No longer politricks-as-usual

The KKK alliance morphed into the Gang of Seven which has now morphed into the Gang of Seven alliance. When they first came together, their primary focus was how to prevent Prime Minister Raila Odinga from succeeding President Mwai Kibaki after the next general elections (whose date has been thrown in doubt because of the machinations of the Cabinet, the resolute stand of the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution, and the delays in setting up the Supreme Court of Kenya). They had resolved to direct all their energies to painting the Prime Minister if bad light, blame him for some of their more serious political difficulties, and generally show him to be the wrong person to be president come 2012. 

They have now come up with a new plan, which is essentially, more of the same. While they have resolved now to focus more on how they will govern and what policies the will pursue, their underlying philosophical reason for being, is to prevent Raila Odinga from assuming the presidency after the next general elections. The more things change, the more they remain the same, or so it seems when it comes to the Gang of Seven Alliance.

But even with their new strategy, they will still suffer from a credibility gap. For instance, they cannot legitimately promise to pursue different policies while in power if they have not proposed such policies in their various capacities in this government. Their promise that they will be different cannot be taken at face value since they do serve this government, with varying degrees of loyalty, and have shown no indication that they will resign in order to challenge the received orthodoxies of today. Mr Musyoka, who oversees the Home Affairs ministry in addition to his position as Vice-President, while waiting to move into his sh 383 million 'house', has done very little to improve the conditions in Kenya's prisons, including their overcrowding and the operation of criminal conspiracies by inmates and warders alike. 

Millions of Kenya's mobile phone users continue to be snookered by criminals behind bars through dodgy get-rich-quick schemes. Chirau Ali Mwakwere oversaw the concessioning of the Kenya-Uganda Railways to the shady Sheltam Corporation despite the fact that Roy Purfett, it's Managing Director, could provide no proof of his experience in such a venture nor provide sufficient capital to oversee the transformation of the railways. He was eventually bought out by an Egyptian company with experience in these matters. Mr Mwakwere, meanwhile, has not been investigated by either the Public Investments Committee or the Public Accounts Committee for the manner in which he oversaw the concessioning or the decisions that were taken under his watch. 

Mr Kenyatta has overseen the largest depreciation in the shilling and admits that the steps that may revive it will not have an impact for at least six months. Kenyans continue to suffer the effects of a weak shilling including high energy costs and a rising rate of inflation. The controversial reappointment of the Governor of the Central Bank continues to hang over his head, especially now that it seems that Prof Njuguna Ndung'u is unable to do much to shore up the shilling against other world currencies. 

Mr Ruto has been dropped from the Cabinet for, among other things, allegations that he has previously engaged in corrupt acts. The effect of the ICC trials on his political activities cannot be downplayed either. Eugene Wamalwa has made some strange forays into national politics over the past year. First he was seen in the company of the self-confessed leader of the outlawed Mungiki sect, a quasi-religious criminal organisation that has been blamed for some of the worst murders in Kenya's history. Then he made the rather incredible claim that his claim to the presidency was predicated on the promise that Mwai Kibaki had agreed to allow his brother, the late Michael Kijana Wamalwa, to succeed him and that because of the Vice-President's death, this obligation has been inherited by him. 

Prof George Saitoti, a former Vice-President, has been in charge of internal security at a time when Kenyans have suffered great casualties at the hands of foreigners along the Kenya-Somali, Kenya-Ethiopia and Kenya-South Sudan borders. The continuing deaths of Kenyans and foreigners in Kenya at the hands of groups such as the Toposa and the al Shabaab are glaring proof that he has failed in his duties.

If these are the men promising changes post-2012, we are better off recalling President Moi from retirement! It is also now emerging that the Gang of Seven Alliance has opened 'negotiations' of how to share power after the next general elections, with crucial positions being dished out to members of the Alliance, including those of the Speaker of the National Assembly, Speaker of the Senate, Presidential Running-mate and Leader of the Majority Party in Parliament. They have managed to maneuver Parliament into making key amendments in key Bills to ensure that some of their plans come to fruition; for instance, the changes that they proposed and were adopted in the Elections Bill and the Political Parties Bill are meant to strengthen the Gang of Seven's hand during the next general elections. So is the Cabinet's proposed amendment to the Constitution to hold the next general elections in December 2012. 

The upshot of all this is that the Alliance is not concerned with what will benefit the people of Kenya; rather, they are still obsessed with keeping Prime Minister Odinga from assuming the presidency. They are yet to admit to themselves that Kenya is a changed country and that politricks-as-usual will no longer cut it. They are yet to make a credible claim that one of their own will make a good president, let alone a better one than the Prime Minister.