Stop ODM’s ‘culture of violence’

The Orange Democratic Movement has solidified its image of a party hell-bent on causing chaos when two of its senior members were seen behaving in a loutish manner unbecoming of leaders.

 The bitter exchange between Malindi ODM MP Aisha Jumwa and the secretary-general, Edwin Sifuna, at the Coast recently, defines the party’s culture of chaos, insults and thuggery.

Anger seems to be the hallmark of its members and the ramifications of it hardly ever being punished. Who could forget Babu Owino, the ODM Member of Parliament for Embakasi — himself facing manslaughter charges — calling the Head of State a dog and his unchecked anger finally turning fatal the day he shot DJ Evolve.

We have been forced to tolerate ODM’s hyper-normalisation of insults and violence. Stone-throwing has become synonymous with ODM party. Standing on the opposite side to them welcomes missiles of stones, machetes and aggression that belong to a combat zone and not a peaceful political environment. We are now reaping from the inertia of not dealing with ODM’s culture of violence.

It has brewed to a point that it has become so acceptable that a crowd would sit in Msambweni and listen gleefully to vulgarity instead of asking for retraction. Young people within the crowd will be growing up believing it is acceptable to call people dogs, rape women and throw stones if they disagree with you.

Verbal aggression

The insults towards Aisha Jumwa, (without condoning her foul mouth) shows that we are nowhere near eradicating abuse towards women. It’s the use of the inexcusable language by Sifuna towards a woman that I found concerning and wonder whether Kenyan men would ever lead the cause in fighting gender-based violence (GBV), when the elite men think it’s fine to be verbally abusive towards women.

Kenyan democracy is threatened by the verbal aggression and violence that we witness and goes unadmonished by political parties.

In any other civilised society, ODM party would not be existing given its history of malfeasance by its leaders. ODM politicians have been accused of murder, rape and corruption, but they have been allowed to function normally, alongside other decent individuals, as if crime is part of the credentials required of party membership.

We’re failing to deal with the damage caused by loutish, murderous, rapist and corrupt behaviour to our politics and the country in general. These are bad examples being copied across the country as we blindly roll along without noticing that we are flying headlong into the abyss.

There is nothing decent about use of insults and violence and neither is there anything honourable about having a parliament run by individuals borne of criminal enterprises, be that a political party or corrupt organisation. Parliament has struggled in the recent past to rid the country of corruption, because some of those elected and charged with oversight roles are products of crime and bred in a nefarious culture.

The bravado, anger and use of abuse by our leaders does not make a politician. Sense of decorum does. It is better to ‘remain silent and be thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt’ an English saying goes.

Many of our politicians love the sound of their own voices and believe they must shout and use the worst language imaginable to rule the roost, while, in fact, their purpose in society is to be role models and inspiration to the younger generation. Who is going to save the youth if the elders act like lads in a bar brawl?

Millions of followers

A young man called me a ‘bitch’ recently in response to my recent article on former PM Raila Odinga, who is also head of ODM and a man whose tolerance for lawlessness in his party is, frankly, troubling. If ODM thinks bitches and dogs are worse than their members marauding like hyenas, they should think again. I’m in no doubt that the insulting young man was inspired by his party’s belief of anger, verbal abuse and violence.

ODM party, just like any other, plays a crucial role in our politics. If it were not for our democratic space, they would not exist. They have a responsibility to behave honourably and engage respectfully with those with different views to restore faith in our democracy.

They have millions of followers across the country and some of those are future leaders who should be learning respectful and civil ways of engaging with opponents than how to throw stones and insults on opponents or murder, rape and steal as their party can tolerate such behaviour.

To say Kenyan politics is angry is an understatement. It is all down to the behaviour of the political parties and their incapability of dealing with bad elements within. It seems easier to expel a party member for dissenting views than it is for killing and stealing. Political parties such as ODM need to embellish their image if they harbour hope of governing one day.

[email protected]. @kdiguyo