Sex And Politics: How Dirty Is Kenyan Politics?

There are those Kenyans who are naïve enough to believe that corruption and dirty tricks have limited impact on the Kenyan political arena during general elections. Even worse there are those young candidates preparing for 2007 who have not taken into consideration the fact that their strategy will need to take into account the usual dirty tactics that many older Kenyan politician see as part and parcel of the political game.

One of the reasons why Mwai Kibaki won the elections in 2002 was the fact that the opposition coalition waited very late to announce their single candidate. All along Kanu believed that there was no way the opposition were capable of fielding one candidate. When Mwai Kibaki was finally announced, as that candidate, it was very late in the game and election day arrived before the Kanu think tank could come up with a useful counter strategy to destroy or limit the impact of candidate Kibaki.

No doubt President Kibaki had a hand to play in the delay of this announcement. He must have remembered what Kanu did to him in 1992. Kenya's first multi party elections in many years were fascinating. Kanu strategists looked at the opposition line up and figured that the only candidate who had a national appeal and was therefore a threat to Moi was Kibaki.

All sorts of things were dug out to discredit him. When parliament moved to amend the constitution with the inclusion of the famous section 2a, one of the main sponsors of the bill was the then Vice President and leader of government business, Mwai Kibaki. That was when he made his famous "You cannot cut a Mugumo tree with a razor blade," quote.

The Kanu strategists dug out this amongst a long list of things Kibaki had said, most of it they quoted out of context. When they were finished with the man, he stood no chance. It is instructive that in that election he ended up third behind Moi, and Kenneth Matiba in that order.

Smear campaigns work. They have always worked in elections. That is why they have always been used in elections all over the world.

Some of the leading presidential candidates we have this time have got all sorts of dark pasts and plenty of skeletons in their closets.

But the interesting thing in Kenya is that sex scandals do not work. It is a proven fact that many male members of the August house are frequent clients at Koinange street where many of the young girls trading their favors are under age. In 2003 several of them were caught literally with their pants down. Many others take on a new "young wife" to celebrate their entry to parliament. Kenyans take note, this is why MP salaries and allowances will never be enough.

So why is this not an issue with the Kenyan electorate. My question is if a man cannot be faithful to his wife and family, can he be expected to be taithful to the nation and electorate?

Maybe I should take that statement back. For centuries power, and especially political power has been known to be the most powerful aphrodisiac known to man. Those in power have always tended to attract the attention of the ladies. And even where they have made the first move, they have proved to be irresistible. This can be traced back to the days of King David when a married woman called Bethsheba found it impossible to resist his advances.

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