Two comments by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta have come to my attention. First, he keeps comparing his 2002 defeat in the presidential race with the 2007 general election dispute between PNU and ODM.
On more than one occasion he has suggested that whereas he conceded defeat in 2002 for the sake of the country, those who refused to do the same in 2007 spurred the post-election violence that left over 1,000 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.
Basically, what Uhuru is saying is that he believes that PNU won the last election, and ODM refused to do what Kanu had done in 2002, i.e. concede defeat.
On this basis he argues that ODM is politically responsible for the post-election violence of 2007-08. The facts are that in 2002 Uhuru got 1,836,055 votes as compared to Mwai Kibaki’s 3,647,658 votes.
This means Uhuru lost by close to 2,000,000 votes. This also means that whether he had conceded or not, it was clear to everyone that he had lost the elections.
There is no way anyone was going to take to the streets even if he had refused to concede defeat. However, following the 2007 elections a commission headed by Justice Johann Kriegler was formed to investigate the poll results.
This commission said it was not clear whether Kibaki had actually received 4,584,721 votes to Raila Odinga’s 4,352,993.
This difference of around 200,000 votes was enough to cause tension even in a free and fair election. In a situation where, to quote the commission, “the conduct of elections was so materially defective that it is impossible to establish true or reliable results for the presidential and parliamentary elections”, it became the basis of violence.
The commission went on to say that although in there was room for honest disagreement as to whether there was rigging of the presidential results, the answer was irrelevant as the recorded and reported results were so inaccurate as to render any reasonably accurate, reliable and convincing conclusion impossible.
However, Uhuru wants us to believe that he knows who won and who lost the elections.
However, Uhuru wants us to believe that he knows who won and who lost the elections.
He would also want to point fingers at the person who is to blame for the lost lives and property as well as the stain on the national fabric of Kenya, despite the fact that he has been confirmed as having a case to answer at The Hague for the post-election violence.
Uhuru forgets that it is due to the uncertainty of the 2007 election results that he is a Deputy Prime Minister. I also see something even ‘darker’ than mere ‘forgetfulness’ in this statement.
One wonders why Uhuru seems determined to rekindle the very argument that led to the post-election violence a few months to another general election.
Is he trying to recreate the political environment that led to the bloodbath? Why would he want to raise the basis of a conflict that led to over 1,300 dead Kenyans, over 3,000 raped women, over 600,000 displaced Kenyans at a time when there is no reason to do so? What is his focus in doing this? What does he want to achieve?
Maybe Uhuru does not realise that his preferred running mate for the 2013 general election has stubbornly stuck to the argument that the 2007-08 post-election violence was a spontaneous reaction to a stolen election.
As far as William Ruto is concerned, the post-election violence is directly related to PNU refusing to concede defeat at the hands of ODM.
I would like to see Uhuru take his argument to a public rally in Ruto’s backyard. What Uhuru is trying to do is very dangerous for Kenya especially because there is no similarity between him accepting what was essentially a resounding defeat in 2002, and the fiasco that was the 2007 general election.
As far as I am concerned (and I voted for PNU in 2007), Uhuru is playing a very dangerous game of inciting Kenyans by rekindling the 2007-08 political climate in his attempts to build a political following ahead of the next general election.
He must be told off by every Kenyan who wishes to see a peaceful election in four months. My second concern is on his comments about all Mt Kenya people joining TNA.
Why would Uhuru assume he can tell leaders like Hon Martha Karua and Hon Kiraitu Murungi, who were fighting against former President Moi and the Kanu juggernaut when he was in political diapers, which party to join in order to win in the next election? Political hubris is a dangerous thing.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment