Kenyan political maturity

Apr 01, 2013 Editorial

The Supreme Court of Kenya decided this weekend that Uhuru Kenyatta, son of the first President of that country, has legally been elected as President. The results of the March 4th election had been challenged by his main rival, Raila Odinga, son of his father’s Vice-President whose departure from the government in the 1960’s had precipitated that country’s bitter ethnic politics. Kenyatta was Kikiyu while Odinga was Luo.
Raila Odinga’s immediate acceptance of the verdict, which rejected his claim that Kenyatta’s victory had been secured through massive manipulations of the voters’ list by the newly constituted Elections and Border Commission, is hoped to avert a repetition of the massive violence that swept the East African nation after the 2007 elections. More than twelve hundred persons were massacred and hundreds of thousands were displaced in fighting between Kikiyu and Kalenjin tribesmen.
For his purported role in instigating Kikiyus to commit that violence, Kenyatta has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity. Ironically, his running mate, William Ruto, in his now successful presidential bid, is also facing similar charges – but for his role in instigating Kalenjins to kill Kikiyus. In what is seen as Machiavellian politics or conversely the politics of healing, Kenyatta claimed to have buried the ethnic hatchet between his tribe and the Kalenjins with his choice of Ruto.
The politics of Kenya should be of interest to Guyanese not just because of the role Jomo Kenyatta played in firing the imagination of our independence-era politicians, but also because of their attempts to mitigate the deleterious effects of ethnicised politics following their independence in 1963. Kenyatta’s Kenya African National Union (KANU) ruled unchallenged until the return of multi-party democracy in 1992. But even then KANU won the elections and the following one in 1997 under Daniel arap Moi who had been president since 1978. His rule was characterised by outbreaks of severe ethnic clashes.
Under the newly introduced two-term limit, Moi could not run in 2002 but chose Uhuru Kenyatta whom he had been grooming since the 1990’s, to compete against a coalition led by Mwai Kibaki. Kenyatta lost and later backed Kibaki in 2007 against Raila Odinga. After the 2007 violence, Kenya embarked on a wide-ranging series of reforms eerily similar to some proposals being floated in Guyana.
Firstly, in addition to the new Elections Commission, there was a one-term power-sharing arrangement under which Odinga, who most international observers conceded was cheated out of the presidency in 2007, shared executive power as Prime Minister under President Kibaki. The Ministries were shared to the several parties in proportion to their seats in parliament. There was secondly, a tremendous devolution of power to the regions and eighty new constituency seats were added. The armed forces were also charged with making themselves more ethnically representative of the country’s population.
In the just concluded election, the power-sharing arrangement was dissolved but two new requirements were added to the electoral rules for electing the Executive President: the winner had to secure an absolute majority of all votes cast countrywide and secondly also win at least twenty-five percent of the votes in a majority of Kenya’s forty-seven counties. Kenyatta secured his majority by just 8000 votes and this why the challenge by Odinga raised hopes of a reversal. If the latter had succeeded in proving that a majority was not secured, there would have been a new run-off election between the two contestants.
But even with all the institutional innovations, we see in Kenya the possibility of hostilities breaking out unless the politicians, especially those that lose elections, accept the rules of the game.
The case against President-elect Kenyatta and his Vice-President at the ICC will add another variable against a smooth exercise of power in Kenya. Ironically, the same case might have aided Kenyatta since he cultivated an image of ‘outsiders’ interfering in Kenya’s internal affairs. Guyanese should continue to monitor events in Kenya.

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Kenyan political maturity

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