During a Ruto rally, Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria told the country of an oath of 1969 that supposedly bound the Kikuyu against electing an uncircumcised person.
This was the same week that Ruto asked boda boda riders whose motorcycles had been impounded in a crackdown ordered by the President to storm police stations and reclaim them.
The only thing that surprised me was how long it took for the perennial ethnic slur to rear its head in the campaign. It would have been a record, if the polls had arrived without it. Let’s first examine an issue I consider a serious national security matter the entire country seemed not to have given much thought.
For nine years, DP Ruto was the man who was one step from becoming the Commander-in-Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces, if for any reason, a vacancy had occurred in the Office of the President. He is still the sitting DP, the second in command.
No matter what the political season may be, there is a heavier responsibility on his shoulders than on all other aspirants. Asking boda boda riders to storm police stations was clearly a call for the breakdown of law and order. I am not sure he considered what effect his words would have in the rank and file of the disciplined forces, the people who man the stations he wanted his supporters to violate.
Luckily for him and for the entire country, no rider was foolish enough to try taking on the might of the state merely to score points. But it spoke to massive desperation on the DP’s side to allow himself to politically degenerate to such low levels.
In an election already flagged for potential violence in certain hotspots, you would think the man whose base has several such red alert areas would know the dangers of careless words on the trail. There is a myth growing in this country of the existence of a voting demographic called “boda boda riders”. If you ask me, the most potent voting blocs in this nation remain tribal ones.
All these groupings that politicians pander to; boda boda, warembo, hawkers, the youth and women, effectively revert to tribal mode at the ballot.
Therefore, the tendency to look the other way in crucial reform projects, like the crackdown ordered by President Kenyatta on the sector, is truly naïve. Indeed, if opponents play politics with any reform project, especially in the chaotic transport sector, we will never move, especially given how we always seem to be in campaign mode all the time.
Away from myths around the strength of the boda boda demographic, I have stated here before that in my view, the DP appeared to have staked much of his electoral plan on the age-old Luo-Kikuyu enmity, if I could call it that. Politicians who accompany him on his tours around the country, in fact, confirm this by their insistence that the Mt Kenya region would never accept ODM leader Raila Odinga, no matter what the President does in the form of endorsement.
Of course the rider usually is “we have no problem with the entire tribe, just one man”. It’s a way of peddling tribal stereotypes, while pretending to keep a non-existent moral high ground. The problem with this electoral philosophy that exploits tribal and cultural differences is that with a stroke of the pen, President Kenyatta and Raila may have slain that dragon forever.
Many a politician held onto the belief the President was taking Raila for a ride, and that at the opportune time, he would dump him. In making such a brave move to go all the way with Raila, Uhuru may have succeeded in sealing this divisive gap, perhaps for good, catching the DP totally off-guard.
The spectacle of Raila as a welcome guest within the Kikuyu community, therefore, in the eyes of those who hoped to sustain the perennial rivalry between the two communities, has created a level of desperation that calls for one more attempt to exploit cultural differences, if political differences have evidently thawed.
Watching the UDA National Delegates Conference two weeks ago and their recent rallies, I shudder to imagine how these folks will take an electoral loss. My understanding is they could have taken the president’s “betrayal”, but to imagine he did it in preference for Raila irks them way too much.
If you have ever tried campaigning, you will understand that trying to seduce votes while carrying that level of anger can be a daunting task. I totally agree with Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu when she says that aspirants need to hire therapists to help them deal with impending electoral loss, because even self-entitled candidates know it’s never done until the tallying stops!
Meanwhile, there is a trend that has left many parts of the country rather bemused. The UDA brigade has been visiting Central Kenya, including Uhuru’s village in Gatundu, throwing jibes at the President. It is a reminder of the African saying about poking certain parts of certain animals, but the confounding thing is the picture of local people cheering.
Social media commentators have said all week that it wouldn’t be possible to insult the president in Kisumu, leave alone in his own village. In a way, this behaviour of cheering slurs directed at the leader has debunked the myth of Central Kenya residents as politically suave and clever people. Especially because, if you were to revisit the PowerPoint presentation at Sagana III just a few weeks ago, they have secured more than their fair share of government largesse under Uhuru.
To allow Uhuru to be the butt of jokes in his own backyard simply because he has chosen to endorse Raila is unbelievably crass. For a campaign that likes to remind people, but mostly itself, that it will unite Kenyans, the return of the circumcision debate and the barely concealed ethnic slurs, has exposed the DP and his team as masters of double speak.
Well, if you look critically, it may also be a cry for help from a sinking ship. Ordinarily, the only way you bring cultural differences into a campaign is when political persuasion has failed or is failing, the underlying message being “I can’t believe you can vote for people who are not like you”.
If events in recent weeks are anything to go by, the gaffes will multiply, and the kitchen will get hotter. Our only appeal to the authorities is to not allow politicians to take on us on the edge for fear that any action against them will create tension.
There is no election worth destroying the country for.
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