In Marwa, PCs are back, equating government criticism to subversion

Experiences at the Coast show that the promise of the Constitution can easily turn into a mirage, courtesy of conservative bureaucrats who fear the same freedom the law swore them to uphold.

One symptom of the resistance to plurality of views is the instinctive equating of any criticism of government to subversion.

Kanu blamed all murders, bank robberies, food shortages and even adversities of climate change on “clandestine schemes to bring down the government”.

Famine came because Mwakenya ate all the maize and the 1990s killings in Rift Valley, Western and Coast had been organised by the Opposition.

KANU HAWKS

That position, expounded by PCs and Kanu hawks, technically disqualified the Moi government as credible mediator in the conflicts. And after Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa said ODM is responsible for violence at the Coast, he similarly undermined the Jubilee government’s role.

It is easy to blame Al-Shabaab, anonymous inciters or ethnic jingoists, but in the process we are dragging the country back to pre-2010 constitution order when perpetrators were named but no action taken.

The Opposition role to criticise the government to advance social justice cannot be negated simply because a county administrator fails to get answers the public seek.

The intelligence knows that parents tell their children that the genesis of their problems is the grabbing of their land by watu wa bara in the 1960s, people who are still the beneficiaries of the LAPSSET.

They ought to report to the government that as long as the status quo remains, political debate at the Coast will of necessity be shaped by land ownership, whether expressed by ODM, NGOs or activists through political rallies, the Press, social media, or discussion under the mnazi tree or by the fire.

It took Mungiki terror to accept that wealth distribution in Central was the root cause of discontent among the youth.

Mungiki did not emerge in a day; those who controlled the land and whatever else, gave a deaf ear to the youth who then ganged up to demand their share.

Then, as now, the provincial administration reported a rise of “criminal gangs” and locally disgraced them in barazas as “snuff sniffing social misfits’. Not a thing was reported about the economic inequities.

Administrators acted solely at the behest of the elite, which ruled out any negotiations with “criminals”. Police moved into action, slaughtering the youth but their voices had been heard.

The unstoppable march of the youth, be it at the Coast, Central, Nyanza or Western is a development no one can wish away.

We know what they are demanding, and this powder-keg is too important to be left to county commissioners who resort to colonial methods of silence or misreporting.

KIHU IRIMU, Nairobi