The
analogy linking electoral campaigns to the traditional practice of finding a
marriage partner is one that has been used frequently in Kenyan politics, and
it is most apt.
Like
in the connubial set-up, the youth in question and their relations will work at
presenting themselves in the best possible light. Every last effort is made not
just to appear successful and a decent prospect, but also to surround oneself
with persons of good repute who would by mere association persuade the other
side that you were indeed worthy of consideration. The bigger the prize, the
bigger the show that was put on. For the hand of the professor's daughter, a
successful businessman may be invited, even a church elder or the local
headmaster.
It
is therefore with puzzlement that the electorate ponders the arrival of Dick
Morris into Kenyan politics. It is true that the Kibaki campaign has made
massive inroads into ODM's head-start. From Anyang' Nyong'o's rudeboy antics on
national television, Najib Balala's statement on the desire of the Coastals for
Majimbo so they could retake the beach plots, Raila Odinga's worryingly
secretive MoU with an obscure Islamic political grouping and the Kenyan
public's realisation that the ODM's clamour for Majimboism was nothing but an attempt at divide and rule; the ODM
was on the ropes, and taking a beating. Its ratings in the opinion polls slid
below 50% and the message begun to ring clear that it did not after-all
represent change but a return to an even more rapacious and corrupt government
than has been experienced in the last 5 years. So it was no surprise that ODM
decided to bring out the big guns, but oh what a gun to take out.
|
better days
|
Dick
Norris was introduced to the people of Kenya as a former advisor
to the Clintons and an architect of
the Ukraine's Orange Revolution.
The obsession with all things American aside, it is indeed very odd that the
ODM leader should pick a man with such a history. Dick Morris is most famous
for being caught red-handed with a prostitute. Our liberal views demand that
private affairs between consenting adults are not matters for public
discussion, but the scandal was never about Morris's affair. It was about the
fact that he saw nothing wrong in sharing sensitive phone calls with the Clintons with his lover. It
was not just this though; he also shared privileged information on matters of
state with her.
That
though is not the worst part of Morris' conduct. He has been investigated for
tax evasion , and was once on the top ten list of tax evaders . A bitter, even
vindictive man, he has written texts and spoken with passion in attempting to tarnish the image of the Clintons after being in their
employ many years. In these texts he rails against then on everything from
an alleged assault by Bill Clinton, to vicious gossip on Hillary Clinton's sexual predilections. He even
goes so far as to brag that he wrote their speeches. All of these allegations
may be true, but that is not the point here. What is startling is that the ODM canddate chooses to employ such a man. It says a lot about Raila's situation,
he is either showing very poor judgement or more likely, was pushed into
accepting the services of Dick Morris by an outside and unknown party.
It
is difficult to tell what that party was. Morris is something of a political
mercenary, having served in a Democratic administration in the United States to appearing
regularly on American television as a pundit. His punditry has shown him to be
very right wing and earned him a reputation as a hard-hitter who even in this
period when many Americans are asking that US forces return home, has insisted
that they stay in Iraq. Does his right-wing stance mean anything to the Kenyan
voter? Not to more than a few of Raila's closer allies, including the likes of Anyang' Nyong'o and James Orengo. However, as recently as three years ago, the new ODM advisor was
very nicely sat in the UK advising another party with a colour and immediacy
much closer to the Kenyan voter. That party was the UKIP- the UK Independence
Party.
The
UKIP is most often defined as the better-educated arm of the BNP, the fascistic
British National Party. Profoundly racist and advocating an obdurate nationalism and the expulsion of
foreigners, the UKIP advocates the closing of the UK's borders to
immigrants and for the UK's withdrawal from the
EU. Tame enough you might say, but linked
here are some of the choicer statement's made by the party's officials
while Dick Morris advised them in a zero-to-hero performance at the 2004
elections.
Raila's
supporters in NAMLEF may want to ask what their chosen candidate is doing with
a man who advised a party that won an election by having its most prominent
candidate Robert Kilroy-Silk write in the Daily Express,
|
"They
[Muslims] are backward and evil and if it is racist to say so... then racist I
must be - and happy and proud, to be so". He has written on the pages of the
same paper claiming "Muslims everywhere behave with equal
savagery."
|
Nigel Farrage, the leader of the party's contingent to the European
Parliament is quoted in the Mail on Sunday referring to black people as
‘niggers' ,adding
| "We will never win the nigger vote. The nig-nogs will never
vote for us." |
It
is impossible to say whether Morris is merely guilty by association or holds
these views, it being clear that he will work for almost anyone. His work in Romania and the Ukraine was for parties that
were pro-Europe and in the UK he worked for an
anti-European party. What is startling about the trip to Kenya is the fact that it
has been announced as pro-bono work even though Norris has left a previous
engagement to take this one up. Is it reasonable to believe that he left paid
employment in the USA to rush to Kenya to help in an
electoral race? What is in this election for Dick Morris, or for whoever sent
him?
There
has been a disturbingly high level of involvement by the American government
and allied concerns in this election. It is not clear what is going on yet, but
the involvement of foreign powers in internal Kenyan politics does not bode
well for our future. To illustrate, Ukraine's much famed
revolution, which Morris was intimately involved with begun to unravel after less
than a year. Its leaders were never revolutionary. They were instead a cabal of
determined oligarchs who had picked the USA and Europe as their
international backers against the Russian-backed government. The clouds
indicate a similar forecast; Kibaki's policy of non-alignment seems to have
rubbed some governments up the wrong way even as it has long been clear that
exclusive ties with the West are harmful to Kenya. It is our sovereign
right that we can look East or West when we feel that need without being tied in to a particular power, and no amount of chicanery will dissuade
us from this path.
Joining
the dots, it seems that Dick Morris really does matter. Now the people must
demand of Raila Odinga and the ODM an explanation for his involvement in the
campaign for the bride's hand. His presence in the party as an advisor shows either a desire to inaugurate a campaign of dirty tricks or that we are being taken over from the outside by unknown forces.
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, Haider Aliev (Azerbaijan, 199
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That Kenya should not be driven into alliances that will be burdensome in future is key to its growth. We have seen what political ties that have no flexibility can make us become. What Kibaki had initiated should not be taken aback. To make Kenya a neatral allay of any nation where the objective of alliance is a win-win and especially for the value produced for the mwananchi.
That Kibaki could allay with Venezuela , Libya and even Iran indepednently to secure cheap gases and fuel or the United State , EU or Japan for projects that are valuable to mwananchi is a great way of enhancing not only a continued economic growth but also Kenya's Global self-esteem.
Any alliances that will see a come back of expensive land-rovers or 'reforms' tied aid is bad for the country.