Talk to all Kenyans instead of beating them into submission

Anti-riot police officers clash with a protester on November 28, 2017 during demonstrations at Umoja, Nairobi, after police denied National Super Alliance leader Raila Odinga permission to hold a rally concurrently with the inauguration of President Uhuru Kenyatta. PHOTO | TONY KARUMBA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • In reality, the crisis is a battle between the increasingly regressive status quo and the reformist agenda.
  • Saying that Nasa leader Raila Odinga is fighting the government only because he wants to be the president reduces the crisis to simply to a battle of egos, which it is not.
  • The government employs all the forces available to them to brutally suppress dissent, which, ironically, is what hurts them in the end.

Many analysts got it wrong when they claimed that the political crisis generated by this year’s elections is a feud between the Kenyatta and Odinga families, or to put it more broadly, between the Kikuyus and Luos.

In reality, the crisis is a battle between the increasingly regressive status quo and the reformist agenda. Saying that Nasa leader Raila Odinga is fighting the government only because he wants to be the president reduces the crisis to simply to a battle of egos, which it is not.

I do not purport to speak for Nasa or Mr Odinga, but from what I have gathered, the war that they are waging is a moral and ethical one, not a political one. They are arguing that after a decade of stolen elections, it is time the people of Kenya got to choose their leaders fairly and squarely.

It is just about ensuring that sham elections have no place in a country that has fought hard for multipartyism and constitutional reforms. Flawed elections make a mockery of both political pluralism and the new Constitution.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

The reason more than half the electorate voted with their feet – by staying at home – on October 26 during the repeat presidential election is because they wanted to make this very point.

This kind of civil disobedience is what liberated India from the clutches of British colonialism.

It was even adopted by Martin Luther King Jr as a mode of protest against racism in the United States.

It is a legitimate form of dissent that seeks to challenge the status quo through what might appear as inaction, but is, in fact, action that speaks louder than words or machetes.

Many Kenyans did not vote in the October 26 election, not because Mr Odinga had withdrawn from the race, but because they believed that by boycotting the poll, the declared “winner” might adopt a more reconciliatory and humble tone, and make serious efforts to address the people’s grievances about the current system.

STRUTTING BRAVADO

But what we got instead was a strutting bravado based on a lie, more police brutality and a government and an electoral commission that show no signs of reforming themselves to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the people. We got more ethnic polarisation and mistrust – a rift that may take generations to fill if politics in Kenya continues to be a two-tribe oligarchy.

Then the arrest and interrogation of Dr David Ndii, Nasa’s policy adviser, last week confirmed to many that this self-important swagger is just a show – deep down, the government is unsure about its claim to the presidency because it suspects that it did not win the majority’s vote. (Is this why someone has put up a sign on a central roundabout in Nairobi’s central business district proclaiming Mr Uhuru Kenyatta the President of the Republic of Kenya?). Insecure governments tend to be paranoid and ruthless when it comes to dissenting voices.

They employ all the forces available to them to brutally suppress dissent, which, ironically, is what hurts them in the end. The people – not just the opposition – eventually revolt and forcefully dislodge them from power.

REVOLUTIONS

This is not what I wish for this or any future government. Revolutions can be messy and traumatic. There are other ways to bridge the schism. One is to listen to the people who did not vote for you.

What are their grievances? This involves taking serious, sincere and visible steps to ensure that their demands are addressed. Even former President Mwai Kibaki accepted a new constitution despite showing initial resistance to it because not doing so would have hurt his legacy.

Former President Daniel arap Moi finally gave in to Western donor demands for political pluralism because not doing so would have caused further economic hardship on the country.

This time, however, it seems the donors’ priorities are to protect their political and economic interests, even if this will have a negative impact of on the economy – China’s hefty loans to Kenya being one example.

POLICIES

Since 2013, President Kenyatta’s government has made no attempt to explain to the public what impact his government’s policies and decisions are having on the economy. (Whatever happened to public participation?) This blatant disdain for other Kenyans is what has brought us to the current impasse. Things must change.

Perhaps his government should consider this quote by the American philosopher Cornel West: “Justice is what love looks like in public, just like tenderness is what love looks like in private.”