It is electioneering time. Election campaigns everywhere are moments of fabrication and Kenya is no exception. Politicians fabricate stories that have campaign value and exaggerate those whose value can be tapped for votes.
Supporters on the other hand believe the stories, even if some of the stories are silly and outrageous. Some stories are of mere comedic value while others are simply of tragic consequence.
Fabricating campaign stories is an old art among politicians world over. Mit Romney may have taken this art to a new high when he fabricated his way onto the Republican Party presidential nominee.
He almost achieved a fit of unimaginable proportion when he tried to sneak into the White House on one fabrication after another. Over 53 million American voters believed him.
So outrageous was Romney’s fabrication that one late night comedian wondered if American politics was so diluted that there was no price for getting things wrong or for not knowing obvious facts.
But fabrication or not, Americans take the institution of the Presidency very seriously. There is a line you cannot cross; a line that sanctions the gagging of the media in the interest of preserving the sanctity of the institution.
It seems, going by the drama that kept us glued to the television screens on Tuesday December 18th, that we have starting our experiment with diluting the sanctity of the institution of the presidency in Kenya.
The antics of politicians parading themselves as presidential candidates point to that expensive experiment. First, Musalia Mudavadi zooms to a press conference to declare unblinkingly that Uhuru Kenyatta agreed to hand the presidential ticket for the Jubilee Alliance to him.
Then, Kenyatta appears elsewhere confirming this claim but pleading that ‘shetani ambayo hakujua vile tulianza hii kitu...’ ‘coerced’ him into signing away the presidential tickets.
On December 19th, William Ruto appeared on TV defending the comedic engagements of his colleagues. With his characteristic smirk, he couldn’t see the bigger picture.
Or, am I the only one who knows that the presidency is not a peremende that three men with their lawyers sit down in some place and share?
This question is important as it goes to the heart of the value and respect we must attach to the presidency in Kenya. It speaks directly to the sanctity of the institution and how much respect we owe to it.
We can disagree on many things, but Kenyans should agree that serious thought has to go into any public or private discussion about the occupant of the presidency.
This is because that position has consequences for 40 million people. To be honest, the casualness of their public spat has simply been appalling.
Now, let’s be clear on something. Discussion about who occupies the presidency normally begins in some secret place and among a few people.
How that discussion is carried beyond the secret location, the thinking that goes into producing the candidate and the attention given to the sanctity of the office counts for more than the initial secret meeting.
On this score, the Jubilee Alliance stands indicted for treating their nomination process like a peremende sharing session. Their behaviour is simply disgraceful, wrong and deceitful.
William Ruto is persuaded that this incidence illustrates Kenyatta’s selfless and the reason why his coalition will win. Ruto should go tell that to the birds. Why?
There are very few Kenyans who have been as close to State House as Kenyatta. He grew up very close to State House and can boost pictures taken in the house.
Ruto cannot understand this because, as he admitted, he was busy hustling. Surely, Kenyatta must have seen the decorum his father kept when dealing with affairs of state.
He should appreciate the painstaking energy that people have put into making the presidency a sanctimonious, respectable and enduring institution.
On the other hand, one wonders what naivety controls Musalia Mudavadi. Maybe he has not been following the news or he simply does not believe opinion polls.
Uhuru Kenyatta has moved in the last year from nowhere to one of the two top rated candidates for the presidency. He has worked hard to activate and mobilise his constituency to near fanatical support.
Admittedly, this constituency is ethnic, but it is a constituency that can elect him Kenya’s president. One cannot simply wait for the presidential ticket to be handed over.
That is a serious case of confusing a dream for reality. When reality dawned as Kenyatta reneged on the secret arrangement, would it not have been better for Mudavadi to quietly count his losses.
Instead, he had the audacity to come before cameras complaining. Am I the only one who thinks that the presidency is a serious matter that is beyond Mudavadi’s comprehension?
Godwin R.Murunga is a lecturer at Kenyatta University.
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