We must move forward as a united country, says Aden Duale

President Uhuru Kenyatta (Photo: Courtesy)

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s inauguration is scheduled next Tuesday for a second term that begins on the back of deep divisions and an economy struggling due to the protracted electoral dispute.

The decision on Monday by six Supreme Court judges to uphold his re-election in the October 26 repeat poll was a relief to the President and his supporters, but the harder task for him is to unite a deeply divided nation.

Killings, chaos and destruction during protests by supporters of Opposition chief Raila Odinga, who has vowed not to recognise Uhuru’s government, are a pointer to the challenge that lies ahead for the president-elect as he begins his second and final term that will shape his legacy.

How President Uhuru tackles entrenched tribalism, reaches out to a significant portion of the population that feels alienated by his administration, deals with corruption that stoked resentment against his government in the first term and spurs economic growth whose benefits are felt by all will determine the country’s destiny.

Cast gloom

Events of the past few weeks have cast gloom and Uhuru has the burden of restoring the country’s glory and reigniting nationhood to extinguish the tainted spectre of Kenya sliding into the infamy of being among the unstable countries in Africa.

Besides working to implement flagship projects that will remain pillars of his tenure and spur growth that creates jobs for millions of unemployed youths, Uhuru has to also manage succession politics.

The immediate challenge, however, is healing divisions as the 2017 presidential election could go down in history as the most dramatic, divisive and expensive in the country since independence.

Uhuru himself promised at the time he was declared winner of the October 26 repeat election that any calls for national dialogue must await conclusion of the Supreme Court petitions and it remains to be seen whether he will reach out to the Opposition.

It has been a year of surprises, deaths, landmark judicial rulings, shocking political decisions and economic boycotts that have kept Kenya firmly under the global microscope, as the country leaned dangerously towards a repeat of the 2007/2008 post-poll skirmishes.

In a span of three months, Kenya has held two presidential elections, with the Supreme Court making history by annulling a win by a sitting head of State following a petition by National Supper Alliance presidential contender Raila.

It is an election year that saw Raila mobilise his backers to snub the election re-run over alleged malpractices at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). 

President Kenyatta, who had bitterly protested the annulment of his earlier victory in August, went ahead to win the repeat polls albeit with a low voter turnout of 38 per cent.

Raila himself made history by becoming the first Opposition candidate to boycott a presidential poll since the advent of multi-party democracy in post-independence Kenya.

For the first time in Kenya’s history, the Opposition has called for economic sabotage against the Government, by telling its supporters to boycott certain goods and services offered by companies it perceives had links with top Government officials.

It is also the first time a commissioner with the IEBC resigned in a huff, in a decision that almost brought the electoral agency to its knees. Combined with an earlier mysterious killing of a senior IEBC ICT Manager Chris Msando, Kenyans prepared for a tumultuous election period.

When commissioner Roselyn Akombe resigned in early October and fled to the US, there were claims that the IEBC had no more moral authority to conduct the repeat polls.

At one stage, even the commission’s chairman Wafula Chebukati kept Kenyans on the edge after he showed signs  of throwing in the towel over an allegedly difficult working environment.

He soldiered on even as the Opposition urged him to quit.

The Supreme Court upheld President Kenyatta’s win in the disputed and chaotic repeat election, after dismissing two petitions but still left Kenya sharply divided.

Next move

Leading NASA legal adviser James Orengo had said they would also swear Raila into office as the People’s President if President Kenyatta took office for the second term.

Raila has once again kept the country guessing over his next move following the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Last Friday, up to 15 people died when police fought Raila’s supporters, who had jammed various parts of Nairobi streets to welcome him back home from a US trip.

There have also been politics-related attacks in Babadogo, Mathare and Kibera in Nairobi that left six people dead.

An outspoken Anglican bishop on Monday, the  Rev (Prof) David Kodia, described the 2007 election year as the worst in the history of  Kenya.

“This was our worst election year. We had a devastating post-election violence in 2007 and 2008 but 2017 had the worst challenges. We remain at a political crossroads and more needs to be done to stop our country from sliding into complete anarchy,”  said Rev Kodia.

Most divisive

Maseno University Political Science lecturer Tom Mboya described the 2017 election year as the most divisive and violent, only comparable to Kenya in the post-2007 period when over 1,000 people were killed in political violence.

“The biggest difference between 2007 and 2017 election periods is that in the former, the leaders from both sides were willing to accommodate each other. In 2017, everyone has taken hard-line positions, leaving no room for dialogue,” said  Dr Mboya.

He told The Standard that the narrative of secession and parallel governments revealed how deep the political problems ran.

According to Mboya, increased calls for secession from Opposition leaders and their supporters was proof that the country was dangerously divided on ethnic and regional blocks that could breed more hatred and chaos.

The Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale, while celebrating President Kenyatta’s judicial victory yesterday, acknowledged the country was undergoing a difficult political period.

“The first three months have been very difficult for this country. Now that the Supreme Court has affirmed President Kenyatta’s victory, we must move forward as a united country,” said Mr Duale.

Kitutu Chache South MP Richard Onyonka said the 2017 elections had deeply polarised the country.

He said Jubilee and NASA must urgently hold a consultative meeting to chart the way forward for the country.

“President Uhuru Kenyatta has the constitutional mandate but does not have the political mandate to run the country. This is why we need an urgent intervention to heal the country,” said the MP.

The legislator said Kenyans should also reconsider whether they need the high number of MPs and MCAs, which has only served to increase the economic burden.