Kenyans line up to vote on August 8, 2017. [Photo/ Critic Brain]
The hate-filled diatribe on a Sunday Standard commentary by US-based law scholar Makau Mutua can’t pass unanswered. Kenyans are not fools, but a hardworking people who in their own small ways, in every corner of this nation strive to better their livelihoods. From the fishermen in Lake Victoria; the herders in Pokot, miraa farmers in Meru, hawkers in Nairobi, vendors in Mombasa to the artisans in Ukambani. Mutua’s assertions that Kenyans hate each other is imaginary and desertion from his norm of fanning tribal hatred, knowing that over the years he has borne the tag of ethnic hatred especially towards President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto. His sentiments are not only comical but riddled with ingenuity; the devil of hate and tribal politics is domiciled in his soul. It’s morally wrong for one to refer to Kenyans as politically deformed and ideologically stunted for simply ‘failing’ to elect Raila Odinga as president.
On August 8, 2017, we went to the polls to elect a government; a mandate soundly handed to Jubilee, it goes without mention Uhuru Kenyatta had won the August vote that was abrogated by the Supreme Court before the will of Kenyans was confirmed by the repeat poll boycotted by the opposition, consigning Raila Odinga into a political abyss. I reckon it hypocritical for a law professor running his trade thousands of miles away from his home to purport that Kenyans are a foolish lot that ‘love and worship the political tribe’ than themselves. Needless to say, the ‘good’ professor is not known for anything worth commendation locally and internationally other than proving that one can be a law professor and at the same time be a stinking bootlicker of a lowly rabble-rouser, who has perennially failed to inveigle Kenyans he can lead this country. What is Mutua’s contribution towards a better Kenya besides denouncing the presidency, holding brief for doom and gloom merchants who denigrate their own country and disparaging anyone holding incongruous opinion from his?
He deceitfully says, ‘As it turned out, Kenyatta and Ruto “won” and with them the Kikuyu and the Kalenjin. Similarly, the larger coalition of ethnic groups in NASA – anchored by the Kamba, Luo, Kisii, Luhya, and virtually the entire coastal Bantu – “lost.” These two ethnic blocs are now locked in a deep “tribal” hatred. The NASA side is deeply aggrieved while that of Jubilee is gloating, if nervously.’ For the first time in the history of our country, a president has been massively elected outside the popular and established voting blocs. The election of a one Cyrus Omondi who is of Luo extraction as an MCA in Uhuru Kenyatta’s backyard of Kiambu is a clear manifestation that this country is gradually transposing from tribal politics. According to him, 2017 was ‘the year from hell’, how now? It’s the year when Kenyans unanimously and peacefully elected their president ‘twice’ notwithstanding external intrusion from international players advancing a regime change agenda in Africa. Following the miscarriage of his plot to set Jubilee against the citizenry in his protracted tweets since 2010, Mutua and his irks are now on a mission to set Kenyans against themselves; another PEV in the making albeit veiled.
At one stage he says, ‘We need to deconstruct this ethnic “hate.” British colonial rule either invented tribes, or manufactured tribal hatred in a divide-and-conquer strategy. Within tribes, they deployed Lord Lugard’s tactic of indirect rule pitting brother against sister. Rather than dismantle the norms and structures of this psychosis, the Kenyan post-colonial state has instead deepened them.’ And on the other, ‘Many of those attacking me can’t even write a coherent sentence in English. Most are dirt poor. But they will defend to the death their “leaders.” This false consciousness – the pedagogy of the oppressed – is our bane. Kenyans are politically deformed and ideologically stunted.’ what a double speak from a law scholar of ‘international repute.’ When I was young and stupid my crystal ball used to tell me that I could liberate Kenya just like he inviting us to, but today I know I can only ‘free’ my own family from pangs of poverty, ignorance, and disease. I refuse to abhor sugar-coated insults wrapped up as a liberation call.
Kenya like every other nation in the world has had its own challenges. While other scholars of indefectible character like the late Prof Calestous Juma have embarked on finding solutions to our share of challenges, Mutua has joined the activism choir under the payroll of international mafias keen on destabilizing and making Kenya ungovernable. The only language that he understands is espionage; it would be foolhardy to join such a liberation movement. Interestingly, Mutua is so much indoctrinated and submerged in ‘Odingaism spirit’ to realize that his Ukambani backyard, Wiper, has been shortchanged in NASA by ODM. Mr Crystal Ball, you have a long way to go for Kenyans to coronate you to Paul, repent and mend your ways you Saul.
MxM is a writer, blogger and political commentator. Twitter: @MwangiMuthiora