Meru Senator Mithika Linturi has never struck me as the sharpest tool in the yard.
On the microphone, he speaks with the lazy, almost-pained nonchalance of a toddler being forced to learn the alphabet.
I have learnt over time that poor political orators almost always feel they have to make up for it by saying the most stupid things when their turn to speak comes.
Since they don’t have the punchlines that make the news, they are left with the controversial as a means of political subsistence.
With this kind of background, it is possible that Senator Linturi had no idea that the word had been used in circumstances that the country would rather forget, or that he didn’t even mean what we all think he did.
In all honesty, it should not surprise us that utterances like this came from the Tangatanga brigade of politics. The UDA party has developed a unique ability to attract unsavoury characters, the corrupt, those with court cases and the ne’er-do-wells of Kenyan politics.
It is almost as if anyone who runs afoul of the law and the established order finds a natural home in the new political party led by Deputy President William Ruto.
Neither is this the first time such reckless talk has hit our airwaves. Not long ago, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei was in trouble for stating openly that his people were profiling all the opponents of DP Ruto and would deal with them when the right time comes. And at the burial of athlete Agnes Tirop, Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi, whose tongue should really be caged until after the elections, tore into local opponents of DP Ruto, dismissing them in the most derogatory of references.
I have never understood this philosophy where politicians allied to the DP demand total supplication from members of his community, then fly off to a different community to seek support, as if these other communities do not have leaders who may want to follow the same doctrine.
This country is still traumatised by the post-election events of 2008, and the place of the word “madoadoa” in that madness. It is quite telling that the word had to resurface in Eldoret, the epicentre of the 2008 violence, and just a short distance from the scene of the KAG Kiambaa Church massacre.
It is inconceivable that anyone would make such a reference without being fully aware of the possible meaning, especially when addressing a huge rally of locals, who go home with their own interpretations, for which no subsequent apology may have any impact.
I am, however, more worried that Ruto surrogates feel confident to utter such words and acidic personality attacks in his presence. When Suna East MP Junet Mohamed goofed at a Kisii rally led by ODM leader Raila Odinga by telling Health CS Mutahi Kagwe that the exPM’s government would be a Nyanza one, condemnation was swift, and mostly from right inside ODM and by extension, the Luo community.
What allowed this matter to dissipate that fast was the public’s silent acknowledgement that even though the comments may have been made in the presence of the ODM boss, that certainly wasn’t Raila’s brand of politics.
Perhaps for the DP, what should concern him was that in the case of Linturi, not many in his UDA formation came out to unequivocally condemn Linturi. To make it worse, you wouldn’t find many who can state categorically that this did not represent Ruto’s brand of politics.
Our election season is entering the famous squeaky bum time. All opinion polls, scenario mappings, grassroots promises and witchdoctor predictions mean nothing to politicians now.
Desperation is going to get the better of most. It is the season of recklessness and loose talk. Unfortunately, our tribal divisions and recent history have no space for any of this.
If the security services, electoral authorities and the Judiciary know what is good for this country, the threat posed by such loose talk should not be treated like any other petty crime, with dramatic arrests, arraignment, bond of as little as Sh20,000. And the said politicians are back on a podium acting like their arrest made them peers of Nelson Mandela!
A deterrent punishment should be severe enough to discourage criminals who may be tempted to think raising their cuffed hands as they are matched to court makes them prisoners of conscience.
Times like these require heavy levels of responsibility, not just from the leading candidates, but also from state institutions and those charged with conducting the impending elections.
I find IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati as inspiring as a root canal. When strength is needed to inspire confidence, he would be the absolute last on my list. Not many other institutions in this country give you the confidence and the knowledge that they understand the magnitude of the task at hand, and the potential pitfalls on the way to August 2022.
Perhaps overall, only the Kenyan military now holds the level of credibility one needs at this time. But it behooves especially the two leading candidates, Raila and Ruto, to understand first, that their presidential runs do not have to break the nation, and two, that they in fact need each other on the ballot!
Without Raila, Ruto wouldn’t be able to exploit the old, rabid anti-Raila demographics to spur his numbers, while without “project stop Ruto”, Raila would probably not enjoy the growing support in unlikely quarters across the country.
Beyond that, the DP, who has sat in the National Security Council and should really know better, must keep a tight leash on the cantankerous, rowdy politicians with a foot in the mouth, who he attracts with such ease.
From the ICC cases, we learned that whereas politicians can make unfortunate remarks and apologise for them, some of these words may go out as code words, or people in the villages simply interpret them their own way and act on them. This is why an apology doesn’t quite rank as a solution to unnecessary loose talk.
I have heard the DP in recent times add to his colourful vocabulary the phrase that he is not “the kind of person to have his victory snatched”.
Said and left that way, every rally attendee heading back home decides in his own way what the phrase may mean. Hopefully, we don’t have to wait for the ICC in the future, for us to hear the different interpretations.
But if he wanted my advice, I would tell the DP that this phrase is fraught with landmines. First, because nobody knows well how to define “snatching” after the IEBC has declared a winner, and second, he cannot then purport to dissociate himself from any adverse reactions from his supporters once they decide his victory has been snatched.
In an emotion-charged election like this where the stakes will be quite high for both sides (I am deliberately leaving out those empty balloons like OKA who dream of a non-existent third force), it is not too much to ask that politicians exercise a level of statesmanship by keeping an eye on national stability and unity, even in UDA where such virtues are totally alien.
