WILLY MUTUNGA: The vision of a Kenyan sovereign nation

The preamble to the 2010 Constitution boldly states its vision. On the issue of the indivisible Kenyan sovereign nation it states: We, the people of Kenya-proud of our ethnic, cultural and religious diversity, and (are) determined to live in peace and unity as one indivisible sovereign nation.

Given our history of politics of divisions since the colonial period (ethnic, eugenics, religion, region, clan, class, gender, generation, occupation, sexual identities, homophobia, sexism) this vision of our Constitution is both progressive and radical. In this sovereign nation, the people have the sovereign power which they exercise directly or by delegation in accordance with the Constitution.

We also are called upon in the exercise of our sovereign power to respect, uphold and defend  the Constitution. Attempts to establish governments otherwise than in compliance with the Constitution are unlawful. This sovereign nation is governed on decreed set of values and principles spelt out in Article 10 of Constitution.

Gossip and the grapevine

I have heard it said that Kenyans are the English channel of political gossip. I also know that Kenya has a vibrant and rich grapevine of political gossip.

At the height of the civil strife of late December 2007 and January-February 2008, I was told the issue of secession was discussed by the leaders of losing/outrigged coalition. The rumour was that Eldoret was going to be the capital of the losing/outrigged coalition. I was told Kenya would have new boundaries, and two countries, perhaps with different names.

I was reminded of the history of the factions of the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy in Kenya (FORD) in this regard, namely Ford-Kenya, Ford-Asili and Ford-People. If there was a similar thought today the names of the two political factions would be very apt, Kenya Kwanza and Azimio Kenya. Economist David Ndii in the past wrote elegantly about the political divorce that Kenya needed in his view, and I guess still needs.

Back to the rumour during the civil strife. Rumour had it that the plan was nipped in the bud when one of the leaders of the losing faction, who was at the time in Nairobi, was warned against the plan, most likely by our favourite political shadow, the “deep state”. He was told not to dare travel to Eldoret because if he traveled by road he would be stopped; and if he flew his plane or chopper it would be shot down. The thought of the dire consequences of any of these events happening still sends a chill down my spine. Indeed, when Baba is involved in demonstrations I have the same feeling imagining what would happen if he was hurt in the demonstrations.

Such is the fragility of our envisioned sovereign nation when we are cursed with the political leadership that has no notion of our national interest, a leadership that has neither love nor empathy for the people of Kenya. The constitutional vision of a Kenyan sovereign nation continues to be in the unsafe hands of our political leadership. I remember reading on social media, yet another site of the mixup of shukunuku (gossip) and truth, that Baba had talked about the burning (pun intended) question of secession.

There is great hope in the vision of the Constitution

The Articles of the Constitution I have quoted above provide our defence against dismemberment of the nation. Indeed, with devolution of political power and equitable sharing of resources, the call for secession will continue to be hollow. We only need to strengthen devolution and ensure resources at national and county levels are not wasted or stolen.

We also need to avoid parallel governments caused by the failure to restructure the so-called provincial administration. The national government is still run on the structure of the imperial presidency. The imperial presidency has not been democratised and decentralised at all.

The implementation of the Constitution continues to be subverted. The promise of democracy, democratic secular state and society, a human rights and social justice state and society, all anchors of a transformative nation, are in danger of being smashed. It is our political leadership that creates this perpetual crisis of governance and is devoid of solutions.

The vision of our political leadership is about politics of division, avoiding politics of issues, glorifying waste and corruption, subverting the Constitution, playing the role enslaved agents of foreign interests, while promoting massive poverty and inequality in the nation.

The intra-elite battle lines have been drawn in the sand. The intra-elite ongoing disputes will come to an end soon. We will be gifted a multi-party dictatorship that will oversee grand corruption yet again. We remember the grand coalition of 2008-2013. We remember the Handshake of 2018 and how the Standard Gauge Railway ended in Naivasha and not at the Kenya-Uganda border via Kisumu. The masses will be lulled again to sleep while their respective ethnic barons sit at the table (to share and eat the national cake) on their behalf.

The Constitution is the anchor to our resistance

I have argued in this column that our 2010 Constitution has many sites of struggle that are bases for our resistance to ensure the implementation of the Constitution. We must resist the political leadership we have. We have no political opposition except We, the People of Kenya. As soon as the multiparty dictatorship is cemented, we have a great political opportunity of having a common enemy to our liberation clearly identified.

A multiparty dictatorship can no longer hide its class interests against the people of Kenya. Sovereign debt will continue to spiral. Inequality in this country will worsen. The middle class will no longer be the political cartilage that buffers and mitigates the wrath of the working class in Kenya. Indeed, it is the so-called middle class that are subsidising the State. One only needs to sample the many WhatsApp groups formed to meet the costs of education, health, food, housing, water etc.

The greatest tragedy in this crisis of political leadership in Kenya is the delay in the forging of a patriotic movement comprising a political leadership that is genuinely opposed to both factions of the elite; and people’s movements that have seen through the lies, promises, and populism, and are opposed to the politics of division of the Kenyan elite. There is a great political opportunity now to expose a ruling class that over 60 years has engaged in politics of division and has not ruled in the national interest.

I call yet again for the urgent convening of a Sovereign Kenya People’s Convention to birth such a patriotic movement. I suggest we convene on Saba Saba 2023.

Willy Mutunga, Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court, 2011-2016.