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t the dawn of his reign,
King Solomon prayed for wisdom to lead God’s own people and that he was
granted. He ultimately became so wise he could have advised the sages and
clairvoyants in his own royal court if he so wished! Unfortunately later in
life though blessed with divine sagacity he ultimately found himself irretrievably
consumed in the throes of sexual perversion albeit ‘primitive accumulation’ of heathen
women into his homestead. To the discerning eye 700 wives & 300 concubines
cannot pass for simple run-of-the-mill affection and favour for the daughters
of Eve but lascivious derangement if not an obsession! Despite this ignominy,
he still kept his counsel on a myriad other matters regarding all we pine and
toil for in this world as vanity! Indeed it is his perceptive eye that gave us
the verse in Proverbs 12: 18-19, “The Words of the reckless pierce like swords
but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Truthful lips endure forever but
lying lips are transient.” Also sampled from his proverbs is one about gossip
fanning a quarrel the same way wood fuels a fire but contiguous with my
professional development as neither a Theology Professor nor a Biblical savant
let me cap the preaching here.
After the handshake
between the two main protagonists of the crisis that almost tore Kenya asunder;
the presumptive President H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta and the most venerable former
Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, a huge tranche of the simmering tensions
in Kenya cooled off. However, the present chumminess between these erstwhile
arch-nemeses and a steely resolve to fight corruption is putting a few people
ill-at ease. The perception that they have toiled in vain against some
adversary only for that force to curry more favour with their Principal than
they the loyal servants has no doubt bred apprehension among the faithful in
Jubilee majorly from the Rift Valley. Add to that mix a referendum that looks
clearly predesigned at diluting the Presidency, reducing a certain group’s untamed
future access to all state largesse enjoyed by their predecessors by creation
of an alternative centre of power and you find yourself with a powder-keg. The
judicious must have cast more than a passing glance when the President told off
his trusty Deputy about ‘kutangatanga’ aimlessly traipsing the nation when the
Big 4 agenda is still pending implementation. It did not help matters when the
President named Cabinet Secretary extraordinaire Dr. Fred Matiang’i as the
first among equals to the position of Chief Minister to co-ordinate and
virtually ‘prefect’ the other CSs; prima-facie, undermining his very own
Deputy!
As the Wise man puts it,
“when you see a dog needlessly & unreasonably bark at you harken not to its
din but instead pick up a stone and strike it!” What?!! “Sooner rather than
later its master will show up and he will be evident to all.” As such
retributory statements have been hot and heavy, threatening dire if not
unspecified consequences if the previous Memorandum of Understanding between
the President and his Deputy is not honoured. As they have helped Uhuru
Kenyatta secure 2 tenures, each a 5-year term already they expect a
reciprocation of the same gesture when the time is ripe for the Deputy. Men and
women have danced themselves lame blaming the former Prime Minister for
threatening to wreak havoc that will ultimately break apart their party!
Bizarre statements like, “This man has torn apart FORD-KENYA, then he ravaged
KANU, he pillaged NARC and now he wants to export suicide-vest politics to our
dear Jubilee.” I dare posture, what good did KANU ever do in the Republic of
Kenya to warrant anyone standing tall, shedding crocodile-tears purporting to
defend its honour? If one dealt an abrupt demise to the single-party depravity nay
kleptocracy that was the rich substrate that nourished the mongrel called KANU
that ended many an illustrious political career, he must never be reviled but
instead hailed as a hero worthy of a marble statue and name in the lights so to
speak. KANU was the party that lit the fuse of tribal clashes in Kenya and is
worthy of interment in a forgotten grave for all time! If you can get an
audience with Kenneth Matiba from the after-life he probably shares similar
sentiment. Phew! Let me not denigrate the grave of a lionized General worth his
weight in gold!
But my questions on this
issue more often than not seem to balloon rather than get answered. For one,
where does that bi-partisan deal between Uhuru & Ruto leave the rest of
Kenya that has been insufficiently represented in the period Jubilee (a
bi-ethnic caucus) has held the helm of power in Kenya? Secondly; what became of
the democratic ideals and the norms of political competition that are currently
enjoyed as the mainstay of democratic politics in Kenya, of which much blood,
sweat & tears of exemplary compatriots both heroes and tyrants has been
shed to attain? Why should well-heeled procedure be sacrificed at the altar of parochial
political patronage and monarchy-like succession? I don’t lie when I aver that
these queries keep me awake at night! In full sight of what I can only describe
as political grime, this politician an elected legislator from the greater
Uasin Gishu county has been heavily vocal looking for some measure of
ill-acquired publicity, deprecating the rest of Kenya external to Central Kenya
and the Highland Nilotes of the Rift Valley region as ‘small-kids’ not fearsome
enough to worry about in case of War! This is the poster-boy and a quintessential
representative of primitivism, malevolence and intellectual putrefaction that
hasn’t a place not just in the 21st Century but in anyone’s
political camp if you really want to unite Kenyans while harboring presidential
ambitions.
Social Media is also awash with statements by arm-chair
commentators & purveyors of idle-chatter on subjects casting an umbra to
the knowledgeable echelons of their respective crania. No doubt paid
mouth-pieces, they exist primarily as enemies of both commonsense and
development regaling us with pseudo-prophesies about characters who will ‘Never
be Presidents in Kenya.’ They even erroneously elucidate Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga
as one of those, in clear anti-pathy to verifiable information in the public
purview that Raila served as co-President to Mwai Kibaki in the unfortunately
resuscitated Office of 2nd Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya
as per the stipulations of the National accord of 2008. He enjoys universal
good-will in Kenya to such an extent that he had to be forcefully sworn-in as
the People’s President in exercise of direct Sovereignty by the people
themselves, constitutionally enshrined in Chapter 1, Article 1 Clause 2 of our
Constitution which had to be wrested back to where it belongs back in January
2018. Surreal but true! Africa also took note and feted him for his struggles
in enhancement of democracy naming him Africa Union’s Special envoy for
Infrastructure and all the trappings that come with the position. Enough of the
trumpet blowing for a candidate miles ahead of the rest!
The planned Referendum in Kenya is threatening to
become mired in ad-hominem strife for leadership positions by the Kenyan elites
in future instead of addressing the lacunae in our current constitution that hamper
meaningful governance and devolution. This is not supposed to be the case. As a
populace we must yearn towards the reduction of both our taxation burden and repayment
of the giant debt owed to the Chinese. We must look to constitutionally
strengthen oversight and our role in decisions made with regard to
infrastructural loans, more so asking for feasibility studies and a clear
road-map of Return-on-Investment before expropriationate decisions on our
finances are taken ostensibly for our own good!
The ordinary man is more often than not meek, submissive and law
abiding. He has already been irrevocably humbled by his modest circumstances in
life to sheer subservience. He just wants the best for his family. The ordinary
Kenyan man is of simple ambitions stated in an earlier blog: To own a 5-acre
plot, 4-wheel Drive vehicle, live in a 3-bedroomed house, raising 2 children
and bound in matrimony to 1 wife! He is yoked to his neighbour by their
struggles against poverty regardless of their regional affiliations. He needn’t
be vexed to worry further about who becomes President or not. Why continue to
hammer down upon him using intimidation and threats to inordinate violence? Desperation
birthed of threats must surely yield animus, fear, great anger, civil-disobedience
and ultimately social upheaval when his loved ones are threatened. When a cat
is pushed to the wall you can be sure of a counterstrike whose magnitude of
cataclysm you may ill desire to witness. You surely cannot preach democratic
gains during the day yet practice exclusionism at night where Kenyans are
forced to retreat to safe zones every election cycle. Things are getting worse
as the moral of the story sinking in is when you stay put and predictably get
killed by some proscribed tribal militia bankrolled by the incumbency there
will be no ICC to avenge you! You could fight in someone’s corner but in case
you are killed, there won’t even be someone to contest for your retribution as
unity governments are quickly formed and life goes on. This is thoroughly disconcerting
and is slowly killing our hard-earned democratic gains. Being civil and slow to
your quiver should never be construed as a sign of weakness but must instead be
decorated. Why allow an advanced economy and democracy, indeed an esteemed
footstool for the beacon of enlightenment for the rest of Africa to be governed
by the fear of repression?
Good-will from the peace-fomenting handshake is what we critically need to be wielded in
opprobrium against the agents of violent posturing. As a former student of engineering
cavorting as a political commentator allow me to indulge you with this analogy.
A gradual cool-down of tensions is similar to what we learnt in Metallurgy and
Material Science about rapidly cooled metallic formations as brittle &
fickle no matter the elements involved while ponderously annealed edifices are
the strongest structures money can buy. Let’s be wise to learn from our errors
in 2007, the Rwandan Genocide and the German Holocaust. Rulers who fail to
learn from history risk repeating it to the detriment of us all. Instead of
fanning tribally-inflamed animosity via incendiary statements we should be
advised to go for conciliatory sentiments like newly-minted convert into statesmanship,
Gov. Jackson Mandago of Uasin Gishu. We should understand that political
contests are only for a while and afterwards comes service delivery. We did not
choose to be born in Kenya. However as a conglomeration of disparate nation
states we should work more towards engaging areas of similarity and shun
division.
Forcing tainted candidates upon the citizenry. Fire and brimstone is threatening to rain down if one
particular candidate will not be elected Kenyan President in 2022 if some highly-vociferous
sources are to be believed. However, there is little credential to support that
gentleman’s bid to be Commander-In-Chief. This is a man who has never seriously
spoken against corruption instead always working under the table to marshal a cabal
of tribal chiefs and other riff-raff to rubbish anti-corruption initiatives as
a regional witch-hunt. He is a good student of parochialism and the ‘God-father’
brand of political patronage. He is one man who believes that the only unity
that is of beneficence to Kenya is the one fostered between the aforementioned
Central Highland Bantus and their counterparts the Highland Nilotes of the Kenyan
Rift. Indeed as one-half of the duo that rode on popular dissent from their two
tribes against the International Criminal Court (ICC) process christened ‘neocolonialism’
into Statehouse not much can be expected of the guy. As ICC-indictee emeritus,
he still cleaves to the same paradigm that took him there in the first place –
Sing hymnals during the day but pay war-mongers when the sun goes down. When in
2010 a majority of Kenyans voted for a promulgation of an improved Supreme law
of the land he chose the path of the conservative and cling for just a bit
longer to the old constitution that had disenfranchised a majority of Kenyans
for eons. Moreover, it had even brought us to the brink of civil strife when an
unpopular president was rigged in by simple majority in 2007. As a master-spinner
of public sympathy to his favour; a firm commitment to environmental conservation
that must surely start with the removal of human populations from our water
towers has been stammered at best and incoherent at worst from a guy with much
vaunted eloquence. This is an expert propagandist if not a callous schemer who
has invented some nebulous contest between ‘Dynasties’ and ‘Hustlers’ to
enhance his lot further despite clear evidence he has never been a ‘hustler’ in
the street sense of the word. Need I mention his murky acolytes, hangers-on,
lackeys, ideologues and sycophants who find themselves embroiled in one mega-corruption
scandal after the other that drain not just our generated but loan-powered
national reserves! Yet someone is still ready to risk life & limb for such
a decrepit character to be a Head of State in Kenya. Are we so keen to auction
our soul to the devil as a nation? Please!
Anti-corruption Commitment. It has been in our folklore for centuries that when
light appears darkness dissipates. When the ‘Kumira-kumira’ madness was at its
most fervent agents of corruption and autocracy were insulated against
prosecution by the innocuous act of spewing bilge against Raila Odinga and the
entire NASA brigade. All you needed to do was speak ill of some obscure
witch-doctor who is adept at dishing out tropes despite his status as an ‘uncircumcised
cur’ to curry favour with the incumbency! However, post-handshake and someone
stirring up to the realities of securing a legacy for himself has seen a new
resolve in countering friend and foe who engage in corruption. Important to
note nevertheless, is that the newly invigorated fight against corruption by our
President fronted by DPP and DCI is not a witch hunt but an exercise in
anthemic patriotism. Haji and Kinoti must continue to wear their efforts as a
badge of honour not just to themselves but as a proud heritage to future
generations of their progeny, a high calling bestowed upon them by Kenyans. This
is the acme of civic responsibility and a stipulation of the oath of office for
the presidency.
My message to the President
is to be presidential! Don’t give in to forces that will drain your authority
while your Presidential term is still valid. Divorce friendship from business
as familiarity breeds contempt. As a national symbol of unity, wield your power
like a sceptre of dominion. You now have universal validation and legitimacy as
leader of Kenya. Rein in on war mongers and hit them with the hammer of justice
in state purview and exercise the tools of the monopoly to state violence
against such people without Fear, Favour and with minimal Mercy. Freedom of
expression permitting, no regard is to be paid to belligerent sabre-rattlers
who risk unraveling of our hard-earned civil liberties for merely a pot of soup
and a song.
