By Peter Nguli In those days, RMS Titanic was regarded as unsinkable and the captain, Mr Edward John Smith, had chewed too much pride than he could swallow. That was exactly 100 years ago in 1912.
On Sunday morning, 14th April 1912, the captain was scheduled to include a boat drill where all passengers and crew, would assemble in life jackets at their boat stations. Yet on this occasion, Captain Smith neglected to schedule a drill. Perhaps he deemed the RMS Titanic to be so secure that the exercise was unnecessary. After all, the Titanic was unsinkable.Indeed, captain Smith was ahead of schedule and wanted to arrive earlier than planned.
In 2012, history is politically repeating itself in Kenya. The captain of ODM Titanic, Prime Minister Raila Odinga had assumed that the magnificent political ship was unsinkable and so he navigated it with extra-ordinary pride unaware that pride cometh before a fall. As captain Smith neglected a lifeboat drill, captain Odinga has neglected open and democratic nominations in his ship thus frustrating passengers like Musalia Mudavadi, William Ruto, Najib Balala, Rachael Shebesh and Charity Ngilu and others forcing them to seek for any available lifeboats in order to save their political skins.
As Mr. Smith wanted to arrive at his destination ahead of time under all costs, the ODM captain wants presidency at all costs, and wants it through any available short-cuts whatsoever. It doesn't matter whether he associates with former Mungiki leaders or promises to dialogue with criminal outfits like MRC. These sweet-tasting promises should be taken with a pinch of salt. As long as he gets votes and power, he can make all promises in the world.
Ignored warnings
As the Titanic steamed west along the ordained North Atlantic route, not even the most apprehensive of her passengers could have foreseen a problem with ice. The sky was blue, the winds light, and the ocean calm – perfect sailing weather. Oblivious to the deadly obstacles that lay in her path, the RMS Titanic pressed on, forever westward. Between 9.00am and 1:42pm on the same day, the RMS Titanic captain, passengers and crew had received two wireless iceberg warnings, but they chose to ignore.
Similarly, the ODM Titanic captain, passengers and crew had received warnings about the sinking ship but chose to ignore, hence the sudden panic of scattering helter-skelter in life-saving boats.
RMS Titanic had immigrants who had boarded it in order to seek for green pastures in America only to end up dead on the seabed of North Atlantic. ODM Titanic had voters who were promised heaven and earth only to end up dead in a bottomless pit, never to be seen again. And it came to pass, that at exactly 2:20am, the RMS Titanic snapped between the third and fourth funnels and the stern flopped down and hit the water as the bow plunged to the bottom of the sea. As the stern filled up with water it rose slightly into the air and began to spin. It then quickly plunged beneath the surface of the water and began its long decent two and half miles to the ocean floor.
According to opinion polls, ODM only has 35% support in Kenya, while all other parties combined constitute 65%. The ODM Titanic would be beaten miserably and lose in the second round together with its captain come March 4th, 2013, according to opinion polls. On 5th March 2013, Kenyans will commemorate the sinking of ODM Titanic with flowers, engravings and placards reading 'R.I.P. and Unloaded'! The author, Peter Nguli, is a Kenyan residing in England, UK. He can be reached at pnn20@hotmail.com