Post by Onyango Oloo on Aug 1, 2006 19:30:17 GMT 3
FIRST DRAFT UNEDITED
Iconoclastic Reflections on Coalition Politics In Kenya
A Digital Essay by Onyango Oloo in Nairobi
Marxist-Leninists the world over have probably spilt more ink and burnt more midnight oil poring over the question of political unity than all the other political pundits put together.
This is because Marxists, by their very ideological nature, are often engaged in mapping out strategies and tactics to harness the widest array of people to bring about change- while at the same time, those very Marxists are a minority among the people they work with and those they hope to influence and lead. In other words, Marxist-Leninists have proved over time that their political impact has little to do with their actual numbers but rather more to do with the strength of their ideas and their organizing prowess which often wipes out any advantages or disadvantages on the numerical plane.
Kenyan Marxists are no exception.
Over the last forty- three years, socialists and anti-imperialists, often working in the shadows have had a profound impact on mainstream Kenyan political contestations. They rarely claim credit and when they do, this is often dismissed.
I have decided to foreground Marxist-Leninists and their undisputed political influences over time to shine a sharp light on the paucity and bankruptcy that passes for mainstream Kenyan political strategizing today.
On Saturday, (July 29th, 2006) I was dumbfounded as I took in the main headline of the Saturday Standard at a certain guest house in Kisumu, western Kenya. I was just about to return to Nairobi after a three day work assignment in the Lake region.
When I say I was dumbfounded, I am not speaking idly. I mean, here was a front-page story lauding and applauding, serenading and valorizing the antics of a well known Kenyan opportunist politician- Mwai Kibaki.
According to the “Standard Reporter” Kibaki was a genius whose star was shining following the recent triumphs of three NARC-Kenya candidates at the recently concluded by elections in Nakuru, Moyale and Marsabit.
It read suspiciously like a press statement drafted by Dr. Goebbels Mutua.
The sycophancy that Kenyans- including allegedly serious journalists- shower on their political leaders is strictly yesterday’s news.
What is new AND BIZARRE (to me at least) happens to be the granary load of accolades from the Standard a media house that was supposedly so feared by Kibaki's inner cronies a few months ago as an opposition outpost to the extent that the serpentine Waziri for internal security corralled a shady and shadowy cabal of foreign led uniformed goons to invade the premises of the newspaper and television chain in the dead of the night.
You know, at the time that Tom Mshindi was pushed from his executive office, one of my pals who knows a lot about the internal stuff at the Standard Group told me that the ouster of Mshindi was pegged on two things: pure bottom line preoccupations (like securing more government ads) and the need for the state to come up with a winning media strategy in place to influence opinions in favour of a Kibaki reelection bid. Back then, I did not quite fathom what he was talking about, but the pieces are beginning to come together as I delve deeper and deeper into that newspaper’s coverage of establishment AND anti-government figures.
Of course the fact that the ownership of the Standard is linked to injured President Moi sometimes helps to explain why at times it seems to have an opposition bent and other times, more like a ruling party mouthpiece.
What makes matters even more complex is the fact that the Standard’s reporters, columnists and editors are by and large very independent persons who have risked a lot to expose graft, pillory ministers and critique the shenanigans of the ruling Kibaki group.
Be that as it may, I want to say something about this notion of Mwai Kibaki as a genius mwanasiasa who keeps his foes on their toes with his inscrutable political chess moves.
What a load of elephant manure!
Former President Moi was also praised for his repressive, manipulative and back-stabbing tactics to the point where he was dubbed ati the "professor of politics".
What are we saying as a society of Kenyans when we think that our President is a political Einstein because one, he cynically tears up formal written agreements; two, looks the other way as his cabinet pilfers the state coffers; three, gleefully overlooks the dangerous, racist and illegal activities of a duo of dubious European mercenaries; four, publicly disowns his second wife and daughter from that relationship; five, jumps in bed with the very same KANU that the wananchi voted out; six, abandons DP the party he co-founded; seven, bolts from the coalition government that catapulted him to power; eight, rushes to Nakuru to ensure that the Agikuyu vote is not divided between William Mirugi and David Manyara; nine, helps to supervise shameless pork barrel politics not just at the 2005 referendum but at the July by-elections; ten, schemes to reintroduce to his cabinet disgraced ministers tainted by scandal; eleven, shamelessly plays the ethnic card forgetting those nationalistic Unbwogable hey days of 2002 multi-ethnic solidarity to cite just a few outrages???
What is amusing to me is how the online defenders of President Kibaki and his NARC-Kenya clique go into orgasmic paroxysms of delirium every time they think the State House resident and his coterie has scored one more goal- even if it is an own goal.
Remember the gloating and ululations about two years ago when the Nyachaes and Karumes were ushered into the so called "government of national unity"?
Remember the chest-thumping about the so called “government project” at the height of last year’s referendum?
Conveniently tongue tied they have been when these apparent "triumphs" have been followed by disastrous referendum defeats; embarrassing Githongo leakages implicating the Mwirarias and the Kiraitus; British blacklisting snubbing the arrogant Murungarus; macabre Armenian soap operas skewering the Michukis, Murages, Wambuis and Wanguis; scandals starring the Kirwas and live television exposes documenting the abuse of state resources by the Kibwanas; credible reports from Nakuru linking the Mungatanas to voter bribery and intimidation.
One thing for sure is that the government that Kenyans united from the ocean to the lake across the mountains and valleys to bring to power is DEAD.
The National Rainbow Coalition started dying in January 2003, just a few days after it got into power when the Kibaki led NAK faction tore up its MOU with the LDP. It suffered a clinical death on April 30th, 2004 when Mwai Kibaki invited the KANU old guard ( Karume, Nyachae etc) into his government of national disunity. NARC’s body was shipped to the city mortuary on November 21, 2005 when the LDP faction of the ruling coalition galvanized the country to unleash a devastating defeat of the so called "government project" during the referendum. The corpse of NARC was finally interred when NARC President Mwai Kibaki appeared in Nakuru to urge the Agikuyu to close ranks and vote in one of their own.
The demise of NARC brings to the fore the question of coalition politics in Kenya.
Given what has gone down within the former ruling coalition, should Kenyans ever trust mainstream politicians to diligently adhere to their high sounding pre-election pledges of national unity, prosperity blah, blah, blah?
Raila Odinga seems convinced that the coalitions is the way to go- citing the KANU defeats over the opposition in the first two elections that ushered the second phase of multi-party politics in Kenya( the first one lasted from 1963 to 1969). Based on this, Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, William Ruto, Najib Balala, Musalia Mudavadi, Omingo Magara and other ODM heavyweights are convinced that their umbrella will carry the day come next year’s general elections.
But with the bolting of the Uhuru KANU faction from the ODM juggernaut, what guarantees are there that ODM will NOT go the way of NARC? What is the glue that binds the LDP, Ruto’s KANU and other ODM allies together?
It is certainly NOT a shared IDEOLOGICAL VISION that has taken root among millions of Kenyans.
Truth be said, ODM holds sway among millions of Kenyans thanks to the charisma and personal attributes attributed to the Railas, Kalonzos and Rutos.
No matter how magnetic a pull, this is very, very shaky ground to invest in future political hope. In the shark infested waters of flip-flopping Kenyan mainstream politics, what is to prevent for instance, a Kalonzo overture to Uhuru Kenyatta, or for that matter, an eleventh hour rapprochement featuring Raila Odinga and his apparent nemesis Mwai Kibaki?
What happens then, if the above scenarios unfold?
Will Kenyan voters once again sulk in seething rage for being jilted for the umpteenth time by their politician suitors?
The fact of the matter is that ALL "grand coalitions" in Kenya so far- the Kenyatta/Jaramogi pact; the Moi/Njonjo/Kibaki axis; the original FORD Matiba/Jaramogi/Muliro-led united front; the KANU/NDP merger; the rebel KANU Rainbow Alliance; the National Rainbow Coalition; the Government of National Unity; the Orange Democratic Movement- all without exception have been agreements among individual mainstream Kenyan politicians who then corral their respective ethnic and political constituencies to come on board and VOTE THE POLITICIANS to office.
It is been like climbing a tree from the top- not one of the easiest feats.
And no wonder things have quickly fallen apart when the respective wanasiasa revert back to the familiar conniving and opportunistic old ways.
The reason I was going on and on and on and on about Marxists at the outset of this essay is because I am convinced that it is the Marxist- Leninists of the world who have most thoroughly studied and put forth the most viable models of coalition building. I will plead guilty to the charge of being biased and partisan because I am after all, a Kenyan Marxist.
Anyways, before we proceed much further, check out the following reflections by two of the most influential political thinkers of all time:
...Unity cannot be “promised”- that would be vain boasting, self deception; Unity cannot be “created” out of ”agreements” between intellectualist groups. To thinks so is a profoundly sad, naive, and ignorant delusion. Unity must be won... Nothing is easier than to write the word “unity” in yard long letters-to promise it, and to “proclaim” oneself an advocate of unity.
-Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.
The more powerful enemy can be conquered only by exerting the utmost effort, and by necessarily, thoroughly, carefully, attentively and skilfully taking advantage of any, even the smallest, ‘rift’ among the enemies..by taking advantage of every, even the smallest, opportunity of gaining a mass ally, even though this ally be temporary, vacillating, unstable, unreliable and conditional...
-Vladimir Lenin, Left-Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder, International Publishers, New York, 1940, p.50.
“"... Far from pinning our hopes on antagonisms within the ranks of the enemy, we are fully aware that the development of these contradictions and the extent to which they be capitalized upon are in the last analysis determined by the strength of the revolution. The experience of all genuine popular revolutions shows that the stronger the revolutionary forces become and the higher the revolutionary tide rises, the more the enemy’s ranks are torn by contradictions and are likely to split Ultimately the time comes when these conflicts have grown so exacerbated as to render impossible all compromise between the various enemy factions. This constitutes one of the unmistakable signs of the maturity of the revolutionary situation. The revolution then breaks out and the enemy’s rule is overthrown in decisive battles....The victory of the revolution depends primarily on a correct determination of the general orientation and strategic objective, as well as the specific orientation and objective for each period. But just as important as defining the orientation and objective is the problem of how to carry them into effect once such decisions are made. What road should be followed? What forms should be adopted? What measures should be used? Experience has shown that a revolutionary movement may mark time, or even fail, not for lack of clearly defined orientations and objectives, but essentially because there have been no appropriate principles and methods of revolutionary action. Methods of revolutionary action are devised to defeat the enemy of the revolution, and in the most advantageous way, so that the revolution may attain its ends as quickly as possible. Here one also needs wisdom as well as courage; it is not only a science, but also an art. Decisions over methods of revolutionary action require, more than in any other field, that the revolutionary maintain the highest creative spirit. Revolution is creation; it cannot succeed without imagination and ingenuity. There has never been nor will there ever be a unique formula for making a revolution that is suited to all situations. One given method may be adaptable to a certain country but unsuitable in another. A correct method in certain times and circumstances may be erroneous in other situations. Everything depends on the concrete historical conditions..... It is a matter of principle that either in the daily policies or in the practice of revolutionary struggle... a revolutionary should never lose sight of the final goal. If one considers the fight for small daily gains and immediate targets as ‘everything’ and views the final goal as ‘nothing’... then one displays the worst kind of opportunism which can only result in keeping the popular masses in eternal servitude. However, it is by no means sufficient to comprehend only the final objective. While keeping in mind the revolutionary goal, the art of revolutionary leadership lies in knowing how win judiciously step by step. Revolution is the work of millions of popular masses standing up to overthrow the ruling classes, which command powerful means of violence together with other material and spiritual forces. That is why a revolution is always a long-term process. From the initial steps to the final victory, a revolution necessarily goes through many difficult and complex stages of struggle full of twists and bends, clearing one obstacle after another and gradually changing the relation of forces between the revolution and the counter-revolution until overwhelming superiority is achieved over the ruling classes..."
- Le Duan, The Vietnamese Revolution: Fundamental Problems and Essential Tasks, New World Paperbacks, New York, 1971, pp22-27.
Compare the above time-tested with the shameless horse-trading that passes for serious strategizing within and across the Kenyan political mainstream.
Earlier today, I was perusing the latest editions of the Weekly Citizen and The Independent papers often spat upon by the haughty chattering classes as being nothing but "gutter press". Personally I have been accosted by more gutter material in the allegedly respectable dailies which often fill up space with salacious gossip and fictional political insights.
For instance the July 31st-August 6th edition of the Weekly Citizen (which is all glossy now) trumpets on its front page:
2007 POLLS: THE SECRET KIKUYU AGENDA
The following excerpt provides a snap shot of the entire article:
Still basking in the glory of the impressive performance in the recent by-elections and buoyed with the poll survey that puts him ahead of the pack eyeing the presidency in 2007, a clique of powerful political and business operatives from central Kenya is now all out to ensure President Kibaki wins the next elections. According to inside sources within the tightly knit ruling clique, confidence is soaring high that a second term for Kibaki is well within their sights and that only a little effort is needed to see them home and dry in January 2008. To start with, we have established, the multi-pronged plan is not only to have as many people from central Kenya and its diaspora register as voters en masse, but also have them cast the ballot come day of reckoning. If necessary, it is alleged, the government will register even the under-aged in Central to bolster Kibaki’s vote. Conversely, the plan is to have minimum voter registration in areas where Kibaki is unlikely to have an impact. The idea it is said, is informed by the voting pattern in last year’s referendum in which Central province put all their votes in one basket in start contrast to other areas…While consolidating their new found political clout, the schemers are also said to be working on ways of dividing the opposition to the point that it poses no significant threat to Kibaki…Aware that the opposition is up to some coalition cobbling of sorts, the Kibaki men are now eyeing KANU’s Uhuru Kenyatta whom they want to poach in what is described by some as a close knit strategy to reinstall Kikuyu supremacy in Kenya reminiscent of the days of Jomo Kenyatta when other tribes were supposed to play subservient roles. Already some prominent KANU politicians from the Kikuyu community have been won over to the government side. In the Nakuru by-election for example, the district KANU chairman Kimani Ngunjiri and his Molo counterpart, Prof. Karanja Njoroge were the chief campaigners for the victor, William Mirugi…
Not to be outdone, The Independent screeches:
NARC-K, KANU SECRET 2007 ELECTION DEAL
…According to highly placed sources, an alliance of sorts is being mooted between Narc-Kenya, KANU and the Nyachae-led FORD-People. The source went on to add that there is a likelihood of the three parties forming a coalition before the 2007 elections with the blessings of retired president Daniel arap Moi…
Is there a trace of principle in the above back-room conniving?
Is there a hint of ideological grounding in the ethnic arithmetic playing itself out if one were to give credence to the above scenarios?
Those were two rhetorical questions that require no answer by the way.
Whether it is the ODM cobbling a winning team to set itself up as the government in waiting come 2007 or the greedy chauvinists around Kibaki thinking of a Pax Kikuyuna epoch, one can’t help shrugging one’s shoulders wondering how long Kenyan politics will seek the lowest common denominator of tribalism, big manism and crude zeal for power for its own sake.
What is most gratifying however is that there is a clutch of Kenyans spread out across the country who have begun the process of thinking of political alternatives that transcend the Hobson’s Choices served up by the status quo. There ARE IN EXISTENCE Kenyans who consider themselves very political who are totally unimpressed by the cul de sacs that our prominent wanasiasa are stuck in.
Who are these Kenyans and what do they plan to do next year?
Well, that is the subject of another essay.
Let me pen off with a wry comment:
The acquittal of the Saitotis, Somaias, Pattnis and Cholmondeleys just goes to prove the truth of the Marxist dictum which holds that in a class stratified society "justice" is only reserved to the people who share the class background of the judges, magistrates, prosecutors and state counsels. I am going to SPECULATE that Saitoti is going to be very much part of the mix of NARC-Kenya’s electioneering bag of dirty tricks come the year to come…
Onyango Oloo
Nairobi, Kenya
Iconoclastic Reflections on Coalition Politics In Kenya
A Digital Essay by Onyango Oloo in Nairobi
Marxist-Leninists the world over have probably spilt more ink and burnt more midnight oil poring over the question of political unity than all the other political pundits put together.
This is because Marxists, by their very ideological nature, are often engaged in mapping out strategies and tactics to harness the widest array of people to bring about change- while at the same time, those very Marxists are a minority among the people they work with and those they hope to influence and lead. In other words, Marxist-Leninists have proved over time that their political impact has little to do with their actual numbers but rather more to do with the strength of their ideas and their organizing prowess which often wipes out any advantages or disadvantages on the numerical plane.
Kenyan Marxists are no exception.
Over the last forty- three years, socialists and anti-imperialists, often working in the shadows have had a profound impact on mainstream Kenyan political contestations. They rarely claim credit and when they do, this is often dismissed.
I have decided to foreground Marxist-Leninists and their undisputed political influences over time to shine a sharp light on the paucity and bankruptcy that passes for mainstream Kenyan political strategizing today.
On Saturday, (July 29th, 2006) I was dumbfounded as I took in the main headline of the Saturday Standard at a certain guest house in Kisumu, western Kenya. I was just about to return to Nairobi after a three day work assignment in the Lake region.
When I say I was dumbfounded, I am not speaking idly. I mean, here was a front-page story lauding and applauding, serenading and valorizing the antics of a well known Kenyan opportunist politician- Mwai Kibaki.
According to the “Standard Reporter” Kibaki was a genius whose star was shining following the recent triumphs of three NARC-Kenya candidates at the recently concluded by elections in Nakuru, Moyale and Marsabit.
It read suspiciously like a press statement drafted by Dr. Goebbels Mutua.
The sycophancy that Kenyans- including allegedly serious journalists- shower on their political leaders is strictly yesterday’s news.
What is new AND BIZARRE (to me at least) happens to be the granary load of accolades from the Standard a media house that was supposedly so feared by Kibaki's inner cronies a few months ago as an opposition outpost to the extent that the serpentine Waziri for internal security corralled a shady and shadowy cabal of foreign led uniformed goons to invade the premises of the newspaper and television chain in the dead of the night.
You know, at the time that Tom Mshindi was pushed from his executive office, one of my pals who knows a lot about the internal stuff at the Standard Group told me that the ouster of Mshindi was pegged on two things: pure bottom line preoccupations (like securing more government ads) and the need for the state to come up with a winning media strategy in place to influence opinions in favour of a Kibaki reelection bid. Back then, I did not quite fathom what he was talking about, but the pieces are beginning to come together as I delve deeper and deeper into that newspaper’s coverage of establishment AND anti-government figures.
Of course the fact that the ownership of the Standard is linked to injured President Moi sometimes helps to explain why at times it seems to have an opposition bent and other times, more like a ruling party mouthpiece.
What makes matters even more complex is the fact that the Standard’s reporters, columnists and editors are by and large very independent persons who have risked a lot to expose graft, pillory ministers and critique the shenanigans of the ruling Kibaki group.
Be that as it may, I want to say something about this notion of Mwai Kibaki as a genius mwanasiasa who keeps his foes on their toes with his inscrutable political chess moves.
What a load of elephant manure!
Former President Moi was also praised for his repressive, manipulative and back-stabbing tactics to the point where he was dubbed ati the "professor of politics".
What are we saying as a society of Kenyans when we think that our President is a political Einstein because one, he cynically tears up formal written agreements; two, looks the other way as his cabinet pilfers the state coffers; three, gleefully overlooks the dangerous, racist and illegal activities of a duo of dubious European mercenaries; four, publicly disowns his second wife and daughter from that relationship; five, jumps in bed with the very same KANU that the wananchi voted out; six, abandons DP the party he co-founded; seven, bolts from the coalition government that catapulted him to power; eight, rushes to Nakuru to ensure that the Agikuyu vote is not divided between William Mirugi and David Manyara; nine, helps to supervise shameless pork barrel politics not just at the 2005 referendum but at the July by-elections; ten, schemes to reintroduce to his cabinet disgraced ministers tainted by scandal; eleven, shamelessly plays the ethnic card forgetting those nationalistic Unbwogable hey days of 2002 multi-ethnic solidarity to cite just a few outrages???
What is amusing to me is how the online defenders of President Kibaki and his NARC-Kenya clique go into orgasmic paroxysms of delirium every time they think the State House resident and his coterie has scored one more goal- even if it is an own goal.
Remember the gloating and ululations about two years ago when the Nyachaes and Karumes were ushered into the so called "government of national unity"?
Remember the chest-thumping about the so called “government project” at the height of last year’s referendum?
Conveniently tongue tied they have been when these apparent "triumphs" have been followed by disastrous referendum defeats; embarrassing Githongo leakages implicating the Mwirarias and the Kiraitus; British blacklisting snubbing the arrogant Murungarus; macabre Armenian soap operas skewering the Michukis, Murages, Wambuis and Wanguis; scandals starring the Kirwas and live television exposes documenting the abuse of state resources by the Kibwanas; credible reports from Nakuru linking the Mungatanas to voter bribery and intimidation.
One thing for sure is that the government that Kenyans united from the ocean to the lake across the mountains and valleys to bring to power is DEAD.
The National Rainbow Coalition started dying in January 2003, just a few days after it got into power when the Kibaki led NAK faction tore up its MOU with the LDP. It suffered a clinical death on April 30th, 2004 when Mwai Kibaki invited the KANU old guard ( Karume, Nyachae etc) into his government of national disunity. NARC’s body was shipped to the city mortuary on November 21, 2005 when the LDP faction of the ruling coalition galvanized the country to unleash a devastating defeat of the so called "government project" during the referendum. The corpse of NARC was finally interred when NARC President Mwai Kibaki appeared in Nakuru to urge the Agikuyu to close ranks and vote in one of their own.
The demise of NARC brings to the fore the question of coalition politics in Kenya.
Given what has gone down within the former ruling coalition, should Kenyans ever trust mainstream politicians to diligently adhere to their high sounding pre-election pledges of national unity, prosperity blah, blah, blah?
Raila Odinga seems convinced that the coalitions is the way to go- citing the KANU defeats over the opposition in the first two elections that ushered the second phase of multi-party politics in Kenya( the first one lasted from 1963 to 1969). Based on this, Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, William Ruto, Najib Balala, Musalia Mudavadi, Omingo Magara and other ODM heavyweights are convinced that their umbrella will carry the day come next year’s general elections.
But with the bolting of the Uhuru KANU faction from the ODM juggernaut, what guarantees are there that ODM will NOT go the way of NARC? What is the glue that binds the LDP, Ruto’s KANU and other ODM allies together?
It is certainly NOT a shared IDEOLOGICAL VISION that has taken root among millions of Kenyans.
Truth be said, ODM holds sway among millions of Kenyans thanks to the charisma and personal attributes attributed to the Railas, Kalonzos and Rutos.
No matter how magnetic a pull, this is very, very shaky ground to invest in future political hope. In the shark infested waters of flip-flopping Kenyan mainstream politics, what is to prevent for instance, a Kalonzo overture to Uhuru Kenyatta, or for that matter, an eleventh hour rapprochement featuring Raila Odinga and his apparent nemesis Mwai Kibaki?
What happens then, if the above scenarios unfold?
Will Kenyan voters once again sulk in seething rage for being jilted for the umpteenth time by their politician suitors?
The fact of the matter is that ALL "grand coalitions" in Kenya so far- the Kenyatta/Jaramogi pact; the Moi/Njonjo/Kibaki axis; the original FORD Matiba/Jaramogi/Muliro-led united front; the KANU/NDP merger; the rebel KANU Rainbow Alliance; the National Rainbow Coalition; the Government of National Unity; the Orange Democratic Movement- all without exception have been agreements among individual mainstream Kenyan politicians who then corral their respective ethnic and political constituencies to come on board and VOTE THE POLITICIANS to office.
It is been like climbing a tree from the top- not one of the easiest feats.
And no wonder things have quickly fallen apart when the respective wanasiasa revert back to the familiar conniving and opportunistic old ways.
The reason I was going on and on and on and on about Marxists at the outset of this essay is because I am convinced that it is the Marxist- Leninists of the world who have most thoroughly studied and put forth the most viable models of coalition building. I will plead guilty to the charge of being biased and partisan because I am after all, a Kenyan Marxist.
Anyways, before we proceed much further, check out the following reflections by two of the most influential political thinkers of all time:
...Unity cannot be “promised”- that would be vain boasting, self deception; Unity cannot be “created” out of ”agreements” between intellectualist groups. To thinks so is a profoundly sad, naive, and ignorant delusion. Unity must be won... Nothing is easier than to write the word “unity” in yard long letters-to promise it, and to “proclaim” oneself an advocate of unity.
-Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.
The more powerful enemy can be conquered only by exerting the utmost effort, and by necessarily, thoroughly, carefully, attentively and skilfully taking advantage of any, even the smallest, ‘rift’ among the enemies..by taking advantage of every, even the smallest, opportunity of gaining a mass ally, even though this ally be temporary, vacillating, unstable, unreliable and conditional...
-Vladimir Lenin, Left-Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder, International Publishers, New York, 1940, p.50.
“"... Far from pinning our hopes on antagonisms within the ranks of the enemy, we are fully aware that the development of these contradictions and the extent to which they be capitalized upon are in the last analysis determined by the strength of the revolution. The experience of all genuine popular revolutions shows that the stronger the revolutionary forces become and the higher the revolutionary tide rises, the more the enemy’s ranks are torn by contradictions and are likely to split Ultimately the time comes when these conflicts have grown so exacerbated as to render impossible all compromise between the various enemy factions. This constitutes one of the unmistakable signs of the maturity of the revolutionary situation. The revolution then breaks out and the enemy’s rule is overthrown in decisive battles....The victory of the revolution depends primarily on a correct determination of the general orientation and strategic objective, as well as the specific orientation and objective for each period. But just as important as defining the orientation and objective is the problem of how to carry them into effect once such decisions are made. What road should be followed? What forms should be adopted? What measures should be used? Experience has shown that a revolutionary movement may mark time, or even fail, not for lack of clearly defined orientations and objectives, but essentially because there have been no appropriate principles and methods of revolutionary action. Methods of revolutionary action are devised to defeat the enemy of the revolution, and in the most advantageous way, so that the revolution may attain its ends as quickly as possible. Here one also needs wisdom as well as courage; it is not only a science, but also an art. Decisions over methods of revolutionary action require, more than in any other field, that the revolutionary maintain the highest creative spirit. Revolution is creation; it cannot succeed without imagination and ingenuity. There has never been nor will there ever be a unique formula for making a revolution that is suited to all situations. One given method may be adaptable to a certain country but unsuitable in another. A correct method in certain times and circumstances may be erroneous in other situations. Everything depends on the concrete historical conditions..... It is a matter of principle that either in the daily policies or in the practice of revolutionary struggle... a revolutionary should never lose sight of the final goal. If one considers the fight for small daily gains and immediate targets as ‘everything’ and views the final goal as ‘nothing’... then one displays the worst kind of opportunism which can only result in keeping the popular masses in eternal servitude. However, it is by no means sufficient to comprehend only the final objective. While keeping in mind the revolutionary goal, the art of revolutionary leadership lies in knowing how win judiciously step by step. Revolution is the work of millions of popular masses standing up to overthrow the ruling classes, which command powerful means of violence together with other material and spiritual forces. That is why a revolution is always a long-term process. From the initial steps to the final victory, a revolution necessarily goes through many difficult and complex stages of struggle full of twists and bends, clearing one obstacle after another and gradually changing the relation of forces between the revolution and the counter-revolution until overwhelming superiority is achieved over the ruling classes..."
- Le Duan, The Vietnamese Revolution: Fundamental Problems and Essential Tasks, New World Paperbacks, New York, 1971, pp22-27.
Compare the above time-tested with the shameless horse-trading that passes for serious strategizing within and across the Kenyan political mainstream.
Earlier today, I was perusing the latest editions of the Weekly Citizen and The Independent papers often spat upon by the haughty chattering classes as being nothing but "gutter press". Personally I have been accosted by more gutter material in the allegedly respectable dailies which often fill up space with salacious gossip and fictional political insights.
For instance the July 31st-August 6th edition of the Weekly Citizen (which is all glossy now) trumpets on its front page:
2007 POLLS: THE SECRET KIKUYU AGENDA
The following excerpt provides a snap shot of the entire article:
Still basking in the glory of the impressive performance in the recent by-elections and buoyed with the poll survey that puts him ahead of the pack eyeing the presidency in 2007, a clique of powerful political and business operatives from central Kenya is now all out to ensure President Kibaki wins the next elections. According to inside sources within the tightly knit ruling clique, confidence is soaring high that a second term for Kibaki is well within their sights and that only a little effort is needed to see them home and dry in January 2008. To start with, we have established, the multi-pronged plan is not only to have as many people from central Kenya and its diaspora register as voters en masse, but also have them cast the ballot come day of reckoning. If necessary, it is alleged, the government will register even the under-aged in Central to bolster Kibaki’s vote. Conversely, the plan is to have minimum voter registration in areas where Kibaki is unlikely to have an impact. The idea it is said, is informed by the voting pattern in last year’s referendum in which Central province put all their votes in one basket in start contrast to other areas…While consolidating their new found political clout, the schemers are also said to be working on ways of dividing the opposition to the point that it poses no significant threat to Kibaki…Aware that the opposition is up to some coalition cobbling of sorts, the Kibaki men are now eyeing KANU’s Uhuru Kenyatta whom they want to poach in what is described by some as a close knit strategy to reinstall Kikuyu supremacy in Kenya reminiscent of the days of Jomo Kenyatta when other tribes were supposed to play subservient roles. Already some prominent KANU politicians from the Kikuyu community have been won over to the government side. In the Nakuru by-election for example, the district KANU chairman Kimani Ngunjiri and his Molo counterpart, Prof. Karanja Njoroge were the chief campaigners for the victor, William Mirugi…
Not to be outdone, The Independent screeches:
NARC-K, KANU SECRET 2007 ELECTION DEAL
…According to highly placed sources, an alliance of sorts is being mooted between Narc-Kenya, KANU and the Nyachae-led FORD-People. The source went on to add that there is a likelihood of the three parties forming a coalition before the 2007 elections with the blessings of retired president Daniel arap Moi…
Is there a trace of principle in the above back-room conniving?
Is there a hint of ideological grounding in the ethnic arithmetic playing itself out if one were to give credence to the above scenarios?
Those were two rhetorical questions that require no answer by the way.
Whether it is the ODM cobbling a winning team to set itself up as the government in waiting come 2007 or the greedy chauvinists around Kibaki thinking of a Pax Kikuyuna epoch, one can’t help shrugging one’s shoulders wondering how long Kenyan politics will seek the lowest common denominator of tribalism, big manism and crude zeal for power for its own sake.
What is most gratifying however is that there is a clutch of Kenyans spread out across the country who have begun the process of thinking of political alternatives that transcend the Hobson’s Choices served up by the status quo. There ARE IN EXISTENCE Kenyans who consider themselves very political who are totally unimpressed by the cul de sacs that our prominent wanasiasa are stuck in.
Who are these Kenyans and what do they plan to do next year?
Well, that is the subject of another essay.
Let me pen off with a wry comment:
The acquittal of the Saitotis, Somaias, Pattnis and Cholmondeleys just goes to prove the truth of the Marxist dictum which holds that in a class stratified society "justice" is only reserved to the people who share the class background of the judges, magistrates, prosecutors and state counsels. I am going to SPECULATE that Saitoti is going to be very much part of the mix of NARC-Kenya’s electioneering bag of dirty tricks come the year to come…
Onyango Oloo
Nairobi, Kenya
