Somebody has to say it, and for now I seem to be the one upon whom the axe has fallen. After the events of 2008, my country Kenya is now well known for three major factors: -
a) Its long distance runners that have dominated major athletics events since time immemorial. These individuals have for so long ruled the 3000m steeplechase, the 5000m, the 10,000m, the cross country challenge and the marathon. Many people who follow track events know Kipchoge Keino, Paul Tergat, Samuel Wanjiru, Catherine Ndereva, John Ngugi and Robert Cheruiyot among others.
b) The Maasai Mara’s migration of Wildebeests. This event was named among the seven wonders of the modern world and for the right reasons: It’s a spectacle to behold, a great site that attracts thousands of tourists to Kenya, to the Mara.
c) The post election violence. Not again shall things be the same again. This event shook the very foundations upon which Kenya is built and it’s the one that I shall focus on at length.
Why did the latter happen, putting Kenya in the international news for all the wrong reasons? This historical happening has historical significance behind it. Politics in Africa has always been tribal and will always be until a major revolution comes and sweeps the present generation into the sea.
Since independence, Kenya has been ruled by only two tribes out of the more than forty two. This brings a feeling of desolation among the remaining tribes or groups of people that live in the country.
At independence in 1963, the famous Jomo Kenyatta became president and for fifteen years politicians from his native central province tried to shut out everybody else from the corridors of power. They concentrated this power in the hands of a few individuals who could here nothing of this power crossing over to other regions in the country. Among the few reasons advanced was the fact that they had fought for independence under the auspices of the notorious Mau-Mau, but the truth was simple: they had successfully taken over the very lands that white settlers had dispossessed from their people, the real Mau-Mau, and couldn’t dare be outside power. They had to cling onto power till death did them apart. Yet they lost power to an outsider in the name of Kenya’s second president: Daniel Toroitich arap Moi.
For twenty four years, Moi was in power, and like Kenyatta, he was surrounded by a powerful clique of politicians from his native province, the Rift Valley. They successfully kept many challenges at bay, the 1981 attempted coup being the first real challenge. Yet Moi proved cleverer than all of them by changing the constitution and making Kenya a de facto one party state. Now that was real genius of a real African strongman. This enabled him to rule undeterred for more than two decades.
The return of multi party democracy in 1992 shook Rift Valley leaders to the core and they realized they had to prevent any central Kenya politician from reclaiming power. God, they had suffered so much humiliation under Kenyatta and couldn’t agree to go through the same again. This didn’t mean that the ordinary people of Rift Valley had benefited from Moi’s leadership, of course not. The ruling elite had to protect what they had acquired in the fourteen years at all cost and this included pre and post election violence being meted out towards other tribes living in the Rift Valley. Luhyas, Luos and Kikuyus found themselves dispossessed, arrowed, and murdered for nothing other than perceived opposition to Moi. The same happened in 1997 but like in 1992, Moi managed to retain the presidency.
In 2002, tribes united not to vote for Mwai Kibaki, but to vote against Moi and his political progeny, Uhuru Kenyatta. The Kalenjin politicians of the Rift Valley were divided on this: They were torn between voting for another Kikuyu and protecting their interests or voting for another kikuyu as change from the Moi leadership that had not benefited them much. The half that stuck with Uhuru Kenyatta lost and were bitter, very bitter for being thrown out of power. They had enjoyed power; they had used it to their advantage for 24 years. It was painful to lose it at the most opportune moment. A return to the Kenyatta days now stared them in the face.
The kikuyu politicians too were cut into half. They didn’t know whom to support. If they supported Uhuru Kenyatta, they would indirectly be voting for a man who had tormented them for twenty four years. If they voted for Mwai Kibaki, they feared that he could lose again like he had lost in 1992 and 1997. It therefore became regional. Those from Kiambu and its environs defected from the Kibaki side and crossed over to Uhuru, now that is Africa. When the tribe is not enough, we identify with our clan, and when our clan isn’t enough to satisfy our greed, we identify with our family. Long time allies of Kibaki such as Njenga Karume suddenly changed political affiliation and returned to KANU because they would be more comfortable around their son!
Anyway, Uhuru lost. Guess what they did almost immediately; they changed allegiance, and started flirting with the very Kibaki they had abandoned, now that was tribalism at its best but this division saved the Kikuyu from yet another round of post election violence.
The fall out between Raila Odinga and Kibaki over the 2005 draft constitution presented a juicy tomato to the very people who had felt humiliated by the 2002 turn of events. While Raila must have been genuine in his thinking that a constitution that had all power vested in the presidency would not work for Kenya, the rift valley politicians who had coalesced around Uhuru Kenyatta saw a rare opportunity to hit back at the man who had taken away power from them. Remember that this had nothing to do with the common man. I still reiterate that the ordinary Kikuyu never benefited from Kenyatta’s presidency but in fact lost a lot. The ordinary Kalenjin in the rift valley never benefited from the more than two decades of Moi leadership, but politicians did. They supported Raila’s big no against Kibaki’s constitution not because they loved him but because they had to hit back at Kibaki at all cost.
When 2007 came, the election was the best opportunity for the very people who had been in power for twenty four years to return to power disguised as Raila supporters. The rift valley natives had developed real love for this man from Nyanza, but their leaders were reluctant to support him. It was hard to convince William Ruto and his friends to support Raila but unlike the other presidential candidate Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, Raila had the best opportunity for getting Kibaki out of power. This would benefit them immensely and that is why they had to not only support him, but also appear to support him tooth and nail. Rift Valley residents, particularly the Kalenjin did vote for this man not really because of their leaders, but because he represented change and so many people were hungry for this change! It was more than obvious that Raila Odinga would win. Not because of the opinion polls, not because of the popularity that he enjoyed in six out of eight provinces, but because of the radical change from the past that he preached.
What was the man talking about?
a) A departure from the old days where impunity was the order of the day
b) Devolution of power from the centre into the regions for everyone to have a say in the running of the affairs of the state.
c) A devolution of the economic returns that would enable the less developed regions in Kenya such as the coast province, and the North Eastern province to benefit
d) A new constitution that would reduce the powers of the presidency and introduce the post of prime minister.
e) Sound environmental management procedures
f) A reduction in the price of basic commodities
g) Religious freedom etc.
Now, these were some of the key issues that attracted voters to Raila, and the Rift valley leaders realized they would lose out if they didn’t capitalize on this. It would be now or never. The results of the 2007 election did not go the way they had anticipated. Stolen or not, they had never dreamt of a return to the days when they lived away from statehouse. The five years had been too long and they couldn’t bear, they just couldn’t, another five years. They had to fight and because politicians have to do the very important task of thinking and planning for their people, political violence erupted all over the country.
Just like in 1992, and 1997, fighting erupted but this time on a greater scale. Protests erupted all over Kenya this time round but those who witnessed the violence must have noted one thing: people demonstrated against the election results in Western Province, Nyanza, Nairobi and coast provinces. The police responded by killing the demonstrators, and they responded by burning and looting property but the rebellion in the Rift Valley was more personalized. It was more than getting rid of Kikuyus out of the Rift Valley, it was historical, and some people are right in thinking that it must have been planned. While I strongly believe this violence was not planned before the election, what happened was a clear pointer to the frustration by Rift Valley leaders. The lost election was bitter to them more than it was to Raila, or so it seemed. They wanted to do everything to get themselves (read, Raila) in power. Without him at the helm, they knew that all was lost.
Political violence subsided when a deal was struck, and the grand coalition formed but again this wasn’t enough. Out of the twenty cabinet posts allocated to ODM, Raila gave them five but they wanted more because to them, they had won the battle to be in government, to them, they had fought and won, and had the right to fill all the cabinet posts allocated to the largest party in Kenya! Five out of twenty wasn’t good enough and it earned Raila nothing but scorn and more scorn. Remember ODM had more than one tribe. The majority of the voters in the Rift Valley were indeed the Kalenjin, but so are the Maasai, the Luhyas, the Turkana, the Kikuyu, and the Samburu part of the same Rift Valley. Raila has tried in vain to explain the fact that not every Tom, Dick and Harry could get a cabinet post when there were only twenty to be shared, but that has remained an issue in contention between the remnants of Kanu in ODM and their party leader.
The other issue they have fought for very long for has been release of youths arrested during the post election violence. Many youths died in nearly all the six provinces where Raila had majority support from police bullets during the post election violence and many more were arrested. Of those arrested merely for taking part in the demonstrations, most were actually released but for a few who murdered, raped and burned peoples houses in the name of stolen elections. What should Raila do in this case? Go to the courts, steal the files, destroy them, and go to the remand cells and open the doors for all criminals to walk free? Maybe, and again maybe not.
The latest bone of contention in ODM is the Mau eviction. Majority of Kenyans support the prime minister on this. If everyone who claims to have a home in the catchment area without as much as any piece of paper, title deed or otherwise is compensated, every Tom, Dick and Harry shall invade not only the Mau, but the rest of the water catchment areas in Kenya, and this is not acceptable. But even before the issue of Mau evictions can be sorted out, they have declared their real intention. TO RECAPTURE POLITICAL POWER IN 2012!
That is the real intention and they must fight the prime minister not because he has wronged the people who voted for him but because he stands in the way of their realization of this one dream, to rule Kenya again. I rest my case and now the world knows what the real trouble is with my country. Those in power want to retain power, those out of power must regain it at all cost. They will murder, they will maim, and they will plunder just to be back to where they feel is their rightful fixed abode: State house!