Why You Get That Sick Feeling Every Time You Think About Kenyan Politics

The signs are all there. Take a tour round Kenyan blogs to see what things political Kenyans are discussing. Most are busy discussing Barack Obama and the US presidential elections, many others including Kumekucha seem to have ran out of enthusiasm. Or even better ask around about viewership of prime time news in Kenya these days and you will be shocked. The whole situation is best illustrated by the kinds of headlines you see in leading Kenyan dailies these days. Surprise, surprise for the first time in its’ history the Daily Nation is carrying front page splashes on social topics that steer clear off politics.

To confirm what I am saying just talk to your friends about Kenyan politics and carefully observe their body language and what they say.

Actually I felt this thing myself only that I did not understand what it was until a friend told me that they were going through the exact same thing.

Kenyans are generally sick about Kenyan politics. And I mean really, really, sick.

Just how much emotional stress can a people take?

It started in 2002 and the euphoria Kenyans felt that year when the Kanu government was finally uprooted from power after 40 years on that memorable December 30th Day of 2002 at Uhuru park. Despite the high hopes we all after those elections, we ended up being terribly disappointed. I will never forget that man who was so elated that he swam in the murky waters of Uhuru Park and was captured by TV cameras. I wonder where he is now. And I also wonder what he would have said had he been told then that all the celebration was for nothing and that the worst was still to come. The worst came in 2007 of course. After the referendum drama and the long presidential campaign that started immediately after we ended up with nothing but the 2007 fiasco that some still insist on referring to as a general election which has left a bitter taste in the mouth of many Kenyans.

To add salt to a very raw wound the behaviour of Kenyan politicians is unbelievable. The heartless folks are already campaigning hard for the presidency in 2012. Yet the cement on the graves of victims of the post-election skirmishes is yet to dry properly. Let alone the fact that very frustrated and still grieving IDPs are roaming like refugees in the country that they call home. And the political class would care less. Of course they occasionally make the necessary “noises” for political advantage when the need arises.

Is it any wonder that most Kenyans these days feel like throwing up any time they hear Kenyan politics discussed anywhere?

If I was in the 10th parliament right now I would be very worried because I can assure you that in the next elections those Kenyans who make it to the ballot box will be very very very angry. Angry people are pretty unpredictable.

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Kivuitu Headed For The Chopping Block?

I always try very hard never to brag or gloat. So that is the last thing on my mind as I remind readers here about the warnings we gave to former Finance Minister Amos Kimunya that he would end up being used as a scape goat in the Grand Regency scum. Sadly Kimunya never saw it coming until it was too late and he was being undressed in parliament in a most humiliating way.

Now there is another man whose neck is rapidly headed for the chopping block and he does not seem to have the faintest idea. That man’s name is Samuel “I will not resign I did not beat up anybody” Kivuitu.

As you read this Kivuitu cannot travel to the United States courtesy of a travel ban slapped on 22 commissioners of the ECK. Although the travel ban has been imposed by a foreign power, at the very least this new development should have made the ECK chairman sit up and smell the coffee. Instead Kivuitu is busy discussing “retirement perks” and it would seem that he is even demanding more cash to leave office to make way for major reforms at the electoral body.

If truth be told, politics in Kenya has changed considerably since last December and the ill-fated general elections and the situation continues to be considerably fluid. Increasingly we are seeing public opinion and the will of masses winning the day. What happened to Kimunya should be a stark reminder of this. Kimunya’s case is particularly instructive because some extremely powerful forces were behind him and he made the mistake of thinking that this was enough “cushion” against anything. In fact Kimunya has been assured by these powerful forces that he will surely be re-appointed to the Finance docket in the next cabinet reshuffle by which time he will hopefully have been cleared from all wrong-doing. Ever wondered why for the first time in the history of the country we have an acting Finance minister (John Michuki) and yet the Finance minister is not sick or hospitalized?

Samuel Kivuitu seems to have sentiments that are quite similar to those that Kimunya had before he was quickly bundled out of office under intense public pressure. The difference is that Kivuitu’s ultimate fate could make Kimunya’s look like a walk in the park. There is an extremely high possibility that the chairman of the ECK might just end up behind bars.

There is no doubt that Kenyans are very upset. I dare say the vast majority of Kenyans are extremely angry about what the ECK did last December that cost the lives of so many innocent Kenyans, not to mention property of an untold value. But what has aggravated things is the insistence of people like Kivuitu and his fellow commissioners that they will NOT resign. This has just added insult to injury.

I am of course keenly aware that Kivuitu was taking instructions when he did what he did. Indeed Kenyans will remember that at one juncture he called a press conference where he fell just short of naming some very nasty Kenyans who “should not have been born” who seem to have put immense pressure on Kivuitu to announce some “prepared results.” A few days later that story together with a denial by the ECK chair that he did NOT sign a paid advertisement sent to the daily press detailing election results fizzled out. It was clear that somebody somewhere reigned Kivuitu back in line. Rumours have been flying that threats were made while others insist that cash was paid. Interestingly the Kriegler commission did not dare touch these bizarre chain of events that happened shortly after the election results were announced.

Now there is the business of the next general elections and there are high possibilities that certain powerful elements within PNU will want to distance themselves and their candidates from allegations of election theft. Now what better way to do this than to sacrifice a high-ranking official of the ECK?

The first time this information came to me, it sounded extremely far-fetched. But then I have remembered that there are a lot of other even more far-fetched things that have happened in politics over the last few months. One of them was of course the dramatic resignation of one Amos “I will NOT resign” Kimunya.

Of course Kivuitu and the commissioners would have been on much safer ground had they resigned much earlier this year, heading calls from most Kenyans and many bloggers here as well. But alas, that opportunity is now long gone. And there is real danger ahead for these guys.

Let us wait and see shall we?

Read more about the travel ban on ECK commissioners

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