Post by adongo12345 on Feb 23, 2007 22:19:54 GMT 3
By Adongo Ogony
I was amused reading a column by Makueni M.P Prof. Kivutha Kibwana giving unsolicited advice to his tribe mate Kalonzo Musyoka, a presidential candidate for the ODM Kenya (Daily Nation February 23, 2007).
www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=25&newsid=92401
It is perplexing to me why Kibwana thinks he owes advice to Kalonzo who is his political rival, but I will come to that later.
What I found obnoxious is the pathetic attempt by Prof. Kibwana to cast the ODM as an outfit that is against the Kikuyu community. This rubbish has been peddled around for some time and was at one time the preferred campaign slogan of Narc Kenya, but it seems it wasn’t getting them anywhere. Now the Kibwanas are back to the well to throw mud at their political opponents who have been engaging them in pertinent issues that are important to the nation. Instead of responding to the issues being raised like constitutional reforms and equitable distribution of wealth and resources in the country, the Kibwanas seem to think they can intimidate their opponents by putting the anti-Kikuyu tag on them. It is not going to work.
Kibwana asks: “Must Kenyans be seduced by shallow, but pernicious anti-Kikuyu propaganda to reject a development oriented leader”
According to people like Kibwana, those who oppose the Kibaki government only do so because they are against Kikuyus. What a load of crap. This same nonsense did not work for the Kibwanas during the referendum; I don’t know why they think it can work now. At the referendum campaign this tribalist message only succeeded in putting the Kikuyu community in a collision course with the rest of the nation. The results speak for themselves. Why anybody would like to jump on that bandwagon again is a mystery to me.
In any event let’s look at some concrete things that have happened in the last couple of months and see who the real tribalists are.
In the last few weeks, there has been a concerted campaign by Narc Kenya stalwarts against Paul Muite, the Chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee in the Legislature who is also the co-chair for the Muungano wa Katiba Mpya. Muite has been labeled a traitor and rallies have been held in his own constituency to denounce him. Why is Muite being labeled a traitor? Is he working with foreigners to destroy the country? No. Is he also an alleged spy like John Githongo? No.
Muite’s crime is that he is Kikuyu M.P who is perceived to be against Kibaki. Muite by the way was not even elected on Narc ticket. He belongs to Safina party which he represents in parliament. If a Kikuyu M.P who works with other Kenyans to campaign for minimum reforms is a traitor, what does that make the other Kenyans? Are they foreigners in their own country? Why do people like Kibwana close their eyes to this rampant acts of tribalism right at the top of Nark Kenya leadership while yapping on and on about ODM being anti-Kikuyu? Who really is being a tribalist here?
Then we have the sad case of what happened in Sobukia just a few days ago. Poor Koigi has also been declared a traitor and some action had to be taken. So Kibwana’s good friend and one of the aspiring kingpins of Narc Kenya organized a rally in Koigi’s constituency where the “traitor” was denounced and to cap it all, his effigy was set on fire by angry youth. Why is Koigi a traitor? Is he once again like Moi alleged before bringing arms to the country to cause trouble? Nothing of the sort. Koigi is traitor because he is a Kikuyu who is perceived to be against Kibaki and Narc Kenya.
Why is Kibwana not condemning the barbaric attempts to silence Koigi who has been one of the staunchest warriors for the Kibaki team and who at one time preached to every Kikuyu he could come across to protect the Kikuyu Presidency of Mwai Kibaki? Incidentally Koigi has been alleging in a couple of columns in the print media that Kibwana is one of those who are trying to mess him up and ruin his chances of re-election. In fact Koigi has been very adamant that Kibwana is at war against him because he has refused to join Narc Kenya.
My point here is that the idea that all Kikuyus must support Mwai Kibaki and those who do not are traitors is the height of tribalism. If the Kibwanas want to sell Kibaki as a Kikuyu president who must be supported by all Kikuyus they should be prepared to live with the consequences of that strategy.
For the record I am equally concerned with those in Nyanza who have been terrorizing Raphael Tuju, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Minister because he is perceived to be anti-Raila. Tuju is a Kenyan by birth, he is an adult who is also an elected M.P, and he has every right to choose which political group to ally himself with. Those terrorizing Tuju on these grounds are also tribalists who should be denounced by the community.
The bigger issue that people like Kibwana should ask themselves is simple. In 2002 Kenyans united across tribal and ethnic lines and elected Kibaki to unite the country. What happened to that noble dream? Why has the Kibaki government generated what we witness today when one community, namely the Kikuyu/Meru folks, feel the whole country is against them? Where did this fortress Kikuyu come from and who is promoting and benefiting from it? Has Raila been going around the whole country telling everybody else to hate the Kikuyus? Is it really that simple? Why is tribalism thriving and growing to alarming proportions under the Kibaki government?
I think we should address the big picture instead of people like Kibwana going all over the place telling the Kikuyus everybody is against them thanks to ODM and seeking their political support on those grounds then turning around and blaming others as tribalists.
When people like Michuki publicly announce to the country that the Kikuyu folks should “ngorota” in peace because they are protected, the Kibwanas should come out and denounce such nonsense instead of reveling in it to get votes and then crying foul later.
The other thing that I find worrisome with Kibwana is that he has formed this habit of offering public advice to Kalonzo Musyoka even though Musyoka is in ODM and Kibwana is in Narc Kenya. I am tempted to believe that because Musyoka is a fellow Kamba like Kibawana, the later thinks he owes him some tribal advice to address the interests of the Kamba community. Talk about tribalism.
Kibwana’s line of thinking has been that Musyoka has no chance in ODM, having been betrayed by Raila. According to him Musyoka should be prepared to languish as a nobody under a Raila regime or decamp to Narc Kenya where he will be considered as a presidential candidate in 2012. Naturally Mr. Kibwana does not seem to offer any clue as to what role Musyoka will play in Narc in the next five years. Will he also languish just as a minister in the Kibaki regime? May be it is better to be a minister under Kibaki than to be one under Raila or Mudavadi.
Interestingly Kibwana also accuses Muysoka of having achieved no development at all in Mwingi in all the years he has been in parliament. Apparently this sin of lacking a development record only matters if Muysoka is in ODM, but if he crosses over to Narc Kenya, that record is irrelevant.
The real trouble people like Kibwana and the Narc Kenya team are running into is that they are having nightmares attracting other communities apart from the D.P base in Central Kenya. They thought that by renaming the D.P party as Narc Kenya they could fool the nation. Nothing doing. Not even the alleyway cats who usually jump onto anything that comes up are buying into the program. The thing that really gets them mad is the fact that Kibaki has a fairly good chance of being re-elected if only he could get credible leaders from other communities to support him.
So why are they in this mess? Two words. Lies and tribalism. A few Kenyans including myself have been irritated by the constant reminders that Kibaki lied to his peers promising to be a one time president and handing the banner to Wamalwa his first V.P. The assumption by the Luhya community was that after the passing on of Ndugu Wamalwa Kibaki and his D.P crew would support another Luhya candidate. Kibaki now says the whole claim is fiction. He never made such a promise. The problem for the president is that too many people have vouched for the validity of the one term claim. Obviously the president does not have the monopoly on truth. Why is this important?
The importance of this damaging set of circumstance is that the president is in the process of making new promises and deals with people to support him now so he can support them in 2012. The question people are asking is this: If the president cannot even remember the promises he made in 2002 leave alone trying to live up to them, what is the point of making any deals with him? When someone like Kituyi goes to his Luhya community and tells them he is going to be Kibaki’s running mate and Kibaki will support his presidency in 2012, may he believes it but the community doesn’t. They have been lied to before and they are not buying a used car from the same source.
And then we have this strange phenomena where tribal leaders with Kibaki are saying if the ODM nominates a candidate from their community, they will abandon Narc Kenya and support their tribe mates. People like Kituyi have mad it clear that should the ODM nominate Mudavadi, the whole Luhya community would support him including Kituyi himself. Even Kibwana has indicated in the past that if Kalonzo Muysoka gets the nod from ODM they will unite as Kambas to support him. Where does that leave Narc Kenya and the whole debate about tribalism in the country?
What everybody knows is that Kibaki even if he were to get re-elected for the second term will have no say on who will be the president after him. Somehow it is hard to see Kibaki vigorously campaigning for Kituyi or Kirwa in 2012. At any rate it is utter nonsense to tell any body that the Kikuyu community will decline to offer any candidate for 2012 on the basis of an MOU between Kibaki and Kituyi or anybody else. Whoever we elect to be the next president, 2012 will be a totally different story. Let’s quit lying to Kenyans, they will not buy it.
My view is that Kibaki has laid his bed and it is time to take a good long nap on the same.
The writer is a human rights activist.
I was amused reading a column by Makueni M.P Prof. Kivutha Kibwana giving unsolicited advice to his tribe mate Kalonzo Musyoka, a presidential candidate for the ODM Kenya (Daily Nation February 23, 2007).
www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=25&newsid=92401
It is perplexing to me why Kibwana thinks he owes advice to Kalonzo who is his political rival, but I will come to that later.
What I found obnoxious is the pathetic attempt by Prof. Kibwana to cast the ODM as an outfit that is against the Kikuyu community. This rubbish has been peddled around for some time and was at one time the preferred campaign slogan of Narc Kenya, but it seems it wasn’t getting them anywhere. Now the Kibwanas are back to the well to throw mud at their political opponents who have been engaging them in pertinent issues that are important to the nation. Instead of responding to the issues being raised like constitutional reforms and equitable distribution of wealth and resources in the country, the Kibwanas seem to think they can intimidate their opponents by putting the anti-Kikuyu tag on them. It is not going to work.
Kibwana asks: “Must Kenyans be seduced by shallow, but pernicious anti-Kikuyu propaganda to reject a development oriented leader”
According to people like Kibwana, those who oppose the Kibaki government only do so because they are against Kikuyus. What a load of crap. This same nonsense did not work for the Kibwanas during the referendum; I don’t know why they think it can work now. At the referendum campaign this tribalist message only succeeded in putting the Kikuyu community in a collision course with the rest of the nation. The results speak for themselves. Why anybody would like to jump on that bandwagon again is a mystery to me.
In any event let’s look at some concrete things that have happened in the last couple of months and see who the real tribalists are.
In the last few weeks, there has been a concerted campaign by Narc Kenya stalwarts against Paul Muite, the Chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee in the Legislature who is also the co-chair for the Muungano wa Katiba Mpya. Muite has been labeled a traitor and rallies have been held in his own constituency to denounce him. Why is Muite being labeled a traitor? Is he working with foreigners to destroy the country? No. Is he also an alleged spy like John Githongo? No.
Muite’s crime is that he is Kikuyu M.P who is perceived to be against Kibaki. Muite by the way was not even elected on Narc ticket. He belongs to Safina party which he represents in parliament. If a Kikuyu M.P who works with other Kenyans to campaign for minimum reforms is a traitor, what does that make the other Kenyans? Are they foreigners in their own country? Why do people like Kibwana close their eyes to this rampant acts of tribalism right at the top of Nark Kenya leadership while yapping on and on about ODM being anti-Kikuyu? Who really is being a tribalist here?
Then we have the sad case of what happened in Sobukia just a few days ago. Poor Koigi has also been declared a traitor and some action had to be taken. So Kibwana’s good friend and one of the aspiring kingpins of Narc Kenya organized a rally in Koigi’s constituency where the “traitor” was denounced and to cap it all, his effigy was set on fire by angry youth. Why is Koigi a traitor? Is he once again like Moi alleged before bringing arms to the country to cause trouble? Nothing of the sort. Koigi is traitor because he is a Kikuyu who is perceived to be against Kibaki and Narc Kenya.
Why is Kibwana not condemning the barbaric attempts to silence Koigi who has been one of the staunchest warriors for the Kibaki team and who at one time preached to every Kikuyu he could come across to protect the Kikuyu Presidency of Mwai Kibaki? Incidentally Koigi has been alleging in a couple of columns in the print media that Kibwana is one of those who are trying to mess him up and ruin his chances of re-election. In fact Koigi has been very adamant that Kibwana is at war against him because he has refused to join Narc Kenya.
My point here is that the idea that all Kikuyus must support Mwai Kibaki and those who do not are traitors is the height of tribalism. If the Kibwanas want to sell Kibaki as a Kikuyu president who must be supported by all Kikuyus they should be prepared to live with the consequences of that strategy.
For the record I am equally concerned with those in Nyanza who have been terrorizing Raphael Tuju, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Minister because he is perceived to be anti-Raila. Tuju is a Kenyan by birth, he is an adult who is also an elected M.P, and he has every right to choose which political group to ally himself with. Those terrorizing Tuju on these grounds are also tribalists who should be denounced by the community.
The bigger issue that people like Kibwana should ask themselves is simple. In 2002 Kenyans united across tribal and ethnic lines and elected Kibaki to unite the country. What happened to that noble dream? Why has the Kibaki government generated what we witness today when one community, namely the Kikuyu/Meru folks, feel the whole country is against them? Where did this fortress Kikuyu come from and who is promoting and benefiting from it? Has Raila been going around the whole country telling everybody else to hate the Kikuyus? Is it really that simple? Why is tribalism thriving and growing to alarming proportions under the Kibaki government?
I think we should address the big picture instead of people like Kibwana going all over the place telling the Kikuyus everybody is against them thanks to ODM and seeking their political support on those grounds then turning around and blaming others as tribalists.
When people like Michuki publicly announce to the country that the Kikuyu folks should “ngorota” in peace because they are protected, the Kibwanas should come out and denounce such nonsense instead of reveling in it to get votes and then crying foul later.
The other thing that I find worrisome with Kibwana is that he has formed this habit of offering public advice to Kalonzo Musyoka even though Musyoka is in ODM and Kibwana is in Narc Kenya. I am tempted to believe that because Musyoka is a fellow Kamba like Kibawana, the later thinks he owes him some tribal advice to address the interests of the Kamba community. Talk about tribalism.
Kibwana’s line of thinking has been that Musyoka has no chance in ODM, having been betrayed by Raila. According to him Musyoka should be prepared to languish as a nobody under a Raila regime or decamp to Narc Kenya where he will be considered as a presidential candidate in 2012. Naturally Mr. Kibwana does not seem to offer any clue as to what role Musyoka will play in Narc in the next five years. Will he also languish just as a minister in the Kibaki regime? May be it is better to be a minister under Kibaki than to be one under Raila or Mudavadi.
Interestingly Kibwana also accuses Muysoka of having achieved no development at all in Mwingi in all the years he has been in parliament. Apparently this sin of lacking a development record only matters if Muysoka is in ODM, but if he crosses over to Narc Kenya, that record is irrelevant.
The real trouble people like Kibwana and the Narc Kenya team are running into is that they are having nightmares attracting other communities apart from the D.P base in Central Kenya. They thought that by renaming the D.P party as Narc Kenya they could fool the nation. Nothing doing. Not even the alleyway cats who usually jump onto anything that comes up are buying into the program. The thing that really gets them mad is the fact that Kibaki has a fairly good chance of being re-elected if only he could get credible leaders from other communities to support him.
So why are they in this mess? Two words. Lies and tribalism. A few Kenyans including myself have been irritated by the constant reminders that Kibaki lied to his peers promising to be a one time president and handing the banner to Wamalwa his first V.P. The assumption by the Luhya community was that after the passing on of Ndugu Wamalwa Kibaki and his D.P crew would support another Luhya candidate. Kibaki now says the whole claim is fiction. He never made such a promise. The problem for the president is that too many people have vouched for the validity of the one term claim. Obviously the president does not have the monopoly on truth. Why is this important?
The importance of this damaging set of circumstance is that the president is in the process of making new promises and deals with people to support him now so he can support them in 2012. The question people are asking is this: If the president cannot even remember the promises he made in 2002 leave alone trying to live up to them, what is the point of making any deals with him? When someone like Kituyi goes to his Luhya community and tells them he is going to be Kibaki’s running mate and Kibaki will support his presidency in 2012, may he believes it but the community doesn’t. They have been lied to before and they are not buying a used car from the same source.
And then we have this strange phenomena where tribal leaders with Kibaki are saying if the ODM nominates a candidate from their community, they will abandon Narc Kenya and support their tribe mates. People like Kituyi have mad it clear that should the ODM nominate Mudavadi, the whole Luhya community would support him including Kituyi himself. Even Kibwana has indicated in the past that if Kalonzo Muysoka gets the nod from ODM they will unite as Kambas to support him. Where does that leave Narc Kenya and the whole debate about tribalism in the country?
What everybody knows is that Kibaki even if he were to get re-elected for the second term will have no say on who will be the president after him. Somehow it is hard to see Kibaki vigorously campaigning for Kituyi or Kirwa in 2012. At any rate it is utter nonsense to tell any body that the Kikuyu community will decline to offer any candidate for 2012 on the basis of an MOU between Kibaki and Kituyi or anybody else. Whoever we elect to be the next president, 2012 will be a totally different story. Let’s quit lying to Kenyans, they will not buy it.
My view is that Kibaki has laid his bed and it is time to take a good long nap on the same.
The writer is a human rights activist.