By Peter Nguli
Almost a half a year ago, I wrote about Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) titanic one and two series as the sinking ship while the captain watched, published in Standard Digital.
I predicted that after the elections, Kenyans will mourn the sinking of ODM titanic with flowers and placards.
Finally it has come to pass and am sure I was not a prophet of doom even though the sinking took a little bit longer, perhaps because the tide was turbulent.
For those who don't know, RMS titanic, it was a luxury, classic passenger cruise ship built in Belfast, United Kingdom in 1912 almost a hundred years ago. In those days, it was the largest ship ever built and hence was officially declared unsinkable.
Its captain, Mr Edward Smith, was an arrogant dictatorial man who never listened to passengers, pushed things by force and chewed too much pride than he could swallow oblivious to the fate that lay ahead in his doomed maiden voyage. After all, his ship was unsinkable. The day was on April 14, 1912 when this famous luxurious ship sunk.
In the same script, different cast, a ship made in Kenya and named ODM Titanic; the largest political party in Kenya sunk on March 30th 2013 albeit its captain thinking that it was so big and well built that it was presumably unsinkable.
Like RMS Titanic captain shot his passengers indiscrimatetly, ODM titanic captain Raila Odinga shot some useful passengers at will without noting that he was digging his own political grave.
One of the passengers was William Ruto, a man who had the power to command the seas even in turbulent waves. This was the man who would cost him his political career. What a political mistake?
As the RMS titanic ship steamed west along the ordained North Atlantic, 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 am and 1pm on the same day, the RMS Titanic captain, passengers and crew had received two wireless iceberg warnings, but they chose to ignore.
Similarly, ODM titanic 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 announced by the Supreme Court. Their supporters were warned to leave the sinking ship which was by then overloaded with oranges and watermelons but they chose to ignore. The worse was yet to come in their unplanned maiden voyage.
On that fateful day, Sunday morning, April 14 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. Indeed, captain Smith was ahead of schedule and wanted to arrive earlier than planned. On the same script, captain Odinga wanted the presidency at all costs without considering choice of his friends.
What Odinga didn't know is that Kenyans were so sharp this time round. It was not politics as usual.
The 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 ocean.
And it came to pass, that at exactly 2am, 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.
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Similarly, it came to pass that at exactly 5pm March 30, almost a hundred years later after the sinking of the RMS titanic, Kenya's Supreme Court declared Uhuru Kenyatta as Kenya's 4th president in a a petition never seen anywhere in the East African region. The court further added that it was indeed a free, fair and democratic election.