Rigathi's uncanny resemblance to Kanu enforcer of old, Okiki Amayo

KANU displinary committee lead by David Okiki Amayo in April 1987. [File, Standard] Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's speech at Malava MP Malulu Injendi's homecoming party last week transported me back 40 years ago when then ruling party Kanu national chairman David Okiki Amayo made similar remarks. The occasion was the launch of Kanu's national daily newspaper, The Kenya Times, on April 9, 1983. The two speeches clearly bring out the striking similarities between the two men belonging to different generations but having same mindset. But let me first take you down memory lane on who Okiki Amayo was. The Kanu enforcer belonged to the now extinct species of Kenyan politicians whom anthropologists would give a name close to 'homo dictatus-sycophanticus' - that is a human being inflicted with dictatorial tendencies but at the same time a boot-licking sycophant. Twice in 1970s and in early 1980s, Okiki Amayo had been elected to represent Karachuonyo Constituency, South Nyanza, in Parliament. But he was shown dust by an iron-lady by the name Ms Phoebe Asiyo in the 1983 General Election. However, thanks to his prowess as a court-jester, President Daniel arap Moi retrieved him from the political dustbin and made him the chairman of the ruling party. The President added another feather to his cap with an appointment as chair of the Kanu National Disciplinary Committee. The committee, formed in 1985, was intended to listen and determine disciplinary matters arising within Kanu's ranks. However, Amayo single-handedly converted it into a Kangaroo court and a forum for witch-hunt and destruction of political careers. It became an embarrassment to the extent that majority in the 19-member committee felt their chairman was running his own circus of vendetta. Arena for pettiness Though meant to give direction and instil a sense of purpose in the ruling party, Amayo converted the committee to a forum for pettiness and gossip. Assistant minister Nahashon Njuno, from Kirinyaga, was hauled before the committee on accusation that he never raised his hand high enough when saying 'nyayo juu, juu, juu zaidi' which was salutary welcome for the president when on country-side tours. On recommendations from Amayo committee, Njuno was expelled from Kanu, which meant automatic loss of his parliamentary seat and assistant minister's job. In those days of single-party rule, expulsion from Kanu meant that you became a political non-person because there was no alternative platform to salvage one's career. His counterpart from Nyandarua, Kimani wa Nyoike, met with the same ordeal. His sin was that school children had sang for him the tune 'Tawala Kenya tawala...' which the committee said was "exclusively reserved for His Excellency the President". The committee observed that immediately the choir began singing, the assistant minister should have jumped from his seat, grabbed the microphone and ordered them to stop the 'blasphemy' on the person of the Head of State! A former Nakuru West MP Njenga Mungai also had his day before Amayo's court where he was accused of 'gross misconduct and show of disrespect' in declining to slaughter a goat for then Nakuru Kanu boss Kariuki Chotara when he visited his constituency. Shared mind-set On traits shared by Gachagua and the late Okiki Amayo, first is their loathing for independent media. On the occasion of launching The Kenya Times newspaper in April 1983, Amayo hit out at the media which he accused of working in cahoots with the "enemies of the State". In those days, any criticism even of the mildest form was equated to sedition and sabotage. With no legally sanctioned opposition, the media, the church and the legal fraternity were branded opposition by Kanu and State operatives and given the hateful tags of 'dissidents' and 'malcontents'. Amayo said Kanu was launching its own newspaper because the only two existing ones at the time, The Standard and Nation, were "mouth-pieces for the dissidents and other saboteurs out to destroy the Kanu government." I also remember an occasion in the late 1980s when Amayo 'banned' the Nyahururu-based correspondent of The Standard from covering his tour because the newspaper had allegedly "misquoted him". He also threatened to henceforth have Kanu young-wingers forcibly read notes taken by journalists to confirm that they had quoted him correctly! Back to Gachagua, in Kakamega last week he alleged, of course without evidence, that Kenyan journalists were part of the opposition. He went back to his usual cry that his team was the victim of harassment by the previous administration working in league with the media. Contradicting the boss But as has now become routine, the DP clearly was contradicting the President who categorically stated on Sunday that his government had no intention at all to interfere with freedom of the media. The President said that as much as the media may not have been 'friendly' to the political formation that he belongs to, his government wouldn't settle scores and would let the press operate without harassment as is envisaged in the Constitution. Shareholders Like Amayo, Gachagua believes not in one State called Kenya where every citizen irrespective of political affiliation is a stakeholder. He is on record repeatedly stating that Kenya is a shareholders' 'company' where dividends will be shared in accordance to how different regions 'invested'. By that he meant development funds will be allocated on the basis of how citizens voted in the last election. Right to opposition Like Amayo, Gachagua too seems not to appreciate the fact that political opposition is a legitimate institution sanctioned in the Constitution. He equates the opposition to illegal guerilla fighters hiding in the trenches. He is on record saying "this man (Raila) and his father (Jaramogi Odinga) have been a nuisance for cumulative 60 years and it is time to deal with him once and for all!" Early this week, the DP chest-thumped and threatened: "They (opposition) are threatening to go back to the streets. No problem. We will also be in the streets!" That is in blunt contradiction with the President who last Sunday extended an olive branch to the opposition and even referred to its leader Raila Odinga as his brother. He said: "Our position is that we want to engage our brothers and sisters on the other side on issues that are important to Kenyans, them as an opposition and us, as a government." Tin-gods Like Amayo, Gachagua believes in hand-picking regional loyalists to act as his henchmen to prefect on other leaders and ensure they toe the line - Gachagua's line. In Murang'a, he has discarded a former point-man and replaced him with one who sings his tune more loud and clear. In Kiambu, he has his loyalists and the same case applies in Mombasa. Amayo too had pied-pipers all over the place blowing his trumpet. In Nakuru he had Kariuki Chotara and one Wilson Leitich who once threatened to have the fingers of anybody making the opposition's two-finger salute chopped off! In Mombasa he had Sharrif Nassir who once ordered the arrest of any motorist driving on Mombasa roads before festivities during national days were concluded at the Tononoka Grounds. Maybe His Excellency the DP may want to ponder over the words of President Moi on the day he disbanded Amayo's Kangaroo court: "If you give a person power and money, he forgets his limits of authority. He gets drunk with power which is self-destructive!" Can't add a word to that!

Rigathi's uncanny resemblance to Kanu enforcer of old, Okiki Amayo

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