Commentary By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.

I was puzzled and dismayed last night when I watched the elderly Environment Minister John Njoroge Michuki in full view of Television news footage telling Kenyans that that politician who may be interested in harvesting the Kikuyu votes in 2012 must consult the Finance Minister Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta who is the chosen leader of that community.
In my view, these uncoordinated and reckless utterances were not meant to help Mr Kenyatta in anyway to realize his presidential ambition, but were most well calculated to ruin his political future.

Michuki ius not the spokesman for the Kikuyu community and has no business telling the community as to who should be their next leader. His utterances were misleading,undemocratic and unacceptable to any civilized Kenyan society.

I must say with all the due respect that I have for the Kangema MP that his untimely outbursts were autocratic and dictatorial. These utterances were misplaced and were aimed at underestimation of the intelligence of the Kenyans electorate, especially those in the Central region of Kenya.

The days of one choosing a leader for the people are long gone. Such dictatorial policy, I am sure for certain, went up in smoke with the bone fire of the failed Uhuru Kenyatta project of the year 2002. And such kind of politics of the imposed leadership will never again see the light of the day in this country. Minister Kichuki, the snake rattler fame ought to have known this.

It seemed that the likes of Michuki nursing the outmoded political tendency of the past, particularly those of the days of KANU “Mama na Baba” which were shamelessly and primitively coined into the body politics of Kenya by the retired President Daniel Arap Moi.
With such illustrious academic background and wealth of experience in public affairsKen6ans expect Hon Michuki not to stoop too low to an extent of being equal to petty political hirelings in comparison, but to be a man of upright standing above the parochial tribal hegemony.

Had Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta worked hard and succeeded in revitalizing and rebuilt KANU, the party of independence which was handed to him in a silver platter by the retired President Daniel Arap Moi to a vibrant political movement of its old self then it could make sense for the people to talk about his chances of succeeding President Mwai Kibaki as the next head of state. KANU is the only political movement with intact structure throughout the country.
But the Gatundu South MP through ill-advice from certain quarters had abandoned KANU to the dogs in preference to the seemingly structure less and amorphous PNU with falsified hope it could propel him easily to the State House. What a wishful thinking?
Moi despite having lost the 2002 general election to the vibrant Narc-Kenya had left KANU on a strong foot with close to 69 parliamentary strength and Uhuru had officially became the leader of the Opposition in Parliament and the assumed government in waiting. But owing to dismal performance and poor leadership of Uhuru Kenyatta that number had in the 2007 general elections dwindled to less than 20.What card f success Mr Kenyatta would present to the electorate in 2012? Or would it be just a simple tribal symbol?

Michuki appear to be in the process of underrating the influence of the up-coming politicians from Kikuyu land such as the articulate and eloquent Gichugu Mp Martha Karua and his Gatanga MP counter-part Peter Kenneth and their impact on the attitudes of the younger generation of voters in the Central region in particular and Kenya in general. The trio appeared to be the new voice of reasoning in that important region of Kenya as they are capable of outreaching the electorate outside the Kiukuyu land regions.
If I were to be asked to vote for a Kikuyu in the presidential race, definitely my hero is Ms Karua with Peter Kenneth in second place while my old friend Stanley Munga Githunguri would occupy the number three slot.

Michuki deliberately and flagrantly ignore the extent of influence of Martha Karua on the body politics of Kenya.Karua together with Kenneth have of late been playing the political of true national cohesion with the better national outlook than those of the old days of “Nyumba enene and kamwene of the Gatundu days.

I therefore challenge ther Minister to own up his sycophantic outburst and tender an heartfelt apology to Kenyan electorate because his utterances are viewed in the context of being a mockery to the tenets and essence of democratic principles. Hi give Kenyans a breath space to make their own democratic choices of the future leadership of this country.

He should stop polarizing the minds with his miscalculated political gimmicks. The time is up for the likes of Michuki to go home and enjoy their wealth peacefully while waiting for their sun-set days and leave the political atmosphere and space for the younger and upright thinking Kenyans.

Mr Kenyatta should come of out of hiding behind the likes of Michuki and sell his own policy. He should come out of the cell of tribal politic and an sell his own policy to Kenyans from all walks of life if at all he is genuinely and seriously interested in the hot seat at the State Ho8use, and perhaps do a bit of public relations and damage control as well as cleansing about the messes visited to Kenyans by his late father.

May be Kenyatta has been enjoying high profile kind of politics and inadvertently forgotten the naked fact that these were the same stigma that derailed his presidential ambition in the year 2002.

Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com