NAIROBI: The stalemate over the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) continues today, with the Opposition going ahead with its countrywide demonstrations. The hope that followed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s call to dialogue last week was dashed almost immediately.
This came after Opposition leader Raila Odinga maintained that talks on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission must be done outside Parliament. The Government, on the other hand, is unmoved, insisting dialogue must fall within the ambit of the Constitution, which mandates Parliament to hold such deliberations.
From the outset, the Opposition indicated it would not participate in talks inside Parliament, where Jubilee enjoys numerical strength and the Speaker of the National Assembly is perceived to be partisan by the Opposition.
But while the Government signalled a relaxation of its position by appointing an 11-man negotiating team comprising members of the National Assembly and senators, the elephant in the room appears to be in the details. Clearly, both sides are not communicating and it is easy to read the mind games at play.
What makes matters even worse is the fact that our politics is driven by personalities rather than issues. Some legislators have taken it upon themselves to muddy the waters through reckless statements and actions designed to inflame passions.
The incident in Nakuru where elected Member of Parliament for Bahati constituency Kimani Ngunjiri took the law into his hands by leading a group of thugs to disrupt a private meeting that Raila Odinga was holding at a Nakuru hotel was unfortunate.
Such bravado from people who are supposed to offer direction and leadership sends the wrong signals to the youth while aiding in polarising the country even further.
Now, more than at any other time, leaders must exercise restraint for the sake of this country. Mr Kimani and others must be reminded that the freedom of association and speech are inalienable. We have travelled the route of violence with disastrous results before, and politicians must hold their horses to allow sobriety to prevail.
If both sides sober up, they might realise they have been raising too much ado over nothing. At the centre of the stalemate is a call to reconstitute the IEBC ahead of next year’s elections. All other issues being introduced are sideshows making mountains out of mole hills. The Opposition has threatened to stage demonstrations twice weekly, starting this week. That Jubilee legislators have organised their own demonstrations to counter those of CORD should deeply worry peace-loving Kenyans. It doesn’t leave much to imagination what will happen if the two groups meet in town and decide to fight it out, with the police joining to separate them.
On only four Mondays, businesses in Nairobi alone lost Sh80 million, yet the demos lasted only a couple of hours each day. This impacts negatively on the economy. Two weekly demonstrations would reduce the working days to three in a week at a time the Government has shown it is committed to building a 24-hour economy.
We urge the belligerents to come off their high horses and engage soberly and objectively if their shared goal is to build a cohesive and peaceful country.
