By OTIENO OTIENO
Posted Saturday, March 9 2013 at 19:20
Posted Saturday, March 9 2013 at 19:20
IN SUMMARY
- They will point to how fast it took President Kibaki, who enjoyed a near total mandate with his election in 2002, to turn his first administration into a tribal mafia.
It was tempting to call the Monday election for Uhuru Kenyatta the moment the first polling station in Kalenjin Rift Valley returned over 90 per cent of the votes in his name.
The so-called tyranny of numbers, which had been the subject of emotive public debates in the last leg of the campaigns, was unravelling before our very own eyes.
It was simply inconceivable to me where the tonnes of votes Prime Minister Raila Odinga would need to swing it in his favour were going to come from.
Mr Odinga’s strategists had banked on getting a significant chunk of the Kalenjin vote to give their candidate a realistic chance against the ethnic voting machine Mr Kenyatta had assembled together with his running mate, Mr William Ruto.
The fact that Mr Odinga carried Rift Valley in the last election encouraged his team to even set an optimistic target of 30 per cent of votes.
The results declared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission suggest that the Kalenjin vote largely helped Mr Kenyatta to vanquish Mr Odinga.
But riding to power on the tyranny of numbers raises questions about the mandate for Mr Kenyatta.
The sceptics will say Kenyans have been here before.
They will point to how fast it took President Kibaki, who enjoyed a near total mandate with his election in 2002, to turn his first administration into a tribal mafia.
It doesn’t help Mr Kenyatta that his Jubilee Coalition is an alliance of mainly two ethnic communities.
Will President Kenyatta make a section of Kenyans alienated by the Jubilee Coalition during the campaigns feel part of his government?
Will he transform the tyranny of numbers into a government of the people?
Like President Kibaki, Mr Kenyatta also has the tricky challenge of managing competing ambitions within his coalition.
The biggest threat to his government might yet come from Mr Ruto, the Deputy President-elect.
Mr Ruto has demonstrated in the past that he is a man given to ego trips.
His falling out with Mr Odinga in ODM has been attributed to the fact that he did not have his way in Cabinet appointments and party leadership.
If at some stage Mr Ruto demands his pound of flesh, as he is wont to do, we could be in for another five years under an unstable government.
Factional fights involving the power elites from Central Kenyan and the Rift Valley would only prove disruptive for government programmes.
If the marriage of convenience breaks up, the ripples might be felt farther in the Rift Valley villages where politicians have long incited neighbour to turn against neighbour.
It is why Mr Kenyatta must hold the nation and his coalition together.
Otieno Otieno is the chief sub-editor, Business Daily. jkotieno@ke.nationmedia.com. Twitter @otienootieno
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment