What is wrong with Kenyans? The Kenyan people vs The Kenyan Politicians by Doc
What is wrong with Kenyans? I saw a pathetic picture in one of the newspapers last week, of three human rights campaigners standing with signs supporting the implementation of the Waki report.
They should have been at the head of a procession of thousands of (peaceful) Kenyans standing up for their rights. But they weren’t. These three alone, apparently, had the guts to actually do something about what they believe in.
The rest of Kenyans (I’m one of them) were no doubt doing what they do so well — lying back passively to be raped by their politicians. Yes, that might mostly be metaphorical rape. But as a concept, it’s not an exaggeration. Most of our politicians are people who don’t care whether we say yes or no — they just go ahead and brutally force themselves and their will on us. And generally we don’t resist.

CLEAN PAIR
There has been an outpouring of public sentiment in favour of the Waki report. But it is not the public will that matters to politicians. It is their own survival and their own ambitions. Those who fear being named in the Waki report are fighting for survival. Those who don’t fear being named are jumping on the bandwagon to further their ambitions.
There are two particular exceptions. One is President Mwai Kibaki. The other is Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Kibaki is calling for forgiveness because the line of least resistance has always been his way — and that’s not to say it’s always a bad thing. Raila is calling for implementation of the report because his politics are based on justice for the people. Neither Kibaki nor Raila is acting out of character, and to ascribe other motives to either of them is just propaganda.
These are the two people who made it possible for peace to return to Kenya this year. Kibaki could have been a Mugabe.
He wasn’t and he isn’t. Raila could have dug in for his lost victory and refused to compromise. He didn’t and he hasn’t. Both put aside difficult personal considerations for the good of the country.

SELECTIVE AMNESIA
Those saying Kibaki and Raila didn’t deserve their recent university awards have very short memories and are guilty of very shallow thinking. In our parliament, these two men are among the few sober, intelligent, mature, thinking human beings, and the co-operation they are engaging in is the only thing keeping Kenya this side of hell, make no mistake about it.
And anyone saying people only fought after the elections because of these two individuals is completely missing the point.
In Raila’s case, people voted overwhelmingly for him in six provinces out of eight — that is not disputed — not because he was of their tribe or for any superficial reason. They voted for him because they believed what he said about the policies his party would implement. That was not a vote for an individual per se. It was a vote for change.
just like gandhi
On Kibaki’s side, the Waki report says a meeting was held at State House to plot revenge for violence in the Rift Valley. Can anyone actually imagine Kibaki sitting listening while a bunch of people say: “What we’re planning is to ferry Mungiki up there and then we’ll drag people out of public transport, kick the living s**t out of them and kill them” — and Kibaki enthusiastically agreeing: “Yeah, good idea! Go for it!”?
I don’t think so. I’ve been in Kenya since the ’60s and I’ve never seen Mwai Kibaki personally do or say anything (I’ll leave aside the issue of collective responsibility during the Kanu era) that would remotely lead anyone to believe he would condone such actions.
I just don’t think that’s who he is. His henchmen – well, that might be a different story. A meeting might have taken place, but if it did, I’d be willing to bet Kibaki didn’t know the half of it.
The same is true of Raila Odinga. He was stationed at Pentagon House virtually full-time in the aftermath of the elections. There he met foreign leaders, foreign ambassadors, local and foreign press people, ODM MPs and members of the Pentagon. I was mostly present and I took a lot of notes.
Raila persistently preached the message of non-violence. He was calling for mass action of a civil and civilised nature. He simply wanted people to protest, and to prevent normal business of the day going on. He had in mind Gandhi and Aung San Suu Kyi. He thought Kenya could make peaceful protests similar to the protests spearheaded by those leaders.

ERRANT OFFICERS
This is Raila, on the phone to Condoleezza Rice, 6.40pm, January 2: “We would ask you to tell Kibaki to allow the rally, where we will tell people to be peaceful, not violent. I will give my word on that. There is a need for peaceful mass action countrywide.”
He repeated the same message over and over. This was him talking to S¸ddeutsche Zeitung Munich, January 4: “We have told people all over the country to be peaceful. They will wear white armbands signifying peace. We will continue with peaceful protest in different ways. We will move towards a national strike. Demonstrations will also continue, and prayer meetings in churches, mosques and temples.”
Most telling of all, this was Raila addressing all the ODM parliamentarians-elect in a closed-door meeting at Orange House, January 2: “Let us carry the torch of wisdom, carry it and go and plant it there. Now go back to your constituencies and protest peacefully.”
Those now calling for the “generals” to be in the dock have a strange understanding of leadership. When a general gives proper orders and his junior officers turn renegade and defy and countermand those orders, it is the junior officers who get court-martialled, not the general.
Ah, yes, the junior officers. Who would have believed ODM (‘the party of the people’) MPs, with the notable exceptions of Raila Odinga and Musalia Mudavadi, would actually decide to ignore the people’s will and close ranks over the Waki report to defend the alleged criminal elite? Who would have believed PNU would be the party defending the will of the people and supporting implementation of the report?

Pick your Captain Kenya Shield design on all kinds of tops, phone cases, pop sockets, bags and pillow cases here.

PACK OF CROOKS
As for the so-called Grand Opposition, which its leaders piously told us was being formed to keep watch on behalf of the people — what a laugh! What total and utter humbug!
The Grand Opposition has fallen at the first fence, a staggering horse that never had the form to run. Its main proponents, now wearing their true colours, are among the most vocal against the Waki report and are supporting their fearful colleagues. The reason? They need to use this to fight their leaders, principally Raila Odinga, for their own political advantage. Who cares about people raped, sodomised, burnt alive, tortured and murdered? Who cares about children traumatised and scarred for life? Personal agenda is all!
It’s similar to the humbug about how bringing a dozen criminals, if indeed they are criminals, to justice would “tear the country apart”. Why should it? They are a dozen offenders, if they are offenders. We are tens of millions of offended. Leaders come and go, as they always have. If necessary, we can find others. A dozen people should not be allowed to hold a country to ransom.
Parliamentarians remind me of an ironical sign somewhere in the US during the recent election: “Tired of the same old crooks in Congress? Elect new crooks!” That is exactly what we’ve always done.
Kenyans have to learn there is nothing like a free lunch. There’s nothing like a free 50 bob, or a free 500 bob, or a free five million bob. Someone, somewhere, always has to pay. And the poorest Kenyans, the majority, will pay and pay and go on paying until they change what’s wrong with themselves, until they stand up for what’s right, until they refuse to accept what is wrong, until they stop allowing themselves to be used and bought, and until they leave aside tribalism (what did it bring you?) and elect proper leaders.
Kenyans need to wise up. Look at the furore nationwide here over Barack Obama.
But if Obama had been just the same intelligent, talented person, with the same parents, but if he were a Kenyan and not an American, and if he’d stood for election in Murang’a, he couldn’t even get elected as a councillor.

END IMPUNITY
It’s not just Murang’a, it’s the whole country that has this sorry approach to electing worthy people for the right reasons. And until Kenyans take a long, hard look at what’s wrong with their own behaviour, they can be sure their leaders will continue to take advantage of this to rape and pillage.
If we don’t wake up out of our apathy to do what we should and insist on holding leaders to account, we surely have no grounds on which to complain about the consequences.