ELECTION FEVER

Kenya is in the throes of political madness once again with the general elections literally at our door step. Come to think of it, since 2003 after the Kibaki government took over, the country has been in a state of heightened political activity despite common expectation that the political temperatures would have simmered down after we evicted retired president Daniel Arap Moi from the throne he had sat on for close to quarter of a century. We witnessed anarchy among government ministers as had never been witnessed before, the president firing his whole cabinet and a lot of political theatrics.


Now, we are in the cooking pot as far as politics go; in fact we are bubbling hot and the next elections promise to be hotly contested. In that line there have been many political analysts – real, wanna be, aspiring – who have taken on the duty of picking apart the political fish (oops, I should be careful in using such words at this time as I may be accused of leaning politically on one side and many other things) okay, or the political chicken, goat, cow or whatever you want to call it.


One of the things that have come up from many analysts is that Kenya has never been more tribal than it is today; detractors of Kibaki’s government have accused it of balkanizing Kenyans into tribal groups. And many people seem to believe this and that is why this article I am publishing – written by Simiyu Barasa (Script Writer, Film Director and Producer) – is so interesting. It gives a new, fresh and hitherto unexplored perspective on the political scenario. The article was in response to another article that expressed grave fear about our future as a country given the tribal divisions that are perceived to be there with the worried writer suggesting that we may be going the Rwanda way.


Have a read of Barasa’s response and let me know what you think:


WHO IS AFRAID OF JALUO?

This is Kenya. For those who don't know, Kenya oscillates between violent spasms of tribalism , ethnic hate talk, murderous calls for the elimination of the 'other' big tribe before 'they finish us small tribe', and yet despite all this drama, we haven't gone the Rwanda way; or the Somali way, or for that matter, The New Orleans way. Which begs the question, why do Kenyans laugh about themselves in bars and at home and in Redykulass TV show, yet during the day everyone else in the media and the whole world think that we are about to go to war?

I think because we are all too much talk and no action. Or rather the press gives too much attention to our politicians saying ogopa jaluo itatumaliza, twanga Kikuyu wamekula mali yetu sana, or Baluhya ni shi? This is our time to stop eating ingokho only and eat from the seat of presidency. Which is why I understand you, John*, and your fears, and at the same moment am left confused whether all this political madness going on in our country is indeed just tribal hatred or something deeper.

Look, if it were that simple, TRIBE and ‘otherising’ the other tribe, no one would be scared Kibaki is going to lose the elections. For real, he has the whole Gikuyu behind him, the populous Bukusu sub tribe of the Luhya, and several others. Raila would have no chance whatsoever, no tribe in Kenya loves Luo - Oh no, they are pompous, arrogant, melodramatic, and the only good thing they have ever given to the Kenyan history is riots, attempted coups, Tony Nyadundo, Oliech, and through African traditions you are one of us despite your father dumping your mother, Barrack Obama, the next African president of America, Luo to be precise.

It’s not that simple. That is why there is no need to panic that there is mass murder awaiting to happen. This month alone, there have been three presidential launches in the city. The second one, by Raila, made people fear to go about their normal duties in the city thinking 'the Luos will be chaotic and cause riots'. It never happened. It was so disciplined, public transport went on the normal way, and everyone looked a fool for fearing the worst. Kalonzo went on his, everyone feared he was about to embarrass himself by choosing Uhuru park. Will he fill the grounds? Kambas are not that many, even if he took all of them from Makueni. In the end he pulled what I think is the greatest shock in Kenyan political meetings: the whole place was crowded to the core, UNTIL NOW PEOPLE ARE WONDERING HOW HE PULLED HIS FEAT. Newspapers are stumbling all over dictionaries looking for superlatives to say he pulled a miracle.

Kibaki is facing a rebellion among even his Gikuyu. In town, the talk is 'his campaign team doesn't want to listen to others, they think Mau Mau era tactics will work' others are 'he has sent so many of our young people to jail, how does he expect us to vote him in?'while ironically others say 'he let us be killed by Mungiki, Kikuyus have suffered a lot under his reign. We are the ones who have died most."

There in lies the answer. Its not about tribal politics, it's about a paradigm shift in thought and philosophy that is creating such heat in this year’s general elections. Raila has never spoken anything constructive on what he will do once he is president, (infact he is somersaulting and doing about turns in his political 'I will do this' list with every rising day) yet he is getting mass appeal. Because guys are not seeing him as a Luo (of course the Luos are seeing him as this), but Kenyans think he has youth, vigour, and doesn't belong to the RICH ARROGANT GUYS WHO MADE IT DURING COLONIAL TIMES. The Kibakis and Michukis who have formed a 29 member team that arrogantly left out the Mungatanas and Kituyis who have all along managed to sell Kibaki as the Kenyan god.

Kalonzo is seen as the guy who God blessed to rise from poverty and be a Kenyan of note without having a political father like Raila or money from Molasses and East African Gas or whatever it's called.

This is the anger. And the Kibaki machinery has failed to read this. They opted to use the old trick of crying JALUO to bring down Raila, but Kenyans have moved away from this. Raila uses the 'ARROGANT RICH WHO ASK WHY ARE YOU SAYING YOU DON'T HAVE BREAD TO EAT, DON'T YOU HAVE CAKE? and so is Kalonzo. And in this, they are succeeding. So now a few hoarse cries are going around over-trying to create fear the Luo and fear the Kikuyu rhetoric almost to genocide proportions but no one is paying attention to them except the lazy Kenyan armchair press and the 'This iswhat Africa is about-Rwanda' International press.

In the streets, there is no fear of bloodshed, just fear of who will win and save us. So, no one is afraid of any tribe in Kenya. Mwai Kibaki was the first Luo president in Kenyan history, until he let Githongo and the likes take off this shawl by refusing to listen to Githongo and company and reign in on greed, instead listening to his goons telling him 'Let Githongo talk we are Gikuyus, let’s eat, he can join us if he wants'. Raila will be the Gikuyu president if he lets matatus carry as many as they can, abolish Kanju raids tohawkers, and give the Luo - Nyanza road construction contracts to Kikuyu cowboys. You just have to ask who put up the Raila People's president sign boards on Haille Sellasie / Uhuru Highway round about to realize this. (I mean, if the mayor can recede on a contract to light the city because he wants his friends to get a bite of the cake they never baked, and says he supports Kibaki tena, hit the mayor even if it means hitting Kibaki).


Kibaki is just collateral damage in the class war in Kenya that is the bottom line. And that is the thing to panic about, not tribalism. Coz class means money, means age, and means philosophy wars.

* Name has been changed to protect privacy.