A few weeks ago, Prof Makau Mutua’s column in the Sunday Nation branded me an anti-reformist for reasons best known to him. This is not the first time the good professor is attacking me through the media with his right hand man Miguna Miguna who has since parted ways with Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Prof. Makau chairs KHRC, but reading the article, one wonders whether he subscribes to the tenets of that institution. He writes pages and pages on democracy and its values but all his attacks narrow down to me. He advises Hon. Odinga to kick me out of ODM. Is that the democracy Prof. Makau has so long been advocating for?
My difference in opinions with Raila does not mean we hate each other and if there is no room for different opinions in ODM, where is democracy? ‘Anti-reform’ is the catchword for the anti-Ruto bashers, especially Prof. Makau and Miguna, who after his suspension realized that Raila too wasn’t a reformist. It may appear to be a good read and it sells. However, what is the word ‘reformist’ that is being bandied about? Is a reformist a person who goes to the rooftops and shouts his reform credentials? Prof. Makau, I will tell you who a reformist is.
A reformist is a person who demonstrates his reform credentials by his deeds. Although Makau dishonestly describes me as an anti-reformist, I undertook the recent reforms at the Ministries of Agriculture and Higher Education. Upon taking responsibility at Kilimo House, I embarked on practical reform measures on our agricultural policies to see to it that our maize, dairy, coffee, tea, sugar, cashew nuts and fish farmers, just to mention a few, get a fair return. It was during my time at the ministry that the agricultural policies which allow the farmer to access cheap fertilizer, seed and credit to make farming a feasible and worthwhile venture were met. I reigned on the sugar barons to stop their selfish habit of dumping cheap sugar in our country. And not to brag but to set the record straight, in the short period that I was at Kilimo House, farmers in Bura and Tana River were able to harvest ‘maize they had never harvested in a generation’ as put by President Kibaki in the 2010 Eldoret Agricultural Show. In Mutua’s native Ukambani, the maize they harvested, some 70-year-olds had never seen in their lifetime.
At the Ministry of Higher Education, for the short period I was at the helm, we managed to close bogus colleges, empowered HELB to give loans to more students and addressed the issue of the two years wasted before admission to public universities. Prof. Makau should know that one does not become a reformer by words. You demonstrate by deeds. You become a reformer by reforming institutions of governance through visible, pragmatic policies and timely interventions. Empty talk won’t reform anything.
Reading a number of Makau’s articles, I’m persuaded to think that he may be on hire by a master, be it local or foreign, that will soon be obvious to all Kenyans. Makau alleges that I crossed over to Narc to kick out Moi- a plain lie, blatant dishonesty! Moi’s last political effort was supporting his so-called 2002 ‘Uhuru Project’. He is quick to point at my impending move to UDM and calls me a political prostitute, forgetting that Raila, whom he advises to send me away from ODM, is the greatest ‘party hopper’ we have in Parliament. All Kenyans know that I campaigned for Uhuru Kenyatta and was never in the Narc party. Kenyans remember me standing by Uhuru when he was reading his speech admitting Kibaki’s victory after the 2002 elections.
The truth is that I was one of the founders of the Orange movement, which identified Raila as its flag bearer in 2007 after ODM held nominations for its presidential aspirants, where I was also a contestant. Despite losing to Raila in the ODM nominations, I campaigned vigorously for him and delivered votes to Raila more than any other Pentagon member and politician in the ODM team. So, why would Makau mislead Kenyans that Ruto joined ODM to kick out Moi but fail to point out that I campaigned for and supported Raila to the hilt- an effort which resulted in victory, but whose victory was actually stolen?
Why would Prof. Makau deliberately choose to be silent on this point? Why wasn’t I branded an anti-reformist when I was still on good terms with Raila? I was only 24 in 1992, a fresh Bachelor of Science graduate from the University of Nairobi (not in political science) and a member of YK92 outfit. There are those who allege that I was instrumental in ensuring Moi retained the presidency. Moi, a political professor with 36 years experience by then, depending on a 24-year-old political novice to help him win? Tell it to the birds! Come 2005, we parted ways and were in the opposite camps politically but I still respect retired President Moi first as a statesman and also as a friend.
Politics being politics, I teamed up with Raila in the 2005 referendum and again in the 2007 elections. The difference between Raila and Ruto is not anything to do with ideology but so much to do with the likes of Prof. Mutuas of this world. The burning desire of this ilk is to fan the embers of fire and hate meant to widen the little chasm between Raila and me.
The author is the MP for Eldoret North.
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