By Anyang’ Nyong’o
Ngunjiri Ngunjiri is right: the essence of Limuru 2B was to provide an alternative world view to the issues and politics of Central Kenya at a time when it is being defined by the right-wing grand owners of wealth and property as the politics of the status quo.
We must distinguish the grand owners of wealth and property between the neo-fascist right wing and the more democratic and progressive bourgeoisie who appreciate the importance of a national democratic front in politics today. The real enemy of Limuru 2B is this neo-fascist right wing.
The neo-fascist right wing are those who are prepared to go to bed with mercenaries to keep political power at all costs. Those who see holding political power as their entitlement and birth right since independence.
When one looks carefully at the history of this nation, one will find that the neo-fascists have always advocated the politics of divide and rule under the one-party regime. They therefore fought tooth and nail to defend that regime under Kenyatta and Moi.
A good number of them jumped into the band wagon of Ford and other opposition parties when it was safe to do so and needed to position themselves to inherit political power from Moi. They demonstrated great reluctance to accept the new Constitution and even mobilised the religious sector to subvert the will of the people.
They will oppose anything which is pro-people, from land reform to universal health coverage. They will, at all times, seek to tarnish the image of the left, whether it is organised at Limuru 2B to counteract their oppressive politics or comes as a policy within Government to improve the lot of ordinary Kenyans.
Since they have the resources to manipulate public opinion and to control the media, they wield much more political power in Kenya even though they are very few in number. In that regard, they have always managed to manipulate politics to their favour because the people have had little access to alternative views through the media.
The leaders of Limuru 2B need to seriously take into account the social, political and economic power of this neo-fascist right particularly in Central Kenya if we all are to make a genuine transition to a national democratic and developmental society after the coming elections.
Watching Jicho Pevu on KTN, one realises how national security can be compromised by this fascist right in the name of maintaining ethnic power. And quite often we are afraid to call a spoon a spoon because of the personal dangers that may come with it.
Those of us who called a spoon a spoon during the dark days of the Nyayo regime paid dearly. We would not like our people to continue in this mode of “politics of fear and fear mongering” after we have won so many democratic gains under the new Constitution.
It is for this matter that I want to applaud Limuru 2B and the Kenyan patriots who organised it. Let the youth be focused ideologically to fight for a national democratic and developmental state that will uphold human rights, social justice, the rule of law and the meeting of the basic needs of our people.
