From: Dickens Odhiambo j
and
From: Peter Odhiambo

Wang’ Nyang’ Odhis,

In the run up to the 2002 General Election, President Kibaki made us believe he was unbwogable. That he would set out to turn around the country leaving no stone unturned in the quest for a new Kenya. That ethnicity and violations were going to be a thing of the past and that corruption would receive “zero tolerance”.

Kibaki’s government though stumbled soon after he delivered an inauguration speech, which was obviously written for him without “proofreading” as to whether he believed in the contents.

In our characteristic youthful naivety, we crisscrossed the country preaching hope that the 2002 “revolution” would bring. An encounter with a group of elders in Mombasa though still lingers in mind. As they sipped their kahawa thungu at their evening baraza they cautioned me of the man Kibaki and “promised” me of disappointment! They told me of their benefit of having taken “more salt” and pointed out to the background, beliefs and character of a leader as critical pillars of change. They were Quranic in the fact that a state of a people only changes when the people change what is in their hearts.

I oozed with responses countering one rationale with another. I was impatient to leave, thinking these “old men” were anti-change. I thought to myself “what retrogressive, pessimistic, kahawa thungu idlers I had come across?” I was madly in love with the idea of change. The virgin idealism of youth at times hears no rationale, is blinded from the skepticisms and “risk assessment” of the old and is passionately powered by hope and adventurism.

Though it was not long after Kibaki came to power that the experimentation manifested glaring signs of failure! The adventure turned catastrophic as the nation was bwoged with piercing ethnicity and corruption. The “democratic revolution” aborted!

As Kibaki ventured into the “reconciliation” rally in Eldoret this Friday, I wondered whether anyone had the courage to point out to him that he is largely to blame for the situation Kenya finds itself in. He aborted the peoples’ revolution of 2002, missing out on the opportunity for reconciliation then. It was then that Kenyans rose up, reconciled their fate and voted for change. During the 2002 General Election, almost every Kenyan apart from Kisii Nyanza voted for a Kikuyu. Either for Kibaki or Uhuru Kenyatta. Then at what point did we turn against each other?

In Kibaki’s Government, ethnicity is preached and practised. Ethnic suspicions and loathe engineered to take root. Many tribes started to feel that the entirety of Kikuyus were their “enemies”. The Kikuyus in turn felt targeted turning to “their” government for “protection”. This state of affairs provides a perfect recipe for abuse and manipulation. Sadly, it provides no meaningful formula for sustainable nationhood and development though often delusionary. The ordinary Kikuyus feel they “own” government yet they do not, while the rest of us want to be part of it yet we never really can.

In 2007 he stole the elections from the majority of Kenyans who wanted him out. Kenyans slaughtered each other as direct consequence of an inept and tribalised leadership. Today the alleged perpetrators tour the country on the platform of ethnic alliances while Government emissaries tour the world to seek their protection by stopping the International Criminal Court process.

All Kenyans appreciate that the “ideology” of ethnicity that informs the doctrine of the Kibaki government is hazardous and benefits a few. For a modern and prosperous Kenya, the “new mwananchi” must rise from the ashes of ethnicity, reconcile and move the country forward. And may the next leader be a Kenyan. Amen!