KENYAN ELECTION POLITICS

CESSATION AND SELF DETERMINATION -ARE WE CHASING A MIRAGE?

Before Kenyans went to the polls on 8^th August,2017 to exercise their constitutional right to elect their leaders, their expectations for a free and fair elections process were in no doubt.

Over fourteen million registered voters came out on 8/8 to exercise their ‘sovereign will’ and did so in a most orderly and peaceful manner.

Unfortunately, after the results were announced by the IEBC at the end of what was considered the best manner of expression of the peoples’ will,the outcome turned out to be a great disappointment for many.

NASA immediately rubbished the outcome and moved to court and filed an election petition challenging the declaration of Uhuru Kenyatta as the duly elected President.

The country and indeed the wider world watched live transmissions of the Supreme Court proceedings and the eventual nullification of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s election.

What followed has triggered a considerable and often extremely acrimonious political exchanges between leaders and supporters on both sides of the political divide.

Whereas the four Judges of the Supreme Court of Kenya are reported to be on a retreat writing their detailed judgement upon which their preliminary decision to nullify the outcome of the Presidential election results was based, the IEBC on the other hand has announced 17^th October,2017 as the new date for the Presidential election for the two main contenders.Its decision has also been met with considerable opposition from both major political parties amidst serious leadership fights within the polls body.IEBC’s exclusion of some of the independent candidates from the ballot papers for the 17 October polls is also being contested.

In the meantime various other petitions continue to be filed in courts across the country challenging the election of governors, members of parliament, senators, and members of county assemblies.

As all the the dramatic events continued to unfold, a renowned economist David Ndii surprised many Kenyans by proposing that Kenyans may choose a different path to resolve some of the challenges certain sections of the population have faced as a result of Kenya remaining a unitary state.

In one of his recent articles published in the local media, he said “When people find that they cannot live together they part company. Kenya is for the most part an abusive relationship. It is about time we start talking about ending it. This ought not be a difficult conversation”. He also took to social media with a petition calling for cessation along tribal lines. One country divided in two in which two tribes will lead and the other country where people can stand against political bullies!

Following on  Ndii’s somewhat improbable propositions, I looked at a map of Kenya with its 47 counties and noted that a unitary state of Kenya with all its enormous resources, and the opportunities it offers to groups bound by political affiliation of certain dominant ethnic groups has been and will continue to remain a force for the perpetuation of their dominance.It will therefore be a vain effort for anyone to even imagine that it can ever be an easy task to dismantle the preferred and favorable Status quo.

In the map shown, 

 

I have divided Kenya into three different nation states based on demographic considerations.It is not a secret that a section of the Bantu nation, often contemptuously referred to as Home guards, Kiambu Mafia, Gema group and Mount Kenya Mafia are ever closer to each other in achieving and protecting their common interests even at the exclusion of others within the wider Bantu communities who have been driven into seeking political alliances with a

 ‘predominant’ section of the Nilotic nation as is evident in the present situation.And on the other hand, a section of the ‘dominant’  Nilotic nation prefers its comfort zone by aligning itself with the the equally ‘dominant forces’ of the Bantu nation.

The Cushitic nation, on account of its self re invention during Moi era and being rewarded with the usual goodies in terms of employment and business opportunities have maintained that course and aptly demonstrated their close allegiance to the Bantu leadership at the center during the recently concluded but contested Presidential election.

If under the the new Constitution of Kenya,2010, power was devolved to the counties with allocation of resources made available to them, though  not the 45% agreed upon , the focus of development should be the COUNTIES but this has not truly translated into reality.Attraction to the center for the County leadership has been their preoccupation and this cannot be for any other reasons except for their own vested personal interests in securing a share in the national procurement process and awards of lucrative contracts.Some of the Governors are known to be spending a greater part of their time in their Delta House offices than at their county offices.

Can David Ndii or any other Economist suggest a way to wean off the Governors from the udders of the cow that provides them with nourishment?