Kalonzo’s confession mirrors level of elusive electoral justice

By TIMOTHY BOSIRE

The confession by CORD deputy leader Kalonzo Musyoka that Raila Odinga won the controversial 2007 elections but was denied the presidency by shadowy forces in Government should prick the conscience of the nation.

Though the former Vice-President added that Raila was again snatched victory this year (March 4), his candid talk about the deliberate refusal by some powerful players to allow democracy and the will of the people to prevail in Kenya every election time is a national tragedy.

Today, those of us who were with Raila in ODM in 2007, find ourselves with Kalonzo in CORD pursuing not only leadership of the country but also electoral justice, respect for the will of the people and the upholding of the constitutional order.

Yet in 2008, Kalonzo gave in to persuasions to join the PNU side to shield them from crumbling when the entire nation was protesting the blatant theft of the elections.

Mwai Kibaki had been declared winner controversially but lacked the numbers in Parliament. There was real fear of a vote of no confidence by ODM in Parliament. ODM had the majority in Parliament and controlled 3/5 of local authorities in the country.

Despite that overwhelming victory and evidence, powerful forces within the Executive, security arms and the Judiciary descended on the electoral commission and corrupted the tallying of the presidential results to give Kibaki a disputed victory as they unconstitutionally blocked ODM’s Raila. It was a civilian coup that was unnecessary in modern times.

Though we in the CORD family respect Kalonzo and embrace him as a good elder brother who returned to the right path, we still regret that his 2008 opportunistic actions helped sustain a vanquished regime and helped it to fight off a committed national push for electoral justice.

When he complains that Kibaki reneged on a promise in 2008 to back him as successor and that Uhuru unleashed all manner of blackmail to push him out of the way before he finally quit the infamous G7 Alliance to re-unite with Raila just weeks to the March 4 polls, he is confirming our worst fears that the forces behind election rigging in Kenya are very partisan and only protect a small selfish clique closed to all of us.

His story mirrors African folklore analogy of the ignorant farmer who gave in to a fleeing snake’s desperate pleas for protection from vicious enemies pursuing it but immediately the farmer had tricked snake’s enemies, the serpent crawled out of safe hiding and killed the farmer. The lesson: “Never protect evil for it will inevitably turn to destroy you”.

If Kalonzo had been honest in 2008 and rebuffed PNU suitors who tricked him to bail them out of trouble, he would have supported Kenyans in demanding and restoring electoral justice and saved the country from the crisis that followed. If in 2008, the former VP would have stood up to Kibaki and PNU and told them he was not willing to help them perpetuate election irregularities and bend the law for selfish ethnic and political reasons, Kibaki would have given in to the truth and handed over power hence forestalled the mass action and ethnic blood bath that ensued after their ill union formed government.

The former Vice-President’s patriotic reaction in 2008 could have averted the anger and frustration of the victims of the election rigging which made them call for mass action that made the election thieves unleash murderous Mungiki gangs and trigger-happy policemen on innocents, leading to massive destruction of lives and property.

Again it should be obvious that if he could have challenged Kibaki to uphold the Constitution and respect the true outcome, election thieves would have been shamed and temptation to rig the 2013 elections would never have occurred.

However, we wholly and genuinely embrace the conversion of Kalonzo and his confessions as good for all the suffering Kenyans who are fighting and praying to realize true democracy, constitutionalism and electoral justice.

Today, I am MP for Kitutu Masaba constituency. The tribulations I went through because of constitutionalised injustice makes me understand Kalonzo’s story. However, the past is now water under the bridge. Life must continue. Nevertheless, democracy and fairness must thrive in Kenya as we build a just society.