WikiLeaks: Kibaki lost opportunity for unity

Monday, 14 March 2011 00:03 BY MOSOKU GEOFFREY

BETTER RELATIONS: President Kibaki greets Finance Minister Uhuru kenyatta as VP KAlonzo Musyoka looks on.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta believed that President Kibaki wasted an opportunity to unite the country according to the latest cables leaked by WikiLeaks.
In the diplomatic cables sent to Washington by Ambassador Michael Ranneberger, Uhuru argued that Kibaki squandered an opportunity to end tribalism.
After being elected through an opposition coalition in 2002, Uhuru opined that Kibaki began governing as a stand-alone president. In 2006, the Gatundu South MP, then Official Opposition Leader, believed that Kenya was more ethnically divided than during the Kanu regime.
“Kibaki was given a golden opportunity in 2002 to bring Kenyans together and take the country to the next level,” “He squandered that opportunity and now we are at a worse state of affairs than we were prior to 2002, especially as regards entrenched ethnic sentiments,” “He governed not as the head of a coalition but as the head of his Democratic Party, which represented only one part of Central Province (Kikuyuland),” Uhuru told the Americans. Rannerberger sent the cable on 27 October 2006. According to the cable, Uhuru made the comments after holding two meetings with American diplomats in Nairobi. He met Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, Ranneberger and a PolCouns with whom he had dinner on the eve of Kenyatta Day 2006.
The following morning, Uhuru had breakfast with Deputy PolCouns and a visiting member of the Frazer's policy planning staff, Ted Craig.
“Kibaki has governed very much as a member of a certain ethnic group, shall we say."  (Note: Kikuyu.  End note.)  "The President's raiding of other parties (for cabinet members) and destruction of party discipline, without any real set of policies to give his governing coalition identity, leaves the country more vulnerable than ever to ethnic politics." (Note: Kenyatta is an ethnic Kikuyu.  End note.)  In his annexe, the US envoy reported that Uhuru had complained of a landscape that was destroying political party leadership after Kibaki poached Kanu MPs to the government.
His views of Kibaki could, therefore, be understood having come immediately the President poached three Kanu MPs to join cabinet following the humiliating defeat of the 2005 referendum. “Then, seeing that he had lost his Parliamentary majority, he did what even Moi never did, "poaching" members of other parties to be part of his government,”
The DPM then accused the President of having renegaded on his promise of change and holding onto the status quo once he became president. “Kibaki, once in power, decided there was no need to change the "strong presidency" features of the constitution he had campaigned against.” “Kenyatta questioned whether the oft-cited political progress in Kenya since KANU's departure from power was real.” Rannerberger wrote.
However the DPM conceded that Kibaki had achieved in the economic front for which he had to be given credit. But Uhuru again believed that the economic progress had made Kibaki supporters arrogant saying they would be shocked at the elections. "The Kibaki administration has clearly accomplished some good things for Kenya, especially on the economic front.  We cannot take that away from them. "They have locked themselves into the mindset that re-election is assured, ignoring the other side of the ledger. That same arrogance will blind them in 2007.”