{UAH} Will Raila light fire from 1990 embers?
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Will Raila light fire from 1990 embers?
By Kipkoech TanuiUpdated Thursday, June 26th 2014 at 20:40 GMT +3
I believe our democracy is more robust when we have a strong Opposition keeping the Government on its toes.
By the same token, we are cooked when we have a fractured Opposition in the state PLO Lumumba referred to as, "suspended animation".
The situation is worse when you have a weak Opposition and a Government, again to borrow from PLO's diction, "chasing mosquitoes with a hammer" and chasing its own shadow.
But before we come to Raila Odinga and his push for a national dialogue through rallies, let us walk back in time to Mzee Jomo Kenyatta's rule and that of former President Daniel arap Moi.
The common denominator in the two regimes is that both at one point governed under a one-party rule. However, something significant happened, which Raila and his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga were part and parcel of; Opposition politics within the one-party regimes. What I mean is that even a handful of Members of Parliament can stir the conscience of the nation, rally the public behind them, help put Government excesses in the limelight and make it the main agenda of national discourse.
That is essentially the role played by Jean-Marie Seroney, Chelagat Mutai, Martin Shikuku, JM Kariuki, George Anyona, Mark Mwithaka and James Orengo and a few others under Jomo Kenyatta's regime. The support cast outside Parliament included academicians Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Micere Mugo and a few bold non-parliamentarians such as Raila and his father.
Mr Moi, unlike Jomo, ruled under two Constitutions because the multi-party phase was longer under him. Throughout, Moi's government was under pressure from those who came to be called 'rebel' politicians, but you can't entirely say they achieved nothing.
By the 1990s, the agitation for reforms by this cluster (given impetus by the entry into the ranks first by Kenneth Matiba and that former ostentatious city 'alderman', Charles Rubia, and later Mwai Kibaki) that created the tidal wave of pluralism was irresistible. In 1991, Moi read the national mood and at that famous Kasarani Kanu National Delegates Conference, asked that the constitutional vanguard against more political parties be repealed. No one expected that from him, much less those who had spoken before him.
Looking at the way the Opposition engaged Kanu from the first multi-party elections in 1992, especially on such issues as the Goldenberg Scandal and the push for reforms, one can only conclude that without it, Kenya would be a less happier nation today.
Under Mr Kibaki, despite the emergence of another side of him once in power, a side labelled 'tribalist', something perfected from the Kanu he fought all his life after defecting, it is the Opposition that is credited with the fight against the Anglo Leasing, Triton and Free Primary School Fund scandals.
But above all, it is Opposition pressure — now boasting in its ranks again Raila, Kalonzo Musyoka and Anyang' Nyong'o who Kibaki fired after the defeat in the 2005 referendum on the Constitution (and even current President Uhuru Kenyatta) that actually laid the groundwork for the country's rush to a new Constitution in 2010. Uhuru was then the Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament, though he was later swept off his feet by the tidal wave of tribal coalescing in the countdown to the controversial 2007 General Election when he embraced the Government.
We have walked back in the footsteps of history to illustrate three things. First, this issue of 'tyranny of numbers' in favour of Jubilee in both Houses should not be mistaken to be insurmountable. No, history has shown that this is just a fallacy, for it is not numbers in Parliament that have changed Kenya. In fact, this country should remember how the 'Seven Bearded Sisters', so named by Charles Njonjo, performed the role of a near-effective Opposition when all others preferred to hide under their beds rather than be quoted either contradicting 'Baba' or seen with the 'misguided' politicians who were 'serving their foreign masters'.
Second, there is nothing that takes away your dignity than the mere fact that you are in the Opposition. Our politics of tribal coalescing and 'it is our time to eat' trends have made it look like life ends for one community if their tribal deity or tin god is not in Government. That is why we would rather fight and kill each other, and forget the pain once in power because the dead were mere 'collateral damage' and the blood spilled and property pilloried but a little libation to honour our forefathers.
Third, and we saw it in the infamous Grand Coalition that Kibaki and Raila led; the most discordant Government is that formed by a politically incestuous merger. However, in our case, it was the least we could do, sharing out the carcasses between the two most powerful political hounds that had been in the chasing.
I may not be sure about the momentum Raila's rallies will pick or even how Uhuru and his deputy William Ruto will react, but I can say that he is probably reading from this historical script. As to whether the circumstances of today would allow a replay of the Saba Saba rallies, and push Uhuru and Ruto into a corner, that is debatable.
Democracy is two Wolves and a Lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed Lamb contesting the results.
Benjamin FranklinUAH forum is devoted to matters of interest to Ugandans. Individuals are responsible for whatever they post on this forum.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com or Abbey Semuwemba at: abbeysemuwemba@gmail.com.
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