Koigi wa Wamwere in Jubilee? The gods must be crazy

 

He fought against ethnicity, corruption, bad governance and cronyism, only to sell out to the most tribal, corrupt, inept and least deserving regime this country has ever seen.

When Koigi wa Wamwere joined Jubilee, it was a signal that the great generation of stalwarts who fought poor governance, ethnic balkanisation, corruption and impunity is no more.

Koigi was among the last men of an earlier generation holding out against CORD and Jubilee’s politics of ethnicity, impunity and mediocrity, siasa ya ukabila, ukora na upuzi. Since the Jomo Kenyatta days, he has been a government critic to the hilt; one who refused to compromise on his ideals. He carried this activism through the Moi government and the Kibaki government.

In a country where politicians claim to have ‘suffered’ and ‘sacrificed’ for the country when they are simply referring to their dreams and ambitions, Koigi has truly earned his stripes. Regardless of what you have heard about some entitled princes claiming to have suffered longest for the liberation of this country, Koigi wa Wamwere is among the longest serving political detainees in Africa after Nelson Mandela.

He was the poster child of resistance in Kenya and among the last men standing, the last one to tap out.

Koigi wa Wamwere’s credentials in the fight for freedom and good governance in Kenyan can hardly be faulted. He fought against ethnicity, corruption, bad governance and cronyism, only to sell out to the most tribal, corrupt, inept and least deserving regime this country has ever seen.

How could he have resisted the dictators, the despots and the aristocrats even in the face of death, only to give in to the Jubilee establishment? It is like a great general who resists powerful and ruthless warlords and ironically, surrenders to a band of boy scouts! Why does Koigi’s capitulation hurt me so?

At 21, he abandoned his university education to fight none other than President Jomo Kenyatta himself. Today, those who are 21 cannot even start to imagine the courage of such an act back then. Opposing Kenyatta was considered sacrilegious.

At one time, Kenyans had been warned that even imagining the death of the president was treasonable. And a 21-year-old believed then that his course was not only justifiable, but even viable.

Baffling, are the reasons that Koigi gave for selling out to Jubilee. They are absurd and shocking. He claims he has seen the ‘light.’ He says: I have come to realise that I am fighting from a disadvantaged position because CCM was a small forum that could not make me achieve my goals.”

I am not sure what he means by seeing the light. But to say that going to Jubilee is seeing the light is delusional. He himself has described Jubilee in terms that make his seeing the light claim look ridiculous.

Asked in an interview (http://www.jambonewspot.com/koigi-wa-wamwere-why-i-will-bu.../) whether Uhuru-Ruto alliance will bring about national healing, he replied: “Absolutely not. How can an alliance of two communities unite the whole country? A lot of suspicion is still palpable among Kikuyus and Kalenjins, it is really a union of the two chaps at the top. On another note, the Jubilee win was ethnic victory.

“People voted for it on the basis of tribes with the hope that it will bring goodies to their communities. It is a government of exclusion of others but inclusion of political allies. They have just appointed their cronies.”

In the same interview, Koigi, who describes himself as a media man warned journalists to be cynical and keep a healthy distance from the ruling elite, whom they are supposed to check.

One is therefore left asking: What has changed so that now he feels comfortable to join Jubilee?

Professor Michael Wainaina has a PhD in literature and comments on social-political issues.