The curtains came down on political party primaries yesterday, the court extension notwithstanding. The victors sighed with relief, not frenzied celebrations, that the punitive charade was at least over. Some smiled triumphantly, knowing they are a foot away from becoming incumbents in August. Others face incredible odds in the lap where they face other party nominees. Their common worry is they stole the primaries, and now face the harrowing numbness of inability to crack the IEBC safe and cart away victory.
The primaries were the worst mockery of fair elections I’ve seen in decades. Let no victor or vanquished lie they didn’t steal or failed to steal. The primaries were a marketplace of choreographed theft and only crudely clever thieves won. Direct or contested tickets were literally bought through machinations bordering on the macabre.
Some stole whole contingents of electoral officials and materials. How could election officials be stolen? Well, in Kakamega, an official resurrected only two days later, claiming he had been kidnapped, but with results, and sought reimbursements for an election he never conducted! That’s how callous it is; if the product is as good as the process, then Kenyans are in for a harrowing five years represented by extremely heartless fellows.
Enter NASA. Today is their reckoning. NASA is in that puzzling space where you’re damned if you do and demeaned if you don’t. They have either made decisions that will dim political careers or redeem Kenyans.
The nuanced intention to unveil the flagbearer today places them in a Catch 22 situation: If they don’t announce a team, they lose public confidence and face the election from a lame duck position.
If they announce a team of stale also-runs without balancing the ethnic equation in NASA, they risk losing sizeable support to apathy and Jubilee.
NASA must avoid self-injury today; what did not work yesterday cannot work today. You do not get different results while repeating the same things. NASA’s choice would have only one goal, to comprehensively defeat Jubilee at the ballot.
If that is it, each co-principal must have evaluated themselves against the others, knowing that it mattered not to merely be on the ticket except to contribute to victory.
If they have not considered this goal, I recommend a hasty retreat this morning, before they enter Uhuru Park, to reconsider their choice in a last-ditch effort to find a winning combination.
The sacrifice required is for the common good of the NASA fraternity; and to remove an obstinate obstacle to an inclusive and prosperous Kenya. If that be the focus, then NASA should not entertain the thought that Election 2017 is a ritual. That is a loser’s attitude.
The team NASA fronts today must not be better but the best. Better has the aura of commonness. Best evokes being strategic. Streetwise wisdom in the name of Bunge la Mwananchi gatherings has goaded the NASA principals to shelve notions of grandeur or entitlement and embrace selfless practicality.
They must hence ditch the ‘better’ idea of who commands the most cheering crowds for a ‘best’ ticket that gets numbers into the ballot. The ticket must embolden NASA support base turnout and forcibly raid Jubilee territory. NASA will not win with a sentimental ticket borne out of outdated heroic perceptions.
So what’s next? Let not Jubilee intimidate NASA into cowering from its bid for on power. Hence, the power-sharing package NASA unlocks must not be pretentious. It has to be real, inclusive power-sharing and not power hiring. Kenyans are a disillusioned and disgruntled lot who have had enough of Jubilee illusions. Kenyan balloting is about real or imagined ethnic interests. So communities must feel their share of power, otherwise kiss the ballot bye-bye.
NASA should not replace a vertical tribal duopoly with horizontal ethnic hegemony. Caressing ethnic sensitivities should be a means to a greater good and not an end in itself, the Jubilee way. NASA should cuddle ethnicity to only legitimise equity in the Kenyan state. Kenya needs a collegiate leadership in the mould of Plato’s Philosopher King.