Well, speaking well after the vote… Yes won, nyanza had the greatest turnout.. Rift valley overwhelmingly voted no(the only red province) eastern almost split its vote.. We finally have a new constitution yey! Suffice it to say, kenyans voted on tribal lines. Raila and Ruto are the biggest gainers in the whole scenario.. Those two will decide who wins the presidency, along with central kenya. My observation of RV(kalez) Is that many of them have more substancial land thus their considerations might have been different. Am not the isolation position cuz 2012 wil be about other things. NB why do kenyans typically vouch for their own ethnic group whilst passing judgement on others? Before u answer, look at urself and the entire thread.. Beyond the constitution, we need to adres ethnicity. Fyi, it beats me how this thread is not ethnic when the tittle itself mentions an ethnic group!
Saru
As we celebrate, let us also reflect…
Saru: Ethnicity is a sad reality in Kenyan politics and you cannot discuss the country’s politics without the element of ethnicity creeping in. You have yourself mentioned that “Kenyans voted on tribal lines”, thus using ethnicity to try and reach a conclusion. The answer to ethnic politics is class politics but unfortunately, national consciousness is still lagging behind when it comes to the issue of an alternative thinking to ethnicity.
It is good that Kenyans have removed the excuse of a “bad Constitution” in the country’s “politics of stagnation”. A while ago, people thought that political pluralism is the answer after they ignored warnings that it depends on what the Parties stand for. Now, we have different ethnic blocks aligned to different ethnic chieftains running different ethnic parties ie Parties that are essentially ideologically bankrupt and are more pre-occupied with ethnic Alliances than real issues and ideas.
The good news is that now, Kenyans will notice that the Constitution is a piece of paper then they will begin to look into ways of putting food on the table and a roof on top of their heads by demanding a share of the National cake whose eating is the preserve of the ruling classes (starting with MPs and their million untaxed salaries).
No one has lost or gained in the passing of the Constitution. The event is just another stage in the democratization process in our country. Single Party dictatorship is gone; the colonial style Constitution is gone but the biggest stumbling block (bigger than single Party/old Constitution) – the system – remains firmly in place. It is what Kenyatta, Moi, Kibaki and any future Prezzo will use to stagnate Kenya in the interest of foreign powers who keep an eye on Kenya at every vital stage of the democratic process to ensure that the status quo is maintained.
After the Constitution, the system should be next (the rich man’s system) which creates tens of millionaires and millions of poor citizens who are landless, jobless, houseless, insecure, frustrated, deprived, trampled upon, with little education, starving and dying of treatable diseases like malaria in their own country when they have an institution called government which they can vote in and out at every election as per the Constitution only for nothing to change.
New Furniture in the House of Kenya
Talk about Wakale, Wajadhe, Wakikuyu, Abandu etc and who represents their political interests exist because of lack of alternative thinking. The Kenyan youth must wake up because they are the future. Wazee will never change the situation because they are more interested in preserving the status quo while at the same time creating the impression that things are changing through the re-introduction of political pluralism, defeat of Moi and promulgation of a new Constitution. This is not to rubbish the changes that have taken place. They have been good for the development of our democratic standing.
However, young Kenyans need to question a system in which those who are producing wealth in the country (workers), the poor in society and the peasantry cannot build their own Party (they are over 25 million) and be represented in Parliament to advocate for salaries to be increased to a minimum living wage, prices of unga, petrol, mafuta taa etc to be reduced and why such a Party cannot vie for power (like any other Party) to reduce MPs salaries to 30k (or less) so that money saved can be used to build dispensaries, houses, roads, free education up to University etc. The day such a Party is set up, Kenyans will not be voting according to their ethnic group but according to their class in society and tribalism will begin to fade away because of collective class interests genuinely championed through politics. The main issues are heavy and will take time to explain.
For now, let us celebrate the coming promulgation of the new Constitution. When nothing begins to change in terms of bread and butter issues, may be, Kenyans will begin to question something else and if you ask me, I will point a straight finger at the system and even explain why it remains our biggest enemy compared to the Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Luhya, Kamba, Mjikenda whom, I have been told, could be enemies of the Luo, Bukusu, Masaai, Borana and what have you. Britain, our former Colonial master, has no Constitution so let us not worship this piece of paper.
To put it differently, we have a new Constitution sitting on an old and rotten system that has been tested for over 45 years by three Presidents in our country and that has failed the Nation because in this age of independence, the government cannot guarantee food, clothing and shelter to its people. In other words, the new Constitution is like new furniture taken into the house of Kenya whose water system, power system, plumbing system, sewage system, ventilation system and every known system is kaput.
While it is good to have this new furniture, nothing fundamental will change because as a result of the failure of the entire central system in the house aka the “nerve center”, we will not be able to cook food in the kitchen, take a shower, watch TV, shit in the toilet etc. When the spinal cord has failed, a heart transplant will not put the patient back on his/her feet. We have transplanted the Constitution but the system failure remains. Just like it took Kenyans to change the Constitution, the same Kenyans will have to change the system for things to work and this stark reality will haunt Kenyans for generations.
The new furniture of a Constitution will be good to look at (and that is what we have been doing to that piece of paper since the process of changing it began) but that is all. We have taken a new engine and placed it inside an old, rusted and broken down frame of a car which has no windows (the old system) so we will continue to remain static until we change the frame. This is probably the simplest level I can get it to, at least for now. As we celebrate, let us also reflect.
Okoth Osewe
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