Constitution: Kalonzo’s new responsibility

Kalonzo Musyoka will go down in history as a man who played two important roles when the country needed him. The first role was when he became the Vice President of the Republic of Kenya in 2008 when the country was in turmoil. Kenya had just gone through the most controversial general election with no clear winner. President Kibaki became the most unpopular person for swearing himself secretly to serve a second term against the will of Raila Odinga’s supporters who believed they had won the election. Kibaki desperately needed a number two to serve the country as the Vice President. That person, as fate had it, was Kalonzo Musyoka.

The second time when Kalonzo Musyoka finds himself in a hot, but extremely important national seat, at an extremely crucial time in Kenya’s history, is now. He has just been appointed by both President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, to serve as the Leader of Government Business in the Legislature where there are scores of laws to be passed in support of the new Constitution. Kalonzo will also be the boss of the House Business Committee, which will be the engine of the entire legislative process.

In any language, this is an extremely heavy responsibility for a man who was swaying between “YES” and “NO” camps to such an extent that he almost made half of his Kamba people reject the Proposed Constitution. But then Kalonzo is popularly known by his people as Wiper, that part of a car on a windscreen that moves left and right in any rainy day.

Kalonzo’s Wiper signifies the left and right movements of a sea of arms of huge crowds that cheer him up whenever he appears before them. Paradoxically, whenever William Ruto, the de facto leader of the opponents of the Proposed Constitution, went to Ukambani to seek support for the rejection of the Proposed Constitution, he took “greetings”, some would say instructions, from “Wiper” to the people. Those “greetings” may have been the main reason for the large number of Kamba people’s rejection of the Proposed Constitution.

Kalonzo’s Wiper doctrine has been the politics of indecision in the Kibaki-Raila tug of war. During the 2007 election campaigns he used to tell his supporters that he would let Raila fight Kibaki and Kibaki fight Raila, but in the end he would just pass in the middle of the two fighting top leaders of Kenya and walk straight into real leadership. In a way that is what happened in 2008 when he was appointed the Vice President of Kenya to the great disappointment of Raila Odinga, who categorically refused to occupy the third position after Kibaki and Kalonzo. Raila’s anger was so strong that in the end the Constitution of Kenya had to be amended to create the position of a Prime Minister who shared powers with the President on equal basis.

Today there is no doubt that Raila is Kalonzo’s boss and the latter’s appointment to become the Leader of Government Business in the Legislature had to be done with the approval of the former. All the same Kalonzo’s Wiper politics, which make him move his policies like a pendulum, have paid some dividend this time. During the campaign for and against the Proposed Constitution he used to go to churches and tell the clergy not to weaken their position of rejecting the Proposed Constitution, and then join President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to tell the wananchi to support the Proposed Constitution – a very wiper-like political movement indeed!

The Kalonzo wiper political philosophy is beginning to pay some other dividends also. His pendulum movements to and from the “YES” and “NO” camps makes him singularly the most qualified person to bring together the two warring teams at a time when the country desperately needs to be united as the new Constitution is being implemented. The outcome of the whole exercise is bound to secure the name of Kalonzo Musyoka a very significant position in the history books as it boosts his image as national hero in preparation for the 2012 general election.

His Presidential candidature is sure to get the backing of the Churches, the Kamba people and the Kalenjins, if William Ruto will be his running mate. The only trouble is the unity between Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki is become dangerously close to the detriment of any other Presidential candidate apart from Agwambo himself. It will, therefore, not be surprised at all if Kibaki repays the Prime Minister by declaring “Raila Tosho” just before the next general elections.

The just ended referendum for the new Constitution has changed the political scenario and the game on the chessboard quite considerably. From now on the whole game will be played differently as the two major political parties – ODM and PNU – are getting closer and closer every single day. The importance of the Prime Minister and the President appointing Kalonzo Musyoka the Leader of Government Business at this time is to bring the ODM-K in that gigantic union. The question may be asked: If Kibaki endorses Raila as the next President of Kenya, what happens to other contenders such as Martha Karua, George Saitoti and Moses Wetangula who have all shown interest in Kenya’s topmost job?

The answer to that question is that Kenyan politicians get into politics simply to make money. The manner they almost sabotaged the referendum by refusing to adjourn the House unless their salaries were increased attests to that notion. In future they will simply join a political party that may appoint them to the lucrative positions of Secretaries who will head ministries instead of Ministers.

It is not beyond Kenyan politicians to establish political alliances that will simply create jobs for themselves. The rebirth of the first Kenya African National Union , KANU ,which was formed by Tom Mboya , James Gichuru, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Joseph Otiende, and united mainly Kikuyu and Luos, to liberate Kenya from colonialism , is about to take place as Luos and Kikuyus are about to once again unite . The difference is that this time the unity will be necessitated by the sole purpose of trading horses to secure top jobs in the new Government to be formed under the new Constitution.

This new unity may see the merger of ODM and PNU and if Kalonzo thinks there is anything for him and for the Kamba people to gain, it may even include ODM-K. The endorsement of Raila Odinga as the next President may come with a firm undertaking that he will appoint certain people to key cabinet positions which will automatically be ratified by a Parliament made up of a strong political party that may be formed through the unity of ODM, ODM-K and PNU. If these three parties unite they can easily control both the Legislature and the Executive.

If, on the other hand, Kalonzo Musyoka joins hands with William Ruto to revive the almost dead KKK with the hope that Uhuru Kenyatta will join them later, then Raila Odinga will face a formidable opposition in the 2012 Presidential elections. That scenario is unlikely to take place because between them, William Ruto, Uhuru Kenyatta and Kalonzo Musyoka will never agree on who to elevate to be the Presidential candidate and who would be the running mate. May be the most difficult agreement between the three to reach is who will be willing to step down as the third person who will neither be the next President nor the next Deputy President. None of the three is that magnanimous.

If the ODM, PNU and ODM-K unity Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki are trying to establish succeeds, then the implementation of the new Constitution will take place quite smoothly with or without the support of William Ruto, who is already in trouble with the ODM leadership, which is threatening to discipline him for opposing the Proposed Constitution against the wishes of the party. As the politicians scheme to get jobs in the new political setup in Kenya, the noises made by church leaders backed by the retired President Daniel arap Moi, calling for the amendment of the new Constitution before its implementation, will simply not be taken seriously by anyone.

After all the procedure to amend the new Constitution is quite cumbersome and as Nzamba Kitonga, the outgoing chairman of the CoE says, it may take ten years before the move to amend the new Constitution succeeds. At that time Kenyans will be so used to their new Constitution that they will probably see no need to amend it at all.