Only a revolutionary shift will rescue Kenya from grip of graft

Supporters of Deputy President William Ruto were in a celebratory mood over the weekend. The way some of them hit entertainment spots in Nairobi to boisterously party late into the night, one would have thought that Mr Ruto had just captured State House.

Queried, however, it turned out that they were celebrating in advance following a confluence of events which, in their estimation, guaranteed victory for Mr Ruto, come the 2022 presidential elections.

A two at a club in the western suburbs happily listed President Kenyatta’s State of the Nation address on Thursday and the outcome of National Assembly by-elections for Ugenya and Embakasi South the following day as great victories for the DP, and predictors of his political supremacy.

CORRUPTION

How so? The President’s speech before a joint session of Parliament exposed the soft underbelly in a leader unwilling or unable to take decisive action on corruption beyond tough rhetoric.

He dampened expectations that he would demand that Cabinet secretaries and other top officials under investigation for graft step aside.

This was welcomed by the Ruto faction in Jubilee Party, which has come out openly against the fight against corruption launched as part of the President’s belated attempt at crafting a legacy as he served out his final term.

The DP has publicly pushed the narrative that the President’s anti-corruption crusade is political witch-hunt aimed at derailing his presidential prospects.

His minions have employed the ‘Our people are being finished’ stratagem to mobilise supporters and have been sending signals that impending sackings and arrests would provoke a political confrontation.

VICTORY

It was in such an environment that the President seemingly baulked.

Dr Ruto’s allies were still savouring that victory when results came in from the two by-elections, where candidates on the ticket of opposition leader Raila Odinga’s ODM suffered shock defeats.

There is no doubt that the results were stunning setbacks for Mr Odinga, whose party was expected to romp home.

The Ruto camp was quick to claim victory and decisive triumph over Mr Odinga. After Jubilee failed to enter the contests — out of deference to President Kenyatta’s ‘handshake’ with Mr Odinga — the DP’s camp had defied the party line by mobilising support for the strongest non-ODM candidates.

PROXY WARS

Ugenya and Embakasi South took on the characteristics of the Ruto-Raila proxy wars and the former, no doubt, could claim bragging rights even though it is not clear how much his intervention tilted the outcome.

The Ruto camp was quick to present the results as a precursor to 2022. Not content to celebrate the seeming victory over Mr Odinga, they added fresh boasts to the effect that the results illustrated the DP’s political supremacy over the President, as well as voter rejection of both President Kenyatta’s anti-corruption war and his new partnership with Mr Odinga under the Building Bridges Initiative.

A lot of that is far-fetched, standing as classic examples of how political fanaticism clouds reality and leads some to believe their own propaganda from false or exaggerated narratives.

However, these are not viewpoints limited to drunken escapades; they are widespread and fervently held within Mr Ruto’s support base.

FACTIONS

Even if not taken as preludes to the 2022 electoral outcomes, they indicate the deep divisions in Jubilee and the strength of factions within the party and government that could paralyse President Kenyatta’s agenda.

If the President is really serious about the war on corruption, he should recognise the threat from within and work out how to neutralise it.

What he has to acknowledge is that it will take nothing short of a revolution to slay the graft ogre that permeates every nook and cranny in the system. If he can’t trust the party and government to help in this fight, he should turn directly to the people.

He may caution against vigilante justice and pitchfork protests, but that is exactly the weapon he needs to counter obstructionists in the parasitic classes deep within.

If the President cannot see that, the people must come out and forcefully demand real action against the thieves and looters in high places.

Kenya is ripe for revolution, Zhou Enlai told us so many years ago. We will not defeat corruption or chart the course to national unity and reconciliation until we have a revolutionary shift of attitude, and then take revolutionary lawful action.

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I hereby take advantage of this space to extend my love and best wishes to one very dear person who celebrates her birthday today. You may be an ocean away, girl, but forever in mind.

[email protected] @MachariaGaitho