ODM must play the opposition despite handshake with Jubilee

A democracy has at least two opposing sides – the government and the opposition.

Usually, the government in power is elected on a party, or coalition of parties. The side opposite, the opposition party, or parties, is a government-in-waiting – but it’s not THE government.

In rare cases, the ruling and opposition parties form a coalition government, or government of national unity. But a coalition government, or government of national unity, vitiates and neuters the opposition.

That’s why such mongrel governments are rare, and are formed only when there’s an existential threat to the nation, or a grave danger to the stability of the state.

Kenya doesn’t have a coalition government, or one of national unity – at least not yet.

The purpose of the opposition in a democracy is to hold the state accountable on behalf of citizens. Democracy can’t exist without an opposition because the secret ballot – the pivot of a democratic state – wouldn’t exist, or have any meaning.

That’s why the opposition isn’t a luxury, or the property of the party in opposition. It’s the voice of the people. It’s the people who “own” the opposition as their instrument of accountability.

CIVIL SOCIETY

My point is that the opposition can’t abdicate its role as the “eye of the people” and still retain that mantle.

Which brings me to ODM and the role it’s playing in Kenyan politics in the post-Handshake Era. Is ODM still Kenya’s leading opposition party?

Politics is about political power and hard interests, not cry babies and sentiment. It’s realpolitik. That’s why civil society – the real cartilage between the tyranny of the state and the people – isn’t good at bareknuckle politics.

Unlike political parties, civil society isn’t based on compromises – whether principled or not – but a conscience anchored in higher standards in law, morality, and ethics.

That’s why civil society believes in “political distancing” from the state and political parties. This doesn’t mean civil society shouldn’t try to influence the state and political parties.

That’s what civil society is constructed to do. It does so by being part of neither. It’s calling card is independence from the state and the muck of politics.

But I digress. I am sure ODM’s Raila Odinga – who is my friend – knew what he was doing when he shocked the nation with his Handshake with Jubilee’s Uhuru Kenyatta.

AVOIDING COLLAPSE

The country was teetering on the precipice, the blink of collapse. The history of the African post-colonial state shows that once it collapses, a decades-long catastrophe ensues.

Don’t look far – Uganda, Somalia, DRC, Liberia, and CAR – tell a plain story of descend to hell. Twice Kenya could’ve faced such Armageddon – after the 2007 and 2017 elections.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa saved Kenya in 2008. In 2018, Mr Odinga and Mr Kenyatta came together of their own volition to avoid national collapse.

The African post-colonial state is humpty dumpty. It’s almost impossible to put the pieces back together again once it breaks part.

That’s why I’ve supported the Handshake in spite of my strong belief the Jubilee government was illegitimate. That’s also why I didn’t support the peanut gallery calling for a “revolution”.

But my support for the Handshake wasn’t carte blanche for ODM and other opposition parties to go into a coma, or develop amnesia about the looting, corruption, grave human rights abuses, and gross mal-governance in the Jubilee state.

UNNECESSARY COMPROMISE

In fact, I supported the Handshake so that it could curb those killer vices. Today, I write this column to accuse the opposition of being near comatose.

I have no problem when the opposition rightly supports Jubilee. We want our nation to succeed and so it’s nihilist not to acknowledge the state when it’s on the right track.

But the opposition can’t shut its eyes to nefarious acts by the state. ODM isn’t a poodle of the state. I am shocked by the silence of ODM MPs when the Jubilee state violates the law, is asleep at the switch, or goes AWOL.

ODM should walk and chew gum at the same time. It needs to show spine and principle. The government botched the coronavirus preparedness.

It was guilty of police violence during the curfew. It’s abandoned Kenyans to torture and racist beatings in China. Yet ODM has been silent.

It’s not just ODM that’s silent. Other opposition parties have become Jubilee’s “amen corner”. Wiper, Amani, and Ford-K have gone missing, or become Jubilee’s concubines.

SPEAK OUT

The entire opposition should denounce the looting, mortgaging of Kenya to China through unconscionable loans, and continued defiance of the constitution.

I am sure Mr Odinga won’t punish ODM MPs for speaking up. Several years ago, frothing Jubilee supporters begged me to do so when I threatened to block them on my social media platforms for being abusive.

Today, those same sycophants are crying – because Jubilee has failed them. This is a lesson for all citizens and opposition parties – you will live to regret it if you abandon your conscience.

Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of KHRC. @makaumutua.