By MAKAU MUTUA
Posted Saturday, September 3 2011 at 16:47
Posted Saturday, September 3 2011 at 16:47
IN SUMMARY
- Merit: I am convinced that Mr Kibaki believes that you shouldn’t have a position you don’t deserve. This is the merit argument. It comes out of Mr Kibaki’s “intellectual arrogance”
Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki, President of the Republic of Kenya, has never truly been an ethnic baron. Many may find this statement incredulous because of the deep tribalisation of the State during his reign. Some reports — including official ones — show a disproportionate number of Kikuyus in government positions.
Perhaps this is true of the most senior appointments in sensitive posts. I submit this is less the President’s doing and more of the senior aides closest to him.
But Mr Kibaki is a prisoner of the tribe. The truth, however, is that he cerebrally abhors tribalism. That’s why he’s refused to heed the “call of the tribe” to anoint Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta his successor. He won’t say “Uhuru Tosha!”
Mr Kibaki came from humble beginnings in his native Nyeri. His parents were simple peasants. None had formal schooling. Mr Kibaki’s patrician bearing and gentlemanly mien belie these austere origins.
But his life is a testament to what a brilliant and disciplined mind — with lots of luck — can accomplish. After Mang’u High School, Mr Kibaki went to Makerere University where he graduated top of his class with a First Class Honours BA degree in Economics, History and Political Science.
How many people can say that? He then got a BSc with distinction in Public Finance at the famed London School of Economics. Let the truth be told — the man is an intellectual.
I put Mr Kibaki’s refusal to succumb to naked tribalism to his intellectual inquisitiveness. People with “big minds” tend to be more self-critical and often less corruptible.
Am I saying that Mr Kibaki hasn’t practised tribalism? Nope. But I am saying that the vice doesn’t motivate, govern, or drive him. Has he exploited it to his advantage? Yes — but not as a deliberate policy of exclusion.
I believe the cabal around him — in the inner sanctum of power — is deeply tribal and regional. This syndicate — drawn from his “country club” milieu — sees Kenya through strictly tribal lens. They captured him in early 2003 and haven’t let go. It is this cabal that’s been pining for him to coronate Mr Kenyatta.
The problem with the Kenyan State — under the old Constitution — was that you couldn’t rule without “your tribe”. I take that back. You could — but the system wasn’t designed to encourage merit.
Power and resources
That’s why most officials retreated to the tribe to bargain for power and resources. In contrast, the new Constitution is designed to make tribalism unworkable. It disincentivises tribal favouritism and ethnic demagoguery.
I think the days of the tribal kingpin are numbered. The Constitution forces us to be Kenyan — at least in our official dealings. But I think Mr Kibaki wouldn’t have “crowned” Mr Kenyatta even if the Constitution hadn’t passed. The reasons are a complex stew of character proclivities, intellectual conviction and insightful judgement.
What do I mean? First, I am convinced that Mr Kibaki believes that you shouldn’t have a position you don’t deserve. This is the merit argument. It comes out of Mr Kibaki’s “intellectual arrogance”.
At heart, the man is a technocrat. Let’s not forget that under him as minister for Finance, Kenya experienced its greatest growth.
I don’t know what Mr Kibaki really thinks of Mr Kenyatta, but I bet he regards him as a “middling sort”. This is another way of saying the Finance minister is average.
Although Mr Kibaki grew up under Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s tutelage — and could return the Burning Spear’s favour — I must assume he’s not overwhelmed by the scion’s talents.
Second, Mr Kibaki believes that there ought to be open competition for the State House. That’s why he has refused to choose a successor. This preserves his legacy as the democrat who birthed the new Constitution.
Third, Mr Kibaki won’t be eligible to run again next year. He will not need the Kikuyu vote, or the Kikuyu cabal around him. So, why anger Kenyans by favouring a tribesman who doesn’t seem to have it?
Fourth, the matter of the International Criminal Court has tarnished Mr Kenyatta’s domestic and international image. It’s knocked off whatever sheen he had as a Kenyatta. It’s impossible to wash off the stench of the allegations of crimes against humanity even if one isn’t culpable.
Mr Kibaki appears to have been turned off by the blatant campaign by Environment minister John Michuki and many Mt Kenya MPs to submit the Gema groups to Mr Kenyatta. It’s a campaign that — quite frankly — stinks to high heaven.
How can Mr Michuki, obviously with Mr Kenyatta’s connivance, seek to impose a dynasty on the community? This tyranny and naked dictatorship was par for the course in the bygone Kanu era.
Guts and fortitude
The Kikuyu may want to vote for Gichugu MP Martha Karua, Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, or Safina leader Paul Muite. What gives Mr Michuki the right to declare a Kikuyu “muthamaki (king)?” Are Kikuyus unthinking sheep? I am certain this is truly odious to Mr Kibaki.
There are those who believe that Mr Kibaki is a coward who hates confrontation. I am not one of them. You don’t live the life that he’s led — and succeed like he has — without inner guts and fortitude. It’s true that he keeps his counsel and doesn’t talk much.
But he rises to action when it matters. Two examples suffice — his 2007 campaign for re-election and his bullish stumping for the Constitution. He knows how to fight. But he’s chosen not to do so for Mr Kenyatta. Only one thing is certain — he’s going back to Othaya.
Makau Mutua is Dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School and Chair of the KHRC.
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