Madaraka fete was a display of pompous tokenism 

The temperature gauge of President Uhuru Kenyatta and former political foe-turned-ally Raila Odinga’s handshake is red-hot in the afterglow of the abundance of seductive mooches, public displays of affection and hugs last week in Kisumu. Love was clearly in the air and with it, plenty of hope that there will be a happily ever after. But will there be?

Not if the mood three weeks ago is anything to go by, or even the many incomplete circles at the Kisumu function. A few weeks ago, Mr Odinga and his troops were all grief and anger at what they rightly felt was unbecoming behavior from partners. They felt humiliated by the shabby treatment they were subjected to by State (read Jubilee) agents during the Bonchari and Juja by-elections and loudly announced that a review of the “handshake relationship” was necessary.

There has also been unease in the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) camp about what game President Kenyatta was actually playing. His coddling with the One Kenya Alliance even as he is winking at “his brother” Raila has sent mixed signals. In Kisumu last week, he hardly acknowledged the presence of the Musalia Mudavadi grouping as he pointedly assigned the task of creating a “safe Kenya for all” to himself and Mr Odinga.

Kisumu was, therefore, an expression of bland love, a pompous exhibition of Kenya’s politics of tokenism. Needing support to secure his version of a legacy, the President arrived with a generous bride price. 

'Lesser Kenyans'

For Mr Odinga to agree to participate in that project, he needed to be rewarded with a truckload of “development” goodies. Roads were opened, a shipyard, a college, etc were presented to Mr Odinga and his community as confirmation of the seriousness of the President’s intention. Indeed, Mr Odinga acted like he was a substantive deputy to the chief!

Mr Odinga, his party and his core supporters were very happy with the gifts of course and the reassurance, so much so that he gave his strongest hint yet that he will be in the hunt for the presidency come the next general election. The rest of Kenyans will, for the time being, watch from the sidelines as the big boys consolidate their place at the top of the food chain.

They are not a priority. If bagfuls of development gifts were the enticement necessary to support the creation of a cohesive and peaceful Kenya after the 2022 General Election, the rest of “lesser Kenyans” have a long wait.

The Kisii, who form part of the Nyanza region and a section of whose leaders were in the team of Nyanza leaders that met the President before he travelled to Kisumu got nothing on this occasion. The Luhyas, Kalenjin, Kamba, Turkana, coastal communities, the Somalis and others are further away and there wasn’t and won’t be any goodies for them in the near term.

Even the Kikuyus, who many feel have been excessively rewarded, are queueing for more!

Dysfunctional government

These other Kenyans will have to wait on the vague and unrealistic promises contained in the BBI Bill on which the President and Mr Odinga have invested so much. The problem with promises is that they can very quickly turn into lies and that, unfortunately, is what this will mutate into. The only certainty in the BBI bucket is that extra executive positions will be created to reward tribal kingpins. The rest is fudge.

Kisumu was yet another example of a President determined not to see the problem for what it is – an economy in shreds, held captive by excessive corruption; a profligate, dysfunctional and inefficient government and a foreign debt burden that threatens to paralyse operations. The 2021-2022 Budget proposals scream the miserable story.

The Finance Cabinet secretary is at pains to balance numbers that just cannot add up. Tax is down with no clear recovery path in sight because manufacturing is stuttering, employment has shrunk and sources of revenue have dried up. The key drivers of the economy are starved of stimuli that could oil them to start working well again. Projects central to the President Kenyatta’s legacy will not be completed.

And yet, instead of dedicating his last few months tackling some of these issues, the President is obsessed with winning a battle that many Kenyans want him to lose. After failing to deliver on what he could have had he set his mind and energy to it, he now wants to neuter the Judiciary and deny Kenyans the one refuge they have for justice.

The writer is a former Editor-in-Chief of Nation Media Group and is now consulting. [email protected], @tmshindi