The game in Kenya is “Us”
against “them” and every other tribal outfit has mastered this game except Luhya-land.
People keep wondering why and some excuse it for being democratic. However, let
us face it, how can one uphold democratic principles in a country whose DNA is
divide and rule. There are tribes that have mastered this; they own the state
machinery and by dividing others they surely rule.
It all started with
Kenyatta senior who entrenched the politics of patronage and clientilism. Patronage was
inward looking i.e. using state to prop our own. Clientilism was outward
looking i.e. getting clients who are maintained through tokens to keep given
tribes under arms; all well wrapped. Moi perfected this and turned the state
into a regime perpetuation machinery. When Kibaki came, he carefully used astute professional
principles well fused with patronage and clientilistic approaches. The state backed tyranny of numbers win by Uhuruto in 2013 goes to show how perfected patronage and clientilism based politics is in Kenya.
For a long time,
the Luhya have been a contented lot. It is generally said that Luhyas are cooks
and watchmen who love food a great deal. In Luhya land, we have mastered the
politics of the stomach. We do not see beyond the stomach and as long as we are
eating then it is okay. When Wamalwa Kijana was
fighting against Moi, the son of Mudamba and Wetangula were busy eating and it was
all okay. When the son of Mudamba joined Raila in the fight against Kibaki,
Kombo and Weta were eating and it was okay. When Wetangula joined Raila in the run up to 2013 (for personal survival), the son of
Mudamba and Eugine was eating from Uhuru’s plate and it was okay. This stomach
driven politics explains our situation.Like any cook, we real
love good delicacies; we real love nibbling. Unfortunately, unlike others, we
are ever nibbling at the expense of our own brothers and sisters. We never look
out for our brothers and sisters and consequently, we miss out on opportunities
to have our impact as the second largest community.
Like good watchmen, we
are always keenly watching. Unfortunately, instead of watching others and their
moves, we are very busy watching our own brothers just in case they also come
to eat what we are eating. We are very jealousy of what is in the brother’ plate;
we scrutinize and gnash our teeth ready to tear in and lay bare. While we are
busy watching our brothers and checkmating them, our real opponents in the real
match cheer us on and we miss the opportunity to checkmate them.
We are very greedy in
the face of food and we do not know when enough is enough. We are good at binge
politics; we just do politics for the sake of politics and do not know when to
say I have had my fill. It is for this reason that every Wannabe in Luhya-land wants to be president, to be king, to be the big man. At the moment, we are
standing on a precipice. Our people like good sheep are seeking guidance.
They are ready to crown any king, as long as he will be their king and provide
just some semblance of leadership. It is for this reason that some strongly
believe the otherwise abhorred Wetangula is the Messianic Moses.
I am of the opinion
that Luhyas will remain in the dark for two or more decades to come. We are a
confused house; confused due to the inward looking ego. Like low self-esteemed
people, we are overly critically of our own but very accommodating of
outsiders. It is not surprising that a Luhya vehemently criticizes Eugine
Wamalwa for being a flip flopper and yet embraces Raila the doyen of Flip
Floppy politics. It is surprising, that a Luhya aggressively criticizes
Mudavadi of being slow and non-decisive and yet we were the greatest cheer
squad members for one Mwai wa kibaki. It is surprising that Luhyas think Cyrus
Jirongo is a conniving and shrewd man who is not worthy of leadership and yet gleefully
support Ruto who worked so well with Jirongo and is known for his hand in
Land Grabbing etc. It is funny that Luhyas think Wetangula is a
shrewd-selfish politician who can not be trusted, yet they trust Uhuru; a man
who has mastered the art of under-table deals while putting on PR shows in
public.
Going into the future,
we just need to stop cooking and watching each other. Instead, let us unite in
watching and cooking up traps for the others. Stomach politics led to Mudavadi
missing his grand opportunity to cannibalize Raila. There was a time, the stage
was ripe for Mudavadi to stage a nice coup in ODM; and the Luhyas were backing
him. Then he moved away from the people and started below the table deals that
led to him becoming a Demon. There was a time Eugine was the man to watch; and
in every forum we cried and begged that he moves with the people – he chose to
put his stomach first and out danced himself.
Fast forward to end of
2013 and our leaders have an opportunity once again to dream Luhya Unity. Luhya
Unity is a very big cake and they can share it comfortably and we shall
question none of them. It is possible that Kombo, Wetangula, Marende, Ababu,
Eugine, Jirongo and any other Luhya leader work together. When Mudavadi or
Eugine who are not voters in Bungoma De-campaign Wetangula, what exactly are
they doing? Doing the bidding of their Jubilee masters? If they truly believed
in Luhya unity, how about them saying Wetangula and Kombo are brothers, let the
people decide. They could be returning the favor Wetangula did them in the
past, but who ever gained from the politics of revenge?
It is possible to have
a united Luhya front in Kenyan politics. It starts now, let our leaders stop
trying to cut each other to size and focus on how to cut a share of the
national cake for their community. They have a choice to make; it is possible
to have a vehicle that is systemic as opposed to individualized. By systemic we
mean a political party that is not under the control of any one leader. In case
Wetangula wins the senatorial by-election, he is enjoying the good will Mudavadi
enjoyed during his rebellion days in ODM. He should lurch at this opportunity
and provide leadership. Let him start to build a vehicle that threatens ODM in CORD. Some may think this is not possible but just look at the number of politicians supporting him in his re-election bid then you will agree with me that if he puts his mind to it, he can do it.
CORD is definitely set to disintegrate but while it lasts, it can be used to coalesce
like minded Luhya leaders and others from other regions. If it is done well,
then maybe we shall be in bargaining position come 2017.... If our leaders stick out their necks as a united front in 2017, the Luhya Presidency may just come early enough. Can these leaders see beyond their stomachs?
Comments
Post a Comment