Why Eldoret North MP should not dine with reformers

 

By MAKAU MUTUA
Posted  Saturday, August 6  2011 at  18:10

In Summary

• Mr Odinga must sever ties with a man with one of the richest anti-reform curriculum vitae

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Not every politician who uses democracy to get elected is a democrat. Many deeply anti-democratic politicians have abused democracy to get to the top. Such wolves-in-sheep’s clothing are deeply entrenched in Kenya’s political class.

When Kanu was the sole political party, they were its menacing sycophants. They denounced human rights groups as “treasonous” and called democracy a “foreign ideology”.

To them, “multipartyism” was “un-African”. They are opportunists who never miss an opportunity. Many are flying high — harvesting the bounty of the freedoms for which their victims fought.

None of these “converts” to democracy is more amazing than Eldoret North MP William Ruto. Which begs the question — when is Prime Minister Raila Odinga going to kick him out of ODM?

The genius of Christian faith is salvation. That’s why many people believe that even those with the “darkest” of hearts can be redeemed. In secular logic, people are dynamic and can be transformed.

That’s why it’s difficult to irrevocably condemn someone, lock them up, and throw away the key. Not unless they are “the worst of the worst”. The human proclivity is to give the sinner and offender a second chance.

But those who have been given a second chance must not re-offend. They must live like recovering alcoholics who know that addiction is a disease that is incurable. In my view, Mr Ruto — and other anti-reform “graduates” of the Kanu regime — must stay on the road to Damascus.

But we have a large body of evidence that Mr Ruto has been unable to find the road to Damascus. That’s because he hasn’t wanted to find it. Let me jog your memory.

Mr Ruto’s exploits in the Kanu government under President Moi are not a matter of debate. He was the party’s “blue-eyed boy”. He earned his epaulettes as the organising secretary for the notorious Youth for Kanu ’92.

YK92 was accused of ethnic violence against the Kikuyu and other “opposition” groups in the Rift Valley ahead of the 1992 General Election.

That’s partly how Mr Moi managed to defy the pro-democracy broom and “win” re-election. Mr Ruto captured the Eldoret North seat in 1997.

In quick succession

Mr Ruto’s career then saw a meteoric rise. At the young age of 31, he was appointed assistant minister in the Office of the President. In 2002, he was elected Kanu’s director of elections.

In quick succession, he was appointed minister for Home Affairs and elected Kanu’s secretary-general in 2002. He had a visceral hatred and disdain for reformers and human rights activists.

I will forever remember him as a rabid Kanu defender even as the party disintegrated after the 2002 elections. Narc decimated Kanu. Mr Ruto is no one’s dummy. He knew Kanu was dead and that Mr Moi — his former master — was history. He teamed up with ODM leader Raila Odinga to “bury” Mr Moi.

That’s how Mr Ruto slew Mr Moi and blew his towering legacy among the Kalenjin into smithereens. He then immediately turned his guns on Mr Odinga. He used Mr Odinga’s support for the prosecution of post-election violence perpetrators and the reclamation of the Mau Complex to turn the Kalenjin against Mr Odinga.

But my view is that none of these two issues really matter to Mr Ruto. I bet he doesn’t give a hoot about Kalenjin suspects and evictees of the Mau Complex. It’s an emotional and effective tribal whip that he’s used to flog Mr Odinga. With Mr Ruto, the end appears to justify the means.

He believes with every fibre of his body that he’s destined for State House. So, why would ODM and Mr Odinga tolerate such a “destructive” force in their midst? Mr Ruto and his “entourage of MPs” have made it clear that they are cannibalising ODM from within.

They’ve attacked and publicly ridiculed Mr Odinga. They’ve announced their affiliation to UDM. Mr Odinga must know that Mr Ruto has never been a reformer.

Any remaining doubts were removed when Mr Ruto led the “Reds” — a coalition of churches and politicians — against the Constitution. He has opposed accountability for post-election violence and has bitterly attacked the International Criminal Court, which may indict him in September. Why, pray, would Mr Odinga not move aggressively to throw Mr Ruto out of ODM?

I know it’s foolhardy for ODM to simply write off ethnic math in the 2012 elections. Kenya is a highly tribalised society, and tribalism will not die overnight. Woe be unto any presidential candidate who doesn’t understand this political reality and take it into account.

Beast of tribalism

But damn any presidential candidate who feeds the beast of tribalism. That’s why Mr Odinga should throw Mr Ruto overboard. He must do so on three counts: he’s an anti-reformer, he’s destructive to ODM, and he’s fanning the flames of tribalism.

He may be facing charges for alleged crimes against humanity come September. Mr Odinga must sever ties with a man with one of the richest anti-reform curriculum vitae.

I end with a lesson on democracy. You cannot build a democracy on stilts or with parties that are on steroids. Political “prostitution” is proscribed in the new Constitution.

Party hopping must be punished pitilessly. If not, we shall never develop issue-based parties. Personality cults cannot sustain a party in a democracy. Nor can ethnic demagogues be our salvation.

The new Constitution will only work if political parties become real. ODM is a work in progress — perhaps a figment of the imagination. But kicking Mr Ruto and his “ruto-lites” out may redeem it.

Makau Mutua is Dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School and Chair of the KHRC.