This misguided notion of Opposition territories cannot stop development

Today I wish to write as a son of Emanyulia in Kakamega County. Like Paul of Tarsus and songster Roger Whittaker, everyone has a place where he was born. Every so often, you must go local. For what are global things without local import?

Literally speaking, State House is the house of the State. The State, itself, is the multiple polity of the people, their country and Government. While the public may not always access State House, it is in fact their property. State House is the sort of thing ancient Greeks called a res publica – “public thing” – hence the notion of the republic. One way or the other, a people’s agenda must discover its path to the House and the conversations there.

The understanding is that there exists an organised political community living under a single system of government. At the top of this system sits the chief sovereign. He exercises delegated power on behalf of everybody. State House is at once the symbolic and de facto centre of exercising power. Accordingly, every citizen has legitimate stake in State House.

It does not matter that you voted for the person wielding power in the house of State, or that you did not. He is the custodian of your welfare. He must not only discharge his duties inclusively, he must also be seen to be inclusive.

It is baffling, therefore – but not surprising – that when MPs from western Kenya visited State House this week, someone got restless. The Abaluhya people of Western Kenya overwhelmingly voted for Raila Odinga and the CORD Alliance in the last General Election. It is assumed, therefore, that this is Raila’s permanent political territory. Nobody else is supposed to make inroads into this area, unless he gets blessings from Raila and his proxies.

Some people in the political Opposition have, therefore, been crying foul. They say Budalang’i MP, Ababu Namwamba, and Co should never have gone to State House. They have gone on to rubbish President Kenyatta’s subsequent visit to Mumias in Kakamega County and the Government’s Sh1 billion bailout for the ailing Mumias Sugar Company. They say this is a political ploy by the President and Jubilee, to win over the hearts and minds of the Abaluhya – and eventually their votes in 2017. President Kenyatta and those around him have swiftly denied that there is anything political about the Mumias bailout.

Both positions are baffling. First, everything governments do is political. Indeed, that is why governments are elected – to do the right political things. It is always a political government made up of politicians, doing political things for political ends. Conversely, the Opposition is a composite of politicians, also doing political things for political ends. When the Jubilee Government salvages the sinking boat of Mumias, the goal is only in part the people’s social and economic welfare. The long-term goal is political. President Kenyatta would ultimately like to use this avenue to win votes from the Abaluhya people. There is nothing wrong with this. Everywhere, governments do things that will make them popular with the electorate.

If the Jubilee Government elects to pour money into development projects in Western Kenya it will not be doing this region a favour. The people here have a right to be part of the country’s development agenda. They pay taxes, like everybody else. Second, it is the duty of Luhya leaders to reach out to the President and to work with him, for the good of their electorate. They owe nobody any apology for going to State House.

Third, it is puerile for Raila to imagine that the votes of the Abaluhya people are in a safe and that the safe bears his name. Hence anybody who wants to talk to the Luhya people must get his clearance. We have seen this mentality elsewhere in the country. In Migori, they threw crude objects at the President, just because someone had not blessed his visit there. They believe Migori belongs to that someone.

This dangerous mindset should be discouraged and defeated. You cannot stop a people from meeting their President. Nor can you give visas to the President to visit any part of the country. Likewise, the Opposition does not hold the permits of which projects the Government should undertake in places that Opposition leaders consider to be their territories.

The misguided notion of Opposition territories was seen at its most wretched in Kibera (Kibra these days). Worried that Jubilee is making inroads into this terrain considered Raila’s stronghold, CORD youth destroyed property under National Youth Service (NYS) projects. They claimed to be fighting corruption in the NYS and Devolution ministry.

In the distinguished academies I was privileged to attend, they never taught us that you fight corruption by burning public property. I have yet to understand this convoluted wisdom. I know, however, that Kibra is considered a no-go zone. It must, therefore, be protected from the President and from development. The people must be kept permanently angry with the Government so that they can vote in a particular predictable way.

The same thing has been successfully done in Luo Nyanza. Since independence, political leaders have kept the people permanently angry with successive Governments. This ensures they vote in a particular way. Because the people of western Kenya have voted for him twice, Raila imagines he can put the Abaluhya in the bind of the same permanent angry mood against the Government as he has done in Kibra and in Luo Nyanza – and with himself as the Messiah. And so the people of Western Kenya are supposed to reject development, just because it is coming from the Jubilee Government. What Raila and Senators Moses Wetangula and Bony Khalwale are telling the people of western Kenya is that they should put economic development on hold, until such a day as Raila becomes the President.

Similarly, western Kenya leaders are being told that they should not go to State House until such a day as Raila becomes Head of State. This is strange logic. For political elections are not about permanent hostility and enmity. They are about obtaining the mandate to govern. Once you are in charge, all citizens have a right of access to you and a right to economic development, without anybody blackmailing or intimidating them. As you develop their area, you must remember you are not doing them a favour. It is their right. If in the process you win over their hearts and votes at the next poll, too bad for your adversaries.

The restoration of Mumias, Nzoia Sugar and Panpaper in Webuye must go on, regardless that we go to State House or not. On the other hand, State House must demonstrate it is not just playing games with us in Emanyulia. We want to see solid development and economic recovery in western Kenya. Government must also round up the senior thieves who have sunk these institutions. We want to see them in jail.

If State House thinks this is a joke, you have a date with us in 2017. Meanwhile Raila and CORD may have to look for a new script.

As Nelson Mandela famously said, there is nothing permanent between you and us. Besides, you cannot choose for us our friends.