Post by Onyango Oloo on Jun 2, 2006 18:41:19 GMT 3
Onyango Oloo Recycles An Almost Idle Roadside Chit Chat…
FIRST DRAFT- UNEDITED
The other day- precisely the day before yesterday- which in Australia and Japan is already the day before the day before yesterday because today is already tomorrow over there in the land of the rising sun and the place they call down under if you catch my drift- I am talking about Wednesday because today happens to be Friday; as I was saying, the other day, when it was almost night I was strolling from our offices at the end of a long day.
Like an increasing number of civil society offices, ours is ensconced in a leafy suburb that still clings on to an Anglo-colonial name that bears testimony to its former white residents. We are literally barricaded in a mini gated community with semi-private roads, security guards and all.
The irony of combating the evils of global monopoly capitalism from behind the confines of petit-bourgeois mansions and bungalows is always a daily reminder of the socio-geographic contradictions that many of us Kenyan middle class Do-Gooders find ourselves grappling with and engulfed in…
A stark reminder of the social flip side is provided by the bevy of security guards, house maids, masons, carpenters, tailors, gas station attendants, café cooks and waiters, kiosk operators, fruit and food vendors, and other Kenyan workers who come to upper class Nairobi neighbourhoods like Kilimani, Hurlingham, Lavington, Valley Arcade, Kileleshwa, Yaya to toil for a pittance all day long before taking route eleven (an euphemism for trekking on foot) back to their one room hovels in Kawangware, Kibera or even as far off as Kaiyaba, Kwa Maiko, Huruma or Mathare # 10.
So it was on Wednesday evening inching past seven thirty as I was passing through the outer gate- not our office gates but the main gates enclosing the bank of maisonettes, bungalows, mansions and condominium style apartments- one of the two security guards surprised me with a direct invitation to comment on the country’s political situation. We are on very amiable terms with all four watchmen- the day and night askaris, but more often than not, our chats are limited to pedantic pleasantries. I found out later that the guy had caught a glimpse of one of my sound bites on KTN from a few months back. I held back a little, not knowing whether I should bare my soul to someone who may turn out to be a closeted neo-colonial fascist sympathizer.
Boy was I ever wrong!
In retrospect, I am glad I kept my trap shut and my ears open.
For what followed was a rapid fire exposition on Kenyan contemporary politics from the vantage point of what Night Askari # 1 called Sisi Watu wa Chini (we the people of below)
My mshikaji who had passed by the office and was accompanying me home was taken aback by the virulent anti-Gikuyu sentiments ( she happens to be 50% Gikuyu with the other half being contributed by her Dawida madre ) peppering the running commentary on the political headline grabbers. Oh. Forgot to do the perfunctory Kenyan thing of putting my askaris in neat ethnic pigeon holes:
Askari Namba Moja is a forty something Mluhya from Christine Mango’s constituency; Askari Namba Mbili is a fifty something Mkamba from Kalonzo Musyoka’s neck of the woods.
Askari Namba Moja was doing most of the talking and these are some of the snippets I gleaned from him:
Kenyans will NOT accept Uhuru Project Part Two. Kibaki is going nowhere;
The Abaluhya in Kibera have told off the Luos insisting that this time around, Raila must make sure there is at least one Luhya councilor in Kibera or all hell will break loose;
Dr. Julia Ojiambo is going to kick Moody Awori’s ass and Ababu Namwamba is dislodging Bwana Wanjala;
Otieno Kajwang’ had better start packing to exit to the party he wants to defect to;
Raila Oding’a is yapping too much- he should heed William Ruto’s advice about successfully hunting for a sungura by going about his business quietly and not denouncing Moi and Kibaki all the time;
Chris Okemo redeemed himself when he refused to tag along to Uhuru Kenyatta’s anti- ODM stance;
Christine Mango had better watch it because “ everyone knows” that she is diverting the CDF funds to her relatives;
Former President Moi is backing wannabe President Uhuru “ kwa sababu alikula kiapo na Wakikuyu. Alirithi Mama Ngina na akaahidi kuwarudishia kiti cha Rais”;
Musalia Mudavadi will be the next President of Kenya;
Chipping and chiming in, Askari Namba Two said that the people of Ukambani were keenly watching if Kalonzo Musyoka was going to keel over to NARC-Kenya.
Other comments were along a similar vein.
What I felt was the palpable anger against the current ruling clique- an ire almost entirely expressed in tribal terms as in Wakikuyu versus the rest of Kenyans.
The other thing I sensed was a conviction from the two watchmen that the destiny of Kenya, especially the outcome of the next election was NOT going to be decided by politicians, but rather by wananchi wa kawaida, sisi watu wa chini.
The fact that these two workers were quite keenly aware of class cleavages but could not see these in anything other than via ethnic prisms explains how mainstream political barons exploit tribal differences to build tribal parties.
What I heard from the two watchmen was a strong desire to complete “ what we failed to do in 2002- bring about real changes in Kenya”.
Now the political pundits offline and in cyberspace may berate me for recycling tribal, semi-literate gossip and hearsay.
What fascinates me however is the way ordinary Kenyan workers think and how they view the political process. After all, these are the actual voters who will mobilize their friends, families and clansmen and women to go and cast a vote for this or that councilor, this or that mbung’e, this or that presidential candidate.
Gauging by what they said one can project that these askaris and their peers expect the following:
Next elections will be a protest vote with two main targets:
1. The Kibaki-led so called Government of National Unity;
2. The incumbent MPs.
Thus we should expect a different government and a different parliamentary make up. There will be a lot of new faces, rank outsiders and fresh blood.
The mainstream parties will still be the main mobilizers, with ethnicity a major tool of recruitment. Candidates relying on cash handouts to gain seats will be shocked to find themselves also rans because the voters have already made up their minds more than a year before the actual elections.
Today I am just reporter so I will curtail any analysis of what was conveyed to me…
Onyango Oloo
Nairobi, Kenya
