Once upon a time a Kenyan man named
Kenyatta was accused of participating in treason against the country. He could
claim, with considerable justice, that his arrest and ultimate detention was
fabricated, that he had in fact done a lot to emancipate, emasculate and
empower his county from colonialists. Nonetheless, the public understandably
wanted to know both how much he loved the country and what vision he had for the country; he
obliged by releasing extensive information about his struggle for independence.
But that was 50 years ago. And the
contrast between Jomo Kenyatta and his son Uhuru — a contrast both in their
political careers and in their willingness to come clean about their crimes —
dramatically illustrates how the Kenyan political landscape has changed.
Right now there’s a lot of ruffled
feathers and buzz about the visit by the ICC Chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda,
who is leading prosecutions against the younger Kenyatta who has been accused
of heinous crimes against humanity. Let’s talk about what it meant to be
charged with a criminal offence during Jomo Kenyatta’s Kenya, and how it
compares with the situation today.
Which ‘crimes’ did Jomo Kenyatta
commit? The answer is a no-brainer: he was indicted with five others on the
charges of ‘managing and being a member’ of the Mau Mau society which was a
radical anti-colonial movement. The defense, led by British barrister D.N
Pritt, argued that the white settlers were trying to scapegoat Kenyatta and
that there was no evidence tying him to the Mau Mau.
While contemporary opinion linked
Kenyatta with the Mau Mau, historians have questioned his alleged leadership of
the freedom movement. At a time when Dedan Kimathi, General China and the other
Mau Mau fighters were busy waging guerilla war against the colonial government
in the forest, he was busy marrying the daughters of colonial chief’s. This fact is also attested by his dismissal
and scant treatment of Mau Mau fighters after he came to power coupled with the
fact that after independence his allies were mainly former colonial
collaborators. Was he a project and stooge of the British colonialists? Was he
a bootlicker? Was he a turncoat revolutionary?
Upon his ascendency to power he
pursued a moderate pro-western, anti-communist economic philosophy and foreign
policy. He helped stabilize Kenya with the help of the British but his reign
was bequeathed with a score of myriad litanies which continue to haunt our
country and threaten our existence as a people.
Kenyatta ruled with an iron fist. He
made himself rich amassing large tracts of land; encouraged the culture of
wealth accumulation by public officials using the power and influence of their
offices; unfairly resettled his kikuyu tribesmen in rift-valley province.
And he fought very gallantly to
consolidate his position by amending the constitution to expand his executive
powers thus ruling through a clique of his relatives who plundered the country’s
resources to become the most powerful and wealthiest. It is this clique that
has been blocking reforms, change and ultimate liberation of the country in
order to continue bleeding the country to death.
I may not have the brains of Archimedes
or Pythagoras but I can’t fail to figure out that 1 + 1=2. The candidature
of the younger Kenyatta is that of self-preservation and maintaining of the statuesque.
My gut feeling is that Uhuru
is keener on protecting his fathers’ name and wealth than acknowledging his
failed policies. Surely nobody expects him to bite the hand that fed him by
reprimanding the unbridled atrocities committed by his father. Is he scoring an
own goal when he says that he will address historical injustices mostly land
alienation? Yet he is the major beneficiary. My crystal ball tells me that Uhuru
will govern the same way his father did and go even a step further, that’s my
clairvoyance.
The
rich vultures are circling in on Uhuru’s candidature to protect the haves from
the have-nots...most of the Kenyan people. He is on record suggesting that the
charges of crimes against humanity he is facing at the ICC are politically
instigated by western forces, is that really true? My cue, it’s not my call; its Bensouda’s and
the ICC’s… May justice be served.
The
main thing that we have to worry about with a potential President Uhuru is that
Uhuru seems to have almost a psychopathic obsession with accumulating money.
It's like he's some kind of addict, chasing quarters in the gutter. All the
offshore accounts; the bizarrely 80 million lost in a briefcase at the airport
which he had withdrawn from his Swiss accounts fearing that they might frozen. That’s
just the icing on the cake. The infamous kshs. 10 billion budget error, it’s
one thing to flip flop about the ICC but attributing a budget that is scrutinized
by top ministry of finance technocrats to a computer error is sheer malice and
taking Kenyans for imbeciles. To add salt to injury, that same year it emerged
that the ministry of finance had under reported the tax collected by KRA by
kshs. 105 billion, KRA backed this by showing records of what it had collected
the previous year and remittances to the finance ministry. Uhuru has remained
tight lipped up to now and the issue still leaves black holes. It is also in
the public gallery that uhuru necessitated the transfer of Prof. Sam Ongeri
from the ministry of Education to that of Foreign Affairs after Ongeri
confronted him about the ksh4.6 billion which disappeared before
reaching the ministry of Education. What about the errors amounting to kshs. 89
billion cited by mars group?
What
are his track records? Where are his priorities? What does he envision and
present? Is he really the change we want? Is he a re-incarnation of Jomo? I have no doubt that he would sell out this
country in a heartbeat if he could barter it for a few dollars more.
Uhuru
has taught Kenyans a viable lesson the hard way; that life isn’t about waiting
for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain. Any middle-class Kenyan
who votes for this nice but dishonest multi-millionaire votes against their own
interest. And that's the truth!
