OPINION: Fix Kenya’s broken politics
When Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto of Jubilee party were declared by the chairman of IEBC as winners of the Kenya presidential elections of August 8, president Kenyatta was “presidential’’ while accepting the renewal of his mandate for his second and last term of office.
He extended an ‘olive branch’ to his brother, Raila Odinga of the Nasa alliance, who came second with 45 per cent of the vote, against Kenyatta’s 54 per cent. He said politics should not divide Kenyans since all Kenyans are members of the same larger family. He added that Kenya was bigger than any of them.
He said neighbours and friends must continue to live in peace and put aside any differences arising from belonging to different political persuasions. He even told the Opposition that if they were not satisfied with the outcome, they were free to go to the Supreme Court as the final arbiter.
Nasa went to the Supreme Court and challenged the results and in an unprecedented decision in Africa (and only the fourth in the world), the Supreme Court of Kenya led by Justice David Maraga, ruled by a vote of 4-2 to annul the election because it was not conducted in a manner prescribed by the Constitution and the election laws.
An election, Justice Maraga said, was a process and not an event and all processes leading to the election and after election must strictly adhere to the law and the Constitution. Kenyatta and Ruto who watched the verdict on television were stunned and totally shaken by the audacious verdict of the Supreme Court. It took time for Kenyatta to come out and address a brief press conference in which he said he respected the verdict of the court although he did not agree with it.
In the days that followed, however, he went ‘native’, calling the four judges who upheld the judgement as “wakora’’ or crooks, whom he would deal with after winning the new election! It was a different Kenyatta from the one days before.
He attacked Nasa leader Odinga at every opportunity because of the latter’s insistence that there will be no elections without reforms. Odinga eventually pulled the rug under Kenyatta by quitting the October 26 election and launching a campaign to boycott the election, leaving Kenyatta to run against himself.
Like him or hate him, Odinga, the veteran Opposition politician, is a master of surprises. His gamble worked as only 38.8 per cent of the voters turned out to vote and 98.8 per cent of whom voted Kenyatta.
The overwhelming majority of the votes were from Kikuyu and Kalengin tribes. It was a hollow victory because it left Kenya more divided than ever and re-affirmed the ethnic divisions which have driven Kenyan politics since independence. Of Kenya’s four presidents to date, Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi, Mwai Kibaki and Kenyatta, three have been Kikuyu and one (Moi) Kalenjin. Ruto, Kenyatta’s running mate and vice president, a Kalenjin, is tipped to take over from Kenyatta in 2022 with the support of the Kikuyu and hence continue this hegemony or tribal apartheid.
In 2008, when Ruto teamed up with Odinga against Mwai Kibaki, this hegemony was actually shattered because by most accounts, Odinga won the election though Kibaki was declared the winner.
The then chairman of the Electoral Commission, later confessed he was “not sure who won the election’’! In 2013 when Kenyatta and Ruto teamed up, they won the election thus re-igniting the old Kikuyu-Kalengin alliance. Even in that election, the duo got about 90 per cent of the vote from the populous Central and Rift Valley regions. Kenya is being held ‘hostage’ by this tribal alliance.
Uhuru Kenyatta will no doubt be sworn in as president since Odinga’s Nasa has ruled out going back to the Supreme Court and Jubilee has sworn not to accept another election in 90 days. Besides the Jubilee-dominated Parliament has passed a Bill, which makes it almost impossible to annul a presidential election. Kenya should move forward, however, unsatisfactory the outcome of the election was to many. With only 38 per cent of the people having voted for him (some say the figure is 33 per cent), Kenyatta doesn’t have the full mandate of the people of Kenya.
He must reach out to the Opposition and heal the wounds that have become septic within the society. Serving his last term, he is best placed to set in motion the politics of inclusiveness, build alliances with all ethnic groups across the country and put to an end the endemic tribal apartheid, which has distorted Kenyan politics.
As for Raila, at 72,it is time to hang up his boots and groom new leaders for Nasa. Like his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first vice president and a close friend of Jomo Kenyatta, Raila Odinga has not realised his dream of becoming president. Since Kenyatta and Raila are known to be good friends outside politics, let them fix Kenya’s broken politics before it is too late.
Mr Naggaga is an economist, administrator and retired ambassador. [email protected]
