Political Lessons From The Career Of One Amos Kimunya

Will NSIS and CBK Chiefs also be “swallowed” by raging Grand Regency storm?

I have said it here before that Finance Minister (I don’t know for how much longer) Amos Kimunya and his close advisor lawyer, Gichira Kibara thought that they were too smart. In fact until last week everything had gone like clockwork for Mr Kimunya and his side-kick and the two were busy making big plans for 2012. (See my Blind-side winger post.)

As you read this, all their strategizing and plotting are dead in the water.

There are a number of key lessons to be learnt here but before I go into them, there is an interesting aside that is well worth noting. My suspicion is that the chief plotters behind Kimunya’s downfall within the 10th parliament have their sites aimed higher and elsewhere. These suspicions deepened last night when the recommendations of the Raila committee on the Grand Regency issue were made public. Their report urges the resignation of not only Finance Minister Amos Kimunya but also that of NSIS chief and the Central Bank governor. Those guys are pretty close to the executive. In fact too damned close. If the recommendations are followed then it means that the duly elected President will suddenly find himself extremely exposed. The people being asked to resign were all messengers following instructions from their boss. In all likelihood their stepping aside will leave nowhere else for fingers to be pointed but at the executive itself.

Again as I said yesterday, one counter strategy to that happening would be to appoint a new Finance Minister from the ODM fold. My fear is that this has the possibility of creating so much excitement amongst ODM supporters that this may mark the end of any further questions being asked or action taken on the Grand Regency saga.

Kenyans must say a big NO to this. For the sake of the country we must all rise to the occasion and reject such a “bribe”. It is very important that we get to the bottom of this Grand Regency saga. Regular readers of this blog are lucky (and readers of my raw notes are even luckier) in that they already know the whole story. In fact they knew it in early May, almost two months before the whole scandal even came to light. Sadly this is but a small percentage of the Kenyan people. We need the truth to be revealed officially to the whole country and the world. That is the only way we will prevent this nightmare from ever being replayed again in future.

The biggest political lesson from Amos Kimunya’s downfall is that arrogance is deadly in politics, more so in Kenyan politics. As Amos “the NSE is not a fish market” Kimunya licks his wounds today he should realize that of all the mistakes he has made that have dealt his political career such a serious death blow, his arrogance must top the list of causes of his downfall. This even clearly came out in the debate yesterday with comparisons being made with his predecessor, Daudi Mwiraria who humbly admitted to the house that he had erred.

Unfortunately Mr Kimunya may not have read Shakespeare’s political classic; Julius Caesar (although I am certain his side kick Mr Gichira has and should have advised him accordingly). One of the characteristics of the great Caesar that led to his bloody assassination was the man’s arrogance. Once arrogance is combined with ambition, the deadly concoction that results can only lead to the downfall, if not assassination, of a politician.

On Saturday we will celebrate in this blog the 39th anniversary of the assassination of a great Kenyan hero, Tom Mboya. He too fell because of the same “concoction.” Not to mention the last man to be censured in parliament before Kimunya last night, the late Vice President Josephat Karanja. Even JM Kariuki was pretty arrogant.

But I must hasten to add that there is a big difference between the likes of Mboya and JM Kariuki on one hand and Amos “I will not reply to bar talk about the Grand Regency” Kimunya. Mboya and Kariuki died because even in their arrogance, they were fighting for the people and a better Kenya. Kimunya on the other hand was fighting for himself and a more prosperous Kimunya family, just like the majority of Kenyan politicians we have today across the political divide. They only pretend to have the interests of the people at heart.

Indeed if truth be told the reason why the Grand Regency saga has caused such furor is simply because legislators “smelt blood” and many of them are hoping that when the dust finally settles, they will have climbed a notch higher in their personal ambitions. At least one of them will be holding the very powerful Finance portfolio.

Even in his spirited defense yesterday in parliament Mr Kimunya came across as a man who tries to be too smart. One of the star contributors to yesterday’s debate, legislator Charles Kilonzo caused prolonged laughter in the house when he bluntly told Kimunya that it was not appropriate for him to try and present his CV as defense against the allegations brought against him. Kilonzo told Kimunya that he would be shocked if he saw most of the legislators very impressive CVs.

His colleague Dr. Bonny Kalwale even exposed Kimunya’s so-called defense more bluntly. In a comical clip that TV stations in Kenya have been repeatedly playing since yesterday, Kalwale pointed out that the Finance minister ignored the clearly stated allegations brought against him and instead passed the back and dwelt on technicalities. He further caused laughter when he pointed out that Mr Kimunya was his junior at the University of Nairobi but they graduated in the same year simply because Kalwale was pursuing a “more serious degree” course. Kalwale is a medical doctor.

There is such a thing as being too smart for your own good. Indeed I pointed it out in my earlier post on Kimunya recently but even I did not know that his downfall was so close round the corner.

P.S. So… what next? The law does not require the President to sack Kimunya as a result of the vote of no confidence. However public pressure and pressure from the legislators will make it almost impossible for the Finance Minister to operate. So in all likelihood we should now be looking at the “possibles” and “probables” to replace Kimunya at Treasury. That is the story I am now pursuing for you.

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