‘Lionness’ not enough; pounce

"A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude, he pounces”. This famous aphorism coined in the 1960s by the great Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka was a direct rebuke to the négritude movement championed by 1930s African and Caribbean Francophone literati such as Martinican poet Aimé Césaire and future Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor.

It was a different time and different circumstance, but the Tigritude truism can be applied perfectly to the Kenya of today. 

The more President Kenyatta takes to the soapbox proclaiming that he’s the lion, not the pussycat, the more defanged he appears. Over the past weekend, he was hosting leaders from the Mt Kenya region, just shortly after appearing on all the main Kikuyu language radio stations.

This was not just about persuading a populous ethnic bloc to vote for the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) constitutional amendment proposals come the referendum expected by mid-year. The aggression with which he is moving is a clear sign that the President knows he’s losing the bedrock of his political support to his estranged Deputy President William Ruto.

The more President Kenyatta tries hard to win back his base, the more desperate he appears and the more he drives himself into a cul-de-sac.

Lose-lose situation

Pro-Ruto critics within the Kikuyu political establishment started by falsely accusing him of ignoring his home region in the distribution of development resources. But when he reaches out to the region, they turn around and accuse him of pandering to his ethnic base. 

He is clearly in a lose-lose situation.

Mr Kenyatta by now probably knows more than any of his predecessors what it means to be a lame duck. He has not only lost his base, but can’t even dare try to market opposition leader Raila Odinga in the hostile territory.

He may have secured an important victory last year by kicking Ruto acolytes out of Parliamentary leadership and committee seats, but the fact is, today, the President can’t dare call a Jubilee Party Delegates Convention.

As he retreats to his ethnic base, President Kenyatta has left Mr Odinga and the other opposition leaders to push the BBI campaign in the rest of the country — a big mistake, which calls into question his commitment to the whole experiment.

Direct assaults

The recruitment of other key party leaders — Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), Gideon Moi (Kanu) and Moses Wetang’ula (Ford-Kenya) — behind the BBI cause at first seemed like a masterstroke that left DP Ruto encircled and isolated.

But it seems to have little impact, and the intended political alliance appears to be unravelling even before it is sealed as the others refuse to queue behind Mr Odinga.

The DP must be watching the unfolding events with much satisfaction. He felt emboldened enough at the weekend to deliver snide jabs at Uhuru in back-handed compliments against ethnic politics. Surrogates delivered the more direct assaults.

And ousted Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko delivered in typically crude fashion. He referred to the President as “that drunkard” and came out with a sensational revelation, unproven and unverified, that he had in the past shared the ‘big cigarette’ with him.

That is just the kind of stuff that should provoke the lion to roar but, shorn of political clout, President Kenyatta might resort to misuse of the State security machinery. And that would be playing directly into the hands of his foes — another lose-lose situation.

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We love to blame matatus for much of the lawlessness on our roads but the fact is that the matatu culture has permeated the very heart of government. One can these days hardly turn a corner in Nairobi traffic without being run off the road by speeding fuel guzzlers, often forcing their way through against oncoming traffic.

It will not be long before the reckless road hooligans kill not just themselves and their glorified passengers but also innocent law-abiding motorists.

Despite the wailing sirens and flashing lights, these are civilian cars to any reasonable onlooker. They don’t bear government registration plates or police colours. One would be justified in refusing to yield.

These cars are not rushing the troops to some terrorist incident or other emergency. They are not ambulances or fire fighting vehicles racing to some life-saving mission. They are simply taking some pompous public servant, the tribe Fela Kuti called ‘VIP — Vagabonds In Power’, to the routine office appearance.

These are the people supposed to lead by example so that they can persuade the rest of us to respect, observe and uphold the laws.

[email protected];  www.gaitho.co.ke; @MachariaGaitho