Sunday, January 22, 2012

Next elections will prove Moi was right: Kanu will rule us for 100 years



  SHARE BOOKMARKPRINTEMAILRATING

By MURITHI MUTIGA
Posted  Saturday, January 21  2012 at  16:12
When President Moi’s loyal lieutenant Joseph Kamotho made the proclamation that Kanu would rule for 100 years, many laughed him off as a deluded sycophant.
The signs were there for all to see that Moi’s was a decaying dictatorship. The wind was in the sails of the opposition by the mid-1990s.
The economy was stuck in a rut, and the introduction of multiparty politics meant that the political scene was unrecognisable from what it was in 1984 when Moi outlined his political style thus: “I would like ministers, assistant ministers and others to sing like a parrot after me.”
It was only a matter of time, many thought, before the old order would be swept away to be replaced by a new crop of politicians who would help Kenya achieve its unfulfilled potential.
It has not turned out quite that way. On Wednesday, Synovate released its latest survey on the popularity of politicians going into the next election.
A look at the names of the top-tier candidates indicates that Kamotho was not wrong after all.
Every single serious candidate in the race to be the next president was vying for leadership in Kanu 10 years ago.
The most popular contender, Raila Odinga, was secretary-general of the party. He was angling for the nod from President Moi to be his successor, but things did not quite turn out that way.
When Moi tapped someone else, Raila threw a major tantrum and stormed out.
Kenyans will long be grateful for the fact that Raila destroyed Kanu. But the fact is, he joined the party because he saw it as a route to power.
Some sympathisers say that Raila’s cooperation with Moi was part of a secret plan to finish off the party; but if you believe that, then you probably also contend that Barack Obama is president of China.
The second most popular candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta, was, of course, the man Moi picked to be presidential candidate in that election.
Uhuru was plucked from political obscurity before beginning a dizzying climb through the ranks of the ruling party.
If he had been elected, it is safe to say that President Moi would have had a significant say in the political direction the country would have taken in an Uhuru presidency and would not have tolerated much departure from his Nyayos.
William Ruto was also a Kanu damu type in the months leading up to the Moi succession. An articulate, scheming operator, he vied at the time with Gideon Moi to be seen as Uhuru’s number two.
Kalonzo Musyoka who, worryingly for him, is now polling in the single digits in the survey by the best-known and most established pollster, was one of the Kanu vice- chairmen who fervently hoped that Moi would tap them to be the candidate in that election.
Others in this category included George Saitoti and Musalia Mudavadi.
The fact that all the serious candidates in the next election come from the ranks of the party blamed for many of the problems that bedevil this country is an indication of the failure of the reform movement to find a way to strike a chord with the masses and to present a credible “third way” platform disconnected from the old, tired politicians.
The domination of presidential politics by the same faces is also a stark illustration of how ethnicised the country’s politics is.
As Karuti Kanyinga pointed out in these pages recently, most MPs are voted out in every election, but there is a core of about 10 per cent – the ethnic kingpins in the big communities – who never lose their seats and who decide the course the country takes.
One would have hoped for a better slate of candidates in the first election under the new constitution.
It is not too late, though, for someone to start a petition to collect a million signatures to demand a presidential run by an outsider, say Willy Mutunga or Abdikadir Mohamed, or to rally the masses behind one of the most credible reformists in the race, Martha Karua.
mmutiga@ke.nationmedia.com  

No comments:

Post a Comment