Legendary US President and my personal hero Abraham Lincoln once said that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the face of the earth. This was during theGettysburg Address when two forces, evil represented by malice, prejudice, and enslavement and good, represented by valor, candor, chivalry, freedom, and goodwill stood in contest. Eventually, the force of evil was defeated, slavery was abolished, and even though African-Americans continued to suffer under the stinging pungency of bigotry, there was freedom for all God’s children. And for the umpteenth time in the history of humankind, the arc of the moral universe that is proverbially long, bent towards justice. It is undeniable that it took another equally legendary leader in the person of Martin Luther King Junior to further shred the napkins of denial of opportunity and the nascent bad-will that some white bigots held toward blacks. Some of the accusations that were leveled against blacks included casting them in sub-human terms using high sophistry and deceptive science, falsehoods that stayed on for so long and enforced by a government that failed to uphold its sworn creed of the equality of all people. The fallacious nature of these baseless claims was evident in the not-so-distant history that showed how white families were comfortable with black nannies tending to their kids and white slave masters abusing black women and black boys. Harriet Jacobs stands as the towering testimony of what white slave masters did to their female black slaves. Here the question becomes, how then would such people be so sub-human to the point of not being allowed to share classes with whites? Were they humans as slaves but turned sub-human as free people? Obviously, large sections of white America are in denial of the basest kind when they fail to see that the whites who opposed integration were using all cards in the deck and some from outside to push against blacks who were a new threat to opportunity. It was a not-so clever camouflage of greed and the attendant spirit to trample anything on its path in a bid to quench its hunger.
But even with all these winds of evil, America has always survived due to the presence of a critical mass of citizens who are always ready and willing to stand up with the better angels of our nature.
Relating this to the Kenyan scene, tribal divisions that are glued together by stupidity and strengthened by Neanderthal-level politics have led to governments that never qualify to be classified as “governments of the people.” Kenyatta set the nation on the wrong path by promoting cronyism and wiping out perceived enemies. Mzee was so evil that J. M. Karikuki’s Pan-Africanist applications to local political economy made him appear like a nuisance from another tribe. Mzee collected all the land he would to the point of rendering even his own people squatters. While Uhuru, his son, has done his best by giving out some of the land, it amounts to mere political theatre since such gifts have coincided with campaigns. Back to Mzee’s legacy, his reliance on tribal henchmen in pushing forward the national agenda kicked off the idea that it is only those who come from “nyumbani” who can defend my interests. This was the birth of tribalism in its current evil and debilitating form. Compared to Mwalimu Julius from a cross the border, Tanzania, I used to perceive Mzee as above-average in thinking. This has since changed. Nyerere’s altruistic spirit and campaigns for a shared prosperity was an enduring agenda that is now being promoted all over the world. He was ahead of his time in political economy, and Mzee was, sadly, millions of light years behind. Mzee championed the self-consuming carnivorous tendency of stealing even from your own people without knowing that it will eventually come to bite your nether region. This is what we see with current presidents, mps, senators, etc. A member of parliament will not think twice about taking Constituency Development Fund to feed his prostitutes while millions of orphans miss food, clean water, and education. These are the same people who get into crime, not because it is in their DNA, but because some airbag somewhere, masquerading a leader stole their right.
The much-criticied Daniel Moi tried to put together what can be called a government of the people. Even in the Luo-Nyanza region where he had his worst critics, he used to have friends such as Dalmas Otieno who would champion his agenda and make the government have a national image. And it was not just theatrics at it is often the case in the current political landscape. The support would be so solid to the point that Moi’s visits to Nyanza were largely successful without the abuses and missile-throwing we witness today. Kibaki and Uhuru have gone the same path that Mzee took. It reached a point where Kibaki would not step in Kisumu. Uhuru is headed there if he is not already there. For Kibaki, this happened after his widely appreciated hands-off leadership style of the first term degenerated into misguided favoritism, ultra-tribalism, and bullish enforcement of even dead economic ideas. Blaming this on one politician is silly and self-defeating. Some loudmouths will readily point fingers at Raila, thus belittling all Luos. No! The people are brilliant enough to know when they have been shortchanged. When the National Intelligence Committeehas all but one individual from one tribe, Kenyans can see. And it is not right. In church matters it can be right and people can stomach it. But in politics, it is unfair, foolhardy, nonsensical, and indefensible. But Kibaki’s legacy will most certainly outlive Moi, Kenyatta, and maybe Uhuru, given the transformative economic path he set the nation on. Historians will definitely remember him as the Kenyan President whose leadership was far ahead of his time. It is only in the US, a 200-years old democracy, and the UK, a former empire that has seen better days, where you can hear a leader of the nation being harshly criticized without fear of retribution. In Africa, it is unheard of. Kibaki tried it and it worked wonders.
The current government continues to face serious opposition. While the opposition party, CORD, can take some credit for part of the opposition, a good measure of it is based on genuine concerns by Kenyans who feel let down. They see a government of 45% of the population. That is not a government of the people as much as it might be for the people. Picking a few individuals from some parts of the country and giving them a microphone to appear to represent the “other” will never work. Real sharing of the national cake must take place. Using a complacent media that is quick to employ selective criticism to silence critics of the government will never solve Kenya’s problems. Real sharing of the national cake will.
I am a political scientist. It is what I went to the United States’ high-fling colleges to study. Here is doom that I am predicting. Bloodshed is still part of Kenya’s future. The current state of affairs is untenable. The land issue in the Rift Valley remains largely unresolved. The can has been kicked down the road. Our children have been given a burden to carry. The element of “tribe” remains problematic due to the inability or unwillingness of the political elite or the power elite to deal with it. I am sure that they do not understand the danger it poses to the survival of the nation. That is what you get from government by some of the people, for all the people…..unlike Abraham Lincoln’s government, this government will perish from the face of the earth. But it will take heroes to kill it, whether it is tomorrow or fifty years from now. Even those running it right now can kill it and replace it with something else, something better, and something more sustainable. They just need to put their act together and act with goodwill. Paul Kagame, Africa’s most cunning dictator has been exposed. Years of systematic arrest, torture and murder of dissidents have been ignored for long. But not anymore. While the exposure is good, one wonders why Kagame, of all people, would engage in such retrogressive approaches to governance. Rwanda lost 1 million men, women, and children according to official count. The real count would be around 2 million. “Tribe” played a role where the nearly 70% Hutu were largely marginalized as the minority Tutsi held dominion. The simple change would have been making the government fair and representative of the mosaic of the people. But Kagame cannot get any of that. Kenya’s leaders MUST reject this Kagame approach. It is possible that Kagame might one day, hopefully, soon, realize the danger in this game and refuse to play it. It is politics not gospel. People are and forever will be concerned with resource distribution. Make it equal and you win, in life and in death. Make it otherwise and matadors will be required to defend your legacy. Mzee’s legacy will never be defended if a fair leader with disdain for inequality takes power. The mantra will be: Let’s erase all that reminds us of sharing according to tribe.” Mzee will be the first one to be erased.
The time is always right to do the right thing. Uhuru Kenyatta should here this. Ruto already knows it but he is a beleaguered man. And the gentle Uhuru’s problem is the shallow advisors who have cordoned him off like a piece of evidence in a crime scene. But since he holds the Presidency, the buck stops with him. He takes the blame. History will not remember the loudmouths seeking personal enrichment while pretending to represent women, young people, or one of those numerous interest groups that now clutter our social dictionary. It will remember President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta. In my opinion, he still has a chance to carve a golden legacy that even the ICC will not taint. The question is: Can he do it? Only time will tell.
By Professor Onesmus Sambili
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