Uhuru
inherited a government that was run like a tribal tuckshop with tribalism
taking the place of nationhood. One thing I disliked about the current
opposition during the campaigns was the tribal emotions it arose against tribes
other than the leadership style which affected even the tribe they castigated
in general. In my class of Voter Behaviour, Dr. Asingo taught me of a rational
voter-a voter who votes where he/she is likely to benefit and advance his/her
own goals in life-whether he has calculated the costs and benefits rightly or wrongly.
With the
hate speeches aimed at the Kikuyu community, it is only rational to expect a
member of the community to vote for a strong candidate from his region or one
that looks friendly than one that criss-crosses the country arousing emotions
against own tribe in general without making a distinction between the elite in
the establishment and the hoi polloi which the Kikuyu call ahoi-the class many belong just like many Kenyans. You cannot tell
Kenyans that Kikuyus are always right and the rest are always wrong just the
way you cannot rightly put that Kikuyus are always wrong and the rest are
always right.
Being good
or bad is a moral judgment and he who has no sin let him cast the first stone.
Kenyans in a fallacious generality can only be compared to the mob in the
Biblical analogy. Every tribe has its sins as tribes are made of individuals
who-for those who believe in the deity-are sinners. On the scales of morality,
I could try be an umpire and may I be judge, a judge with sin too. A political
class from one tribe mobilizing ‘its’ tribe against the rest of the tribes is
as evil as a political class from the rest of the tribes mobilizing‘their’
tribes against one tribe…and not even the Machiavellian script maxim of the end
justifying the means can sanctify such an immorality.
All have
sinned, even this judge. All the same the difference is on the sin
apportionment and allotment; and the saying goes that the fundamentals of
sinful nature are so similar that the difference is the same. Now portions aside
for another day for as the House Committee probing Mumo Matemu did not have a
passionometer to measure his level of passion for the KACC job, I am in want of
a sinometer to measure the levels of sin amongst Kenyans.
Truth be
told, some individuals with Kikuyu names are very chauvinistic and drunk with
history but modesty in pride defines a victor in my Ochengoism. The role GEMA (GikuyuEMbuMeru)
played in fighting for independence in Kenya with ripples of freedom to all
East African nations cannot be underplayed but to ignore the efforts of other
figures from all walks of life is not only foolishness of a cock refusing its
origins being the egg and attributing its genesis to stones with the intention
of looking strong-especially if the cock is in Wafula’s compound.
As charity
begins at home (though even without a home charity has to begin somewhere) I
will name Otenyo-the Kisii anti-colonialism warrior whose head a member of the
county assembly of Kisii is petitioning the British government to return to Kenya,
Lawrence sagini, Mekatilili wa Mwenza, Elijah Masinde-of the Msambwa fame, The
PinyOwacho movement and my role model Jaramogi Oginga Odinga-no matter how much
he concealed, he was honest unlike some people I know. The above named hail not
from the mountain-some from the lake, some nears Gusii Hill-land and my uncles
from Luhyia land-the Mulembe House i.e. House of Peace.
According to
my theory, the spirit of nationhood demands that the efforts of every citizen
are recognized and appreciated, however small, towards the nation building
regardless of tribe.When you recognize Kenyatta as the father of the nation, it
is right you recognize Jaramogi with his staunch clarion call of ‘Uhuru na
Kenyatta’-which has literally been interpreted to mean Jaramogi left the sit
(read presidency) for Kenyatta (actually, my reading tells me that Tom Mboya
being the Sec-Gen of KANU and James Gichuru being the Chairman of KANU were
ready to form government after the 1957 elections with Kenyatta still in prison
and it took Jaramogi’s strong and popular stand that stopped them. Every KANU Candidate
had to sign that he was ready to step down for Kenyatta once released…thanks to
Jaramogi’s mobilization skills). When you have a Kenyatta Avenuein the CBD of
the capital city, it is right to have even a lane called Jaramogi lane within
Nairobi. If I were Shakespeare I could say, tarry a little, I talk to the CORD
coalition.
Do you
remember, Bildad Kaggia, the man whom the first president asked what have you
done unto yourself? The lieutenant who fought alongside Jaramogi for land
rights and the first among Kenyatta’s government to resign from cabinet to
protest inaction and ineptitude of government to respond to the people’s land
needs! Tarry a little, after the Tom Mboya death, and funeral do you remember
the Kikuyu had to make an oath to protect the flag and the flag shall not leave
the house of Mumbi? You know why, not because the government was very popular
but because the hatred against the tribe had piled and I cannot dispute that
self-preservation is the first law of nature; and so it is in the first law of
politics as per my theory.
No sooner
had the hoi polloi taken oath than the establishment dumped them. Barely five
years later in 1975 all and sundry who care about economics of the bourgeoisie
and proletariat remember the ‘maai ni maruru’ movement in central after the
assassination of J.M. Kariuki-the first African Kenyan to own a private Jet.
According to the rules of the establishment-what you call assassination is
called vaporization- which is the last stage which makes the headache disappear
completely except posthumously. The ‘maai ni maruru’ was evidence of the wrath
the establishment unleashes against its purported tribe. The Kikuyu had their
share of tasting bitter waters from the larger pot from which many tribes have
so far drunk. Also remember J.M. Kariuki was a Kenyan but for this article call
him a Kikuyu.
Let us jump
the stones of history about GEMA ya NjengaKarume, Kiambu Mafia versus Nyayo and
the Kabarnet Syndicate and stop at clarion call for multi-party democracy. Just
the way you remember Raila for vibrancy and ‘the from Jail to Norway’ exile
during the time, you have to remember Charles Rubia and Kenneth Matiba who
fought in freedom, to jail and then to hospitals abroad for treatment. Yes,
Rubia and Matiba Kenyans they were then and now but for this passage call them
Kikuyu. I cannot tell the misfortunes of FORD and the eventual fallout but look
at the figures-Kikuyus voted for either Matiba or Kibaki and I will not
endeavor to discuss the Chania river politics of division with opposing sides
having headquarters at Nyeri and Kiambu with the Independence Nairobi Mayoral
seat being the source of the trouble. Luos voted man to man for Jaramogi Oginga
Odinga and Kalenjins voted for Strong Man Daniel Toroitich Moi as our Kenya
Social Congress-George Moseti Anyona performed poorly in Kisii compared to KANU
as a result of the Simeon Nyachae factor who supported Moi despite their cold
relations preceding the elections. Come 1997, Raila’s NDP got all 20 parliamentary
seats in Luo Nyanza and the Luo voted man to man, Kibaki ran with Central
Province-the Kikuyu and Meru vote, Moi did his best with the KAMATUSA vote and
Wamalwa won the hearts of many Luhyia voters not forgetting Masaa ya Ngilu and
the Kamba magic.
So far all the majority tribes have the same
voting trend up to 1997. Come 2002 the mathematics had to change. NAK is formed
by Ngilu+Kibaki+Wamalwa=KambaLuhyia and Kikuyu voting basket. Later, Raila and
his NDP join NAK and Nyachae’s Ford People follows suit with disgruntled KANU members
filling the NARC hive. Before the Kibaki Tosha-Uhuru Park Rally, at Nairobi
Serena Hotel, Joel Omino was busy brokering a deal between Nyachae and Raila
with Fred Matiang’i-the current Cabinet Secretary for ICT and Charles
Nyachae-the current CIC Chairman acting on behalf of Ford-People. Raila had
accepted the MoU to support the elder Nyachae for Presidency but no sooner had
he left Serena, than he dumped our Simeon Nyachae for Kibaki the reasons being:
discreetly, Raila wanted Prime Minister position and having the
President-Nyachae and PM-Raila-from the same region and province is political
suicide and implausible move, and secondly, have Nyachae as the candidate and
Kikuyus will Vote for Uhuru or Uhuru and Kibaki if Kibaki could not have stuck
with the NARC but he had struck a good deal with Wamalwa-whom Raila feared-and
Ngilu.
Had Raila
walked out and vied for presidency as RailaOdinga in 2002, don’t tell me
Kikuyus could have overwhelmingly voted for him or that Luos could have
overwhelmingly voted for Kibaki. What happened in 2002 is what Ochengoism calls
proxy-elections. Luos elected Raila the Prime Minister but the only way was by
voting for Kibaki. Luhyia voted for the Wamalwa Vice Presidency but the Only
way was by voting for Kibaki.
Kibaki was
not voted because he was Kikuyu but because he was the best bet to defeat Uhuru
and by then anti-nyayoism was more of a factor than tribalism and the tribal
card came to play just to defeat nyayo and his ‘project’ and nothing else. Just
like in 2013, Kalenjins voted for Ruto’s Deputy Presidency and the only way was
through voting Uhuru as the president. In 2002, 88%of Kisiis voted for Simeon
Nyachae to be president and the entire then 10 Gusii constituency were filled
by Nyachae’s Ford-People MPs.
Not that
Kikuyus are the only notorious tribe, all of us are and the more we hide the
truth through partisan Political Science Departments and Analyses, the more the
dream of a united country where sons and daughters of this great republic shall
not vote, be voted, served, employed, sacked, promoted, demoted, married or
divorced on the basis of tribe shall forever remain elusive as it is now. Not
until we accept, that in voting all tribes have sinned and no one is without
sin to righteously cast the first stone, our country shall be divided forever
and ever more! May it not be so! AMEN!
