State House race on, Ethekon team must be above suspicion

IEBC Chair Erastus Ethekon. 

The presidential election in Kenya is gunpowder. Whenever it is touched off, the blast rocks the country. It did so, 19 years ago. It could do so again, provided that the electoral authority elects to repeat the mistakes of history.

Election panic is in the air, now that the constitutional election date is one year away, tomorrow 10 August. Sundry itchy fingers are all over the place, testing all manner of tactical electoral keyboards. In State House, President William Ruto is receiving one massive delegation after the other in an electoral charm offensive.

It is instructive that Prof Kithure Kindiki is conspicuously absent from these State House jamborees. But this is a side matter for another day. Ikulu Nairobi has become the home of largesse and good words. The air is rife with confidence building and mutual assurances between the President and his visitors.

The buoyancy exuded in State House is itself a paradox of sorts. For, when the commander relocates operations from the field to the garrison, something is grossly amiss. And President Ruto has withdrawn his head from the searing battleground, into the ostrich sands of State House.

Such retreats indicate that the troops are getting outwitted on the battleground. They pull back from the field, into the safety of fortified walls. They get time to rest and heal their wounds. They fix the military gear and trust that the stronghold’s fortified walls will keep the enemy at bay.

It is the same in politics. A besieged leader in the political battleground retreats to the assured space that is State House. It is a safe sanctuary with little panic. It saves the troops from total elimination. Besides, the selected visitors will not heckle and shout out unsavoury things like, “Ruto must go”, “Wantam”, and other pesky stuff.

The chief resident of Ikulu is solidly in charge. People can only sing music into his ears. That done, they go away with assorted gifts; happy to have been hosted in these corridors of power. Whether they will do what they were told to go out and do is another matter. For now, the big man has good music, and a break from a tedious outside world.

Trouble begins, however, when the foe surrounds the fort to trap the troops inside. This army must wait for friendly forces to come to its rescue. In 1975, President Nguyen Van Thieu ordered mass retreat to the garrisons by South Vietnamese troops. Nguyen abandoned the long-standing policy of defending every inch of territory.

Friendly American troops had left, following the 1973 Paris Peace Accord to end the Vietnam War. The retreat to the barracks was a gross mistake. North Vietnamese troops unleashed the Massive Spring Offensive of March 1975.

We were young people in high school. We had followed daily radio reports on the war since primary school years. We were excited to hear of what they called “the traffic of tears”, and the traffic jams, as civilians and troops alike fled. Then came the inevitable fall of Saigon to the Viet Cong!

The alphabet does not change, even in politics. President Ruto has run away from the political battlegrounds across the country. The Opposition Viet Cong are confining him to the garrison, possibly as he looks “elsewhere” for “friendly troops” to provide a new lease of hope.

Hopefully, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is not a part of the rescue. The commission touched panic buttons when it suggested, a few days ago, that it would seek to legislatively abolish livestreaming election results. Now, that may give temporary relief to those barricaded in garrisons. But it will inevitably point at Nguyen Van Thieu in Saigon.

Make no mistake, IEBC. The 2027 August elections are anticipated with a cocktail of human emotions. There is hope and fear from all camps. Everyone hopes they will win, and fears that they could lose. The role of IEBC in the circumstances is not only to be extremely professional and impartial, but especially to be seen to be so.

If ever there was a season for IEBC to be absolutely above suspicion, it is now. The commission must walk each delicate step with the electorate. There is completely no room for the luxury of secrecy. Hopefully, Erastus Edung Ethekon and his team are reading the nation’s mood correctly.

It should be superfluous to remind Mr Ethekon and team that they are cuddling a timebomb. That the presidential election next year is prime gunpowder. That even what is happening in State House today could return to haunt them, and the rest of Kenya, excepting nobody.

-Dr Barrack is a strategic communications adviser. www.barrackmuluka.co.ke