Although more than 30 political parties have been registered in Kenya, the real battle for the Presidency will be fought on two fronts. On the one hand will be a conglomeration of Parties seeking the retention of power by the corrupt and filthy-rich Kikuyu ruling elite while on the other will be a cluster of parties seeking to dismantle the power structure of this class which has ruthlessly looted the country’s resources since the days of Kenyatta before President Kibaki came to power about a decade ago, principally to perpetuate the status quo.
The bottom line is that parties vying for power in Kenya, from ODM, PNU, NARC-Kenya, FORD-Kenya, URP to UDF, New Ford Kenya, Kenya National Congress and Wiper Democratic Party, are all ideologically bankrupt. This explains the persistent ethnic identities of these parties, their lack of tangible policies that can be sold to Kenyans and the utter confusion known to reign supreme once these parties come to power. In the absence of ideological parties armed with clear programs, analysis of political parties in Kenya is fundamentally ethnic based, if not, tribally oriented. A dominant feature in the ethnic arrangement in Kenya’s politics is that there is a marked hatred of the Kikuyu ruling class because of bad memories and dirty histories. This perception will, no doubt, complicate the Presidential ambitions of any Kikuyu candidate in the next elections.
Three reasons why Kikuyu ruling elite is hated by millions of Kenyans
The Kikuyu ruling elite is hated by millions of Kenyans from 41 ethnic groups because of three major reasons. The first reason is “running down Kenya”. Since this elite took power in January 2003, it has plundered the country’s economy, looted the country’s Treasury disproportionately, accumulated enormous wealth through theft of public funds, violated the human rights of Kenyans with impunity, perpetuated corruption at all levels of government, entrenched tribalism especially in the appointment of top public servants, remained totally unaccountable in matters of public policy and treated Kenya like a permanent “Kikuyu property” whose people must be ruled by a Kikuyu. Because of the excesses of the Kikuyu ruling class, being a Kikuyu has become a huge burden to millions of law abiding, poor and deprived Kikuyus equally suffering alongside millions of other Kenyans. In fact, the general hatred of the ruling Kikuyu elite is the main fuel propelling alternative non-Kikuyu Parties seeking power in Kenya. For every ethnic group, “it’s their turn to eat” because the perception is that the Kikuyu have been eating for “too long”.
The second reason why the Kikuyu ruling elite is hated in Kenya is because of what is largely perceived as sheer arrogance and lack of respect for the 41 ethnic groups that constitute the Kenyan Nation. After Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, held power for fifteen years, and after President Mwai Kibaki, another Kikuyu, has held power for 10 years (assuming he completes his final term), the most other ethnic groups expected was for the Kikuyu elite to lie low (like an envelope) especially on the question of Kenya’s fourth President. The reason is that in the last 48 years, the Kikuyu have held power for 25 years, which, according to the non-Kikuyu view, is more than enough. The situation could have been different if Kenya was driven by ideological politics because then, the ethnic origin of a President wouldn’t matter since voters would be following ideas and not individual ethnic sentiments. Instead of cooling down their heels on the question of the next President, what has the Kikuyu elite been doing?
They have been busy, setting up one political Party after another on which to seek the Presidency. In fact, a section of the Kikuyu elite are even trying to sell Uhuru Kenyatta, a suspected criminal and ICC indictee, as the next President of the Republic and this is what is driving some Kenyans to puke. The arrogance of this filthy elite is so notorious that the crimes against humanity Uhuru is facing does not matter. Uhuru is, himself, so arrogant that he has refused to resign as Deputy Prime Minister following his indictment, thereby violating the new Kenyan constitution. President Kibaki is himself so arrogant that he has refused to sack the DPM (following ICC indictment) although Uhuru is violating the very Constitution that Kibaki was so proud to promulgate in August 2010. Instead of concentrating on his defence at the ICC, Uhuru has overtly been propagating hate speeches from one “Prayer meeting” after another to fuel bitter inter-ethnic strife with the sole objective of stirring a new, bloody and genocidal civil war unrivaled in Kenya’s history before he leaves for the ICC any time soon. Because of this unspeakable arrogance, millions of Kenyans are convinced that it is time for a break with the Kikuyu ruling elite at the helm. So far, six Kikuyu candidates namely Uhuru Kenyatta, Martha Karua, Peter Kenneth, Paul Muite, Mutava Musymi and Prof George Saitoti, are vying for President. Although it is their democratic right to do so, the unfavourable anti-Kikuyu wave born out of justifiable historical circumstances and realities have not been a hindrance.
The final reason why the Kikuyu ruling elite is hated in Kenya is because this cabal is largely seen to have been responsible for the rigging of election in 2007 thereby preventing Raila Odinga from seizing power to fulfill long standing expectations of millions of voters who voted for him. It is widely believed by many Kenyans and observers alike that the Post Election Violence (PEV) could not have happened if Kibaki had handed over power to Raila. The key explanation why the Kikuyu elite stole Raila Odinga’s Presidency is because they did not believe that Raila would protect their massive and stolen wealth. These are the same fears driving the current anti-Raila campaign especially from the Kikuyu elite. In Kenya, it is called “Railaphobia”.
Is Kalenjin support for a pro-Kikuyu candidate possible?
Other forces campaigning against Raila outside Kikuyuland are not doing so primarily because of fear that Raila will not protect their stolen wealth but because of misplaced individual power ambitions. This is the ground where William Ruto and his URP, Eugine Wamalwa and his New Ford Kenya, Kalonzo Musyoka and his Wiper Party together with late comer, Musalia Mudavadi, and his newly found UDF are all camping. The big problem the non-Kikuyu anti-Raila clowns are facing is that members of their ethnic groups have equal (if not worse) hatred for the Kikuyu ruling elite. Three examples will suffice.
The Kalenjin is not an ethnic group but a conglomeration of many ethnic groups – Samburu, Turgen, Nandi, Turkana, Sabaot, Masaai et al. It is hardly plausible to argue that the Kalenjin love the Kikuyu ruling class and given the tension around land issues that has dominated the histories of these communities (with the Kikuyu being accused of having grabbed Kalenjin land), the only reason why the Kalenjin support is being associated with the G7 is because of the assumption that Ruto will actually stand as a Presidential candidate, a big illusion because Ruto will be arrested as soon as he arrives at the ICC to face crimes against humanity.
At that point, the perceived Kalenjin support for any presidential candidate from Kikuyuland will simply evaporate. This is because the Kalenjin are already arguing that they supported a Kikuyu in 2002 (Uhuru) and that a new support for a new Kikuyu presidential candidate will be “too much” expectation. In 2007, the Kalenjin were strongly advised by former President Moi to vote for Kibaki but they responded by voting for Raila and ejecting all of Moi’s children and sycophants from Parliament. To assume that the Kalenjin will follow Ruto like goats being herded into a pen is to fail to learn from recent Kalenjin history. Voting for a Kikuyu President will simply threaten Kalenjin consolidation of land they gained following the PEV and it is just a matter of time before this perspective is confirmed. This explains why despite the protracted Uhuru-Ruto dance-shows at the so-called Prayer meetings, Kikuyu IDPs are not moving an inch from the filthy camps to resettle in the Rift Valley. They are simply not welcome by the Kalenjin and this position is what will duplicate itself at the ballot. Will the Kalenjin vote for Mudavadi instead?
Mudavadi’s baggage as a Kikuyu-ruling class fall-back candidate
If Mudavadi was truly an independent minded candidate, he could have been the perfect alternative who could have scooped any anti-Raila votes in Kalenjin land. Since he decamped from ODM to UDF, Mudavadi has quickly emerged as a Moi-Kibaki Project and a fall-back candidate of the Kikuyu ruling elite which knows and understands that Uhuru, their preferred candidate, will be locked in The Hague sooner rather than later. The profile of Mudavadi as the “Kikuyu mask” in a “Luhya skin” will deprive him of both the Kalenjin and Luhya votes from “anti-Kikuyu ruling class voters” from these communities. This is why Mudavadi is heading for political oblivion.
From the local newspapers, it is now public knowledge that UDF was set up by Kibaki’s boys for Uhuru Kenyatta before things went terribly wrong, forcing Uhuru to abandon the ill-fated Party which Mudavadi has converted into a new home. Needless to say, Mudavadi’s welcoming ceremony at KICC last week was infested with top KANU apparatchiks because Moi sent them to back his candidate. So far, KANU has no Presidential candidate and it will not be surprising if, at the next Press conference, Kenyans hear that KANU is backing Mudavadi! Nick Salat, a KANU fat cat, was introduced at Mudavadi’s UDF reception along with other medium-sized KANU lap dogs who might not even make it back to Parliament because KANU is essentially a dead Party. Although many Luhya’s may be sympathetic to Mudavadi because of blood relations, majority of their top leaders refused to follow him to UDF, why?
Just like other ethnic groups who have suffered under the weight of the thieving Kikuyu elite, the Luhyas harbour equal and atavistic hatred for the Kikuyu ruling elite. Since Mudavadi’s strategy appears to be based on re-packaging himself as an alternative Kikuyu ruling class candidate (given the impending lock-up of Uhuru Kenyatta at The Hague), the impact of Mudavadi’s Presidential candidacy was greatly diluted.
Eugine Wamalwa and Political milk from the G7 cow
The same problem bedevils Eugine Wamalwa whose membership in the G7 Alliance locates him in the murky pool of Kikuyu ruling class fall-back candidates. In fact, the appointment of Wamalwa as Minister for Justice to replace the highly performing Mutula Kilonzo did more harm than good to the young Eugine because the appointment reinforced his profile as a confirmed stooge of the Kikuyu ruling elite.
Hours after his appointment, he was manipulated to begin steering the Justice Ministry on anti-ICC tracks and he did his job with gusto. Eugine has been doing poorly in the opinion polls primarily because of the Kikuyu ruling class “baggage” he carries on his shoulders at every G7 rally. The inability of Eugine to realise that he is being used as the new toilet paper (following the dumping of Wetangula) adds flesh to his image as an “overgrown political baby”. When I warned Wetangula in February 2008 that he would be used and dumped by the Kikuyu elite, he did not understand despite his law degree.
With Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto locked behind bars at The Hague; with Martha Karua, George Saitoti, Mutava Musymi, Paul Muite and Peter Kenneth emerging as non-starters because of the “Kikuyu baggage” on their backs and lack of a national appeal; with Mudavadi’s political profile suffering under the weight of multiple corruption scandals, “Kikuyu mask in a Luhya skin” image, Johnny come lately perspective, latter day ODM traitor badge; “UDF a Moi-Kibaki Project” stamp; with Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper “Demographic” Party having been wiped out of the political map following the 2007 burial of Kalonzo’s political future after election rigging; and with naïve Wamalwa unable to make an impact because of being fed too much “political milk” from the hated G7 cow, who will become Kenya’s next President? Your guess could be as good as mine but do I say!
Okoth Osewe
About the Author
wacha siasa mingi tukutane kwa debe
KSB: Tunakutana kwa debe kwa sabau ya siasa. Tukiacha siasa, hakuna kukutana kwa debe kwa hivjo jirembeshe!
Kikuyu Gema-Bonobo politics has no place in present Kenya!
What can Wakenya gain /benefit from thugs bandits and corrupt Kikuyu tribalists?
How brainwashed kikuyu masses to a point of worshipping Uhuru and yet Uhuru owns the whole of Kenya banks insurance companies and industries and the majority of Kikuyus live in abject poverty!
Kenyans,
What you are seeing “upfront” are just sideshows. “Games” meant to confuse and manipulate Kenyans so as to eventually vote for Musalia Mudavadi – the preferred candidate of the status quo power barons.
The real deals are happening behind the scenes. The current and past political classes (The Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki families and their cohorts) have chosen Musalia Mudavadi as their preferred candidate for the presidency because they consider him to be a “safe pair of hands.” who will protect them from answering for their MEGA CRIMES and maintain the status quo. Many Kenyans do not realize this – or maybe because of silly tribal considerations deliberately REFUSE to realize this: They are just being manipulated like ignorant fools.
The stakes are just to high for the Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki families and their cohorts. Should this political class loose the presidency in the next election – via my fellow tribesman Musalia Mudavadi, they are VERY SCARED that the following will happen.
• The Kenyatta family will lose all their land – that their patriarch, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, grabbed – and vast fortune,
• The Moi family will have their accounts – loaded with billions of dollars that they have stolen from Kenyans – frozen.
• Both families will be reduced to paupers overnight courtesy of the new constitution.
• …And Mwai Kibaki will be indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity and will be found guilty and will go to jail.
These three families have too much at stake. It’s a matter of life and death for them. They will do anything to confuse and manipulate us to get their way, which is to make sure Musalia Mudavadi becomes president – by “hooks” or “crooks” (plurals are deliberate and for emphasis)
I urge all Kenyans who genuinely love this country to see through the shenanigans of high level deception that we are being subjected to. Do not fall prey to the selfish interest of the current and past ruling political classes. Their intention is to use us like toilet paper to wipe their a*s h***s
1 Samuel 16: 1 – 13
New International Version 1984
Samuel Anoints David
1The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”
2But Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me.”
The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”
4Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”
5Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”
7But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
8Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”
“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.”
Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit downa until he arrives.”
12So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features.
Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.”
13So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.
Mr. Osewe will be da next prezzo of Kinya, we vote 4u Congolezes mr.
Mr Osewe, you’ve made a point. I’m still waiting for your comment on NHIF saga!
KSB: Now you are more civil and we can debate. The NHIF saga is an ODM scandal which needs to be investigated and the culprits brought behind bars for stealing public money. Corruption exists in both sides of the Coalition because both ODM and PNU practice politics from a capitalist base. Corruption is part of capitalism and as long as the system remains in place, corruption will continue to be a problem in government regardless of whether it is Raila or Uhuru in power. This is the “ideological interpretation” of the matter from a socialist stand point. The current NHIF scandal is nothing compared to the Ksh 1.5 billion Mombasa crane scandal in which Prof. Anyang Nyongo was once involved. Although an investigative committee was set up, nothing happened. The NHIF is also nothing compared to to the Ksh 8 billion “computer error” scandal in which Uhuru was involved. The scandal was never even investigated and Uhuru wants to be President. I don’t have to mention the Ksh 7.5 billion Tritton scandal in which Kiraitu was involved and nothing happened to him. Then came Ongeri with his Ksh 4 billion education scandal. Instead of being brought to account, Ongeri has been transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Others are the Anglo-Leasing, Goldenberg, Helicopter scandal, Uchumi scandal, Kenya Power, just to mention but a few. The situation in Kenya is such that the elites behind political parties from all ethnic groups are engaged in a struggle for power for their own benefit as Wakenya starve to death. The gist of my article is that the Kikuyu ruling class have had their day at State House and it may be time to give room. More later…
Dual citizenship shocker for Diaspora
Published on 12/04/2012
By Chris Wamalwa in USA
Kenyans in the Diaspora who acquired citizenship of other countries before the promulgation of the New Constitution must apply to regain Kenyan citizenship.
The Constitution Implementation Commission Mr Charles Nyachae told a meeting attended by Kenyans living in Canada that majority of them assume that they regain citizenship due to the Dual Citizenship clause
“According to the constitution, the moment you acquired citizenship of another country (before August 2010), the operational piece of the constitution kicked in and you automatically lost your Kenyan citizenship making you a “foreigner” in your own country,” said Nyachae, chairman of CIC.
Nyachae urged those in the Diaspora to apply to re-gain your Kenyan citizenship.
He also disclosed that it will be a crime for any Kenyan not to disclose, within three months, to the Kenyan government that they have acquired citizenship of another country.
The CIC chairman said one will be liable to a jail time if they are caught in Kenya and a fine of up to Sh5 million.
“We urge Kenyans living in Canada to take a keener interest in some of these developments because a criminal record for instance can mess up somebodyfs life,” said Mr Simon Nabukwesi, Kenyan High Commissioner to Canada.
Majority of Kenyans living abroad who acquired citizenship of the countries where they are settled before the “dual citizenship” kicked in have always assumed that they can go back to Kenya and run for elective government positions.
Many have shown interest in running for parliament, senate and even county positions.
“The reality is that such persons do not qualify as the law says you lost your Kenyan citizenship. You must first apply to re-gain your Kenyan citizenship and then wait for a period of 10 years before you can run for elective government position in Kenya,” said Ben Ondoro, chairman of Kenyan Community in Ontario (KCO).
The meeting between CIC and Diaspora was organized by the Kenyan High Commissioner to Canada Mr Simon Nabukwesi in collaboration with the Kenyan community in Ontario (KCO).@
The CIC delegation included Chairman Charles Nyachae, Dr Florence Omosa, Mr Philemon Mwaisaka and Prof Peter Wanyande
BOOK SYNOPSIS
On August 4th 2011 the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya, Raila Amolo Odinga, announced, through the local Kenyan media, that he had suspended Miguna Miguna indefinitely without pay as his senior adviser.
When Mr. Odinga suddenly announced his ‘reinstatement’ On 27th December 2011, Miguna turned it down.
In his explosive new memoirs, Peeling Back the Mask, Miguna Miguna exposes Mr Odinga’’s lacklustre leadership – questioning his progressive credentials and claim that he is an agent of change.
The book presents a true insider’s account of the intrigues, discussions and power plays that have occurred in Kenya’s “corridors of power” in recent years. The book depicts a cowardly and dishonest leader undeserving of the praise and attention of recent years.
It is a must read for everyone interested in social justice and good governance in Africa.
Peeling Back the Mask, also delves back to tell the remarkable tale of Miguna’s early life, from humble origins, through privations and hardship, his university days and his many years as a practicing lawyer.
A heartwarming personal African story.
Kenya Parliament consists 222 baboons ,chimpanzees ,Orangutaungs,and Bonobos .Kenyans should give them mirrors to always look at them and see themselves a real tailess chimps.
UNITED KINGDOM(UK)should come back and Re-colonize this Failed State.UK should be blamed for handing Power (independence) to un-civilized bunch of Semi Illitrates Primitive, corrupt negroes . Still the (UK ) has the right to interfere with Kenyas internal matters hence they have the support of oppressed and confused Kenya masses.
Uhuru Kanyatta is Desperado (Why is he in Panic?=)A motorist rammed into Maina Kiai’s car along Church Road. The incident shook the former chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. Although his vehicle was not damaged, Kiai who reported the incident to the police, reads mischief in the incident and believes it was more than just a mere accident.
Kenya Ni Nchi Ya Wakikuyu Pekee! Kikuyu Owns Kenya ! The Most Cunning & Genius God Erect People Who Fought British Empire>TRANSITION TRADITIONS AND LESSONS FOR KIBAKI EXIT Friday, 11 May 2012 23:47 BY JOE ADAMA
President Mwai Kibaki takes the oath of office as the President of Kenya
Special Correspondent JOE ADAMA considers what history has to teach us about power transitions, and says Kenyans must never again entertain a stealth, fait accompli Presidential Inauguration. We have already had two such shame-faced events . . . with dire consequences
Reports of President Kibaki’s Sh50 million gratuity having been factored into the next Budget and talk of a Sh500 million palatial retirement home somewhere near Solio, Nyeri, would seem to reassure Kenyans that the next Presidential transition will involve a much smoother transfer of power than was the case in 2002 when Kibaki was incoming.
So would the prospect of the Assumption of the Office of President Bill, 2012, which is currently with the Attorney-General, and which has facilitated the creation of a special team to be headed by Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia to oversee a smooth transfer of power. But the Assumption of the Office of President Committee is already generating intense controversy and suspicion, along the lines of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Board of Directors recently appointed by Transport Minister Amos Kimemia – its ethnic composition and blatant bias towards the Mt. Kenya region.
The sordid KPA affair, in which 7 out of 10 directors are Mt. Kenyans, is now a court matter. The Assumption of the Office of President Committee issue will soon no doubt be raised in Parliament and most likely be the subject of litigation as 11 of its 13 members are drawn from the Mt. Kenya region.
Having seen only two presidential power transfers so far since Independence, what lessons have Kenyans learned from less-than-perfect procedures and what can they look forward to, to cap their biggest and most significant General Election, which involves only the third change of guard at State House in 50 years?
Stephen Kay, Queen’s Counsel, the lawyer for Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta at the second confirmation of hearings session at the International Criminal Court at The Hague is clearly an articulate and formidable counselor. But he made many Kenyans flinch and some even cringe whenever he described the Presidential Inauguration ceremony of December 30, 2007, as a supremely dignified event held on practically hallowed ground.
Thinking Kenyans know different and with abundant good reason.
To begin with, not only was President Mwai Kibaki’s second Inauguration as different from his first one on the same date exactly five years previously to the day (but not the hour!) as midnight is from midday, it was actually the trigger of the post-election violence (PEV).
The 2007 inaugural was held at dusk in protected premises, State House, where unsanctioned photography is prohibited even from across the road.
Although it was televised live, the only witnesses to Kibaki’s second and final swearing-in ceremony were carefully selected invited guests from only one side of the political equation and a few foreign envoys. The hurried and last-minute nature of this ceremonial was woefully apparent to the trained eye, including the spectacle of State House staffers being dragooned into filling the too many empty seats meant for invited guests who changed their minds and skipped the event.
UNILATERAL INAUGURAL
Unlike all other Presidential inaugurals except one, this one had no foreign heads of states and governments, not even from a neighboring eastern Africa state, it had no military guard of honour, no Armed Forces brass band, no fly-past salute by the Kenya Air Force (only one other inauguration in Kenya lacked an Air Force salute and it, too, was held hurriedly and at State House, which all aircraft except the Presidential helicopter flight are forbidden to overfly, more about that in a moment) and no carefully prepared Inaugural Address complete with memorable quotable quotes.
Thus, although it was televised and broadcast live on radio nationwide and attended by a smattering of bemused foreign envoys and all the President’s men and women, the second Kibaki inaugural had a furtive air about it that was undeniable even by his most ardent supporters.
To the opposition massed behind Raila Odinga, who had taken the Presidential contest to a near-photo finish in which both he and Kibaki garnered a minimum of five million votes each, the swearing-in at dawn, without the public or foreign heads of state and government in attendance, smacked instantaneously and suspiciously of a unilateralist and exclusionary take-it-or-leave-it power grab.
KIBAKI’S FIRST COMING
Compare Kibaki’s second coming to his triumphal and euphoric first one exactly five years previously. On that occasion the iconic Uhuru Park was filled to the horizon by Kenya’s largest-ever public gathering and the Presidential dais was packed with foreign dignitaries, including Graca Machel, Nelson Mandela’s wife, Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and the entire complement of the Diplomatic Corps. It was a standing-room-only affair, writ on a scale larger than any stadium in the world could hold.
An Armed Forces guard of honour and brass band found itself standing shoulder-to-shoulder with ecstatic, constantly cheering and heaving wananchi under a sweltering sun. It was a wonder that no soldier or bandsman fainted during the long hours of a euphoric ceremony that dragged on until 4pm.
When Kibaki delivered his first Inaugural address, in a wheelchair, with neck brace and one arm and leg in plaster, it was a soaring speech full of regime-change passion and dynamics, including the pledge to give zero tolerance to corruption. It was not a magnanimous speech; Kibaki did not name his successor once or thank him, he only tore into his record. He would never make another speech like that one, and certainly not on the early evening of December 30, 2007.
Kibaki’s second coming should not even merit mention in the same sentence and the same breath as his first coming. But could such an inauguration fiasco happen again? Those who do not learn from history are indeed doomed to repeating the worst of it. The 2007 ceremony was not the first time that a Presidential inauguration had been held in an almighty rush, in protected premises with the Kenyan public (read the electorate) pointedly disinvited and without the Air Force salute.
THE FIRST CLOSED INAUGURATION
It is now almost forgotten that the first multiparty General Election in a generation, the 1992 event, which involved massive pre-election violence, including evictions of sections of populations, was capped by Kenya’s first fait accompli Presidential inauguration. On January 3, 1993, Kenyans woke to a live televised event from State House that had not been announced either the day before, overnight or in the early morning.
Comptroller of State Houses Franklin Bett (today’s Minister for Roads on the ODM side of the Grand Coalition) and his staffers as well as the Presidential protocol people at the Office of the President (OP) at Harambee House worked literally overnight on the night and very early morning of January 2, dispatching invitation cards quickly followed by direct telephone calls to the Diplomatic Corps, selected captains of industry, academics, other professionals and other assorted Kanu-friendly worthies.
The decision to swear Moi in at State House was taken following intelligence reports emanating from Kanu Headquarters at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (the selfsame KICC of 2007 infamy) to the effect that Opposition leaders and Presidential contest losers Kenneth Stanley Njindo Matiba, Kibaki and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga were on their way to the High Court to petition a not-unfriendly vacation duty judge to stop the Presidential Inauguration, a prospect which Kanu viewed as being expressly engineered to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis.
In place at Kanu HQ at that time were Cabinet minister Joseph Kamotho as Secretary General, Ambassador Japheth Kiti as the National Executive Officer and trade unionist Johnstone Mwandawiro as Deputy National Executive Officer.
At Nation Centre, Group Managing Editor Wangethi Mwangi, the editorial head of Kenya’s and the eastern African region’s largest media house, was seated in his office with his large TV set on, the volume low, but he was not paying it much attention as he perused that day’s newspapers. When his gaze finally focused on the screen, tuned to State broadcaster KBC, it slowly dawned on him that he was watching a significant State function, happening at State House, Nairobi, and it was not file footage but streaming live. And it looked like, yes, a Presidential inauguration!
Rushing into the newsroom and calling for the photographic editor, Mwangi was stunned to hear that his top photographer, Sam Ouma, was already at State House and had been for a while, as indeed were other press photographers, unbeknownst to their news editors or other higher authorities. In those pre-mobile phone days, Bett and the OP protocol people had somehow reached selected reporters and photographers overnight, promising them the scoop of their careers up to that point in time.
The spectacle of top editors and their staff watching the first Presidential inauguration of the multiparty era, a completely unannounced event, on State TV, their mouths agape, ought to have been a stand-alone major news item on its own.
Moi had already enjoyed three full-fledged and very public Presidential inaugurations (1979, 1983 and 1989) at Uhuru Park, Naiobi, with complete military honours and impressive attendance by other heads of state and government. But he went for the stealth version for his first multiparty era inaugural. However, rushed and exclusionary as it was, Moi’s State House inaugural lacked only foreign heads of state and government and the Air Force salute.
SEEDS OF DISASTER
In a very significant sense, the seeds of the 2007 inauguration disaster were sowed exactly five years previously to the day, when the incoming National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) practically ejected President Moi from State House. It was Raila’s idea that the country not wait until very early January for Moi to vacate State House and Kibaki to move in, delivered repeatedly and laced with threats of a million-man march on the House on the Hill if Moi did not promptly pack up and go.
There was no shortage of extremely bad blood between the defeated Kanu and a finally united and triumphant Opposition. Moi had been in power so long – 24 years, just a year short of a complete human generation – and had been such a schemer for all that period, outwitting everyone, thwarting and demoting many (Kibaki included), jailing some without trial (Raila included), heading up a regime that was corrupt, brutal, arrogant to the point of hubris, that the Opposition were bristling with impatience in wanting to see his broad back recede over the power horizon and his fingers finally off the levers of the Republic.
Indeed, it did not matter a whit that Moi, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, had gone through an elaborate Farewell to the Chief ceremony at the Lang’ata Barracks just before the election. Every second he spent at State House was a minute too long and the victorious Opposition, now the Government-designate, could not put it beyond him to pull one last fast one, even if it plunged the country into crisis and tore the nation’s delicate fabric.
These two dire prospects did not happen under Moi’s final days at State House however, instead they lurked in wait for the end of Kibaki’s first term. The suspicions that attended Moi’s exit were as nothing compared to the suspicions surrounding the end of Kibaki’s first term five years later, so thick was the atmosphere that you could slice it with a butter knife, or, as was soon and massively the case, a bloodstained machete.
The 2007 General Election was Kenya’s largest ever national electoral event, far outstripping the euphoric felling of Kanu a mere 60 months previously. Just look at the numbers – on the late afternoon of December 30, 2007, the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) announced Presidential election results in which both Kibaki and Raila each almost exceeded the total number of votes, 5.4 million, garnered by both Kibaki and Uhuru in 2002.
Kibaki’s margin of victory was so narrow and Raila’s sense of grievance as somehow having been robbed of victory so acute that calmer and more rational presidential advisers would have counseled a more inclusive, much more public and truly dignified Inauguration, complete with a carefully crafted speech that sought to address the disputed result and the various ways forward, and timed for early January.
The problem was that there was, literally, no time whatsoever to organize this. Now it may well be that certain key political advisers pushed the situation, through strategic procrastination, in this direction, ensuring that there was no time left. Precisely because of Raila’s own strategic insistence five years before that Moi leave State House and the levers of power early and almost unceremoniously, there would have been a constitutional crisis on the stroke of midnight on December 30-31, 2007.
At a minute past midnight, Kibaki’s first full five-year term was set to expire. In an atmosphere so pregnant with chaos, following ODM’s strenuous disputing of the Presidential election results as announced by the ECK, a section of the Armed Forces could willfully misinterpret the situation (or interpret it all too correctly) and reach the convenient conclusion that there being neither President nor Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kenya duly in office as of December 31, 2007, an intolerable power vacuum was in place and a National Redemption Council based at the Department of Defence (DoD) was therefore stepping into the breach.
It would have been the most seamlessly effortless overturning of the constitutional order and, many would argue and agree, a much worse prospect than the PEV.
FULL-FLEDGED INAUGURALS
The greatest lesson of the disputed 2007 Presidential results ought to be that the formbook for Presidential Inauguration should be re-written. Kenya must not suffer the polarizing prospect of a third Presidential inaugural that disinvites the public, the region and the world. Presidential inaugurals must never again be held at State House or other restricted, protected and exclusionary State premises, except perhaps in times of war or other extraordinary national calamity, for instance the sudden death of an incumbent and many members of the Cabinet, including the line of succession, for whatever reason.
Presidential elections losers and the opposition generally must be invited guests at all future inaugurals, beginning with the next one. Inclusiveness, not a winner-take-all exclusiveness, must become the order of the day at these democratic transition events.
What’s more, a decent interval between the exit from State House of an outgoing incumbent and the inauguration of the incoming President must become the norm and the tradition. In America the President is elected on November 4 and sworn into office on January 20, whether incumbent or incoming.
The spectacle of Kenya’s two shame-faced and stealth Presidential inaugurations, the second one of which led directly to disaster, should stand as a strong warning and deterrent for the format of all future inaugurals, beginning with the 2012 event, which will cap an election that is much bigger in scope, stakes and numbers than the last two euphoric events put together.
Saying that a new constitutional order is in place is hardly enough. As these two stealth events clearly illustrated, political strategists can create the conditions of apparent crisis to justify a non-public inauguration at the drop of a hat. Fully public, full-fledged, fully-loaded Presidential inaugurals must become Kenya’s transition tradition as firmly as they are in more mature democracies.
And this is why the two mechanisms created by the new Constitution – the Assumption of the Office of President Bill, 2012 and the special team to be headed by the Secretary to the Cabinet to oversee a smooth transfer of power – are so critically important.
But there are complaints emanating from civil society and soon to reach the political sector and constitute yet another of the seemingly endless flashpoints of passionate public debate that generate more heat than light and debase our national discourse. Civil society activists are warning that that 11 of the 13 committee members are drawn from one ethnic region.
As things stand now, the prospective members of the Assumption of the Office of President Committee are Head of Public Service Francis Kimemia; General Julius Karangi, the Head of the Kenya Defence Forces; Major General (Rtd) Michael Gichangi, the Director-General of the National Security Intelligence Service; CID Director Ndegwa Muhoro; Commissioner of Police Mathew Iteere; Attorney-General Githu Muigai; PSs in the ministries of Internal Security (Mutea Iringo), Finance (Joseph Kinyua), Foreign Affairs (Thuita Mwangi), Information and Communication (Bitange Ndemo) and Constitutional Affairs (Gichira Kibara).
The Comptroller of State Houses, the Clerk of the National Assembly (Patrick Gichohi) and Chief Registrar of the Judiciary (Gladys Boss Shollei) complete the 13-officials team.
Hatred of a community can never. Determine who will be the next president of Kenya. A Kikuyu has a right like any other Kenyan to vie for presidency. A few tribes ganged against them in 2007, but they triumphed against them. Raila instigated the tribal violence but it didn’t help him. Gods will severely punish him. It is now finalised in action and thinking that he will never rule. Anyone else can do but not him