Weep not dear voter, you’re to blame for Uhuru-Raila slugfest
By DENNIS GALAVA
Posted Thursday, January 31 2013 at 19:11
Posted Thursday, January 31 2013 at 19:11
IN SUMMARY
- Walk into any Cord sanctum and you would be regaled with tales about fighting dynasties and the injustice of having another president from the same community.
The war of words that erupted shortly after Cord and Jubilee presidential candidates were cleared to contest the election on Wednesday convinced me this would be a battle of jilted lovers.
It started in the morning when Cord and Jubilee convoys took over the streets of Nairobi singing praises for Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta and taking turns on their rivals.
By midday when the candidates had been cleared, it was inevitable that Uhuru and Raila would have a go at each other. And they did not disappoint.
The tone for this election was set perilously low. It will again be about who can slander the other more and draw the highest cheers, not what needs fixing and how.
The situation is compounded by the fact that unlike in 2007 when the fault-line was largely ethnicity and historical injustices, this time round, that potent mix has been fertilised by a shared history of deceit and betrayal.
To the Cord team and their supporters, the problem is not what Uhuru cannot do for Kenya. It’s just that he reminds them of the humiliation they suffered in 2007 when much-anticipated victory turned into bitter defeat. This has turned him into a hate figure around whom all the bad things must revolve to galvanise support.
Walk into any Cord sanctum and you would be regaled with tales about fighting dynasties and the injustice of having another president from the same community.
The situation is made worse by the fact that William Ruto, a very studious ODM soldier in 2007, has abandoned the marital home for the bosom of the arch-enemy.
Add to this the latent fear that if Ruto’s community votes for Jubilee to a man this vote is lost, and you have a puff adder for a pet.
Raila may not subscribe to this thought, but it doesn’t matter. The Cord campaign, like Jubilee’s, is kept alive by their supporters’ grievances and the leader only has to ride the wave to his benefit.
That’s why at Uhuru Park, the largest applause was not when Raila made policy statements on job creation, poverty eradication, education and equality for all, but when he took a jibe at Ruto and Uhuru.
In Jubilee circles, Raila is the devil incarnate. If he had not disputed the 2007 election results, there would not have been chaos and Kibaki’s legacy would have been stellar. What’s more Uhuru would not be facing charges at the ICC.
The fact that NGO allies of the ODM leader have been most vocal about the integrity of the Jubilee leadership makes matters worse.
For Ruto lovers, he gave all to secure Raila power, only to be spited. This has brewed a sense of betrayal, a wrong that must be righted now by taking over power itself.
Then there is the nagging presence of Kalonzo Musyoka.
When the ICC indicted Uhuru and Ruto, he wept louder than everyone else. Now he’s consorting with the very people he had accused of wanting the two out.
I hear such talk all the time from very learned and well-groomed men and women, and I shudder to think what the masses are being fed in the villages.
Of course, all this is not true, but it has created a dangerous narrative that is defining this election. And the leaders love it. There’s nothing like hate and fear to galvanise your supporters against rivals.
Dreams for power are now being ridden through the personal fears and suspicion of the masses without the attendant risk of taking responsibility for inciting public hatred. It’s the people hating, not me, or so say the master manipulators.
It would have been encouraging if we had a third party to dilute this hate, but Amani’s Musalia Mudavadi, RBK’s James Kiyiapi, Narc Kenya’s Martha Karua, KNC’s Peter Kenneth and company are marginal players in this election.
We may love them, feel their ideas, but they do not spark enough outrage against anyone to get sufficient notice to change the tide.
It’s time we stopped lying to ourselves that our vote will be influenced by issues.
Cord and Jubilee are this polemical because we, the voters, love it that way. I could be wrong, but spare me the crap about my vote, my hope. It’s more of my vote, my curse.
Mr Galava is the managing editor, Saturday Nation (dgalava@ke.nationmedia.com)
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