This is perfect treachery

By LAWRENCE CHITERI
Published November 7, 2009

The reason I will use a fable, to underscore recent happenings in Kenya, is because long time ago, in the realms of fiction, animals co-existed with human beings, and it has been established that, certain character traits in animals, are variably discoverable in human beings. That one Luis Moreno-Ocampo landed in Kenya, after a period of heightened apprehension and tension, and became deflated by our principal leaders, is perfect treachery! Like it or not, President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, have conspired against the people of the Republic of Kenya. If there ever was a law, to stone treacherous individuals among us, this duo would now be lying beneath the barrage of stones; pelted at them.

Long, long, time ago, hare and hyena were very close friends. They went about the daily business of life, like one pair of the same person, till a great drought struck. Even in the wake of a scorching drought, the two friends were inseparable. Every morning, they strategized, and went in different directions in search of food, and in the evening, converged to share the spoils. This went on for quite a long time, however, the raging drought showed no signs of abating, which jeopardized every opportunity available, for survival. The two friends began to starve literally, before hare the witty one, suggested that they kill, and eat their mothers! The greedy hyena ,did not require any persuasion to buy this idea; and before he could stop salivating, hare had suggested that they kill hyena’s mother first.

Having agreed on the scheme, hyena killed his mother, whom they fed on for some time, and felt good. It did not take long, before they began to starve again, so it was hare’s turn to kill his mother. He was obviously not the type to respect the gentleman’s agreement, so he treacherously connived with his mother, whom he sent into hiding, before turning round to lamenting at the delay to execute her, which he blamed for her fleeing. They both “mourned “this loss of the prospect of bounteous food. Days went by, and while hyena continued to grow thinner, hare was healthy and fattening. Hare had arranged with his mother, to be secretly providing him with food, and his life never changed.

Hare would reach his mother’s hideout, sing a familiar song, and she would emerge with something for him to eat. He would join hyena, and “bemoan” the starvation they were experiencing. This went on for so long, but hyena was becoming suspicious, especially with hare’s continued increase in weight. He sneaked on hare, saw him visit his mother, and get some food. Hyena decided to do all in his treacherous power, to hit back. After several failed attempts, for being a bad singer, he got to have some ants sting his tongue, made his voice melodious, and his scheme was ripe. He managed to have hare’s mother come out, killed, and devoured her.

The reason for belabouring this fable is to find parallelism to the political situation in Kenya. This week, we have witnessed a ganging up of two people, against the people. PNU and ODM, have shown how united they can be. The unfortunate thing is that, they can unite against the people, who make them. Ocampo came to town, to seek the support of our President and the Prime Minister, to investigate the perpetrators of post-election violence, and prosecute them. The people of Kenya were urged after the flawed election, to engage in mass action, even mass death. They were promised that when this was done, their stolen elections would be redeemed. They listened to their leaders, looted property, burned one another’s houses, maimed neighbours they had lived with for eternity, and killed fellow human beings for, and on behalf of their leaders. Then the leaders found reason, to share power. They were agitating for their selfish gains; they were hungering for this thing called raw power, unbridled and selfsame power, when the lights pierced, to promise some iota of hope in this direction, they doffed the people, and went to the boardroom. They shared out what they valued most- power, but on their heads hung the people’s blood, they dully promised to deal with the perpetrators of violence, up to and including the day Ocampo came calling.

Treachery is the name of what our President and Prime Minister did. Why in all honesty, should we trust anybody in government? PNU knows who stole the election, why and how; the President knows or thinks they did it for, and on his behalf – nay, these goons were egging closer to what held them together- power. Basking in the shadow of a sitting President, does surely come with so much gloss. Many times things fall from his high table, and they are not crumbs; has it not been said that, a servant of the king, is king among servants? Kenyans, now we know. Someone even had audacity, to whisper “this thing will destroy government,” because in their understanding, government is not the people of Kenya, but the people in power.

The only time our political parties profess any ideology, is when they are ruffled, and their political fortunes are at stake. Even then, that ideology is usually the “scratch my back; I will scratch yours” mentality. Issues are decided on the basis of “what can you bring to the table?” and that, dear friend, is about the votes, they believe they own. If Kibaki’s dictionary had the word LEGACY in it, he was going to wash his hands before Ocampo, and have his henchmen grind their teeth and bite the dust. This was going to appease the spirits of the dead, the displaced Kenyans, and the vows he made in the private comfort of State House, to protect, and uphold the constitution, because Kibaki, this is what holds the people together. No! you are treacherous, you are not afraid having lied to God, when you raised the Holy book above your head, and blood is all over that head!

After months of shuffling, and bantering from either divide in ODM, one would imagine that, Odinga still had Kenya at heart; remember he has promised to sacrifice his politics and sell “maandazi” in Kibera , should his actions be inimical to the interests of the people of Kenya. I wonder why he has not done that, now that he has been even more treacherous. He has succumbed to the nefarious gang, christened Rift Valley mafia, led by one William Samoei Ruto.

What is Kenya’s future, if petty and vulnerable criminals are enough to sit on the pulse of a leader of Odinga’s caliber -if he still has one? Time has come when we can effectively propose that, ODM had no business asking Kenyans to come out and die for them. This is merely a league of self -seekers, who rode on the resolve of Kenyans, only to turn against them, and dine with the devil. Empty rhetoric is becoming the Prime Minister’s second nature, and when he reiterated the “willingness” to support Ocampo, he knew in the bedroom of his mind, that he meant something different.

Luis Moreno Ocampo, beware, this is a gang of well orchestrated, and deep rooted treachery. They have dictionaries devoid of very cardinal words, one of them is MORALS. They know about their judicial system. One party-ODM even refused to take their perceived election grievances to court, because they knew of the flawed judicial system in our country. The same people can now suggest things related to a local tribunal. Everybody in government to day knows someone who participated in wanton destruction of property and life; yet nobody will co-operate on the indictment of anyone. They will engage in bureaucratic red tape, as time flies by. Soon the issue of post-election violence will takes its place in Kenya’s political files and shelves.

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