The gods of power have been gentle and generous to President Uhuru. They held Raila by his laurels and dragged him to Harambee House, straight into the handshake, a move that calmed the country at once and gave the president a quiet moment that he would have used to develop the nation. But of course we all know what he has done during this conducive time-Nothing! The same gods of power generated a “timed” crisis that has kept his overambitious and cunning Deputy President under constant checkmate. I call this a “timed” crisis because it is going to resolve itself sooner than later. Raila, the man I call an “institution” who would have made it difficult for Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto to run this country, is chewing away at a dry bone called BBI while his reggae show was abruptly nipped by Coronavirus. Mzee Raila Odinga cannot push BBI into any corner. He must watch it die a natural death. At the same time, he cannot walk out of his pact with Uhuru because, well, Uhuru is not at fault. He can claim that he really wanted to change the Constitution (of course we know he did not want because he told us so), but Covid-19 made it impossible.
With the gods working overtime to give Uhuru a chance to take a shot at self-redemption, a cartel of geezers who still want to hold the country hostage by peddling influence and settling scores at the expense of the President’s legacy are scheming to mislead the President!
Mr. President, do not lose this chance to get the first right. Don’t let this crisis go to waste. And constitutional amendment is not the way to go.
The same gods who brought Raila to you have made sure that Coronavirus has killed BBI because it was a lousy idea in the first place. It does not take a rocket scientist to learn that expanding the top executive in a country full of “fitina” will lead to total inability to make any decisions. The myriad centres of power that an expanded executive will generate will crush this country and subject the people to even more suffering. Forget about this nonsense of “making the presidency less attractive and therefore not worthy fighting for.” It does not work like that. There are better ways to eliminate the fighting we see during elections. And we all know them. We just need to be honest.
The first step the president must take is to remind the nation that we are going through a tough time, and anybody diverting attention from the grave issues of the moment will be dealt with on the spot. And this must be followed by visible and vicious action.
There is nothing too big that cannot wait until after Covid-19!
It is bad manners for old wazees such as David Murathe and Francis Atwoli to discuss Jubilee Party officials as the nation continues to lose people to Covid-19. In most cultures, discussing anything during a solemn moment of mourning is a preserve of madmen, witches, and wizards. And of course young children who are almost always largely oblivious to the gravity of the occasion.
The Deputy President, who also claimed to be under attack, must smile and thank God because Coronavirus seems to have been an answer to his prayer that reggae gets stopped. Well, most Kenyans think the virus, in some way, is an answer to his prayers. So he must act mature, statesmanlike, and get in the fight against Covid-19. He should not be fighting Atwoli (70 years), Murathe (62 years), and Raila (75 years).
President Uhuru must know that as historians embark on covering the 2013-2022 period in the life of the nation, Atwoli, Murathe, and Raila’s names will not feature anywhere prominent. So as they mislead him, divert his attention from a global crisis, as they move around town discussing the nonsense of changing officials of a political party in the middle of a pandemic, as they drag him down into the gutter and make him engage in small battles, it is his legacy that is at stake.
It does not help matters that Murathe is always picking fights that he loses, and in the process, giving the president a bad name. He resigned from Jubilee over what he claimed to be Ruto’s strong arm tactics, and now he is behaving like he wants back in, claiming that President Uhuru never accepted his resignation. The president is busy running the country (unless he is not), so begging Murathe to remain in a party the president does not need is a stretch. All that the president does when he wants something done in parliament or the senate is make a few calls and stuff happens. I doubt if “Jubilee” gets mentioned anywhere.
The second step for the president to take is to quickly reorganize government, sending some cabinet secretaries to enjoy a quiet moment of isolation while bringing in robust and active new brains to help add visible value to his government. At this point, it should not matter whether a Cabinet Secretary was given a slot because he contributed to the campaigns or he called Mama Ngina who then called Uhuru and an appointment was issued. The axe must fall on the lazybones.
For example there is this non-serious fellow called Mucheru who appointed a dead Masai man to a board. The man had been dead for almost a year prior to his posthumous appointment by the good CS. Upon realizing his comical yet really stupid mistake, he appointed the dead man’s wife to the board.
The President is supposed to enjoy firing people who express this high level of incompetence. Even if an appointment is a reward to a friend, performance is a must. Throughout history, no leader has ever succeeded by appointing friendly idiots into government or ignoring sound counsel. President Kibaki built the economy that Uhuru has destroyed because of the skilled team that Kibaki assembled after he won the presidency in 2002.
The last step for the president is to take a more fatherly demeanour, comforting the nation during tragedies, making numerous local visits, mingling with the people, and staying above the 2022 fights, the fights he must end in the first place!
He must also know that the small men and women pushing him too hard against Ruto do not comprehend the seasons and tumbles of the windmill of the gods. The President has his own ability to judge and know how to handle him. Most of the fellows throwing in all sorts of particles were not with the two in the 2012-2013 period when they decided to work together. That is Uhuru’s personal journey with his deputy.
The President must not accept to be misled into using shortcuts to interfere with the constitution for whatever reason. This will engender resentment that will see everything associated with him undone when someone else he appears to be mistreating rises to power. Anything is possible.
Lastly, like Kibaki, Uhuru ought to be a statesman. He should not linger around longer than necessary. He should do his term and leave. The semblance of a good name associated with this country has been occasioned by the willingness of our presidents to leave without too much ado as soon as their terms are over. Moi left despite many expecting him to mess around. Kibaki, the best president this country has had so far, left.
No justification, explanation, excuse, scapegoat, or reason will make sense.
“I want to finish what I started…” No! You’ve done ten years. Terms are there to enable you set targets, and like an exam, if you have tackled six out of eight questions, you don’t get additional time.
There is this extremely foolish line being dropped around by some gasballs about Uhuru being too young to retire. Well, nothing can be sillier. The best leader of our time, former US President Barack Obama, is 58! Happily retired. Ian Khama, a gentleman and a former military man, retired peacefully as the President of Botswana in 2018 after doing his two terms. He is 67. No scammer ran around shouting “Ian is too young to retire.” Africa is slowly demonstrating that it can embrace democracy and civility, and Uhuru Kenyatta must not be left behind to dine and wine with the club of the deplorables, the Musevenis of this world. The scumbags who want to perish in office.
Just use your remaining days well and when the time comes, leave!
Onchari Oyieyo
oncharioyieyo87@gmail.com
Operations Officer- Centre for African Progress (CAP).