“The Kalenjin community is suffering from a siege mentality,” remarked a political pundit recently in the wake of rejection of Prof Laban Ayiro’s appointment as the vice-chancellor of Moi University.
Prof Ayiro’s only mistake is that he does not come from the local community. But then Ayiro is a great teacher. He was Principal of Chavakali High School before former President Daniel arap Moi plucked him to head the prestigious Sunshine Secondary School.
He was then promoted to a Provincial Director of Education, then Director of Quality Assurance and Standards at the ministry’s headquarters. He then took up assignment as the Senior Deputy Director at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.
Thereafter, he took up teaching assignments at Moi University where he rose to become the director and head of quality assurance and standards. He was promoted to the position of Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Planning.
RADICAL SURGERY
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Prof Ayiro has mentored and supervised Kalenjin students at PhD level. He is a hard worker and a go-getter. His ability in management, planning and resource mobilisation is in the league of former indefatigable Vice Chancellor of Kenyatta University Olive Mugenda and the late George Eshiwani.
The Kalenjin and Moi University would rather nurture and keep this great professor. In any case, “Si Tuko Pamoja, ama?” The Kalenjin Nation needs allies from far and wide just in case.
The truth of the matter is that the Kalenjin Nation is under siege, real or imagined. This siege mentality can be traced to 2002 when Mr Moi handed over power to the NARC administration of Mwai Kibaki.
Unlike the 1978 transition of power that followed the demise of the founding father of the nation Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, the 2002 power transition was disruptive and destructive.
When Mr Moi took the reins of power in 1978, he retained the Kenyatta Cabinet and appointed Mwai Kibaki his vice-President. The police, army, the Judiciary and civil service remained largely intact. The national psyche remained un-rattled and the few adjustments here and there were considered normal.
However, the transitional period in 2002 was revolutionary and retributive. The outgoing president was not given a farewell party by the incoming administration of Kibaki. There was radical surgery in the Judiciary, the civil service was thoroughly purged and senior government officials were hounded and hauled to the courts to face trumped-up charges with no serious convictions to date.
Career civil servants like Sally Kosgei and Zakayo Cheruiyot were summarily dismissed. Parastatal chiefs were sacked. Eminent soldiers like General Lazarus Sumbeiywo were “pulled” out of the barracks. Police chiefs were either sacked, retired, transferred or demoted.
In 2007, the Kalenjin Nation found an opportunity to redeem its self-image. Raila Odinga (Arap Mibei) was their only saviour, despite the dissenting voice of the former president Daniel arap Moi. Then one Sunday evening, power “slipped” over their hands like fresh honey. The post-election violence exploded and we almost lost our country.
Then Luis Moreno Ocampo came and took our sons to The Hague, marking the lowest moment in our history. Arap Mibei abandoned Kalenjins at their hour of need. The Mount Kenya Nation had their sons at The Hague too. The Western Kenya Nations were confused on what to do. The Kamba Nation, with whom we share a church (AIC) and military tradition made half-hearted shuttle diplomacy to world capitals and gave up.
In the thick of things, William Samoei Ruto remembered the wise counsel of Moi, the grand professor of politics, that Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta was the only leader capable of uniting Kenya and leading it to prosperity. The United Republican Party (URP) and The National Alliance Party (TNA) were cobled into the Jubilee coalition in 2013. There was a big sigh of relief when all cases at The Hague were eventually terminated for lack of evidence.
POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS
Before the political dust could settle (and the healing process began), the Jubilee merger of parties arrived faster than expected. The Kalenjin source of pride and power, the URP, has since been dissolved. The electorate were not given time to digest, debate and ingest the political implications of this momentous political development.
Once again, the Kalenjin Nation is thrust to the edge. Insecurity and uncertainty crept into the communal psyche. The storming of Moi University in Eldoret and the continued siege of national institutions around Eldoret by two governors and four Members of Parliament can therefore be understood from this perspective.
The great question on the lips of every Kenyan has been “What is the trouble with Kalenjins?”
As Chinua Achebe candidly put it in his diagnostic book, The Trouble with Nigeria, “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is basically nothing wrong with the Nigerian character.
There is nothing wrong with Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenges of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership”. Kalenjins are as they are only because their leaders are not what they ought to be. Period.
The Kalenjins are the most integrated community in the world. They suffer neither inferiority complex nor political marginalisation. They are a happy nation smiling broadly from the heart, displaying even white teeth. They do not feign affection neither are they cynical about love. They love their children and wives and extended family fondly.
heir handshakes are firm and hearty. They keep relations up to the untraceable generations. They are great believers in God, His creation and His manifestations. They fear hurting a fellow human being. They love victory and heroic acts. They are great team players.
The trouble with the Kalenjin is therefore the incumbent power brokers who engage in spurious competition for scarce resources using the politicisation of ethnicity and the mythicisation of their power positions as twin instruments in the struggle for hegemony.
DISTORTION OF REALITY
Another distinguished Nigerian author chief Dr Arhur A Nwankwo, in his book, The Power Dynamics of Nigerian Society: People Politics and Power captured this when he wrote: “... the pervasive dominance of the political scene by ethnic tin gods who derive their legitimacy from esoteric ethnic sources and mass irrationality, raise fundamental issues as to what the proper leadership roles are, the appropriate criteria for evaluating heroic leadership and the logical relationship between leadership, power and responsibility”. This has created a serious distortion of reality and downgraded the national standing of the Kalenjin Nation.
The Kalenjin Nation should quickly and urgently redeem its image by using the forthcoming General Election to purge from its ranks and file all the ethnic tin gods who perpetuate the siege mentality to camouflage their greed and Machiavellian tactics for political survival.
