Kizuri chajiuza

Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi did not sing his own praises. For that, he had an entire choir composed of stalwarts like Sharif Nassir, JJ Kamotho, Ezekiel Barng'etuny, William Ole Ntimama and the Muungano Choir. Longevity in Kenyan electoral politics - he was first nominated to the legislative Council in 1952 - had turned him into a household name and not even the Kihika Kimanis of the 1970s could deny that Mr. Moi's place in the firmament of Kenyan politics was well-established, if not rock solid.

Mr. Moi's successors were never that lucky. Though, of the three of the them, Mwai Kibaki was the longest in politics, he did not have the political presence that Mr. Moi had, relying instead on his place as the longest leader of the Official Opposition and his ability to unite disparate Opposition leaders into a workable coalition. Mr. Kenyatta, and his successor, unfortunately had neither Mr. Moi's legitimacy nor Mr. Kibaki's broad acceptability, instead being welded to each other with the accusations by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of crimes against humanity stemming form the post-election violence of 2007/2008.

What they brought to presidential politics is a PR machine that was unrivalled; Mr. Raila Odinga's Coalition for Reforms and democracy was saddled by old men with very old ideas intended to prosecute old school politics in the twenty-first century. CORD was defeated, but only barely, because despite the PR razzmatazz, the vast majority of the voting public were impressed by neither coalition. Unlike Jomo Kenyatta who was intimately connected to Kenya's independent, the least not by how he and the other members of the Kapenguria Six were jailed by the colonial government, the presidential candidate and his running mate in Jubilee had nothing to point to as their place ion Kenya's political narrative and so they could only sell PR and very little more.

It must frustrate mightily that few people have strong enough feelings to voluntarily sing ones praises, despite ones highly developed sense of worth and importance. You inherit a national government whose coffers are running empty, saddled by foreign debts that threaten to overwhelm, and with dedication and determination, one has found a workable formula to keep the economic wheels turning. And yet, the men and women who should, MUST, acknowledge you political genius continue to pay attention to other less-important things like extra judicial killings, rampant corruption, tens of thousands of kilometres of potholed roads, uneven healthcare services and similar wasteful pursuits. You wonder, "What is wrong with these people?"

So, you make the fateful decision to sing your own praises. The expression, "kizuri chajiuza, kibaya chajitembeza" does not feature in your formidable repertoire of popular phrases. An extensive period of PR driven political manoeuvring is hurtling to its denouement, and the best one can do is say, "I am the best!" None can predict time; so it remains to be seen what good vainglory will bring.