There’s an attempt to re-create apartheid in Kenya. Only this time race isn’t the defining identity. It’s the political party. But I should clarify. Political parties and regions, or counties, are closely related to ethnicity. In a sense, therefore, political party zoning is an attempt to create tribal, or ethnic apartheid.
The political elite has conflated aspects of devolution — to counties — with a mandate to create ethnically-pure enclaves. I concede that part of the problem is how the framers of the Constitution drew up Kenya’s political map.
The Constitution, progressive on so many fronts, showed little imagination when it lazily adopted roughly the tribal colonial districts as counties. But that’s no excuse to gin up an apartheid state.
Let me illustrate. A few months ago, Jubilee’s Uhuru Kenyatta got a rude welcome in Migori County. Mr Kenyatta and his official entourage were rudely heckled as mayhem broke out. The meeting was stillborn. Some people feared that history was repeating itself when Mr Kenyatta’s father — Mzee Jomo Kenyatta — met a similar fate in Kisumu in 1969.
That event turned ugly when security forces opened fire killing a number of people. Mercifully, the Migori incident only resulted in a minor rampage. The crux of the matter was the feeling by some in the crowd that Mr Kenyatta was encroaching on ODM territory. Others felt that Mr Kenyatta should only visit Migori at the invitation of ODM supreme Raila Odinga.
But Mr Kenyatta’s Migori woes might be excusable if they weren’t a pattern that’s gripped the country. There have been attempts to sabotage Mr Odinga’s visits to Mr Kenyatta’s stronghold in the Mt Kenya region.
There was even a threat by Senate Majority Leader Prof Kithure Kindiki that Mr Odinga mustn’t set foot in the larger Meru region. As a professor of law, Prof Kindiki ought to know better — that in a democracy, citizens are free to go anywhere without let or hindrance. That the leader of the Senate can make such a blatantly discriminatory and untenable statement is real cause for concern. It’s such attitudes that led a man to hit Mr Odinga with a stick in Kwale.
More recently, Mr Kenyatta has had to postpone a trip to Kitui because local leaders claimed not have been consulted. I didn’t support Mr Kenyatta’s candidacy for President, as it’s well known, but I must defend his right to visit any part of the country when, and if, he so desires.
The grousing over the Kitui visit was based on the erroneous assumption that so-called Opposition zones are no-go areas for Jubilee. That’s not how democracy works. Mr Kenyatta has every right, as does Mr Odinga, to travel to so-called “enemy turf” to drum up support, or to engage citizens. Citizens of particular counties aren’t — and shouldn’t — be held prisoner by political parties. No party should enjoy a county monopoly.
Folks in zones perceived to be in the Opposition often complain that they’ve been “forgotten” by Jubilee. This usually refers to the dearth of public appointments to the particular ethnic group. At other times it’s reference to lack of “development projects” in the region. So, this is the paradox. How will these tokens be given by Jubilee if the Opposition keeps Jubilee at arms-length?
Let’s remember this — the Jubilee government doesn’t have money of its own. It spends taxpayer funds collected from all citizens in all parts of the country. That’s why every region — whether Opposition, or not — must work with the government of the day. Citizens shouldn’t suffer or be punished for whom they cast ballots.
We remember well the Bantustan policy in Apartheid South Africa. Under the false logic of “separate, but equal” white South Africans “husbanded” virtually all resources, and doled out measly morsels to the more obedient Bantustans. The legacy was grinding poverty and underdevelopment among blacks. South Africa became a country with two nations — one white, and First World; the other black, and Third World. This is what may happen to Kenya, even with devolution.
If we aren’t careful, the government of the day will pump resources to those regions that overwhelmingly voted for it, and deny them to Opposition zones. That’s why the Opposition shouldn’t help Jubilee starve “its” counties by giving Mr Kenyatta the stiff arm. Let’s be mature.
Finally, I know some will say devolution makes the central government largely irrelevant in development. That’s a canard. Even if Okoa Kenya and Pesa Mashinani succeed in sending more resources to the counties, the central government will still be the 800 pound gorilla in the room.
Nor should the centre and the counties be locked in perpetual confrontation based on party affiliation. They will disagree on some issues, and agree on others, but based on principle and what’s good for the public, not empty partisanship.
