Kingwa Kamencu is 27, single and a woman, and she wants to be the fourth president of Kenya. Her announcement was shambolic and was interspersed with tears for the suffering of Kenya. Experienced political hacks immediately wrote her off because she did not seem to know what it would take to win the presidential election in 2012, how she would govern or what her priorities would be as president. Her negatives are many and diverse. She has never run for high political office before; she does not seem to have managed a large organisation before; she does not seem to have a team, other than her parents and friends, to advise her on her presidential bid; she does not seem to have a Rolodex of political supporters behind her; she does not seem to have thought through where the money for the campaign will come from.
Despite the above, I would urge Kenyans to re-think their decision to ridicule her naive desire to rule in Kenya. It is still 12 months or so to the next general elections and the same faces that we are used to are the front-runners in a putative presidential contest. These faces have been behind the tragedies of this nation, indulging in massive corruption and theft of public funds for decades. President Kibaki is not only a holdover from Moi's regime, but also Kenyatta's. Raila Odinga is linked to both Moi's and Kibaki's regimes, both as insider and heretic. William Ruto reminds Kenyans of the dark days of the Moi regime, especially the deeply distrusted YK'92. Uhuru Kenyatta, scion of a political legacy, has nothing to commend himself to to Kenyans other than his political legacy and his father's name. Martha Karua, despite her Second Liberation credentials, will not erase the memory of her defense of the Kibaki election win in 2007 and 2008 or the suspicion that the only reason she quit Kibaki's government was because she was not getting her rightful pound of flesh after her robust defense of the Kibaki Establishment. While the Rev Mutava Musyimi may have cut his political teeth with the Ufungamano Initiative and his leadership of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, and his credible management of the Gachoka CDF kitty, his leadership of the Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Land and Natural Resources has been plagued with controversy, notably their acquittal of Charity Ngilu of the corruption scandals that have bedevilled the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. Raphael Tuju has kept a low profile since being defeated in his Rarieda constituency on the back of an ODM wave in Luo Nyanza, but his connections to the PNU gang raises questions over his independence and whether his presidential candidature is meant to split the Luo vote with Raila Odinga, Luo Kenya's favourite son. The same can be said about Peter Kenneth's candidature in relation to Uhuru Kenyatta's: is he the man who will steal votes from the House of Mumbi's favourite son? Eugene Wamalwa has nothing to recommend himself other than the fact that Mwai Kibaki promised to step down in favour of his decidedly more charismatic brother, the late Michael Kijana Wamalwa. None of these candidates comes to the contest with clean hands; it seems as if the foxes want to be in charge of guarding the hen-house.
Miss Kamencu has much to learn about the political process in Kenya, but her youthful enthusiasm and relative guilelessness should be seen as advantages and not disadvantages. She offers Kenyans the best hope for a clean break with the past despite her youth and inexperience. Unless it emerges that she is sexually promiscuous or a thief or a compulsive drug-user, she should be given the opportunity to develop as a candidate and give her the chance to lay her vision for this country before the people of Kenya. We must be alive to the fact that the political field is not the preserve of the existing candidates and that all Kenyans, despite their backgrounds, have the right to lay their vision before the people. So hat if she broke down in emotion at the pain and suffering of people she hopes to lead; a good leader must empathise with the people suffering and offer them an opportunity to be heard in the corridors of power. I hope he has not been dissuaded by the poor response of Kenya's media and political class. If she can surmount the hurdles being thrown in her path, she has the potential to change Kenyans' perception of her and her heretical desire to lead. More power to her, I say, and may the good Lord guide her in this exciting period in her life.
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