Raila’s soft spot for the Water minister suicidal

 

By PHILIP OCHIENG
Posted Saturday, November 6 2010 at 13:29

A columnist frequently feels like Niccolo Machiavelli in the ducal house of Florence.

He has to offer amoral tactical advice to all sorts of ideological interests in the political aristocracy. In a country like ours — notorious for pork-barrel politics — how can he avoid it?

How can a presidential candidate avoid swinging to the defence of a besieged supporter, no matter how devilish that supporter may appear in the eyes of detractors?

Indeed, the Water minister is not any ordinary adherent of the Prime Minister. Charity Ngilu is the staunchest of all of Raila Odinga’s acolytes.

Greatest threat

Nay, more. She is a stalwart in an area of Kenya inhabited by a large ethnic community whose votes — if delivered en bloc — can determine the next occupant of State House.

Ukambani is vital to Mr Odinga because it is home to Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka — the PM’s greatest threat in the race for ultimate power.

That is why Mr Odinga may feel obliged to invest everything in Mrs Ngilu. He knows from history — from Mrs Ngilu’s own presidential bid in 1997 — that she can deliver to him at least half of Ukambani.

The apparent idea is to invest in her enough resources to enable her to deliver even more Kamba votes. But that is where I must chip in with my knowledge of Machiavellian tactics.

Defence of a supporter must be given with the deepest sense of occasion. Even the staunchest ally can prove a terrible liability if you express your defence of her unconditionally and at a vitally wrong political moment.

The fact is that, rightly or wrongly, Mwangi Kiunjuri has publicly charged that Mrs Ngilu’s ministry is neck-deep in corruption.

Of course, if young Mwangi has any sense of justice, he will now leave it to the courts of law to declare that certain Water officials are guilty of graft.

But Mwangi is asking a legitimate question: Will somebody investigate Mrs Ngilu and her whole outfit and — if necessary — take them to court?

The events of the past two weeks encourage us to think so. Kenyans are beginning to believe that the government is at long last committed to extirpating corruption in the public service.

At a time when the government is seen to be taking unprecedented action against officials hitherto thought of as sacred cows, how can the Prime Minister — the government’s own de facto chief inspector — stand in the agora to announce, before any investigation, that an accused official is innocent?

The thinking public

To do so is to undermine your own anti-corruption efforts. To the thinking public, you appear duplicitous and hypocritical.

And, if an official against whom you have acted is William Ruto — a presidential hopeful — you merely furnish his supporters with the evidence that your action is motivated only by personal political interests.

Though my own feelings about Mr Ruto are not exactly warm, Machiavellian realism obliges me to recognise that, at the moment, it is vital to make him a close political ally and, therefore, to invest in him as much as — if not more than — in Mrs Ngilu.

The point, however, is that this moral imperative — your oath of service to the nation — overrides all these questions of political tactics.

The recent actions against ministers, civic fathers and Immigration officials are enjoying more popularity nationwide than Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga have ever enjoyed before.

Do not squander it. Do not let go. Do not slacken the momentum by offering preferential treatment to accused allies on the basis of party or personal interests.

Mr Odinga’s soft spot for Mrs Ngilu is understandable. But at the moment, it is thoroughly misplaced and potentially suicidal.

ochiengotani@gmail.com