The Big Betrayal; Away with dictatorship

Fri, 4 Jan 2008 23:15:53 -0800 (PST)

Ndumg'u Wainaina has captured what ails Kenya so aptly in his analysis in The Standard of today. I can only stretch it further and bring in the views of some friends yesterday.

What captured my attention was that these were Kikuyu friends, and as we shared over coffee, they summarized what Kibaki has done as The Big Betrayal, and an onset of Dictatorship.

They were so candid in their analysis, and their resolve was one; the people must not relent. Kibaki must be overwhelmed by the people of Kenya, for which they are also part of.

This brought the myth that this is a struggle between the Kikuyu and the Luo to zero. Kikuyus are part of this struggle as all Kenyans are.

They reminded me of an African saying, 'Never pick a fight with an ugly person, he has nothing to loose'. This saying reflects on the sad scenario currently obtaining in Kenya.

In 1963, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga refused the offer of the Presidency on account that Kenyatta was in prison, and Kenya could not be free unless he was released. Upon being released, he formed government with Odinga as his Vice President.

The honey moon lasted only three years, and ways were created for which Odinga could be harassed and hounded out of office. This was finally achieved in 1966, when in the Limuru Conference, an idea was mooted for the creation of regional Vice Presidents. This was the first post Independence Betrayal.

The second Betrayal came when Kenyatta went to Kisumu in 1969 to officiate in the official commissioning of Russia Hospital. Slight agitations led to the Kisumu massacre where the presidential guards opened fire on defenseless Luos, killing many of our people.

Thereafter, Odinga was detained and his political involvement in Kenya, kind of banned.

These acts of Betrayal would continue into the Kibaki presidency. In 2002, the Hon Raila Odinga, to the chagrin of everyone, endorsed Kibaki vide the famous Kibaki Tosha call at Uhuru Park on 14th October. Thereafter, all fell into place and Kibaki was on a roller coaster to the presidency which had eluded him twice in 1992, and again in 1997.

He would later roll in his Range Rover in Machakos from a campaign trail, and Raila would take charge of his evacuation to Nairobi Hospital and later to London. Raila would then rally the country to the Narc cause by declaring that the captained has been injured, but the game goes on.

He would traverse the whole country rallying the troops to ensure Kibaki won.

When Kibaki could not afford to pay his airfare to London, opting to travel economy, Raila would step in again and pay for his first class cabin transport to Londaon for specialized treatment.

Raila was later feted and called Njamba by our brothers and sisters in Central Province in recognition of his efforts in making their son be the president of Kenya, a feet Kibaki had tried twice to achieve and failed.

Immediately Kibaki set foot at State House, his first act of Betrayal was to discard the MOU. We now saw people whom we had not heard of in the campaigns taking charge, and telling us so sarcastically that the constitution was more supreme to the MOU, as if we did not know of the existence of the constitution as we signed the MOU.

Later, as Minister for Roads, Public Works and Housing, Raila would be denied funds to build the Kenyan roads, even after clearing the by-passes. Acts of Betrayal would continue. The game plan was to put Raila at logger heads with people whose houses had been demolished yet no roads were forthcoming.

Acts of Betrayal would continue when Raila as the Minister in charge of Housing negotiated with the Dominion Groups for the construction of 150 000 low cost housing units across Kenya per year. The Dominion Group needed only a tax holiday for them to undertake their work. They were denied, yet, Njeru Ndwiga, was promptly given a tax holiday for his farm. Acts of Betrayal.

Soon, the docket of Housing would be removed from Raila's ministry and given to Amos Kimunya, a safe hand.

Acts of Betrayal would continue when John Michuki, he of the liver juggling fame would say that now that 'one of our own' had become president, there was no more need for reforms. This is when all machinations were put in place to ensure that power in Kenya will not again leave the house of 'one of our own'.

And this formed the basis of the current situation. But lets revert to this later.

From then, it would be suspicion all through, culminating in the infamous Wako Draft of 2005, where Kenyans were being called upon to officially sanction the return to one party state and dictatorship at the Referendum. We saw through the trick and Raila galvanized all Kenya to reject the Draft.

Their game plan was temporarily halted. They had to recoup and think of how to forever retain the presidency with 'one of our own'. Raila and team were promptly thrown out of a government that they had put in place. Home guards and people who did not fight for the democratic space were put in government. And an attempt at complete subjugation was put in place. Acts of Betrayal.

The BIG BETRAYAL would come on December 27th. Kenyans were called to vote in their prefered president. But unknown to them, the forces of status quo had long decided that Kibaki was not going to leave the presidency at whatever cost.

When Raila was enjoying a massive lead, things changed, and all of a sudden, without any evidence, Kibaki closed the 1.2 million gap that Raila had opened, and went further to be pronounce the winner. Kivuitu was promptly driven at top speed to State House to find guests already seated waiting for the swearing in of Kibaki.

Acts of Betrayal could continue when the police would be called in to maintain the palace coup.

When Kibaki came out to address the country on 3rd January, acts of Betrayal continued. The man said he was for peace, and that he would deal very ruthlessly with any dissent. He gave the press the impression that he knew he had organised a palace coup, and that he would now rule Kenyans by force.

Contast this to 2002 when we all danced and jammed Uhuru Park during the handing over ceremony.

Acts of Betrayals became complete when he comfortably installed himself the president ki mabavu.

We all hence felt vindicated when KTN in their Prime Time News asked Kenyans whether they would want Raila to participate in any coalition government with Kibaki, and the overwhelming results were 88% saying NO.

To this extent, and in line with that African saying, Kibaki has nothing to loose in the unfolding democratic dispensation. For him the Mugumo tree is too big for the razor blade.

Odhiambo T Oketch
Komarock Nairobi