Hardline positions will not help this country

On Tuesday this coming week, we shall be celebrating the 53rd year since we became a Jamhuri (Republic), having attained independence a year earlier.

At that time, the country was full of optimism, that we had finally got rid of the proverbial yoke of colonialism and were on track to becoming a successful democracy run for the benefit of its people.

We identified the triple scourge of ignorance, poverty and disease as the main obstacle on our path to prosperity, and proceeded to propose ways in which they could be overcome.

A few years down the line, perhaps due to a catastrophic failure of imagination on the part of those we lionised, the country slowly but surely began a descent into autocracy and marginalisation. Dissenters were summarily executed and forces coalesced around the presidency ostensibly to protect it from would-be usurpers.

On the political front it became treasonable to challenge the President in an election, and thus began our traditions of repression.

POWER

The second President of the young republic promised to walk faithfully in the footsteps of the founding President, and he actually managed to outdo his teacher.

Over a period of 24 years, he centralised power in his hands and completely disabled the opposition by making Kenya a one-party dictatorship by law.

Only when dissent neared a boiling point in the late 80s and early 90s did he succumb to pressure to allow multi-party politics in the country.

However, he succeeded in crippling all opposition attempts to get rid of him, and went on to rule for another 10 years before attempting to hand over power to the scion of his own teacher.

While the attempt to “return the hand” (as we say in these parts) overtly failed, his successor did not succeed in re-engineering the State to make it more equal and caring for the disadvantaged. Instead, a rapacious elite soon recaptured the State and used public resources for their own benefit.

REVOLT

At the end of the first term, the country erupted into civil strife on the back of claims of election rigging which were really a revolt against the continuation of a tribal hegemony that had appropriated the organs of State for personal gain.

The rule of the fourth President has been characterised by questions of legitimacy, despite the electoral agency twice declaring him the winner (thrice if we count the shambolic repeat poll).

While his first win was easily secured by the Supreme Court, his second was nullified with serious questions being raised about the conduct of the electoral agency.

The resulting chaos that continues on the political scene confirms the fact that Kenyans are heavily invested in electoral processes in their country.

One may wonder what the connection is between the history lesson today and the political unrest being witnessed in this country.

EXCLUDED

The truth of the matter is that we are all agreed that there are segments of our population that feel excluded from the economy, and who feel that the fruits of their labour are being enjoyed by others without even a token attempt at redistribution. Constant conflicts over resources across the country confirm that we have the perception of scarcity, and would like the little wealth available distributed more equitably.

Unfortunately, the power to distribute these resources has since independence been seen to depend on the largesse of the man occupying State House and his hangers-on.

This has led to the perception that only by having a person closely related to you in the Presidency can an individual or community have fair access to public resources.

ELECTION

This perception in turn has made the presidential election a matter of life and death in many parts of the country, culminating in the current stalemate over the winner of the presidential election.

With this understanding in mind, one hopes that the contending parties will find time to put their heads together and address this perception of inequity, instead of maintaining hardline positions that will not move us in the direction of a truly free and prosperous Jamhuri.

Atwoli is Associate Professor and Dean, Moi University School of Medicine [email protected]