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| Ngunjiri Wambugu |
I
have been asked on several occasions to clarify why I seem to have an
issue with Hon Uhuru Kenyatta's politics, and whether it is all about
'party-line'. Now that we are on the home stretch and it is clear that
he is one of the two final 'horses' in this race, let me share & you
tell me whether it is 'party line'.
Its
all about disappointment, & my first disappointment is
when I look at how proud I was 10 years ago as this man made national
history
by becoming the first politician in Kenya’s history to publicly concede
defeat
in a general election. He did not say he had been rigged out, or that
his
supporters had been compromised, or that the election body was biased,
etc; he admitted he had to a better man, fair and square & that
Kenyans had spoken different from
his expectations. He wished the new president well & zealously took
over the new role of official leader of the opposition.
Unfortunately
less
than 5 years later he rubbished that concession speech & made
history, again; but this time in the negative. He became the first
Opposition Leader anywhere in the world to abdicate his office and
‘defect’ in support of the same government Kenyans
had been paying him generously to oppose for close to 5 years;
presumably because of
ethnic considerations.
Another major
disappointment was how he dealt with Kenya’s oldest, largest and most organized
political party (and only national party at the time), after taking it over
from Kenya’s longest serving President in a ceremony full of pomp and glamour. A
party that literally influenced who he is today; and which he took over from the Former President despite
great resistance from powerful forces around Moi. KANU literally starved to clinical
death under his watch.
My
third major disappointment goes back again; to what he did 10 years ago.
At that point, like Kibaki against
Matiba another 10 years earlier, he was nationalistic enough to go
against ethnic
considerations for what he believed in; even when it meant contesting
against a
friend and more popular fellow tribesman. Today I see a man who cannot
fill a
hall with political aspirants without over 70% of them being from only
one of the more than 42 Kenyan communities. I also see a dictator who
has forced those who do not agree with him in the Mt Kenya region to get
into one party; not by the ballot, or perish politically. It was really
sad to see Hon Konchellah fold up PNU, then go to URP. I see a man who
has turned a community previously recognized internationally for their
capacity
to resist political dictatorship during both colonial and post
independence
Kenya, into one where established political leaders are falling
over themselves to proclaim their loyalty to him. In a
country where this region suffeed in pursuit of multi-party politics he
has forced it back to the single-party era!
I
now understand why he uses the analogy that Kenyans should not to look
in the
rear view mirror when driving. He might not have driven himself for
decades, but he must know that the easiest way to cause a serious
accident, especially in Kenya, is not to look at
your rear-view mirror when driving! His message that Kenyans should ignore
history as we make crucial decisions on where Kenya should go after the next
general election might be about us not looking at his history, but it will hurt our country.
If
we do not look back we will not only fail to see his past, but we also
will not remember the sacrifice of the Mau Mau; the Kenya Land &
Freedom Army that went to fight for land that had been taken from them,
but never got it even after the colonialists left. We might not be able
to ask why it took 50 years to file a case against the British
Government after well
documented gross atrocities committed against what we now all celebrate
us
Kenya’s resistance fighters. We will not be able to ask what happened to
over
600 African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa schools that had
been
nationalized by the colonial government, after independence.
Uhuru does not want us
to look back and ask what happened to JM Kariuki; Pio Gama Pinto: Tom Mboya;
Arghwings Kodhek; Haki Wako Taro; Sande Barre; Kitili Mwendwa; etc. He does not
want us to celebrate the sacrifices of Kenneth Matiba; Raila Odinga; Njeru
Kathangu; Wanyiri Kihoro; Ngugi Wathiongo; Charles Rubia; etc. By
asking us not to look at the rear-mirror now maybe he also does not want us to recognize how
the attempts to undermine the new constitution today mirror what happened with the Lancaster Constitution.
Or,
maybe he just does not
want us to look backwards lest we realize how far we have come; and
understand how far we will fall if we get it wrong in March 2013
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