Reform: History and trajectory of struggle
BY ODHIAMBO T OKETCH
Published June 10, 2010
Seven in 10 Kenyans have made up their minds about voting “Yes” on Aug. 4. Two in 10 will vote “No”, whereas one in 10 remains undecided, while three in 100 registered voters will abstain during the referendum.
Positions taken by politicians and the wealthy are informed by hopes and aspirations as well as fear from their pasts. It appears the “Yes” brigade has things under wraps. But even as we take the final bend, we must keep our eyes on the ball, and convert as many naysayers as we can. Educators should also work hard on clearing the fog that clouds the minds of the undecided.
As for the clergy, it is time to come back and follow the flock. Many of us Christians will be voting “Yes” in August.
We have come a long way, and we should take a look at the history of this struggle and make a concise decision.
President Mwai Kibaki decamped from KANU in December 1991 and founded DP. He therefore joined the struggle after the multi-party battle had been won. He joined the masses and went on to contest the presidency on a different party, twice at a time Kalonzo Musyoka and William Ruto were still under the President Daniel Arap Moi’s wings; helping the latter bludgeon Kenya to near oblivion. In 2002, either driven by political survival instinct, or rude awakening, Musyoka joined Raila Odinga’s Kibaki Tosha bandwagon in reform struggle. Ruto remained steadfast with Baba na Mama- firmly propping project Uhuru Kenyatta.
Odinga chronicles the people’s stuggle against bad governance, corruption and impunity. He has been detained and tortured for standing up to Moi ills. For most of his life, Odinga has fought for a new constitution envisioned to increase opportunities and guarantees human rights.
What should worry the “Yes” team is the undecided lot. Even though the undecided number is insignificant, it is worthwhile of conversion. They should be patiently taken through the history of our struggle; and show them who messed Kenya and how the new constitution fixes this problem.
In opposing the review, Moi is protecting self-interest. During his tenure in office, impunity reached its highest point; corruption became a way of life; education standards were reduced to questionable status; roads were tar marked on paper and money looted with a great deal of insensitivity; and tribalism got entrenched in the public service.
Moi was, and still is, injustice itself; the epitome of bad governance and intolerance. It took brave Kenyans such as Oginga Odinga, Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia and the younger Odinga among others to dramatize the deep desire for emancipation that engulfed the nation. It is no wonder that Moi is oiling the “No” machine, assisted by his YK92 ragtag gang of plunderers, exemplified in Ruto and Cyrus Jirongo.
This team is very afraid; very afraid of a new constitutional dispensation that will separate powers- they would rather have the current system where the executive controls the judiciary and the legislature. They are beneficiaries of the long years of misrule by Moi, and they cannot imagine a new constitution that levels the playing ground.
The biggest challenge to the passage of this draft is the “watermelon” type- as described by the hardly-ever disappointing Emmanuel Juma in his legendary “Bull’s Eye” of NTV. The watermelon is euphemism for KKK. They are so focused on 2012, that the road to the very election is invisible to them.
