Why 'Deep State' is simply the case of different forest but same monkeys

A key messaging in the Kenya Kwanza election campaign was that while their hope was in the divine and the Mama Mbogas, their competitors rode on the back of the "Deep State".

At the same time, they shouted from the rooftops about the tribulations - real and imagined - they were going through in the hands of the dragon called the "Deep State". In simple terms 'Deep State' is an invisible hand within the Establishment often operating outside the known channels and established order.

Naturally, it was assumed that should the Kenya Kwanza brigade overcome their troubles and get to power, the first priority would be to slay that dragon called 'Deep State' and dump it in a lake of fire. Perish the thought. 'Deep State' never went anywhere. It only changed hands.

There are two good qualities in Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi. One, he doesn't hold unto grudges. That is in marked contrast with his immediate boss who never lets go the chip on his shoulder.

The other day, Mudavadi's senior gloated on regions which didn't vote for Kenya Kwanza administration saying they will have to scavenge for dregs in sharing of the national cake. Wonder where he got that warped logic because all Kenyans pay tax and are entitled to government services whichever way they voted.

The second admirable character in Mudavadi and which is relevant to this article is that he seems to be a honest man. It is rare to find an honest politician. There is a joke told about a tombstone on which was inscribed: 'Here lies a politician and an honest man' and everybody kept wondering how come two different people were interred in the same grave!

Now I get to the meat of today's column: It has to do with something Mudavadi said while speaking in his western Kenya backyard on Boxing Day last year.

When urging the opposition in the region to decamp to the government side, he said: "In the last elections you voted the way you did because the government and 'Deep State' were on your side. Now we are the government and have the 'Deep State'. What are you doing in the opposition?"

To that Francis Atwoli would say: "Alaaa!" Indeed, he has since heeded to Mudavadi's challenge and switched loyalty to the side with the 'Deep State'. Talk of putting your mouth where the 'Deep State' is!

Three exhibits

'Deep State' is back galloping with speed of a race horse and spreading like gangrene. Here is the evidence:

Exhibit 1: On Friday last week, Investments, Trade and Industry Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria tweeted that unnamed individuals inside government are behind cartels that are importing processed cooking oil and merely re-packaging and labeling it 'Made in Kenya', thus fraudulently escaping duty on imported goods.

In the process, the cartels are killing the local industry which directly employs over 10, 000 Kenyans, cheating KRA of so much tax and denying livelihood to hundreds of local palm-oil farmers.

Now, Kuria isn't your ordinary CS. He is the blue-eyed boy of hustler movement having taken the battle right to former President Uhuru Kenyatta door-step at Ichaweri village, Gatundu South.

Which is this invisible powerful hand in Kenya Kwanza administration that dare seize-up to Kuria and get away with it?

In frustration the CS further tweeted: "To these cartels and their god-fathers, I have this to say: In the previous ministers, you found your match. In me, you will find your Waterloo. Try me!" Well, they have already done so because the market is flooded with re-packaged cooking oil. They are telling the CS: "Uta-do?"

Exhibit 2: In the same week, United Democratic Alliance chairman Johnstone Muthama disclosed that Kenya Kwanza administration is no longer keen on establishing an inquest to probe alleged shenanigans at the Bomas of Kenya national tallying centre before declaration of winner of the presidential election. Why backtrack when no less a person than the President publicly made such a sensational allegation as that there was a plot to hijack chairman of the electoral agency Wafula Chebukati and cause bodily harm to him to clear way for declaration of falsified presidential tally! Surely, Kenyans and the world need to know the truth if to avoid such precarious situations in the future.

So why backtrack? Has it got to do with the said whistler-blower who has a different version on who won or lost the election? Has it got to do with the Israeli hackers said to have interfered with the electoral process? Or is it the possibility of the Venezuelan saga resurfacing with a dimension not favourable to the Establishment?

Well, according to sources in the know - President Ronald Reagan used to call them sources close to the source - the 'Deep State' now in power is of the opinion that a probe on what transpired at the Bomas of Kenya could be a double-edged sword and advised against it.

Exhibit 3: During the campaigns, candidate William Ruto had promised that if elected President, within 30 days in office he would establish a judicial commission of inquiry to probe alleged State capture in the reign of his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta. He won the election. No commission of inquiry was set up.

Asked about it during a media interview some time back, President Ruto seemed taken aback, an indication that he had forgotten about it all. After some reflection, he said a commission would soon be established. That 'soon' remains as such - soon.

Here again sources close to the source disclose the prevailing 'Deep State' has advised against an inquiry on State capture as nobody knows how deep such inquiry will dig, and which skeletons to find. One remembers the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission established in the reign of Third President Mwai Kibaki. Its report was never made public after it exhumed ghosts that were embarrassing even to the appointing authority and threat to stability of the State.

Ever there

'Deep State' is as old as independent Kenya. Only the actors change but the plot is the same.

Barely three years to independence, then Vice President Jaramogi Odinga resigned in a huff complaining that it was no longer tenable to serve in a government controlled by 'invisible forces' (Deep State). He lamented that though No 2 in the established hierarchy, he found himself irrelevant and unwanted in the reign of first President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.

A once powerful cabinet minister in the administration of second President Daniel Moi, GG Kariuki was to tell me that once he fell out with the powers-that-be, he suddenly didn't know where top decisions were made yet he held the powerful title of minister of State in the Office of the President!

In the reign of President Kibaki, there was talk of Mt Kenya 'mafia' calling the shots outside the established channels. The same in Uhuru Kenyatta's reign and now, according to Mudavadi, "Deep State" is in hands of the government in power.