From: Leo Odera Omolo Date: Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 6:41 AM
News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.
PRIOR to the year 2002 general election, the popular song that reigned in the air in every corner of this country, which was coined by the then proponents of change was, “Moi Must Go”.
Moi, the grand old man of Kenya politics, gained notoriety as a tough disciplinarian. He ruled the country with an iron fist. However, soon after his defeat in the 2002 elections, he calmly responded prophetically, saying: “One day they will sing “Moi Must Come””.
This is exactly the popular song now. Seven years after Moi’s abrupt departure from the office, Kenyans have yet to receive the new set of constitution and law reforms promised by the new administration, headed by the Makerere and London trained economist President Mwai Kibaki.
Although Moi’s tenure in office came to an end at the time of the beginning of the world wide economic recession, all the shortcomings were attributed to his poor administration, which at one time had gained notoriety of draconian police rule. But there were few extra-judicial executions, and minimal deaths caused by ethnic armed conflicts, in comparison to what Kenyans have witnessed after the disputed Presidential election result of December 2007.
Moi should be credited for having issued an advance warning against the freeing of the air waves and licensing of the FM vernacular radio stations. He had cautioned Kenyans that such vernacular FM radio stations might be used to preach ethnic hate , or could become recipe to chaos.
And that is exactly what is happening today. That is exactly what the popular Kalenjin FM Kass station is doing to day. All the Kalenjin politicians who are perceived to be supporters of the ODM and the Prime Minister Raila Odinga have come under fire through Talk Shows ushered by one Arap Sang, who speaks the Nandi dialects in his “Lelne nee Emet” morning talk shows.
On Sunday, the station only fall short of airing war songs over the Mau Forest eviction. It defiantly rallied the evictees and the Kalenjin world to get prepared for any eventualities, but not to be cowed to move out of Mau under all the circumstances. It turned the heat on the ODM, the party that the community had unanimously voted for in 2007, and at the same time questioned the personal integrity of the Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and his sincerity to the community.
The alleged owner of the Kass Radio Station forked off a personal donation of Kshs 200,000 towards the support of the homeless and landless Mau Forest evictees, and close to Kshs 3 million was realized through an urgent appeal for help for the displaced Mau settlers, by the stations listeners.
Despite all this, the coalition government, headed by the two principals , namely President Mwai Kibaki and the Prime Minister Raila Odinga, have not seen anything fishy, to warrant the drastic measures of switching this FM Station off the air, in the interest of public safety and security. Is this the sign that the government has got no interest in monitoring the kind of programmers being aired by the mushrooming Fm vernacular radio stations? Or it is the case of security negligence as usual?
It is time, this government borrowed the leaf from the genocide deaths visited to the Rwandan people in 1994 where close to one million people perished due to seditious incitement that reigned the airwaves in that tiny Republic, a former Belgian colony, which is now a member of the enlarged East African Community.
The combined opposition parties, which regrouped under the flagship of NARC, bundled Moi and his brigade out of power, under the popular political slogan of “Zero Tolerant to Corruption”. But Kenyans have witnessed mega financial scandals involving billions of shillings. This is perhaps ten times higher than what was lost during Moi’s reign, that lasted for twenty four years.
What is happening in he Ministry of Sports, where even an Assistant Minister, had the gut of calling for a press conference and vilifying his superior, the Minister, in public, are some of the signs of the shape of things happening inside the grand coalition government. It is a government, which is full of policy contradictions as Ministers and their deputies assigned to work in one office maintain divided loyalties and allegiance.
The well cherished policy of the collective responsibilities is something of the past, owing to party allegiance. This has contributed largely to cabinet ministers and their assistants pulling indifferent directions on policy making and important decision making.
Obviously, this is not what the Kenyans want out of the multi-party pluralism system of government. And former President Moi has been proved right when, years back, he cautioned Kenyans to be aware that too many tribally oriented political parties would plunge the country into distasteful conditions and chaos.
Nobody seemed to be taking a serious note on the persistent claims by the former Kabete MP, Paul Kibugi Muite, that close to 7,000 youths have perished in Central Province and Nairobi in the past few years, under mysterious circumstances, or what he termed as “extra judicial killings”. This figure is too high, in addition to close to 1500 Kenyans who lost their prime and precious life in the post election violence that engulfed the country, following the much flawed and disputed presidential elections of 2007.
In my simple and elementary arithmetic’s, the number of Kenyans who have died since the resounding election defeat of Moi in 2007 is ten time higher than those who lost their lives during Moi’s twenty four years reign. Is this the kind of political reform that Kenyans had fought for?
What the reform and change of command from Moi to Kibaki has visited on Kenyans is the ushering in of a large number of political mediocre persons in our August House [Parliament}, who base their thoughts narrowly on tribal politics, each time they open their mouths. Tribal politics has superseded the true spirit of nationalism on which Kenyans fought the much mightier British colonial forces, and eventually succeeded in gaining their political independence, and sovereignty, among the independently free nations of the world.
The likes of Jomo Kenyatta, Oginga Odinga, Tom Mboya, James Samuel Gichuru, Ronald Gideon Ngala, Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi, Taaitta Araap Toweett, Paul Josepg Ngei, Masinde Muliro and Justus Kondit Ole Tipis had moderate education, unlike the present Parliament, which is full of high profile professors, lawyers ,doctors and other highly educated Kenyans, who have sunk themselves to the murky parochial tribal waters kind of politics. But these early nationalists and political giants of past, successfully outwitted our colonizers and were able in mobilize our people to face the mighty colonialist with one voice.
Perhaps this was so because the politics of sycophancy was not there, nor the cheap handouts. If these old true nationalists had behaved the same way like the seemingly political mediocre of today’s parliament, Kenya could not have become one nation, one people, at the time of independence in 1963. The country could have been fragmented into balkanized tribal fiefdom
Today, one gets sickened when hearing the parochial utterances of the likes of Joshua Kutuny, Isaac Ruto, Chepkutuny,. Julius Kones, Charles Keter, Ali Mwakwere, Olago Aluoch, Ayiecho Olweny, Mutula Kilonzo. It is all the symptoms of the rapidly falling standards of political leadership in this country, and the reason why we have so many erratic politicians amongst us today than ever before. Our people must therefore go back to the drawing board, for true nationalists with the required national outlook, instead of the current village tyrant.
We really need to get out of this kind of political quagmire situation, or else we sink in the murky ethnic political waters like our n neighbors in the Republic of Somalia, and elsewhere in this continent. Unless Kenyans act now and put their house in order by way of voting only for people of high integrity, who are ready to resuscitate the true spirit of nationalism, Kenya could be heading to the dogs.
The popular song which now reigns the air in every corner of the Republic is than Moi was a better, foresighted leader, which is only falling short by an inch to say “Moi Must Come”, in place of “Moi Must Go”. I am sure level minded Kenyans would not brand me a hypocrite.
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
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Subject: IT WAS “MOI MUST GO” THE POPULAR SONG PRIOR TO THE 2002 GENERAL ELECTION,BUT AFTER SEVEN YEARS OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT FAILURE TO DELIVER TO THE ELECTORATE, THE TONE HAS NOW CHANGED TO “MOI MUST COME”