Kenya is regarded as one of the few countries in Africa successfully to
have embraced capitalism and liberal democracy. Until the fraudulent December
2007 elections, other African countries were being asked
to emulate Kenya's model for growth and development.
The post-election crisis, however, exposed the deeper conspiracy among
Kenya’s political class and imperial global capitalists with
vested economic and political interests in the country. The
conglomeration of both internal and external factors explains the
distance Kenya will have to cover before we can claim our rightful
position in international affairs. What we saw after the election was a culmination not only of years of colonial authoritarian
dictatorship, but also of post-colonial misrule.
The construction of
modern Kenya failed to consider the political, social and economic
fundamentals underlying the colonial political economy. There was little effort to transform and reconfigure the system. Consequently, we are confronted
with a country that combines both heritages but, embraces most
zealously the flawed design run from Washington and London, though managed here by a class of selfish, corrupt and incompetent comprador bourgeoisie.
When ordinary Kenyans talk of change, reforms, new constitution,
and social-political transformation, such vocabulary strikes fear
in the hearts of the privileged few to whom the departing colonial powers confided the protection of their long term interests in Kenya.
In the thick of class politics are at least three identifiable
interests. There are economic interests of the Kenya African National
Union (KANU) and its supporters spread across the country under assumed
political parties such as the Party of National Unity (PNU), the Orange
Democratic Movement (both ODM and ODM-K) as the most notable. Then come the
interests of minority white remnants and black indigenous capitalists
supported by the United Kingdom and the conservatives of the Bush
administration in the USA. Of course the interests of Wanjiku and Mueni
are not considered as important except when it comes to elections, at which time ethnicity is conveniently manipulated to suit the momentary interests of
the manipulating elites. Such underlying issues are the bedrock of emancipation politics in Kenya and the crux of both the social and the
national question that parliamentary dictatorship in Kenya superimposed
but failed to address.
It is such issues that the coalition government ought to address, even though this would mean having to commit class suicide. The deeper
suspicion and dislike of the poor, the worship of the wealth and attendant
material gains that state power brings, and the total disregard of the
plight of the poor and workers all suggest that the coalition government
cannot atone for itself by correcting its mistakes and shortcomings.
While Mwai Kibaki was elected on the platform of change in 2002, those who
rallied behind him seeking change were the first casualties. As if that
were not enough, he assembled a team of neo-conservatives as his gatekeepers with the result that the national coalition disintegrated, leaving reformers without a political home and KANU operatives with
renewed confidence of recapturing state power.
This is the group that
found a new home in the Orange Democratic Movement and ODM-K. The
latter have been joined by a few reformers to put on a brave face of change.
The former quickly accumulated wealth and were
at the central processing unit of organizing fraudulent elections in
December 2007.
The fear of revolution from below and emerging new power relations, with, of
course, political pressure from the western countries, forced both
original KANU factions into a forced marriage, the
grand coalition government. The truth of the matter is that the grand
coalition government has displayed unmatched level of intellectual
subservience and ignorance of not only economic fundamentals, but also
basic knowledge of the leadership necessary for the advancement of the national interest.
The
coalition government has embraced the conservative neoliberal policies that
have failed globally over the last forty years. What is more, the
western advisers they listen to are just out to do damage control with
regards to the failure and limitations of liberal democracy in Kenya.
It is noteworthy that Kalonzo Musyoka, Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga find it difficult to articulate Kenya’s national interests when these go against the
interests of the all powerful West.
It is for this reason that the economic policies of the grand
coalition government reflect the stipulated IMF and World Bank policies
as articles of faith. This essential charcteristic of our politicians means that the grand coalition government reflects
popular discontent within Kenya’s body politique but ignores the need for popular
redress of the underlying crises. Kenya needs a government and leaders
who place the interests of the working people first as that is the only
tangible resource we can build on. We ignore them at the national peril.
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I am at a loss here, who exactly were the first casualties of Kibakis regime in their quest for change? Maybe the author could be more specific. I hope he is referring to people outside the political/economic elite of the country. Try as I may I am at a loss to identity individuals/organizations in this group that can articulate a vision or agenda that is not built on a tribal or class framework.
I am also at loss as to why we and the author like to paint the interests of Wanjiku and Mueni as noble and pure and those of the political and economic elite as divisive, myopic, tribal and elitist. Wanjiku and Mueni are just as greedy, tribal and short sighted as the reformers they send to parliament on the platform of change. We all clamor change but we can not get away form the fact that it is essentially based on our tribal and class aspirations informed by principles of trickle down tribal economics.