Defections underscore moral, political bankruptcy of elites

The Kenyan political landscape is a snake pit of betrayal. That’s largely because our elites suffer from a poverty of philosophy. To the extent most of them have a theory of politics, it’s the full belly thesis.

That’s why colloquially many of our elites are known as “tumbocrats” — those driven primarily by politics of the belly, or personal, narrow self-interest. Nothing illustrates the moral and political bankruptcy of our elites than the “defections” back and forth of senior politicians between NASA and Jubilee. Mombasa ex-Senator Hassan Omar is Exhibit A.

The vanquished senator went mano-a-mano with Governor Hassan Joho and suffered a humiliating defeat. Now, he’s joined Jubilee. Let me tell you why Mr Omar’s action is fool’s gold.

There are several pictures of Omar and Jubilee’s duo of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto in Mombasa last weekend.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. These ones may be worth millions. In one of them, Omar is grinning ear-to-ear in a bear hug while “looking up” to a giddy Mr Kenyatta.

The relationship between the two is amplified in another picture where they are walking with arms around each other their faces lit by wide smiles. They look like long-lost friends who are relieved to have found each other again. In yet another picture, Omar is in a seemingly supplicating pose as he greets Ruto. They say you can’t make this stuff up.

Perhaps the saddest

Let me put Omar’s descent into infamy — and ignominy — in context. He’s not alone. Nor will he be the last. Two cases in the recent past dot the landscape of defectors’ row. The most stunning — and perhaps the saddest — is that of former Meru Governor Peter Munya. Mr Munya, with his characteristic toothy grin, “defected” to NASA with pomp and circumstance as Principal 6.

He was pictured standing next to NASA co-principals Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetang’ula. But within 48 hours, Munya had “defected” back to Jubilee.

He was pictured with Kenyatta and his conqueror Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi in State House. Does Munya have a mirror? How can one marry and divorce two spouses in 48 hours?

Then there’s former Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto. The rambunctious Mr Ruto had his lunch eaten early on August 8 by Joyce Laboso. Ruto, who had joined NASA as Principal 5, then went into hiding.

He emerged in dark glasses at the inauguration of Ms Laboso, his successor. Soon thereafter, he re-joined Jubilee and vowed to campaign for Kenyatta. Ruto had been Rift Valley’s fiercest critic of the Jubilee duo of Kenyatta and Ruto, his deputy. It was a totally humiliating climb down for the feisty politician with a twinkle in his eye.

Unlike Munya, Ruto and Omar have another thing in common — they hid behind dark glasses during their “defections.”

But to me it’s Omar’s dash into Jubilee’s arms that’s the most disappointing. Omar ran a quixotic campaign against Governor Joho. He must have known he couldn’t beat Mr Joho.

He would’ve been easily re-elected to the Senate and just as easily succeeded Joho in the governor’s mansion five years from now. The question is why he chose to fly a kamikaze mission? I’ve seen media speculation that he may have been put up to it by Jubilee. If so, this would explain his “defection.” I’ve known Omar for decades. He’s been my colleague and friend in civil society. He was a fearless champion for human rights. Few could hold a candle to him as a critic of Jubilee.

As commissioner in KNCHR and later as Wiper Secretary General, Omar was a strong supporter of the ICC. He ardently called for Kenyatta and Ruto to account for the charges for crimes against humanity at the ICC.

That’s why his defection can only be explained by the Stockholm Syndrome where the captive identifies with his captor. Paulo Freire book — the Pedagogy of the Oppressed — explains how oppression can be reproduced through mutual reinforcement between the oppressor and the oppressed. How does Omar throw a life’s work against oppression in the toilet and join those he’s fought against for decades? Why does he — physically and psychologically — go back to the “master” on a bended knee?

Lack an ideological anchor

Kenya’s politics lack an ideological anchor. That’s why a lot of our politicians are serial political adulterers and polygamists. To quote Alexander Eichener, a witty and erudite Facebook commenter, “[f]or the hyena, a bone is just a bone — no matter whether it lies in the bush, or next to the pit latrine, or in the vegetable garden of a mzungu. It is still a bone.”

This is the bane of Kenyan politics.

-Prof Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of KHRC. @makaumutua