Jubilee, Cord leaders and the parable of the clever thief

Cord leader Raila Odinga addresses a rally at Tononoka grounds in Mombasa on June 15, 2014. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | FILE

What you need to know:

  • This past week, Kenyans have watched the parable of the clever thief enacted in real life.
  • The land question was actually a fairly uncomfortable campaign issue for the ruling coalition in the run-up to the last General Election.

Cord leader Raila Odinga’s favourite vitendawilis (riddles) on the political platform are no doubt a big hit with his crowd of fans.

Going by the spontaneous outbreak of mass hysteria at his rallies, you wonder if he even needs to do anything to get them chanting ‘Baba’ these days though.

Suffice to say the speech delivery is often very effective on his average audience.

But a dispassionate observer would find the riddles too personal, monotonous and predictable, if not occasionally flat.

Despite the relative glut of other targets on sight many times, you know the former Prime Minister is always going to do a spin and try to diss it at the President or the Deputy President.

How so choosy is Mr Odinga that in the last one month alone, the Duales, the Kindikis and the Murkomens have repeatedly sought to attract attention to themselves without getting as much as a swat of the fly.

Perhaps it is strict adherence to the political manual; the one that says when a dog is barking at you, you go for the master.

To be fair to Mr Odinga, the sharp personalised line of defence is often no less than such a pack of rabid attack dogs deserve.

And he occasionally unleashes some gems, too.

DIVERT ATTENTION

His parable of the clever thief particularly summarises the story of Kenya’s so-called fight against corruption in a way that no official investigation report does.

In the parable, the thief is fleeing from the scene of crime with the victim on hot pursuit. On spotting a mob ahead, he turns and points to the victim, shouting “thief, thief…” to try to divert attention from himself.

This past week, Kenyans have watched the parable of the clever thief enacted in real life, with the Jubilee government accusing Cord leaders of having been behind a massive landgrab in Lamu between 2011-2012.

Former Lands minister James Orengo on whose watch the government says some 500,000 acres were allocated to 22 entities has since come out to deny culpability and produced his own list of alleged land grabbers, which include who is who in the ruling coalition.

Mr Orengo has offered to help in any investigations, and a lot of questions being asked about his role are legitimate.

But what makes the new turn of events interesting is that the names of the big shots in Jubilee have featured in nearly every investigation report on land grabbing, the latest one by the Truth and Justice Reconciliation Commission.

The land question was actually a fairly uncomfortable campaign issue for the ruling coalition in the run-up to the last General Election.

It is interesting to know that the political class think the ordinary Kenyan has no capacity to think and dissect issues, including those touching on land.

As the drama unfolds, the questions many Kenyans will be asking is: will the real thief please stand up?

The writer is Chief Sub-Editor, Business Daily; [email protected]