IEBC stalemate can end quickly if Moi joins public protests

Clouds of teargas will hang heavy over major cities across Kenya on Monday when demonstrations demanding the resignation of electoral officials resume.

The Coalition for Reform and Democracy temporarily suspended the weekly protests after four people were shot dead in Kisumu and Siaya and police suffered heavy injuries. There was also a State House luncheon to be eaten on Tuesday, and parallel Madaraka Day celebrations, which could not have been interrupted by focusing on the aftermath of peaceful protests.

The protests demanding the immediate resignation of all members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission have received a much-needed boost from the party of independence, the Kenya African National Union. So far, Kanu secretary-general Nick Salat is sold on the protests, mind, body and soul.

He has tasted the coloured water from police cannon and inhaled the teargas, and he has said it is good.

The demonstrations are not a joke. That is why the police, who have just enough teargas and are short on training exercises, are never in a mood for nonsense. Yet, Kanu brings unique skills and experiences to the struggle for democracy. It is Kanu that wrote the manual on how to deal with non-peaceful demonstrations that are funded by foreign powers, and enforced it for 40 years.

Besides the tactical support that the party of independence brings to the anti-IEBC demonstrations, it also has an opportunity to volunteer star attractions to each protest event that would tilt the propaganda board heavily against the government.

After the ill-treatment that Kanu received at the hands of IEBC in the Kericho senatorial by-election early this year, no one should expect party chairman and Baringo Senator Gideon Moi to sit on the fence.

By making a brief appearance outside Anniversary Towers, which houses the headquarters of IEBC, Mr Moi could casually pick up a carelessly thrown teargas canister, smoke it, and enter the annals of history for his valour.

Nothing could expose the current police brutality than such an act of courage under fire. With the extensive networks the Moi family enjoys with the disciplined services, it is not difficult to arrange for an officer to bleed the Kanu chairman in order to provoke feelings of public outrage. If Mr Moi even as much as nosebleed during the demonstrations, he would be instantly catapulted into the loft of political martyr.

Since pharaohs in State House are usually stubborn and hard of hearing, the suffering of Mr Moi would not be enough to force the IEBC commissioners to go.

The coup de grace would have to be when Kanu roll out its chief political star and introduces him into the worthy struggle for democracy. Inviting former President Daniel arap Moi to attend a #TeargasMonday would mark the turning point in the push to remove IEBC commissioners. Not only would it be reminiscent of his own political climbdown when, as President in 1997, he allowed minimum electoral reforms under the Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group.

It was Mr Gideon Moi’s father who plucked Mr Kenyatta from unsavoury company, hoisted him into the national limelight, and picked him as his preferred choice for president over 10 years ago.

Similarly, the senior Mr Moi gave Deputy President William Ruto his first public job as an assistant minister. These then, would be the ingrates harassing an old man and shortening his life expectancy with teargas.

Wiping his eyes with water and a white handkerchief to clear the effects of teargas, the senior Moi would not even need to make a statement to expose the ingratitude of Uhuru Kenyatta.

[email protected]