See, every idiot now wants to be president to become MP

By Denis Galava

There was a time when aspiring for the presidency was a measure of ambition and integrity. Not anymore. Today, everybody wants to be president to shore up their ratings in the brothel.

It is not that the country has suddenly found an amazing talent pool of leadership. It is largely that the presidency has ceased being the pinnacle of public leadership and become a rung to basic aspirations.

When Kareke Mbiuki says he wants to be president, he is not thinking of leading Kenya but retaining his Nithi seat. The first-time MP may also be giving in to pressure from peers who chide him after one too many for thinking rural when other small-timers are eyeing State House.

When Kiema Kilonzo raps about leading a youthful revolution, he is killing two birds with one lie. The first is to feel welcome in the company of Jimmy Kibaki and other scions of prominent people he is consorting with, and the second is to create a sensation in his constituency that will see him re-elected and give him a say on who becomes councillor at the next election.

Moses Wetang’ula wants the Sirisia masses to see him as presidential material perhaps to save face from the humiliating prospect of losing his seat. He may also not be weighing himself against Raila or Karua, but the ever dim Musikari Kombo, whose reign turned Ford-Kenya into a mop and Mr John Waluke, the man giving him nightmares.

Then there’s that comedy of errors, Wakoli Bifwoli, whose candidature is largely meant to spite the western Kenya leadership. Wakoli believes, and rightly so, that he is likely to cause a greater sensation than any other politician from Western Province. It sounds funny, but true. He is proud to speak English in Luhya and is one of the most affable and recognisable MPs from the region.

Peter Kenneth wants the big office largely because every other prominent politician from Central is tainted by one scandal or the other and somebody must stand up to fill the vacuum.

There is nothing wrong with politicians aspiring to be whatever they wish, except that in our predicament, everybody is using the presidency to secure village victories. Take away the lustre of high office and they will be exposed for the shams they really are.

Sadly, it is not only the small fish that are using the presidency to protect their seats. For the so-called big shots like Kalonzo, Uhuru, Ruto, Mudavadi, Karua and even Saitoti, angling for the top job guarantees re-election and appointment to a bigger Cabinet post.

To those advocating tribal alliances in the name of ethnic integration, pooling forces is the surest way of taming their biggest, common rival: Raila Odinga. The reasoning is that if all the pretenders seek the presidency, they will lock Agwambo out of their ethnic blocs.

Where we had one party gobbling up all the votes as was the case in Western, Nyanza, Coast and Rift Valley provinces, we shall have seven or so ethnic lords. After polls, the ethnic lords will form an alliance and leave Agwambo as the official leader of the opposition. Whether this is tenable or not is debatable, but it points to the fact that our politics has moved from issues to protecting the most selfish of personal interests.

Some politicians argue that the surest way to end ethnic clashes is for each community or region to front a presidential candidate. They say communities will rally around one of their own and as such we will not have two big blocs as was the case with PNU and ODM in 2007.

But this is not entirely true. Balkanising the country into political blocs could prime ethnic minorities for harassment, especially when their presumed bloc is coalescing around rivals. For instance, the Kikuyu or Luo in Rift Valley are likely to be evicted if Central is perceived to be striking a deal with Nyanza or vice versa.

In other words, peace is not a product of ethnic calculation. It is also silly to bank on national healing via political dealings. We need structures that unite the country, and they must be independent of political seasons and whims.

—The writer ([email protected]) is Senior Associate Editor, Weekend Editions