Museveni, Kagame at crossroads

Kenyatta and Odinga

Now after fifty years of Kenya’s Independence, the sons of these two great men have emerged to compete for the leadership of this great Nation.

Uhuru Kenyatta of the Jubilee Alliance and Raila Odinga of the Cord Alliance are competing with six others. They are Mohamad Abduba Dida of the Alliance for Real Change, Peter Kenneth of Kenya National Congress, Musalia Mudavadi of the Amani Coalition, Martha Karua of Narc Kenya, Prof. James ole Kiyiapi and Paul Muite of Safina Party.

The Kenyans, who have been a role model politically to the rest of Africa, on Feb. 11 held the first ever Presidential Debate in Kenya and the rest of Africa. All the eight spoke very eloquently in response to questions from the interviewing panel and the audience.

In his opening speech, Raila Odinga said: “For the first time Presidential candidates face the people of Kenya to tell them what they will do once elected President”.

Most important all the candidates confirmed to the people of Kenya that they will abide by the results after the elections and that they will resort to the courts of law if there is any disagreement. They said that there will be no repeat of 2007/8 when fighting erupted after the last elections.

Uhuru Kenyatta, who spoke with a lot of confidence when he was asked about the case against him at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, said that when the trial starts he will be an elected President of Kenya and that he will do everything possible to clear his name. He said that as the situation stands now he is innocent.

The Kenyans have to be congratulated because of the way they have handled their politics and economic development since Independence. They are a role model to the rest of Africa. Good enough they have not had any military coup or any kind of long political disturbance which could have disrupted their economic advancement. Some years back they accommodated thousands of refugees from other African countries which were fighting for Independence. They also helped Uganda a great deal to fight the past tyrannical regimes.

The Kenyans were the first in Africa to wage a guerilla war for Independence and they were followed by Algeria and then the rest of Africa followed. In 1992 when many countries in Africa were under one party rule the Kenyans reintroduced the multiparty system after nine years of a one party system which the former President Daniel arap Moi had imposed on them.

Politics of patience

The Kikuyus spearheaded the reintroduction of the multi-party system in Kenya, because one party rule had completely blocked their way to political power and economic empowerment.

I lived in Kenya for 33 years among the Kikuyus and I learnt many things from them, most important being that the moment they realise danger to their tribe, all of them get united (irrespective of status), to fight that danger. Nobody betrays them and none of them diverts from the plan, and they have a wonderful communication network among themselves.

In 1990 the Kikuyus, under the leadership of Kenneth Masiba and Charles Rubia (former Mayor of Nairobi and the man who started Uchumi Supermarket) demanded a multi-party system. They were joined by a young man; Raila Odinga, who saw a clear opportunity of rising to the top politically if he worked with the Kikuyus the way his father did during the struggle for Independence.

President Moi first resisted a multi-party system and detained the three for two years. In 1990 and 1991 many Kikuyus lost their lives in the Rift Valley in what was called “tribal clashes”. Kikuyu elders warned the young generation not to retaliate. The Kikuyu elders told the youth: “Do not answer Moi’s provocation, we cannot defeat him militarily and we do not want to destroy what we fought for in the Mau Mau war of Independence, and we do not want to destroy what we have built. In five years’ time Moi will not be President and we shall have come back to power”. They succeeded in 2002 and have kept in power till now.

A formidable internal demand for a multi-party system continued throughout the whole of 1991 backup by an irresistible American pressure on Moi which was carried out by the then US Ambassador Smith Hempstone.

In January 1992 President Moi formally accepted the multi-party system. He chaired a Delegates Conference of the then ruling party, KANU, at Kasarani Stadium and they all voted for the multi-party system in Kenya.

Kenyans formed political parties to rival KANU and Moi’s leadership. President Mwai Kibaki formed the Democratic Party and Kenneth Matiba and Oginga Odinga and others formed the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) which later on split into three parties, Ford Asili, Ford Kenya and Ford People, but now they are not heard of.

The first multi-party system General Elections were held in December 1992 and Moi won. Five years later in 1997 elections were held and Moi won.

In 2002 the “political think tank” of the Kikuyus applied “brain power” and worked out a Master plan to regain political power and state power. They split into two groups: One group; of the now President Mwai Kibaki and his Democratic Party, approached the other two big tribes – the Luo and the Luhya, plus other smaller tribes, and they formed the NARC Alliance. When NARC declared Mwai Kibaki as their Presidential Candidate, the Kikuyus “entered” State House.

The other group; of Uhuru Kenyatta remained in KANU with Moi and they put pressure on him not to contest again. This group was assisted by America who told Moi that he had 24 years in power, acquired a solid financial base, and had to relinquish power to the Kikuyus who had given it to him.

They advised him to let Uhuru Kenyatta contest for the Presidency on the KANU ticket and he agreed. When KANU declared Uhuru Kenyatta their Presidential Candidate, again the Kikuyus “entered” State House. It was then left to the Kenyan voters to decide who should be left in State House and who should be taken out.

The people voted for Mwai Kibaki as President and Uhuru Kanyatta was taken out. The Kikuyus came back to power in Kenya and they are still ruling until today although they are sharing power with the Luos. If a Luo wins in March, he will share power with a Kikuyu. If a Kikuyu win, the Luos will not be locked out. Those are the lessons for Uganda from Kenya.

JM Kavuma-Kaggwa is an elder from Kyaggwe