Of all the images from the packed political calendar last week, my best ones remain the moments when the ODM brigade arrived at KICC for Jubilee’s National Delegates Convection from their own NDC and the reciprocal one when the whole gang moved back to Kasarani.
On both occasions, the expression of joy from everyone was raw, uninhibited and real.
For two sets of people divided by years of manufactured hate, the two encounters represented the true manifestations of the relief that comes from letting go of burdens of division.
For ODM boss Raila Odinga, the journey from the hate figure in certain regions of the country to the newly celebrated unifier and joint presidential candidate of several allied parties, was complete. It reminded me of William Shakespeare’s quip, “Love me or hate me, both are in my favour. If you love me, I’ll always be in your heart. If you hate me, I’ll always be in your mind”.
As far as political earthquakes go, last week delivered a very high scale of it. Let’s begin from Sagana III. Not even the most ambitious commentator would have thought President Uhuru Kenyatta would go all hammer and tongs at his deputy.
I have said numerous times before that there are three things Deputy President William Ruto and his political formation have grossly underestimated. One, the power and capability of state machinery at Uhuru’s disposal, two, his desire to influence his succession to safeguard his legacy, and three, his unique ability to communicate with his people in their own language, an advantage he enjoys that his DP doesn’t.
And to cement the latter, he conducted the Sagana session almost entirely in vernacular!
Something stood out from Sagana. For the first time, the President went down to specifics, incredibly divulging for the first time in public that Sh3 billion was stolen from the Arror and Kimwarer dams projects, which is being used to indoctrinate the churches and youths in Central Kenya.
The President has never previously bluntly associated DP Ruto with any specific case of corruption. But on this day, he went ahead to add that the DP had brought the Agriculture ministry to its knees when his appointees ran it, a trend he said changed when he appointed CS Peter Munya to the docket.
We all knew it had been a lifetime since Uhuru and Ruto had donned white shirts and matching red ties, but Sagana confirmed the divorce.
The problem for DP Ruto is that he cannot simply go out and engage in a verbal contest with the President, without risking the critical vote he desperately seeks. Even more surprising for a politician of that caliber, whenever the DP chooses to answer to allegations levelled against him, he chooses to respond only to the trivial issues, rather than the core issue at hand.
Last week, when the President accused him of “lying to our people with stolen money with one hand on the bible”, Ruto opted to respond specifically to the bible-carrying portion of the comment rather than the stolen wealth one. In fact, I don’t remember the DP ever speaking about the corruption and theft cases usually associated with him. Yet in Kenya’s recent history, no politician carries such a colourful catalogue of corruption allegations around his neck.
I am puzzled that after over nine years of these accusations, the DP hasn’t found it fit to take a break from campaigning to elaborately address all or some of these. Unless of course in his world, it doesn’t matter what people say, they can all be damned!
Ahead of Sagana meeting and the double-header ODM and Jubilee NDCs last week, obviously the entire country knew about Uhuru’s preference for Raila as his successor. But in coming out so unequivocally, the President caused the first earthquake in this election year, dwarfing the minor one at the ANC convention in Bomas a few weeks ago.
Beyond just the endorsement, I hold the view that greatness will follow Uhuru for being the first President to break the biggest socio-political and cultural barrier in our nation. By what they and their families represent in our history, Uhuru and Raila have obviously been the faces of the huge divide often exploited by politicians to build their own careers as well as sow seeds of discord.
It is not just the tribal Luo-Kikuyu barrier that the Jubilee Party leader will succeed in breaking, if his wish is granted by voters in August, he will also have dismantled the two tribe stranglehold on power dating back 60 years.
It is often said that after the 2002 election, Kenyans were among the most hopeful people on earth, having given President Mwai Kibaki a massive mandate to unite Kenya and bury historical divides. This goodwill was squandered soon after, with the nation crawling back into its old ways, culminating in the infamous 2007-08 post-election violence.
President Kenyatta stands on the throes of greatness and history by turning his back on hardliners in his regime and community, who wouldn’t countenance not only a member of the Luo community as his successor, but an Odinga to boot.
Recent polls show Raila gaining ground in the Mt Kenya region as Ruto’s nine-year dominance wanes. Meanwhile, there is no compelling reason to believe the ODM chief has lost any ground in his core bases in Nyanza, Western, Coast, Nairobi and among the Maa community.
Barring any unforeseen adversity, the handshake appears set to transform into one of the most unexpected presidential victories in the history of the country, especially after the OKA alliance led by Wiper boss Kalonzo Musyoka arrived at the Jubilee fete to join the wider Azimio movement.
There will of course be difficult days ahead with Kalonzo’s stiff-necked negotiation method, but ultimately, the Uhuru-Raila machine has hit the ground running and is in cruise control mode for triumph in August.
One hopes that the wide multi-tribal array of talent that Uhuru has chosen to trust with power will realise the huge responsibility on their shoulders. We have come too long to keep going back to the beginning. There is a beautiful Rainbow of colours and parties in Azimio to remind us of the Narc dream of 2002.
If we had a chance to say something to Raila ahead of the election, I am sure it would be “when your turn comes, do not take us back to the dark alley of divisions again!”
I’m sure it’s not just the wish of every Kenyan, but President Kenyatta’s main wish when he unleashed his own earthquake last week!
