Kenya 2007:Kenya Nation Vs Mt.Kenya Nation

From: Nicholas Mireri

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Race to top seat has an ethnic dimension
Published on September 22, 2007, 12:00 am

By Barrack Muluka

Our people say if you commit suicide, you do not blame the undertaker for placing you in your final resting place.

He only helps to put your remains in a good place. To get angry with him will not change the fact that you killed yourself. It is the same with the dreamer of dreams.

Now Mzee Mwai Kibaki's Government of National University has given birth to Panu. Mr Cyrus Jirongo's Kaddu has joined Mr Raila Odinga's ODM. The cultural polarisation of the land of Kenya, otherwise known as Kusadikika, is complete. The nations have defined themselves.

It is pointless for you to get heated with the dreamer for telling it the way it is. For, there are now two nations in this land. There is the Kenyan nation and there is Mount Kenyan nation. Mzee Kibaki's face is the face of Mt Kenya.

Raila's is emblematic of Kenya. Somewhere, in between, is Mr Kalonzo Musyoka's little no man's land, otherwise known as ODM-Kenya. Such is the reality that will play itself out on the testing ground that is called the December General Election.

The competition will be between Kenya and Mt Kenya. It will star Kibaki and Raila. To buttress his act, Mzee Kibaki will drag along guest stars, otherwise known as supporting stars. Such stars will include Mr Musikari Kombo, Mr Simeon Nyachae, Mr Raphael Tuju, Mr Chirau Mwakwere and Mr Kipruto Kirwa. There will be Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, as "also starring".

Raila has his own supporting cast of Mr Musalia Mudavadi, Mr William Ruto, Mr Najib Balala, Mr Joseph Nyagah and Mr Omingo Magara.

As the reigning dreamer of dreams and a man privileged to dream in 12 different languages, I can tell you that Mzee Kibaki has the fight of his life on his hands. I gravitate freely across the national landscape dreaming my dreams, sampling ugali sosa in little kiosks and listening to the voter.

I can assure Mzee Kibaki's handlers that things are elephant. In Nyanza and Western Province, in Rift Valley and in Coast Province the mood is the same, to say nothing of the rest of the country.

These are not the words of the dreamer of dreams. They are the words of Kenyans. They say Mzee Kibaki has failed to imbue them with a true sense of nationhood. They think in terms of 'us' versus 'them'. Raila represents 'us' while Mzee Kibaki represents 'them'. Where you would have expected ideological orientation to inform the debate, it is, regrettably, the ethnic sentiment that rules. Never before have I heard an innocent mountain vilified as I am hearing.

Even Uhuru Kenyatta's fellowship with Mzee Kibaki is being read through the ethnic prism. In a little town called Mulot, the people taking tea in the little room they call a hotel listened keenly to the Mzee in a torn old coat.

He was giving his take on Uhuru and the birth of the Panu. "Once upon a time", he said, "a very beautiful woman left her husband. The rogue was always pounding her. Each time he came back from his drinking spree, he would set upon her with body blows. One day, she left him. She took along their only son. She found a friendly snake - a handsome black mamba.

They fell in love and before long they married. Not too long afterwards, they were rewarded with a handsome baby boy.

"As he grew up, the new boy became great friends with his elder step-brother. They played together and did little things that young pranksters do. But the black mamba did not like his stepson. He mistreated him and made his life very miserable. This made the two boys very sad.

One day, they decided to fight back when the black mamba was beating up the human boy. The fight was so fierce that the two boys killed the black mamba. "From that day, the two boys lived very happily. Then, one night, the snake boy had a dreadful dream. In the dream, his father, the black mamba, had come back to life. But, strangely, he was also asking him, 'Why did you kill me? Was I not your father? Don't you know that blood is thicker than water? Repent, or you surely must perish.'

"The following morning, the snake boy was very sad. His stepbrother asked him what was amiss. To which he responded, 'My late father came to me in a dream last night. I am very sad because of what we did to him. I know we have been good friends, but from today, we must part ways. I shall no longer abide with you. I will go to the bush to look for my father's relatives. I shall live with them. Our people say "mtoto wa nyoka ni nyoka." This is to say everyone has where he was born. Be careful whenever you cross my path. From today, I shall treat you the way my father treated you.'

Our people also say when there is a big tree, small ones climb on its back to reach the sun. But I also remember an old man in my village who used to say that beyond death there are no ideals and no humbug, only reality.

Of the small stars around the big star he would say, "Be careful the star you chase. The foolish fly often follows its food to its final resting place." Have a brilliant weekend.

okwaromuluka at yahoo dot com