Mountain people who will miss UDA lifeboats risk sinking

The Mt Kenya region has traditionally rallied strongly behind the Kenyattas.

Kenyatta I mobilised the community in the 1950s against the colonialists and got detained.

On his release, the region provided the basic support base and he ascended to the presidency.

In 2013, Kenyatta II rallied the region against the International Criminal Court and was rewarded with the presidency.

This clearly shows a very symbiotic and intimate relationship between the Kenyattas and Mt Kenya region.

Kenyatta II is set to retire within the next 10 days and he is making an attempt to rally the region towards Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga.

Every poll that has been conducted in the mountain region has affirmed Raila is set to lose in the region.

This article attempts to answer the question: Why is the region rebelling against Kenyatta despite this long historical relationship?

First, it is a desire by the region to achieve political freedom.

In his book titled Development as Freedom, Amartya Sen argues ably for freedom as an end and means to development.

He gives two reasons freedom should be the primary element of development: first, the only acceptable evaluation of human progress is the enhancement of freedom; second, the achievement of development is dependent on the free agency of people.

Within the context of Kenyan ethnic politics, this Sen thesis can be interpreted within the context of the now very certain August 2022 presidential vote by Mt Kenya against Uhuru’s project.

Freedom

The vote will imbue a sense of freedom into the community. Freedom to choose political direction free from directions by the ethnic elite.

The vote will thus usher in a new set of community leaders who will have inherited the leadership mantle.

It will be a vote against the politics of gatekeeping. The Mt Kenya future belongs to the Gachaguas, Kurias, Ndindis, Kimanis, Alices, et al, who have withstood the pressure and seen the promised land of Mt Kenya’s political freedom.

Second, the region intends to restore its political dignity as comprising honourable men and women who keep political promises.

The community gave a public pledge of “ Yangu kumi ya Ruto kumi” (10 years of Kenyatta rule,10 years of Ruto’s).

It has been argued elsewhere that Jaramogi Oginga Odinga refused to take power when offered by the colonialists in 1962 until founding president Jomo Kenyatta was released from detention.

Raila likewise endorsed Kibaki in 2002. How come Mt Kenya does not reward these two acts of selflessness?

There are differences between Ruto’s and Odinga’s purported pledges.

The acts of goodness by the Odingas were to specific individuals, whereas Ruto’s act was configured as an act towards the larger Mt Kenya region. Second, promises made to Ruto were done in public.

Promises purportedly made by the Odingas, including Raila’s 2002 Kibaki Memorandum of Understanding deal, were done privately.

The MoU was only publicly disclosed in 2004. Jaramogi’s 1962 pledge, though done in public, did not contain an expectation of community reciprocation. That matters a great deal. 

Political contract

For it to be politically enforceable, a political contract must be politicised.

It should not be ‘legalised’. That means all elements of a valid contract (offer, acceptance, consideration) must be done in public and carry the citizenry along.

Ruto and Uhuru’s political contract was done in Nakuru and many other places in Mt Kenya and solemnised in public prayers.

What happens to the few Mt Kenya leaders who have stuck with Uhuru in Jubilee and Azimio? 

There are two sets of Mt Kenya leaders that have joined Azimio. The first set is motivated by heroism – a desire to perish with a sinking ship.

They remind one of the orchestras in the true-story movie Titanic. The musicians of the RMS Titanic all perished when the ship sank in 1912. 

After the ship hit an iceberg and began to sink, band members started playing music to help keep the passengers calm as the crew loaded the lifeboats.

Many of the survivors said the band continued to play until the very end and all went down with the ship.

Instead of rushing to political lifeboats rendered by United Democratic Alliance (UDA), these few Azimio elements in the mountain have chosen to sink. 

The second comprises those that refuse to heed God’s voice as expressed by Mt Kenya people, who have now joined UDA.

They are like Lot’s wife in the Bible. Two angels arrived in a wicked city and were invited to spend the night in Lot's home.

The visiting angels urged Lot to get his family and flee, so as to avoid being caught in the impending disaster of the iniquity of the city. 

The command was given that they should not look back nor stop anywhere in the plain, lest they be swept away.  

While fleeing, Lot's wife turned to look back and was turned into a pillar of salt.

The Azimio people have been warned of an impending political revolution in the mountain. They have decided to look back and hence they will experience the wrath of the people.

Dr Kang’ata is a lecturer at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He is the senator for Murang’a County.