Kenya
has been at a political crossroads for far too long, and yet a new
front has been set up by MPs from central Kenya allied to the PNU. They are
suggesting that their Eldoret North colleague, Mr William Ruto, an ODM
Pentagon member, be not part of the coalition government.
Knowing well that Mr Ruto
has to be in the new Cabinet, the MPs want to throw a spanner into the
works by imposing conditions on ODM that they know only too well will
not be met. The main allegation against Mr Ruto are that he facilitated
and/or planned post-election violence in Rift Valley Province. But can
this accusation bar him from being a minister?
I have argued in these
columns before that Kenya is a state made up of 45 nations - 42 African
tribes plus Asians, Arabs and Europeans. The Kenyan state boundaries
are courtesy of bored European royals who, in the late 19th Century,
were looking for new and strange lands for hunting and watching the sun
set. Of the royals, King Leopold II of Belgium was the most honest and
audacious as he made the entire Congo basin, the present-day Democratic
Republic of Congo, his private property.
It is by these royal
frolics that 45 nations have found themselves in Kenya, all with equal
claims and stakes in it. If we are 45 tribes with unique and distinct
cultures and even spiritual beliefs, then we belong first to our tribes
then to the state.
Jerry Muller, a
distinguished professor of history at the Catholic University of
America, has published a seminal article titled, Us and Them: The
Enduring Power of Ethnic Nationalism, in the current edition of Foreign
Affairs, a highly respected academic international journal. In it, he
argues that "... increasing communal consciousness and shifting ethnic
balances are bound to have a variety of consequences... the first fruits
of that process will often fall to those ethnic groups best positioned
by history..." He concludes his thesis by saying that "...
ethnonationalism ... is a source of both solidarity and enmity, and for
in one form or another, it will remain for many generations to come."
I agree with the don. If
this be the reality of today's world, then no other tribe can decide
for the Kalenjin who their leader should be. Each tribe in Kenya has an
in-built mechanism of choosing its leader, and it is no accident of
history. In unanimity, Kalenjins have chosen Mr Ruto their leader, and
on their behalf will he sit at the nation-state table to represent
their interests.
Kalenjins have a saying
that an outsider cannot castrate their bull on their behalf. If the
Eldoret North lawmaker is their bull, outsiders who cannot stand him
can do nothing but sulk. Thus, as Kalenjins cannot choose leaders for
Tigania, Kiambu and Kirinyaga, they must stay clear of the Kalenjin
leadership.
The other hollowness of Mr
Ruto's critics is their moral bankruptcy. PNU's argument is that the
coalition Cabinet must be "clean". Cleanliness imputes moral
correctness and purity. But is there one man or woman in PNU who will
cast the first stone against Mr Ruto?
Kenya has the tendency of
suffering from self-induced amnesia and fear of questioning the
leadership. A country will succeed only if it faces to its leaders and
calls them to account. In 2002, quite a few current PNU leaders were
living in penury, with multiple bankruptcy court cases. Most were
living in cheap rented houses and were in perpetual rent defaults.
These leaders are now
multi-millionaires living in own palatial homes with fleets of vehicles
to boot. They have never told us how one can be a multi-millionaire by
sitting in the Cabinet for less than five years. Do they run pyramid
schemes we don't know about?
US ambassador Michael
Ranneberger says he has a list of 20 Kenyan officials who are on the US
visa-watch list for allegedly engaging in post-elections violence. My
credible sources inform me that the list is of MPs and business
executives from central Kenya who organised fund-raising meetings and
provided logistics for the Mungiki to cause mayhem in Rift Valley and
Nairobi.
The sources say the
fundraisers were held at a night club in Nairobi's Westlands and an
exclusive members' golf club. All these are verifiable facts which,
hopefully, will be unravelled by the Justice Philip Waki Commission.
It is, therefore, comical
for the allies and surrogates of these 20 people to hurl insults at Mr
Ruto. The Mungiki is a banned organisation yet it is alive, can hold
open demonstrations in Nairobi, conduct oathing, man matatu stations,
including at Muthurwa in the city and blackmail police to release
suspects, yet we pretend not to know its patrons and sponsors. The
central Kenya MPs ought to look in the mirror.
Among MPs
Mr Ruto is an elected MP,
having qualified under the conditions set by the National and
Presidential Elections Act. Once one is elected MP, no other non-legal
conditions exist for him. His critics cannot set extra-legal conditions
that do not apply to them. The Constitution stipulates that Cabinet
ministers be appointed from among MPs. Thus all 222 of them MPs qualify.
The allegations against Mr
Ruto are just that - allegations. Under Section 35 of the Constitution,
one is disqualified from being an MP on pledging allegiance to a
foreign state, has criminal conviction of more than six months or is
adjudged to be of an unsound mind or is bankrupt. These are the only
conditions that bar one from sitting in Parliament and invariably in
the Cabinet.
Kenyans ought to know and
not be misled that no amount of allegations, no matter how grievous,
equal criminal conviction. The Government, being in exclusive control
of instruments of violence and prosecution, has the authority to charge
anyone with a criminal offence. Isn't it absurd, therefore, for
ministers and other government functionaries to claim that the violence
in Rift Valley was planned and yet they cannot charge the alleged
organisers? Which government is impotent to carry out its legitimate
mandate?
The Constitution of Kenya
(Amendment) Act, 2008, and the National Accord and Reconciliation Act,
2008, give the power to appoint ministers to party leaders of the
coalition parties, and not the President. Section 4 (2) of the
Reconciliation Act states that "... Ministers ... shall be nominated by the
parliamentary leader of the party in the coalition ..." and then all
nominations are made part of the whole Cabinet. And once the ministers
are appointed, they can be removed only by the party leader.
This constitutional
amendment that came into effect on March 20, therefore gives exclusive
power to Mr Raila Odinga of ODM, PNU's Mr Mwai Kibaki, Mr Kalonzo
Musyoka of ODM Kenya and Kanu's Mr Uhuru Kenyatta in that descending
order of parliamentary numerical strength to appoint members of the
Cabinet on the twin principles of pro rata sharing and portfolio
balance. Mr Kibaki has power only as PNU leader to appoint his part of
the Cabinet and no more.
The party leaders'
obligation is to agree based on the balance formula on the number of
titles of ministries, each party's share. In turn, each party leader
nominates the office holders without any reference whatsoever to the
other party leaders. As the 40 ministries are agreed on, what remains
now is naming the ministries and allocating them to each party.
Once all the party leaders
are done with this hazardous exercise, which will obviously create an
intra-party war, they will hand the list to the President, who has no
choice but to announce the Cabinet with no alteration, except clerical
correction.
I do not claim to know the
intention of the framers of this Section 4 of the Reconciliation Act,
but it makes the President's role purely ceremonial when it comes to
appointing and dismissing the Cabinet. Mr Kibaki plays this role
tomorrow to usher Kenya into new and uncharted waters.
Thus, without fear of
contradiction, if Mr Odinga nominates Mr Ruto to head the Ministry of
Energy, being one of the portfolios allocated to ODM, Mr Kibaki has no
choice but to announce him thus. The only remedy Mr Ruto's critics have
is to call press conferences and gripe or better still, form the
opposition in Parliament.
They should let Mr Ruto
give his father a peaceful farewell. In the meantime, PNU must be told
clearly and unequivocally that their protestations against him amount
to hypocritical hollowness and are bereft of both moral and legal bases.
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If anything the instigators should be jailed the fact that this hasn't happened yet doesn't mean those who planned the killings are innocent.
Mr. Ruto is the prime suspect in the planning and funding of the mass murder, rapes and expulsions in the rift valley that targeted central Kenya and other communities that voted for President Kibaki.
The fact that the Kalenjin choose to be represented by a man suspected of crimes against humanity is a shame and evidence that the peace we have is a sham.
Asking the relatives of the victims of mass murder and expulsions to accept the appointment of the chief architect, Ruto to the cabinet is galling in the extreme.
It is disingenuous for Kipkorir to suggest that those who organized and raised money to defend their communities from genocidal attacks by Kalenjin warriors are just as guilty as those who planned the mass murder and funded the killers.
If peace is to prevail the victims of the violence and their relatives must not take the law in their own hands and must relinquish their right to exact retribution on the aggressors.
This forbearance is only possible if the victims believe that the government will punish those who planned and carried out the attacks. Kibaki must insist that Ruto and his ilk are locked out of the cabinet until they are cleared of any wrong doing.
Kibaki must also ensure that the impunity with which purveyors of political violence have acted until now is no more.
ODM Leader Raila Odinga was quoted in the Sunday Nation (April 06, 200
Rail also cautioned the police against arresting those who instigated the "clashes". saying
This elusive odm harmony based on impunity for the perpetrators of violence would be a fake harmony.
The victims would be doubly injured, raped, murdered and expelled then forced to salute the killers.