Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Before it is too late

The recent developments with the Gang of Seven and the ODM, especially as reported by Kenya's independent and fearless media, creates the impression that the next general elections will be between the Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, and whoever the Gang of Seven chooses as their standard-bearer. It is completely lost on the chattering classes and the punditocracy that Martha Karua, Raphael Tuju or Peter Kenneth have offered themselves for the presidency. Nor do they seem to have taken seriously Mutava Musyimi's candidacy. To be fair to the 'gentlemen of the press', the no-hoppers in the presidential race have not done much to galvanise the public to rally to their causes. Despite Martha Karua's indefatigable cross-country travels, she does not seem to have excited the public imagination with regards to her presidential agenda or her campaign. The public does not seem to have forgotten, nor have they forgiven, her hard-eyed defense of Kibaki's 're-election' in 2007.

Despite the opportunities offered by the Constitution none of the candidates are yet to articulate clearly what their platforms entail. It remains unclear what their stances are on the economy, education, nuclear energy, water or food security, insecurity, health-care, public service, or the war in Somalia. They have all been pretty tight-lipped about the status of compliance of their political parties or what role they envisage for the members of their parties, other than the nomination of the next candidate for the presidency. Their complete lack of political ideology save for the acquisition and retention of political power betrays the fact that their goals have little to do with the wishes of the people. Or their consent.

It is the question of consent that should guide their political maneuverings. Leaders who have the consent of the people may lead a great nation. It remains unclear whether Raila Odinga, Martha Karua, William Ruto, Uhuru Kenyatta, Raphael Tuju, Musalia Mudavadi, Mutava Musyimi, or Peter Kenneth enjoy the consent of the masses in their political wanderings across the nation. The images beamed to our TV screens every night merely show rows of adoring and adulating 'delegates' whose role is not to question the will of the leader but to endorse whatever decision he makes, regardless of merit or practicality. The method of choosing the delegates, whether at constituency or county level, is shrouded n mystery and conspiracy. Without the consent of the people and in the absence of a truly independent and free press, the leaders lack the legitimacy to impose their ideas on the peoples of Kenya. The next general elections will only be unique for being held under a new Constitution. Otherwise, the rules under which elections have been held since 2002 remain the same where the people are merely the vehicles for the 'leaders' to ascend to political power.

The men and women promising a complete break to the past are too wedded to their past to offer a truly revolutionary path forward for the nation. By their actions and their statements they betray the fact that they consider Kenyans as nothing more as the repositories of their ideas and ambitions. The people are not to be trusted with decision-making, not even in the choices they will make in the voting booth. They are merely to be persuaded to see things from the leaders' perspectives and nothing more. Their role in arriving at a political settlement that benefits the nation is to be kept at a minimum. This is the tragedy of the Second Liberation. The lions of the Second Liberation have morphed into the Establishment that they swore to destroy. They have become comfortable in the trappings of power and they are loath to relinquish them. They are not the promise that is Kenya. It is time we learnt this lesson before it is too late.

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