society could easily lead to misuse in the absence of accepted norms or standards of conduct.

I am therefore appealing to all of us, particularly the candidates and partisan supporters, to use these communication tools in a manner that projects our election platforms favourably without doing lasting or permanent damage to our common good. I urge the media houses in particular to carefully scrutinise what their own reporters and editors publicise, particularly in terms of inter-community relations in a fragile society such as ours.

I urge them to avoid publicising sensational news that may sell well, but creates lasting damage along ethnic, religious, and regional lines. I also urge local FM radio stations to consider the consequences of broadcasts that cast other ethnic or religious communities in bad light. While the immediate objectives may be the promotion of a particular political agenda, the long-term consequences of such broadcasts could have terrible implications for the cohesiveness and unity of our nation. I further urge ordinary Kenyans to take the outrageous messages they receive on their phones and computers with caution. When you see a message that is quite clearly a lie or pure propaganda, please do not spread it any further.

I am highlighting these issues because of the concern I have about our country following the elections. The truth of the matter is that in January 2008, all of us will be living in this same country, regardless of the way we have voted. We will all be in the same jobs, same houses, same neighbourhoods, and attending the same schools, churches, mosques, and other social facilities.

Indeed, we will all continue to live side by side after this election and therefore, we should never allow ourselves to be snared by the heat of political campaigning. And for the leaders in particular, please say what you need to say to win, but make sure that what you have said will not cause divisions among our people. Let us strive to promote our political platforms that offer competing visions to Kenyans, but let us do so in such a way that our neighbourhoods and communities in rural and urban Kenya will continue to live in peace, harmony. We should always keep in mind that we are a nation that has held together for about 44 years, and we want to continue holding together even more closely after the elections.

In this regard, what will keep us together next year is observing respectful political speech, rather than campaign rhetoric that inflames negative passions in our people. We must also avoid negative stereotyping of other communities and religions in our political campaigns. In my opinion, the mature and productive way to grow our democracy is to keep Kenyans united and in harmony after the elections by campaigning for political victory based on facts, truths and respect for others rather than winning power through lies, innuendo, and empty propaganda.

So let us use the websites, television and radio stations as well as newspapers and mobile phones to campaign for clean and acceptable political victories at the elections that will promote peace and harmony among supporters of different political camps after the results are announced. Let us also use these communication tools to ensure that the campaigns are peaceful, and in particular no physical or verbal violence and abuse should be directed towards women candidates.

It is very important for the media, and all of us in political leadership to continuously point out to the voting public that all women candidates have every right to contest for any elected office, and must be treated with the fullest respect by fellow candidates and the voters.

We will ensure that my website promotes this message consistently, and I will keep emphasising this matter in my campaign meetings.

In conclusion, I wish to take this opportunity to thank all those who have been involved in building the website that we are launching today. I am confident that it will go a long way in strengthening our campaign.

With these remarks, it is now my pleasure to declare my campaign website launched.

Thank You and God bless you all.