Prof
Makau Mutua is on record as opposed to any rapprochement between
William Ruto and Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Prof Mutua sees Mr Ruto as
the apotheosis of all that is wrong with the political class and Raila
Odinga as that of the reform movement. He must be gnashing his teeth
today. In what is perceived as Mr Odinga's efforts at rolling back the
animus between him and Mr Ruto, the Prime Minister 'apologised' to the
Kalenjin community yesterday. Some interpret his 'apology' as a crucial
development in his march to State House and an essential factor to be
considered in the ongoing alliance talks between the other leading
presidential candidates. On Citizen TV's Sunday Live, Kalonzo Musyoka
was advised to seek similar alliances as the one Mr Odinga is apparently
seeking with Mr Ruto. The Vice-President was advised, such as it were,
to hop off his fence and seek an alliance today with either the popular
Mr Ruto or the Prime Minister or he would be confined to political
irrelevance, a punch-line come 2013.
We have come full circle since the dog days of 2008. Everyone had a spectacular falling out with everyone else since the Grand Coalition was created and now everyone realises that they need everyone else, hence the horse-trading and deal-making being broadcast across the land. It seems lost on the general public that same motives advanced in 2007 during that round of alliance/coalition-building are the same ones being advanced today. Ironic as it may seem, these motives have been advanced since at least the multi-party elections of 1992. What has changed in the two decades is the constitutional landscape; the political, quasi-political and outright hypocritical motives of our political leadership has remained remarkably unchanged. It is a bit sad to witness the "heroes" and "villains" of the reform movement simply going over plowed ground in their desire to succeed Mwai Kibaki and gather in their feeble hands the reins of power.
What boggles the mind is that all political players seem to believe that Kenyans are just as gullible as they were two decades ago or easily-manipulated as they were five years ago. In '92, we were so easily played by President Moi that even the white-wash that was the '97 election failed to register in popular imagination. The only thing that came out of the '97 election was a sweetheart deal between Moi and his opposition; the opposition effectively became the King's Party, playing to Moi's strengths while biding their time waiting for his peaceful retirement. When Mwai Kibaki, Kijana Wamalwa and Raila Odinga rode the NARC narrative to power in 2003, they pulled the wool over our eyes by promising the moon. They claimed that they had a popular mandate in the voters' repudiation of Moi's Project, Uhuru Kenyatta. They promised a New Beginning. They lied.
And they have lied ever since. Today, regardless of which party or which candidate is making pronouncement, all repeat the same lies we've heard for two decades, lies that have been exposed in the past decade of Mwai Kibaki's tenure. Whether it is the elimination of the factors that cause poverty or the just use of state power in the service of the weak and the poor, Mwai Kibaki's tenure has proven to be one filled with disappointment after disappointment. Except, of course, for those lucky enough to be near the centre of power, whether political or economic. The cast majority of Kenyans live from hand to mouth and have not only to contend with economic hardship, crime and corruption, but the unwarranted, heavy hand of their government that imposes ever harsher taxes and enforces its laws with and ever heavier hand. But the likes of William Ruto, Raila Odinga or their fellow presidential candidates continue to dip their hands in the national kitty at our expense. We bought the PM a 700 million shilling office block. We spent half a billion shillings on a vice-presidential mansion. It was not enough. Their colleagues in the National Assembly want us to give them a 2.3 billion-shilling golden parachute next year. In their zeal to strike deals with each other for the ultimate prize, not one (save for Martha Karua) has called this day-light robbery what it is. Tell me again how different 2012 is different from 2007 from 2002 from 1997 from 1992?
We have come full circle since the dog days of 2008. Everyone had a spectacular falling out with everyone else since the Grand Coalition was created and now everyone realises that they need everyone else, hence the horse-trading and deal-making being broadcast across the land. It seems lost on the general public that same motives advanced in 2007 during that round of alliance/coalition-building are the same ones being advanced today. Ironic as it may seem, these motives have been advanced since at least the multi-party elections of 1992. What has changed in the two decades is the constitutional landscape; the political, quasi-political and outright hypocritical motives of our political leadership has remained remarkably unchanged. It is a bit sad to witness the "heroes" and "villains" of the reform movement simply going over plowed ground in their desire to succeed Mwai Kibaki and gather in their feeble hands the reins of power.
What boggles the mind is that all political players seem to believe that Kenyans are just as gullible as they were two decades ago or easily-manipulated as they were five years ago. In '92, we were so easily played by President Moi that even the white-wash that was the '97 election failed to register in popular imagination. The only thing that came out of the '97 election was a sweetheart deal between Moi and his opposition; the opposition effectively became the King's Party, playing to Moi's strengths while biding their time waiting for his peaceful retirement. When Mwai Kibaki, Kijana Wamalwa and Raila Odinga rode the NARC narrative to power in 2003, they pulled the wool over our eyes by promising the moon. They claimed that they had a popular mandate in the voters' repudiation of Moi's Project, Uhuru Kenyatta. They promised a New Beginning. They lied.
And they have lied ever since. Today, regardless of which party or which candidate is making pronouncement, all repeat the same lies we've heard for two decades, lies that have been exposed in the past decade of Mwai Kibaki's tenure. Whether it is the elimination of the factors that cause poverty or the just use of state power in the service of the weak and the poor, Mwai Kibaki's tenure has proven to be one filled with disappointment after disappointment. Except, of course, for those lucky enough to be near the centre of power, whether political or economic. The cast majority of Kenyans live from hand to mouth and have not only to contend with economic hardship, crime and corruption, but the unwarranted, heavy hand of their government that imposes ever harsher taxes and enforces its laws with and ever heavier hand. But the likes of William Ruto, Raila Odinga or their fellow presidential candidates continue to dip their hands in the national kitty at our expense. We bought the PM a 700 million shilling office block. We spent half a billion shillings on a vice-presidential mansion. It was not enough. Their colleagues in the National Assembly want us to give them a 2.3 billion-shilling golden parachute next year. In their zeal to strike deals with each other for the ultimate prize, not one (save for Martha Karua) has called this day-light robbery what it is. Tell me again how different 2012 is different from 2007 from 2002 from 1997 from 1992?
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