SHARE
Posted Monday, July 29, 2013 | By MACHARIA GAITHO mgaitho@ke.nationmedia.com
It is natural that ODM-Cord cohorts should react angrily at Government spokesman Muthui Kariuki’s attacks on former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Mr Muthui, in his usual pugilistic fashion, had accused Mr Odinga of being behind an incident a week ago at the funeral service for the Kisii school bus-crash victims.
The defeated Cord alliance presidential candidate was cheered at the function while Jubilee government representatives, including Information Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and former Cabinet minister Sam Ongeri were virtually run out of town.
Mr Odinga also used the occasion to deliver well-aimed broadsides at President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration.
Not long afterwards, the President’s supporters went on the counter-offensive, accusing Mr Odinga of habitually hijacking solemn occasions such as funerals and turning them into political platforms.
But it was Mr Kariuki, who delivered the fiercest jabs. Without mincing words, he accused Mr Odinga of organising the heckling that marred the event.
Then in a curious twist to the offensive, he went on to accuse Mr Odinga of refusing to surrender six government vehicles after relinquishing office.
Another strange accusation was that Mr Odinga had illegally fitted an illegal siren on one of the cars that he was using to force his way through traffic and drive on the wrong side of the road.
It was not clear whether Mr Kariuki – whose official position remains unclear after he was left out of the new communication secretariat for the presidency – spoke after consultation with State House, or he was just on his own political diatribes.
Anyway, it seems he was soon made to eat humble pie when Interior minister Jacob ole Lenku clarified that Mr Odinga had not appropriated any government cars for himself, and any in his possession were part of his entitlement as an ex-Prime Minister.
More interesting, however, might be some of the angry reactions from Mr Odinga’s cohorts. One offered that if Mr Odinga is required to surrender government vehicles, so should retired presidents Moi and Kibaki.
The point is that the former prime minister deserves retirement perks similar to those granted his equals among the retired presidents.
That argument obscures a key point: Mr Moi and Mr Kibaki have officially retired and are enjoying their generous old-age pensions. Mr Odinga remains very active in politics despite his loss in March.
He is still leader of the Cord Alliance and has signalled that he will be in the race in 2017 despite efforts by the Jubilee administration to force him into pasture.
Another point is that whatever benefits and perks he might claim as a former prime minister might be dependent on the goodwill of the present hostile government as there is no law currently in place securing his retirement entitlements.
The same vacuum applies to his presidential election running-mate, former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and the Amani alliance presidential candidate Musalia Mudavadi.
So are active politicians who at the same time want to enjoy their retirement perks seeking to have their cake and eat it? That is a question that Mr Odinga might well want to ponder, as might the two aforementioned former vice-presidents.
However, that might be a question all past and present legislators might want to look into. In some of those perverse laws of self-interest habitually passed in Parliament, MPs granted themselves generous retirement gifts at the end of every term, but those cash dollops are not retirement packages; they are campaign funds provided by the taxpayer for the next elections.
Another salient point is that if, perchance, President Kibaki or President Moi decided on another stint as MP for Othaya or Baringo Central, respectively, they would be within their rights. And, I gather, they would still be entitled to all those retirement goodies.
It seems then that ‘retirement’ is a rather nebulous term for our political classes. Mr Odinga is retired, for the purpose of enjoying his perks, but still very active and eyeing another stab at the presidency.
And he is still free to rabble-rouse at funerals.
No comments:
Post a Comment