Opposition no longer fit for purpose after elections debacle

Peter lived in the village on the hillside with his parents. All families in the village were sheep farmers and they all took turns to tend after the sheep. Peter, then 10 years old, was the black sheep of the village. When it was his turn to tend the sheep he got up to all mischief as he found the job of sheep tending boring and tiresome.

One day he climbed to the top of the tallest tree and cried “wolf.” The villagers armed themselves with axes, hoes and forks and ran out of the village and onto the hills to chase the wolf, rescue Peter and the sheep. They got to the top of the hill only to be deflated by the sight of Peter perched high up in this tree, laughing and the sheep grazing peacefully.

Between August 2016 and July 2017, NASA’s legal team mounted one of the most effective litigation strategy this country has ever witnessed.

This litigation strategy shaped the election of August 8, 2017, as it did the Supreme Court Presidential Petition that overturned President Uhuru Kenyatta’s first win. The litigation strategy was accompanied by the promises of the Opposition to have an “adopt a polling station” strategy as well as a “parallel tallying centre.”

Genuine last cry

Their political strategy was just if not more effective. Before and after the presidential elections, the Opposition galvanised and electrified their strongholds. The country went into the elections sharply divided and remains fractured today as a result.

The Opposition called “wolf” and their supporters came running. Like the villagers, these supporters were met with disappointment. They came out to vote in numbers only to find the Opposition in slumber. There was no parallel tallying centre. There were no agents at polling stations. The Opposition did not have presidential results forms. Less than 24 hours after the August 8 election day, instead of delivering the presidency, the Opposition was crying “wolf” again.

Back in the village, life went on again as normal and the villagers soon forgot Peter’s prank. On a day when it was his turn to look after the sheep, he started shouting “wolf.” The villagers heard him and once again came running up the hill only to find Peter sitting on a big rock, laughing uncontrollably.

The Opposition told its supporters before August 2017 that “wakihesabu tutahesabu.” Before the presidential results were announced, the Opposition declared that it would not go to the Supreme Court and only filed the presidential petition after intense external pressure to do so. After winning at the Supreme Court, they withdrew from the re-election, asked its supporters to boycott it, and deliberately chose to file a presidential petition at the Supreme Court after the President was declared winner for the second time.

The Opposition’s presidential re-election boycott was followed by the launch of the “National Resistance Movement,” the “products boycott” and the January 30 “swearing-in.” Like the villagers who answered to the first and second calls of “wolf” by Peter, supporters of the Opposition have passionately travelled the treacherous journey through the paths set by their leaders from August 2017 to February 2018.

Peter was tending to the sheep when he saw a big hairy wolf chasing the sheep, biting at their legs and snapping at their tails. For the third and final time, Peter cried for help. “Wolf! Woolf! Woooooooooooolf!” Not a single villager heeded his calls for help. The village lost its sheep.

Kenya has nothing to show for the presidential elections of 2017 except loss. The “handshake” of 2018, like Peter’s genuine last cry of “wolf” to the villagers, came long after the damage had been done. Like the villagers learnt too late of Peter, the Opposition are no longer fit for purpose.

- Kethi D Kilonzo is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. [email protected]