Whatever could go wrong did so during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s recent trip to Nyanza. From defiance of Covid-19 protocols by the President and his host Raila Odinga when faced with equally defiant crowds; protocol gaffes; backlash from other communities on the seemingly discriminative development goodies rained on Luo-Nyanza; and a near-fatal helicopter crash that would have taken the life of Raila – the list is endless. And then a President’s speech that was a disaster in matters statehood.
Pundits have since argued endlessly on the political import of the visit for the two leaders and the impact nationally. By dishing out development goodies, some argue, Uhuru was endearing himself to the masses while confirming that the BBI, recently in turbulence, would not weaken the handshake.
Ditto Raila, who used the goodies to reassure restless supporters that the handshake deal is real. He may indeed have been sending a coded message that he has Uhuru’s tacit support for 2022.
But why should Uhuru feel indebted to the extent he needs to pacify Luo-Nyanza with symbolic ‘development’ when he’s faced with no election, as he departs the scene in August 2022? It would appear his is purely an altruistic gesture; a son’s guilt to assuage some of the pent-up pain residents of Luo-Nyanza feel because his father’s rule subjected them to ‘development neglect’. Such a benign gesture is indeed within the BBI’s ‘shared prosperity’ agenda that seeks to close gaps in regions that have previously lagged behind.
In doing so, however, Uhuru risked accusation of personalising development to the level of tokenism and coincidentally arousing the anger of many regions that feel historically disadvantaged and neglected. Indeed, the two ‘brothers’ immediately ran into torrents of protests.
Accusations of desertion in development by a restless Luhya community came in gushes. Rift Valley joined the mourning. They decried years of political investment in Raila and equally the community leadership supportive stance of Uhuru, which has amounted to a slap in the face.
The argument is that were it not for two decades of Luhya support, for instance, the handshake wouldn’t have happened and Raila owes them a slice of handshake-induced development.
Raila hit back berating those complaining as “retrogressive, divisive, dishonest and against the spirit of building one prosperous nation out of its many diverse nationalities and regions”. What Raila missed is that this description can be turned on its head against him.
The ‘friendship development goodies’ suggest tokenism, are selective and may indeed be “retrogressive, divisive, dishonest and against the spirit of building one prosperous nation” if favouritism is factored in. You cannot build one prosperous nation by concentrating projects in one region and cryptically telling others to wait for its trickle-down morsels. That’s insulting.
For Uhuru, the ire was directed at ‘his friend’ Musalia Mudavadi; he was asked to defend his ‘friendship’ with Uhuru; what’s it worth if no development project was directed his way? This came at a bad time for both men; some pompous ‘investor’ had promised to revive Mumias Sugar Company then shied away, ostensibly because of interference by politicians.
His offer to lease the factory sounded too good to be true, especially when he fronted it as philanthropy. It turns out there is more than meets the eye; the leasing agent KCB isn’t free with details. Still, it’s a nightmare when contrasts began to be made between Jubilee government projects in Central Kenya compared to the collapsed agro-industries in the Western region.
That said, there were protocol gaffes that were either incidental or choreographed that marred the dignity of Madaraka Day. The sacredness of Madaraka was reduced to some Mickey Mouse episode. Why was it that Raila welcomed the Burundi presidential couple on arrival in Kisumu instead of Deputy President William Ruto or in his absence Raychelle Omamo, the Foreign Affairs CS who was in Kisumu?
Then came a protocol imbroglio. Host Governor Anyang’ Nyon’go spoke but unusually, didn’t invite other notables like Raila. He instead offered a straight invitation to Ruto. Surprisingly, Ruto didn’t bother to hold the short end of the stick by inviting his nemesis Raila to address the crowd either. He left that hanging when he handed over the ceremony to the President.
Then it all began to crumble. The President, against known protocol, became the master of ceremonies. He bent over backwards to invite Raila who made a prepared speech, pointing to a prior scheme. In it, Raila pitched for himself by recalling how his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga propped up Uhuru’s father Jomo Kenyatta.
It was the most self-effacing speech I have heard Raila make. It was like, ‘my father made your father ruler of this country. It’s your turn to make me ruler too’. Is that reason why the Reggae beat mustn’t stop?
Mindful Kenyans ask: Should Uhuru be allowed to use such ostentatious occasions as national days to lend political favour to his friends? I doubt Madaraka is the place. Uhuru didn’t mention the DP in his salutations. An omission or snub?
Instead, he invited Lindiwe Sisulu, South Africa’s Human Settlement, Water and Sanitation minister. She’s the daughter of anti-apartheid hero Walter Sisulu, but I doubt she was her government’s official representative to the fete seeing that she was on a private visit to her Luo in-laws.
An event such as Madaraka is watched by the world. But for six arduous minutes, the President stood by as this lady embarrassed the country and her own. She said nothing memorable. She would alternatively seem not to know who between Uhuru, Raila or Kenyatta was the president. In a deliberately infused stage fright, she would call Raila president, smile and pretend to retract but repeat the same labelling. Hers was rehearsed confusion to make a pitch for Raila.
If I were President Cyril Ramaphosa, I would gift her with permanent residence with her in-laws in Kenya.
(Edited by V. Graham)
