The charade that has become running mates business

By Mwenda Njoka

So finally all the six presidential aspirants – Raila Odinga, Uhuru Kenyatta, Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi, Martha Karua, Peter Kenneth and James ole Kiyapi – have running mates. In past elections, especially during the Moi era, the position of vice-president was often used as a bait for communities to unlock their votes.

At the time – especially during Moi’s last two elections of 1992 and 1997– the then President and self-proclaimed ‘professor of politics’ would send coded political messages to communities that if they voted for Kanu instead of the opposition, he, Moi, would appoint one of their sons to the position of vice-president. Never mind that when Moi would be dangling the vice-presidency political carrot, the position of VP was never vacant. Nevertheless, by dangling the position, greedy and ambitious political kingpins from various communities would try to outdo each other in the hope that Moi’s favour would befall them. Of course after winning the election, Moi would still have a VP of his own choice regardless of whatever promises he made. That was realpolitik Moi-style.

Now, the French have a saying, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose (the more things change, the more they remain the same). In politics the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Ordinarily, with the new Constitution and the position of deputy president having been affirmed as the president-in-waiting, one would have assumed the position of running mate would now be determined by capacity and ability of the prospective deputy president to step into the president’s shoes should the need arise. But alas, this not exactly so, especially among the lower tier of presidential aspirants. Truth be told, among the six running mates – Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, William Somoei Ruto, Jeremiah Kioni, Augustine Lotodo, Winnie Kaburu and Ronald Osumba – most likely only two could fit the bill as presidents-in-waiting. These happen to be Kalonzo and Ruto. So the big question is why would a person who considers himself or herself a serious presidential contender pick a political minnow for a running mate? Why indeed would someone who, when he or she, looks at himself or herself in the mirror conclude that he or she is in the presidential race to win pick a political dwarf as a potential president-in-waiting?

I think the aspiring presidential candidates in question are not serious about their own candidature and so they assumed anyone they pick as running mate would do.

Imagine for a moment that Prof Kiyapi is Kenya’s president after March 4. Then something happens before his presidential term is over and he cannot complete his term of office. So, this means that one Winnie Kaburu, a 53-year-old former school teacher whom few Kenyans (let alone the rest of the world) had ever heard of before Kiyapi named her as his running mate, becomes the fifth president of the great Republic of Kenya. Seriously? Someone is playing a cruel joke on Kenyans here. Replay a similar scenario and assume Mudavadi wins the presidential race and for some reason, cannot complete his term. So naturally the one-term MP for Ndaragwa is your next president! Interesting, yeah?

Or perhaps the iron lady of Kenyan politics, the indefatigable Ms Karua wins the race but is unable to complete her term at State House, and bingo, your next president is Augustine Lotodo, a greenhorn politician, almost hilarious if this weren’t such a serious issue, isn’t it? May be Peter Kenneth he who of Tunawesmake fame, makes to State House after the presidential race then as fate would have it, he does not complete the term and voila, we have president Ronald Osumba, a seemingly nice youthful Kenyan from Starehe Boys Centre, Kenneth’s former alma mater. But seriously, is that all that it takes to be a president-in-waiting? Something does not seem to be right here. If a candidate wants to be taken seriously by voters and the rest of the world, he or she had an obligation to choose an equally serious running mate.

The writer is Managing Editor of The Standard On Sunday