Kiraitu’s call a victory over chauvinism in leadership
Published on March 17, 2008, 12:00 am
By Dominic Odipo
Change is in the air.
There can be no doubt about that. You can feel it in the atmosphere. You can see it in the spring of the ordinary man on the street. You can hear it from the pulpits of the thousands of churches and mosques that dot the landscape.
And you can hear it in some of the speeches already coming out of the Tenth Parliament.
When the head of the Public Service, Mr Francis Muthaura, says that a man who controls less than 15 MPs in the National Assembly (three of whom are already in open rebellion against him) outranks one who controls nearly 100 MPs in Government protocol, he confirms one of two things, or both.
He confirms that, despite his long service in the public service, he is still a political greenhorn. Or he confirms that he is being used as the arrowhead of a sinister cabal of reaction that is still trying to derail the forces of change.
He needs to listen more closely to his brother, Mr Kiraitu Murungi.
Last week, we heard some great music seeping out of the main chamber of our Parliament building. It may not have matched the timeless strains of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony or those of the Congolese maestro Franco and his big band classics. But, nevertheless, it was great political music.
And all of it was composed, conducted and performed by the MP for Imenti South and Minister for Energy.
Under the headline ‘Kiraitu roots for Ethnic Justice’, The Standard reported:
"Cabinet Minister, Mr Kiraitu Murungi, has called for ethnic and regional justice so that power and resources are shared equitably. He said that democracy which locks out some communities from power cannot last.
"‘This is the time for a radical transformation of politics,’ said Kiraitu.
"He said it saddened him to see Kenyans thinking about tribes first and not the nation.’ We must Kenyanize Kenya,’ Kiraitu said."
A true son of the soil
For keen, progressive watchers of the political scene, that was great music for the ear and the soul. Here was Kiraitu, one of the fiercest defenders and propagators of the "ancien regime", speaking as if he had just been struck by that mysterious bolt of lightning on his way to Damascus.
Here was Kiraitu speaking as we knew him in the run-up to the 1992 General Election when he stood on a Ford Kenya ticket in Meru and won a parliamentary seat.
Here was Kiraitu speaking not only as a learned man, but also as a sober political realist who clearly understands what has been so wrong with our country for so long.
Here was Kiraitu speaking as a true son of the soil, not as some rabid, red-eyed Party of National Unity or Narc-Kenya fundamentalist.
Here was the ultimate victory of common sense and nationhood over sectional and ethnic chauvinism.
When such a senior minister and former die-hard supporter of the status quo declares in Parliament that there must be ethnic and regional justice so that both power and resources can be shared equally, you can be sure that the political landscape is shifting.
When he further declares that a system which locks out some communities from power cannot last, you can be sure that the quest for real change is picking up its own momentum.
And when he summarises by saying that not only is this the time for a radical transformation of our politics, but also the time to Kenyanise the nation, even the most ardent supporters and defenders of the status quo need to sit up and listen.
To be sure, Kiraitu has not been quite the same since his side lost the constitutional referendum in November, 2005. The bravura, the raw arrogance and the hubris all seem to have oozed out of his public statements and appearances.
When Electoral Commission of Kenya Chairman, Mr Samwel Kivuitu, made his diabolical announcement about the results of last year’s presidential poll, we did not immediately hear Kiraitu’s voice weighing in on his side.
For the MP for Imenti South, it would appear that it is now back to the future. He is going back to the man he was in the early 1990s to find his political equilibrium and his political future. It is a happy triumph of reason over demagoguery; sense over sensibility.
The die-hards on both sides of the political divide need to listen carefully to what Kiraitu is saying. This man has been in the thick of our politics for many years and he could have a lesson or two for all of them.
The writer is a lecturer and consultant in Nairobi
dominicOdipo@yahoo.co.uk
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