France
yesterday elected a Socialist President, the first since 1995 when
Francois Mitterand was last in the Elysee. That Nicolas Sarkozy, the
immediate former President was going to lose, is immaterial; what is not
is the fact that the French voted along ideological lines, something
that Kenyan voters are yet to internalise. What distinguishes Western
democracies, and a few Asian and African ones, from Kenya is the fact
that issues frequently supersede tribal considerations. Even the equally
acrimonious elections in the United States that are contested by the
Democratic and Republican tribes are ideological and the lunatic fringe
of both tribes is usually relegated to the periphery during the general
election. In Kenya, not surprisingly, our legacy has always been of a
bitterly ethnicised electorate; our tribal identities are much stronger
than our national, professional or even religious identities.
Recent developments reinforce this observation. Uhuru Kenyatta and his cohort from the Mount Kenya region have managed to create the impression that the Presidency is a Kikuyu bastion that others covet at their peril. Of course Mr Kenyatta and his counterparts have been very vocal about the need to unite the nation, eschewing ethnic rhetoric in favour of unifying slogans that should appeal across the board at all peoples of Kenya. But, the successful revival of the GEMA as a political kingmaker, and the exclusion and stifling of any whiff of opposition belies their national unity message. Mr Kenyatta is frequently surrounded by men and women from his political stronghold of Central Kenya, a majority of whom are members of the GEMA communities. It is the same story with William ruto and the KAMATUSA which despite its big-tent appearance is nothing but a Kalenjin outfit,controlled and owned by Kalenjins with the Samburu and Maasai merely making up the numbers but playing no substantive role in the outfit. It was also interesting to observe that the god-men that offered prayers during the recent meetings of these two outfits were god-men from the respective GEMA and KAMATUSA areas. So much for the Blood of Christ covering one and all.
Even the apparently most popular politician in Kenya is in danger of being reduced to a tribal kingpin rather than a statesman. Raila Odinga, the Prime Minister, is frequently surrounded by politicians from Luo Nyanza; and it is these politicians who act as the vanguard for the Prime Minister, taking one and all of his opponents and displaying their loyalty for the man they believe has revived and sustained their political careers. Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, on his way out of the ODM leadership and into UDF, took with him a sizable proportion of the politicians from Western Kenya, primarily Luhyas. His most vocal defenders are Luhyas, though the presence of Najiba Balala and Abdikadir Mohamed may have tempered what was surely a Luhya coming-out-party in Naivasha this past weekend. Surprisingly, the two politicians who do not seem to be ensnared in the traditional ethnic beancounting are Martha Karua and Peter Kenneth, but this may have to do with the fact that neither can hope to wrest from Uhuru Kenyatta the GEMA following so they have no choice to pursue a pan-national strategy.
While many will agree with the proposition that ideology is dead and that it never really existed in Kenya, they will have forgotten that in the '60s and '70s, when the global Red Menace was being fought, an ideological war was fought in Kenya with Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and his phalanx led by Tom Mboya were avowedly capitalist, while the likes of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kung'u Karumba, JM Kariuki and Bildada Kaggia were equally avowedly socialist. With the inexorable personalisation of the power of the presidency and the destruction of the political party as an institution, ideology ceased to be a defining feature; greed and ethnic superiority did.
The seeds of corruption and impunuty that were sown by Jomo Kenyatta's regime and nurtured by Daniel Toroitich arap Moi's took root and have grown into the mighty Mugumo trees of Mwai Kibaki's KANU days. As result of these twin evils, the number of Kenyans dying of easily prevented diseases keeps rising, the number of mothers whose children die in childbirth keeps rising, as does the number of mothers who lose their lives during childbirth. Poverty and illiteracy straddle the land like colossi. Youth unemployment remains stubbornly high and Kenya's economy remains a hostage to the diktats of the mandarins of the IMF and World Bank. And the solutions the likes of Raila Odinga, Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto and Musalia Mudavadi have for the peoples of Kenya are the cobbling together of ethnic coalitions to defeat one or the other.
Their economic policies are the same; their security and defence plans are the same; their foreign policies are carbon copies of each other; as are their education policies and governance reform ideas. And no wonder. Regardless of their rhetoric, they have all at one time or another been members of the same government and they are all bereft of fresh ideas. When they promise to chart a new path for the country it would be impolitic to accuse them of lying but it would still be true. They are indistinguishable from one another and in their lack of ideological convictions of any kind they continue to condemn this nation to ills that should have been cured a generation ago.
Recent developments reinforce this observation. Uhuru Kenyatta and his cohort from the Mount Kenya region have managed to create the impression that the Presidency is a Kikuyu bastion that others covet at their peril. Of course Mr Kenyatta and his counterparts have been very vocal about the need to unite the nation, eschewing ethnic rhetoric in favour of unifying slogans that should appeal across the board at all peoples of Kenya. But, the successful revival of the GEMA as a political kingmaker, and the exclusion and stifling of any whiff of opposition belies their national unity message. Mr Kenyatta is frequently surrounded by men and women from his political stronghold of Central Kenya, a majority of whom are members of the GEMA communities. It is the same story with William ruto and the KAMATUSA which despite its big-tent appearance is nothing but a Kalenjin outfit,controlled and owned by Kalenjins with the Samburu and Maasai merely making up the numbers but playing no substantive role in the outfit. It was also interesting to observe that the god-men that offered prayers during the recent meetings of these two outfits were god-men from the respective GEMA and KAMATUSA areas. So much for the Blood of Christ covering one and all.
Even the apparently most popular politician in Kenya is in danger of being reduced to a tribal kingpin rather than a statesman. Raila Odinga, the Prime Minister, is frequently surrounded by politicians from Luo Nyanza; and it is these politicians who act as the vanguard for the Prime Minister, taking one and all of his opponents and displaying their loyalty for the man they believe has revived and sustained their political careers. Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, on his way out of the ODM leadership and into UDF, took with him a sizable proportion of the politicians from Western Kenya, primarily Luhyas. His most vocal defenders are Luhyas, though the presence of Najiba Balala and Abdikadir Mohamed may have tempered what was surely a Luhya coming-out-party in Naivasha this past weekend. Surprisingly, the two politicians who do not seem to be ensnared in the traditional ethnic beancounting are Martha Karua and Peter Kenneth, but this may have to do with the fact that neither can hope to wrest from Uhuru Kenyatta the GEMA following so they have no choice to pursue a pan-national strategy.
While many will agree with the proposition that ideology is dead and that it never really existed in Kenya, they will have forgotten that in the '60s and '70s, when the global Red Menace was being fought, an ideological war was fought in Kenya with Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and his phalanx led by Tom Mboya were avowedly capitalist, while the likes of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kung'u Karumba, JM Kariuki and Bildada Kaggia were equally avowedly socialist. With the inexorable personalisation of the power of the presidency and the destruction of the political party as an institution, ideology ceased to be a defining feature; greed and ethnic superiority did.
The seeds of corruption and impunuty that were sown by Jomo Kenyatta's regime and nurtured by Daniel Toroitich arap Moi's took root and have grown into the mighty Mugumo trees of Mwai Kibaki's KANU days. As result of these twin evils, the number of Kenyans dying of easily prevented diseases keeps rising, the number of mothers whose children die in childbirth keeps rising, as does the number of mothers who lose their lives during childbirth. Poverty and illiteracy straddle the land like colossi. Youth unemployment remains stubbornly high and Kenya's economy remains a hostage to the diktats of the mandarins of the IMF and World Bank. And the solutions the likes of Raila Odinga, Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto and Musalia Mudavadi have for the peoples of Kenya are the cobbling together of ethnic coalitions to defeat one or the other.
Their economic policies are the same; their security and defence plans are the same; their foreign policies are carbon copies of each other; as are their education policies and governance reform ideas. And no wonder. Regardless of their rhetoric, they have all at one time or another been members of the same government and they are all bereft of fresh ideas. When they promise to chart a new path for the country it would be impolitic to accuse them of lying but it would still be true. They are indistinguishable from one another and in their lack of ideological convictions of any kind they continue to condemn this nation to ills that should have been cured a generation ago.
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