Tribalism has always been a factor in Kenyan elections. Ever since the independence elections in 1963, Kenyans have tended to group themselves in cluster of likeminded tribes to win elections in order to implement certain philosophies. Just before independence the two major political parties were in fact based of differences in beliefs in governance and distribution of national wealth. The Kenya African National Union, the party of Jomo Kenyatta, Oginga Odinga, Tom Mboya and James Gichuru, believed in unitary government with a powerful president who would govern in an independent republic.
The party was overwhelmingly supported by Kikuyus, Embus and Merus including almost all the radical freedom fighters backed by virtually all the Luos.
Basically it was a party of Kikuyus and Luos whose leaders openly campaigned for getting the land back from white settlers and giving it to the wananchi who were then living in villages and settlement schemes known as reserves for Africans. Even in urban areas there were specific locations and estates reserved for Africans. In Nairobi, for instance, Africans were all living in Eastland in estates which are still there today such as Majengo, Kariokor, Shauri Moyo, Bahati and Kaloleni.
White settlers were terrified by Kanu leadership particularly that of Raila’s father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who had close ties with communist China and the Soviet Union. The settlers believed their land would automatically be nationalised by the ex-Mau Mau leaders and “communists” of Kanu.
Backed by the colonial government the settler community mobilized African political leaders outside the Kikuyu and Luo ethnic groups and made them form a national political party that would not only protect the settlers and their land but would also guarantee that Kenya would never be a communist dictatorship like that in Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah.
With such absurd beliefs the settlers made the so called small tribes unite to form the Kenya African Democratic Union. In the party were communities from the Kalenjin, Miji Kenda, Luhya and the Masai ethnic groups among other smaller communities.
It is therefore quite fair to say that the first elections in independent Kenya in 1963 were, for all practical purposes, a contest between Kikuyus and Luos on one hand and the rest of Kenyans on the other. The Kambas under Paul Ngei had formed their own party known as the African People’s Union, which Tom Mboya referred to jocularly as the Akamba People’s Union. Be that as it may, the tribalism in the 1963 elections was, paradoxically, also based on very fundamental policy differences.
Kadu was for a federal system of Government, a two chamber legislature that would include the Senate, a House of Representative and powerful regional Governments that controlled important policy issues concerning land and administration including the police. All these provisions were in fact contained in the first majimbo constitution which was accepted by Kanu in order to attain independence from the British as quickly as possible.
Only three years after independence the country was faced with new elections in 1966 which were known as “The Little General Elections”.
The elections were necessitated by Jaramogi Odinga’s formation of his own party, the Kenya People’s Union. The new party was formed on April 14, 1966 when Jaramogi openly disagreed with Kenyatta’s policies that had started creating a class of rich Africans whose sole aim was to grab property and wealth. Jaramogi was joined by 28 members of Parliament and the Senate –a move that made Kenyatta, backed by Kanu’s Secretary General Tom Mboya and the Attorney General Charles Njonjo, come up with a constitutional amendment that discouraged MPs and Senators from joining Jaramogi’s party.
The amendment was among the first few that changed the country from a federal state of majimboism into a strong unitary Government of a Republic that virtually made Jomo Kenyatta a legally constituted despot. The constitutional amendment that led to The Little General Election was passed in 1966 and required any MP who resigned from the political party that sponsored him in a winning election to also resign from his parliamentary seat and seek fresh mandate from the voters.
All the 28 MPs and Senators who backed Jaramogi’s KPU had to vacate their seats in the Legislature and face the electorate. It so happens that all the Luo MPs from Nyanza resigned to seek new mandate from voters.
The significance of The Little General Elections was that they facilitated the first opportunity to form a tribal group to win an election. All the Luo MPs, united under Jaramogi, were forced by circumstances created by the Government, to gang up behind Raila’s father. It was also the second time when Luos as a group joined hands to win an election.
By allowing Parliament to be used as a rubberstamp Kenya had passed four draconian laws when in 1969 the next elections took place.
Though legally the country allowed the existence of a multiparty democracy the elections were probably the first in which only Kanu was the party that really mattered in the country. Kenyatta was a fully-fledged dictator after Parliament had passed the Preservation of Public Security Act of 1966, which provided for the declaration of state of emergency and for detention without trial.
The second draconian law that had been passed was in fact a constitution amendment which legalised detention without trial in 1966; the third law which strengthened Kenyatta’s hand as a dictator was also a constitution amendment which required parliamentary candidates to be nominated by a registered political party in 1968.
The fourth one was also a constitution amendment which also required presidential candidates to be nominated by a registered political party in 1968.
Though the animosity between Luos and Kikuyus was strong in the 1969 elections, the polls cannot quite be said to have been influenced by tribal loyalties as the ruling party Kanu had consolidated its powers all over the country. Except for the campaign in Nyanza, candidates in the rest of the country were competing to show how loyal they were to Jomo Kenyatta.
By the time the country was ready for the next elections in 1974 corruption and nepotism were rampant in the country.
There was no doubt that Kenya’s Government was controlled by powerful Kikuyu technocrats and indeed politician. The only tribal organisation in the country that was so powerful was Gema which determined who was cleared to stand for election. No one was allowed to contest in those elections if he was not a life member of Kanu. Tribalism in politics was personified by Gema.
The next elections took place in 1979 after Jomo Kenyatta’s death on August 22, 1978. President Daniel arap Moi’s main preoccupation was to step into Kenyatta’s shoes. He therefore declared he would follow in the departed old man’s shoes by announcing his Nyayo philosophy.
The elections were mainly characterized by internal Kanu struggles to win Moi’s closeness and favours. With Kanu as the only party in the country there was little tribal animosity in these elections.
With his position as the country’s President firmly secure, Moi had banned the entire tribal organisation when the next elections in 1983 took place. Needless to say his main target was Gema but when it disappeared other tribal organisations which were not so political also had to go. These included the Abaluhya East Africa, Luo East Africa and the New Akamba Union.
Though Moi took a deliberate effort to abolish tribal organisation he very carefully selected some well-respected tribal leaders in their own communities to become his sycophants.
These include Sharif Nassir from the Coast, Kariuki Chotara from the Kikuyu community, Mulu Mutisya from the Kamba people, and Moses Mudavadi from the Abaluhya, William ole Ntimama from the Masai and Ezekiel Bargatuny from the Kalenjins. What was noteworthy about the 1983 elections was the fact that the country was by law a one party state. The intra tribal rivalries were only based on who would be closer and more loyal to the dictatorial leader of the ruling party.
The next elections in 1988 found Moi in full dictatorial control of the country. He abolished secret ballots in election and introduced the infamous mlolongo polls. These were followed by the first multi-party elections in 1992 in which tribal clashes became rampant in the Rift Valley. President Moi who contested as the Kanu candidates is accused of organising tribal clashes in the Rift Valley in which Kikuyus, Luos and Luhyas were attacked by the Kalenjins and faulted of being “aliens”.
Because of a very big number of tribally organised political parties Moi won the 1997 election too.
When Kenyans forgot tribal affiliation in the 2002 elections, Kanu’s Uhuru Kenyatta was defeated by Mwai Kibaki’s National Rainbow coalition. Many will argue that the 2007 elections became violent because Kenyans had once again organised themselves along tribal line. That mistake is about to be repeated again either this year or next year when the next elections take place.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Mudavadi’s gamble may backfire
Musalia Mudavadi is in a very delicate political situation. His people the Abaluhya, or to be more specific, the Maragoli, expect him to run for the Presidency in Kenya’s next general election. The feeling among the people of Western Kenya is that it is now their time “to eat”, which is the euphemism for corruptly occupying important positions in the Government for the sole purpose of milking the country dry.Like most Kenyan Africans, the Abaluhya believe, with some very justifiable proof, that when Jomo Kenyatta was the President of Kenya, Kikuyus who were very close to him were given every opportunity to grab public land and corruptly accumulate wealth by the abuse of public offices they acquired through nepotism.
Like the rest of Kenyans the Abaluhya also believe President Daniel arap Moi perfected all the Kenyatta’s crooked ways of making money by the misuse of public office. Under him the Kalenjins who were close to him accumulated so much wealth through graft that they almost made the country broke. Well known corrupt activities such as the Goldenberg scandal created a class of Kenyans who were so rich that they were able to corrupt all the three arms of the government in the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.
To the disappointment of many Kenyans Mwai Kibaki is, to all intents and purposes, also paddling in the same canoe as his two predecessors. Under him the country has seen the shocking syphoning of public funds by his closest friends through such heinous scandals as Anglo Leasing disgraces which have made a handful in powerful positions become multi billionaires in the short time Kibaki has been in power. Mudavadi’s community, like many others in the country, see the purpose of Government as the road to wealth through corruption, dishonesty and exploitation of the poor.
The formation of tribal political parties is therefore the only excuse by corrupt leaders to maintain the status quo which will obliterate all efforts to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Deep inside his heart Mudavadi knows this is very wrong for the country but to survive politically as a tribal leader he has to find a means of contesting the next general election as a presidential candidate if he is to expect any support from his tribe. Musalia also knows that the only genuine political parties that are seriously concerned with the welfare of the people are the ODM and Martha Karua’s Narc Kenya.
The rest are a collection of tribal organisations that hope to form the next government by cooperating among themselves for the same purpose of illegally “eating” from the public funds. The tribal parties are therefore the safest stepping stones to political power and they do not even bother to hide that fact. First there was the infamous KKK organisation uniting the Kikuyus, Kambas and Kalenjins. Now there is Gema and Kamatusa which are presumably going to be joined by the so called Wiper Democratic Movement of Kalonzo Musyoka.
If the tribal leaders had their way they would unite to hoodwink the Kikuyus, Embus and Merus under Gema; Kalenjins, Masai, Turkanas and Samburus under Kamatusa, the Kambas under the Wiper party and now Musalia Mudavadi’s yet to be formed party that would ostensibly unite the Luhya people. The people will soon be fed with the most raw propaganda of “our time to eat” when in reality the tribal leaders will be uniting to oppose the new Constitution which is proving to be too bitter a pill for the corrupt leaders to swallow.
Musalia Mudavadi knows very well that the ODM has accepted his conditions of organising the party’s primary elections from the grassroots to nominate presidential, senatorial and gubernatorial candidates. He, more than anyone else, knows that party rules demand that that cannot be done without amending its constitution. The notice to amend the party constitution to adopt Mudavadi’s proposals has been given to the registrar of political parties and a timeline has been established to follow and implement the proposals before the next general elections.
Meanwhile the party had to get itself registered in preparation for the next elections and also in an effort to meet the required legal deadlines. Musalia knows there was no sinister plan to register the party without the necessary constitutional amendments in order to stab him in the back. But he also knows even if the elections were to be organised from the grassroots level Raila would beat him hands down. Forming his own political party could only mean the end of his political career as there is no hope in hell of him getting elected the next President of the Republic of Kenya.
Gema and Kamatusa together with the Wiper party would never support Mudavadi’s presidential candidature. Their purpose of appearing to back him at the moment is a cunning scheme to weaken both ODM and Raila. With Musalia out of the ODM all the KKK plans would be much easier to implement as the Luhya people would be seriously divided with some supporting their new tribal party and others, among the enlightened ones, remaining in the ODM.
If Musalia therefore wants to remain in politics after the next general election he has to remain in the ODM which can offer him an easy-to-win governorship or a seat in the Senate from a variety of constituencies. He must not dream of being the party’s presidential candidate or even Raila’s running mate as the team of the two would be seen as an attempt at establishing an exclusive government of western Kenya leaders.His biggest task at the moment must be to preach the gospel of the new Constitution to his Luhya people, and indeed the rest of Kenyans, to make them realise the days of tribal politics in this country disappeared with the promulgation of the current constitution.
With or without Mudavadi ODM should now start campaigning as one of the two parties that both supports and intends to implement the new Constitution. Kenyans overwhelmingly supported the new constitution so as to take part in the onerous task of bridging the gap between the rich and the poor. Kenyans want to hear from all the political parties, which are serious about development in this country, a clear elaboration of how they intend to implement chapter six on leadership and integrity and chapter five on land and environment.
None of the tribal political parties that are being revamped or given new faces now have any manifestos showing how they intend to expeditiously implement the new constitution. As a matter of fact none of the tribal leaders is talking of change in Kenya. All they want is to find ways and means of perpetuating their stay in power from where they will continue to exploit the people of Kenya.
Like the rest of Kenyans the Abaluhya also believe President Daniel arap Moi perfected all the Kenyatta’s crooked ways of making money by the misuse of public office. Under him the Kalenjins who were close to him accumulated so much wealth through graft that they almost made the country broke. Well known corrupt activities such as the Goldenberg scandal created a class of Kenyans who were so rich that they were able to corrupt all the three arms of the government in the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.
To the disappointment of many Kenyans Mwai Kibaki is, to all intents and purposes, also paddling in the same canoe as his two predecessors. Under him the country has seen the shocking syphoning of public funds by his closest friends through such heinous scandals as Anglo Leasing disgraces which have made a handful in powerful positions become multi billionaires in the short time Kibaki has been in power. Mudavadi’s community, like many others in the country, see the purpose of Government as the road to wealth through corruption, dishonesty and exploitation of the poor.
The formation of tribal political parties is therefore the only excuse by corrupt leaders to maintain the status quo which will obliterate all efforts to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Deep inside his heart Mudavadi knows this is very wrong for the country but to survive politically as a tribal leader he has to find a means of contesting the next general election as a presidential candidate if he is to expect any support from his tribe. Musalia also knows that the only genuine political parties that are seriously concerned with the welfare of the people are the ODM and Martha Karua’s Narc Kenya.
The rest are a collection of tribal organisations that hope to form the next government by cooperating among themselves for the same purpose of illegally “eating” from the public funds. The tribal parties are therefore the safest stepping stones to political power and they do not even bother to hide that fact. First there was the infamous KKK organisation uniting the Kikuyus, Kambas and Kalenjins. Now there is Gema and Kamatusa which are presumably going to be joined by the so called Wiper Democratic Movement of Kalonzo Musyoka.
If the tribal leaders had their way they would unite to hoodwink the Kikuyus, Embus and Merus under Gema; Kalenjins, Masai, Turkanas and Samburus under Kamatusa, the Kambas under the Wiper party and now Musalia Mudavadi’s yet to be formed party that would ostensibly unite the Luhya people. The people will soon be fed with the most raw propaganda of “our time to eat” when in reality the tribal leaders will be uniting to oppose the new Constitution which is proving to be too bitter a pill for the corrupt leaders to swallow.
Musalia Mudavadi knows very well that the ODM has accepted his conditions of organising the party’s primary elections from the grassroots to nominate presidential, senatorial and gubernatorial candidates. He, more than anyone else, knows that party rules demand that that cannot be done without amending its constitution. The notice to amend the party constitution to adopt Mudavadi’s proposals has been given to the registrar of political parties and a timeline has been established to follow and implement the proposals before the next general elections.
Meanwhile the party had to get itself registered in preparation for the next elections and also in an effort to meet the required legal deadlines. Musalia knows there was no sinister plan to register the party without the necessary constitutional amendments in order to stab him in the back. But he also knows even if the elections were to be organised from the grassroots level Raila would beat him hands down. Forming his own political party could only mean the end of his political career as there is no hope in hell of him getting elected the next President of the Republic of Kenya.
Gema and Kamatusa together with the Wiper party would never support Mudavadi’s presidential candidature. Their purpose of appearing to back him at the moment is a cunning scheme to weaken both ODM and Raila. With Musalia out of the ODM all the KKK plans would be much easier to implement as the Luhya people would be seriously divided with some supporting their new tribal party and others, among the enlightened ones, remaining in the ODM.
If Musalia therefore wants to remain in politics after the next general election he has to remain in the ODM which can offer him an easy-to-win governorship or a seat in the Senate from a variety of constituencies. He must not dream of being the party’s presidential candidate or even Raila’s running mate as the team of the two would be seen as an attempt at establishing an exclusive government of western Kenya leaders.His biggest task at the moment must be to preach the gospel of the new Constitution to his Luhya people, and indeed the rest of Kenyans, to make them realise the days of tribal politics in this country disappeared with the promulgation of the current constitution.
With or without Mudavadi ODM should now start campaigning as one of the two parties that both supports and intends to implement the new Constitution. Kenyans overwhelmingly supported the new constitution so as to take part in the onerous task of bridging the gap between the rich and the poor. Kenyans want to hear from all the political parties, which are serious about development in this country, a clear elaboration of how they intend to implement chapter six on leadership and integrity and chapter five on land and environment.
None of the tribal political parties that are being revamped or given new faces now have any manifestos showing how they intend to expeditiously implement the new constitution. As a matter of fact none of the tribal leaders is talking of change in Kenya. All they want is to find ways and means of perpetuating their stay in power from where they will continue to exploit the people of Kenya.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Kamatusa and Gema outdated
What do the recent Cabinet reshuffle; the Gema threats to petition the ICC and the fake anti British dossier tabled in Parliament have in common? The answer is Uhuru Kenyatta. It is in his effort to anoint Uhuru as his successor and to protect him against threats from the ICC that Mwai Kibaki removed the hard working and straight talking Mutula Kilonzo from the Ministry of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs and dumped him into the Ministry of Education where he will have no say about justice at the ICC in the Hague.
But removing Mutula from the Justice Ministry will not in any way change the flow of justice at the ICC in The Hague. Neither will the collection of signatures by the Gama and Kamatusa communities, even if the signatures are presented to the United Nation’s Security Council to try and postpone the cases against Uhuru and Ruto. The unpleasant truth is the fact that silencing Mutula Kilonzo by moving him from the Ministry of Justice will not in any way, shape, or form alter the legal truth Mutula was openly telling everyone who wanted know the truth about Kenya’s case at the ICC.
Parliamentary investigations today have failed to authenticate the genuineness of the papers tabled in the legislature claiming to have originated from British diplomatic circles. It is now clear that the fake documents were a futile attempt to protect Uhuru Kenyatta against the ICC criminal cases by politicizing the entire process.
At the risk of being accused of hyping tribal nationalism, Gema leaders met in Limuru on April 23rd to tell all and sundry that Uhuru was the undisputed leader of the Kikuyu people. This plot however boomeranged when William Ruto immediately reacted by showing his brand of tribal strength by organising a Kamatusa meeting in Eldoret where he too was declared the undisputed leader of the Kalenjin and the Presidential candidate of the Masai, Turkana and Samburu communities as well.
The Kamatusa and Gema meetings were followed by an outburst of condemnation of tribal grouping throughout the country making Mwai Kibaki to join the bandwagon by castigating a growing tendency of reviving tribalism. The latest political development in the country was in fact a blessing in disguise in the sense that it exposed the organisers of the two tribal groupings as absolutely irrelevant in the modern Kenyan political development.
Ruto and Uhuru may appear to be young and representing the youth of Kenya. But their political scheming and organisation is old and antiquated. It is so obsolete that it has been overtaken by the new Constitution which prohibits political organisations based on tribal affiliation.
Article 91 (1) of the Constitution says every political party shall have a national character as prescribed by an Act of Parliament; have a democratically elected governing body; promote and uphold national unity; abide by the democratic principles of good governance, promote and practise democracy through regular, fair and free elections within the party; respect the right of all persons to participate in the political process, including minorities and marginalised groups; respect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and gender equality and equity; promote the objects and principles of the new Constitution and the rule of law; and subscribe to and observe the code of conduct for political parties.
Neither Gema nor Kamatusa have fulfilled these requirements by the supreme law. Ruto and Uhuru will of course be among the first to claim that the two organisations are welfare societies which have nothing to do with politics. If that was true then they would have had no business backing anyone for a political office. If the two organisations were not political then they should have refrained from selecting presidential candidate for the next election.
Throughout the Easter festivals Anglican and Catholic churches, which are the largest and most powerful Christian organisations in Kenya, condemned both the Kamatusa and the Gema attempts to return the country in the pre-2007 tribal politics that was the real cause of bloodbath of the PEV. To his credit the retired President Daniel arap Moi was also among the first people to condemn the revival of tribal political parties. He too, as Kenya’s oldest politician, knew that Gema and Kamatusa wre, for all practical purposes, tribal political parties.
The open involvement of Kamatusa and Gema in political affairs also exposed the fragility of political unity in the G7. Its two top leaders are both interested in the top seat at State House and none is prepared to stand down for the other. In the final analysis Ruto and Uhuru will run for the presidency of Kenya as rivals who intend to unite later during the runoff against Raila Odinga. But by the look of things Kenyans are so disgusted with tribal organisations that Raila may very well win the seat in the first round.
Kenyans love their new Constitution so much that they will not hesitate to reject anyone who plans to undermine it through tribalism. They know for example that Article 91 (2) says a political party shall not be founded on a religious, linguistic, racial, ethnic, gender or regional basis or seek to engage in advocacy of hatred on any such basis. Kenyans know very well that the new Constitution prohibits any political party from engaging in or encouraging of violence by, or intimidation of, its members, supporters, opponents or any other person. The constitution also prohibits any political party from establishing or maintaining a paramilitary force, militia or similar organisation.
Ruto and Uhuru may say that Gema and Kamatusa have no such intentions or plans. But Kenyans know they are tribal organisations made up of communities that have been involved in violence and formation of militia groups in the past elections. In fact the real reasons both Uhuru and Ruto are facing criminal charges at the ICC today is because they are suspected of organising their communities into dangerous militia in the last elections.
Besides violating the Constitution by engaging in political activities, Kamatusa and Gema are not allowed by the Political Parties Act to engage, as they do now, in political activity. Section 4 of the Act prohibits any association such as Gema and Kamatusa from engaging in political activities unless it has been registered as a political part. It actually says the registrar of political parties shall not register an association of persons or an organisation as a political party if such association or organisation does not meet the requirements set out in Article 91 of the Constitution.
Given what the Constitution and the Political Parties Acts say it is clear both Kamatusa and Gema were engaging in illegal activities when they took serious political stands concerning the next general elections. Kenyans know very well what happened to this country in 2007-8 elections when tribal nationalism was used to mobilise people for selfish gains of the few.
Politicians backing Kamatusa and Gema have talked of establishing political parties which have yet to be registered under the new law. When they finally register their political parties the rest of Kenya will easily identify those parties as tribal institutions which will find it very difficult to exist in the modern day Kenya.
But removing Mutula from the Justice Ministry will not in any way change the flow of justice at the ICC in The Hague. Neither will the collection of signatures by the Gama and Kamatusa communities, even if the signatures are presented to the United Nation’s Security Council to try and postpone the cases against Uhuru and Ruto. The unpleasant truth is the fact that silencing Mutula Kilonzo by moving him from the Ministry of Justice will not in any way, shape, or form alter the legal truth Mutula was openly telling everyone who wanted know the truth about Kenya’s case at the ICC.
Parliamentary investigations today have failed to authenticate the genuineness of the papers tabled in the legislature claiming to have originated from British diplomatic circles. It is now clear that the fake documents were a futile attempt to protect Uhuru Kenyatta against the ICC criminal cases by politicizing the entire process.
At the risk of being accused of hyping tribal nationalism, Gema leaders met in Limuru on April 23rd to tell all and sundry that Uhuru was the undisputed leader of the Kikuyu people. This plot however boomeranged when William Ruto immediately reacted by showing his brand of tribal strength by organising a Kamatusa meeting in Eldoret where he too was declared the undisputed leader of the Kalenjin and the Presidential candidate of the Masai, Turkana and Samburu communities as well.
The Kamatusa and Gema meetings were followed by an outburst of condemnation of tribal grouping throughout the country making Mwai Kibaki to join the bandwagon by castigating a growing tendency of reviving tribalism. The latest political development in the country was in fact a blessing in disguise in the sense that it exposed the organisers of the two tribal groupings as absolutely irrelevant in the modern Kenyan political development.
Ruto and Uhuru may appear to be young and representing the youth of Kenya. But their political scheming and organisation is old and antiquated. It is so obsolete that it has been overtaken by the new Constitution which prohibits political organisations based on tribal affiliation.
Article 91 (1) of the Constitution says every political party shall have a national character as prescribed by an Act of Parliament; have a democratically elected governing body; promote and uphold national unity; abide by the democratic principles of good governance, promote and practise democracy through regular, fair and free elections within the party; respect the right of all persons to participate in the political process, including minorities and marginalised groups; respect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and gender equality and equity; promote the objects and principles of the new Constitution and the rule of law; and subscribe to and observe the code of conduct for political parties.
Neither Gema nor Kamatusa have fulfilled these requirements by the supreme law. Ruto and Uhuru will of course be among the first to claim that the two organisations are welfare societies which have nothing to do with politics. If that was true then they would have had no business backing anyone for a political office. If the two organisations were not political then they should have refrained from selecting presidential candidate for the next election.
Throughout the Easter festivals Anglican and Catholic churches, which are the largest and most powerful Christian organisations in Kenya, condemned both the Kamatusa and the Gema attempts to return the country in the pre-2007 tribal politics that was the real cause of bloodbath of the PEV. To his credit the retired President Daniel arap Moi was also among the first people to condemn the revival of tribal political parties. He too, as Kenya’s oldest politician, knew that Gema and Kamatusa wre, for all practical purposes, tribal political parties.
The open involvement of Kamatusa and Gema in political affairs also exposed the fragility of political unity in the G7. Its two top leaders are both interested in the top seat at State House and none is prepared to stand down for the other. In the final analysis Ruto and Uhuru will run for the presidency of Kenya as rivals who intend to unite later during the runoff against Raila Odinga. But by the look of things Kenyans are so disgusted with tribal organisations that Raila may very well win the seat in the first round.
Kenyans love their new Constitution so much that they will not hesitate to reject anyone who plans to undermine it through tribalism. They know for example that Article 91 (2) says a political party shall not be founded on a religious, linguistic, racial, ethnic, gender or regional basis or seek to engage in advocacy of hatred on any such basis. Kenyans know very well that the new Constitution prohibits any political party from engaging in or encouraging of violence by, or intimidation of, its members, supporters, opponents or any other person. The constitution also prohibits any political party from establishing or maintaining a paramilitary force, militia or similar organisation.
Ruto and Uhuru may say that Gema and Kamatusa have no such intentions or plans. But Kenyans know they are tribal organisations made up of communities that have been involved in violence and formation of militia groups in the past elections. In fact the real reasons both Uhuru and Ruto are facing criminal charges at the ICC today is because they are suspected of organising their communities into dangerous militia in the last elections.
Besides violating the Constitution by engaging in political activities, Kamatusa and Gema are not allowed by the Political Parties Act to engage, as they do now, in political activity. Section 4 of the Act prohibits any association such as Gema and Kamatusa from engaging in political activities unless it has been registered as a political part. It actually says the registrar of political parties shall not register an association of persons or an organisation as a political party if such association or organisation does not meet the requirements set out in Article 91 of the Constitution.
Given what the Constitution and the Political Parties Acts say it is clear both Kamatusa and Gema were engaging in illegal activities when they took serious political stands concerning the next general elections. Kenyans know very well what happened to this country in 2007-8 elections when tribal nationalism was used to mobilise people for selfish gains of the few.
Politicians backing Kamatusa and Gema have talked of establishing political parties which have yet to be registered under the new law. When they finally register their political parties the rest of Kenya will easily identify those parties as tribal institutions which will find it very difficult to exist in the modern day Kenya.
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