By Anyang’ Nyong’o
Ngunjiri Ngunjiri is right: the essence of Limuru 2B was to provide an alternative world view to the issues and politics of Central Kenya at a time when it is being defined by the right-wing grand owners of wealth and property as the politics of the status quo.
We must distinguish the grand owners of wealth and property between the neo-fascist right wing and the more democratic and progressive bourgeoisie who appreciate the importance of a national democratic front in politics today. The real enemy of Limuru 2B is this neo-fascist right wing.
The neo-fascist right wing are those who are prepared to go to bed with mercenaries to keep political power at all costs. Those who see holding political power as their entitlement and birth right since independence.
When one looks carefully at the history of this nation, one will find that the neo-fascists have always advocated the politics of divide and rule under the one-party regime. They therefore fought tooth and nail to defend that regime under Kenyatta and Moi.
A good number of them jumped into the band wagon of Ford and other opposition parties when it was safe to do so and needed to position themselves to inherit political power from Moi. They demonstrated great reluctance to accept the new Constitution and even mobilised the religious sector to subvert the will of the people.
They will oppose anything which is pro-people, from land reform to universal health coverage. They will, at all times, seek to tarnish the image of the left, whether it is organised at Limuru 2B to counteract their oppressive politics or comes as a policy within Government to improve the lot of ordinary Kenyans.
Since they have the resources to manipulate public opinion and to control the media, they wield much more political power in Kenya even though they are very few in number. In that regard, they have always managed to manipulate politics to their favour because the people have had little access to alternative views through the media.
The leaders of Limuru 2B need to seriously take into account the social, political and economic power of this neo-fascist right particularly in Central Kenya if we all are to make a genuine transition to a national democratic and developmental society after the coming elections.
Watching Jicho Pevu on KTN, one realises how national security can be compromised by this fascist right in the name of maintaining ethnic power. And quite often we are afraid to call a spoon a spoon because of the personal dangers that may come with it.
Those of us who called a spoon a spoon during the dark days of the Nyayo regime paid dearly. We would not like our people to continue in this mode of “politics of fear and fear mongering” after we have won so many democratic gains under the new Constitution.
It is for this matter that I want to applaud Limuru 2B and the Kenyan patriots who organised it. Let the youth be focused ideologically to fight for a national democratic and developmental state that will uphold human rights, social justice, the rule of law and the meeting of the basic needs of our people.
In Kenya, this will not be achieved until the historical injustices and the agrarian or land question is fully addressed. Jomo Kenyatta deliberately misunderstood Bildad Kaggia and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga when they raised this issue in the early sixties. The right still continues to misunderstand the left in the Kenyan politics of today over this issue.
In a country where arable land is extremely finite, one cannot have a policy of agrarian reform without addressing the issue of gross inequalities in accessing land.
Kenyatta argued that Jaramogi and Kaggia simply wanted to take land away from the hard working and give it to the lazy. Limuru 2B needs to advance its agenda by this progressive study and understanding of Kenya’s politics, sociology and economy. I never get tired of telling people that one of Chairman Mao’s most apt advice was: “no investigation no right to speak”.
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I have been following Mr Ngunjiri’s analyses very regularly and I must thank and applaud him for the objective and clear manner in which he puts forth issues. It is for this reason that I want to commend the good intentions of Limuru 2B and the clear exposition that it has no intention of mixing its mission with those of criminal gangs.
Having said that we need to examine and understand the social origins of criminal gangs and how to prevent our youth from being attracted to the same. We need also to understand the politics that keep such gangs operational.
To get rid of such gangs we need to deal with their social roots as well as the politics that reproduce them. Mere condemnation and exhortation will not help. Shunning them will not help either. They need to be engaged, enlightened, given alternative means of livelihood and humanised.
After all, this is also what Dr Frank Njenga tells us about drug abusers: don’t condemn them and don’t shun them; embrace them, understand their problems and rehabilitate them into the human society where we all live, and move and have our being.
Quite often a simple “law and order” approach to fighting such gangs may only succeed momentarily. In the long run, a more holistic approach is required. Hence I am not worried about the presence of Maina Njenga at Limuru 2B provided he understands the urgency and importance of politics of rehabilitation and inclusion.
Finally, one last word. Progressives will always be ridiculed by the fascist right. So Ngunjiri be prepared. They will always be held in contempt by the right; so Ngunjiri don’t despair and don’t be discouraged; just fight the good fight with all your might.