Anyone surprised at the muses of Kriegler must be an alien visiting Kenya from planet Pluto on a tourist visa and for the very first time. To display overwhelming astonishment at his commissions’ report is in itself not Kenyan. I thought we had all known and accepted that Kriegler was here to simply play his role as pacifier. Sasa nini?
Was it not obvious that after such a mischievous election, the entire nation needed time to cool down tempers? As with Kenyan tradition, enter Kriegler and his commission of respectable professionals turned investigators. And I must say they have done a wonderful job. Kenyans are largely back to business, Lucy is out of hiding, children are back to school, Dagoretii slaughter houses have reopened……even his Excellency Kibaki is meeting Condoleezza Rice in a NY hotel bedroom. Life is back to normal and we should all be happy and move on with the current GNU…so say’s Raila.
The way I see it, anyone castigating Kriegler for leaving out some obvious truths does not appreciate the responsibility on the shoulders of truth. In fact, it could be that they cannot handle the truth…..and I’m not talking about the consequent anxiety that would accompany the truth. Other than earning a fat paycheck and sipping afternoon tea in a cramped musty room for the better part of 2008, Kriegler’s job was to make sure that he drafts a report that ensures the continuity of the prevailing peace. While disappointing to some, the media reports on the report suggest that the commission has succeeded in doing just that.
So let us not ask for the truth. It is not forthcoming. In fact, it has reached my ear that the Right Honorable Prime Minister Raila Odinga was on the ready to dismiss, reject and disassociate himself from any commission findings that would have suggested that he indeed won the election by garnering 70% of the vote.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thank You Judge Krigler for Saving Kenyans from Themselves
You don’t choose to live a national lie and expect to be delivered from chronic deceit by a foreigner. That good old Judge Krielger passed a verdict that pleased nobody was no surprise. Since Kofi Annan couldn’t stay here forever to persuade us from hacking each other, he had to find a spare hand to pay in doing the thankless job of saving Kenyans from their murderous selves.
Judge Kriegler came and witnessed first hand our DECEPTION IMMORTALIZED. Being no fool he had to leave us holding onto our skunk of living the eternal lie we have perfected as a nation. Listening to the old Afrikaner wax intellectual by rubbing it in that ours is a lost course of serial sham election, one would be forgiven for labelling him as patronizing and condescending. But who cares provided you don’t upset the political cart, the looters can pat you on the back for reinventing a wheel that is not even round in the first place.
You see in reminding us of the ruinous Moi ERROR, Kriegler has overtaken every average Kenyan in setting the bar to its lowest level. Are we not the same people who elevate tokenism to obscene heights as the ruling class auctions Kenya to the lowest bidders? You don’t need post apartheid electoral experience to dissect dysfunctional and incompetent ECK. Kivuitu may epitomize last year’s bungled polls but concentrating exclusively on his head is akin to blaming the dog for a vicious attack while exonerating the master who order the bitch in the first place.
Living eternal political lie
Last year’s electoral fraud was the culmination of an elaborate plan to maintain status quo at whatever price. It is only that concentration of the outcome while remain oblivious of the process left the perpetrators criminally exposed. Even the equally senile Mugabe had the presence of mind to allow himself to be defeated if only to proceed to the second round of voting where he knew the die was cast and he didn’t disappoint. At least Zimbabwe is re-enacting Kenya in the reverse albeit painfully so. We have set the worst and most shameful political precedent in killing the spirit and body of competitive politics.
True to a lawyer's forte of wordiness bereft of direction while conveniently avoiding the challenge at hand, Judge Kriegler declared NO WINNER. The next basic and logical consequence would have been recommending fresh polls. But Kriegler knew his script inside out and apologists of Kenya’s status quo will promptly raise the red flag of opening old wounds. Well, we better nurse the festering wound till the doctor comes with the saw calling for the limb’s severance before our body collectively succumb to septic shock. Well, let us enjoy the swim till we drown in pus.
Escapists may wish to call it flogging a dead horse. The truth is this baggage will hang on our necks for the rest of our lives. Meanwhile we suffer the absolute perils of living a political lie. Kriegler came, lived and conquered. Thank you Judge Krigler. May you judiciously transfer the Kenyan experience to save your smouldering native South Africa from herself too.
Judge Kriegler came and witnessed first hand our DECEPTION IMMORTALIZED. Being no fool he had to leave us holding onto our skunk of living the eternal lie we have perfected as a nation. Listening to the old Afrikaner wax intellectual by rubbing it in that ours is a lost course of serial sham election, one would be forgiven for labelling him as patronizing and condescending. But who cares provided you don’t upset the political cart, the looters can pat you on the back for reinventing a wheel that is not even round in the first place.
You see in reminding us of the ruinous Moi ERROR, Kriegler has overtaken every average Kenyan in setting the bar to its lowest level. Are we not the same people who elevate tokenism to obscene heights as the ruling class auctions Kenya to the lowest bidders? You don’t need post apartheid electoral experience to dissect dysfunctional and incompetent ECK. Kivuitu may epitomize last year’s bungled polls but concentrating exclusively on his head is akin to blaming the dog for a vicious attack while exonerating the master who order the bitch in the first place.
Living eternal political lie
Last year’s electoral fraud was the culmination of an elaborate plan to maintain status quo at whatever price. It is only that concentration of the outcome while remain oblivious of the process left the perpetrators criminally exposed. Even the equally senile Mugabe had the presence of mind to allow himself to be defeated if only to proceed to the second round of voting where he knew the die was cast and he didn’t disappoint. At least Zimbabwe is re-enacting Kenya in the reverse albeit painfully so. We have set the worst and most shameful political precedent in killing the spirit and body of competitive politics.
True to a lawyer's forte of wordiness bereft of direction while conveniently avoiding the challenge at hand, Judge Kriegler declared NO WINNER. The next basic and logical consequence would have been recommending fresh polls. But Kriegler knew his script inside out and apologists of Kenya’s status quo will promptly raise the red flag of opening old wounds. Well, we better nurse the festering wound till the doctor comes with the saw calling for the limb’s severance before our body collectively succumb to septic shock. Well, let us enjoy the swim till we drown in pus.
Escapists may wish to call it flogging a dead horse. The truth is this baggage will hang on our necks for the rest of our lives. Meanwhile we suffer the absolute perils of living a political lie. Kriegler came, lived and conquered. Thank you Judge Krigler. May you judiciously transfer the Kenyan experience to save your smouldering native South Africa from herself too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)