It is said there are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends in politics, only permanent interests.
This is a version of the original words by Lord Palmerston, a 19th Century British prime minister who said in 1848, “[We] have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”
We saw the manifestation of this phenomenon in the historic handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga on March 9, 2018.
No one saw it coming, especially given the tenseness in the country that at times was poised to see her break up. Some opinion leaders seriously made that case and proposed ways of making it happen.
Fortunately, and as God would have it, that breakup never came to pass. The handshake put us on a path to peace we are presently enjoying and should continue to enjoy with concomitant prosperity to boot unless we mess up again.
We don’t have to mess up again for the tools are right there for everyone concerned to take and shape our country’s future for the better.
This is the permanent interest that saw the birth of the handshake — a peaceful and prosperous Kenya where everyone is included in its governance, and has a fair shake in the dispensation of peace and prosperity.
However, permanent interests only attract those with the innate ability to recognise what that is and a willingness to forego their shortsighted selfish interests.
The opposite is the proverbial doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.
When one does that and throws in a good doze of dishonesty, then the outcome will invariably be worse for themselves, and antithetical to the country’s permanent interests.
This is what ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi has done time and again and how he expects the outcome to be different this time, is a good question whose answer will be confirmed when he again climbs into the political coffin he has made.
Making the case I dubbed the political eulogy of Mudavadi in 2012, when he was being made a project of the system, I said he hammered the last nail to his political coffin —thus the appropriateness of the eulogy of his political life.
First, by refusing to learn from his mistakes — his going against the prevailing strong winds against a failed project in 2002 and agreeing to be used as an empty suit in an all but certain to fail project — Mudavadi amply demonstrated he was not his own man.
Second, not being his own man is precisely the reason why those propping him up as a project believed he was best choice because they can control and manipulate him at will in the unlikely event they were successful.
Third, the fact that Mudavadi is not his own man is reason number one he would have been rejected by Kenyans, who are now even wiser than we were in 2002.
All that I said about Mudavadi in 2012 remains true today except that DP William Ruto is the one who substitutes the system.
Mudavadi has given various reasons why he cannot work with Raila but none of them pass the smell or laugh test for disbelief in the dishonesty.
Especially given his now open dalliance to play third fiddle to someone he has told us and provided reasons he could never work with.
Someone who is busy pulling wool over every gullible voter’s eyes.
This level of dishonesty must be rejected for what it is.
Let the two horses in the race win or lose based on their leadership qualities and what the winner can do for the country that the loser cannot.
Samuel Omwenga is a legal analyst and political commentator
